Münster University of Applied Sciences

About: Münster University of Applied Sciences is a education organization based out in Münster, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Luminescence & Laser. The organization has 694 authors who have published 1067 publications receiving 12597 citations.

Laser-Induced Short Time Scale Thermal Chemistry of Perfluoropolyether Lubricant Films

Abstract: The authors investigate the effect of heating a perfluoropolyether lubricant film in a localized area for relatively short time periods using laser irradiation versus conventional oven heating. These experiments help provide understanding on how flash temperatures generated at frictional contacts affect the thermal chemistry of lubricant films. In these experiments, a CO{sub 2} laser heats a 50 {micro}m wide area of a silicon wafer for time periods ranging from 0.1 to 60 s. The surface temperature within the heated area (up to 280 C in these experiments) is monitored with a second laser by measuring the change in reflectivity near the center of the heated area. A major difference observed for laser heating compared to oven heating is that the effective evaporation rate is orders of magnitude higher for laser heating. If the lubricant film is heated for sufficiently long enough time at high temperatures, the authors are able to observe thermal bonding of the lubricant via its alcohol end groups to the silicon oxide surface, followed by thermal decomposition of the lubricant molecules. After laser heating, the authors are able to observe the diffusion of lubricant back into the localized heated area using a combination of optical microscopy andmore » imaging ellipsometry.« less

Mitigation of Attacks on Email End-to-End Encryption

Abstract: OpenPGP and S/MIME are two major standards for securing email communication introduced in the early 1990s. Three recent classes of attacks exploit weak cipher modes (EFAIL Malleability Gadgets, or EFAIL-MG), the flexibility of the MIME email structure (EFAIL Direct Exfiltration, or EFAIL-DE), and the Reply action of the email client (REPLY attacks). Although all three break message confidentiality by using standardized email features, only EFAIL-MG has been mitigated in IETF standards with the introduction of AEAD algorithms. So far, no uniform and reliable countermeasures have been adopted by email clients to prevent EFAIL-DE and REPLY attacks. Instead, email clients implement a variety of different ad-hoc countermeasures which are only partially effective, cause interoperability problems, and fragment the secure email ecosystem. We present the first generic countermeasure against both REPLY and EFAIL-DE attacks by checking the decryption context including SMTP headers and MIME structure during decryption. The decryption context is encoded into a string DC and used as Associated Data (AD) in the AEAD encryption. Thus the proposed solution seamlessly extends the EFAIL-MG countermeasures. The decryption context changes whenever an attacker alters the email source code in a critical way, for example, if the attacker changes the MIME structure or adds a new Reply-To header. The proposed solution does not cause any interoperability problems and legacy emails can still be decrypted. We evaluate our approach by implementing the decryption contexts in Thunderbird/Enigmail and by verifying their correct functionality after the email has been transported over all major email providers, including Gmail and iCloud Mail.

Direct anonymous attestation: enhancing cloud service user privacy

Abstract: We introduce a privacy enhancing cloud service architecture based on the Direct Anonymous Attestation (DAA) scheme. In order to protect user data, the architecture provides cloud users with the abilities of controlling the extent of data sharing among their service accounts. A user is then enabled to link Cloud Service applications in such a way, that his/her personal data are shared only among designated applications. The anonymity of the platform identity is preserved while the integrity of the hardware platform (represented by Trusted Computing configuration register values) is proven to the remote servers. Moreover, the cloud service provider can assess user account activities, which leads to efficient security enforcement measures.

An Experimental and Numerical Study of Tip-Leakage Flows in an Idealized Turbine Tip Gap at High Mach Numbers

Abstract: This paper presents results of a detailed investigation of turbine tip-leakage flows at high Mach numbers. The experimental work was carried out using a small blow-down wind tunnel. An idealized blade test section was used to study blade tip-clearance effects in transonic conditions. Unshrouded blade tips are considered and different tip gap heights are investigated. A high blade exit Mach number of Me = 2 was selected deliberately. While conventional transonic turbine stages generally operate at lower supersonic exit Mach numbers, the conditions are representative for ORC turbines. Both experimental and numerical results are presented in this contribution. The results indicate, that tip leakage flow under transonic conditions leads to a complex three-dimensional flow field. A strong interaction between tip gap vortex and trailing edge shocks was observed, that also had a profound effect on the base region. While no final statement on losses could be made in the present configuration, the results indicate a weakened shock system.