Robust Encryption

We provide a provable-security treatment of “robust” encryption. Robustness means it is hard to produce a ciphertext that is valid for two different users. Robustness makes explicit a property that has been implicitly assumed in the past. We argue that it is an essential conjunct of anonymous encryption. We show that natural anonymity-preserving ways to achieve it, such as adding recipient identification information before encrypting, fail. We provide transforms that do achieve it, efficiently and provably. We assess the robustness of specific encryption schemes in the literature, providing simple patches for some that lack the property. We explain that robustness of the underlying anonymous IBE scheme is essential for public-key encryption with keyword search (PEKS) to be consistent (meaning, not have false positives), and our work provides the first generic conversions of anonymous IBE schemes to consistent (and secure) PEKS schemes. Overall, our work enables safer and simpler use of encryption.     

Nonequilibrium Operation of Arsenic Diffused Long-Wavelength Infrared HgCdTe Photodiodes

We demonstrated a device with a unique planar architecture using a novel approach for obtaining low arsenic doping concentrations in long-wavelength (LW) HgCdTe on CdZnTe substrates. HgCdTe materials were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We fabricated a p-on-n structure that we term P ⁺/π/N ⁺ where the symbol “π” is to indicate a drastically reduced extrinsic p-type carrier concentration (on the order of mid 10¹⁵ cm⁻³); P ⁺ and N ⁺ denote a higher doping density, as well as a higher energy gap, than the photosensitive base π-region. Fabricated devices indicated that Auger suppression is seen in the P ⁺/π/N ⁺ architecture at temperatures above 130 K and we obtained a saturation current on the order of 3 mA on 250-μm-diameter devices at 300 K with Auger suppression. Data shows that about a 50% reduction in dark current is achieved at 300 K due to Auger suppression. The onset of Auger suppression voltage is 450 mV at 300 K and 100 mV at 130 K. Results indicate that a reduction of the series resistance could reduce this further. A principal challenge was to obtain low p-type doping levels in the π-region. This issue was overcome using a novel deep diffusion process, thereby demonstrating successfully low-doped p-type HgCdTe in MBE-grown material. Near-classical spectral responses were obtained at 250 K and at 100 K with cut-off wavelengths of 7.4 μm and 10.4 μm, respectively. At 100 K, the measured non-antireflection-coated quantum efficiency was 0.57 at 0.1 V under backside illumination. Received November 7, 2007; accepted March 19, 2008     

Interconversion between truncated Cartesian and polar expansions of images.

In this paper, we propose an algorithm for lossless conversion of data between Cartesian and polar coordinates, when the data is sampled from a 2-D real-valued function (a mapping: R2 --> R) expressed as a particular kind of truncated expansion. We use Laguerre functions and the Fourier basis for the polar coordinate expression. Hermite functions are used for the Cartesian coordinate expression. A finite number of coefficients for the truncated expansion specifies the function in each coordinate system. We derive the relationship between the coefficients for the two coordinate systems. Based on this relationship, we propose an algorithm for lossless conversion between the two coordinate systems. Resampling can be used to evaluate a truncated expansion on the complementary coordinate system without computing a new set of coefficients. The resampled data is used to compute the new set of coefficients to avoid the numerical instability associated with direct conversion of the coefficients. In order to apply our algorithm to discrete image data, we propose a method to optimally fit a truncated expression to a given image. We also quantify the error that this filtering process can produce. Finally the algorithm is applied to solve the polar-Cartesian interpolation problem.     

Evaluation of registration methods on thoracic CT: the EMPIRE10 challenge

EMPIRE10 (Evaluation of Methods for Pulmonary Image REgistration 2010) is a public platform for fair and meaningful comparison of registration algorithms which are applied to a database of intrapatient thoracic CT image pairs. Evaluation of nonrigid registration techniques is a nontrivial task. This is compounded by the fact that researchers typically test only on their own data, which varies widely. For this reason, reliable assessment and comparison of different registration algorithms has been virtually impossible in the past. In this work we present the results of the launch phase of EMPIRE10, which comprised the comprehensive evaluation and comparison of 20 individual algorithms from leading academic and industrial research groups. All algorithms are applied to the same set of 30 thoracic CT pairs. Algorithm settings and parameters are chosen by researchers expert in the configuration of their own method and the evaluation is independent, using the same criteria for all participants. All results are published on the EMPIRE10 website (http://empire10.isi.uu.nl). The challenge remains ongoing and open to new participants. Full results from 24 algorithms have been published at the time of writing. This paper details the organization of the challenge, the data and evaluation methods and the outcome of the initial launch with 20 algorithms. The gain in knowledge and future work are discussed.     

