This thesis presents a low power consumption, low phase noise, and fast locking CMOS fractional-N frequency synthesizer with optimalied voltage-controlled oscillator. The frequency synthesizer is designed in a TSMC 0.18£gm CMOS 1P6M technology process. It can be used for IEEE 802.16e mobile Wimax¡¦s devices and outputing frequency is ranged from 2.3GHz to 2.45GHz for the local oscillator in RF front-end circuits. The proposed frequency synthesizer consists of a phase-frequency detector (PFD), a charge pump (CP), a low-pass loop filter (LPF), a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), a multi-modulus divider, and a delta-sigma modulator (DSM). In system design, two voltage-controlled oscillators we presented to achieve low power consumption, low phase noise, and stable output swing. Delta-sigma modulator (DSM) is adopted to produce high frequency resolution, switching over frequency fast and very low phase noise. This thesis proposes a switch circuit which can reduce the lock of time of synthesizer. In the mean time it also reduces the emergence of lose lock.

High performance networks of workstation are becoming increasingly popular a parallel computing platform because of their lower cost. Both message passing and software distributed shared memory (DSM) programming paradigms have been developed and employed on such distributed hardware platforms. An important performance bottleneck in these systems is the effective data transmission latency, which is poorer than in high-speed parallel computer interconnection networks. Iterative algorithms are used in a large class of applications like solution of partial algorithms are used, optimization problems, solutions to systems of linear equations, and so on. These can be parallelized in a straight-forward fashion with cad1 node computing a part of the data set and also synchronizing and exchanging data with the other nodes as required. But these synchronous version perform poorly when message transmission delays are high, as is the case in network of workstations. The asynchronous parallel version of these algorithms provide an additional degree of freedom to address large data transmission latencies. These algorithms do not synchronize, and behave correctly in the presence of losses and delays in the propagation of updates. Thus, in shared memory systems they do not synchronize accesses to shared data and they will work correctly even in the presence of delays and losses in updates. This gives synchronous algorithms a performance advantage over their synchronous counterparts since synchronization costs are avoided and further computation can be overlapped with communication. The message generation rate of asynchronous algorithms is however greater than that of their synchronous counterparts. Uncontrolled asynchronous runs can create a large network load resulting in large queuing delays, which in turn can increase the message generation of the asynchronous algorithms. This is especially possible in lower bandwidth network like that in network of workstations. Such a positive feedback loop leads to unstable network conditions. Recent work has tried to improve the performance of asynchronous algorithms on a distributed shared memory (DSM) system by adaptively buffering shared memory updates depending on the network load, and transmitting multiple updates together. This reduces congestion and message transmission overhead, but could still result in slow convergence since nothing is guaranteed about, the update propagation delay. Also, although adaptive throttling of message will kick in once the network gets heavily loaded, it cannot, prevent the initial flooding. Furthermore, the processor is not freed when computation with the available values does not result in much further convergence. In this thesis we present an alternate method of controlling iterative methods and present performance results for the same. We propose a new system-supported blocking read primitive, termed Global Read that is guaranteed to return a value of acceptable age of the specified location in a DSM system. The main idea is to enforce an upper bound on the age of shared updates seen by a node in a manner visible to the underlying system (DSM). Information about processes being blocked can be used for adapting the underlying system, especially the network, towards better performance. A reading process is throttled until its Global-Read is satisfied, thus implementing program-level flow control and also freeing the processor. The Global-Read can also help in communication-based scheduling of, processes. Performance evaluation using a benchmark from Cray, on a network of workstations and on the IBM SP2 parallel computer, showed good performance improvements. We also present results of a systematic study wherein we implement parallel code for different iterative techniques for the solution of Lap lace equation wing PVM, anti characterize when controlled asynchrony work befit. We studied the improvements in computation time and analyzed the sources of this improvement, using various input and parallelism, on both IBM SP2 and a network of workstations. We find significant performance improvements for controlling asynchrony when the traffic generated by the asynchronous algorithm becomes more than what can be sustained by the network. But we found that the scalability of the applications is limited by the software overhead for messages. Systems which have reduced software overhead will show very good scalable performance for controlled asynchrony.

