De part leur capacité de reconfiguration et les performances qu’ils offrent, les FPGAs sont de bons candidats pour accélérer des applications dans le Cloud. Cependant, les FPGAs présentent certaines caractéristiques qui font obstacle à leur utilisation dans le Cloud et leur adoption par les clients : premièrement, la programmation des FPGAs se fait à bas niveau et demande une certaine expertise, que n’ont pas nécessairement les clients habituels du Cloud. Deuxièmement, les FPGAs ne présentent pas de mécanismes natifs permettant leur intégration dans le modèle de gestion dynamique d’une infrastructure Cloud.Dans ce travail, nous proposons d’utiliser des architectures overlay afin de faciliter l’adoption, l’intégration et l’exploitation de FPGAs dans le Cloud. Les overlays sont des architectures reconfigurables elles-mêmes implémentée sur FPGA. En tant que couche d’abstraction matérielle placée entre le FPGA et les applications, les overlays permettent de monter le niveau d’abstraction du modèle d’exécution présenté aux applications et aux utilisateurs, ainsi que d’implémenter des mécanismes facilitant leur intégration et leur exploitation dans une infrastructure Cloud.Ce travail présente une approche verticale adressant tous les aspects de la mise en œuvre d’overlays dans le Cloud en tant qu’accélérateurs reconfigurables par les clients : de la conception et l’implémentation des overlays, leur intégration sur des plateformes FPGA commerciales, la mise en place de leurs mécanismes d’exploitation, jusqu’à la réalisationde leurs outils de programmation. L’environnement réalisé est complet, modulaire et extensible, il repose en partie sur différents outils existants, et démontre la faisabilité de notre approche. / Due to their reconfigurable capability and the performance they offer, FPGAs are good candidates for accelerating applications in the cloud. However, FPGAs have some features that hinder their use in the Cloud as well as their adoption by customers : first, FPGA programming is done at low level and requires some expertise that usual Cloud clients do not necessarily have. Secondly, FPGAs do not have native mechanisms allowing them to easily fit in the dynamic execution model of the Cloud.In this work, we propose to use overlay architectures to facilitate FPGA adoption, integration, and operation in the Cloud. Overlays are reconfigurable architectures synthesized on FPGA. As hardware abstraction layers placed between the FPGA and applications, overlays allow to raise the abstraction level of the execution model presented to applications and users, as well as to implement mechanisms making them fit in a Cloud infrastructure.This work presents a vertical approach addressing all aspects of overlay operation in the Cloud as reconfigurable accelerators programmable by tenants : from designing and implementing overlays, integrating them on commercial FPGA platforms, setting up their operating mechanisms, to developping their programming tools. The environment developped in this work is complete, modular and extensible, it is partially based on several existing tools, and demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.

Das Internet und darauf aufbauende Infrastrukturen haben sich als zentrale Medien zum weltweiten Abruf und Austausch von Informationen etabliert. Im Zuge dessen ist das Internet ein wichtiges Werkzeug zur globalen Vernetzung von Aktivisten und Journalisten geworden, welche dieses zudem als Plattform zur Veröffentlichung von Rechercheergebnissen und Beweismaterial verwenden. Um den Zugang zu kompromittierenden oder als unerwünscht erachteten Informationen über das Internet zu unterbinden, haben jedoch Regierungen weltweit weitreichende technische Zensurmaßnahmen implementiert. Um diesen Maßnahmen entgegenzuwirken sind Betroffene darauf angewiesen, ihre digitale Kommunikation über Geräte von Drittanbietern zu leiten, welche sich außerhalb des Einflussbereichs des Zensors befinden und deren Rolle als Umgehungsknoten für den Zensor schwer zu detektieren ist. Eine vielversprechender Ansatz zur Realisierung solcher Gegenmaßnahmen sind Friend-to-Friend (F2F) Overlay-Netzwerke. Ähnlich zu Anonymisierungsnetzwerken wie Tor und AN.ON setzen sich F2F Overlays aus den Knoten von mehreren Betreibern zusammen, wodurch ein Single Point of Failure vermieden wird. Um gegen Unterwanderung zu schützen wird jedoch