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Modern technologies like quantum and cloud computing have reshaped computing, offering immense power and scalability. While beneficial, they also challenge the security of traditional cryptographic systems. Quantum computing threatens RSA and ECC with algorithms like Shor's algorithm, which can accelerate computations exponentially. This risks exposing these systems to attacks, necessitating quantum-resistant cryptography. Cloud computing poses data security concerns, requiring robust cryptographic mechanisms and access controls. Lattice-based cryptography, leveraging problems like the Short Integer Solution (SIS), emerges as a solution. This paper presents a novel quantum-resistant public key encryption scheme based on ElGamal and SIS, ensuring security against quantum and classical threats in modern cryptographic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lattice is the main research subject in the geometry of numbers. SVP refers to finding a shortest nonzero lattice vector in a given lattice, which is thought to be a difficult optimization problem. For general lattice, the integer coefficients of a shortest nonzero vector under a lattice basis might be exponentially large, thus making the simple integer coefficient searching approach impractical. In this paper, we find that for low-dimensional circulant lattices(dimension n ∈ { 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 } ), the integer coefficients of a shortest lattice vector under its circulant basis are actually in a small set S = { - 1 , 0 , 1 } , which makes it easy to find the shortest vector in these cases. Moreover, we present the specific forms of the SVP solutions for low-dimensional circulant lattices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, the longest vector problem and closest vector problem in local fields were introduced, as the -adic analogues of the shortest vector problem and closest vector problem in lattices of Euclidean spaces. They are considered to be hard and useful in constructing cryptographic primitives, but no applications in cryptography were given. In this paper, we construct the first signature scheme and public-key encryption cryptosystem based on -adic lattice by proposing a trapdoor function with the norm-orthogonal basis of -adic lattice. These cryptographic schemes have reasonable key size and the signature scheme is efficient, while the encryption scheme works only for short messages, which shows that -adic lattice can be a new alternative to construct cryptographic primitives and well worth studying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern technologies like quantum and cloud computing have reshaped computing, offering immense power and scalability. While beneficial, they also challenge the security of traditional cryptographic systems. Quantum computing threatens RSA and ECC with algorithms like Shor’s algorithm, which can accelerate computations exponentially. This risks exposing these systems to attacks, necessitating quantum-resistant cryptography. Cloud computing poses data security concerns, requiring robust cryptographic mechanisms and access controls. Lattice-based cryptography, leveraging problems like the Short Integer Solution (SIS), emerges as a solution. This paper presents a novel quantum-resistant public key encryption scheme based on ElGamal and SIS, ensuring security against quantum and classical threats in modern cryptographic environments.

In LWE-based KEMs, observed decryption errors leak information about the secret key in the form of equations or inequalities. Several practical fault attacks have already exploited such leakage by either directly applying a fault or enabling a chosen-ciphertext attack using a fault. When the leaked information is in the form of inequalities, the recovery of the secret key is not trivial. Recent methods use either statistical or algebraic methods (but not both), with some being able to handle incorrect information. Having in mind that integration of the side-channel information is a crucial part of several classes of implementation attacks on LWEbased schemes, it is an important question whether statistically processed information can be successfully integrated in lattice reduction algorithms. We answer this question positively by proposing an error-tolerant combination of statistical and algebraic methods that make use of the advantages of both approaches. The combination enables us to improve upon existing methods – we use both fewer inequalities and are more resistant to errors. We further provide precise security estimates based on the number of available inequalities. Our recovery method applies to several types of implementation attacks in which decryption errors are used in a chosen-ciphertext attack. We practically demonstrate the improved performance of our approach in a key-recovery attack against Kyber with fault-induced decryption errors.