Lorsqu'une entreprise prend la décision stratégique de lancer une nouvelle famille de produits ou de reconcevoir un produit existant, l'architecte système a pour mission de concevoir ou de faire évoluer l'architecture de ce produit. L'architecte joue aussi le rôle de chef de projet et doit concevoir ou faire évoluer en même temps, l'organisation du projet pour la rendre plus performante. Dans ce mémoire, notre objectif est de développer des modèles et méthodes permettant d'aider les architectes système dans cette double activité. Dans le cadre de l'Ingénierie Système, notre méthode se base sur la définition de nos propres concepts d'architecture et de conception modulaire pour les étendre à la définition de l'architecture de l'organisation du projet. Nous proposons ensuite en cohérence avec notre positionnement, un algorithme de clustering utilisant l'outil DSM comme méthode de représentation, cet algorithme a pour fonction de révéler l'architecture d'un domaine en partant de sa représentation matricielle (DSM). L'application de notre méthode de développement des architectures est liée aux quatre situations de conception identifiées. Pour chacune de ces situations, nous proposons une méthode de conception des architectures, faisant appel à un traitement flou et/ou à des opérations matricielles. Chacune de ces situations est ensuite illustrée par une application à la conception d'un moteur thermique dans l'industrie automobile. La démarche présentée dans ce chapitre est une vision statique de la conception des architectures. Face cette vision statique, nous montrons la nécessité de faire « coévoluer » les architectures couplées. Nous proposons alors l'exploration des incertitudes comme méthode pour suivre l'évolution des systèmes (perturbations) étudiés. Nous développons une méthode basée sur un traitement flou pour faire coévoluer les architectures perturbées et pour les rendre cohérentes.

Renewable Energy will be the key to preserving the Earth's remaining resources and continuing this surge of technological progress that we have experienced this past century. New philosophies of how/when/where energy should be consumed and produced are attempting to improve upon the current grid infrastructure. The massive advancement in communications, renewable and control systems will allow this new-age electric grid to maximize its efficiency while reducing cost. Renewable, "green" energy is now at the forefront of innovation. As the world population increases, there will be a need to free ourselves from natural resources as much as possible. Advanced Energy Storage Systems (AESS) will play a vital and large role in this new-age infrastructure. Because renewable energy is not constant (aside from hydroelectricity), this energy needs to be conserved and used at appropriate times. The Sustainable Electric Energy Delivery System (SEEDS) project features an AESS made from Lithium-ion phosphate (LiFeP04) and a Photovoltaic (PV) source connected to the grid. Every current technology has different parameters, efficiency, charge/discharge rates, lifespan, etc. The current Li-FeP04 system will be used as an example and a model. This project acts as a pilot project for future large scale smart grid endeavors. This thesis is written in conjunction with the SEEDS project and will outline and discuss in detail the findings. For the PV system, the performance is analyzed. For the storage system, the round-trip efficiency (measured) and life cycle are broken down. The thesis concludes with a capacity sizing estimation of the storage system which is based on the renewable energy source (solar).

