Cells in living organisms are constantly experiencing a variety of mechanical cues. From the stiffness of the extra cellular matrix to its topography, not to mention the presence of shear stress and tension, the physical characteristics of the microenvironment shape the cells’ fate. A rapidly growing body of work shows that cellular responses to these stimuli constitute regulatory mechanisms in many fundamental biological functions. Substrate strains were previously shown to be sensed by cells and activate diverse biochemical signaling pathways, leading to major remodeling and reorganization of cellular structures. The majority of studies had focused on the stretching avoidance response in near-uniform strain fields. Prior to this work, the cellular responses to complex planar strain fields were largely unknown. In this thesis, we uncover various aspects of strain sensing and response by first developing a tailored lab-on-a-chip platform that mimics the non-uniformity and complexity of physiological strains. These microfluidic cell stretchers allow independent biaxial control, generate cyclic stretching profiles with biologically relevant strain and strain gradient amplitudes, and enable high resolution imaging of on-chip cell cultures. Using these microdevices, we reveal that strain gradients are potent mechanical cues by uncovering the phenomenon of cell gradient avoidance. This work establishes that the cellular mechanosensing machinery can sense and localize changes in strain amplitude, which orchestrate a coordinated cellular response. Subsequently, we investigate the effect of multiple changes in stretching directions to further explore mechanosensing subtleties. The evolution of the cellular response shed light on the interplay of the strain avoidance and the newly demonstrated strain gradient avoidance, which were found to occur on two different time scales. Finally, we extend our work to study the influence of cyclic strains on the early stages of cancer development in epithelial tissues (using MDCK-RasV12 system), which was previously largely unexplored. This work reveals that external mechanical forces impede the healthy cells’ ability to eliminate newly transformed cells and greatly promote invasive protrusions, as a result of their different mechanoresponsiveness. Overall, not only does our work reveal new insights regarding the long-range organization in population of cells, but it may also contribute to paving the way towards new approaches in cancer prevention treatments.

The acceptance-rejection algorithm is often used to sample from non-standard distributions. For this algorithm to be efficient, however, the user has to create a hat function that majorizes and closely matches the density of the distribution to be sampled from. There are many methods for automatically creating such hat functions, but these methods require that the user transforms the density so that she knows the exact location of the transformed density's inflection points. In this paper, we propose an acceptancerejection algorithm which obviates this need and can thus be used to sample from a larger class of distributions. / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics

In this paper, we discuss the algebraic structure of bivariate C 1 cubic spline spaces over nonuniform type-2 triangulation and its subspaces with boundary conditions. The dimensions of these spaces are determined and their local support bases are constructed.

No / The traffic pattern has significant impact on the performance of network-on-chip. Many recent studies have shown that multimedia applications can be supported in on-chip interconnects. Driven by the motivation of evaluating on-chip interconnects in multimedia embedded systems, a new analytical model is proposed to investigate the performance of the fat-tree based on-chip interconnection network under bursty multimedia traffic and nonuniform message destinations. Extensive simulation experiments are conducted to validate the accuracy of the model, which is then adopted as a cost-efficient tool to investigate the effects of bursty multimedia traffic with nonuniform destinations on the network performance.

Le secteur de communications sécurisés et portables connait une véritable révolution avec l’apparition des plateformes dites radios logiciels (Software Defined Radios, SDRs). Les performances exceptionnelles de ces systèmes sont les résultats d’une interaction assez complexe et souvent peu évidente entre le logiciel embarqué, le circuit de traitement numérique et les blocs mixtes analogiques/RF. Cette complexité limite la testabilité du produit fini. La méthodologie de test utilisée actuellement a atteint ses limites dues au cout élevé, le long temps de test et le bas degré de généralisation. De plus, les plateformes SDRs peuvent évoluer sur le terrain et elles vont supporter des standards et des scénarios qui n’ont pas été considérés pendant le la phase de conception. Donc, une stratégie de test sur le terrain (en ligne) n’est plus une caractéristique optionnelle mais une nécessité. Dans ce contexte, le but de notre recherche est d’inventer et développer une méthodologie de test capable de garantir le bon fonctionnement d’une plateforme SDR après la production et pendant sa vie. Notre objectif final est de réduire le coût du test en profitant de la reconfigurabilité de la plateforme. Pour les radios tactiques qui doivent être mises à jour sur le terrain sans équipement spécial, les stratégies Built-In Self-Test (BIST) sont, sans doute, la seule moyenne de garantir la conformité aux spécifications. Dans cette mémoire, nous introduisons une nouvelle architecture de test RF BIST qui utilise la technique de de sous-échantillonnage nonuniform à la sortie de l’émetteur (TX) d’une SDR afin d’évaluer la conformité de la masque spectrale. Notre solution s’appuie sur une implémentation autonome, est modulable et peut être appliquée pour le test sur le terrain avec des modifications minimes. Par rapport aux autres techniques de test analogiques/RF, cet approche ne dépends pas de la architecture du TX, ni d’un modèle ad-hoc, ce qui est idéale pour le test des SDRs. / The advent of increasingly powerful Integrated Circuits (IC) has led to the emergence of the Software Defined Radio (SDR) concept, which brought the sector of secured mobile communications into a new era. The outstanding performance of these systems results from optimal trade-offs among advanced analog/Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry, high-speed reconfigurable digital hardware and sophisticated real-time software. The inherent sophistication of such platforms poses a challenging problem for product testing. Currently deployed industrial test strategies face rising obstacles due to the costlier RF test equipment, longer test time and lack of flexibility. Moreover, an SDR platform is field-upgradeable, which means it will support standards and scenarii not considered during the design phase. Therefore, an in-field test strategy is not anymore 'a nice to have' feature but a mandatory requirement. In this context, our research aims to invent and develop a new test methodology able to guarantee the correct functioning of the SDR platform post-fabrication and over its operational lifetime. The overall aim of our efforts is to reduce post-manufacture test cost of SDR transceivers by leveraging the reconfigurability of the platform.For tactical radio units that must be field-upgradeable without specialized equipment, Built-in Self-Test (BIST) schemes are arguably the only way to ensure continued compliance to specifications. In this study we introduce a novel RF BIST architecture which uses Periodically Nonuniform Sampling (PNS2) of the transmitter (TX) output to evaluate compliance to spectral mask specifications. Our solution supports a stand-alone implementation, is scalable across a wide set of complex specifications and can be easily applied for in-field testing with small added hardware. Compared to existing analog/RF test techniques, this approach is not limited to a given TX architecture and does not rely on an ad-hoc TX model, which makes it ideal for SDR testing.