die Kommunikation zwischen den Knoten in F2F Overlays auf jene Paare beschränkt, deren Betreiber sich gegenseitig vertrauen. Folglich erfordert das Aufdecken der Knoten eines F2F Overlays die Identifizierung und Kompromittierung deren Betreiber durch den Zensor mit Hilfe von Social-Engineering-Methoden. Um Anwendungsfälle wie anonymes Blogging zu unterstützen, benötigen F2F Overlays ein Routing-Protokoll, welches Datenübertragungen zwischen Knoten ohne wechselseitig vertraute Betreiber ermöglicht. Aufgrund seiner hohen Effizienz und Ausfalltoleranz gilt Routing anhand von Rooted Spanning Tree (RST) Embeddings hierfür als besonders vielversprechender Kandidat. Dabei wählen die teilnehmenden Knoten zunächst einen Knoten als Wurzel und formen, ausgehend von diesem, einen virtuellen Wurzelbaum über das F2F Overlay. Anschließend wird jedem Knoten eine virtuelle Adresse zugewiesen, welche dessen Position in dem zuvor erzeugten Wurzelbaum eindeutig repräsentiert. In F2F Overlays muss davon ausgegangen werden, dass ein Zensor, welcher einen Teil der Knotenbetreiber kompromittieren konnte, mit Hilfe eigener Knoten aktive Angriffe auf das Routing durchführt, um die Verbreitung von Inhalten zu unterbinden. Bisherige Forschung zu Routing anhand von RST Embeddings konzentriert sich jedoch primär auf die Steigerung dessen Effizienz sowie der Verbesserung dessen Robustheit gegenüber permanenter Ausfälle. In dieser Arbeit werden bisher unbekannte Angriffe auf RST-Embedding-basierte Routing-Protokolle vorgestellt, welche von bösartigen F2F-Overlay-Teilnehmern mit geringem Aufwand durchgeführt werden können. Ergänzend stellen wir anschließend Maßnahmen vor, welche derartige Routing-Protokolle inhärent robuster gegen Fehlverhalten machen. Ein wesentlicher Einflussfaktor bezüglich der Effektivität der identifizierten Angriffe ist die Tatsache, ob der gewählte Wurzelknoten ein Knoten des Angreifers ist oder nicht. Während die von uns vorgestellten Schutzmaßnahmen die Auswirkung der Angriffe auch in dem Fall begrenzen, dass der Wurzelnoten sich bösartig verhält, so erfordert das Routing von Nachrichten dabei nichtsdestotrotz erhöhten Aufwand bei gleichzeitig reduzierter Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit. Die Wurzelwahlverfahren bisheriger RST-Embedding-basierter Routing-Protokolle können in F2F Overlays jedoch nicht auf sichere Weise umgesetzt werden, so dass ein Angreifer mit geringem Aufwand erreichen kann, dass einer seiner Knoten als Wurzel gewählt wird. Während es in F2F Overlays allgemein nicht ausgeschlossen werden kann, dass ein bösartiger Knoten als Wurzel gewählt wird, so ist es dennoch erstrebenswert, die Wahrscheinlichkeit der Wahl eines nicht-bösartigen Knotens zu erhöhen. Da bisherige Verfahren zur sicheren, verteilten Wahl eines Knotens nicht effektiv in F2F Overlays umgesetzt werden können, wird in dieser Arbeit ein neues Wurzelwahlverfahren vorgestellt. Dieses basiert auf lokalen, randomisierten Mehrheitsentscheidungen, um einen Konsens auf einen einzelnen Knoten herbeizuführen. Ergänzend dazu werden Ergebnisse einer Simulationsstudie anhand realer sozialer Graphen vorgestellt, welche belegen, dass dieser Ansatz einer Unterwanderung widersteht, wenn der Angreifer eine geringe Anzahl von Teilnehmern kompromittieren konnte. Gleichzeitig legen die Ergebnisse der Studie nahe, dass dieses Verfahren auch in F2F Overlays mit zehntausenden von Knoten in kurzer Zeit eine Einigung auf einen gemeinsamen Wurzelknoten für den Großteil der Knoten erreicht. Zur Effizienzsteigerung leiten aktuelle RST-Embedding-basierte Routing-Protokolle die Addressen anhand von Breitensuchbäumen ab. Der Aufbau derartiger Bäume erfordert jedoch, dass jeder Knoten seinem Nachbarn die eigene Hop-Distanz zum Wurzelknoten mitteilt. Dabei können Angreiferknoten gezielt inkorrekte Distanzwerte versenden, um die Anzahl der gutartigen Knoten zu maximieren, welche diese als Elternknoten wählen und folglich von anschließenden Angriffen betroffen sind. Um derartige Angriffe zu unterbinden, wird in dieser Arbeit zudem ein verteilter, selbststabilisierender Algorithmus zum Aufbau von Breitensuchbäumen vorgestellt. Dieser verwendet kryptografische Signaturen in Kombination mit Zeitstempeln, um inkorrekte sowie veraltete Distanzwerte erkennbar zu machen. Die Nutzung von RST Embeddings birgt neben Angriffen auf deren Verfügbarkeit das Risiko, dass