It has long been recognized that there are fascinating connections between cod ing theory, cryptology, and combinatorics. Therefore it seemed desirable to us to organize a conference that brings together experts from these three areas for a fruitful exchange of ideas. We decided on a venue in the Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) region, one of the most scenic areas of China, so as to provide the additional inducement of an attractive location. The conference was planned for June 2003 with the official title Workshop on Coding, Cryptography and Combi natorics (CCC 2003). Those who are familiar with events in East Asia in the first half of 2003 can guess what happened in the end, namely the conference had to be cancelled in the interest of the health of the participants. The SARS epidemic posed too serious a threat. At the time of the cancellation, the organization of the conference was at an advanced stage: all invited speakers had been selected and all abstracts of contributed talks had been screened by the program committee. Thus, it was de cided to call on all invited speakers and presenters of accepted contributed talks to submit their manuscripts for publication in the present volume. Altogether, 39 submissions were received and subjected to another round of refereeing. After care ful scrutiny, 28 papers were accepted for publication.
Many people do not realise that mathematics provides the foundation for the devices we use to handle information in the modern world. Most of those who do know probably think that the parts of mathematics involvedare quite ‘cl- sical’, such as Fourier analysis and di?erential equations. In fact, a great deal of the mathematical background is part of what used to be called ‘pure’ ma- ematics, indicating that it was created in order to deal with problems that originated within mathematics itself. It has taken many years for mathema- cians to come to terms with this situation, and some of them are still not entirely happy about it. Thisbookisanintegratedintroductionto Coding.Bythis Imeanreplacing symbolic information, such as a sequence of bits or a message written in a naturallanguage,byanother messageusing (possibly) di?erentsymbols.There are three main reasons for doing this: Economy (data compression), Reliability (correction of errors), and Security (cryptography). I have tried to cover each of these three areas in su?cient depth so that the reader can grasp the basic problems and go on to more advanced study. The mathematical theory is introduced in a way that enables the basic problems to bestatedcarefully,butwithoutunnecessaryabstraction.Theprerequisites(sets andfunctions,matrices,?niteprobability)shouldbefamiliartoanyonewhohas taken a standard course in mathematical methods or discrete mathematics. A course in elementary abstract algebra and/or number theory would be helpful, but the book contains the essential facts, and readers without this background should be able to understand what is going on. vi Thereareafewplaceswherereferenceismadetocomputeralgebrasystems.
Secret sharing schemes form one of the most important topic in Cryptography. These protocols are used in many areas, applied mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering. A secret is divided into several pieces called shares. Each share is given to a user of the system. Each user has no information about the secret, but the secret can be retrieved by certain authorized coalition of users.This book is devoted to such schemes inspired by Coding Theory. The classical schemes of Shamir, Blakley, Massey are recalled. Survey is made of research in Combinatorial Coding Theory they triggered, mostly self-dual codes, and minimal codes. Applications to engineering like image processing, and key management of MANETs are highlighted.
Although its roots lie in information theory, the applications of coding theory now extend to statistics, cryptography, and many areas of pure mathematics, as well as pervading large parts of theoretical computer science, from universal hashing to numerical integration. Introduction to Coding Theory introduces the theory of error-correcting codes in a thorough but gentle presentation. Part I begins with basic concepts, then builds from binary linear codes and Reed-Solomon codes to universal hashing, asymptotic results, and 3-dimensional codes. Part II emphasizes cyclic codes, applications, and the geometric desciption of codes. The author takes a unique, more natural approach to cyclic codes that is not couched in ring theory but by virtue of its simplicity, leads to far-reaching generalizations. Throughout the book, his discussions are packed with applications that include, but reach well beyond, data transmission, with each one introduced as soon as the codes are developed. Although designed as an undergraduate text with myriad exercises, lists of key topics, and chapter summaries, Introduction to Coding Theory explores enough advanced topics to hold equal value as a graduate text and professional reference. Mastering the contents of this book brings a complete understanding of the theory of cyclic codes, including their various applications and the Euclidean algorithm decoding of BCH-codes, and carries readers to the level of the most recent research.
This volume contains the proceedings of the International Conference on Group Theory, Combinatorics and Computing held from October 3-8, 2012, in Boca Raton, Florida. The papers cover a number of areas in group theory and combinatorics. Topics include finite simple groups, groups acting on structured sets, varieties of algebras, classification of groups generated by 3-state automata over a 2-letter alphabet, new methods for construction of codes and designs, groups with constraints on the derived subgroups of its subgroups, graphs related to conjugacy classes in groups, and lexicographical configurations. Application of computer algebra programs is incorporated in several of the papers. This volume includes expository articles on finite coverings of loops, semigroups and groups, and on the application of algebraic structures in the theory of communications. This volume is a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students working in group theory and combinatorics. The articles provide excellent examples of the interplay between the two areas.
Asymptotic Combinatorial Coding Theory is devoted to the investigation of the combinatorial properties of transmission systems using discrete signals. The book presents results of interest to specialists in combinatorics seeking to apply combinatorial methods to problems of combinatorial coding theory. Asymptotic Combinatorial Coding Theory serves as an excellent reference for resarchers in discrete mathematics, combinatorics, and combinatorial coding theory, and may be used as a text for advanced courses on the subject.