Οι MLC NAND Flash μνήμες παίζουν πρωταγωνιστικό ρόλο για την αποθήκευση δε- δομένων, καθώς έχουν μεγάλη αποθηκευτική ικανότητα λόγω της μεγάλης πυκνότητάς τους, χαμηλό κόστος και χαμηλή απαίτηση σε ισχύ. Για τους λόγους αυτούς, έγινε εφικτό από τους σκληρούς δίσκους οδήγησης (HDDs) πλέον έχουμε περάσει στην εποχή των Solid State Drives (SSDs) που αποτελούν ένα μεγάλο βήμα για την αποθήκευση δεδομένων αποδοτικά και αξιόπιστα. Βέβαια η παρουσία λαθών στις MLC NAND Flash μνήμες, λόγω φαινομένων όπως η γήρανση του υλικού καθιστά απαραίτητη την εφαρμογή κωδίκων διόρθωσης λαθών (ECC) ώστε να διατηρηθεί η αξιοπιστία σε επιθυμητά επίπεδα. Σκοπός λοιπόν αυτής της διπλωματικής είναι αρχικά η ανάπτυξη ενός παραμετροποιήσιμου μοντέλου MLC NAND Flash μνήμης για την εξομοίωση εμφάνισης λαθών. Στη συνέχεια η χρησιμοποίηση soft-decision Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) κωδίκων για τη διόρθωση λαθών με τέτοι οτρόπο ώστε να παρατείνουμε το χρόνο ζωής της μνήμης και τελικά να υπολογίσουμε το Life Time Capacity που αποτελεί το συνολικό μέγεθος της πληροφορίας που μπορεί να αποθηκευθεί σε μία μνήμη καθ’όλη τη διάρκεια ζωής της. / --

Η διπλωματική αυτή σκοπό έχει να μελετήσει στρατηγικές οι οποίες έχουν ως στόχο την αύξηση της αποδοτικότητας με κριτήριο την ενέργεια σε ad hoc δίκτυα. Σε αυτού του είδους τα δίκτυα η ενέργεια είναι κρίσιμος πόρος και η εξοικονόμησή της είναι κρίσιμος παράγοντας. Θα ακολουθήσουμε τον αλγόριθμο δρομολόγησης multi-cost με cost vectors πολλών παραμέτρων. Με βάση αυτά τα cost vectors ένα σύνολο από candidate paths θα υπολογιστούν για κάθε ζευγάρι κόμβων source-destination και μια συνάρτηση βελτιστοποίησης χρησιμοποιείται για να επιλεχθεί το βέλτιστο από αυτά. Οι παράμετροι που μας ενδιαφέρουν είναι ο αριθμός των hops σε ένα μονοπάτι, η υπολειπόμενη ενέργεια και η ισχύς μετάδοσης των κόμβων σε ένα μονοπάτι καθώς και η παρεμβολή που δημιουργείται από την μετάδοση ενός κόμβου. Αυτές οι παράμετροι συνδυάζονται σε ποικίλες συναρτήσεις βελτιστοποίησης οι οποίες αντιστοιχούν σε διαφορετικούς αλγόριθμους δρομολόγησης και οι οποίοι εξετάζονται για την επιλογή του βέλτιστου μονοπατιού. Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη όλες αυτές τις συναρτήσεις εξετάζουμε την συμπεριφορά του δικτύου προσέχοντας την κατανάλωση ενέργειας, το throughput κα. Από τα πειράματα καταλήγουμε στις βέλτιστες από τις συναρτήσεις βελτιστοποίησης. / In this work we study the combination of multi-cost routing and variable transmission power in wireless ad hoc networks. We assume that the nodes have power control capabilities and can adjust their transmission power to their desired level. We propose algorithms for selecting the routes to be followed by the packets and the transmission power to be used by the nodes at each hop in order to reduce interference and energy consumption, and improve network performance. The cost parameters used by the proposed interference/energy-aware routing algorithms are the number of hops of the paths, the interference caused to other nodes, the node residual energies, and the node transmission powers. In the experiments conducted we examine the resulting network performance with respect to energy consumption, packet delay, frequency of collisions, and other parameters of interest. Our results show that the proposed routing algorithms significantly improve network performance and lifetime.

