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Data de-identification makes it possible to glean insights from data while preserving user privacy. The use of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) allow for the execution of de-identification applications on the cloud without the need for a user to trust the third-party application provider. In this paper, we present \textit{SPIDEr - Secure Pipeline for Information De-Identification with End-to-End Encryption}, our implementation of an end-to-end encrypted data de-identification pipeline. SPIDEr supports classical anonymisation techniques such as suppression, pseudonymisation, generalisation, and aggregation, as well as techniques that offer a formal privacy guarantee such as k-anonymisation and differential privacy. To enable scalability and improve performance on constrained TEE hardware, we enable batch processing of data for differential privacy computations. We present our design of the control flows for end-to-end secure execution of de-identification operations within a TEE. As part of the control flow for running SPIDEr within the TEE, we perform attestation, a process that verifies that the software binaries were properly instantiated on a known, trusted platform., Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures

We prove that curve shortening flow on the round sphere displays sharp chord-arc improvement, precisely as in the planar setting (Andrews and Bryan, Comm. Anal. Geom., 2011). As in the planar case, the sharp estimate implies control on the curvature, resulting in a direct and efficient proof that simple spherical curves either contract to round points (in finite time) or converge to great circles (in infinite time).

An important set of theorems in geometric analysis consists of constant rank theorems for a wide variety of curvature problems. In this paper, for geometric curvature problems in compact and non-compact settings, we provide new proofs which are both elementary and short. Moreover, we employ our method to obtain constant rank theorems for homogeneous and non-homogeneous curvature equations in new geometric settings. One of the essential ingredients for our method is a generalization of a differential inequality in a viscosity sense satisfied by the smallest eigenvalue of a linear map (Brendle-Choi-Daskalopoulos, Acta Math. 219(2017): 1-16) to the one for the subtrace. The viscosity approach provides a concise way to work around the well known technical hurdle that eigenvalues are only Lipschitz in general. This paves the way for a simple induction argument., Comment: 22 pages

Recent cyber-attacks on power grids highlight the necessity to protect the critical functionalities of a control center vital for the safe operation of a grid. Even in a distributed framework one central control center acts as a coordinator in majority of the control center architectures. Such a control center can become a prime target for cyber as well as physical attacks, and, hence, a single point failure can lead to complete loss of visibility of the power grid. If the control center which runs the critical functions in a distributed computing environment can be randomly chosen between the available control centers in a secure framework, the ability of the attacker in causing a single point failure can be reduced to a great extent. To achieve this, a novel distributed hierarchy based framework to secure critical functions is proposed in this paper. The proposed framework ensures that the data aggregation and the critical functions are carried out at a random location, and incorporates security features such as attestation and trust management to detect compromised agents. A theoretical result is proved on the evolution and convergence of the trust values in the proposed trust management protocol. It is also shown that the system is nominally robust so long as the number of compromised nodes is strictly less than one-half of the nodes minus 1. For demonstration, a Kalman filter-based state estimation using phasor measurements is used as the critical function to be secured. The proposed framework's implementation feasibility is tested on a physical hardware cluster of Parallella boards. The framework is also validated using simulations on the IEEE 118 bus system.

We provide a curvature flow approach to the regular Christoffel-Minkowski problem. The speed of our curvature flow is of an entropy preserving type and contains a global term., Comment: 25 pages

We study the long-time existence and behavior for a class of anisotropic non-homogeneous Gauss curvature flows whose stationary solutions, if exist, solve the regular Orlicz-Minkowski problems. As an application, we obtain old and new results for the regular even Orlicz-Minkowski problems; the corresponding $L_p$ version is the even $L_p$-Minkowski problem for $p>-n-1$. Moreover, employing a parabolic approximation method, we give new proofs of some of the existence results for the general Orlicz-Minkowski problems; the $L_p$ versions are the even $L_p$-Minkowski problem for $p>0$ and the $L_p$-Minkowski problem for $p>1$. In the final section, we use a curvature flow with no global term to solve a class of $L_p$-Christoffel-Minkowski type problems., Comment: 30 pages

We employ curvature flows without global terms to seek strictly convex, spacelike solutions of a broad class of elliptic prescribed curvature equations in the simply connected Riemannian spaceforms and the Lorentzian de Sitter space, where the prescribed function may depend on the position and the normal vector. In particular, in the Euclidean space we solve a class of prescribed curvature measure problems, intermediate $L_p$-Aleksandrov and dual Minkowski problems as well as their counterparts, namely the $L_{p}$-Christoffel-Minkowski type problems. In some cases we do not impose any condition on the anisotropy except positivity, and in the remaining cases our condition resembles the constant rank theorem/convexity principle due to Caffarelli-Guan-Ma (Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 60 (2007), 1769--1791). Our approach does not rely on monotone entropy functionals and it is suitable to treat curvature problems that do not possess variational structures., Comment: 32 pages

This short note is a mostly expository article examining negatively curved three-manifolds. We look at some rigidity properties related to isometric embeddings into Minkowski space. We also review the Cross Curvature Flow (XCF) as a tool to study the space of negatively curved metrics on hyperbolic three-manifolds, the largest and least understood class of model geometries in Thurston's Geometrisation. The relationship between integrability and embedability yields interesting insights, and we show that solutions with fixed Einstein volume are precisely the integrable solutions, answering a question posed by Chow and Hamilton when they introduced the XCF.

