The 8th International Workshop on
Boolean Functions and their Applications (BFA)
In memory of Kai-Uwe Schmidt
September 3-8, 2023, Fleischer’s Hotel, Voss, Norway
Online participation: https://uib.zoom.us/j/65976270111?pwd=YVZNaG5vclgwZllVL1Y4K29MV3ZEdz09
Organised by the Selmer Center
| Important dates | Abstract submission | Travel and accommodation | Invited speakers | Committees | Accepted abstracts | Program | Registration | Zoom link | Participants |
Boolean functions and more generally all the discrete structures used in error-correcting coding, cryptography or communications, are highly active research areas. The workshop Boolean Functions and their Applications (BFA) provides a forum for researchers who are working on discrete functions and structures, particularly on Boolean functions, to exchange ideas and interests in open problems, and to further explore their applications in cryptography, error correcting codes and communications.
At the moment the event is planned to be hybrid, that is, both physical and online participation is possible. There is no registration fee for online participation, but all participants must register (for physical or online participation).
| Submission deadline | April 30, 2023 |
| Acceptance notification | June 15, 2023 |
| Camera-ready submission | August 1, 2023 |
| Registration deadline for physical participation | August 17, 2023 |
| BFA 2023 | September 03 – September 08, 2023 |
All participants who wish to contribute a talk of 15–20 minutes are invited to submit a 4-5 page extended abstract electronically in PDF format through EasyChair. The abstract should present original research results.
For those who cannot attend physically, it will also be possible to present at the workshop via Zoom. We request previously unpublished results on all aspects of discrete structures, particularly on Boolean functions and their applications in cryptography, coding theory, combinatorics, quantum computing, etc. Topics include, but are not limited to:
- foundational theory of Boolean functions and discrete structures;
- the design, proposal, and analysis of cryptographically significant (vectorial) Boolean functions;
- the theory and construction of quantum Boolean functions;
- the theory of finite fields and its applications in cryptography and coding theory;
- the study of applications of (vectorial) Boolean functions to cryptography, codes, and other discrete structures.
After the workshop, all participants will be invited to submit a paper to a special issue on Boolean Functions and their Applications in the journal Cryptography and Communications. More information about the call for papers will follow.
Participants outside of Norway have the choice between flying to Bergen or Oslo. Both cities are then connected to Voss via VY trains. Travelling by car is also possible, but not recommended.
Travel through Oslo Airports
Participants landing in Oslo Gardermoen (OSL) or TORP Sandefjord Airport (TRF) can use the trains and bus routes operated by VY to reach the Oslo Central Station and connect with a train to Voss. More information on routes and timetables is available on the VY website. We recommend travelling through Oslo Gardermoen if possible because the Sandefjord Airport has some rather inconvenient connections. More information about it later.
Oslo Gardermoen (OSL)
Participants travelling through Oslo Gardermoen can use either the R10/R11 Regional Train or the L12 Local Train to reach the Oslo Central Station (Oslo S). The estimated travel time between the airport and central Oslo is 23 minutes, with departures at intervals of ten to twenty minutes, between 05:54 and 23:54.
TORP Sandefjord (TRF)
Participants travelling through the Sandefjord Airport can find information on different travel methods on the Airport Website.
They can use the Bus to Oslo, booking through the Torp Express website, reaching the bus station of Oslo, right in front of the Oslo Central Station.
They can also use the R11 Regional Train and shuttle bus (shown as bus S174 in the journey planner), reaching the Oslo Central Station (Oslo S) in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Mind that the shuttle bus between the airport train station and the airport is not included in your train ticket, so remember to also buy the bus ticket.
NB! The shuttle bus service to/from the terminal does not meet all arriving and departing trains. It operates during the following hours:
- Monday–Friday 04:40–21:20
- Saturday 05:00–22:30
- Sunday 07:00–22:00
If there is no shuttle bus service corresponding to your train times, remember to arrange transport between the station and the airport in another way. The road isn’t suitable for pedestrians as there is no pavement.
Travel from Oslo to Voss
The best way to travel to Voss from Oslo is by train, leaving from the Oslo Central Station (Oslo S). The Oslo-Voss route is run by VY, and it is possible to plan your trip and purchase a ticket through their website. Although it is recommended to use the VY website, it is also possible to buy a ticket at the station, in the ticket office or by vending machines. If you decide to purchase a ticket at the station, we recommend planning enough time before departure to do so.
Travel through Bergen Lufthavn
Participants travelling through Bergen Lufthavn can use the Bybanen to reach the city centre and the station. The Bybanen stop is right outside the airport, and you should travel from the airport to the station “Nonneseter”, which is right in front of the train station. The Bybanen travels every 5–15 minutes for most of the day, but you can also use the online route planner, or the dedicated app, to get more information.
