No description available.

With the rapid growth of Internet-of-Things (IoT), billions of devices are expected to be interconnected to provide various services appealing to users. Many devices will get an access to valuable information which is likely to increase the number of malicious attacks on these devices in the future. Therefore, security is considered as one of the most critical challenges in the development of IoT. In order to secure resource-constrained devices such as sensors or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags which form the backbone of IoT, lightweight cryptographic algorithms are required. This thesis focuses on the problem of message authentication. To authenticate a message means to verify that the message: (1) comes from the right sender (i.e. its authenticity), and (2) has not been modified (i.e. its integrity). It is challenging to use traditional message authentication methods in resource-constrained devices because typically they can allocate only a few hundred gates for implementing security due to their limited computing, storage and energy resources. To address these needs, a new message authentication algorithm based on a Cryptographic Cyclic Redundancy Check (C-CRC) was developed by KTH in collaboration with Ericsson. In this thesis, we implemented C-CRC and compared it with KECCAK Message Authentication Code (KMAC) standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2016. First, MATLAB and Verilog versions were developed for both algorithms. The comparison of these two versions allowed us to verify the correctness of algorithms functionality. After that, the Verilog descriptions were simulated in ModelSim and synthesized using Synopsys design compiler. Finally, placement and routing was performed using Cadence SoC Encounter. The evaluation results show that C-CRC outperforms KMAC in terms of area, power, throughput per area, and energy per bit. However, C-CRC is worse than KMAC in terms of latency. We have also investigated several different options of implementing C-CRC, including producing more than one bit of output per clock cycle. We found that such a technique improves throughput of C-CRC with the minimal penalty in area and power consumption

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>In design verication, although simulation is still a widely used verication</p> <p>technique in FPGA design, formal verication is obtaining greater acceptance</p> <p>as the complexity of designs increases. In the simulation method, for a circuit</p> <p>with n inputs and m registers an exhaustive test vector will have as many as</p> <p>2^(m+n) elements making it impractical for many modern circuits. Therefore</p> <p>this method is incomplete, i.e., it may fail to catch some design errors due to</p> <p>the lack of complete test coverage. Formal verication can be introduced as a</p> <p>complement to traditional verication techniques.</p> <p>The primary objectives of this thesis are determining: (i) how to for-</p> <p>malize FPGA implementations at dierent levels of abstraction, and (ii) how</p> <p>to prove their functional correctness. This thesis explores two variations of a</p> <p>formal verication framework by proving the functional correctness of several</p> <p>FPGA implementations of commonly used safety subsystem components us-</p> <p>ing the theorem prover PVS. We formalize components at the netlist level and</p> <p>the Verilog Register Transfer HDL level, preserving their functional semantics.</p> <p>Based on these formal models, we prove correctness conditions for the com-</p> <p>ponents using PVS. Finally, we present some techniques which can facilitate</p> <p>the proving process and describe some general strategies which can be used to</p> <p>prove properties of a synchronous circuit design.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have been emerging as a promising bedrock to provide opportunities for several types of accelerators that spans across various domains such as finance, web-search, and data center networking, among others. Research interests facilitating the development of accelerators on FPGAs are increasing significantly, in particular, because of their effectiveness with a variety of applications, flexibility, and high performance per watt. However, several key challenges remain that hinder their large-scale deployment. Overcoming these challenges would enable them to match the pervasiveness of graphics processor units (GPUs), their principal competitors in this arena. One of the primary reasons responsible for the slow adaptation by programmers has been the programming