## Monday, 26 April 2021

### Curious About Cryptographic Boolean Functions?

In order to have a good understanding of cryptographic Boolean functions, let's get started from scratch, that's, having a look at the very basic concepts. To begin with, all modern computers are composed of very basic logic circuits using very basic gates, called operators which only apply to binary numbers, in other words, 0 and 1. Each type of gate implements a Boolean operation. The finite field ${\mathbb F}_{2}=\{0,1\}$ is also called binary field, and it is of special interest because it is particularly efficient for implementation in hardware or on a binary computer. Using these gates, the rules of Boolean algebra may be applied to design circuits that perform a variety of tasks. For example, integrated circuits. Then, these circuits are all put together to build into more powerful modern computers.

## Sunday, 25 April 2021

### Exploring What a PhD Is Like

Some weeks ago, it was my pleasure, and honour, to be invited to participate as a panellist in the online event Explore What a PhD is Like organised by PhD Social Support Network from Loughborough University. The event aimed to give undergraduate and postgraduate students a summary of Doctoral Researchers’ lives and an idea of what it’s like to do a PhD at Loughborough University.

With so much confusing and contradictory information out there, it becomes a bit difficult to have a good understanding of many things before embarking on doing a PhD. So I decided to write down my answers for those of you who could not attend the event and are interested in doing a PhD. Because we were four panellists, I just answered some questions, but in this post, I share my answers to all questions, which mainly depend on my personal circumstances and experiences at Loughborough University — And I do hope to help clear some things up. In case that you have any other questions, please let me know in the comment section.

HELLO, I'M PERCY REYES! — a book lover, healthy lifestyle lover... I've been working as a senior SQL Server Database Administrator (DBA) for over 20 years; I'm a three-time awarded Microsoft Data Platform MVP. I'm currently doing a PhD in Computer Science (cryptography) at Loughborough University, England — working on cryptographic Boolean functions, algorithmic cryptanalysis, number theory, and other algebraic aspects of cryptography. READ MORE