Lattice enumeration is a linear-space algorithm for solving the shortest lattice vector problem (SVP). Extreme pruning is a practical technique for accelerating lattice enumeration, which has a mature theoretical analysis and practical implementation. However, these works have yet to be applied to discrete pruning. In this paper, we improve the discrete pruned enumeration (DP enumeration) and provide a solution to the problem proposed by Léo Ducas and Damien Stehlé regarding the cost estimation of discrete pruning. We first rectify the randomness assumption to more precisely describe the lattice point distribution of DP enumeration. Then, we propose a series of improvements, including a new polynomial-time binary search algorithm for cell enumeration radius, a refined cell-decoding algorithm and a rerandomization and reprocessing strategy, all aiming to lift the efficiency and build a more precise cost-estimation model for DP enumeration. Based on these theoretical and practical improvements, we build a precise cost-estimation model for DP enumeration by simulation, which has good accuracy in experiments. This DP simulator enables us to propose an optimization method of calculating the optimal parameters of DP enumeration to minimize the running time. The experimental results and asymptotic analysis both show that the discrete pruning method could outperform extreme pruning, which means that our optimized DP enumeration might become the most efficient polynomial-space SVP solver to date. An open-source implementation of DP enumeration with its simulator is also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iris laevigata is ideal for gardening and landscaping in northeast China because of its beautiful flowers and strong cold resistance. However, the short length of flowering time (2 days for individual flowers) greatly limits its applications. Molecular breeding and engineering hold high potential for producing I. laevigata of desirable flowering properties. A prerequisite is to identify and characterize key flowering control genes, the identity of which remains largely unknown in I. laevigata due to the lack of genome information. To fill this knowledge gap, we used sequencing data of the I. laevigata transcriptome to identify MADS-box gene-encoding transcription factors that have been shown to play key roles in developmental processes, including flowering. Our data revealed 41 putative MADS-box genes, which consisted of 8 type I (5 Mα and 3 Mβ, respectively) and 33 type II members (2 MIKC* and 31 MIKCC, respectively). We then selected IlSEP3 and IlSVP for functional studies and found that both are localized to the nucleus and that they interact physically in vitro. Ectopic expression of IlSEP3 in Arabidopsis resulted in early flowering (32 days) compared to that of control plants (36 days), which could be mediated by modulating the expression of FT, SOC1, AP1, SVP, SPL3, VRN1, and GA20OX. By contrast, plants overexpressing IlSVP were phenotypically similar to that of wild type. Our functional validation of IlSEP3 was consistent with the notion that SEP3 promotes flowering in multiple plant species and indicated that IlSEP3 regulates flowering in I. laevigata. Taken together, this work provided a systematic identification of MADS-box genes in I. laevigata and demonstrated that the flowering time of I. laevigata can be genetically controlled by altering the expression of key MADS-box genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Despite the availability of improved antiviral therapies, infection with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a3 significant health issue, as a curable treatment is yet to be discovered. Current HBV vaccines relaying on the efficient expression of the small (S) envelope protein in yeast and the implementation of mass vaccination programs have clearly contributed to containment of the disease. However, the lack of an efficient immune response in up to 10% of vaccinated adults, the controversies regarding the seroprotection persistence in vaccine responders and the emergence of vaccine escape virus mutations urge for the development of better HBV immunogens. Due to the critical role played by the preS1 domain of the large (L) envelope protein in HBV infection and its ability to trigger virus neutralizing antibodies, including this protein in novel vaccine formulations has been considered a promising strategy to overcome the limitations of S only-based vaccines. In this work we aimed to combine relevant L and S epitopes in chimeric antigens, by inserting preS1 sequences within the external antigenic loop of S, followed by production in mammalian cells and detailed analysis of their antigenic and immunogenic properties. Of the newly designed antigens, the S/preS116-42 protein assembled in subviral particles (SVP) showed the highest expression and secretion levels, therefore, it was selected for further studies in vivo. Analysis of the immune response induced in mice vaccinated with S/preS116-42- and S-SVPs, respectively, demonstrated enhanced immunogenicity of the former and its ability to activate both humoral and cellular immune responses. This combined activation resulted in production of