Electrical crosstalk is becoming increasingly important as size shrinks and component densities increase in hybrid circuits. This occurs especially in multilayer thick film circuits. Crosstalk studies at high frequencies apply transverse electromagnetic (TEM) or quasi-TEM mode. However, the TEM mode theory is not applicable at low frequencies and low frequency-crosstalk is still a concern for circuit designers. In this research, crosstalk equations were derived in a simpler way, which can be used for low frequency applications such as automotive electronics. Test patterns were designed in both single and multilayer substrates in order to study crosstalk parameters such as line separation, line width, ground distance, ground type, and multilayer thickness. The mutual inductance and the mutual capacitance were calculated in order to use them in predicting crosstalk for particular transmission line geometrical structures. A conventional technique was used for the mutual inductance, and a new conformal mapping technique was developed for the mutual capacitance. Frequency dependence of crosstalk was confirmed by the equations developed. There is good agreement between the experimental mutual inductance and mutual capacitance and the calculated values. Finally, crosstalk prediction ( simulated by combining crosstalk equations with calculated mutual parameters ) fits well with the measured values. / Ph. D.

Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs) have demonstrated significant potential to advance the state of medical ultrasound imaging beyond the capabilities of the currently employed piezoelectric technology. Because they rely on well-established micro-fabrication techniques, they can achieve complex geometries, densely populated arrays, and tight integration with electronics, all of which are required for advanced intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) applications such as high-frequency or forward-looking catheters. Moreover, they also offer higher bandwidth than their piezoelectric counterparts. Before CMUTs can be effectively used, they must be fully characterized and optimized through experimentation and modeling. Unfortunately, immersed transducer arrays are inherently difficult to simulate due to a phenomenon known as acoustic crosstalk, which refers to the fact that every membrane in an array affects the dynamic behavior of every other membrane in an array as their respective pressure fields interact with one another. In essence, it implies that modeling a single CMUT membrane is not sufficient; the entire array must be modeled for complete accuracy. Finite element models (FEMs) are the most accurate technique for simulating CMUT behavior, but they can become extremely large considering that most CMUT arrays contain hundreds of membranes. This thesis focuses on the development and application of a more efficient model for transducer arrays first introduced by Meynier et al. [1], which provides accuracy comparable to FEM, but with greatly decreased computation time. It models the stiffness of each membrane using a finite difference approximation of thin plate equations. This stiffness is incorporated into a force balance which accounts for effects from the electrostatic actuation, pressure forces from the fluid environment, mass and damping from the membrane, etc. For fluid coupling effects, a Boundary Element Matrix (BEM) is employed that is based on the Green's function for a baffled point source in a semi-infinite fluid. The BEM utilizes the nodal mesh created for the finite difference method, and relates the dynamic displacement of each node to the pressure at every node in the array. Use of the thin plate equations and the BEM implies that the entire CMUT array can be reduced to a 2D nodal mesh, allowing for a drastic improvement in computation time compared with FEM. After the model was developed, it was then validated through comparison with FEM. From these tests, it demonstrated a capability to accurately predict collapse voltage, center frequency, bandwidth, and pressure magnitudes to within 5% difference of FEM simulations. Further validation with experimental results revealed a close correlation with predicted impedance/admittance plots, radiation patterns, frequency responses, and noise current spectrums. More specifically, it accurately predicted how acoustic crosstalk would create sharp peaks and notches in the frequency responses, and enhance side lobes and nulls in the angular radiation pattern. Preliminary design studies with the model were also performed. They revealed that membranes with larger lateral dimensions effectively increased the bandwidth of isolated membranes. They also demonstrated potential for various crosstalk reduction techniques in array design such as disrupting array periodicity, optimizing inter-membrane pitch, and adjusting the number of membranes per element. It is expected that the model developed in this thesis will serve as a useful tool for future iterations of CMUT array optimizations.

