Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed April 28, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Northeastern University, 2008. / Title from title page (viewed May 27, 2009). Graduate School of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Includes bibliographical references (p. 234-256).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-150). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Carleton University, 1992. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-172).

The expressive power of logic-programming languages allows utilization of conventional constructs in development of computer systems based on logic programming. However, logic-programming languages have many novel features and capabilities. This thesis investigates how advantage can be taken of these features in the development of a logic-based computer system. It demonstrates that innovative approaches to software, hardware, and computer system design and implementation are feasible in a logic-programming context and often preferable to adaptation of conventional ones. The investigation centers on three main ideas: executable specification, declarative I/O, and implementation through transformation and meta-interpretation. A particular class of languages supporting parallel computation, committed-choice logic-programming languages, are emphasized. One member of this class, Concurrent Prolog, serves as the machine, specification, and implementation language. The investigation has several facets. Hardware, software, and overall system models for a logic-based computer are determined and examined. The models are described by logic programs. The computer system is represented as a goal for resolution. The clauses involved in the subsequent reduction steps constitute its specification. The same clauses also describe the manner in which the computer system is initiated. Frameworks are given for developing models of peripheral devices whose actions and interactions can be declaratively expressed. Interactions do not rely on side-effects or destructive assignment, and are term-based. A methodology is presented for realizing (prototypic) implementations from device specifications. The methodology is based on source-to-source transformation and meta-interpretation. A magnetic disk memory is used as a representative example, resulting in an innovative approach to secondary storage in a logic-programming environment. Building on these accomplishments, a file system for a logic-based computer system is developed. The file system follows a simple model and supports term-based, declarative I/O. Throughout the thesis, features of the logic-programming paradigm are demonstrated and exploited. Interesting and innovative concepts established include: device processes and device processors; restartable and perpetual devices and systems; peripheral devices modelled as function computations or independent logical (inference) systems; unique, compact representations of terms; lazy term expansion; files systems as perpetual processes maintaining local states; and term- and unification-based file abstractions. Logic programs are the sole formalism for specifications and implementations. / Science, Faculty of / Computer Science, Department of / Graduate

The computing power in terms of speed and capacity of today's digital computers has improved tremendously in the last decade. This improvement came mainly due to a revolution in manufacturing technology by developing the ability to manufacture smaller devices and by integrating more devices on a single die. Further development of the current technology will be restricted by physical limits since it won't be possible to shrink devices beyond a certain size. Eventually, classical electrical circuits will encounter the barrier of quantum mechanics. The laws of quantum mechanics can be used for building computing systems that work on the principles of quantum mechanics. Thus quantum computing has drawn the interest of many top scientists in the world. Ion Trap technology is one of the most promising prospective technologies for building quantum computers. This technology allows the placement of qubits - ions in 1-, 2- and 3-dimensional regular structures. Development of efficient algorithms and methodologies for designing reversible quantum circuits is one of the most rapidly growing areas of research. All existing algorithms for synthesizing quantum circuits use multi-input Toffoli gates that have very high quantum cost in terms of electromagnetic pulses. They also do not use the opportunity of regular structures provided by the Ion Trap technology. In this thesis I present a completely new methodology for synthesizing quantum circuits that use only small (3x3) Toffoli gates and new gate families that have similar properties and use regular structures. These methods are for both binary and multiple valued quantum circuits. All my methods require adding some limited number of ancilla qudits [sic] but dramatically decrease the quantum cost of the synthesized circuits. I also present a new family of gates called "D-gates" that allows synthesis of quantum and reversible logic functions using structures called layered diagrams. The designed circuits can be directly mapped to a Quantum Logic Array implemented using the Ion Trap technology.

This dissertation is devoted to efficient automated logic synthesis of reversible circuits using various gate types and initial specifications. These Reversible circuits are of interest to several modern technologies, including Nanotechnology, Quantum computing, Quantum Dot Cellular Automata, Optical computing and low power adiabatic CMOS, but so far the most important practical application of reversible circuits is in quantum computing. Logic synthesis methodologies for reversible circuits are very different than those for classical CMOS or other technologies. The focus of this dissertation is on synthesis of reversible (permutative) binary circuits. It is not related to general unitary circuits that are used in quantum computing and which exhibit quantum mechanical phenomena such as superposition and entanglement. The interest in this dissertation is only in logic synthesis aspects and not in physical (technological) design aspects of reversible circuits. Permutative quantum circuits are important because they include the class of oracles and blocks that are parts of oracles, such as comparators or arithmetic blocks, counters of ones, etc. Every practical quantum algorithm, such as the Grover Algorithm, has many permutative circuits. These circuits are also used in Shor Algorithm (integer factorization), simulation of quantum systems, communication and many other quantum algorithms. Designing permutative circuits is therefore the major engineering task that must be solved to practically realize a quantum algorithm. The dissertation presents the theory that leads to MP (Multi-Path) algorithm, which is currently the top minimizer of reversible circuits with no ancilla bits. Comparison of MP with other 2 leading software tools is done. This software allows to minimize functions of more variables and with smaller quantum cost that other CAD tools. Other software developed in this dissertation allows to synthesize reversible circuits for functions with "don't cares" in their initial specifications. Theory to realize functions from relational representations is also given. Our yet other software tool allows to synthesize reversible circuits for new types of reversible logic, for which no algorithm was ever created, using the so-called "pseudo-reversible" gates called Y-switches.

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