Computer-aided Design (CAD) and Computer-aided Manufacturing (CAM) play an important role during the design and production phase of a product. CAD allows for generation of two and three-dimensional models of the product with the help of solid modelers and CAM allows for production planning of the product using tools such as a CAM package. Both CAD and CAM tools are highly specialized in nature and at the same time expensive to own. Large industries can afford to own such systems and experts to operate them but small and custom product industries cannot afford these benefits due to high design and manufacturing costs involved and complexity involved in using these systems. This has led to less popularity of CAD and CAM systems in custom product industries. A web based design tool can offer the functionality of a CAD system to custom product industries by allowing them to create and design three-dimensional models over the web. This method helps in simplifying the complexity involved in solid modeling by automating the commonly performed design operations using design algorithms. At the same time a web based manufacturing tool can allow for automatic generation of tool-paths for machining using a CNC machine. Although a web based design tool offers the required benefits to custom product industries, offering just the functionality of a CAD system may not be useful to the users of the web-based system who are usually carvers and artisans with minimal or no knowledge of CAD. An alternative method and its implementation are presented in this thesis. The method allows for creating user-defined parametric features using simple tools that can be offered in a web based application. The system takes advantage of the built-in API tools in a solid modeler and advanced web-based technologies to integrate them into a simple and easy to use web based design system. Identification of key elements in designing user-defined features and a framework for implementing them are discussed. Also different types of user-defined features that can be offered in a web application with examples of their implementation in a real world application for designing custom wooden signs are presented.

In many parallel programs, run-time data redistribution is usually required to enhance data locality and reduce remote memory access on the distributed memory multicomputers. For the heterogeneous computation environment, irregular data redistributions can be used to adjust data assignment. Since data redistribution is performed at run-time, there is a performance trade-off between the efficiency of the new data distribution for a subsequent phase of an algorithm and the cost of redistributing array among processors. Thus, efficient methods for performing data redistribution are of great importance for the development of distributed memory compilers for data-parallel programming languages. For the regular data redistribution, two approaches are presented in this dissertation, indexing approach and packing/unpacking approach. In the indexing approach, we propose a generalized basic-cycle calculation (GBCC) technique to efficiently generate the communication sets for a BLOCK-CYCLIC(s) over P processors to BLOCK-CYCLIC(t) over Q processors data redistribution. In the packing/unpacking approach, we present a User-Defined Types (UDT) method to perform BLOCK-CYCLIC(s) to BLOCK-CYCLIC(t) redistribution, using MPI user-defined datatypes. This method reduces the required memory buffers and avoids unnecessary movement of data. For the irregular data redistribution, in this dissertation, an Essential Cycle Calculation (ECC) method will be presented. The above methods are originally developed for one dimension array. However, the multi-dimension array can also be performed by simply applying these methods dimension by dimension starting from the first (last) dimension if array is in column-major (row-major).

Let x be a real reflexive separable locally uniformly convex banach space with locally uniformly convex dual spacex *. Let t:x\supset d(t)\rightarrow 2 {x *} be maximal monotone with 0\in t(0), 0\in intd(t) and c:x\supset d(c)\rightarrow x *. Assume that $l\subset d(c)$ is a dense linear subspace of x, c is of class (s_+)_l and \langle cx,x\rangle\geq-\psi(\lx\l), x\in d(c), where \psi:\mathbb{r} +\rightarrow\mathbb{r} + is nondecreasing. a new topological degree is developed for the sum t+c in chapter one. This theory extends the recent degree theory for the operators c of type (s_+)_{0,l} in [15]. unlike such a recent extension to multivalued (s_+)_{0,l}-type operators, the current approach utilizes the approximate degree d(t_t+c,g,0), t\downarrow 0, where t_t = (T {-1}+tJ {-1}) {-1}and G is an open bounded subset of X and is such that $0\in G$, for the single-valued mapping $T_t+C$. The subdifferential\partial\varphi, for \varphi belonging to a large class of proper c onvex lower semicontinuous functions, gives rise to operators T to which this degree theory applies. Theoretical applications to problems of Nonlinear Analysis are included, as well as applications from the field of partial differential equations. Let T:X\supset D(T)\rightarrow 2 {X *} be maximal monotone with compact resolvents, i.e, the operator $(T+\epsilonJ) {-1}:X *\rightarrow X is compact for every \in 0. We present a relevant result in chapter 2 that says there exists an open ball around zero in the image of a relatively open set by a continuous and bounded perturbation of a maximal monotone operator with compact resolvents. The generalized degree function for compact perturbations of m-accretive operators established by Y. -Z Chen in [7] isextended to the case of a multivalued compact perturbations of maximal monotone maps by appealing to the topological degree forset-valued compact fields in locally convex spaces introduced by Tsoy Wo-Ma in [25]. Such is the content of the thi rd chapter. A unified eigen value theory is developed for the pair(T,S), where T:X\supset D(T)\rightarrow 2 {X *} is aquasimonotone-type operator which belong to the so-called A_G(QM) class introduced by Arto Kittila in [23] and S is abounded demicontinuous mapping of class (S)_+. Conditions are given for the existence of a pair (x,\lambda)\in (0,\infty)\times(D(T+S)\cap\partial G)$ such that Tx+\lambda Sx\ni 0$. This is the content of Chapter 4.