ein interner Angreifer Informationen über die Topologie des zugrundeliegenden Netzwerkes gewinnen kann. Im Kontext von F2F Overlays ist dies problematisch, da deren Struktur dem sozialen Netzwerk deren Teilnehmern entspricht. Erlangt ein Angreifer einen Schnappschuss der Topologie eines F2F Overlays oder eines Teils davon, so kann er diesen mit der Topologie anderer sozialer Netzwerkgraphen abgleichen, um bisher unbekannte Teilnehmer aufzudecken. Das konkrete Ausmaß, in dem RST Embeddings sowie das darauf aufbauende Routing Rückschlüsse über die Topologie des Netzwerkes zulassen wurde bisher jedoch nicht untersucht. Der vierte Beitrag dieser Dissertation besteht daher aus einer detaillierten Analyse bezüglich der konkreten Informationen, welche ein interner Angreifer anhand der durch RST-Embedding-basierte Routing-Protokolle propagierten Daten gewinnen kann. / Today, the Internet plays a vital role in enabling activists and journalists to collaborate and to publish critical information on a global scale. As a consequence, governments around the globe have implemented technical censorship measures to keep citizens from accessing content that is deemed inappropriate or compromising. To address such censorship measures, a circumvention infrastructure is needed that allows affected individuals to route their online communication through third-party servers that are outside of the censor’s influence and whose use for circumvention is difficult to detect for the censor. A promising substrate to realize such an infrastructure are Friend-to-Friend (F2F) overlay networks. Similar to anonymization networks like Tor and AN.ON, F2F overlay nodes may be operated by different individuals, thus avoiding a single point of failure. To protect against infiltration, F2F overlays additionally restrict communication between participating devices to those pairs whose operators mutually trust each other. Thus, censors need to perform social engineering in order to discover operators and their nodes. To realize use cases that require communication between nodes of participants without mutual trust, such as distributed and redundant content storage or anonymous blogging, F2F overlays require a routing protocol suitable for large, dynamic networks. Among the current research on routing protocols for F2F overlays, routing based on rooted spanning tree (RST) embeddings emerged as the most promising candidate due to its high efficiency and fault tolerance. In this approach, nodes collaboratively determine a rooted spanning tree over the overlay topology and, starting from the elected root node, assign each node a virtual address that encodes its unique position in the tree. Given that a censor may compromise a fraction of the participants of an F2F overlay, it is likely that the censor will use nodes under their control to actively attack the routing protocol in order to disrupt communication. However, existing research on RST embeddings concentrates on their efficient implementation as well as resilience to permanent faults, thus leaving open in which ways such routing protocols can be attacked. Towards this end, this thesis presents previously unknown attacks that malicious participants of an F2F overlay can easily perform against state-of-the-art routing protocols. As these attacks cannot be reliably attributed to malicious nodes, we propose countermeasures that improve the inherent resilience of such protocols against misbehaving nodes. A fundamental risk that cannot completely be avoided in F2F overlays is that a malicious node may be chosen as the root node of the embedding, giving it a particularly strong position for attacks. While our proposed countermeasures limit the impact of malicious root behavior, routing in such a scenario nonetheless comes at the cost of increased routing overhead and an increased chance of routing failure. Since existing routing protocols based on RST embeddings employ insecure root election schemes, it is desirable to increase the likelihood that a benign node is chosen as root. Because existing secure protocols for node election cannot be used effectively in F2F overlays, we propose a novel root election protocol that leverages local voting algorithms to reach consensus on a single node. Simulations on real-world social graphs show that in F2F overlays, the protocol is able to reach consensus among a large