463 research outputs found
Towards Realising Post-Quantum Secure ElectionGuard
ElectionGuard is a toolkit used to enable end-to-end verification of elections. Since
ElectionGuard uses exponential ElGamal, it is vulnerable to later vote decryption when
faced with quantum adversaries. Therefore, to avoid influences on voter behaviour, a
post-quantum adaption of ElectionGuard is needed to make the toolkits usage secure for
the foreseeable future.
In this work, we present cryptographic components that can be used to construct a
post-quantum version of ElectionGuard. We use the homomorphic encryption scheme
BGV and the commitment scheme BDLOP in a lattice setting. Applying existing and
new zero knowledge proofs, we construct the elements needed to show that votes are
well-formed and later aggregated correctly. As a final step, we show how to verifiably
decrypt the resulting tally.
In this paper, we lay the foundation for realising post-quantum secure ElectionGuard.
We provide the components for post-quantum vote encryption, aggregation, tallying and
verifiable decryption. Our work can be extended by distributed key generation and the
components for end-to-end verification
Three-dimensional hydrodynamical CO5BOLD model atmospheres of red giant stars VI. First chromosphere model of a late-type giant
Although observational data unequivocally point out to the presence of
chromospheres in red giant stars, no attempts have been made so far to model
them using 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres. We therefore compute an
exploratory 3D hydrodynamical model atmosphere for a cool red giant in order to
study the dynamical and thermodynamic properties of its chromosphere, as well
as the influence of the chromosphere on its observable properties. 3D radiation
hydrodynamics simulations are carried out with the CO5BOLD model atmosphere
code for a star with the atmospheric parameters (Teff=4010 K, log g=1.5,
[M/H]=0.0), which are similar to those of the K-type giant star Aldebaran
(alpha Tau). ... we compute the emergent continuum intensity maps at different
wavelengths, spectral line profiles of Ca II K, the Ca II infrared triplet line
at 854.2nm, and H alpha, as well as the spectral energy distribution (SED) of
the emergent radiative flux. The initial model quickly develops a dynamical
chromosphere characterised by propagating and interacting shock waves. The peak
temperatures in the chromospheric shock fronts reach values on the order of up
to 5000 K although the shock fronts remain quite narrow. Like for the Sun, the
gas temperature distribution in the upper layers is composed of a cool
component due to adiabatic cooling in the expanding post-shock regions and a
hot component due to shock waves. For this red giant model, the hot component
is a rather flat high-temperature tail, which nevertheless affects the
resulting average temperatures significantly. The simulations show that the
atmospheres of red giant stars are dynamic and intermittent. Consequently, many
observable properties cannot be reproduced with one-dimensional static models
but demand for advanced 3D HD modelling. Furthermore, including a chromosphere
in the models might produce significant contributions to the emergent UV flux.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, A&A (2017, accepted
Direct measurement of the nonconservative force field generated by optical tweezers
The force field of optical tweezers is commonly assumed to be conservative,
neglecting the complex action of the scattering force. Using a novel method
that extracts local forces from trajectories of an optically trapped particle,
we measure the three dimensional force field experienced by a Rayleigh particle
with 10 nm spatial resolution and femtonewton precision in force. We find that
the force field is nonconservative with the nonconservative component
increasing radially away from the optical axis, in agreement with the Gaussian
beam model of the optical trap. Together with thermal position fluctuations of
the trapped particle, the presence of the nonconservative force can cause a
complex flux of energy into the optical trap depending on the experimental
conditions
Effects of Instrumentality and Personal Force on Deontological and Utilitarian Inclinations in Harm-Related Moral Dilemmas
Moral dilemmas often concern actions that involve causing harm to others in the attempt to prevent greater harm. But not all actions of this kind are equal in terms of their moral evaluation. In particular, a harm-causing preventive action is typically regarded as less acceptable if the harm is a means to achieve the goal of preventing greater harm than if it is a foreseen but unintended side-effect of the action. Likewise, a harm-causing preventive action is typically deemed less acceptable if it directly produces the harm than if it merely initiates a process that brings about the harmful consequence by its own dynamics. We report three experiments that investigated to which degree these two variables, the instrumentality of the harm (harm as means vs. side-effect; Experiments 1, 2, and 3) and personal force (personal vs. impersonal dilemmas; Experiments 2 and 3) influence deontological (harm-rejection) and utilitarian (outcome-maximization) inclinations that have been hypothesized to underly moral judgments in harm-related moral dilemmas. To measure these moral inclinations, the process dissociation procedure was used. The results suggest that the instrumentality of the harm and personal force affect both inclinations, but in opposite ways. Personal dilemmas and dilemmas characterized by harm as a means evoked higher deontological tendencies and lower utilitarian tendencies, than impersonal dilemmas and dilemmas where the harm was a side-effect. These distinct influences of the two dilemma conceptualization variables went undetected if the conventional measure of moral inclinations, the proportion of harm-accepting judgments, was analyzed. Furthermore, although deontological and utilitarian inclinations were found to be largely independent overall, there was some evidence that their correlation depended on the experimental conditions
Errors, fast and slow:An analysis of response times in probability judgments
Based on the Dual-Process Diffusion Model, we tested three hypotheses about response times of errors and correct responses in probability judgments. We predicted that correct responses were (1) slower than errors in the case of conflicting decision processes but (2) faster than errors in the case of alignment; and that they were (3) slower in the case of conflict than in the case of alignment. A binary-choice experiment was conducted in which three types of decision problems elicited conflict or alignment of a deliberative decision process and a heuristic decision process. Consistent with the traditional dual-process architecture, the former captured computational-normative decision strategies and the latter described intuitive-affective aspects of decision making. The hypotheses (1) and (3) were supported, while no statistically significant evidence was found for (2). Implications for the generalisability of the Dual-Process Diffusion Model to slow probability judgments are discussed
A Machine Learning Approach for Automated Fine-Tuning of Semiconductor Spin Qubits
While spin qubits based on gate-defined quantum dots have demonstrated very
favorable properties for quantum computing, one remaining hurdle is the need to
tune each of them into a good operating regime by adjusting the voltages
applied to electrostatic gates. The automation of these tuning procedures is a
necessary requirement for the operation of a quantum processor based on
gate-defined quantum dots, which is yet to be fully addressed. We present an
algorithm for the automated fine-tuning of quantum dots, and demonstrate its
performance on a semiconductor singlet-triplet qubit in GaAs. The algorithm
employs a Kalman filter based on Bayesian statistics to estimate the gradients
of the target parameters as function of gate voltages, thus learning the system
response. The algorithm's design is focused on the reduction of the number of
required measurements. We experimentally demonstrate the ability to change the
operation regime of the qubit within 3 to 5 iterations, corresponding to 10 to
15 minutes of lab-time
Usable Verifiable Secrecy-Preserving E-Voting
In this paper we propose the usage of QR-Codes to enable
usable veriable e-voting schemes based on code voting. The idea { from a
voter\u27s perspective { is to combine code voting proposed by Chaum with
the cast-as-intended verication mechanism used e.g. in Switzerland (using
a personal initialization code, return codes per option, a conrmation code
and a nalisation code); while all codes to be entered into the e-voting
system by voters are available as QR-Code (i.e. one personalised QR
voting code per voting option and one personal conrmation QR-Code).
We conduct a user study to evaluate the usability and user experience
of such an approach: both the code sheets and the election webpage are
based on usability research in this area but adopted for our idea. As
our proposal performs good wrt. usability, we discuss how such usable
front-ends enable more secure e-voting systems in respect to end-to-end
veriability and vote secrecy
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