The paper focuses on the design and implementation of the base-band basic receiving functions, for a binary CP-FSK demodulator pilot study, as independent modules of a complete Reconfigurable Data-Link (RDL). A model-based approach and Software Defined Radio (SDR) paradigm are used for the design. The implementation will be executed on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based hardware.

This dissertation starts by realizing that network management is a very complex and error-prone task. The major causes are identified through interviews and systematic analysis of network config- uration data on two large campus networks. This dissertation finds that network events and dynamic reactions to them should be programmatically encoded in the network control program by opera- tors, and some events should be automatically handled for them if the desired reaction is general. This dissertation presents two new solutions for managing and configuring networks using Software- Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm: Kinetic and Coronet. Kinetic is a programming language and central control platform that allows operators to implement traffic control application that reacts to various kinds of network events in a concise, intuitive way. The event-reaction logic is checked for correction before deployment to prevent misconfigurations. Coronet is a data-plane failure recovery service for arbitrary SDN control applications. Coronet pre-plans primary and backup routing paths for any given topology. Such pre-planning guarantees that Coronet can perform fast recovery when there is failure. Multiple techniques are used to ensure that the solution scales to large networks with more than 100 switches. Performance and usability evaluations show that both solutions are feasible and are great alternative solutions to current mechanisms to reduce misconfigurations.

Το ραδιόφωνο είναι από τις πλέον διαδεδομένες μορφές εκπομπής δεδομένων, χρησιμοποιείται δε ακόμα και σήμερα, σε μια εποχή που οι ψηφιακές τηλεπικοινωνίες επεκτείνονται ταχύτατα. Αρχικά επέτρεπε την μετάδοση μόνο ενός καναλιού ήχου, όμως επεκτάθηκε σε στερεοφωνική (δικάναλη) εκπομπή, προσετέθησαν μέθοδοι μετάδοσης ψηφιακών πληροφοριών (RDS/RBDS, DirectBand) για την πληροφόρηση χρηστών αλλά και για μεγαλύτερη ευελιξία των δεκτών. Παράδειγμα του τελευταίου είναι η λειτουργία "AF" (εναλλακτικές συχνότητες, alternative frequencies) η οποία δίνει την δυνατότητα σε ένα δέκτη να μεταπηδήσει σε άλλη συχνότητα στην οποία εκπέμπει ο ίδιος σταθμός αλλά με ισχυρότερο ή καθαρότερο σήμα. Δεδομένου του εύρους των λειτουργιών που χρησιμοποιούνται στις ραδιοφωνικές εκπομπές, είναι πολύ καλή επιλογή για την ανάπτυξη προγραμμάτων που τις εκμεταλλεύονται, από απλές μέχρι περίπλοκες τόσο στο αναλογικό όσο και στο ψηφιακό τμήμα. Για το αναλογικό τμήμα, στο ένα άκρο έχουμε έναν απλό μονοφωνικό δέκτη ενώ στο άλλο άκρο έναν στερεοφωνικό δέκτη ο οποίος μετρώντας την καθαρότητα του λαμβανόμενου σήματος επιλέγει το ποσοστό χρήσης στερεοφωνίας ώστε να επιτύχει συμβιβασμό μεταξύ διαχωρισμού καναλιών (στερεοφωνικής εικόνας) και χαμηλού θορύβου. Στα πλαίσια της παρούσας διπλωματικής, αναπτύχθηκε πρόγραμμα σε γλώσσα C το οποίο εκτελεί λειτουργία δέκτη ραδιοφωνικού σήματος διαμορφωμένου αναλογικά κατά συχνότητα (FM radio). Στον προγραμματισμό χρησιμοποιήθηκαν τεχνικές Software Defined Radio (SDR). Επιπλέον, το πρόγραμμα εκτελεί λήψη ψηφιακού σήματος ραδιοφωνικών πληροφοριών (Radio Broadcast Data System, RBDS/RDS). Στόχος της διπλωματικής είναι η επίδειξη της εφαρμογής τεχνικών SDR στα πλαίσια της υλοποίησης τηλεπικοινωνιακών συστημάτων. Με την αύξηση της ανάγκης της βιομηχανίας αλλά και των χρηστών για ταχύτερη μετάδοση δεδομένων, επήλθε και αύξηση της περιπλοκότητας των