fraction of nodes quickly and, in contrast to election protocols used by state-of-the-art routing algorithms, resists compromise by malicious nodes. To improve efficiency, state-of-the-art protocols embed breadth-first-search (BFS) trees for address assignment, whose formation relies on the truthful reporting of hop distances. In the presence of a benign root node, malicious nodes may deliberately propagate incorrect distance values to maximize the number of benign nodes that choose them as parent, thus increasing the impact of subsequent attacks. To defend against such misbehavior, we furthermore propose a self-stabilizing BFS formation algorithm that leverages cryptographic signatures to make incorrectly reported distances detectable. Additional to the risk of attacks aiming at the disruption of communication, RST embeddings and the routing based on them inherently leaks information about the topology of the underlying network to its participants. Such leakage is problematic in F2F overlays, as topology snapshots can be linked with graph data from further sources in order to identify participants. However, the concrete inferences malicious participants can make from the routing control data propagated by state-of-the-art protocols has not been investigated so far. The fourth contribution of this thesis therefore lies in the analysis of which information about the topology of an F2F overlay malicious participants can infer from the control data propagated by RST embedding algorithms as well as the resulting routing of messages.

Fler vegetationsbränder förväntas framöver i Sverige som följd av temperaturökning och förändrat nederbördsmönster. För att distribuera resurser effektivt vid ett släckningsarbete i vegetation kan information som tillgänglighet och brandbenägenhet vara önskvärt. Riskområden för personsäkerhet i samband med släckningsarbete bör granskas för att undvika onödiga risker. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur brandbenägenhet, tillgänglighet och personskaderisk varierade geografiskt inom Arvika kommun. Med rasteranalys och weighted overlay beräknades brandbenägenhet med faktorerna: krontäthet, lutning, lutningsriktning, skogens utvecklingsfas och vegetation. Tillgängligheten beräknades med följande faktorer: avstånd till väg, avstånd till vatten, körtid, lutning, skogens utvecklingsfas och vegetation. Personskaderisken beräknades enligt följande faktorer: elektrifierad järnväg, förorenade områden, kraftledning, lutning och militära områden. Analysen visar att brandbenägenheten är mycket hög i ett fåtal områden, den största delen av studieområdet har brandbenägenhet mellan värde 4,1–6 av 10. Tillgängligheten är hög eller mycket hög i 98 % av studieområdet. Den lägsta tillgängligheten finns i studieområdets norra och södra delar. 92 % av studieområdet har en låg eller mycket låg personskaderisk med värde mellan 1–4 av 10. Brandbenägenhet, tillgänglighet och personskaderisk studerades på platser där bränder rapporterats åren 2008–2019. Bränder mellan år 2008–2017 med avbränd areal större än 1 hektar studerades igen. Den största faktorn för brandbenägenheten är lutningsriktning för dessa platser. Tillgänglighetens viktigaste faktorer är avstånd till väg och vegetation. Personskaderiskens största faktor är förorenade områden där bränderna var rapporterade. Brandbenägenheten inom studieområdet var störst vid lutning mot syd eller sydväst. Plana områden har generellt låg brandbenägenhet. Enligt analysen är tillgängligheten lägst i studieområdets yttre delar, speciellt dem sydligaste och nordligaste delarna. Områden i närhet av brandstationer har generellt en bättre tillgänglighet. Personskaderisken är koncentrerad till elektrifierad järnväg och kraftledning som medför direkt fara. Potentiellt förorenade områden finns spridda i hela studieområdet. Hur dessa påverkar människor är ovisst och varierar beroende på förorening. / In the future, more wildfires are expected in Sweden because of increasing temperature and changing precipitation. To being able to effectively distribute the resources of the firefighters, information about accessibility and fire tendency can come in handy. In order to avoid unnecessary risks, areas with potential hazard for the firefighters should be examined. The purpose of this study is to analyse how fire tendency, accessibility and personal injury risk varies in Arvika municipality, Sweden. Raster analysis and weighted overlay were applied in this study to examine fire tendency using the factors: crown closure, slope, aspect, the stage of stand development and vegetation. Accessibility was calculated including the following factors: distance to roads, distance to water, driving time, slope, the stage of stand development and vegetation. The personal injury risk was calculated by the following factors: electrified railways, polluted areas, power lines, slopes and military areas. The results show a high fire tendency in a few areas. Most of the areas have a fire tendency value between 4. 