Stereoscopic 3-D has received considerable attention over the last few decades. Since a stereoscopic 3-D pair includes two 2-D images together, the amount of data for an uncompressed stereo image is double compared to that for an uncompressed 2-D image. Thus efficient compression techniques are of paramount importance. However, crosstalk effect is an inherent perceivable problem in current 3-D display technologies. It can lead not only to degradation in the perceived quality of 3-D images, but also to discomfort in some individuals. Correspondingly, when crosstalk occurs, the compression artifacts in a compressed stereo pair can be perceived, despite the fact that such artifacts are imperceptible in individual left and right images. This dissertation proposes a methodology for visually lossless compression of monochrome stereoscopic 3-D images in which crosstalk effect is carefully considered. In the proposed methodology for visually lossless compression of monochrome stereoscopic 3-D images, visibility thresholds are measured for quantization distortion in JPEG2000 to conceal perceivable compression artifacts. These thresholds are found to be functions of not only spatial frequency, but also of wavelet coefficient variance, as well as the gray level in both the left and right images. In order to avoid a daunting number of measurements of visibility thresholds during subjective experiments, a model for visibility thresholds is developed. The left image and right image of a stereo pair are then compressed jointly using the visibility thresholds obtained from the proposed model to ensure that quantization errors in each image are imperceptible to both eyes. This methodology is then demonstrated via a 3-D stereoscopic liquid crystal display (LCD) system with an associated viewing condition. The resulting images are visually lossless when displayed individually as 2-D images, and also when displayed in stereoscopic 3-D mode. In order to have better perceptual quality of stereoscopic 3-D images, hardware based techniques have been used to reduce crosstalk in 3-D stereoscopic display systems. However, crosstalk is still readily apparent in some 3-D viewing systems. To reduce crosstalk remains after hardware crosstalk compensation, a methodology for crosstalk compensation accomplished via image processing is provided in this dissertation. This methodology focuses on crosstalk compensation of 3-D stereoscopic LCD systems in which active shutter glasses are employed. Subjective experiments indicate that crosstalk is a function of not only the pixel intensity in both the left and right channels, but also of spatial location. Accordingly, look-up tables (LUTs) are developed for spatially-adaptive crosstalk compensation. For a given combination of gray levels in the left and right channels at a specific spatial location, the original pixel values are replaced by values contained in the LUTs. The crosstalk in the resulting stereo pair is significantly reduced, resulting in a significant increase in perceptual image quality.

La signalisation des brassinostéroïdes (BR) est importante pour presque tous les aspects du développement des plantes, comme en témoigne le phénotype extrêmement nain et stérile des mutants défectueux du récepteur des brassinostéroïdes BRASINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1). De plus, il est un régulateur clé de la réponse des plantes à l'augmentation de la température ambiante (thermomorphogenèse) dans les parties aériennes de la plante, associé à la signalisation auxine et au facteur de transcription PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4). Cependant, les rôles des mécanismes moléculaires de la thermomorphogenèse des racines restent insaisissables. Dans cette thèse, je décris en détail les mécanismes moléculaires conduisant à la thermomorphogenèse des racines des plantes exposées à une température ambiante élevée à la suite de la germination. Pour que les plantes allongent leur racine primaire à 26 ° C, par rapport à 21 ° C, elles régulent sélectivement la signalisation BR via la dégradation de BRI1 en fonction de la température. De manière surprenante, dans nos propres conditions, la signalisation auxine n’est pas nécessaire pour la thermomorphogenèse radiculaire, ce qui suggère une différence entre les réponses de thermomorphogenèse aérienne et racinaire. En utilisant une approche de mutagenèse dirigée, nous avons pu déterminer que la dégradation est déclenchée par une modification post-traductionnelle ciblant les lysines, probablement l’ubiquitination K63. Pour découvrir l’ubiquitine ligase E3 impliquée dans la dégradation de BRI1 induite par la température, nous avons effectué un criblage double hybride en levure en utilisant le domaine cytoplasmique de BRI1. Nous avons obtenu trois protéines candidates nommées DENSE AND ERECT PANICLE (DEP), qui se localisent de manière surprenante dans des microtubules corticaux (MTc) et sont apparues en même temps que la signalisation par le BR, suggérant un lien fonctionnel. L'interaction entre DEP1 et BRI1 a été confirmée par trois techniques différentes et, par conséquent, les mutants simples dep sont défectueux dans la perception de BR. D'un côté, ils sont hyposensibles à la réduction de la longueur de l'hypocotyle induite par le BR, mais de l'autre, ils sont hypersensibles au gravitropisme induit par le BR. Ces données suggèrent une interaction entre la signalisation par BR, la dynamique sous-cellulaire de BRI1 et les microtubules corticaux. Des recherches futures permettront de mieux comprendre l'importance biologique de l'interaction BRI1-MTc en général et de l'interaction BRI1-DEP1 en particulier. / Brassinosteroid (BR) signaling is important for nearly all aspects of plant development, as attested by the extremely dwarf and sterile phenotype of mutants defective in the brassinosteroid receptor BRASINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1). In addition, it is a key regulator of plant responses to increase in ambient temperature (thermomorphogenesis) in the above-ground parts of the plant together with auxin signaling and the transcription factor PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4). However, the roles molecular mechanisms of root thermomorphogenesis remain elusive. In this thesis, I describe in great detail the molecular mechanisms leading to root thermomorphogenesis of plants exposed to elevated ambient temperature from germination. In order for plants to elongate their primary root at 26°C, compared to 21°C, they selectively downregulate BR signaling via the temperature-specific degradation of BRI1. Surprisingly, under our own conditions, auxin signaling is not required for root thermomorphogenesis, suggesting a difference between aerial and root thermomorphogenesis responses. Using a site-directed mutagenesis approach, we are able to pinpoint that the degradation is triggered by a post-translational modification targeting lysines, probably K63 ubiquitination. To find out the E3 ubiquitin ligase involved in the BRI1 temperature-induced degradation we carried out a yeast two hybrid screen using BRI1’s cytoplasmic domain. We obtained three candidate proteins named DENSE AND ERECT PANICLE (DEP) that surprisingly localize to cortical microtubules (cMTs) and arose at the same time as BR signaling, suggesting a functional link. The interaction between DEP1 and BRI1 was confirmed by three different techniques and, consequently dep single mutants are defective in BR percepton. On one hand, they are hyposensitive to the BR-induced reduction in hypocotyl length but on the other hand they are hypersensitive regarding BR-induced agravitropism. This data suggest an interplay between BR signaling, BRI1 subcellular dynamics and cortical microtubules. Future research will shed light on the biological significance of the BRI1-cMTs interaction in general and the BRI1-DEP1 interaction in particular.

