25 research outputs found
Banaras jyotirliṅgas: constitution and transformations of a transposed divine group and its pilgrimage
No full textBanaras (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India) is renowned as one of the more notable pilgrimage destinations of India. The ways of approaching and investigating the sacred landscape and the religious practices of this city varied throughout times and are still a matter of discussion among scholars. The author firstly addresses this debate in order to re-conceptualize the need and intents of writing (still) about Banaras and its mainstream religious traditions. The contribution addresses one common pattern of Indian sacred geography, that is the spatial transposition of gods. The article, in fact, goes through the formation path of a transposed group of pan-Indian deities, namely the jyotirliṅgas, in a city which is presented by eulogistic literature as a universal tīrtha, where all sacred centres and gods dwell. Through the analysis of textual and visual material the author shows how these divine forms have been produced in the city’s territory throughout time and projected spatially in the various shrines and, eventually, in a procession. The pilgrimage circuit connected with the twelve local jyotirliṅgas is investigated as a recent and evolving practice of Banaras religious life and its currently deviating path is shown as something to be constantly rephrased and negotiated. Ritual transformations appear as challenged by the need to adapt and survive in a developing urban context, where sacred space is shared, contested and cyclically re-written
Near-Optimal Private Information Retrieval with Preprocessing
Get PDFIn Private Information Retrieval (PIR), a client wishes to access an index from a public -bit database without revealing any information about . Recently, a series of works starting with the seminal paper of Corrigan-Gibbs and Kogan (EUROCRYPT 2020) considered PIR with \emph{client preprocessing} and \emph{no additional server storage}. In this setting, we now have protocols that achieve (amortized) server time and (amortized) bandwidth in the two-server model (Shi et al., CRYPTO 2021) as well as server time and bandwidth in the single-server model (Corrigan-Gibbs et al., EUROCRYPT 2022). Given existing lower bounds, a single-server PIR scheme with (amortized) server time and (amortized) bandwidth is still feasible, however, to date, no known protocol achieves such complexities. In this paper we fill this gap by constructing the first single-server PIR scheme with (amortized) server time and (amortized) bandwidth. Our scheme achieves near-optimal (optimal up to polylogarithmic factors) asymptotics in every relevant dimension.
Central to our approach is a new cryptographic primitive that we call an adaptable pseudorandom set: With an adaptable pseudorandom set, one can represent a large pseudorandom set with a succinct fixed-size key , and can both add to and remove from the set a constant number of elements by manipulating the key , while maintaining its concise description as well as its pseudorandomness (under a certain security definition)
Single Pass Client-Preprocessing Private Information Retrieval
Get PDFRecently, many works have considered Private Information Retrieval (PIR) with client-preprocessing: In this model a client and a server jointly run a preprocessing phase, after which client queries can run in time sublinear in the size of the database. In addition, such approaches store no additional bits per client at the server, allowing us to scale PIR to a large number of clients.
In this work, we propose the first client-preprocessing PIR scheme with ``single pass\u27\u27 client-preprocessing. In particular, our scheme is concretely optimal with respect to preprocessing, in the sense that it requires exactly one linear pass over the database. This is in stark contrast with existing works, whose preprocessing is proportional to , where is the security parameter (e.g., ). Our approach yields a preprocessing speedup of 45-100 and a query speedup of up to 20 when compared to previous state-of-the-art schemes (e.g., Checklist, USENIX 2021), making preprocessing PIR more attractive for a myriad of use cases that are ``session-based\u27\u27.
In addition to fast preprocessing, our scheme features extremely fast updates (additions and edits)---in constant time. Previously, the best known approach for handling updates in client-preprocessing PIR had time complexity , while also adding a factor to the bandwidth. We implement our update algorithm and show concrete speedups of about 20 in update time when compared to the previous state-of-the-art updatable scheme (e.g., Checklist, USENIX 2021)
TreePIR: Sublinear-Time and Polylog-Bandwidth Private Information Retrieval from DDH
Get PDFIn Private Information Retrieval (PIR), a client wishes to retrieve the value of an index from a public database of values without leaking information about the index . In their recent seminal work, Corrigan-Gibbs and Kogan (EUROCRYPT 2020) introduced the first two-server PIR protocol with sublinear amortized server time and sublinear, bandwidth. In a followup work, Shi et al. (CRYPTO 2021) reduced the bandwidth to polylogarithmic by proposing a construction based on privately puncturable pseudorandom functions, a primitive whose only construction known to date is based on heave cryptographic primitives. Partly because of this, their PIR protocol does not achieve concrete efficiency.