1–6 out of 10. Areas with a good or very good accessibility covers 98 % of the study area. Only a few spots have a very low accessibility. Areas with a low or very low personal injury risk covers 92 % of the study area. In the next part sites, with wildfires reported too MSB between 2008–2019 were studied. Wildfires larger than 10 000 square meters were studied again. Aspect was considered as a factor with a high impact on fire tendency. The major factor of the accessibility is distance to the road and the vegetation of those places. Polluted areas have the largest risk for extinguishing the fire in those places. Fire tendency shows its peaks in areas with slopes and aspect to the south or southwest thanks to the results. Flat areas receive a low risk of fire tendency. Accessibility is lowest in the outer parts of the study area, especially the southern and northern parts. Areas with risks for firefighter injury are concentrated to electrified railways and power lines, especially those that cross polluted areas. However, not all the polluted areas have been investigated in this study, therefore the effect of the pollution on the people’s health is uncertain.

La forte variabilité des trafics est devenue l'un des problèmes majeurs auxquels doivent faire face les gestionnaires d'infrastructures réseau. Dans ces conditions, l'optimisation du routage des flux en se basant uniquement sur une matrice de trafic moyenne estimée en heure de pointe n'est plus pertinente. Les travaux conduits dans cette thèse visent la conception de méthodes d'optimisation dynamiques du routage, adaptant en temps réel les routes utilisées par les flux aux conditions de trafic dans le réseau.Nous étudions tout d'abord le problème d'optimisation des poids OSPF pour le routage intra-domaine dans les réseaux IP, où le trafic est routé le long de plus courts chemins, en fonction des poids des liens. Nous proposons une approche en ligne permettant de reconfigurer dynamiquement les poids OSPF, et donc les routes utilisées, pour répondre aux variations observées du trafic et réduire ainsi le taux de congestion du réseau. L'approche proposée repose sur l'estimation robuste des demandes en trafic des flux à partir de mesures SNMP sur la charge des liens. Les résultats expérimentaux, aussi bien sur des trafics simulés que réels, montrent que le taux de congestion du réseau peut être significativement réduit par rapport à une configuration statique.Dans la même optique, nous nous intéressons également à l'optimisation des réseaux MPLS, qui permettent de gérer l'utilisation des ressources disponibles en affectant un chemin spécifique à chaque LSP. Nous proposons un algorithme inspiré de la théorie des jeux pour déterminer le placement des LSP optimisant un critère de performance non linéaire. Nous établissons la convergence de cet algorithme et obtenons des bornes sur son facteur d'approximation pour plusieurs fonctions de coût. L'intérêt principal de cette technique étant d'offrir des solutions de bonne qualité en des temps de calcul extrêmement réduits, nous étudions son utilisation pour la reconfiguration dynamique du placement des LSP.La dernière partie de cette thèse est consacrée à la conception et au développement d'une solution logicielle permettant le déploiement d'un réseau overlay auto-guérissant et auto-optimisant entre différentes plateformes de cloud computing. La solution est conçue pour ne nécessiter aucun changement des applications. En mesurant régulièrement la qualité des liens Internet entre les centres de données, elle permet de détecter rapidement la panne d'une route IP et de basculer le trafic sur un chemin de secours. Elle permet également de découvrir dynamiquement les chemins dans le réseau overlay qui