Performance Evaluation of NIST LWC Finalists on AVR ATmega and ARM Cortex-M3 Microcontrollers

This paper presents results of performance evaluation of NIST Lightweight Cryptography standardization finalists which are implemented by us. Our implementation method puts on the target to reduce RAM consumption on embedded devices. Our target microcontrollers are AVR ATmega 128 and ARM Cortex-M3. We apply our implementation method to five AEAD schemes which include four finalists of the NIST lightweight cryptography standardization and demonstrate the performance evaluation on target microcontrollers. From our performance evaluation of the RAM size, we have achieved 117-byte TinyJAMBU-128 on ATmega 128 and 140-byte TinyJAMBU-128 on ARM Cortex-M3. Our implementation of TinyJAMBU-128 has the smallest RAM of all the target AEAD schemes

A Study on RAM Requirements of Various SHA-3 Candidates on Low-cost 8-bit CPUs

In this paper, we compare the implementation costs of various SHA-3 candidates on low-cost 8-bit CPUs by estimating RAM/ROM requirements of them. As a first step toward this kind of research, in our comparison, we make reasonable estimations of RAM/ROM requirements of them which can be done without implementation

Protocol for making an animal model of “blindsight” in macaque monkeys

Patients with damage to the primary visual cortex (V1) can respond correctly to visual stimuli in their lesion-affected visual field above the chance level, an ability named blindsight. Here, we present a protocol for making an animal model of blindsight in macaque monkeys. We describe the steps to perform pre-lesion training of monkeys on a visual task, followed by lesion surgery, post-lesion training, and evaluation of blindsight. This animal model can be used to investigate the source of visual awareness. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Yoshida et al. (2008)1 and Takakuwa et al. (2021)

e-Learningシステムにおける学習者の質問への自動応答

Many LMS (Learning Management System) aim to manage learning through internet, and have a function of portal site mainly. It is difficult for many students to continue learning by such an e-Learning system, because it provides lecture contents only. There is no communication between students and teachers. In order to overcome this difficulty, bulletin board systems can be utilized. In many practical cases, however, teachers can not answer students\u27 questions immediately due to the time limitation. Learner\u27s motivation deteriorates unless they can receive answers from teachers in real time. This paper reports our trials to constitute an e-Learning system which can reply automatically learners\u27 questions

Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma: A Single-Center 26-Patient Case Series and Review of the Literature

Background. Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare tumor, and little information is available regarding its clinical features and appropriate treatments. Methods. A retrospective review of 26 consecutive ASPS patients (12 male, 14 female; mean age of 27 years) treated at our institution over 30 years (mean followup; 71 months) was performed. Results. The primary tumor developed in the lower extremity (12), trunk (8), and upper extremity (6), with an average size of 7.2 cm (range, 2–14 cm). The AJCC stage at presentation was IIA (7), III (3), and IV (16). Surgical excision was performed in 20 patients (R0 18, R1 plus radiotherapy 2) without local recurrence. Six patients (stage IIA 3/7, stage III 3/3) later developed metastases after an average period of 28.7 months. The median survival of the 26 patients was 90 months, with overall 5/10-year survival rates of 64%/48%. AJCC stage and tumor size were significant prognostic factors. Significant palliation and slowing of metastasis progression were achieved with gamma knife radiotherapy. Nine patients receiving chemotherapy showed no objective response. Conclusions. ASPS is indolent but has a high propensity for metastasis. Early diagnosis and complete excision of the small primary tumor are essential in the treatment of ASPS

The posterior parietal cortex contributes to visuomotor processing for saccades in blindsight macaques

Patients with damage to the primary visual cortex (V1) lose visual awareness, yet retain the ability to perform visuomotor tasks, which is called "blindsight." To understand the neural mechanisms underlying this residual visuomotor function, we studied a non-human primate model of blindsight with a unilateral lesion of V1 using various oculomotor tasks. Functional brain imaging by positron emission tomography showed a significant change after V1 lesion in saccade-related visuomotor activity in the intraparietal sulcus area in the ipsi- and contralesional posterior parietal cortex. Single unit recordings in the lateral bank of the intraparietal sulcus (lbIPS) showed visual responses to targets in the contralateral visual field on both hemispheres. Injection of muscimol into the ipsi- or contralesional lbIPSs significantly impaired saccades to targets in the V1 lesion-affected visual field, differently from previous reports in intact animals. These results indicate that the bilateral lbIPSs contribute to visuomotor function in blindsight

A Pseudorandom-Function Mode Based on Lesamnta-LW and the MDP Domain Extension and Its Applications

This paper discusses a mode for pseudorandom functions (PRFs) based on the hashing mode of Lesamnta-LW and the domain extension called Merkle-Damgård with permutation (MDP). The hashing mode of Lesamnta-LW is a plain Merkle-Damgård iteration of a block cipher with its key size half of its block size. First, a PRF mode is presented which produces multiple independent PRFs with multiple permutations and initialization vectors if the underlying block cipher is a PRP. Then, two applications of the PRF mode are presented. One is a PRF with minimum padding. Here, padding is said to be minimum if the produced message blocks do not include message blocks only with the padded sequence for any non-empty input message. The other is a vector-input PRF using the PRFs with minimum padding.This work was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI GrantNumber JP16H02828.IEICE Transactions Online TOP (https://search.ieice.org/

Truncated SSX Protein Suppresses Synovial Sarcoma Cell Proliferation by Inhibiting the Localization of SS18-SSX Fusion Protein

Synovial sarcoma is a relatively rare high-grade soft tissue sarcoma that often develops in the limbs of young people and induces the lung and the lymph node metastasis resulting in poor prognosis. In patients with synovial sarcoma, specific chromosomal translocation of t(X; 18) (p11.2; q11.2) is observed, and SS18-SSX fusion protein expressed by this translocation is reported to be associated with pathogenesis. However, role of the fusion protein in the pathogenesis of synovial sarcoma has not yet been completely clarified. In this study, we focused on the localization patterns of SS18-SSX fusion protein. We constructed expression plasmids coding for the full length SS18-SSX, the truncated SS18 moiety (tSS18) and the truncated SSX moiety (tSSX) of SS18-SSX, tagged with fluorescent proteins. These plasmids were transfected in synovial sarcoma SYO-1 cells and we observed the expression of these proteins using a fluorescence microscope. The SS18-SSX fusion protein showed a characteristic speckle pattern in the nucleus. However, when SS18-SSX was co-expressed with tSSX, localization of SS18-SSX changed from speckle patterns to the diffused pattern similar to the localization pattern of tSSX and SSX. Furthermore, cell proliferation and colony formation of synovial sarcoma SYO-1 and YaFuSS cells were suppressed by exogenous tSSX expression. Our results suggest that the characteristic speckle localization pattern of SS18-SSX is strongly involved in the tumorigenesis through the SSX moiety of the SS18-SSX fusion protein. These findings could be applied to further understand the pathogenic mechanisms, and towards the development of molecular targeting approach for synovial sarcoma