Chaotic encryption method based on life-like cellular automata

A chaotic encryption algorithm is proposed based on the "Life-like" cellular automata (CA), which acts as a pseudo-random generator (PRNG). The paper main focus is to use chaos theory to cryptography. Thus, CA was explored to look for this "chaos" property. This way, the manuscript is more concerning on tests like: Lyapunov exponent, Entropy and Hamming distance to measure the chaos in CA, as well as statistic analysis like DIEHARD and ENT suites. Our results achieved higher randomness quality than others ciphers in literature. These results reinforce the supposition of a strong relationship between chaos and the randomness quality. Thus, the "chaos" property of CA is a good reason to be employed in cryptography, furthermore, for its simplicity, low cost of implementation and respectable encryption power. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In nome della comunità. Analisi dei testi della sicurezza e del terrorismo

The focus of this dissertation is the relationship between the necessity for protection and the construction of cultural identities. In particular, by cultural identities I mean the representation and construction of communities: national communities, religious communities or local communities. By protection I mean the need for individuals and groups to be reassured about dangers and risks. From an anthropological point of view, the relationship between the need for protection and the formation and construction of collective identities is driven by the defensive function of culture. This was recognized explicitly by Claude Lévi-Strauss and Jurij Lotman. To explore the “protective hypothesis,” it was especially useful to compare the immunitarian paradigm, proposed by Roberto Esposito, with a semiotic approach to the problem. According to Esposito, immunity traces borders, dividing Community from what should be kept outside: the enemies, dangers and chaos, and, in general, whatever is perceived to be a threat to collective and individual life. I recognized two dimensions in the concept of immunity. The first is the logic dimension: every element of a system makes sense because of the network of differential relations in which it is inscribed; the second dimension is the social praxis of division and definition of who. We are (or what is inside the border), and who They are (or what is, and must be kept, outside the border). I tested my hypothesis by analyzing two subject areas in particular: first, the security practices in London after 9/11 and 7/7; and, second, the Spiritual Guide of 9/11 suicide bombers. In both cases, one observes the construction of two entities: We and They. The difference between the two cases is their “model of the world”: in the London case, one finds the political paradigms of security as Sovereignty, Governamentality and Biopolitics. In the Spiritual Guide, one observes a religious model of the Community of God confronting the Community of Evil. From a semiotic point view, the problem is the origin of respective values, the origin of respective moral universes, and the construction of authority. In both cases, I found that emotional dynamics are crucial in the process of forming collective identities and in the process of motivating the involved subjects: specifically, the role of fear and terror is the primary factor, and represents the principal focus of my research.

Il razzismo della prosperità nell’Europa contemporanea - Riflessioni a margine del pensiero antirazzista di Walter Lorenz

Recent publishing on the migration phenomena in the communitarian and globalized Europe, puts in evidence a fundamental racism which is capable of making cultural processes grow and feed both chaos and social disorder. As a matter of fact we are approaching the ending debates on multicultural citizenship as well as on solidary integration and antiracism. Since the appearing of these phenomena, namely the huge post colonial migration in the nineteen-eighties, by which the colonized countries became almost “emigrant nurseries”, one could expect their stabilization. On the contrary, globalization and migration (twin subjects) everywhere still produce, at various levels, social disturbances together with some chauvinistic limitations as an ultimate kind of western prosperity defense. The peculiar European features of this new racism, less than ideological (superiority, homogeneity and civilizing mission), are confined to the concepts of patriotism, inequality and exclusion. In these terms one can understand why the new economic expansionism and the quest for new world markets makes European policies unstable, which remain undecided between conservatism, liberalism and extreme right. All this explains at least two things: the existing ambiguities of some European policies aiming to enhance particular forms of protectionism, and the difficulties in which the antiracist thought seems to be embedded. Indeed, according to what Walter Lorenz has already made clear, by using a well founded methodology, which prevents any fruitless protestations, it is impossible to contrast racism and nationalism. In such context, the educational field should try to use an operative epistemology. In other words the antiracist thought should dispose of competences and skills and, especially, personal and reflective capabilities. All this in order to avoid that which, in different historical scenes, permit the revival of the sense of moral opprobrium could not be identified with the political alibi to maintain privileges as well as advantages for the exclusive benefit of wealthy countries.

