Intel HEXL: Accelerating Homomorphic Encryption with Intel AVX512-IFMA52

Modern implementations of homomorphic encryption (HE) rely heavily on polynomial arithmetic over a finite field. This is particularly true of the CKKS, BFV, and BGV HE schemes. Two of the biggest performance bottlenecks in HE primitives and applications are polynomial modular multiplication and the forward and inverse number-theoretic transform (NTT). Here, we introduce Intel Homomorphic Encryption Acceleration Library (Intel HEXL), a C++ library which provides optimized implementations of polynomial arithmetic for Intel processors. Intel HEXL takes advantage of the recent Intel Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (Intel AVX512) instruction set to provide state-of-the-art implementations of the NTT and modular multiplication. On the forward and inverse NTT, Intel HEXL provides up to 7.2x and 6.7x speedup, respectively, over a native C++ implementation. Intel HEXL also provides up to 6.0x speedup on the element-wise vector-vector modular multiplication, and 1.7x speedup on the element-wise vector-scalar modular multiplication. Intel HEXL is available open-source at https://github.com/intel/hexl under the Apache 2.0 license and has been adopted by the Microsoft SEAL and PALISADE homomorphic encryption libraries

Hydrological Foundation as a Basis for a Holistic Environmental Flow Assessment of Tropical Highland Rivers in Ethiopia

The sustainable development of water resources includes retaining some amount of the natural flow regime in water bodies to protect and maintain aquatic ecosystem health and the human livelihoods and wellbeing dependent upon them. Although assessment of environmental flows is now occurring globally, limited studies have been carried out in the Ethiopian highlands, especially studies to understand flow-ecological response relationships. This paper establishes a hydrological foundation of Gumara River from an ecological perspective. The data analysis followed three steps: first, determination of the current flow regime flow indices and ecologically relevant flow regime; second, naturalization of the current flow regime looking at how flow regime is changing; and, finally, an initial exploration of flow linkages with ecological processes. Flow data of Gumara River from 1973 to 2018 are used for the analysis. Monthly low flow occurred from December to June; the lowest being in March, with a median flow of 4.0 m(3) s(-1). Monthly high flow occurred from July to November; the highest being in August, with a median flow of 236 m(3) s(-1). 1-Day low flows decreased from 1.55 m(3) s(-1) in 1973 to 0.16 m(3) s(-1) in 2018, and 90-Day (seasonal) low flow decreased from 4.9 m(3) s(-1) in 1973 to 2.04 m(3) s(-1) in 2018. The Mann-Kendall trend test indicated that the decrease in low flow was significant for both durations at alpha = 0.05. A similar trend is indicated for both durations of high flow. The decrease in both low flows and high flows is attributed to the expansion of pump irrigation by 29 km(2) and expansion of plantations, which resulted in an increase of NDVI from 0.25 in 2000 to 0.29 in 2019. In addition, an analysis of environmental flow components revealed that only four "large floods" appeared in the last 46 years; no "large flood" occurred after 1988. Lacking "large floods" which inundate floodplain wetlands has resulted in early disconnection of floodplain wetlands from the river and the lake; which has impacts on breeding and nursery habitat shrinkage for migratory fish species in Lake Tana. On the other hand, the extreme decrease in "low flow" components has impacts on pin smaller pools. These results serve as the hydrological foundation for continued studies in the Gumara catchment, with the eventual goal of quantifying environmental flow requirements.redators, reducing their mobility and ability to access prey concentrate

Evaluation and application of multi-source satellite rainfall product CHIRPS to assess spatio-temporal rainfall variability on data-sparse Western margins of Ethiopian Highlands

The spatio-temporal characteristic of rainfall in the Beles Basin of Ethiopia is poorly understood, mainly due to lack of data. With recent advances in remote sensing, satellite derived rainfall products have become alternative sources of rainfall data for such poorly gauged areas. The objectives of this study were: (i) to evaluate a multi-source rainfall product (Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations: CHIRPS) for the Beles Basin using gauge measurements and (ii) to assess the spatial and temporal variability of rainfall across the basin using validated CHIRPS data for the period 1981-2017. Categorical and continuous validation statistics were used to evaluate the performance, and time-space variability of rainfall was analyzed using GIS operations and statistical methods. Results showed a slight overestimation of rainfall occurrence by CHIRPS for the lowland region and underestimation for the highland region. CHIRPS underestimated the proportion of light daily rainfall events and overestimated the proportion of high intensity daily rainfall events. CHIRPS rainfall amount estimates were better in highland regions than in lowland regions, and became more accurate as the duration of the integration time increases from days to months. The annual spatio-temporal analysis result using CHIRPS revealed: a mean annual rainfall of the basin is 1490 mm (1050-2090 mm), a 50 mm increase of mean annual rainfall per 100 m elevation rise, periodical and persistent drought occurrence every 8 to 10 years, a significant increasing trend of rainfall (similar to 5 mm year(-1)), high rainfall variability observed at the lowland and drier parts of the basin and high coefficient of variation of monthly rainfall in March and April (revealing occurrence of bimodal rainfall characteristics). This study shows that the performance of CHIRPS product can vary spatially within a small basin level, and CHIRPS can help for better decision making in poorly gauged areas by giving an option to understand the space-time variability of rainfall characteristics