model, which uses a low-level hardware description language (HDL). Using HDLs require a detailed understanding of logic design and significant effort to implement and verify the behavioral models, with the latter growing with its complexity. Recent advancements in high-level language synthesis (HLS) tools have addressed this challenge to a considerable extent by allowing the programmers to write their applications in a high-level language named OpenCL. These applications are then compiled and synthesized to create a bitstream that configures the FPGA. This thesis characterizes the efficacy of HLS compiler optimizations that can be employed to improve the performance of these applications. The synthesized hardware from OpenCL kernels is fundamentally different from traditional hardware such as CPUs and GPUs, which exploit instruction level parallelism (ILP) thread level parallelism (TLP), or data level parallelism (DLP) for performance gains. FPGAs typically use deep pipelining (i.e., ILP) for performance. A stall in this pipeline may severely undermine the performance of applications. Thus, it is imperative to identify and remove any such bottlenecks. To this end, this thesis presents and discusses a software-centric framework to debug and profile the synthesized designs generated using HLS tools. This thesis proposes basic code patterns, including a timestamp and a scalable framework, which can be plugged easily into OpenCL kernels, to collect and process run-time information dynamically. This scalable framework has a small overhead for area utilization and frequency but provides fine-grained information about the bottlenecks and latencies in design. Additionally, although HLS tools have improved programmability, this may come at the cost of performance or area utilization. This thesis addresses this design trade-off via a comparative study of a hand-coded design in HDL and an architecturally similar, tool-generated design using an OpenCL compiler in the application area of 3D-stencil (i.e., structured grid) computation. Experiments in this thesis show that the performance of an OpenCL approach can achieve 95% of the peak attainable performance of a microkernel for multiple problem sizes. In comparison to the OpenCL approach, an HDL approach results in approximately 50% less memory usage and only 2% better performance on average. / MS

O HDL-c é um fator de risco cardiovascular negativo e sua concentração plasmática apresenta relação inversa com a incidência de eventos cardiovasculares. Entretanto, as evidências relativas ao grupo de indivíduos com níveis de HDL-c acima do percentil 95 da população geral ainda são escassas e o impacto da hiperalfalipoproteinemia (HALP) sobre o risco cardiovascular continua representando motivo de controvérsia na literatura médica. Alguns estudos em populações específicas associam a HALP a aumento do risco cardiovascular. Ao mesmo tempo, outros estudos identificaram populações de indivíduos hipoalfalipoproteinêmicos com marcada longevidade. Assim, demonstrou-se aparente dissociação entre níveis de HDL-c e risco cardiovascular em determinadas populações, reconduzível a aspectos disfuncionais da HDL. O objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar o papel da HALP na determinação do risco cardiovascular; comparar a prevalência de doença cardiovascular subclínica, avaliada por meio da quantificação ultrassonográfica da Espessura Íntimo-Medial Carotídea (EIMC), entre portadores de HDL-c >= 90mg/dL (grupo HALP) e portadores de concentrações de HDL-c atualmente consideradas normais (entre 40 e 50mg/dL para os homens e entre 50 e 60mg/dL para as mulheres); e avaliar características e função da HDL em portadores de HALP por meio do estudo de sua composição, de sua capacidade de efluxo de colesterol, e de sua atividade anti-inflamatória e antioxidante, correlacionando estas características com a presença de doença cardiovascular subclínica avaliada por meio da determinação da EIMC, da Velocidade de Onda de Pulso (VOP) e da presença de Calcificação Arterial Coronariana (CAC) avaliada pela TCMD. Para responder estas perguntas, o presente estudo foi articulado em dois braços: Braço 1: Análise da coorte do estudo ELSA com o objetivo de determinar a prevalência de HALP em uma população geral; definir o perfil demográfico, antropométrico e metabólico dos portadores de HALP; e comparar a prevalência de doença vascular subclínica deste grupo com controles da mesma coorte com níveis normais de HDL-colesterol. Braço 2: Recrutamento de 80 voluntários hígidos e portadores de HALP para avaliação da correlação entre presença de