La representación literaria del caos y la re-unificación de las Dos Tierras : Breve esbozo de dos textos literarios del Reino Medio

Parte del conocimiento y la comprensión que poseemos de las sociedades del mundo antiguo procede del análisis de los textos literarios. El eje estructurador es el derrumbe de los valores y las instituciones que organizaron la vida quienes habitaron el Antiguo Egipto en el paso del Reino Antiguo al Reino Medio. Analizaremos la Profecía de Neferty ylas Admoniciones de Ipuwer. Habrían sido elaborados durante el Reino Medio y poseerían connotaciones propagandísticas de legitimación y justificación de la toma del poder por parte de Amenemhat I y sus sucesores. Elaborados dentro de los círculos palatinos, poseen una marcada intencionalidad política

La representación literaria del caos y la re-unificación de las Dos Tierras : Breve esbozo de dos textos literarios del Reino Medio

Parte del conocimiento y la comprensión que poseemos de las sociedades del mundo antiguo procede del análisis de los textos literarios. El eje estructurador es el derrumbe de los valores y las instituciones que organizaron la vida quienes habitaron el Antiguo Egipto en el paso del Reino Antiguo al Reino Medio. Analizaremos la Profecía de Neferty ylas Admoniciones de Ipuwer. Habrían sido elaborados durante el Reino Medio y poseerían connotaciones propagandísticas de legitimación y justificación de la toma del poder por parte de Amenemhat I y sus sucesores. Elaborados dentro de los círculos palatinos, poseen una marcada intencionalidad política

La representación literaria del caos y la re-unificación de las Dos Tierras : Breve esbozo de dos textos literarios del Reino Medio

Parte del conocimiento y la comprensión que poseemos de las sociedades del mundo antiguo procede del análisis de los textos literarios. El eje estructurador es el derrumbe de los valores y las instituciones que organizaron la vida quienes habitaron el Antiguo Egipto en el paso del Reino Antiguo al Reino Medio. Analizaremos la Profecía de Neferty ylas Admoniciones de Ipuwer. Habrían sido elaborados durante el Reino Medio y poseerían connotaciones propagandísticas de legitimación y justificación de la toma del poder por parte de Amenemhat I y sus sucesores. Elaborados dentro de los círculos palatinos, poseen una marcada intencionalidad política

A simple explanation for taxon abundance patterns

For taxonomic levels higher than species, the abundance distributions of the number of subtaxa per taxon tend to approximate power laws but often show strong deviations from such laws. Previously, these deviations were attributed to finite-time effects in a continuous-time branching process at the generic level. Instead, we describe herein a simple discrete branching process that generates the observed distributions and find that the distribution's deviation from power law form is not caused by disequilibration, but rather that it is time independent and determined by the evolutionary properties of the taxa of interest. Our model predicts—with no free parameters—the rank-frequency distribution of the number of families in fossil marine animal orders obtained from the fossil record. We find that near power law distributions are statistically almost inevitable for taxa higher than species. The branching model also sheds light on species-abundance patterns, as well as on links between evolutionary processes, self-organized criticality, and fractals.

Temporal fluctuations in coherence of brain waves.