μεθόδων διαμόρφωσης στα τηλεπικοινωνιακά συστήματα. Η περιπλοκότητα αυτή απαιτεί χρήση αλγορίθμων που είναι αδύνατη με συστήματα με διακριτά στοιχεία. Μία λύση στο πρόβλημα αυτό είναι η αξιοποίηση σύγχρονων μικροεπεξεργαστών, των οποίων η ισχύς, ειδικά αυτή των εξειδικευμένων σε DSP, έχει γνωρίσει αλματώδη εξέλιξη. Προκειμένου να καταστεί δυνατή η αξιοποίηση του κατάλληλου υλικού για τα τηλεπικοινωνιακά συστήματα, χρειάζεται κατάλληλη μέθοδος προγραμματισμού. Η ιδέα αυτή έχει ήδη χρησιμοποιηθεί σε εμπορικά συστήματα. Ένα παράδειγμα είναι modem κοινής τηλεφωνικής γραμμής (PSTN/POTS) για οικιακούς υπολογιστές που το μεγαλύτερο μέρος της αποδιαμόρφωσης και διαμόρφωσης το εκτελούσε η κεντρική μονάδα επεξεργασίας του υπολογιστή. Συνεπώς, υπάρχουν παραδείγματα εφαρμογής αυτής της τεχνικής με ήδη υπαρκτό υλικό, δεν απαιτείται εξειδικευμένο hardware. Η εξέλιξη της ιδέας και η ευκολότερη πρόσβαση σε υλικό κατάλληλο, οδήγησε στην ανάπτυξη του Software Defined Radio. Software Defined Radio είναι ένα σύστημα ασύρματης τηλέπικοινωνίας (αν και είναι απολύτως εφικτή και η εφαρμογή σε ενσύρματα συστήματα) όπου αλγόριθμοι και μέρη του συστήματος που τυπικά υλοποιούνταν με ηλεκτρονικά στοιχεία (πυκνωτές, αντιστάτες, κ.α.) πραγματοποιούνται με προγράμματα που εκτελούνται σε σύστημα με επεξεργαστή, μικροελεγκτή ή άλλο προγραμματιζόμενο σύστημα. Η ονομασία Software Defined Radio αναφέρεται, επίσης, στο πρόγραμμα που εκτελεί το ανωτέρω σύστημα. Σε αυτά τα προγράμματα, χρησιμοποιούνται κατά κύριο λόγο τεχνικές επεξεργασίας ψηφιακού σήματος (DSP). Ως παράδειγμα προς μελέτη της τεχνικής θα χρησιμοποιήσουμε ένα από τα πλέον γνωστά πρωτόκολλα, το οποίο δεν είναι τετριμμένο και χρησιμοποιείται ευρύτατα και στη σύγχρονη εποχή, το ραδιόφωνο FM. Το πρωτόκολλο FM είναι αρκετά απλό ώστε η ανάλυσή του να είναι προσβάσιμη χωρίς να απαιτεί εξειδικευμένες γνώσεις τηλεπικοινωνιακών συστημάτων, αλλά όχι τετριμμένο, ώστε να αναδεικνύει την χρησιμότητα της τεχνικής SDR. Ένας δεύτερος λόγος για αυτή την επιλογή είναι η ταυτόχρονη εκπομπή ψηφιακής πληροφορίας από τους σταθμούς. Η λήψη αυτών των πληροφοριών με τη χρήση SDR υπογραμμίζει την ευελιξία της τεχνικής, η οποία επιτρέπει τον ταυτόχρονο χειρισμό τόσο των αναλογικών πληροφοριών (ήχου, στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση) όσο και των ψηφιακών πληροφοριών (RBDS/RDS) από το ίδιο πρόγραμμα. Στο Κεφάλαιο 1 περιγράφεται η αρχή λειτουργίας της αναλογικής διαμόρφωσης κατά συχνότητα καθώς και η εφαρμογή της στη ραδιοφωνία. Ορίζονται οι σχετικές παράμετροι και καθορίζονται οι τιμές που λαμβάνουν στην κοινή ραδιοφωνία FM. Τέλος, περιγράφεται η μετάδοση ψηφιακών πληροφοριών με το πρωτόκολλο RDS. Στο Κεφάλαιο 2 περιγράφεται η δομή και λειτουργία ενός δέκτη FM με διακριτά στοιχεία. Αναλύεται η αρχή λειτουργίας του δέκτη, ονομάζονται μερικά από τα στοιχεία που χρησιμοποιούνται συνήθως και διαγράφονται βασικές ομοιότητες με τους δέκτες SDR. Στο Κεφάλαιο 3 περιγράφεται η αρχή λειτουργίας του SDR. Δίνονται παραδείγματα υλικού κατάλληλου για SDR και οι δυνατότητες που απαιτούνται. Δίνονται παραδείγματα λογισμικού κατάλληλου για SDR και παραδείγματα εφαρμογών του. Στο Κεφάλαιο 4 αναλύεται το υλικό που χρησιμοποιήθηκε και το πρόγραμμα που αναπτύχθηκε για την αποδιαμόρφωση σήματος FM και αποκωδικοποίηση σήματος RDS. Επίσης περιγράφεται το υλικό που χρησιμοποιήθηκε καθώς και τα κριτήρια επιλογής τους. Ορίζονται οι είσοδοι και έξοδοι του προγράμματος και περιγράφεται η δομή του. Αναλύεται η λειτουργία των επιμέρους στοιχείων του προγράμματος που αναπτύχθηκε και μελετάται η συμπεριφορά τους. Τέλος, αναλύεται η αποδιαμόρφωση και αποκωδικοποίηση του ψηφιακού σήματος (RDS) από το πρόγραμμα. Στα παραρτήματα δίδονται οι συντελεστές των ψηφιακών φίλτρων που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στην