Ip, Yin Ki. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-102). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Background Study --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- DTN Reference Implementation Model --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- DTN Applications --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3 --- Multiple-copy Routing Strategies --- p.11 / Chapter 2.4 --- Buffer Management Strategies --- p.12 / Chapter 2.5 --- Performance Modeling of Multiple-copy Routing --- p.14 / Chapter 2.6 --- Conclusion on Background Study --- p.18 / Chapter 3 --- DTN with Resource Constraints --- p.20 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.20 / Chapter 3.2 --- Related Work --- p.21 / Chapter 3.3 --- "System Model, Replication, Forwarding and Buffer Management Strategies" --- p.22 / Chapter 3.4 --- Performance Evaluation --- p.29 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Analysis on single-message-delivery with unlimited network resource --- p.29 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Simulation study on multi-message-delivery with limited resource constraint --- p.34 / Chapter 3.5 --- Conclusion on DTN with Resource Constraints --- p.39 / Chapter 4 --- Multiple-copy Routing in DTN with Heteroge- neous Node Types --- p.41 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.41 / Chapter 4.2 --- Related Work --- p.44 / Chapter 4.3 --- System Model --- p.44 / Chapter 4.4 --- Performance Modeling --- p.46 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Continuous Time Markov Chain (CTMC) Model --- p.46 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Fluid Flow Approximation (FFA) --- p.53 / Chapter 4.5 --- Conclusion on DTN with Node Heterogeneity --- p.73 / Chapter 5 --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.75 / Chapter A --- Random Direction Mobility Model --- p.78 / Chapter A.1 --- Mean Inter-encounter Interval --- p.79 / Chapter A.2 --- Inter-encounter Interval Distribution --- p.86 / Chapter A.3 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.88 / Chapter B --- Additional Results by Fluid Flow Approximation and Moment Closure Methods --- p.92 / Bibliography --- p.96

Xu, Ceng. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-71). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.iii / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Contributions --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Thesis Scope --- p.5 / Chapter 2 --- Background Study --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Wireless Mesh Networks --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Overview of Wireless Mesh Networks --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Challenges of Wireless Mesh Networks --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Capacity Analysis of Wireless Mesh Net- works --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Network Coding --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Overview of Network Coding --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Network Coding in Wireless Networks --- p.17 / Chapter 3 --- Throughput Analysis --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.19 / Chapter 3.2 --- Preliminaries --- p.20 / Chapter 3.3 --- Proof of Theorem 3.2.1 when n = m --- p.23 / Chapter 3.4 --- Proof of Theorem 3.2.1 when n≠ m --- p.36 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Proof of Theorem 3.2.1 when m <n --- p.36 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Proof of Theorem 3.2.1 when m > n --- p.37 / Chapter 3.5 --- Applying network coding into multi-radio multichannel networks --- p.37 / Chapter 3.6 --- Some simulation results --- p.40 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- String Topology --- p.40 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- Grid Topology --- p.41 / Chapter 3.6.3 --- Random Topology --- p.42 / Chapter 4 --- Interface Reduction in Wireless Mesh Networks --- p.43 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.43 / Chapter 4.2 --- Preliminaries --- p.44 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Assumptions and Objectives of the Algorithm --- p.44 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Definitions --- p.45 / Chapter 4.3 --- Steps of the Algorithm and an Example --- p.49 / Chapter 4.4 --- Simulation Results and Discussions --- p.53 / Chapter 4.5 --- Generalization --- p.54 / Chapter 5 --- Conclusion --- p.66 / Bibliography --- p.68