As a measure of dynamical structure, short-term fluctuations of coherence between 0.3 and 100 Hz in the electroencephalogram (EEG) of humans were studied from recordings made by chronic subdural macroelectrodes 5-10 mm apart, on temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes, and from intracranial probes deep in the temporal lobe, including the hippocampus, during sleep, alert, and seizure states. The time series of coherence between adjacent sites calculated every second or less often varies widely in stability over time; sometimes it is stable for half a minute or more. Within 2-min samples, coherence commonly fluctuates by a factor up to 2-3, in all bands, within the time scale of seconds to tens of seconds. The power spectrum of the time series of these fluctuations is broad, extending to 0.02 Hz or slower, and is weighted toward the slower frequencies; little power is faster than 0.5 Hz. Some records show conspicuous swings with a preferred duration of 5-15s, either irregularly or quasirhythmically with a broad peak around 0.1 Hz. Periodicity is not statistically significant in most records. In our sampling, we have not found a consistent difference between lobes of the brain, subdural and depth electrodes, or sleeping and waking states. Seizures generally raise the mean coherence in all frequencies and may reduce the fluctuations by a ceiling effect. The coherence time series of different bands is positively correlated (0.45 overall); significant nonindependence extends for at least two octaves. Coherence fluctuations are quite local; the time series of adjacent electrodes is correlated with that of the nearest neighbor pairs (10 mm) to a coefficient averaging approximately 0.4, falling to approximately 0.2 for neighbors-but-one (20 mm) and to < 0.1 for neighbors-but-two (30 mm). The evidence indicates fine structure in time and space, a dynamic and local determination of this measure of cooperativity. Widely separated frequencies tending to fluctuate together exclude independent oscillators as the general or usual basis of the EEG, although a few rhythms are well known under special conditions. Broad-band events may be the more usual generators. Loci only a few millimeters apart can fluctuate widely in seconds, either in parallel or independently. Scalp EEG coherence cannot be predicted from subdural or deep recordings, or vice versa, and intracortical microelectrodes show still greater coherence fluctuation in space and time. Widely used computations of chaos and dimensionality made upon data from scalp or even subdural or depth electrodes, even when reproducible in successive samples, cannot be considered representative of the brain or the given structure or brain state but only of the scale or view (receptive field) of the electrodes used. Relevant to the evolution of more complex brains, which is an outstanding fact of animal evolution, we believe that measures of cooperativity are likely to be among the dynamic features by which major evolutionary grades of brains differ.

O imaginário das ilhas atlânticas no universo medieval islâmico-cristão

O pensamento cultural medieval aparece-nos como herdeiro da Antiguidade Clássica, da sua filosofia, ciência, arte e mitos. Todos estes conceitos traduzem-se com facilidade para as elites intelectuais cristãs e muçulmanas, que os conservam e integram em elementos da sua própria cultura. A ideia do mar, em especial o mar dito ‘aberto’ como o Oceano Atlântico, é marcada pelo maravilhoso. Em plena Idade Média o Oceano Atlântico surge como território de Caos, envolto em mistério. O Oceano Atlântico é local das mais variadas manifestações do fantástico. Desta forma, as ilhas atlânticas, contidas neste vasto oceano, são elas próprias impregnadas de um carácter maravilhoso. Tentaremos, ao longo desta dissertação de mestrado, abordar a questão das ilhas atlânticas e das suas características a nível de imaginário. Este exercício será feito, sempre que possível, fazendo o cruzamento de fontes de origem islâmica e de origem cristã. Desta maneira, surgirá uma imagem comum em relação ao imaginário do Oceano Atlântico e, em especial, das ilhas neste contidas. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é verdadeiramente demonstrar pontos de aproximação entre relatos e mapas, de origem cristã e islâmica, ligados a ilhas fantásticas e, ao mesmo tempo, reais. Veremos que as duas categorias, do real e do imaginário, sobrepõem-se diversas vezes, sendo que não se conseguem muitas vezes distinguir a nível das fontes. Desta forma, relatos de navegações atlânticas como a de São Brandão (de origem celto-cristã) ou a dos Aventureiros de Lisboa (originária no al-Andalus,) são reveladoras das atitudes e ideias na Idade Média em relação ao Atlântico e às suas ilhas.

Preparing for a post-Yanukovich Ukraine. CEPS Commentary, 3 February 2014

Surveying the political and economic problems that plague Ukraine today, Michael Emerson warns in this commentary that unless strong and sound fresh governance structures are immediately put into place, the political dynamics will lead to catastrophic radicalisation, chaos and conflict. He calls upon the EU, elected by the Ukrainian street as honorary sponsor of the EuroMaidan, to prepare for this contingency now, observing that emergency situations require emergency measures.

Teolog fundamentalny wobec ataku Przypadku, Nieokreśloności, Prawdopodobieństwa, Dwuznaczności, Wieloznaczności?

