Current manufacturing automation systems (specifically the powertrain sector) have been facing challenges with constant pressures of globalisation, environmental concerns and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) innovations. These challenges instigate new demands for shorter product lifecycles and require customised products to be manufactured as efficiently as possible. Manufacturing systems must therefore be agile to remain competitive by supporting frequent reconfigurations involving distributed engineering activities.

Today, conventional substation protection and control systems are of a widely distributed character. One substation can easily have as many as 50 data processing points that all perform similar algorithms on voltage and current data. There is also only limited communication between protection devices, and each device is only aware of the bay in which it is installed. With the intent of implementing a substation protection system that is simpler, more efficient and better suited for future challenges, Ellevio AB implemented a centralized system in a primary substation in 2015. It is comprised of five components that each handle one type of duty: Data processing, communication, voltage measurements, current measurements and breaker control. Since its implementation, the centralized system has been in parallel operation with the conventional, meaning that it performs station wide data acquisition, processing and communication, but is unable to trip the station breakers. The only active functionality of the centralized system is the voltage regulation. This work is an evaluation of the centralized system and studies its protection functionality, voltage regulation, fault response and output signal correlation with the conventional system. It was found that the centralized system required the implementation of a differential protection function and protection of the capacitor banks and busbar coupling to provide protection equivalent to that of the conventional system. The voltage regulation showed unsatisfactory long regulation time lengths, which could have been a result of low time resolution. The fault response and signal correlation were deemed satisfactory.

L’objectif de ce travail de recherche est de proposer une méthode d’aide à l’intégration d’innovations dès la conception préliminaire des systèmes complexes. Cette étape de la conception a en effet de forts impacts sur le reste de cycle de vie du produit. En se focalisant sur l’aide à la génération d’architectures de système complexe, cette méthode utilise un réseau Bayésien combiné à un problème de satisfaction de contraintes (CSP) pour générer et évaluer automatiquement des architectures de systèmes complexes. Le modèle de réseau Bayésien proposé est utilisé pour représenter le problème de conception de l’architecture en termes de variables de décision, de contraintes et de performances. Un algorithme parcourt le graphe ainsi défini afin de générer les solutions d’architecture qui sont considérées comme faisables et qui présentent un niveau de confiance acceptable. Ce niveau de confiance estime l’incertitude associée à chaque architecture générée. Les performances des architectures sont aussi calculées grâce au réseau bayésien. Une fois les architectures générées, un modèle de problème de satisfaction de contraintes permet d’optimiser le placement des composants au vu des contraintes de placement et des objectifs d’optimisation préalablement définis par les concepteurs. Un logiciel a été développé pour faciliter la modélisation du problème et la visualisation des solutions. Deux cas industriels ont permis de tester la méthode et de nombreuses solutions d’architecture ont été générées. Afin de tester la faisabilité de l’étape de sélection d’architectures dans un cadre industriel, un atelier de sélection d’architectures a été organisé afin d’être par la suite analysé. Il a impliqué quatre concepteurs de Thales et portait sur un des cas industriels précédents. Cette dernière étude a souligné des difficultés dans la définition des critères de sélection des architectures et propose des recommandations pour un futur support à la sélection d’architecture système. / The aim of this research work is to propose a method allowing innovation integration in early design stages and supporting architecture design of complex systems that have significant implications for the rest of overall system life-cycle. Focusing on system architectures generation support, this method proposes to use Bayesian networks combined with Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) techniques in order to semi-automatically generate and evaluate complex systems architectures. Bayesian network model is used to represent the design problem in terms of decision variables, constraints and performances. Furthermore, an architecture generation algorithm is proposed to generate feasible solutions and to cluster them with regard to a given confidence level threshold. This confidence level is representing the estimation of the uncertainty on the overall system. Estimation of architecture performances are also calculated within the Bayesian network. Once the system architectures are generated, a CSP model optimises the component placement regarding placement constraints and optimisation objectives defined by designers. Software has been developed for the purpose of problem modelling and solutions visualisation. Two industrial implementations yielded in a generation of a high number of architecture solutions. In order to test the feasibility of architecture selection in an industrial environment, a study was conducted integrating four system designers. This study underlined the difficulties in defining architecture selection criteria and provides recommendations for the future system architecture selection support.