doença vascular subclínica, e aspectos estruturais e funcionais da HDL. Em seus dois braços, o estudo levou a quatro conclusões principais: 1) Níveis marcadamente elevados de HDL-c estão associados a menor espessura íntimo-medial carotídea quando comparados a níveis de HDL-c considerados normais pelas diretrizes vigentes. Embora portadores do fenótipo HALP apresentem, como grupo, um perfil metabólico mais favorável que o encontrado em indivíduos com HDL-c normal, a associação entre EIMC e HALP foi independente dos fatores de risco tradicionais, indicando que a menor prevalência destes últimos em portadores de HDL-c marcadamente elevado justifica apenas parcialmente a menor prevalência de doença vascular subclínica neste grupo; 2) Embora a HALP se apresente como um fenótipo ateroprotetor, há indivíduos com níveis marcadamente elevados de HDL-c que evoluem com doença cardiovascular, clínica ou subclínica. Neste contexto, nossos resultados indicam correlação entre os três métodos avaliados para estudar doença vascular subclínica em portadores de HALP: EIMC, VOP e CAC; 3) Os fatores de risco tradicionais continuam exercendo seu peso na determinação do risco cardiovascular em portadores de HALP. Idade, tabagismo, hipertensão arterial, hipertrigliceridemia e altos níveis de LDL-c apresentaram associação estatisticamente significativa com a presença de doença vascular subclínica no grupo estudado; 4) A avaliação da composição e da função da HDL em portadores de HALP pode permitir identificar indivíduos especificamente mais suscetíveis à aterosclerose. Nossos resultados indicam que, em particular, a atividade anti-inflamatória da HDL, avaliada pela capacidade de inibição da produção de IL-6; o efluxo de colesterol e a capacidade de transferência de triglicérides apresentaram associação independente com menor espessura íntimo-medial carotídea em portadores de HALP, enquanto níveis mais altos de Apo A-IV se associaram a maior grau de doença cardiovascular subclínica / HDL-c is a negative cardiovascular risk factor and its plasma concentration is inversely related to the incidence of cardiovascular events. However, evidence of benefit among subjects with HDL-c levels above the 95th percentile of the general population is still scarce and the impact of hyperalphalipoproteinemia (HALP) on cardiovascular risk continues to represent matter of debate in the medical literature. Some studies with specific populations indicated an increased cardiovascular risk associated with HALP. In addition, other reports identified groups of patients with marked hypoalphalipoproteinemia and longevity. Hence, there could be a dissociation between HDL-c levels and cardiovascular risk in certain populations, possibly due to dysfunctional HDL particles. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of HALP phenotype in determining cardiovascular risk; to compare the prevalence of subclinical cardiovascular disease, assessed by ultrasound measurement of Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (CIMT) among patients with HDL-c >= 90mg/dL (HALP group) and patients with HDL-c currently considered normal (40-50mg/dL for men and 50-60mg/dL for women); and to evaluate HDL functionality in patients with HALP through the study of its composition, its cholesterol efflux capacity, and its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity; correlating those characteristics with the presence of subclinical cardiovascular disease assessed by CIMT, Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) and Coronary Artery Calcification (CAC). To answer these questions, the present study was articulated into two arms: Arm 1: ELSA-Brasil study cohort analysis in order to assess HALP prevalence in a general population, defining demographic, anthropometric and metabolic profile of HALP individuals; and comparing the prevalence of subclinical vascular disease among HALP subjects with controls with normal HDL-c. Arm 2: Recruitment of 80 healthy volunteers with HALP to study the correlation between subclinical vascular disease and HDL functionality in this group. Our study led to four main conclusions: 1) markedly elevated HDL-c is associated with lower CIMT compared to the control group with normal HDL-c levels. Although individuals with HALP display a more favorable metabolic profile than subjects with normal HDL-c, the association between CIMT and HALP was independent of traditional risk factors, indicating that the lower prevalence of subclinical vascular disease in this group is only partially justified by the lower prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors; 2) Although