optimisent une métrique de routage spécifique à l'application. Nous décrivons l'architecture et l'implémentation du système, ainsi que les expériences réalisées à la fois en émulation et sur une plateforme réelle composée de plusieurs centres de données situés dans différents pays. / The high variability of traffic has become one of the major problems faced by network infrastructure managers . Under these conditions, flow route optimization based solely on an average busy hour traffic matrix is no longer relevant. The work done in this thesis aims to design dynamic routing optimization methods, adapting in real time the routes used by the flows to the actual network traffic conditions.We first study the problem of OSPF weight optimization for intra-domain routing in IP networks, where the traffic is routed along shortest paths, according to links weights. We propose an online scheme to dynamically reconfigure the OSPF weights and therefore the routes used, to respond to observed traffic variations and reduce the network congestion rate. The proposed approach is based on robust estimation of flow traffic demands from SNMP measurements on links loads. Experimental results, both on simulated and real traffic data show that the network congestion rate can be significantly reduced in comparison to a static weight configuration.On the same idea, we are also interested in optimizing MPLS networks that manage the available resource utilization by assigning a specific path for each LSP. We propose an algorithm inspired by game theory to determine the LSP placement optimizing a nonlinear performance criterion. We establish the convergence of the algorithm and obtain bounds on its approximation factor for several cost functions. As the main advantage of this technique is to offer good quality solutions in extremely reduced computation times, we are studying its use for dynamic reconfiguration of the LSP placement.The last part of this thesis is devoted to the design and development of a software solution for the deployment of a self-healing and self-optimizing network overlay between different cloud platforms. The solution is designed such that no change is required for client applications. By regularly measuring the quality of Internet links between data centers, it can quickly detect an IP route failure and switch the traffic to a backup path. It also allows to dynamically discover the paths in the overlay network that optimize a routing metric specific to the application. We describe the system architecture and implementation, as well as the experiments in both emulation and real platform composed of several data centers located in different countries

Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Mustaque A. Hossain / Over the lifetime of an asphalt concrete (AC) pavement, the roadway requires periodic resurfacing and rehabilitation to provide acceptable performance. The most popular resurfacing method is an asphalt overlay over the existing roadway. In the design of asphalt overlays, the thickness is related to the structural capacity of the existing pavement. As the layers are overlaid, their structural characteristics change due to aging of asphalt. However, currently there is no method to determine the effect of aging on the structural capacity of an existing pavement. This study examined structural characteristics of six test roadways in Kansas using three different test methods: Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD), Portable Seismic Property Analyzer (PSPA), and Indirect Tensile (IDT) test. The results were analyzed to determine how the modulus of an AC pavement layer changes over time. The results indicate that as the AC pavement ages, its modulus decreases due to pavement deterioration, especially stripping. Two test roadways that showed little signs of stripping had a minimal reduction or even an increase in AC moduli. Thus, the stripping issue needs to be addressed to ensure longevity of AC pavements. While the correlation between test methods studied was mostly consistent for each roadway, no universal correlation was found. The structural coefficient of each AC layer was determined based on the resilient modulus of the layer. It was found the structural layer coefficients do not typically decrease with age at the same rate, and the rate of decrease is a function of the distresses observed.

Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Mustaque Hossain / Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) is a useful alternative to virgin aggregates in hot-mix asphalt (HMA) as it reduces cost, conserves energy, and enables reuse of existing asphalt pavement. However, use of higher percentage of RAP sometimes leads to drier mixes that are often susceptible to early cracking. In this study, cracking resistance of Superpave mixtures with varying asphalt and RAP contents were investigated. HMA specimens were prepared based on Superpave mix design criteria for 12.5-mm (1/2-inch) nominal maximum aggregate size (NMAS). Specimens were compacted using the Superpave gyratory compactor. Static and repeated semi-circular bending (SCB) tests and Texas overlay tests (OT) (TEX-248-F) were performed in order to evaluate cracking resistance of Superpave mixtures containing three different asphalt contents (5.2%, 4.9%, and 4.6%) and three RAP percentages (20%, 30%, and 40%) from two distinct sources. Results from both crack tests showed that, with decreased asphalt content, cracking propensity increases. In general, higher percentage of RAP decreases cracking resistance. Statistical analysis of the results indicated a strong positive correlation between the asphalt film thickness and the number of load cycles before failure. Comparison of mean test results suggested that the Texas overlay test could do better evaluation of cracking resistance than the R-SCB test. This study was limited to mixtures with two sources of RAP. Because of such limitations and conflicting results from these RAP sources, a general conclusion regarding the minimum binder and maximum RAP contents without compromising cracking resistance could not be made. However, separate conclusions were drawn depending upon the characteristics of the RAP source.

We investigate spectral-efficient design and develop novel schemes to improve spectral efficiency of the modern wireless communications networks. Nowadays, more and more spectrum resources are required to support various high-data-rate applications while spectrum resources are limited. Moreover, static allocation and exclusive access in current spectrum assignment policy caused a lot of licensed spectrum bands to be underutilized. To deal with the problem, cognitive radio (CR) has been developed, which allows unlicensed/secondary users to transmit with licensed/primary users as long as the former ones do not generate intolerable interference to the latter ones. The coexistence of users and networks requires careful and dynamic planning to mitigate interference. Otherwise, the network performance will be severely undermined. We study both spectrum sensing and spectrum access techniques and propose several transmit schemes for different types of cognitive ratio networks, including spectrum overlay and spectrum underlay systems. The proposed algorithms can improve spectral efficiency of the networks efficiently and have potentials to be used in future wireless communications networks.

Adequate interfacial bond performance of Bonded Concrete Overlay (BCO) systems requires novel integration of material mixture design, compatibility model development, and interfacial bond design. This entails the use of the right materials, on the right substrate, in the right way, in order to secure the best possible composite behaviour. The overall composite performance of BCOs depends largely on achieving the right proportion of blend for the overlay material. The use of mixture experiments provides a flexible, easy, and quick way of optimizing multi-component materials of this nature. This study describes the use of optimization techniques within the concept of material mixture experiments for proportioning and designing the material constituents of a Bonded Roller Compacted Fibre Reinforced Polymer Modified Concrete (BRCFRPMC). By constraining the range of variability of the constituents, a feasible design space was created with 13 experimental points treated based on the required structural and elastic properties of the overlay. The optimum consistency-time for full consolidation and composite behaviour with the substrate ordinary Portland cement concrete (OPCC) was established between 34.05 and 34.87 seconds, while the resulting apparent maximum density achieves between 97.11% - 98.03% of the theoretical air-free density. In addition, compressive strength response at early and matured ages of 3 and 28 days were satisfied at 100% desirability. The elastic modulus response at age 3 showed 0% desirability, but attains about 99.96% of the target response by 28 days. The verification experiments conducted on each response property shows that positive correlations exist between the measured responses and the predicted values from the optimization analysis. Also, the bond capability of the optimum designed overlay material was evaluated using both tensile and shear bond strengths parameters. The overall assessment results showed that the overlay material exhibits good bonding with the substrate OPCC and would be able to withstand substantial stresses where sufficient surface texture is provided for aggregates interlocking. Other material properties included in the evaluation process of the overlay material included its tensile strength, coefficient of thermal expansion, and drying shrinkage. Stresses in the overlay, substrate, and at the interface were assessed analytically under various differential movement related conditions. Though the interface and the overlay material exhibited sufficient strength against thermal and shrinkage cracking, the theoretical shrinkage cracking in the overlay was predicted at 6.92MPa when fully restrained axially. Further, for effective fracture process description of the interface, experimentally determined parameters in shear and tension were coupled in Mixed-Mode Finite Element Analysis using differential edge deformation model between the overlay and the underlay. The results indicated that delamination in partial fracture process varied from that of complete fracture process, influenced distinctly and largely by the magnitude of the applied load. Other influencing factors in the analyses included the elastic mismatched properties, initial edge defect size, and the plane of loading. Lastly, analytical solution to the FEA problem was implemented using the proposed Modified Eigenvalue Buckling Analysis (MEBA). The result indicated that the proposed analytical method simulates and compares well with the FEA result. The proposed method also provided a good technique for predicting the Mixed-Mode Buckling failure Mode-Shape of the overlay.