Juvenile violence is a phenomenon that consistently garners great attention in the media, the public, and across a multitude of academic disciplines. A growing body of literature in developmental and lifecourse criminology has called for innovative research to further investigate the causes and correlates of serious juvenile offenders. Toward this end, the present study uses prospective, longitudinal data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS) to gauge the temporal impact of childhood and adolescent mental health problems on the development of serious offending behaviors in boys. Borrowing largely from the work of Achenbach and colleagues (2001), data from parent and teacher reports of psychopathological problems were used to create DSM-oriented scales for Oppositional Defiant, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity, Anxiety, and Affective Problems. These scales offer a more continuous form of measurement than DSM diagnoses and allowed for distinctions between normal, borderline, and clinical levels of mental health problems. Forward-step logistic regression analyses indicated that three different teacher-reported DSM-oriented mental health problems emerged at three different stages of development as significant predictors of serious violence over the lifecourse. The significant substantive, methodological, and public policy implications of the study are discussed.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a behavior recently added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a condition for further study. In this dissertation, I present findings from three studies that inform the clinical description of NSSI as well as some of the cognitive and emotional aspects of NSSI. In Study 1, I examined data from a community sample of adult women who met proposed DSM-5 criteria for NSSI or subthreshold NSSI. The findings show that any experience with NSSI is associated with significant impairment. Further, they suggest that greater self-criticism may be a key variable capable of distinguishing between people who engage in more versus less frequent NSSI. In Study 2, I examined the extent to which cognitive deficits in inhibiting emotional information may characterize people who engage in NSSI. Although NSSI participants endorsed greater difficulty with negative thoughts relative to controls, the groups demonstrated no differences on a directed forgetting task. These findings are consistent with previous research on emotional reactivity and impulsivity in NSSI that shows a similar dissociation between self-report and behavioral-based results. In Study 3, I examined how people process NSSI images. Results suggest that people who engage in NSSI view NSSI stimuli as relatively non-aversive. This is in sharp contrast to healthy controls, who consider NSSI images as highly aversive. These finding are consistent with models of NSSI that regard self-injury as providing reinforcement (positive and negative). Overall, the findings from these studies add to the clinical description of NSSI and support its diagnostic validity. Our examination of the clinical characteristics of the NSSI as described in DSM-5 highlights the importance of assessing the presence of any NSSI behavior as well as highly self-critical thoughts. Importantly, we found no evidence of memory deficits in NSSI. Of great clinical concern, however, is the extent to which engaging in NSSI appears to erode the aversive nature of NSSI stimuli. Taken together, our findings support a model in which self-criticism may reduce the initial barriers to engaging in NSSI, with the mood benefits associated with NSSI subsequently serving to maintain it. / Psychology

Asperger’s was eliminated as a distinct diagnosis in the DSM-5. While controversy lingers over the assimilation of Asperger’s into autism spectrum disorder, my study explores the experience of stigma through interviews with four adults with Asperger’s and two with high functioning autism. I examine the phenomenology of autistic stigma, stigma management, and how stigma is impacted by diagnosis. The results provide an understanding of stigma as it is experienced by individuals who, in the words of one participant, suffer from a “relationship disability.” The term ASHFA evolves during the write-up to become more than an acronym for Asperger’s/high functioning autism; it comes to represent a way of being present in the world that transcends diagnosis. A relational methodology derived from Gadamer’s hermeneutics and Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology provides a philosophical framework for the project and also guides ethical engagement during the study. Methods used in the data analysis are drawn from constructivist grounded theory. The report itself may contain clues into ASHFA because I, the organizing participant, am also diagnosed with Asperger’s. I attempt to make sense of the paradoxical conclusion that diagnosis can provide a therapeutic explanation for autistic difference even as medicalization disempowers us as a validating narrative / Graduate / 0452 / 0422 / canadagates@gmail.com