Le secteur de communications sécurisés et portables connait une véritable révolution avec l’apparition des plateformes dites radios logiciels (Software Defined Radios, SDRs). Les performances exceptionnelles de ces systèmes sont les résultats d’une interaction assez complexe et souvent peu évidente entre le logiciel embarqué, le circuit de traitement numérique et les blocs mixtes analogiques/RF. Cette complexité limite la testabilité du produit fini. La méthodologie de test utilisée actuellement a atteint ses limites dues au cout élevé, le long temps de test et le bas degré de généralisation. De plus, les plateformes SDRs peuvent évoluer sur le terrain et elles vont supporter des standards et des scénarios qui n’ont pas été considérés pendant le la phase de conception. Donc, une stratégie de test sur le terrain (en ligne) n’est plus une caractéristique optionnelle mais une nécessité. Dans ce contexte, le but de notre recherche est d’inventer et développer une méthodologie de test capable de garantir le bon fonctionnement d’une plateforme SDR après la production et pendant sa vie. Notre objectif final est de réduire le coût du test en profitant de la reconfigurabilité de la plateforme. Pour les radios tactiques qui doivent être mises à jour sur le terrain sans équipement spécial, les stratégies Built-In Self-Test (BIST) sont, sans doute, la seule moyenne de garantir la conformité aux spécifications. Dans cette mémoire, nous introduisons une nouvelle architecture de test RF BIST qui utilise la technique de de sous-échantillonnage nonuniform à la sortie de l’émetteur (TX) d’une SDR afin d’évaluer la conformité de la masque spectrale. Notre solution s’appuie sur une implémentation autonome, est modulable et peut être appliquée pour le test sur le terrain avec des modifications minimes. Par rapport aux autres techniques de test analogiques/RF, cet approche ne dépends pas de la architecture du TX, ni d’un modèle ad-hoc, ce qui est idéale pour le test des SDRs. / The advent of increasingly powerful Integrated Circuits (IC) has led to the emergence of the Software Defined Radio (SDR) concept, which brought the sector of secured mobile communications into a new era. The outstanding performance of these systems results from optimal trade-offs among advanced analog/Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry, high-speed reconfigurable digital hardware and sophisticated real-time software. The inherent sophistication of such platforms poses a challenging problem for product testing. Currently deployed industrial test strategies face rising obstacles due to the costlier RF test equipment, longer test time and lack of flexibility. Moreover, an SDR platform is field-upgradeable, which means it will support standards and scenarii not considered during the design phase. Therefore, an in-field test strategy is not anymore 'a nice to have' feature but a mandatory requirement. In this context, our research aims to invent and develop a new test methodology able to guarantee the correct functioning of the SDR platform post-fabrication and over its operational lifetime. The overall aim of our efforts is to reduce post-manufacture test cost of SDR transceivers by leveraging the reconfigurability of the platform.For tactical radio units that must be field-upgradeable without specialized equipment, Built-in Self-Test (BIST) schemes are arguably the only way to ensure continued compliance to specifications. In this study we introduce a novel RF BIST architecture which uses Periodically Nonuniform Sampling (PNS2) of the transmitter (TX) output to evaluate compliance to spectral mask specifications. Our solution supports a stand-alone implementation, is scalable across a wide set of complex specifications and can be easily applied for in-field testing with small added hardware. Compared to existing analog/RF test techniques, this approach is not limited to a given TX architecture and does not rely on an ad-hoc TX model, which makes it ideal for SDR testing.

