The human cerebellum has recently been discovered to contribute to cognition and emotion beyond the planning and execution of movement, suggesting its functional heterogeneity. We aimed to identify the functional parcellation of the cerebellum using information from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). For this, we introduced a new data-driven decomposition-based functional parcellation algorithm, called Sparse Dictionary Learning Clustering (SDLC). SDLC integrates dictionary learning, sparse representation of rs-fMRI, and k-means clustering into one optimization problem. The dictionary is comprised of an over-complete set of time course signals, with which a sparse representation of rs-fMRI signals can be constructed. Cerebellar functional regions were then identified using k-means clustering based on the sparse representation of rs-fMRI signals. We solved SDLC using a multi-block hybrid proximal alternating method that guarantees strong convergence. We evaluated the reliability of SDLC and benchmarked its classification accuracy against other clustering techniques using simulated data. We then demonstrated that SDLC can identify biologically reasonable functional regions of the cerebellum as estimated by their cerebello-cortical functional connectivity. We further provided new insights into the cerebello-cortical functional organization in children.

We propose a new basic trapdoor ℓIC (ℓ-Invertible Cycles) of the mixed field type for Multivariate Quadratic public key cryptosystems. This is the first new basic trapdoor since the invention of Unbalanced Oil and Vinegar in 1997. ℓIC can be considered an extended form of the well-known Matsumoto-Imai Scheme A (also MIA or C^∗), and share some features of stagewise triangular systems. However ℓIC has very distinctive properties of its own. In practice, ℓIC is much faster than MIA, and can even match the speed of single-field MQ schemes.

We propose a new efficient hardware implementation of Rainbow signature scheme. We enhance the implementation in three directions. First, we develop a new parallel hardware design for the Gauss-Jordan elimination, and solve a 12 ×12 system of linear equations with only 12 clock cycles. Second, a novel multiplier is designed to speed up multiplication of three elements over a finite field. Third, we design a novel partial multiplicative inverter to speed up the multiplicative inversion of finite field elements. Through further other minor optimizations of the parallelization process and by integrating the major optimizations above, we build a new hardware implementation, which takes only 198 clock cycles to generate a Rainbow signature, a new record in generating digital signatures and four times faster than the 804-clock-cycle Balasubramanian-Bogdanov-Carter-Ding-Rupp design with similar parameters.

The SMS4 block cipher is part of the Chinese WAPI wireless standard. This paper describes the specification and offers a specification for a toy version called simplified SMS4 (S-SMS4). We explore algebraic attacks on SMS4 and S-SMS4 using Gröbner basis attacks on equation systems over GF(2) and GF(2^8), as well as attacks using a SAT solver derived from the GF(2) model. A comparison of SAT and Gröbner basis attacks is provided.

In 1998, Jeffrey Hoffstein, Jill Pipher, and Joseph H. Silverman introduced the famous NTRU cryptosystem, and called it "A ring-based public key cryptosystem". Actually, it turns out to be a lattice based cryptosystem that is resistant to Shor's algorithm. There are several modifications to the original NTRU and two of them are selected as round 2 candidates of NIST post quantum public key scheme standardization. In this paper, we present a simple attack on the original NTRU scheme. The idea comes from Ding et al.'s key mismatch attack. Essentially, an adversary can find information on the private key of a KEM by not encrypting a message as intended but in a manner which will cause a failure in decryption if the private key is in a certain form. In the present, NTRU has the encrypter generating a random polynomial with "small" coefficients, but we will have the coefficients be "large". After this, some further work will create an equivalent key.