In a domain with diverse multi-disciplinary views of what a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is, tracking progress and developing efficient WSNs is inherently a complex process. The main motivation of this work is advancing state-of-the-art WSNs by adaptively utilizing their components, and enlisting the utility of resources in network vicinity. As WSNs increase in density and expand in scale, we continue to witness an increase in overlapped deployments that serve independent applications. In most scenarios, new networks are deployed for new applications without considering previous or neighboring WSNs. This thesis presents the resource reuse (RR-WSN) paradigm. Adopting a generic framework for resource utilization, we achieve synergy between heterogeneous sensing systems. We abstract the view of a WSN in terms of functional capabilities, and offer a component-based view to boost sensor node (SN) potential and contribution to WSN operation. Thus SNs provide resources. On the other hand, we formally derive a set of functional requirements per application. The design and deployment of WSNs thus converges to an optimal assignment of functional requirements to resources. Two mainstream designs of WSNs are addressed in this thesis. The first involves WSNs with static deployments of nodes, whereby multiple applications run on networks in a given vicinity, yet the resources and applications share an owner (e.g., on a University Campus). We then present a Binary Integer Programming formulation to find the optimal assignment of resources to these functional requirements, while minimizing the energy impact of running each functional request. We further extend our scope to include WSNs that depend on transient nodes, such as smartphones, in a dynamic (DRR-WSN) paradigm, which could contribute significantly to the resource pool. Intuitively, multiple-owners are involved as resource providers and require different applications. Thus, we address the valuation of resources as they are shared across network owners. We finally present a maximal matching problem of finding the lowest cost for running each application, based on the available resource pool in the vicinity required. Extensive performance evaluation depicts the impact of RR-WSN design on WSN operation and longevity in various scenarios. / Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-27 04:44:14.556

Different psychosocial factors influence the experience and adaptation to pain. Previous cluster analytic studies using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2nd edition described psychologically different subgroups of pain patients that had been shown valuable in determining outcome. However, these studies had limited applicability to medico-legal pain populations because they did not use newly developed scales or describe important medico-legal factors that have large effects on symptom endorsement. Using three methods of clustering, the current investigation explored the subgroups that resulted when using all the MMPI-2 and the newly developed MMPI-2-RF (Restructured Form) scales on a large and well-described population of medico-legal spine pain patients. Result demonstrated that the best solution for the current sample was the two-cluster solution when a traditional method was used. However, the best solution was the three-cluster solution when all MMPI-2 scales and a method that used all MMPI-2-RF scales were used. Thus, the three-cluster solution was considered the most adequate solution to differentiate patients in medico-legal settings. Moreover, results demonstrated that subgroup membership was not conditioned to spine related organic factors. Instead, malingering, education, ethnic background and legal status differentiated pain subgroups. Lastly, results demonstrated a dose-response relationship between perceived outcome and subgroup profile elevation. The current results are relevant for understanding the circumstances that can influence spine pain recovery and for informing decisions regarding possible interventions.