neutralizing antibodies against both wild-type and vaccine-escape HBV variants. Our results validate the design of chimeric HBV antigens and promote the novel S/preS1 protein as a potential vaccine candidate for administration in poor-responders to current HBV vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lattices in Euclidean spaces are important research objects in geometric number theory, and they have important applications in many areas, such as cryptology. The shortest vector problem (SVP) and the closest vector problem (CVP) are two famous computational problems about lattices. In this paper, we consider p-adic lattices in local fields, and define the p-adic analogues of SVP and CVP in local fields. The authors find that, in contrast with lattices in Euclidean spaces, the situation is different and interesting. The SVP in Euclidean spaces corresponds to the Longest Vector Problem (LVP) in local fields. The authors develop relevant algorithms, indicating that these problems are computable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the availability of improved antiviral therapies, infection with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a3 significant health issue, as a curable treatment is yet to be discovered. Current HBV vaccines relaying on the efficient expression of the small (S) envelope protein in yeast and the implementation of mass vaccination programs have clearly contributed to containment of the disease. However, the lack of an efficient immune response in up to 10% of vaccinated adults, the controversies regarding the seroprotection persistence in vaccine responders and the emergence of vaccine escape virus mutations urge for the development of better HBV immunogens. Due to the critical role played by the preS1 domain of the large (L) envelope protein in HBV infection and its ability to trigger virus neutralizing antibodies, including this protein in novel vaccine formulations has been considered a promising strategy to overcome the limitations of S only-based vaccines. In this work we aimed to combine relevant L and S epitopes in chimeric antigens, by inserting preS1 sequences within the external antigenic loop of S, followed by production in mammalian cells and detailed analysis of their antigenic and immunogenic properties. Of the newly designed antigens, the S/preS116–42 protein assembled in subviral particles (SVP) showed the highest expression and secretion levels, therefore, it was selected for further studies in vivo. Analysis of the immune response induced in mice vaccinated with S/preS116–42- and S-SVPs, respectively, demonstrated enhanced immunogenicity of the former and its ability to activate both humoral and cellular immune responses. This combined activation resulted in production of neutralizing antibodies against both wild-type and vaccine-escape HBV variants. Our results validate the design of chimeric HBV antigens and promote the novel S/preS1 protein as a potential vaccine candidate for administration in poor-responders to current HBV vaccines.

Prenatal alcohol exposure produces a broad range of primary disabilities that lead to adverse life course outcomes in children raised in adverse environments. Inappropriate sexual behaviors are a commonly occurring secondary disability, with a large minority of individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) displaying sexual aggression. Adults with FASD who commit repeated criminal sexual acts may be subject to legal proceedings for indefinite involuntary civil confinement as sexually violent predators/persons (SVP) in certain jurisdictions in the United States. Studies about the diagnostic practices among psychologists and psychiatrists retained by states to evaluate individuals as SVP do not recognize FASD as a mental disorder, despite the likelihood that hundreds of individuals petitioned for involuntary commitment suffer from FASD. Establishing an FASD diagnosis may provide exculpatory evidence to refute a government petition that an individual suffers from a mental condition that affects emotional or volitional capacity by predisposing the person to committing criminal sexual behavior. This article provides a framework for identifying, assessing, and deciding whether individuals with the FASD diagnosis suffer from the legally defined mental disorder that is necessary to indefinitely confine individuals as SVP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the block Korkine-Zolotarev (BKZ) and its variants such as BKZ 2.0 have been used as de facto algorithms to estimate the security of a lattice-based cryptosystem. In 2017, DeepBKZ was proposed as a mathematical improvement of BKZ, which calls LLL with deep insertions (DeepLLL) as a subroutine alternative to LLL. DeepBKZ can find a short lattice vector by smaller blocksizes than BKZ. In this paper, we develop a self-dual variant of DeepBKZ, as in the work of Micciancio and Walter for self-dual BKZ. Like DeepBKZ, our self-dual DeepBKZ calls both DeepLLL and its dual variant as main subroutines in order to accelerate to find a very short lattice vector. We also report experimental results of DeepBKZ and our self-dual DeepBKZ for random bases on the Darmstadt SVP challenge.