Anomaly detection requires a system that can reliably convert measurements of an object into knowledge about that object. Previously, we have shown that an information-theoretic approach to the design and analysis of such systems provides insight into system performance as it pertains to architectural variations in source fluence, view number/angle, spectral resolution, and spatial resolution.(1) However, this work was based on simulated measurements which, in turn, relied on assumptions made in our simulation models and virtual objects. In this work, we describe our experimental testbed capable of making transmission x-ray measurements. The spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution is sufficient to validate aspects of the simulation-based framework, including the forward models, bag packing techniques, and performance analysis. In our experimental CT system, designed baggage is placed on a rotation stage located between a tungsten-anode source and a spectroscopic detector array. The setup is able to measure a full 360 rotation with 18,000 views, each of which defines a 10 ms exposure of 1,536 detector elements, each with 64 spectral channels. Measurements were made of 1,000 bags that comprise 100 clutter instantiations each with 10 different target materials. Moreover, we develop a systematic way to generate bags representative of our desired clutter and target distributions. This gives the dataset a statistical significance valuable in future investigations.

Development Related Termination of the Root Apical Meristem Activity Abstract Root system architecture is modulated through growth and branching of individual roots, while the growth is strictly regulated via long term apical meristem (RAM) maintenance and cell elongation. RAM activity is not consistent during root on- togeny, which was shown in several dicotyledonous species as change in root meristem structure and decline in root growth rate during individual root development. This thesis is focused on changes in extent and arrangement of meristematic tissues and their derivatives within adventitious roots of Acorus calamus and Oryza sativa during long term cultivation. Changes in meristem and elongation zone length, the root cap length, radial tissue complexity, as well as the changes in root hair emergence, etc., are put into relation with quantified expression level of selected important regulatory elements taking part in RAM maintenance (WOX and SCR family transcription factors). Methodology and approach for future research in this field are outlined. Keywords: Root, Apical Meristem, Root System Architecture, RAM Termination

Abstract Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networking changes the way of people utilizing Internet, for example, sharing and consuming digital content, from the ground up. It continues to show its power and strength when it is combined with other emerging technologies, such as Web Services. This thesis contributes to the research and development of P2P networks from four aspects. Firstly, a P2P and Web Services converged multiple-tier system architecture is proposed. The architecture proposed enables providing Web Services in the context of heterogeneous access networks in an efficient way by utilizing P2P paradigm. A lightweight middleware architecture is introduced to fit the diversified mobile terminals. A theoretical analysis is given to provide a comparative study with the conventional centralized architecture. Secondly, a General Truncated Pyramid Peer-to-Peer (GTPP) architecture is presented to analyze the performance of hierarchical architecture compared with flat architecture. The motivation behind the GTPP architecture is to see whether an added tier can bring with it added value and functionality. A detailed mathematical analysis is provided which takes into consideration various performance metrics, including the lookup hopcount, lookup latency, maintenance traffic from a single peer point of view, and maintenance traffic from the whole system point of view. Furthermore, simulation results with respect to the lookup hopcount are also provided. Through mathematical analysis and simulation results, an optimal value regarding the number of tiers of the GTPP architecture is found, showing that 2~3 tiers are appropriate for most of situations. A specialized model is also proposed to improve the performance of hierarchical architecture. Thirdly, the performance evaluation of a communication-oriented Kademlia-based P2P system is provided in detail. NetHawk EAST-based simulation models and a prototype are both utilized to evaluate the performance. Simulation results from NetHawk EAST-based simulation models demonstrate the optimal design choices regarding the resource lookup parallelism degree and resource replication degree, and show the unnecessary existence of the messages used to detect the liveness of peers in a DHT overlay. Measurements from the prototype show the feasibility of mobile nodes acting as fully fledged overlay nodes from three different perspectives, namely CPU processing load, network traffic load, and battery consumption. The optimal size of packets which consumes battery in the most efficient way is also found through battery consumption measurements. Fourthly, the effects of different churn models on the performance of structured P2P networks are analyzed. Specifically, three typical churn models are analyzed to provide a comparative result. The simulation results show that the difference among the effects of different churn models on the performance of structured P2P networks is quantitative rather than qualitative. This provides some guidance for the selection of different churn models for the contemporary researchers.