The present paper introduces one very efficient and flexible time-domain analysis technique to predict the kinds of reflections and crosstalk. Numerical results show that this technique is indeed efficient and accurate in the transient analysis of a general multiple line system. Furthermore, this algorithm can be eventually coded in a form of a subroutine compatible with any standard CAD program, such as SPICE.

Acquisition of a superantigen pathogenicity island (SaPI) significantly increases virulence in Staphylococcus aureus. Horizontal transfer of SaPIs occurs at high frequency and depends upon a helper bacteriophage, either through direct infection or SOS-mediated induction of a lysogen. SaPIs hijack the packaging machinery of the helper phage, leading to the formation of SaPI-containing transducing particles that can introduce the pathogenicity island into neighboring SaPI-negative cells. All SaPIs contain a conserved core of genes, some of which are co-transcribed as an operon and encode functions involved in helper exploitation. The goal of this study was to more fully understand the intricate relationships between the SaPI elements and their helper bacteriophages, specifically any regulatory crosstalk that might occur between them. We demonstrated phage-host interactions in 80 and 80α, and SaPI1 and SaPIbov1-mediated crosstalk with helper phage 80α. The phage Sri protein was shown to be a bi-functional protein that both derepresses SaPI1 and interferes with host chromosome replication. Incoming SaPI1 experiments showed that SaPI1 modulates the levels of the N-terminal part of orf14 mRNA. Induction experiments using the 80α ΔrinA phage as a genetic tool, reveal several new phage genes that SaPI1 targets for expression modulation. Finally, a novel SaPI1 interference mechanism was identified. In an 80α ΔrinA mutant, which cannot activate its late operon, SaPI1 can directly turn on expression of the packaging and structural genes in a noncanonical manner, initiating from the 2nd gene in the operon, the large terminase subunit.