The Bybanen offers both a route planner app and a ticket purchasing app, that can be downloaded here (Skyss Reise for planning, Skyss Billet for tickets). The ticket to the city centre is a “Zone A” ticket. Mind that tickets purchased through the App are immediately valid upon purchase, so you should only buy them once you are ready to leave the airport. Tickets can also be purchased at vending machines at the airport.
Travel from Bergen to Voss
The best way to travel to Voss from Bergen is by train. The Bergen-Voss route is run by VY, and it is possible to plan your trip and purchase a ticket through their website. Although it is recommended to use the VY website, it is also possible to buy a ticket at the station, in the ticket office or by vending machines. If you decide to purchase a ticket at the station, we recommend planning enough time before departure to do so.
More information on the best times for the conference and travel to follow.
VISA Information
No particular rule or regulation applies if you are travelling from within the Schengen Area.
If you are a citizen of a VISA-free country, then you only need to follow some simple rules. The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration keeps a list of these rules, divided into rules for EU/EEA citizens, and non-EU/EEA citizens.
If you are not a citizen of a VISA-free country, then you need to apply for a VISA with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration using their website.
Accommodation
The workshop will be held at Fleischer’s Hotel. The hotel is accessible by car and by foot through the main road, where ample parking is available, and only by foot through the Voss train station platform 1.
As limited rooms are available in Fleischer’s Hotel, we provide a list of nearby accommodations, in order of distance from Flesicher’s Hotel.
- Scandic Hotel Voss, 4 stars, 200 m away
- Park Hotel Voss, 4 stars, 400 m away
- Voss Vandrarheim Hostel, 3 stars, 1 km away
- For the more adventurous, some cabins are available at Voss Camping, 1.1 km away
Many private accommodations are also available in the town centre.
- Daniele Bartoli, University of Perugia, Italy
- Lejla Batina, Radboud University, The Netherlands
- Robert Coulter, University of Delaware, USA
- Joan Daemen, Radboud University, The Netherlands
- Guang Gong, University of Waterloo, Canada
- Enrico Piccione, University of Bergen, Norway
- Aleksei Udovenko, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
General Chairs
- Lilya Budaghyan, University of Bergen, Norway
- Tor Helleseth, University of Bergen, Norway
- Nikolay Kaleyski, University of Bergen, Norway
Program Chairs
- Claude Carlet, Université Paris 8, France, and University of Bergen, Norway
- Sihem Mesnager, Université Paris 8, France
Organizing Committee
- Enrico Piccione, University of Bergen, Norway
- Mohit Pal, University of Bergen, Norway
- Nadiia Ichanska, University of Bergen, Norway
- Nikolay Kaleyski, University of Bergen, Norway
- Samuele Andreoli, University of Bergen, Norway
The book of abstracts is available here.
- A family of optimal linear codes from simplicial complexes
Zhao Hu, Zhexin Wang, Nian Li, Xiangyong Zeng, and Xiaohu Tang
- Truncated rotation symmetric Boolean functions
Thomas W. Cusick, and Younhwan Cheon
- Stability of x3+x2+1 from the perspective of periodic sequences
Tong Lin, and Qiang Wang
- On quadratic APN functions F(x)+Tr(x)L(x)
Hiroaki Taniguchi
- On the Spread Sets of Planar Dembowski-Ostrom Monomials
Christof Beierle, and Patrick Felke
- On bent functions satisfying the dual bent condition
Alexandr Polujan, Enes Pasalic, Sadmir Kudin, and Fengrong Zhang
- A new method to represent the inverse map as a composition of quadratics in a binary finite field
Florian Luca, Santanu Sarkar, and Pantelimon Stănică
- The second-order zero differential spectra of some power maps
Kirpa Garg, Sartaj Ul Hasan, Constanza Riera, and Pantelimon Stănică
- A Nonlinear Mapping Based on Squaring
Denise Verbakel, Daniel Kuijsters, Silvia Mella, Stjepan Picek, Luca Mariot, and Joan Daemen
- A computation of D(9) using FPGA Supercomputing
Lennart Van Hirtum, Patrick De Causmaecker, Jens Goemaere, Tobias Kenter, Heinrich Riebler, Michael Lass, and Christian Plessl
- S0-equivalent classes, a new direction to find better weightwise perfectly balanced functions, and more
Agnese Gini, and Pierrick Maux