ανάπτυξη του δέκτη, ο πλήρης κώδικας του δέκτη και οδηγίες για την δημιουργία φασματογραφημάτων με το MATLAB. / FM radio is one of the most widespread forms of data transmission, used even today, in an era where digital telecommunications are quickly spreading. Initially, it allowed transmission of only one audio channel, but it was extended to stereo (two channel) transmission, digital information methods of transmission were added (RDS/RBDS, DirectBand) for user information and for greater receiver versatility. One example of the latter is the AF ("alternative frequencies") functionality which allows a receiver to switch over to another frequency, carrying the same radio program but with better reception. Given the great width of functions that are used in radio transmissions, it is a very good choice for developing software that take advantage of them, from simple to complex, both in the analog and digital domain. For the analog domain, on one end, there may be a simple monophonic receiver and on the other end a stereo receiver which, according to the clarity of the received signal, can adjust the level of stereo separation to achieve a preferable compromise between stereo image and low noise audio. For the purposes of this project, a software program was written, in C, which functions as a frequency modulated, analog radio signal receiver (FM radio). Software Defined Radio techniques were used while developing this program. Additionally, the program performs RDS ("radio data system") signal reception. The objective of this project is to demonstrate the use of Software Defined Radio techniques in the development of telecommunication systems. The industry's, and the users', need for faster data transmission, brought an increase in modulation method complexity in telecommunication systems. This complexity requires use of algorithms that is impossible with systems with discrete components. One solution to this problem is via utilization of modern microprocessors, especially those specializing in DSP, the performance of which has increased dramatically. In order to be able to use the appropriate hardware in a telecommunication system using SDR, an appropriate method of programming them is necessary. This idea has been already used in commercial systems. One example are modems for the common copper telephone line (PSTN /POTS) for home computers, where most of the modulation and demodulation was performed by the computers central processor. Therefore, there are examples of applications of this method using common hardware. The evolution of this idea and the easier access to necessary hardware led to the development of Software Defined Radio. Software Defined Radio is a wireless telecommunication system (although a wired system is equally feasible) where algorithms and components that would, typically, be implemented with electronic elements (capacitors, resistors, etc) are realized with a software program running on a system with a microprocessor, microcontroller or other programmable device. The name Software Defined Radio is also used to refer to the program itself. In such a program, DSP techniques are commonly used. As an example for studying this method we are using one of the most widely known protocols, one that is not trivial and is widely used even in modern times, the FM radio. The FM protocol is simple enough so that its analysis is approachable without specialized knowledge of telecommunication systems, but not trivial, so that it demonstrates the usefulness of the SDR method. Another reason for this choice is the simultaneous transmission of digital information from an FM broadcast station. Reception of this signal, by the program, underlines the versatility of SDR, which allows