Reinventing Butyl Rubber for Stretchable Electronics

The development of stretchable electronic devices that are soft and conformable has relied heavily on a single material—polydimethylsiloxane—as the elastomeric substrate. Although polydimethylsiloxane has a number of advantageous characteristics, its high gas permeability is detrimental to stretchable devices that use materials sensitive to oxygen and water vapor, such as organic semiconductors and oxidizable metals. Failing to protect these materials from atmosphere‐induced decomposition leads to premature device failure; therefore, it is imperative to develop elastomers with gas barrier properties that enable stretchable electronics with practical lifetimes. Here, butyl rubber—a material with an intrinsically low gas permeability traditionally used in the innerliners of tires to maintain air pressure—is reinvented for stretchable electronics. This new material is smooth and optically transparent, possesses the low gas permeability typical of butyl rubber, and vastly outperforms polydimethylsiloxane as an encapsulating barrier to prevent the atmospheric degradation of sensitive electronic materials and the premature failure of functioning organic devices. The merits of transparent butyl rubber presented here position this material as an important counterpart to polydimethylsiloxane that will enable future generation stretchable electronics.     

Gas Pickering Emulsion Templated Hollow Carbon for High Rate Performance Lithium Sulfur Batteries

A CO₂ in water nanoparticle stabilized Pickering emulsion is used to template micrometer sized hollow porous nitrogen doped carbon particles for high rate performance lithium sulfur battery. For the first time, nanoparticles serve the dual role of an emulsion stabilizer and a pore template for the shell, directly utilizing in situ generated CO₂ bubbles as template for the core. The minimalistic nature of this method does not require expensive surfactants or additional core templates. Upon polymerization of melamine formaldehyde onto CO₂, a robust polymer/silica composite shell is formed and transformed into a porous shell upon washing. The micrometer‐sized hollow morphology in combination with its nitrogen rich porous shell demonstrates impressive rate capabilities of 670 and 500 mAh g^?1 even at a high rate of 7C and 9C, respectively. This material also possesses excellent cycle durability, exhibiting a low capacity decay of 0.088%/cycle over 300 cycles. Measurement of the shuttle current and impedance provides interesting insight into the polysulfide mass transfer mechanism of hollow structured sulfur hosts.     

TEM characterization of super-hydrophilic Ni-Ti thin film

A super-hydrophilic Ni-Ti thin film is evaluated using cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Following sputter deposition and annealing, the Ni-Ti thin films are chemically treated with buffered oxide etchant, nitric acid and 30% hydrogen peroxide solution to produce a 100-nm-thick surface oxide layer. The fabricated Ni-Ti thin films show a 10- to 15-nm TiO₂ thick layer on its surface with a ~ 67° wetting angle. For the surface treated sample, a porous oxide 100 nm TiO layer is found with a < 5°. It is believed that TiOOH(H₂O)_n complex forms on the surface to produce the observed super-hydrophilic behavior.     

Nanochannel electroporation delivers precise amounts of biomolecules into living cells

Many transfection techniques can deliver biomolecules into cells, but the dose cannot be controlled precisely. Delivering well-defined amounts of materials into cells is important for various biological studies and therapeutic applications. Here, we show that nanochannel electroporation can deliver precise amounts of a variety of transfection agents into living cells. The device consists of two microchannels connected by a nanochannel. The cell to be transfected is positioned in one microchannel using optical tweezers, and the transfection agent is located in the second microchannel. Delivering a voltage pulse between the microchannels produces an intense electric field over a very small area on the cell membrane, allowing a precise amount of transfection agent to be electrophoretically driven through the nanochannel, the cell membrane and into the cell cytoplasm, without affecting cell viability. Dose control is achieved by adjusting the duration and number of pulses. The nanochannel electroporation device is expected to have high-throughput delivery applications.