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Preserving data confidentiality in clouds is a key issue. Secret Sharing, a cryptographic primitive for the distribution of a secret among a group of $n$ participants designed so that only subsets of shareholders of cardinality $0 < t \leq n$ are allowed to reconstruct the secret by pooling their shares, can help mitigating and minimizing the problem. A desirable feature of Secret Sharing schemes is cheater detection, i.e. the ability to detect one or more malicious shareholders trying to reconstruct the secret by obtaining legal shares from the other shareholders while providing them with fake shares. Verifiable Secret Sharing schemes solve this problem by allowing shareholders verifying the others' shares. We present new verification algorithms providing arbitrary secret sharing schemes with cheater detection capabilities, and prove their space efficiency with regard to other schemes appeared in the literature. We also introduce, in one of our schemes, the Exponentiating Polynomial Root Problem (EPRP), which is believed to be NP-Intermediate and therefore difficult., Comment: Accepted for publication. To appear in IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing

Fluid flow and convective heat transfer in rotor-stator configurations, which are of great importance in different engineering applications, are treated in details in this review. The review focuses on convective heat transfer in predominantly outward air flow in the rotor-stator geometries with and without impinging jets and incorporates two main parts, namely, experimental/theoretical methodologies and geometries/results. Experimental methodologies include naphthalene sublimation techniques, steady state (thin layer) and transient (thermochromic liquid crystals) thermal measurements, thermocouples and infra-red cameras, hot-wire anemometry, laser Doppler and particle image velocimetry, laser plane and smoke generator. Theoretical approaches incorporate modern CFD computational tools (DNS, LES, RANS etc). Geometries and results part being mentioned starting from simple to complex elucidates cases of a free rotating disk, a single disk in the crossflow, single jets impinging onto stationary and rotating disk, rotor-stator systems without and with impinging single jets, as well as multiple jets. Conclusions to the review outline perspectives of the further extension of the investigations of different kinds of the rotor-stator systems and their applications in engineering practice.

Using cold 87Rb atoms trapped in a 1D-optical lattice, atomic interferometers involving coherent superpositions between different Wannier-Stark atomic states are realized. Two di fferent kinds of trapped interferometer schemes are presented: a Ramsey-type interferometer sensitive both to clock frequency and external forces, and a symmetric accordion-type interferometer, sensitive to external forces only. We evaluate the limits in terms of sensitivity and accuracy of those schemes and discuss their application as force sensors. As a first step, we apply these interferometers to the measurement of the Bloch frequency and the demonstration of a compact gravimeter., Comment: 11 pages

Raman lasers are used as a spectroscopic probe of the state of atoms confined in a shallow 1D vertical lattice. For long enough laser pulses, resolved transitions in the bottom band of the lattice between Wannier Stark states corresponding to neighboring wells are observed. Couplings between such states are measured as a function of the lattice laser intensity and compared to theoretical predictions, from which the lattice depth can be extracted. Limits to the linewidth of these transitions are investigated. Transitions to higher bands can also be induced, as well as between transverse states for tilted Raman beams. All these features allow for a precise characterization of the trapping potential and for an efficient control of the atoms external degrees of freedom.

We study a certain construction designed to bring together the following two topics: $i$) Dyer--Lashof-operations in negative Tate-cohomology, $ii$) the description of negative Tate-cohomology in terms of joins. It has the merit of making (some) sense in a more general context: where the loop-space of the space under study no longer has to be of compact homotopy-type. The exposition given here is a streamlined version of a previous version of mine, available here at the Arxiv., Comment: Some minor errors are corrected in this second version

Raman laser pulses are used to induce coherent tunnelling between neighbouring sites of a vertical 1D optical lattice. Such tunneling occurs when the detuning of a probe laser from the atomic transition frequency matches multiples of the Bloch frequency, allowing for a spectroscopic control of the coupling between Wannier Stark (WS) states. In particular, we prepare coherent superpositions of WS states of adjacent sites, and investigate the coherence time of these superpositions by realizing a spatial interferometer. This scheme provides a powerful tool for coherent manipulation of external degrees of freedom of cold atoms, which is a key issue for quantum information processing.