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with severe and aggressive youth antisocial behavior (ASB) and are under consideration as a potential specifier for the diagnosis of Conduct Disorder in DSM-5 (Frick & Moffitt, 2010). This proposal demands more inquiry into the impact that CU traits have on behavioral subtypes of youth ASB. Normal-range personality traits, trait levels of anxiety, and hormonal stress reactivity (i.e., changes in the stress hormone, cortisol) are all factors that have been studied extensively in relation to ASB, but these relationships have not yet been considered in combination with CU traits. The purpose of the current set of studies was to examine the extent to which CU traits moderated links between these three factors and both overall and behavioral subtypes of ASB. In the first study, data were collected on children’s personality, CU traits, and three behavioral categories of ASB (physical aggression, relational aggression and non-violent rule-breaking behavior) for community (N = 742) and clinical (N = 183) samples of children. In the community sample, CU traits moderated links between Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience and ASB overall and externalizing behaviors, between Neuroticism, Extraversion and physical aggression and between Agreeableness, Extraversion and rule-breaking behaviors. In the clinical sample, CU traits moderated the link between Agreeableness and externalizing behaviors. In the second study, data were collected on children’s trait anxiety, CU traits, and the same three behavioral categories of ASB in a follow-up adolescent community sample (N = 145). Reactivity of cortisol in response to an unanticipated social stress test was also measured. Results revealed that CU traits moderated links between trait anxiety and ASB overall, externalizing behaviors and physical aggression. In females only, CU traits also moderated links between cortisol reactivity and ASB overall and externalizing behaviors. Combined, the results of these studies support the proposal that CU traits are a clinically useful diagnostic specifier with different implications for behavioral subtypes of ASB. Further, the present findings allow recommendations to be made for future research to further our understanding of the role CU traits play in CD, and to develop targeted interventions.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with severe and aggressive youth antisocial behavior (ASB) and are under consideration as a potential specifier for the diagnosis of Conduct Disorder in DSM-5 (Frick & Moffitt, 2010). This proposal demands more inquiry into the impact that CU traits have on behavioral subtypes of youth ASB. Normal-range personality traits, trait levels of anxiety, and hormonal stress reactivity (i.e., changes in the stress hormone, cortisol) are all factors that have been studied extensively in relation to ASB, but these relationships have not yet been considered in combination with CU traits. The purpose of the current set of studies was to examine the extent to which CU traits moderated links between these three factors and both overall and behavioral subtypes of ASB. In the first study, data were collected on children’s personality, CU traits, and three behavioral categories of ASB (physical aggression, relational aggression and non-violent rule-breaking behavior) for community (N = 742) and clinical (N = 183) samples of children. In the community sample, CU traits moderated links between Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience and ASB overall and externalizing behaviors, between Neuroticism, Extraversion and physical aggression and between Agreeableness, Extraversion and rule-breaking behaviors. In the clinical sample, CU traits moderated the link between Agreeableness and externalizing behaviors. In the second study, data were collected on children’s trait anxiety, CU traits, and the same three behavioral categories of ASB in a follow-up adolescent community sample (N = 145). Reactivity of cortisol in response to an unanticipated social stress test was also measured. Results revealed that CU traits moderated links between trait anxiety and ASB overall, externalizing behaviors and physical aggression. In females only, CU traits also moderated links between cortisol reactivity and ASB overall and externalizing behaviors. Combined, the results of these studies support the proposal that CU traits are a clinically useful diagnostic specifier with different implications for behavioral subtypes of ASB. Further, the present findings allow recommendations to be made for future research to further our understanding of the role CU traits play in CD, and to develop targeted interventions.

Domain Specific Modeling (DSM) aims to increase productivity of software development by raising the level of abstraction beyond code concepts and using domain concepts. By providing a generative model-driven tooling component and runtime support, the Eclipse Graphical Modeling Framework (GMF) aims to simplify the creation of diagram editors for specific domains based on a series of model creation and transformation steps. GMF leverages the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) and the Eclipse Graphical Editing Framework (GEF) to allow the graphical modeling of Domain Specific Languages (DSL). A Domain Specific Language (DSL) is developed specifically for a specific task and specific domain. In this research, the State Machine Compiler (SMC) represents the specific domain for which a DSL in a form of a diagram editor is developed using GMF. SMC is an open source Java tool allowing generation of state pattern classes from textual descriptions of state machines. The main objective of this research is to describe the use of GMF, highlight potential pitfalls and identify strengths and weaknesses of GMF based on certain criteria. To be able to feed the SMC diagrams created with the editor into SMC, a Java Emitter Templates (JET) transformation is used to transform SMC model instances into textual format expected by SMC. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2011-04-14 18:58:08.797