Postmodernizm prezentuje postawę akceptacji Nieładu, Chaosu i Przypadku. Czy istnieje moż- liwość dialogu z taką postawą? Postmodernizm powstaje jako bunt na pograniczu filozofii i estetyki. Kontestuje zastany Ład. Sprzeciwia się kartezjańskiemu Cogito ergo sum oraz podziałowi na res cogitans i res extensa. Jest to ruch kulturowy, który nie ma jeszcze swojego ostatecznego wyrazu. Jest on ciągle postrzegany jako proces przechodzenia od starego do nowego Ładu. Taki brak dookreślenia budzi niepokój i sprzeciw. Teologia fundamentalna jest badaniem granic i dialogu. Stoi na progu, więc ma obowiązek rozeznać ludzki niepokój w akceptacji otaczającego świata. Musimy zapytać, dlaczego człowiek akceptuje ten Nieład?

Random matrix theory eta aplikazioa kaos kuantikoan

[eus] Gradu amaierako lan honetan ausazko matrizeen teoriari, RMT-ri, buruzko sarrera orokor bat egiten da ondoren aplikazio fisiko bat emateko. Teoriaren aplikazioa egiteko Kaos kuantikoa deritzon fisikaren arloa erabiliko da. Lehenik eta behin, RMT-ren kontzeptu batzuk azalduko dira helburutzat lehen auzokideen distantziaren distribuzioaren espresio lortzea izanik. Izan ere, distribuzio honek erakutsiko baititu Kaosak kuantikoki uzten dituen aztarnak. Bigarren kapituluan, aplikazio fisikoa azalduko da. Lehenengo Kaosean RMT nola aplikatzen den ikusiko da, ondoren adibide batzuen bidez argituz, eremu magnetiko batean dagoen hidrogeno atomoa eta billar kuantikoak izenarekin ezagutzen diren sistemak, batik bat.

Aplicaciones del Caos y la Complejidad en la Cadena de Suministros del Sector Agroindustrial

La presente investigación consiste en determinar las aplicaciones existentes de las teorías del caos y las teorías de la complejidad en la cadena de suministro del sector agroindustrial colombiano. Además, tiene como propósito describir el sector de la agroindustria y la cadena de suministro, identificar los modelos de caos y complejidad y posteriormente determinar cuáles de éstos son aplicables al sector. Se define el caos como una sub-disciplina de las matemáticas que estudia sistemas complejos o dinámicos y tiene inmerso implicaciones filosóficas; por otra parte complejidad es la cualidad que adquiere un sistema en el que hay diversos componentes relacionados. Se ha identificado que en el ámbito colombiano existen diferentes estudios enfocados en la construcción de modelos agroindustriales, donde se adopta el concepto de complejidad para calificar el atributo de dichos modelos que involucran la armonización e integración de diferentes actores, desde los productores hasta los consumidores. En este estudio se emplea un estudio monográfico de tipo documental teniendo como unidad de análisis la cadena de suministro del sector agroindustrial. Los resultados indican que las teorías del caos y complejidad se encuentran presentes dentro de la cadena de suministros del sector agroindustrial colombiano, ya que en ella se ocurre la interconexión entre productores, procesadores y comercializadores, interactuando entre ellos y presentando alteraciones en su comportamiento económico a lo largo del tiempo en función de variaciones de las condiciones iniciales influenciadas por variables macroeconómicas, ambientales, sociales y políticas.

Guided chaos : path planning and control for a UAV-forced landing

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been widely used in combat, and their potential applications in civil and commercial roles are also receiving considerable attention by industry and the research community. There are numerous published reports of UAVs used in Earth science missions [1], fire-fighting [2], and border security [3] trials, with other speculative deployments, including applications in agriculture, communications, and traffic monitoring. However, none of these UAVs can demonstrate an equivalent level of safety to manned aircraft, particularly in the case of an engine failure, which would require an emergency or forced landing. This may be arguably the main factor that has prevented these UAV trials from becoming full-scale commercial operations, as well as restricted operations of civilian UAVs to only within segregated airspace.