HALP can be regarded as an atheroprotective phenotype, there are individuals with markedly elevated levels of HDL-c who develop cardiovascular disease. Our results indicate good correlation of the three methods here adopted to study subclinical vascular disease among HALP patients: CIMT, VOP and CAC; 3) Traditional risk factors continue to exert their weight in determining cardiovascular risk in patients with HALP. Age, smoking, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia and high levels of LDL-c were significantly associated with the presence of subclinical vascular disease among HALP individuals; 4) the assessment of the HDL composition and functionality in patients with HALP may allow to identify individuals specifically more susceptible to atherosclerosis. Our results indicate that, in particular, cholesterol efflux capacity, the anti-inflammatory activity of HDL, and triglyceride transfer capacity were independently associated with lower CIMT in HALP individuals, while higher levels of Apo A-IV were associated with a greater burden of subclinical cardiovascular disease

INTRODUÇÃO: Diabetes mellitus tipo 2 (DM2) é um fator de risco isolado para coronariopatia, principalmente quando associado à microalbuminúria (MA). Alterações estruturais e funcionais das lipoproteínas não são totalmente esclarecidas nesse contexto. OBJETIVO: Avaliar, em pacientes DM2, a influência da presença da MA e do tratamento com estatina ou insulina nas transferências para HDL (T) de lípides e no tamanho desta lipoproteína. MÉTODOS: Estudamos 33 pacientes DM2 e 34 controles pareados para idade. Uma nanoemulsão lipídica artificial radiomarcada com 3H-Triglicéride (TG) e 14C-Colesterol Livre (CL) ou 3H-Colesterol Éster (CE) e 14C-Fosfolípide (FL) foi incubada com plasma. A nanoemulsão e as lipoproteínas foram precipitadas, exceto a HDL, que teve sua radioatividade contada. O diâmetro da HDL foi mensurado por método de dispersão da luz. RESULTADOS: A TFL (%) foi maior no grupo com DM2 que no grupo controle (25,2±3,2 e 19,7±3,2 respectivamente; p<0,001), assim como a TCL (%): 9,1±2,7 e 6,3±1,5 respectivamente; p<0,001. O diagnóstico de MA não se associou às mudanças da propriedade de transferência. O uso da insulina associou-se à menor TFL(%): 23,5±2,1 contra 26,1±3,3; p=0,018. Já o uso da estatina associou-se à queda de todas: TCE(%): 3,5±0,9; TFL(%):23,8±2,0; TTG(%): 3,9±0,8; TCL(%):7,4±1,3 quando comparado ao grupo que não usava estatina (TCE(%):5,9±2,4; TFL(%):26,9±3,6; TTG(%):6,4±2,2; TCL(%):11,1±2,6). O tamanho de HDL foi semelhante em qualquer condição analisada. CONCLUSÕES: DM2 aumenta a transferência de lípides de superfície para HDL, enquanto o uso de estatina diminuiu todas as transferências. A presença de MA não se associou às alterações das transferências de lípides / INTRODUCTION: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is an isolated risk factor for coronary artery disease, especially when associated to microalbuminuria (MA). Structural and functional alterations of lipoproteins are not well known in this context. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate, in DM2 patients, the influence both of MA and the treatment with statins or insulin on the lipids transfer to HDL (T) and on the size of this lipoprotein. METHODS: We studied 33 DM2 patients and 34 controls paired for age. An artificial lipidic nanoemulsion radio labeled with 3H-Triglyceride (TG) and 14C-Free Cholesterol (FC) or 3H-Cholesterol Ester (CE) and 14C-Phospholipid (PL) was incubated with plasma. The nanoemulsion and the lipoproteins were precipitated, except for HDL, that had its radioactivity measured. The HDL diameter was measured by laser light scattering method. RESULTS: The TPL (%) was greater in the DM2 group then in the control group (25,2±3,2 and 19,7±3,2 respectively; p<0,001), as well as TFC (%): 9,1±2,7 and 6,3±1,5 respectively; p<0,001. The MA did not affect the transfer. Insulinotherapy was associated with less TPL(%): 23,5±2,1 against 26,1±3,3; p=0,018, and the statin therapy with less transfer of all lipids: TCE(%): 3,5±0,9; TPL(%):23,8±2,0; TTG(%): 3,9±0,8; TFC(%):7,4±1,3 when compared to the group that did not use statin: TCE(%):5,9±2,4; TPL(%):26,9±3,6; TTG(%):6,4±2,2; TFC(%):11,1±2,6. The HDL size was about the same under all the circumstances analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: DM2 is associated with greater transfer of superficial lipids to HDL, while the statin usage was associated with a smaller transfer of all lipids. The MA diagnosis was not associated with any change in lipids transfer

No description available.