We prove differential Harnack inequalities for flows of strictly convex hypersurfaces by powers $p$, $0

We consider rough metrics on smooth manifolds and corresponding Laplacians induced by such metrics. We demonstrate that globally continuous heat kernels exist and are H\"older continuous locally in space and time. This is done via local parabolic Harnack estimates for weak solutions of operators in divergence form with bounded measurable coefficients in weighted Sobolev spaces.

We obtain Harnack estimates for a class of curvature flows in Riemannian manifolds of constant non-negative sectional curvature as well as in the Lorentzian Minkowski and de Sitter spaces. Furthermore, we prove a Harnack estimate with a bonus term for mean curvature flow in locally symmetric Riemannian Einstein manifold of non-negative sectional curvature. Using a concept of "duality" for strictly convex hypersurfaces, we also obtain a new type of inequalities, so-called "pseudo"-Harnack inequalities, for expanding flows in the sphere and in the hyperbolic space.

We study long-time existence and asymptotic behaviour for a class of anisotropic, expanding curvature flows. For this we adapt new curvature estimates, which were developed by Guan, Ren and Wang to treat some stationary prescribed curvature problems. As an application we give a unified flow approach to the existence of smooth, even $L_p$-Minkowski problems in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ for $p>-n-1.$, Comment: 21 pages. Comments are welcome

We consider the evolution of hypersurfaces on the unit sphere $\mathbb{S}^{n+1}$ by smooth functions of the Weingarten map. We introduce the notion of `quasi-ancient' solutions for flows that do not admit non-trivial, convex, ancient solutions. Such solutions are somewhat analogous to ancient solutions for flows such as the mean curvature flow, or 1-homogeneous flows. The techniques presented here allow us to prove that any convex, quasi-ancient solution of a curvature flow which satisfies a backwards in time uniform bound on mean curvature must be stationary or a family of shrinking geodesic spheres. The main tools are geometric, employing the maximum principle, a rigidity result in the sphere and an Alexandrov reflection argument. We emphasize that no homogeneity or convexity/concavity restrictions are placed on the speed, though we do also offer a short classification proof for several such restricted cases., Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure. Slight improvements added to section 6. Comments are welcome

We prove Harnack inequalities for hypersurfaces flowing on the unit sphere by $p$-powers of a strictly monotone, 1-homogeneous, convex, curvature function $f$, $0

We consider the evolution of hypersurfaces on the unit sphere $\mathbb{S}^{n+1}$ by their mean curvature. We prove a differential Harnack inequality for any weakly convex solution to the mean curvature flow. As an application, by applying an Aleksandrov reflection argument, we classify convex, ancient solutions of the mean curvature flow on the sphere., Comment: to appear in Asian J. Math

We prove that the only closed, embedded ancient solutions to the curve shortening flow on $\mathbb{S}^2$ are equators or shrinking circles, starting at an equator at time $t=-\infty$ and collapsing to the north pole at time $t=0$. To obtain the result, we first prove a Harnack inequality for the curve shortening flow on the sphere. Then an application of the Gauss-Bonnet, easily allows us to obtain curvature bounds for ancient solutions leading to backwards smooth convergence to an equator. To complete the proof, we use an Aleksandrov reflection argument to show that maximal symmetry is preserved under the flow., Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, amsart document class Fixed minor errors in Proposition 2.1

A comparison theorem for the isoperimetric profile on the universal cover of surfaces evolving by normalised Ricci flow is proven. For any initial metric, a model comparison is constructed that initially lies below the profile of the initial metric and which converges to the profile of the constant curvature metric. The comparison theorem implies that the evolving metric is bounded below by the model comparison for all time and hence converges to the constant curvature profile. This yields a curvature bound and a bound on the isoperimetric constant, leading to a direct proof that the metric converges to the constant curvature metric., Comment: 26 pages, no figures, amsart document class

We prove a comparison theorem for the isoperimetric profiles of simple closed curves evolving by the normalized curve shortening flow: If the isoperimetric profile of the region enclosed by the initial curve is greater than that of some `model' convex region with exactly four vertices and with reflection symmetry in both axes, then the inequality remains true for the isoperimetric profiles of the evolved regions. We apply this using the Angenent solution as the model region to deduce sharp time-dependent upper bounds on curvature for arbitrary embedded closed curves evolving by the normalized curve shortening flow. A slightly different comparison also gives lower bounds on curvature, and the result is a simple and direct proof of Grayson's theorem without use of any blowup or compactness arguments, Harnack estimates, or classification of self-similar solutions., Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures

We prove a comparison theorem for the isoperimetric profiles of solutions of the normalized Ricci flow on the two-sphere: If the isoperimetric profile of the initial metric is greater than that of some positively curved axisymmetric metric, then the inequality remains true for the isoperimetric profiles of the evolved metrics. We apply this using the Rosenau solution as the model metric to deduce sharp time-dependent curvature bounds for arbitrary solutions of the normalized Ricci flow on the two-sphere. This gives a simple and direct proof of convergence to a constant curvature metric without use of any blowup or compactness arguments, Harnack estimates, or any classification of behaviour near singularities., Comment: 10 pages

A new isoperimetric estimate is proved for embedded closed curves evolving by curve shortening flow, normalized to have total length $2\pi$. The estimate bounds the length of any chord from below in terms of the arc length between its endpoints and elapsed time. Applying the estimate to short segments we deduce directly that the maximum curvature decays exponentially to 1. This gives a self-contained proof of Grayson's theorem which does not require the monotonicity formula or the classification of singularities., Comment: 8 pages, no figures, amsart document class