Od kurikulární reformy se očekávalo mj. upuštění od striktních osnov a zaměření na kompetence a větší celky. Panuje pocit, že mnoho očekávání nebylo naplněno, a aktuálně probíhají další revize bez většího zapojení odborné veřejnosti. Cíl: Analyzovat, jak se rámcové vzdělávací programy (RVP) pro základní vzdělávání (zejména nově akcentované okruhy) promítají do části o přírodopisu ve školních vzdělávacích programech pražských základních škol. Metody: kódování přírodopisné části školních vzdělávacích programů základních škol s druhým stupněm na území hl. m. Prahy z hlediska propojení s jinými vzdělávacími obory; metod a forem výuky; rozvoje klíčových kompetencí; učiva. Dále statistické zpracování, četnosti, analýza hlavních komponent. Výsledky: Převládá oddělení přírodopisu od ostatních předmětů, mezioborové vztahy jsou typicky pouze s dalšími přírodovědnými předměty. Členění učiva obvykle kopíruje většinový přístup učebnic a RVP. Klíčové kompetence spolu s průřezovými tématy se zdají být začleněny formálně. Formulace o klíčových kompetencích se často opakují, mnohdy (téměř) kopírují RVP. Metody a formy výuky jsou pestré, učivo je často detailní. Školy se typicky zaměřily na jednu kategorii, které se věnovaly více. Zjistili jsme sedm hlavních komponent zaměření: 1. metody a formy výuky, 2. metody a formy výuky s klíčovými kompetencemi, 3. mezipředmětové vztahy, 4. průřezová témata, 5. učivo, 6. propojení s výchovou ke zdraví, 7. školní vzdělávací program ve velké míře přejatý z RVP bez výrazných charakteristik. Nebyla nalezena souvislost s (ne)zveřejněním školního vzdělávacího programu a jeho obsahem. Závěr: Revize RVP by měla být doprovozena širokou diskusí a metodickou podporou, aby byly myšlenky z RVP přijaty a ne pouze přepsány.

Key message: An SVP protein, PhSVP, bound to the CArG-boxes in the promoter regions of FT-like paralogs and repressed their expression, thus affecting the floral transition inPhalaenopsisorchid. Phalaenopsis is an important ornamental flower native to tropical rain forests. It usually reaches vegetative maturity after 4–5 leaves and, after a juvenile stage, forms a flower spike (inflorescence) from the axillary buds. The PEBP gene family encodes a phosphatidyl-ethanolamine-binding protein (PEBP) domain involved in regulating flowering and other aspects of plant development. Here, we identified eight PEBP family genes in Phalaenopsis and detected the expression patterns of seven of them in various organs. Among them, PhFT1 (Phalaenopsis hybrid FLOWERING LOCUS T1), PhFT3, PhFT5, and PhMFT (Phalaenopsis hybrid MOTHER OF FT AND TFL1) promoted flowering in transgenic Arabidopsis, while PhFT6 inhibited flowering. PhSVP (Phalaenopsis hybrid SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE), an SVP protein that repressed flowering in Arabidopsis, bound to the CArG-boxes in the promoter regions of PhFT3, PhFT6, and PhMFT in a yeast one-hybrid assay. Additionally, dual-luciferase and transient expression assays showed that PhSVP significantly inhibits the expression of both PhFT3 and PhFT6. Together, our work provides a comprehensive understanding of the PhFT-like genes that can promote or repress flowering, and it suggests strategies for regulating the floral transition in Phalaenopsis that exploit the evolutionary versatility of PhFTs to respond to various signals stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bavaria and South Tyrol belong to the so-called 'Alpine (Macro-)Region', a transnational area located in the heart of Europe, where geopolitical, cultural and socio-economic peculiarities have resulted in distinctive democratic dynamics. The key question that this article aims to answer is whether these two regions can still be regarded as exceptional cases of political stability. It is shown that, since 2008, their political systems have experienced significant change. While transformations have also occurred at the national level in Germany and Italy, they seem even more dramatic in Bavaria and South Tyrol, particularly after decades of political continuity. It is argued that this unprecedented shift is due to the combined effect of regional and state-wide challengers and is linked to the multi-level character of party competition at the regional level. Generally, these two cases add a territorial dimension to the study of political stability and change in Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the hybrid lattice-reduction and meet-in-the middle attack (called hybrid attack) has been used to evaluate the security of many lattice-based cryptographic schemes such as NTRU, NTRU Prime, BLISS and more. However, unfortunately, none of the previous analyses of the hybrid attack is entirely satisfactory: They are based on simplifying assumptions that may distort the security estimates. Such simplifying assumptions include setting probabilities equal to 1, which, for the parameter sets we analyze in this work, are in fact as small as 2-802^{-80}. Many of these assumptions lead to underestimating the scheme’s security. However, some lead to security overestimates, and without further analysis, it is not clear which is the case. Therefore, the current security estimates against the hybrid attack are not reliable, and the actual security levels of many lattice-based schemes are unclear. In this work, we present an improved runtime analysis of the hybrid attack that is based on more reasonable assumptions. In addition, we reevaluate the security against the hybrid attack for the NTRU, NTRU Prime and R-BinLWEEnc encryption schemes as well as for the BLISS and GLP signature schemes. Our results show that there exist both security over- and underestimates in the literature.