Increasing salinity is a worldwide problem, but the knowledge on how salt enters the roots of plants remains largely unknown. Non-selective cation channels (NSCCs) have been suggested to be the major pathway for the entry of sodium ions (Na+) in several species. The hypothesis tested in this research is that PQ loop (PQL) proteins could form NSCCs, mediate some of the Na+ influx into the root and contribute to ion accumulation and the inhibition of growth in saline conditions. This is based on previous preliminary evidence indicating similarities in the properties of NSCC currents and currents mediated by PQL proteins, such as the inhibition of an inward cation current mediated by PQL proteins by high external calcium and pH acidification. PQL family members belonging to clade one in Arabidopsis and barley were characterized using a reverse genetics approach, electrophysiology and high-throughput phenotyping. Expression of AtPQL1a and HvPQL1 in HEK293 cells increased Na+ and K+ inward currents in whole cell membranes. However, when GFP-tagged PQL proteins were transiently overexpressed in tobacco leaf cells, the proteins appeared to localize to intracellular membrane structures. Based on q-RT-PCR, the levels of mRNA of AtPQL1a, AtPQL1b and AtPQL1c is higher in salt stressed plants compared to control plants in the shoot tissue, while the mRNA levels in the root tissue did not change in response to stress. Salt stress responses of lines with altered expression of AtPQL1a, AtPQL1b and AtPQL1c were examined using RGB and chlorophyll fluorescence imaging of plants growing in soil in a controlled environment chamber. Decreases in the levels of expression of AtPQL1a, AtPQL1b and AtPQL1c resulted in larger rosettes, when measured seven days after salt stress imposition. Interestingly, overexpression of AtPQL1a also resulted in plants having larger rosettes in salt stress conditions. Differences between the mutants and the wild-type plants were not observed at earlier stages, suggesting that PQLs might be involved in long-term responses to salt stress. These results contribute towards a better understanding of the role of PQLs in salinity tolerance and provide new targets for crop improvement.

Deep Neural Networks are state-of the art algorithms for various image and natural language processing tasks. These networks are composed of billions of operations working on an input to produce the desired result. Along with this computational complexity, these workloads are also massively parallel in nature. These inherent properties make deep neural networks an excellent target for custom acceleration. The main challenge faced by such accelerators is achieving a compromise between power consumption, software programmability, and resource utilization for the varied compute and data access patterns presented by DNN workloads. In this work, I present Inference Engine, a scalable and efficient DNN accelerator designed to be agnostic to the type of DNN workload. Inference Engine was designed to provide near peak hardware resource utilization, minimize data transfer, and offer a programmer friendly instruction set. Inference engine scales at the level of individually programmable clusters, each of which contains several hundred compute resources. It provides an instruction set designed to exploit parallelism within the workload while also allowing freedom for compiler based exploration of data access patterns.

No description available.

The support of mobile workers with mobile IT solutions can create tremendous improvements in mobile business processes of a company. The main characteristic of such a mobile system is the ability to connect via a (mobile) network to a central server, e.g. in order to access customer data. This paper presents a detailed description of the four main software architectures for mobile client/server-based systems and their main characteristics. Beyond, typical business requirements in mobile environments like the location of use, data topicality, interaction requirements, synchronisation mechanisms and many more are mapped onto each of these architectures. The presented results can be used for discussing concurrent business needs as well as for deriving a mobile system architecture based on these needs.