We introduce FourQ, a high-security, high-performance elliptic curve that targets the 128­ bit security level. At the highest level, cryptographic scalar multiplications on FourQ can use a fourdimensional Gallant-Lambert-Vanstone decomposition to minimize the total number of elliptic curve group operations. At the group arithmetic level, FourQ admits the use of extended twisted Edwards coordina...

The results of an experimental investigation of kerbside bridge deck drainage units are presented. The conveyance capacity, resistance coefficients and sediment transporting efficiencies of different types of drainage unit used in shallow bridge drainage decks are examined over a range of bed gradients likely to be encountered in practice. The use of a V-shaped cross section is shown to be part...

Aromatic/aliphatic copolyesters containing hydrophilic moieties in the main chain or side chain were synthesized by bulk polycondensation of aromatic monomers without or with solubilizing substituents and aliphatic monomers. Hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation studies were carried out in vitro at 37 degrees C in pH 7.4 phosphate buffer and in Tris-HCl buffer containing proteinase K. The result...

Squaraines are fluorescent, near-IR dyes with promising photophysical properties for biomedical applications. A limitation with these dyes is their inherent reactivity with nucleophiles, which leads to loss of the chromophore. Another drawback is their tendency to form nonfluorescent aggregates in water. Both problems can be greatly attenuated by encapsulating the dye inside an amide-containing...

This paper is about three points: network bridges are critical to the advantage known as social capital, bridges relative to other kinds of relationships show faster rates of decay over time, and the faster decay in bridges has implications for the stability of social capital. A bridge connects people not otherwise connected; in other words, it spans a structural hole in the surrounding organiz...

In bridge percolation one gives a special weight to bridges, i.e., bonds that if occupied would create the first spanning cluster. We show that, for p > pc, even far away from the critical point of classical percolation, the set of bridge bonds is fractal with a fractal dimension dBB = 1.215±0.002. This new percolation exponent is related to various different models like, e.g., the optimal path...

This paper presents a new bridge management system (J-BMS). It is integrated with a concrete bridge rating expert system that can be used to evaluate the serviceability of existing concrete bridges. The proposed J-BMS not only evaluates the performance of bridges, but also offers a rehabilitation strategy based on a combination of maintenance cost minimization and quality maximization. In this ...

In this paper, dynamic performance of a transformerless cascaded PWM static synchronous shunt compensator (STATCOM) based on a novel control scheme is investigated for bus voltage regulation in a 6.6kV distribution system. The transformerless STATCOM consists of a thirteen-level cascaded H-bridge inverter, in which each voltage source H-bridge inverter should be equipped with a floating and iso...