Parallel encryption of input and output data for HPC applications

Author(s):  
Leigh Lapworth

A methodology for protecting confidential data sets on third-party HPC systems is reported. This is based on the NIST AES algorithm and supports the common ECB, CTR and CBC modes. The methodology is built on a flexible programming model that delegates management of the encryption key to the application code. The methodology also includes a fine-grain control over which arrays on the files are encrypted. All the stages in an encrypted workflow are investigated using an established CFD code. Benchmarks are reported using the UK national supercomputer service (ARCHER) running the CFD code on up to 18,432 cores. Performance benchmarks demonstrate the importance of the way the encryption metadata is treated. Naïve treatments are shown to have a large impact on performance. However, through a more judicious treatment, the time to run the solver with encrypted input and output data is shown to be almost identical to that with plain data. A novel parallel treatment of the block chaining in AES-CBC mode allows users to benefit from the avalanche properties of this mode relative to the CTR mode, with no penalty in run-time.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7354
Author(s):  
Jiekun Song ◽  
Xiaoping Ma ◽  
Rui Chen

Reverse logistics is an important way to realize sustainable production and consumption. With the emergence of professional third-party reverse logistics service providers, the outsourcing model has become the main mode of reverse logistics. Whether the distribution of cooperative profit among multiple participants is fair or not determines the quality of the implementation of the outsourcing mode. The traditional Shapley value model is often used to distribute cooperative profit. Since its distribution basis is the marginal profit contribution of each member enterprise to different alliances, it is necessary to estimate the profit of each alliance. However, it is difficult to ensure the accuracy of this estimation, which makes the distribution lack of objectivity. Once the actual profit share deviates from the expectation of member enterprise, the sustainability of the reverse logistics alliance will be affected. This study considers the marginal efficiency contribution of each member enterprise to the alliance and applies it to replace the marginal profit contribution. As the input and output data of reverse logistics cannot be accurately separated from those of the whole enterprise, they are often uncertain. In this paper, we assume that each member enterprise’s input and output data are fuzzy numbers and construct an efficiency measurement model based on fuzzy DEA. Then, we define the characteristic function of alliance and propose a modified Shapley value model to fairly distribute cooperative profit. Finally, an example comprising of two manufacturing enterprises, one sales enterprise, and one third-party reverse logistics service provider is put forward to verify the model’s feasibility and effectiveness. This paper provides a reference for the profit distribution of the reverse logistics.


Author(s):  
Raghavendra S. ◽  
Nithyashree K. ◽  
Geeta C.M. ◽  
Rajkumar Buyya ◽  
Venugopal K. R. ◽  
...  

This paper involves a cloud computing environment in which the dataowner outsource the similarity search service to a third party service provider. Privacy of the outsourced data is important because they may be confidential data. The data should be made available to the authorized client groups, but not to be revealed to the service provider in which the data is stored. Given this scenario, the paper presents a technique called RSSMSO which has build phase, query phase, data transformation and search phase. The build phase and the query phase are about uploading the data and querying the data respectively; the data transformation phase transforms the data before submitting it to the service provider for similarity queries on the transformed data; search phase involves searching similar object with respect to query object. The RSSMSO technique provides enhanced query accuracy with low communication cost. Experiments have been carried out on real data sets which exhibits that the proposed work is capable of providing privacy and achieving accuracy at a low cost in comparison with FDH


Author(s):  
Eric Golson

ABSTRACTIn September 1939, Portugal made a realist strategic choice to preserve the Portuguese Empire maintaining by its neutrality and also remaining an ally of Great Britain. While the Portuguese could rely largely on their colonies for raw materials to sustain the mainland, the country had long depended on British transportation for these goods and the Portuguese military. With the British priority now given to war transportation, Portugal's economy and Empire were particularly vulnerable. The Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar sought to mitigate this damage by maintaining particularly friendly financial relations with the British government, including increased exports of Portuguese merchandise and services and permission to accumulate credits in Sterling to cover deficits in the balance of payments. This paper gives an improved set of comprehensive statistics for the Anglo-Portuguese and German–Portuguese relationships, reported in Pounds and according to international standards. The reported statistics include the trade in merchandise, services, capital flows, loans and third-party transfers of funds in favour of the British account. When compared with the German statistics, the Anglo-Portuguese figures show the Portuguese government favoured the British in financial relations, an active choice by Salazar to maintain the Portuguese Empire.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 260
Author(s):  
James Ellis ◽  
David John Edwards ◽  
Wellington Didibhuku Thwala ◽  
Obuks Ejohwomu ◽  
Ernest Effah Ameyaw ◽  
...  

