Distributed infrastructures (e.g., water networks and electric Grids) are difficult to manage due to their scale, lack of accessibility, complexity, ageing and uncertainties in knowledge of their structure. In addition they are subject to loads that can be highly variable and unpredictable and to accidental events such as component failure, leakage and malicious tampering. To support in-field operations and central management of these infrastructures, the availability of consistent and up-to-date knowledge about the current state of the network and how it would respond to planned interventions is argued to be highly desirable. However, at present, large-scale infrastructures are “data rich but knowledge poor”. Data, algorithms and tools for network analysis are improving but there is a need to integrate them to support more directly engineering operations. Current ICT solutions are mainly based on specialized, monolithic and heavyweight software packages that restrict the dissemination of dynamic information and its appropriate and timely presentation particularly to field engineers who operate in a resource constrained and less reliable environments. This thesis proposes a solution to these problems by recognizing that current monolithic ICT solutions for infrastructure management seek to meet the requirements of different human roles and operating environments (defined in this work as field and central sides). It proposes an architectural approach to providing dynamic, predictive, user-centric, device and platform independent access to consistent and up-to-date knowledge. This architecture integrates the components required to implement the functionalities of data gathering, data storage, simulation modelling, and information visualization and analysis. These components are tightly coupled in current implementations of software for analysing the behaviour of networks. The architectural approach, by contrast, requires they be kept as separate as possible and interact only when required using common and standard protocols. The thesis particularly concentrates on engineering practices in clean water distribution networks but the methods are applicable to other structural networks, for example, the electricity Grid. A prototype implementation is provided that establishes a dynamic hydraulic simulation model and enables the model to be queried via remote access in a device and platform independent manner.This thesis provides an extensive evaluation comparing the architecture driven approach with current approaches, to substantiate the above claims. This evaluation is conducted by the use of benchmarks that are currently published and accepted in the water engineering community. To facilitate this evaluation, a working prototype of the whole architecture has been developed and is made available under an open source licence.

Desktop and mobile computing devices increasingly store critical data, both personal and professional in nature. Yet, the enormous code bases of their monolithic operating systems (hundreds of thousands to millions of lines of code) are likely to contain exploitable weaknesses that jeopardize the security of this data in the file system. Using a highly componentized system architecture based on a microkernel (or a very small hypervisor) can significantly improve security. The individual operating system components have smaller code bases running in isolated address spaces so as to provide better fault containment. Their isolation also allows for smaller trusted computing bases (TCBs) of applications that comprise only a subset of all components. In my thesis, I built VPFS, a virtual private file system that is designed for such a componentized system architecture. It aims at reducing the amount of code and complexity that a file system implementation adds to the TCB of an application. The basic idea behind VPFS is similar to that of a VPN, which securely reuses an untrusted network: The core component of VPFS implements all functionality and cryptographic algorithms that an application needs to rely upon for confidentiality and integrity of file system contents. These security-critical cores reuse a much more complex and therefore untrusted file system stack for non-critical functionality and access to the storage device. Additional trusted components ensure recoverability.

