AES Encrypt String in VB.NET

This is example code for AES Encrypted String:

Public Function AES_Encrypt(ByVal input As String, ByVal pass As String) As String
        Dim AES As New System.Security.Cryptography.RijndaelManaged
        Dim Hash_AES As New System.Security.Cryptography.MD5CryptoServiceProvider
        Dim encrypted As String = ""
        Try
            Dim hash(31) As Byte
            Dim temp As Byte() = Hash_AES.ComputeHash(System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(pass))
            Array.Copy(temp, 0, hash, 0, 16)
            Array.Copy(temp, 0, hash, 15, 16)
            AES.Key = hash
            AES.Mode = Security.Cryptography.CipherMode.ECB
            Dim DESEncrypter As System.Security.Cryptography.ICryptoTransform = AES.CreateEncryptor
            Dim Buffer As Byte() = System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(input)
            encrypted = Convert.ToBase64String(DESEncrypter.TransformFinalBlock(Buffer, 0, Buffer.Length))
            Return encrypted
        Catch ex As Exception
        End Try
    End Function

Public Function AES_Decrypt(ByVal input As String, ByVal pass As String) As String
        Dim AES As New System.Security.Cryptography.RijndaelManaged
        Dim Hash_AES As New System.Security.Cryptography.MD5CryptoServiceProvider
        Dim decrypted As String = ""
        Try
            Dim hash(31) As Byte
            Dim temp As Byte() = Hash_AES.ComputeHash(System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(pass))
            Array.Copy(temp, 0, hash, 0, 16)
            Array.Copy(temp, 0, hash, 15, 16)
            AES.Key = hash
            AES.Mode = Security.Cryptography.CipherMode.ECB
            Dim DESDecrypter As System.Security.Cryptography.ICryptoTransform = AES.CreateDecryptor
            Dim Buffer As Byte() = Convert.FromBase64String(input)
            decrypted = System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetString(DESDecrypter.TransformFinalBlock(Buffer, 0, Buffer.Length))
            Return decrypted
        Catch ex As Exception
        End Try
    End Function