This thesis is dedicated to symmetric cryptographic algorithms. The major focus of the work is on block ciphers themselves as well as on hash functions and message authentication codes based on block ciphers. Three main approaches to the cryptanalysis of symmetric cryptographic algorithms are pursued. First, several block cipher constructions are analyzed mathematically using statistical crypta...

Block-design construction tasks reliably assess cognitive deficits due to brain injury. We examined the important aspects of this task with four experiments using normal subjects. Two problem-solving strategies are identified: an analytic strategy in which subjects mentally segment each block in the design to be constructed and a synthetic strategy, which involves wholistic pattern matching. Th...