<p dir="ltr">InSbAs is a promising platform for exploring topological superconductivity and spin-based device applications, thanks to its strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and high effective <i>g</i>-factor. This thesis investigates low-temperature transport of electrons confined in InSb_1-xAs_x quantum wells. Specifically, we study the properties of electrons confined in 2D and 0D by fabricating gated Hall bars and gate-defined quantum dots. Theoretical considerations suggest that InSbAs will have stronger SOC and a larger effective <i>g</i>-factor compared to InAs and InSb. Both the SOC and effective <i>g</i>-factor change as a function of arsenic mole fraction, but much remains to be understood in real material systems. Here, we study the dominant scattering mechanisms, effective mass, spin-orbit coupling strength, and the <i>g</i>-factor in InSb_1-xAs_x quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy. </p><p dir="ltr">We explore 30 nm InSb_1-xAs_x quantum wells with arsenic mole fractions of <i>x</i> = 0.05, 0.13, and 0.19. The 2DEG properties were studied by fabricating gated Hall bars and placing them in a perpendicular magnetic field at low temperatures (T = 10 - 300 mK). All samples showed high-quality transport with mobility greater than 100,000 cm²/Vs. For the <i>x</i> = 0.05 sample, the 2DEG displays a peak mobility μ = 2.4 x 10⁵ cm²/Vs at a density of <i>n</i> = 2.5 x 10¹¹ cm^-². We investigated the evolution of mobility as a function of arsenic mole fraction and 2DEG density for all samples. As the arsenic mole fraction increases, peak mobility decreases, and the dependence of mobility on density becomes weaker, suggesting that short-range scattering becomes the dominant scattering mechanism. We extracted an alloy scattering rate of τ_alloy = 45 ns^-1 per % As, an important parameter for understanding the impact of disorder on induced superconductivity. The high mobility, strong spin-orbit coupling, and low effective mass in this material system resulted in a beating pattern in the Shubnikov de Haas oscillations, allowing for the extraction of the Rashba parameter as a function of density and arsenic mole fraction. We observed a gate tunable spin-orbit coupling and, as predicted by theory, an increase in spin-orbit coupling with increasing arsenic mole fraction. For the sample with x = 0.19, the highest Rashba parameter is α_R ~ 300 meVÅ, which is significantly higher than in InSb. </p><p dir="ltr">In addition, we explored 0D confinement by fabricating a gate-defined quantum dot in an InSb₀_.87As_0.13 quantum well. By studying the evolution of Coulomb blockade peaks and differential conductance peaks as a function of magnetic field, a nearly isotropic in-plane effective <i>g</i>-factor in the [1-10] and [110] crystallographic directions was extracted, ranging from 49-58. The values extracted are 1.8 times higher than in a quantum dot fabricated in pure InSb. Furthermore, this study produced the first demonstration of a tunable spin-orbit coupling in this material system. This was achieved by measuring the avoided crossing gap, mediated by spin-orbit coupling, between the ground state and excited state in a magnetic field. The avoided crossing gap indicates the strength of the spin-orbit coupling; the maximum energy separation extracted is Δ_SO ~100 μeV. </p><p dir="ltr">Our work should stimulate further investigation of InSbAs quantum wells as a promising platform for applications requiring strong spin-orbit coupling, such as topological superconductivity or spin-based devices.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in shallow InAs quantum wells, combined with epitaxial aluminum, is commonly used to study topological superconductivity. Key features include strong spin-orbit coupling, a high effective g-factor, and the ability to manage proximity-induced superconductivity. My thesis discusses two aspects of this unique material. In the first section, I report on the transport characteristics of shallow InGaAs/InAs/InGaAs quantum wells and evaluate the effect of modulation doping on these shallow InAs quantum well structures. We systematically investigate the magnetotransport properties in relation to doping density and spacer thickness. Optimized samples show peak mobilities exceeding 100,000 cm²/Vs at n_2DEG < 10¹²cm^-2 in gated Hall bar, marking the highest mobility observed in this type of heterostructure. Our findings suggest that the doping layer moves the electron wave function away from the surface, minimizing surface scattering and enhancing mobility. This mobility improvement does not compromise Rashba spin-orbit coupling or induced superconductivity. In the second section, motivated by a theoretical study by Peng et al., we explore tunneling spectroscopy measurements on DC current biased planar Josephson junctions made on an undoped hybrid epitaxial Al-InAs 2DEG heterostructure. We observe four tunneling conductance peaks in the spectroscopy that can be adjusted by DC current bias. Our analysis indicates that these results come from strong coupling between the tunneling probe and the superconducting leads, rather than from Floquet engineering. We also touch on potential improvements to the device's design and materials. This work lays the groundwork for further investigation of Floquet physics in planar Josephson junctions. This thesis ends with a discussion of other unusual physics that could be explored in these novel shallow InAs quantum wells coupled with epitaxial aluminum.</p>