O propósito deste trabalho foi verificar a reprodutibilidade bem como a repetibilidade do método de avaliação postural por meio da fotogrametria computadorizada. Para isto 21 indivíduos, com idade 24,2 ± 1,3 anos de idade, foram fotografados em posição anterior, posterior, perfil e face. Para realização destas fotografias foram demarcados sobre a pele pontos anatômicos que são normalmente utilizados na avaliação postural tradicional. A partir destes pontos foram analisados diferentes ângulos através do aplicativo ALCimagem-2000. Para a análise interexaminador as fotos foram avaliadas por três examinadores diferentes e os resultados comparados. Para a análise intraexaminador as mesmas fotos foram avaliadas pelo mesmo examinador em duas ocasiões diferentes com um mês de intervalo. Para a análise da repetibilidade do método os voluntários foram fotografados duas vezes com intervalo de uma semana e as fotos avaliadas pelo mesmo examinador. Para comparação dos resultados intra e interexaminadores foram aplicados o coeficiente de correlação intraclasse. Os resultados revelaram que o método proposto apresenta significativa confiabilidade interexaminadores. Dos ângulos estatisticamente confiáveis, alguns tiveram menor coeficiente de confiabilidade, principalmente os ângulos do plano sagital referentes às curvaturas vertebrais, como lordose cervical, cifose torácica e lordose lombar. Na avaliação intra-examinador só não apresentou confiabilidade o ângulo da cifose torácica. Na repetibilidade do método somente o ângulo inferior da escápula não apresentou confiabilidade. Portanto, a fotogrametria computadorizada sugere ser um método confiável para avaliação postural no plano frontal anterior e posterior. Porém, para a análise no plano sagital necessita de mais estudos para definir parâmetros de normalidade das curvaturas vertebrais. / The purpose of this work was to verify the reproducibility, as well as the method repeatibility for postural evaluation through photogrammetry. For that, 21 individuals being 24,2 ??1,3 years old were photographed in anterior, posterior, profile and face positions. To perform these photos, several anatomic sites, which are often used in the traditional postural evaluation, were marked on the skin. Different angles from these sites were examined through the program ALCimagem-2000. For the inter-examiner analysis, the photos were evaluated by three different examiners whose results were compared. For the intra-examiner analysis, the same photos were evaluated by the same examiner in two different occasions. For the analysis of the repeatibility of the method, the volunteers were photographed twice with a period of a week interval, and the photos were evaluated by the same examiner. For comparing inter and intraexaminer results, the intra-class correlation coefficient was applied. The results revealed that the proposed method presented good inter-examiner reliability. From the statistically reliable angles, some had a lesser reliability coefficient, mainly the sagital plane angles referring to vertebral flexures such as the cervical lordosis, thoracic kyphosis, and lumbar lordosis. In the intra-examiner evaluation, just the thoracic kyphosis angle hasn\'t presented reliability. As for the repeatibility of the method just the inferior scapular angle haven\'t presented reliability. Thus, computerized photogrammetry seem be a reliable method for postural evaluation on the frontal, anterior and posterior planes. However, the sagital plane needs more studies to define normality parameters for the vertebral flexures.

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

As baterias automotivas de chumbo-ácido são componentes, que em grande parte dos fabricantes de automóveis nacionais, estão garantidas (ou dentro do período de garantia) por um ano. Mesmo sendo um período considerado curto para garantia de um veículo nos dias atuais, a bateria tem uma contribuição expressiva para os custos de garantia nas empresas por este período. Com o intuito de conhecer a confiabilidade deste componente e verificar a influência do período de armazenagem do veículo produzido na confiabilidade da bateria, foi elaborado um estudo com dados coletados em campo por um determinado fabricante de automóveis de passeio. Os parâmetros de entrada destes dados são o tempo de pátio do veículo, o tempo em que uma falha na bateria foi detectada no período de um ano de garantia e a quantidade de falhas observadas no período. Os dados permitiram análises em função do tempo, de forma que pelo método de análise paramétrica foram traçadas as curvas de confiabilidade do produto representadas por uma distribuição de Weibull de dois parâmetros, bem como, da densidade de probabilidade de falha e ainda da taxa de falha. As análises forneceram uma estimativa da confiabilidade da bateria em função do tempo, da qual foi possível extrair algumas conclusões que serão descritas neste trabalho, tais como: o comportamento de falha por desgaste das baterias automotivas e a diminuição da confiabilidade de baterias de acordo com o tempo de pátio. / The guarantee for the automotive batteries at the majority of the national vehicle manufactures is given for 1 year. Even considering this as a short period actually, this component has an expressive contribution to the guarantee costs of the companies. With the intention to know the reliability of the automotive batteries and to evaluate the vehicle storage time influence, it was carried out a study case, which had as inputs collected data from a particular vehicle manufacturer. The selected input parameters for the analysis were the vehicle storage time, time to failure and the failures amount detected in a period of 1 year. This data provided information to analyze the time domain and, supported by the reliability parametric methods, estimate the reliability of the automotive batteries. The two parameter Weibull distribution is used to model the probability density function, the failure rate analysis and reliability providing information for the conclusion of this study, like the batteries behavior of failure by wear and the reliability decrease according to the storage time.

abstract: The Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM) is an emerging non-volatile memory technology because of its attractive attributes, including excellent scalability (< 10 nm), low programming voltage (< 3 V), fast switching speed (< 10 ns), high OFF/ON ratio (> 10), good endurance (up to 1012 cycles) and great compatibility with silicon CMOS technology [1]. However, ReRAM suffers from larger write latency, energy and reliability issue compared to Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM). To improve the energy-efficiency, latency efficiency and reliability of ReRAM storage systems, a low cost cross-layer approach that spans device, circuit, architecture and system levels is proposed. For 1T1R 2D ReRAM system, the effect of both retention and endurance errors on ReRAM reliability is considered. Proposed approach is to design circuit-level and architecture-level techniques to reduce raw Bit Error Rate significantly and then employ low cost Error Control Coding to achieve the desired lifetime. For 1S1R 2D ReRAM system, a cross-point array with “multi-bit per access” per subarray is designed for high energy-efficiency and good reliability. The errors due to cell-level as well as array-level variations are analyzed and a low cost scheme to maintain reliability and latency with low energy consumption is proposed. For 1S1R 3D ReRAM system, access schemes which activate multiple subarrays with multiple layers in a subarray are used to achieve high energy efficiency through activating fewer subarray, and good reliability is achieved through innovative data organization. Finally, a novel ReRAM-based accelerator design is proposed to support multiple Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) topologies including VGGNet, AlexNet and ResNet. The multi-tiled architecture consists of 9 processing elements per tile, where each tile implements the dot product operation using ReRAM as computation unit. The processing elements operate in a systolic fashion, thereby maximizing input feature map reuse and minimizing interconnection cost. The system-level evaluation on several network benchmarks show that the proposed architecture can improve computation efficiency and energy efficiency compared to a state-of-the-art ReRAM-based accelerator. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2019