In this paper we propose TreePIR, a two-server PIR protocol with sublinear amortized server time and polylogarithmic bandwidth whose security can be based on just the DDH assumption. TreePIR can be partitioned in two phases, both sublinear: The first phase is remarkably simple and only requires pseudorandom generators. The second phase is a single-server PIR protocol on \emph{only} indices, for which we can use the protocol by D\ ottling et al. (CRYPTO 2019) based on DDH, or, for practical purposes, the most concretely efficient single-server PIR protocol. Not only does TreePIR achieve better asymptotics than previous approaches while resting on weaker cryptographic assumptions, but it also outperforms existing two-server PIR protocols in practice. The crux of our protocol is a new cryptographic primitive that we call weak privately puncturable pseudorandom functions, which we believe can have further applications
Entre teorias, memórias e entrevistas : Miguel Reale revisita o Integralismo
Get PDFEste trabalho procura fazer uma interpretação do integralismo de Miguel Reale, a partir das suas obras originais, escritas na década de 1930, além de analisar de que forma o autor atualiza as suas ideias sobre o integralismo, segundo depoimentos e outras fontes posteriores. Nos seus textos teóricos do integralismo, Reale se coloca em oposição à filosofia liberal, desenvolvendo um estilo de pensamento que é comum aos conservadores. Relacionando as fontes mais recentes, onde Reale reforma sua visão do integralismo, com os textos originais que desenvolvem a organização do Estado Integral, o autor tenta suavizar a sua versão daquele movimento, omitindo alguns aspectos mais autoritários, enfatizando e relativizando outros elementos que são mais digeríveis ao público contemporâneo.This work seeks to make an interpretation of the Miguel Reale’s integralism, starting from his original works written in the 1930s, in addition to analyze how the author updates his ideas about the integralism, according to statements and other later sources. In his theoretical texts of integralism, Reale puts himself in opposition to the liberal philosophy, developing a style of thinking that is common to conservatives. Relating the most recent sources, where Reale reforms his vision of the integralism, with the original texts that develop the organization of the Integral State, the author tries to soften his version of that movement, omitting some more authoritarian aspects, emphasizing and relativizing other elements that are more digestible to the contemporary public
'La schifezza, madre della corruzione'. Peste e società nella Firenze della prima età moderna: 1630-1631
No full textThis article examines the last great epidemic of plague to affect Tuscany, in 1630-31. The aim is re-assess the effectiveness of government reactions in relation to contemporary perceptions of the nature of plague and their understanding of how it was transmitted. These measures included taking surveys of the sanitary conditions within the city, since it was believed that ‘filth is the mother of corruption’, which itself was seen as leading to and causing sickness; establishing Lazzaretti or isolation hospitals; and finally establishing a quarantine of the whole city’s resident population. It is then asked how effective were these measures in relation to both contemporary understanding of plague and also from a modern demographic perspective. Central to this enquiry is an analysis of the statistics produced during the epidemic by the directors of the Lazzaretti of those who entered, recovered or died as well as the records of those buried in the plague pits or Camposanto. However, once these findings are placed within the wider demographic context, and in particular in relation to burials in one of the largest parishes of the city, S. Lorenzo, it becomes evident how unsatisfactory are the traditional mono-causal models of epidemic disease. It is suggested that high mortality in 1630-1 was due to a mixed mortality crisis which may have included not just plague but also an epidemic of typhus. (author version
A PRODUÇÃO DA EXPERIÊNCIA PRODUTIVA: a tarefa do escritor em Benjamin e Kierkegaard
Get PDFThis paper aims to analyze how Walter Benjamin's reflections on narration, on the figure of the author and on experience allow us to think about what could be, in the time after the crisis of the novel – and of all narratives – the writer's task. In his writings, Benjamin gives indications on what would be the contours of such a writer's task, however without clearly and conceptually explaining how this issue should be thought about in a terrain that aims to overcome the problem of impoverishment of experience that affects the core of narrative and therefore of literary writing. Seeking to fill some gaps left by Benjamin's contributions, this paper also sought to analyze how Søren Kierkegaard's reflections on the relationship between experience, existence and literary writing can help to understand this theme, especially with regard to the concept of life-view as a fundamental point of understanding about the narrative construction.O presente trabalho visa a analisar de que maneira as reflexões de Walter Benjamin sobre a narração, sobre a figura do autor e sobre a experiência permitem pensar qual seria, no tempo após a crise do romance – e de toda narrativa –, a tarefa do escritor. Em seus textos, Benjamin dá indicações sobre quais seriam os contornos de tal tarefa do escritor, contudo sem explicitar clara e conceitualmente de que maneira se deveria pensar essa questão em um terreno que vise a superar o problema do empobrecimento da experiência que afeta o âmago da narrativa e, portanto, da escrita literária. Buscando preencher algumas lacunas deixadas pelas contribuições benjaminianas, o presente trabalho também buscou analisar de que maneira as reflexões de Søren Kierkegaard sobre a relação entre experiência, existência e escrita literária podem auxiliar a compreensão do referido tema, sobretudo no que diz respeito ao conceito de visão-de-vida como ponto fundamental da compreensão sobre a construção narrativa