- On the matrix equation MX = X̄ and self-dual Butson bent sequences
J. A. Armario, R. Egan, and P. Ó Catháin
- More De Bruijin Sequences as Concatenation of Lyndon Words
Abbas Alhakim
- Counting unate and balanced monotone Boolean functions
Aniruddha Biswas, and Palash Sarkar - A Class of Weightwise Almost Perfectly Balanced Boolean Functions with High Weightwise Nonlinearity
Deepak Kumar Dalai, and Krishna Mallick - Upper bounds on the numbers of binary plateaued and bent functions
V. N. Potapov - Optimizing Implementations of Boolean Functions
Meltem Sönmez Turan - Orientable sequences over nonbinary alphabet
Abbas Alhakim, Chris J. Mitchell, Janusz Szmidt, and Peter R. Wild - Asymptotic Lower Bounds On The Number Of Bent Functions Having Odd Many Variables Over Finite Fields of Odd Characteristic
V. N. Potapov, and Ferruh Özbudak - Normality of Boolean bent functions in eight variables, revisited
Alexandr Polujan, Luca Mariot, and Stjepan Picek - Improving differential properties of S-boxes with local changes of DDT
Pavol Zajac
Technical Program
| Monday 4/9 | Tuesday 5/9 | Wednesday 6/9 | Thursday 7/9 | Friday 8/9 | |
| 09.25 – 09.30 | Nikolay Kaleyski. Welcoming |
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| Chairman: Christof Beierle |
Chairman: Pantelimon Stănică | Chairwoman: Svetla Nikova | Chairman: Mohit Pal | ||
| 09.30 – 10.20 | Full day excursion | ||||
| 10.20 – 10.45 | |||||
| 10.45 – 11.05 | Break | Break | Break | Break | |
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Chairman: Thor Martinsen
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Chairman: Patrick De Causmaecker
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Chairman: Pierrick Méaux
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Chairwoman: Constanza Riera
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| 11.05 – 11.30 | |||||
| 11.30 – 11.55 | |||||
| 11.55 – 12.00 |
Lunch |
Tor Helleseth. Commemoration of Kai-Uwe Schmidt |
Claude Carlet. Awarding of the George Boole prize |
Lilya Budaghyan. Closing remarks |
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| 12.00 – 14.00 |
Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | ||
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Chairman: Patrick Felke
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Chairman: Thomas Cusick
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Chairwoman: Sihem Mesnager
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| 14.00 – 14.50 | |||||
| 14.50 – 15.15 | |||||
| 15.15 – 15.35 | Break | Break | Break | ||
| Chairman: Alexandr Polujan |
Chairman: Hiroaki Taniguchi
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Chairman: Chunlei Li
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| 15.35 – 16.00 | |||||
| 16.00 – 16.25 |
Social Program
| Sunday 3/9 – Welcome Dinner | ||
| 20.00 | Welcome Dinner | Welcome dinner at Fleischer’s Hotel |
| Wednesday 6/9 – Excursion | ||
| 09.00 – 10.30 | Travel from Voss to Flåm | Departure from Fleischer’s Hotel. |
| 10.30 – 12.30 | Visit Flåm | Free time to visit Flåm. |
| 12.30 – 14.30 | Lunch at Freitheim’s Hotel | Lunch at Freitheim’s Hotel, and a guided visit to the premises. |
| 14.30 – 15.00 | Travel from Flåm to Stegastein | Departure from Freitheim’s Hotel. |
| 15.00 – 15.30 | Visit the Stegastein viewpoint | Enjoy the panoramic viewpoint. |
| 15.30 – 17.00 | Travel from Stegastein to Voss | Going back to the Fleischer’s Hotel |
| Thursday 7/9 – Banquet | ||
| 18.20 | Meetup at Fleischer’s hotel | We gather at Fleischer’s hotel and head to the Voss Gondola. |
| 18.30 – 19.00 | Gondola trip to Hangurstoppen | Trip to Hangurstoppen with the Voss Gondola. |
| 19.00 | Banquet at Hangurstoppen | Banquet at Hangurstoppen restaurant. |
| 21.00 – 23.00 | Gondola trip back to Voss | Ride the Gondola back at your leisure. The last Gondola is scheduled at 23.00 |
Physical participation
Physical registration is now closed.
Online participation
Online participation is free, so there is no conference fee. To register for online participation, please fill out the registration form for online participation.
The deadline for online registration is Sunday, September 3, 2023.
Online participation is possible via Zoom: https://uib.zoom.us/j/65976270111?pwd=YVZNaG5vclgwZllVL1Y4K29MV3ZEdz09. We kindly ask all participants to register through the form above before joining the online workshop.