This research explores the failure of competitively tendered projects in the UK construction industry to procure the most suited contractor(s) to conduct the works. Such work may have equal relevance for other developed nations globally. This research seeks to teach clients and their representatives that “lowest price” does not mean “best value”, by presenting a case study of a successfully negotiated tender undertaken by a small-to-medium enterprise (SME) contractor; SME studies are relatively scant in academic literature. By applying the “lessons learnt” principle, this study seeks to improve future practice through the development of a novel alternative procurement option (i.e., negotiation). A mixed philosophical stance combining interpretivism and pragmatism was used—interpretivism to critically review literature in order to form the basis of inductive research to discuss negotiation as a viable procurement route, and pragmatism to analyse perceptions of tendering and procurement. The methods used follow a three-stage waterfall process including: (1) literature review and pilot study; (2) quantitative analysis of case study data; and (3) qualitative data collection via a focus group. Our research underscores the need to advise clients and their representatives of the importance of understanding the scope of works allowed within a tender submission before discounting it based solely on price. In addition, we highlight the failings of competitive tendering, which results in increased costs and project duration once the works commence on site. These findings provide new contemporary insight into procurement and tendering in the construction industry, with emphasis on SME contractors, existing relationships, and open-book negotiation. This research illustrates the adverse effects of early cost estimates produced without first securing a true understanding of project buildability and programming. Our work concludes with a novel insight into an alternative procurement option that involves early SME contractor involvement in an open-book environment, without the need for a third-party cost control.


2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (11) ◽  
pp. 1928-1945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thais Paiva ◽  
Avishek Chakraborty ◽  
Jerry Reiter ◽  
Alan Gelfand

2005 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 0550003 ◽  
Author(s):  
EPHRAIM CLARK ◽  
AMRIT JUDGE

In this paper, we use survey data and data from annual reports to identify the determinants of hedging activity of United Kingdom (UK) firms in the context of an overall program of risk management. Comparing the two sets of data makes it possible to identify misclassified firms, that is, firms whose hedging claims are not consistent across the two data sets. Our results on the consistent data show that the likelihood of hedging is related to growth options, foreign currency exposure, liquidity and economies of scale in hedging costs. Contrary to many previous US studies, we also find strong evidence linking the decision to hedge and the expected costs of financial distress. Results for the misclassified firms suggest that they are actually hedgers that hedge less extensively than the correctly classified (CC) hedgers.


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 516-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Crooks ◽  
P. S. Naden

Abstract. This paper describes the development of a semi-distributed conceptual rainfall–runoff model, originally formulated to simulate impacts of climate and land-use change on flood frequency. The model has component modules for soil moisture balance, drainage response and channel routing and is grid-based to allow direct incorporation of GIS- and Digital Terrain Model (DTM)-derived data sets into the initialisation of parameter values. Catchment runoff is derived from the aggregation of components of flow from the drainage module within each grid square and from total routed flow from all grid squares. Calibration is performed sequentially for the three modules using different objective functions for each stage. A key principle of the modelling system is the concept of nested calibration, which ensures that all flows simulated for points within a large catchment are spatially consistent. The modelling system is robust and has been applied successfully at different spatial scales to three large catchments in the UK, including comparison of observed and modelled flood frequency and flow duration curves, simulation of flows for uncalibrated catchments and identification of components of flow within a modelled hydrograph. The role of such a model in integrated catchment studies is outlined.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall O´ Dochartaigh ◽  
Isak Svensson

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the mediation exit option, which is one of the most important tactics available to any third party mediator.Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyzes a crucial intermediary channel between the Irish Republican Army (hereafter IRA) and the British Government utilizing unique material from the private papers of the intermediary, Brendan Duddy, including diaries that cover periods of intensive communication, extensive interviews with the intermediary and with participants in this communication on both the British Government and Irish Republican sides as well as recently released official papers from the UK National Archives relating to this communication.FindingsThe study reveals how the intermediary channel was used in order to get information, how the third party and the primary parties traded in asymmetries of information, and how the intermediary utilized the information advantage to increase the credibility of his threats of termination.Research limitations/implicationsThe study outlines an avenue for further research on the termination dynamics of mediation.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the conditions for successfully using the exit‐option is vital for policy‐makers, in particular for peace diplomacy efforts in other contexts than the Northern Ireland one.Originality/valueThe paper challenges previous explanations for why threats by mediators to call off further mediation attempts are successful and argues that a mediator can use the parties' informational dependency on him in order to increase his leverage and push the parties towards settlement.


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