ALBERT

Description: The discussion in this paper is part of research directed at establishing optimal stabilization strategy for compressed bricks. The deployment context for the use of the compressed bricks was Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) where manually fabricated bricks are increasingly being used in low cost housing units. This discussion specifically focuses on strategies that can be used to counter deterioration due to wind-driven rain erosion. The impact of using cement, lime, fiber and a commercial stabilizing fluid was assessed. Factory-produced bricks were used for benchmarking. The durability of the bricks was assessed using the “modified” Bulletin 5 Spray Test. The different brick specimens were sprayed with water at 2.07 MPa and 4.14 MPa over one-hour time period while measuring the depth of erosion every 15 minutes. Factory-produced bricks hardly eroded at both 2.07 MPa and 4.14 MPa pressure levels. The maximum depth of erosion for Soil-Cement bricks ranged from a maximum of 0.5 mm at 2.07 MPa water pressure to 0.8 mm at 4.14 MPa. The maximum and minimum depths of erosion for Soil-Cement-Lime bricks were 25mm and 17 mm respectively. The inclusion of natural fiber in the bricks resulted in a sharp increase of the erosion depth to a maximum of 40 mm at 2.07 MPa and 55 mm at 4.14 Mpa. As the use of natural fibers and lime enhances some physio-mechanical properties, further research is necessary to determine ways of achieving this goal while maintaining acceptable levels of erosion resistance.

Description: Algorithms, Vol. 10, Pages 52: Searchable Data Vault: Encrypted Queries in Secure Distributed Cloud Storage Algorithms doi: 10.3390/a10020052 Authors: Geong Poh Vishnu Baskaran Ji-Jian Chin Moesfa Mohamad Kay Win Lee Dharmadharshni Maniam Muhammad Z’aba Cloud storage services allow users to efficiently outsource their documents anytime and anywhere. Such convenience, however, leads to privacy concerns. While storage providers may not read users’ documents, attackers may possibly gain access by exploiting vulnerabilities in the storage system. Documents may also be leaked by curious administrators. A simple solution is for the user to encrypt all documents before submitting them. This method, however, makes it impossible to efficiently search for documents as they are all encrypted. To resolve this problem, we propose a multi-server searchable symmetric encryption (SSE) scheme and construct a system called the searchable data vault (SDV). A unique feature of the scheme is that it allows an encrypted document to be divided into blocks and distributed to different storage servers so that no single storage provider has a complete document. By incorporating the scheme, the SDV protects the privacy of documents while allowing for efficient private queries. It utilizes a web interface and a controller that manages user credentials, query indexes and submission of encrypted documents to cloud storage services. It is also the first system that enables a user to simultaneously outsource and privately query documents from a few cloud storage services. Our preliminary performance evaluation shows that this feature introduces acceptable computation overheads when compared to submitting documents directly to a cloud storage service.

Description: Stable and radioactive tracers were utilized in concert to characterize geochemical processes in a complex coastal groundwater system and to provide constraints on the kinetics of rock/water interactions. Groundwater samples from wells within the Dominguez Gap region of Los Angeles County, California were analyzed for a suite of major cations (Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+) and anions (Cl−, SO42−), silica, alkalinity, select trace elements (Ba, B, Sr), dissolved oxygen, stable isotopes of hydrogen (δD), oxygen (δ18O), dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC), and radioactive isotopes (3H, 222Rn and 223,224,226,228Ra). In the study area, groundwater may consist of a complex mixture of native groundwater, intruded seawater, non-native injected water, and oil-field brine water. In some wells, Cl− concentrations attained seawater-like values and in conjunction with isotopically heavier δ18O values, these tracers provide information on the extent of seawater intrusion and/or mixing with oil-field brines. Groundwater 3H above 1 tritium unit (TU) was observed only in a few select wells close to the Dominguez Gap area and most other well groundwater was aged pre-1952. Based on an initial 14C value for the study site of 90 percent modern carbon (pmc), groundwater age estimates likely extend beyond 20 kyr before present and confirm deep circulation of some native groundwater through multiple aquifers. Enriched values of groundwater δ13CDIC in the absence of SO42− imply enhanced anaerobic microbial methanogenesis. While secular equilibrium was observed for 234U/238U (activity ratios ~1) in host matrices, strong isotopic fractionation in these groundwater samples can be used to obtain information of adsorption/desorption kinetics. Calculated Ra residence times are short, and the associated desorption rate constant is about three orders of magnitude slower than that of the adsorption rate constant. Combined stable- and radio-isotopic results provide unique insights into aquifer characteristics, such as geochemical cycling, rock/water interactions, and subsurface transport and mixing.