<p>Nonuniform sampling occurs in many practical applications either intentionally or unintentionally. This thesis deals with the reconstruction of two-periodic nonuniform signals which is of great importance in two-channel time-interleaved analog-to-digital converters. In a two-channel time-interleaved ADC, aperture delay mismatch between the channels gives rise to a two-periodic nonuniform sampling pattern, resulting in distortion and severely affecting the linearity of the converter. The problem is solved by digitally recovering a uniformly sampled sequence from a two-periodic nonuniformly sampled set. For this purpose, a time-varying FIR filter is employed. If the sampling pattern is known and fixed, this filter can be designed in an optimal way using least-squares or minimax design. When the sampling pattern changes now and then as during the normal operation of time-interleaved ADC, these filters have to be redesigned. This has implications on the implementation cost as general on-line design is cumbersome. To overcome this problem, a novel time-varying FIR filter with polynomial impulse response is developed and characterized in this thesis. The main advantage with these filters is that on-line design is no longer needed. It now suffices to perform only one design before implementation and in the implementation it is enough to adjust only one variable parameter when the sampling pattern changes. Thus the high implementation cost is decreased substantially.</p><p>Filter design and the associated performance metrics have been validated using MATLAB. The design space has been explored to limits imposed by machine precision on matrix inversions. Studies related to finite wordlength effects in practical filter realisations have also been carried out. These formulations can also be extended to the general M - periodic nonuniform sampling case.</p>

Nonuniform sampling occurs in many practical applications either intentionally or unintentionally. This thesis deals with the reconstruction of two-periodic nonuniform signals which is of great importance in two-channel time-interleaved analog-to-digital converters. In a two-channel time-interleaved ADC, aperture delay mismatch between the channels gives rise to a two-periodic nonuniform sampling pattern, resulting in distortion and severely affecting the linearity of the converter. The problem is solved by digitally recovering a uniformly sampled sequence from a two-periodic nonuniformly sampled set. For this purpose, a time-varying FIR filter is employed. If the sampling pattern is known and fixed, this filter can be designed in an optimal way using least-squares or minimax design. When the sampling pattern changes now and then as during the normal operation of time-interleaved ADC, these filters have to be redesigned. This has implications on the implementation cost as general on-line design is cumbersome. To overcome this problem, a novel time-varying FIR filter with polynomial impulse response is developed and characterized in this thesis. The main advantage with these filters is that on-line design is no longer needed. It now suffices to perform only one design before implementation and in the implementation it is enough to adjust only one variable parameter when the sampling pattern changes. Thus the high implementation cost is decreased substantially. Filter design and the associated performance metrics have been validated using MATLAB. The design space has been explored to limits imposed by machine precision on matrix inversions. Studies related to finite wordlength effects in practical filter realisations have also been carried out. These formulations can also be extended to the general M - periodic nonuniform sampling case.

There arise two problems when the expectation of some function with respect to a nonuniform multivariate distribution has to be computed by (quasi-) Monte Carlo integration: the integrand can have singularities when the domain of the distribution is unbounded and it can be very expensive or even impossible to sample points from a general multivariate distribution. We show that importance sampling is a simple method to overcome both problems. (author's abstract) / Series: Preprint Series / Department of Applied Statistics and Data Processing

In this thesis a new approach is proposed for non-uniform linear arrays (NLA) which employs conventional subspace methods to improve the direction of arrival (DOA) estimation performance. Uniform linear arrays (ULA) are composed of evenly spaced sensor elements located on a straight line. ULA&#039 / s covariance matrix have a Vandermonde matrix structure, which is required by fast subspace DOA estimation algorithms. NLA differ from ULA only by some missing sensor elements. These missing elements cause some gaps in covariance matrix and Vandermonde structure is lost. Therefore fast subspace DOA algorithms can not be applied in this case. Linear programming methods and array interpolation methods can be used to solve this problem. However linear programming is computationally expensive and array interpolation is angular sector dependent and requires the same number of sensor in the virtual array. In this thesis, a covariance matrix augmentation method is developed by using the array interpolation technique and initial DOA estimates. An initial DOA estimate is obtained by Toeplitz completion of the covariance matrix. This initial DOA estimates eliminates the sector dependency and reduces the least square mapping error of array interpolation. A Wiener formulation is developed which allows more sensors in the virtual array than the real array. In addition, it leads to better estimates at low SNR. The new covariance matrix is used in the root-MUSIC algorithm to obtain a better DOA estimate. Several computer simulations are done and it is shown that the proposed approach improves the DOA estimation accuracy significantly compared to the same number of sensor ULA. This approach also increases the number of sources that can be identifed.