Augmentation procedures are designed to provide better estimates for a given test or subtest through the use of collateral information. The main purpose of this dissertation was to use Haberman's and Wainer's augmentation procedures on a large-scale, standardized achievement test to understand the relationship between reliability and correlation that exist to create the proportional reduction of mean squared error (PRMSE) statistic and to compare the practical effects of Haberman's augmentation procedure with the practical effects of Wainer's augmentation procedure. In this dissertation, Haberman's and Wainer's augmentation procedures were used on a data set that consisted of a large-scale, standardized achievement test with tests in three different content areas, reading, language arts, and mathematics, in both 4th and 8th grade. Each test could be broken down into different content area subtests, between two and five depending on the content area. The data sets contained between 2,500 and 3,000 examinees for each test. The PRMSE statistic was used on the all of the data sets to evaluate two augmentation procedures, one proposed by Haberman and one by Wainer. Following the augmentation analysis, the relationship between the reliability of the subtest to be augmented and that subtest's correlation with the rest of the test was investigated using a pseudo-simulated data set, which consisted of different values for those variables. Lastly, the Haberman and Wainer augmentation procedures were used on the data sets and the augmented data was analyzed to determine the magnitude of the effects of using these augmentation procedures. The main findings based on the data analysis and pseudo-simulated data analysis were as follows: (1) the more questions the better the estimates and the better the augmentation procedures; (2) there is virtually no difference between the Haberman and Wainer augmentation procedures, except for certain correlational relationships; (3) there is a significant effect of using the Haberman or Wainer augmentation procedures, however as the reliability increases, this effect lessens. The limitations of the study and possible future research are also discussed in the dissertation.

A variable screening method is introduced to reduce the computational cost caused by the curse of dimension of high dimensional problem in RBDO. The screening method considers the output variance of the constraint functions and uses test-of-hypothesis to filter necessary variables. Also, the method is applicable to implicit functions as well as explicit functions. Suitable number of samples to obtain consistent test result is calculated. 3 examples are demonstrated with detailed variable screening procedure and RBDO result.

Continued aggressive scaling of electronic technology poses obstacles for maintaining circuit reliability. To this end, analysis of reliability is of increasing importance. Large scale number of inputs and gates or correlations of failures render such analysis computationally complex. This paper presents an accurate framework for reliability analysis of logic circuits, while inherently handling reconvergent fan-out without additional complexity. Combinational circuits are modeled stochastically as Discrete-Time Markov Chains, where propagation of node logic levels and error probability distributions through circuitry are used to determine error probabilities at nodes in the circuit. Model construction is scalable, as it is done so on a gate-by-gate basis. The stochastic nature of the model lends itself to allow various properties of the circuit to be formally analyzed by means of steady-state properties. Formal verifying the properties against the model can circumvent strenuous simulations while exhaustively checking all possible scenarios for given properties. Small combinational circuits are used to explain model construction, properties are presented for analysis of the system, more example circuits are demonstrated, and the accuracy of the method is verified against an existing simulation method.

Hospital-acquired conditions cause harm to patients and increase mortality. In addition to lowering the quality of patient care, hospital-acquired conditions also negatively affect financial performance, which makes them a business problem for hospital administrators. The purpose of this single case study, which was grounded in the theory of high reliability, was to explore strategies used to reduce the number of hospital-acquired conditions. The sample consisted of 13 senior leaders of a large academic medical center in the southeastern United States, who shared successful strategies used to reduce hospital-acquired conditions. Data collection took place through semistructured interviews and a review of plans and reports that showed rates of hospital-acquired conditions from 2014 to 2017. Data analysis involved using Yin's 5-step process as well as coding interview text and data from documents and then grouping related words to develop themes. Themes that emerged from this study included leadership style, communication practices, and trust. A key finding was the importance of positive and trusting leadership behaviors by senior leaders planning to reduce hospital-acquired conditions. Another key finding was the confirmation that hospital administrators can and should prioritize quality and financial improvement simultaneously. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to reduce health care costs and save patients' lives by reducing the number of hospital-acquired conditions.