O fenômeno \"crosstalk\" constitui-se de acoplamentos eletromagnéticos não intencionais entre condutores. Motivado pela importância deste fenômeno para a área de Compatibilidade Eletromagnética, este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia de análise do fenômeno através do aplicativo SPICE considerando-se configurações compostas por condutores múltiplos. A proposta de desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta computacional de simulação do fenômeno utilizando uma versão estudantil, com livre acesso, possibilita, entre outras coisas, a disseminação de um modelo alternativo, simples e eficaz, e a inclusão do estudo do \"crosstalk\" no conteúdo programático de cursos de Graduação ou Pós-graduação. Para este fim, adotou-se um modelo de simulação de acoplamento eletromagnético com base em modelos de linha de transmissão. Tal modelo é complementado com geradores vinculados controlados por tensão e corrente, que representam fontes de interferência eletromagnética. Em face de limitações dos blocos funcionais que representam essas fontes no aplicativo, foi utilizado em um primeiro instante um método de representação do modelo através de arquivos-texto, ao invés da utilização da interface gráfica existente no software. Posteriormente, novos blocos foram desenvolvidos e acrescentados à biblioteca, tornando possível à aplicação dessa interface diretamente nas simulações. A validação do modelo foi feita, inicialmente, comparando-se os resultados simulados àqueles disponíveis na literatura internacional. Além disto, foi desenvolvida uma bancada experimental para comprovação dos resultados e validação do modelo implementado no aplicativo SPICE através de casos simples do fenômeno. Esses resultados mostram a viabilidade da utilização dos componentes desenvolvidos para o aplicativo, tornando possível e confiável o uso dessa ferramenta na simulação do fenômeno \"crosstalk\". Passou-se então a aplicação da ferramenta desenvolvida a sistemas mais complexos com um número superior de condutores. / This work presents an approach, in which the well-known SPICE simulator is used as a tool to simulate the phenomenon crosstalk. Basically, it is based on transmission line model, where the electromagnetic interferences are simulated by controlled voltage and current sources. Due to the limitations of the available Spice models concerning multiconductors configurations, additional models were developed and implemented as part of the SPICE library. Theoretical and experimental results were obtained. They were used as part of the validation process of the proposed methodology. The developing of specific models allowed the use of this modeling in SPICE student versions. This turns possible the introduction of crosstalk simulations in undergraduate and graduate courses. Besides, the methodology was applied to complex systems in order to present its versatility.

The performance of low latency Network on Chip (NoC) architectures, which incorporate fast bypass paths to reduce communication latency, is limited by crosstalk induced skewing of signal transitions on link wires. As a result of crosstalk interactions between wires, signal transitions belonging to the same flit or bit vector arrive at the destination at different times and are likely to violate setup and hold time constraints for the design. This thesis proposes a two-step technique: TransSync- RecSync, to dynamically eliminate packet errors resulting from inter-bit-line transition skew. The proposed approach adds minimally to router complexity and involves no wire overhead. The actual throughput of NoC designs with asynchronous bypass designs is evaluated and the benefits of augmenting such schemes with the proposed design are studied. The TransSync, TransSync-2-lines and RecSync schemes described here are found to improve the average communication latency by 26%, 20% and 38% respectively in a 7X7 mesh NoC with asynchronous bypass channel. This work also evaluates the bit-error ratio (BER) performance of several existing crosstalk avoidance and error correcting schemes and compares them to that of the proposed schemes. Both TransSync and RecSync scheme are dynamic in nature and can be switched on and off on-the-fly. The proposed schemes can therefore be employed to impart unequal error protection (UEP) against intra-flit skewing on NoC links. In the UEP, a larger fraction of the energy budget is spent in providing protection to those parts of the data being transmitted on the link which have a higher priority, while expending smaller effort in protecting relatively less important parts of the data. This allows us to achieve the prescribed level of performance with lower levels of power. The benefits of the presented technique are illustrated using an H.264 video decoder system-on-chip (SoC) employing NoC architecture. We show that for Akyio test streams transmitted over 3mm long link wires, the power consumption can be reduced by as much as 20% at the cost of an acceptable degradation in average peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) with UEP.

In the thesis, we study the rearrangeability of the Banyan-type network with crosstalk constraint. Let $x$, $p$ and $c$ be nonnegative integers with $0leq x,cleq n$ and $n,pgeq 1$. $B_{n}(x,p,c)$ is the Banyan-type network with, $2^{n+1}$ inputs, $2^{n+1}$ outputs, $x$ extra-stages, and each connection containing at most $c$ crosstalk switch elements. We give the necessary and sufficient conditions for rearrangeable Banyan-type networks $B_{n}(x,p,c)$.

For the advanced high speed digital circuits with faster edge rate, smaller packaged size, and higher layout density, crosstalk becomes one of the serious problems for good signal integrity (SI) in the circuits. Accurate extraction of the equivalent model of the general three conductors transmission lines structure can help us understand the behavior of the crosstalk phenomenon. Based on combining the Layer Peeling Technique (LPT) and Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) numerical approach, both the impedance profile and the equivalent lumped model of the three-conductors transmission lines are theoretically obtained. The equivalent model can easily incorporate into SPICE program. The transient behavior of the these extracted model is compared with the experienced results measured by Time-domain Reflectometry (TDR). The agreement is good.