simultaneous handling of both analog (audio, in this case) and digital (RDS) information. The first chapter presents the principle of operation of analog frequency modulation and its application in radio broadcasting. The respective parameters are defined and specific values for common FM radio broadcasting are given. Finally, digital data transmission via the RDS protocol is described. The second chapter presents the structure and functionality of an FM receiver implemented with discrete elements. Its principle of operation is analyzed, some of the more common elements used are named and similarities with SDR receivers are drawn. The third chapter presents the principle of operation of an SDR system. Examples of useful hardware and relevant requirements are given. Finally, examples of suitable software and respective applications are given. The fourth chapter presents an analysis of the hardware that was used and the software program that was developed for the demodulation of the FM signal and decoding of the RDS signal, along with the criteria for choosing them. The program structure is described and its input and output data signal formats are defined. The functionality of each component of the software program is analyzed and its behavior is studied. Finally, the demodulation and decoding process for the RDS signal by the program is analyzed. In the appendixes, the coefficients of the digital filters are listed, along with the full source code for the software program that was developed and, finally, a guide for creating spectral graphs with MATLAB, similar to those in section 4.3.2.

Currently, networks and networked systems are essential media for us to communicate with other people, access resources, and share information. Reading (or sending) emails, navigating web sites, and uploading pictures to social medias are common behaviors using networks. Besides these, networks and networked systems are used to store or access sensitive or private information. In addition, major economic activities, such as buying food and selling used cars, can also be operated with networks. Likewise, we live with networks and networked systems. As network usages are increasing and popular, people face the problems of net- work attacks. Attackers on the networks can steal people’s private information, mislead people to pay money for fake products, and threaten people, who operate online commercial sites, by bothering their services. There are much more diverse types of network attacks that torture many people using networks, and the situation is still serious. The proposal in this dissertation starts from the following two research questions: (i) what kind of network attack is prevalent and how we can investigate it and (ii) how we can protect our networks and networked systems from these attacks. Therefore, this dissertation spans two main areas to provide answers for each question. First, we analyze the behaviors and characteristics of large-scale bot infected hosts, and it provides us new findings of network malware and new insights that are useful to detect (or defeat) recent network threats. To do this, we investigate the characteristics of victims infected by recent popular botnet - Conficker, MegaD, and Srizbi. In addition, we propose a method to detect these bots by correlating network and host features. Second, we suggest new frameworks to make our networks secure based on the new network technology of Software Defined Networking (SDN). Currently, SDN technology is considered as a future major network trend, and it can dynamically program networks as we want. Our suggested frameworks for SDN can be used to devise network security applications easily, and we also provide an approach to make SDN technology secure.