We report the direct observation of the non-reciprocity of the velocity of light, induced in a gas by electric and magnetic fields. This bilinear magneto-electro-optical phenomenon appears in the presence of crossed electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to the light wavevector, as a refractive index difference between two counterpropagating directions. Using a high finesse ring cavity, we have measured this magneto-electric non-reciprocity in molecular Nitrogen at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure; for light polarized parallel to the magnetic field it is $2\eta_{\parallel \;{\mathrm{exp}}}(\mathrm{N_2})= (4.7\pm 1)\times 10^{-23}\;{m.V}^{-1}{.T}^{-1}$ for $\lambda =1064\;$nm, in agreement with the expected order of magnitude. Our measurement opens the way to a deeper insight into light-matter interaction, since bilinear magneto-electric effects correspond to a coupling beyond the electric dipole approximation. We were able to measure a magneto-electric non-reciprocity as small as $\Delta n = (5\pm 2) \times 10^{-18}$, which makes its observation in quantum vacuum a conceivable challenge., Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters

Hot carrier solar cells allow potential efficiency close to the thermodynamical limit in ideal conditions. However, the feasability of such devices has not been clearly stated so far and only ideal cells were considered in previous studies. Here we develop a model with realistic energy selective contacts, carrier thermalization and absorptivity. The requirements in term of contact selectivity is investigated, showing that semi-selective contacts are not incompatible with high efficiencies. Candidates for absorbing material were synthesized and the required thermalization properties are obtained. Specific structures were designed to enhance absorption of concentrated sunlight in a small material thickness, allowing high carrier density in the absorber., Comment: 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition / 5th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Valencia : Spain (2010)

We give an independent, and perhaps somewhat simplified, description of the product in negative Tate-cohomology (the generalised version for compact Lie-groups). We describe, but do not compute, the corresponding action of the Dyer--Lashof-algebra, using the linear-isometries operad., Comment: In this version (the second), some clarifying remarks are added

I could not get this paper published; it was considered uninteresting by the referee. And now, several years later, I also detect (what seems to be) a serious error in it. This general line of research may still, however, be of some interest., Comment: This paper has been withdrawn

We prove a generalisation to any characteristic of a result of Macdonald that describes strict polynomial functors in characteristic zero in terms of representations of the groupoid of finite sets and bijections. Our result will give an analogous description in terms of finite multisets and an extension of the notion of bijection appropriate for multisets. A projected application is to the description of strict polynomial monads that will give a notion generalising (linear algebra) operads., Comment: 22 pages

We give an explicit construction and clasification of some very special sort of Enriques surfaces in characteristic two. This proves the existence of some of the surfaces that were called ``extra-special'' by Cossec and Dolgachev in their book on the subject, and whose existence was left open by them. These surfaces coincide with a class of surfaces that are introduced in recent work by Ekedahl and Shepherd--Barron., Comment: 10 pages

This comparative study of social care programs at four European colleges in Nijmegen (Netherlands), Malmo (Sweden), Sligo (Ireland), and Lillehammer (Norway) looks at whether graduates from one country would be qualified to work in social care in the other countries. The report is based on analysis of data from official documents, questionnaires completed by students, interviews with administrators and teachers, and visits to the colleges. It contains a general description of each of the four colleges, a comparison of their curriculum timetables, and analyses of their curricula. Also included are sections analyzing student background data and goals; educational goals as expressed by staff; comparisons of curricula and student goals versus staff goals; comparisons of differences in practicum training; and an analysis of the compatibility of the different programs. The study showed that although the programs were fairly compatible, there were some differences; ranging from length of program (168 weeks at Nijmegen to 99 weeks at Sligo), to more stress on action and client need at Nijmegen, to a greater emphasis on theory at Malmo. Two student questionnaires and a list of interviewees are appended. (Contains 42 references.) (CH)