Robust Double Auctions for Resource Allocation
Get PDFIn a zero-knowledge proof market, we have two sides. On one side, bidders with proofs of different sizes and some private value to have this proof computed. On the other side, we have distributors (also called sellers) which have compute available to process the proofs by the bidders, and these distributors have a certain private cost to process these proofs (dependent on the size). More broadly, this setting applies to any online resource allocation where we have bidders who desire a certain amount of a resource and distributors that can provide this resource. In this work, we study how to devise double auctions for this setting which are truthful for users, weak group strategy proof, weak budget balanced, computationally efficient, and achieve a good approximation of the maximum welfare possible by the set of bids. We denote such auctions as
MANCUR OLSON E A LÓGICA DA AÇÃO COLETIVA APLICADA AO MST
Get PDFThis paper aims to discuss Mancur Olson ideas about the collective action applied to Landless Workers' Movement(MST) settlements of agrarian reform. The author's idea is that individuals only participate in collective action when these may bring them individual profits. In the present article we try to demonstrate that there's more than personal interest on collective actions strategy. These actions also denote the criation of new values (friendship, solidarity) that don't behave only as purely pragmatic interests.Este artigo busca discutir as ideias de MancurOlson sobre a ação coletiva aplicada a assentamentos de reforma agrária do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST). A ideia de Olson (1999) é que os indivíduos só participam de ações coletivas quando estas possam lhes trazer lucros individuais. No presente artigo tentamos demonstrar que existem mais do que interesse individual nas estratégias de ações coletivas. Nestas ações, denotam-se também a criação de novos valores (amizade, solidariedade) que não se comportam apenas como interesses puramente pragmáticos
The daemonic in the novel Eduard Allwills Briefsammlung’s by Friedrich Jacobi
No full textAs contribuições literárias de Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi foram muito reduzidas às querelas filosóficas nas quais o autor participou. Contudo, Jacobi publicou dois importantes romances que, além da boa acolhida recebida em sua época, dialogaram fortemente com as tendências da época. O presente artigo visa analisar de que maneira o primeiro desses romances, Eduard Allwills Briefsammlung, pode servir como uma importante contribuição para a literaturamoderna e para o estabelecimento de tendências e estruturas posteriormente exploradas desde o romantismo até a literatura contemporânea. Segundo nossa análise, o romance de Jacobi é marcado por um forte traço de negatividade, sendo este elemento inserido através do personagem principal, Eduard Allwill. Ao emular gêneros como o romance epistolar ou o romance filosófico, Jacobi utiliza essa negatividade como uma chave que produz efeitos de suspensão e de subversão na constituição de um novo romance. Nossa análise busca demonstrar como essa negatividade é realizada através do conceito de demoníaco, herdado da filosofia e convertido em um dos principais componentes da literatura moderna.As contribuições literárias de Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi foram muito reduzidas àsquerelas filosóficas nas quais o autor participou. Contudo, Jacobi publicou dois importantesromances que, além da boa acolhida recebida em sua época, dialogaram fortemente com astendências da época. O presente artigo visa analisar de que maneira o primeiro desses romances,Eduard Allwills Briefsammlung, pode servir como uma importante contribuição para a literaturamoderna e para o estabelecimento de tendências e estruturas posteriormente exploradas desde oromantismo até a literatura contemporânea. Segundo nossa análise, o romance de Jacobi émarcado por um forte traço de negatividade, sendo este elemento inserido através do personagemprincipal, Eduard Allwill. Ao emular gêneros como o romance epistolar ou o romance filosófico,Jacobi utiliza essa negatividade como uma chave que produz efeitos de suspensão e de subversãona constituição de um novo romance. Nossa análise busca demonstrar como essa negatividade érealizada através do conceito de demoníaco, herdado da filosofia e convertido em um dosprincipais componentes da literatura moderna.Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi\u27s literary contributions were largely reduced to the philosophical squabbles in which the author participated. However, Jacobi published two important novels which in addition to the good reception they received at the time also c
onversed strongly with the trends of their era. This article aims to analyze how the first of these novels,
Eduard Allwills Briefsammlung , might be seen as an important contribution to modern literature and to the establishment of trends and structures whi
ch were later explored from romanticism on
up to contemporary literature. According to our analysis, Jacobi\u27s novel is marked by a strong trait
of negativity, and this element is inserted through the main character, Eduard Allwill. By emulating genres such as the epistolary novel or the philosophical novel, Jacobi uses this negativity as a key which produces effects of suspension and subversion in the constitution of a new kind of novel. Our analysis seeks to demonstrate how this negativity is realized thro ugh the concept of the daemonic, inherited from philosophy, and then converted into one of the main components of modern literature