Research indicates that multiprocessor-based architectures will provide a flexible alternative to hard-wired application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) suitable to implement the multitude of wireless standards required by mobile devices, while meeting their strict area and power requirements. This shift in design philosophy has led to the software-defined radio (SDR) paradigm, where a significant portion of a wireless standard's physical layer is implemented in software, allowing multiple standards to share a common architecture. Turbo codes offer excellent error-correcting performance, however, turbo decoders are one of the most computationally complex baseband tasks of a wireless receiver. Next generation wireless standards such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), support enhanced double-binary turbo codes, which offer even better performance than the original binary turbo codes, at the expense of additional complexity. Hence, the design of efficient double-binary turbo decoder software is required to support wireless standards in a SDR environment. This thesis describes the optimization, parallelization, and simulated performance of a software double-binary turbo decoder implementation supporting the WiMAX standard suitable for SDR. An adapted turbo decoder is implemented in the C language, and numerous software optimizations are applied to reduce its overall computationally complexity. Evaluation of the software optimizations demonstrated a combined improvement of at least 270% for serial execution, while maintaining good bit-error rate (BER) performance. Using a customized multiprocessor simulator, special instruction support is implemented to speed up commonly performed turbo decoder operations, and is shown to improve decoder performance by 29% to 40%. The development of a flexible parallel decoding algorithm is detailed, with multiprocessor simulations demonstrating a speedup of 10.8 using twelve processors, while maintaining good parallel efficiency (above 89%). A linear-log-MAP decoder implementation using four iterations was shown to have 90% greater throughput than a max-log-MAP decoder implementation using eight iterations, with comparable BER performance. Simulation also shows that multiprocessor cache effects do not have a significant impact on parallel execution times. An initial investigation into the use of vector processing to further enhance performance of the parallel decoder software reveals promising results. / Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-25 16:22:47.288

This thesis provides a range of analyses to examine the current Chinese pension reform in both provincial and national contexts, with special emphasis on coverage increase and its long term financial implications. Quantitative assessment includes econometric analysis of survey data initiated and organized by the author and her colleagues. Special models are designed to reflect the transitional characteristics of the current Chinese pension system. The results confirm that the coverage increase delays the system-aging process, through labor migration and urbanization, by about 20 years. But a funding crisis is inevitable if no parametric reforms could be made in the current system and if the system is not well managed. Policy suggestions are made in line with the empirical analysis and model results. In addition, some structural pension reform options are discussed. Two Notional Defined Contribution (NDC) applications are presented and simulations indicate that an NDC system may be effective in smoothing the financial pressure for government while maintaining adequate levels of individual retirement benefit. In the final part of the thesis, a hypothetical safety net is assessed in the context of the current policy framework, and its cost is examined. The thesis introduces new data and first hand information about Chinese pension reform in a provincial context to reflect the features of the national system.

Grammatical Evolution (GE) is a method of utilising a general purpose evolutionary algorithm to ???evolve??? programs written in an arbitrary BNF grammar. This thesis extends GE as follows: GE as an extension of Genetic Programming (GP) A novel method of automatically extracting information from the grammar is introduced. This additional information allows the use of GP style crossover which in turn allows GE to perform identically to a strongly typed GP system as well as a non-typed (or canonical) GP system. Two test problems are presented one which is more easily solved by the GP style crossover and one which favours the tradition GE ???Ripple Crossover???. With this new crossover operator GE can now emulate GP (as well as retaining its own unique features) and can therefore now be seen as an extension of GP. Dynamically Defined Functions An extension to the BNF grammar is presented which allows the use of dynamically defined functions (DDFs). DDFs provide an alternative to the traditional approach of Automatically Defined Functions (ADFs) but have the advantage that the number of functions and their parameters do not need to be specified by the user in advance. In addition DDFs allow the architecture of individuals to change dynamically throughout the course of the run without requiring the introduction of any new form of operator. Experimental results are presented confirming the effectiveness of DDFs. Self-Selecting (or variable) crossover. A self-selecting operator is introduced which allows the system to determine, during the course of the run, which crossover operator to apply; this is tested over several problem domains and (especially where small populations are used) is shown to be effective in aiding the system to overcome local optima. Spatial Co-Evolution in Age Layered Planes (SCALP) A method of combining Hornby???s ALPS metaheuristic and a spatial co-evolution system used by Mitchell is presented; the new SCALP system is tested over three problem domains of increasing difficulty and performs extremely well in each of them.