Study Of Mechanical Alloying Of Sm And Fe

Mechanical alloying of Sm and Fe with the composition of SmFe3 was studied using x-ray-diffraction (XRD), Mossbauer, and magnetization measurements. Data taken as a function of milling time for up to 20 h show significant changes occurring during ball milling. The XRD studies show that the initial crystalline Bragg reflections changed to a broad maximum, which is attributed to the formation of an amorphous phase. The initial six-line pattern in the Mossbauer spectrum, characteristic of magnetic ordering, changed to a broad singlet, characteristic of a nonmagnetic material. Magnetization measurements revealed that the coercive field was at its maximum after 5 h of milling and decreased sharply as the milling time increased. The remanent magnetization was at its maximum between 5 and 10 h of milling. The final product of the ball milling, which exhibited the characteristics of an amorphous paramagnetic material in its XRD and Mossbauer spectrum, was studied after heat treatment. The XRD and the Mossbauer spectra of the heat treated alloy show that substantial changes occurred during heat treatment in that sharp Bragg reflections, characteristic of crystalline materials, reappear and the alloy changed from a paramagnetic to a ferromagnetic state. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics

Development of microsatellite markers for Permit (Trachinotus falcatus), cross-amplification in Florida Pompano (T. carolinus) and Palometa (T. goodei), and species delineation using microsatellite markers

Three of the 20 species in the genus Trachinotus, in the jack family, Carangidae, are found in Florida waters. These are Florida Pompano (T. carolinus), Permit (T. falcatus), and Palometa (T. goodei). Florida Pompano is a coastal pelagic species found in estuarine and marine waters; it spawns in multiple batches in offshore waters. Permit is the largest and longest lived of the three species and also spawns offshore in multiple batches, near reefs. As adults, Permit can be found nearshore and offshore and are often associated with reefs, but as juveniles they are common estuarine inhabitants. Palometa is a marine species, similar in size to Florida Pompano, and has the widest latitudinal distribution of the three species. Palometa spawn in offshore waters throughout the year with two peaks of activity. All three species support commercial or recreational fisheries on both the Gulf of Mexico coast and Atlantic coast of Florida. Very little has been done to evaluate movement patterns of Trachinotus species. Based on a few tagging studies, it appears that Pompano do not travel far from coastal waters. The only preliminary investigation of genetic stock structure for the Florida Pompano population from Tampa Bay, FL, and Puerto Rico was based on microsatellite markers developed for the Pompano. The report’s key conclusion was that Pompano from Puerto Rico and from Florida belong to two highly distinct genetic stocks. This study was conducted to re-examine, using different microsatellite markers, the genetic status of Pompano stocks in Florida and Puerto Rico. The objectives of this study, therefore, were the following: 1) to develop microsatellite markers for Permit; 2) to cross-amplify the markers in Pompano and Palometa; and 3) to use these markers to confirm the status of Puerto Rico Pompano as a novel genetic stock using the methods of Bayesian population assignment, phylogenetic clustering, and factorial correspondence analysis. ... Three methods were used to investigate the relationship among the taxa using the microsatellite genotype data obtained from the samples. The results from the three analytical methods, based on Bayesian population assignment tests, phylogenetic clustering, and factorial correspondence analysis of genetic relationships among the four Trachinotus samples, showed that Florida and Puerto Rico Pompano samples belong to two highly distinct gene pools. But other multiple molecular tools, particularly nuclear-DNA sequences from many introns, and nonmolecular tools, such as morphological and meristic data, should be used together to determine species-level categorical designation for the Puerto Rico Pompano

Factors in the suboptimum performance of rural water supply systems in the Ethiopian highlands

Access to safe drinking water services in the Ethiopian Highlands is one of lowest worldwide due to failure of water supply services shortly after construction. Over hundred water supply systems were surveyed to find the underlying causes of failure and poor performance throughout the Amhara Regional State. The results show generally that systems with decision-making power at the community level during design and construction remained working longer than when the decisions were made by a central authority. In addition, the sustainability was better for water systems that were farther away from alternative water resources and contributed more cash and labour. The results of this study of the importance of decision-making at the local level in contrast to the central authority is directly applicable to the introduction of rain water management systems as shown by earlier efforts of installing rain water harvesting systems in the Ethiopian highlands

Potential of Water Hyacinth Infestation on Lake Tana, Ethiopia: A Prediction Using a GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Technique

Water hyacinth is a well-known invasive weed in lakes across the world and harms the aquatic environment. Since 2011, the weed has invaded Lake Tana substantially posing a challenge to the ecosystem services of the lake. The major factors which affect the growth of the weed are phosphorus, nitrogen, temperature, pH, salinity, and lake depth. Understanding and investigating the hotspot areas is vital to predict the areas for proper planning of interventions. The main objective of this study is therefore to predict the hotspot areas of the water hyacinth over the surface of the lake using the geographical information system (GIS)-based multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) technique. The main parameters used in the multi-criteria analysis were total phosphorus (\u3e0.08 mg L−1), total nitrogen (\u3e1.1 mg L−1), temperature (\u3c26.2 °C), pH (\u3c8.6), salinity (\u3c0.011%), and depth (\u3c6 m). These parameters were collected from 143 sampling sites on the lake in August, December (2016), and March (2017). Fuzzy overlay spatial analysis was used to overlay the different parameters to obtain the final prediction map of water hyacinth infestation areas. The results indicated that 24,969 ha (8.1%), 21,568.7 ha (7.1%), and 24,036 ha (7.9%) of the lake are susceptible to invasion by the water hyacinth in August, December, and March, respectively. At the maximum historical lake level, 30,728.4 ha will be the potential susceptible area for water hyacinth growth and expansion at the end of the rainy season in August. According to the result of this study, the north and northeastern parts of the lake are highly susceptible for invasion. Hence, water hyacinth management and control plans shall mainly focus on the north and northeastern part of Lake Tana and upstream contributing watersheds