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Gegenwärtige Infrastrukturen für verteilte Dienste und Anwendungen, insbesondere das Internet, entwickeln sich zunehmend zu mobilen verteilten Systemen. Durch die Integration drahtloser Netze, mobiler bzw. dedizierter Endgeräte und nicht zuletzt durch die Mobilität der Benutzer steigt die Heterogenität und Dynamik der Systeme hinsichtlich der eingesetzten Endgeräte, Kommunikationstechnologien sowie Benutzeranforderungen und Anwendungssituationen. Diese Eigenschaften sind mobilen Systemen inhärent und bleiben trotz der fortschreitenden Entwicklung der Technologien bestehen. Daraus resultieren spezifische Anforderungen an Anwendungen und Dienste, denen insbesondere die Softwareentwicklung Rechnung tragen muss. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Adaptivität von Softwaresystemen als wesentlicher Lösungsansatz für mobile verteilte Infrastrukturen thematisiert. Dazu werden wesentliche Mechanismen zur Adaption sowie der Überschneidungsbereich von Adaptionsmechanismen, &amp;quot;Context-Awareness&amp;quot; und Softwareentwicklung untersucht. Ziel ist es, Erkenntnisse über Basismechanismen und Grundprinzipien der Adaption zu gewinnen und diese zur systematischen Entwicklung adaptiver Anwendungen auszunutzen. Aus der Analyse des State-of-the-Art werden als erstes wichtiges Ergebnis der Arbeit wesentliche Basismechanismen zur Adaption identifiziert, umfassend klassifiziert und hinsichtlich eines Einsatzes in mobilen verteilten Infrastrukturen bewertet. Auf dieser Grundlage wird ein Meta-Modell zur systematischen Entwicklung adaptiver Anwendungen erarbeitet. Dieses erlaubt die Beschreibung adaptiver Anwendungen durch die Komposition von Basismechanismen zur Struktur- und Parameteradaption. Die Steuerung der Adaption durch Kontext und Meta-Informationen kann explizit beschrieben werden. Das Meta-Modell kann Entwickler beim Entwurf adaptiver Anwendungen unterstützen, stellt aber auch einen Ausgangspunkt für deren Analyse und Validierung sowie zur Kodegenerierung dar. Durch die explizite Beschreibung der verwendeten Adaptionsmechanismen und deren Abhängigkeiten von Kontext können Anwendungsmodelle außerdem zur Dokumentation verwendet werden. Im Rahmen der Validierung konnte die Integrierbarkeit der Basismechanismen und die flexible Anwendbarkeit des Modells zur systematischen Entwicklung adaptiver Anwendungen nachgewiesen werden.

<p>Predmet istraživanja ove doktorske disertacije je mogućnost uspostavljanja modela Big Data sistema sa pripadajućom softversko &ndash;&nbsp; hardverskom arhitekturom za podr&scaron;ku senzorskim mrežama i IoT uređajima. Razvijeni model počiva na energetsko efikasnim, heterogenim, masovno paralelizovaim SoC hardverskim platformama, uz podr&scaron;ku softverske aplikativne arhitekture (poput OpenCL) za unifikovan rad.<br />Pored aktuelnih hardverskih, softverskih i mrežnih računarskih tehnologija i arhitektura namenjenih za rad podkomponenata modelovanog sistema u radu je predstavljen istorijski osvrt na njihov razvoj. Time je nagla&scaron;ena tendencija cikličnog kretanja koncepcijskih paradigmi računarstva, kroz svojevrstne ere centralizacije &ndash; decentralizacije computinga. U radu su predstavljene tehnologije i metode za ubrzavanje operacija&nbsp; u bazama i skladi&scaron;tima podataka. Istražene su mogućnosti za bolju pripremu Big Data informacionih sistema&nbsp; koji treba da zadovolje potrebe&nbsp; novo najavljene informatičke revolucije op&scaron;te primene računarstva tzv. Ubiquitous computing-a i Interneta stvari (IoT).</p> / <p>The research topic of this doctoral thesis is the possibility of establishing a model for Big Data System with corresponding software-hardware architecture to support sensor networks and IoT devices.&nbsp; The developed model is based on energy efficient, heterogeneous, massively parallelized SoC hardware platforms, with the support of software application architecture. (Such as an open CL) for unified operation.&nbsp; In addition to current hardware, software and network computing technologies, and architecture intended to operate subcomponents of the system modeled in this paper is presented as an historical overview of their development.&nbsp; Which emphasizes the tendency of the cyclic movement of the conceptual paradigm of computing, through the unique era of centralization/decentralization of computing. The thesis presents the technology and methods to accelerate operations in databases and data warehouses. We also investigate the possibilities for a better preparation of Big Data information systems to meet the needs of the newly announced IT revolution in the announced general application of computing called Ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things (IoT).</p>