Web and mobile technologies have had such profound impact that we have witnessed significant evolutionary changes in our social, economic and cultural activities. In recent years, online social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn have gained immense popularity. Such social networks have led to an enormous explosion of network-centric data in a wide variety scenarios, posing unprecedented analytical and computational challenges to MIS researchers. At the same time, the availability of such data offers major research opportunities in various social computing and analytics areas to tackle interesting questions such as: - From a business and marketing perspective, how to mine the novel datasets of online user activities, interpersonal communications and interactions, for developing more successful marketing strategies? - From a system development perspective, how to incorporate massive amounts of available data to assist online users to find relevant, efficient, and timely information? In this dissertation, I explored these research opportunities by studying multiple analytics problems arose from the design and use of social networking services. The first two chapters (Chapter 2 and 3) are intended to study how social network can help to derive a better estimation of customer lifetime value (CLV), in the social gaming context. In Chapter 2, I first conducted an empirical study to demonstrate that friends' activities can serve as significant indicators of a player's CLV. Based on this observation, I proposed a perceptron-based online CLV prediction model considering both individual and friendship information. Preliminary results have shown that the model can be effectively used in online CLV prediction, by evaluating against other commonly-used benchmark methods. In Chapter 3, I further extended the metric of traditional CLV, by incorporating the personal influences on other customers' purchase as an integral part of the lifetime value. The proposed metric was illustrated and tested on seven social games of different genres. The results showed that the new metric can help marketing managers to achieve more successful marketing decisions in user acquisition, user retention, and cross promotion. Chapter 4 is devoted to the design of a recommendation system for micro-blogging. I studied the information diffusion pattern in a micro-blogging site (Twitter.com) and proposed diffusion-based metrics to assess the quality of micro-blogs, and leverage the new metric to implement a novel recommendation framework to help micro-blogging users to efficiently identify quality news feeds. Chapter 5 concludes this dissertation by highlighting major research contributions and future directions.

The pH of tumors and surrounding tissues is a key biophysical property of the tumor microenvironment that affects how a tumor survives and how it invades the surrounding space of normal tissue. Research into tumorigenesis and tumor treatment is greatly dependent on accurate, precise, and reproducible measurements. Optical imaging is generally regarded as the best choice for non-invasive and high spatial resolution measurements. Ratiometric fluorescence imaging and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) are two primary ways for measuring tumor pH.pH measurements in a window chamber animal model using a ratiometric fluorescence imaging technique is demonstrated in this dissertation. The experimental setup, imaging protocols, and results are presented. A significantly varying bias was consistently observed in the measured pH. A comprehensive analysis on the possible error sources accounting for this bias is carried out. The result of analysis reveals that accuracy of ratiometric method is most likely limited by biological and physiological factors.FLIM is a promising alternative because the fluorescence lifetime is insensitive to the biological and physiological factors. Photon noise is the predominant error source of FLIM. The Fisher information matrix and the Cramér-Rao lower bound are used to calculate the lowest possible variance of estimated lifetime for time-domain (TD) FLIM. A statistical analysis of frequency-domain (FD) FLIM using homodyne lock-in detection is also performed and the probability density function of the estimated lifetime is derived. The results allow the derivation of the optimum experimental parameters, which yields the lowest variance of the estimated lifetime in a given period of imaging time. The analyses of both TD and FD-FLIM agree with results of corresponding Monte Carlo simulations.

Recently, by performing molecular dynamics simulations in the methane-water system, we have measured the static lifetimes of cagelike water clusters (CLWC) immersed in bulk liquid water, during which the member-water molecules of CLWCs are not allowed to exchange with their surrounding water molecules [J. Phys. Chem. C, 2007, 111, 2595]. In this study, we measure the dynamic lifetimes of CLWCs with permitting such water exchanges. It is found that the dynamic lifetimes of CLWCs are not less than the static lifetimes previously obtained, and their ratio increases with the lifetime values. The results strengthen that CLWCs are metastable structures in liquid water and the occurrence probability of long-lived CLWCs will increase if one uses the dynamic lifetimes instead of the static lifetimes. The implications of this study for hydrate nucleation are discussed.

The introduction of artificial illumination has brought extensive benefits to mankind, and during the last years we have seen a tremendous progress in this field with the introduction of the energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) and the high-contrast organic LED display. These high-end technologies are, however, produced using costly and complex processes, and it is anticipated that the next big thing in the field will be the advent of a low-cost and “green” illumination technology, which can be fabricated in a cost- and material-efficient manner using non-toxic and abundant raw materials, and which features attractive form factors such as flexibility, robustness and light-weight. The light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) is a newly invented illumination technology, and in this thesis we present results that imply that it can turn the above vision into reality. The thin-film LEC comprises an active material sandwiched between a cathode and an anode as its key constituent parts. With the aid of a handheld air-brush, we show that functional large-area LECs can be fabricated by simply spraying three layers of solution -- forming the anode, active material, and cathode -- on top of a substrate. We also demonstrate that such “spray-sintered” LECs can feature multicolored emission patterns, and be fabricated directly on complex-shaped surfaces, with one notable example being the realization of a light-emission fork! Almost all LECs up-to-date have been fabricated on glass substrates, but for a flexible and light-weight emissive device, it is obviously relevant to identify more appropriate substrate materials. For this end, we show that it is possible to spray-coat the entire LEC directly on conventional copy paper, and that such paper-LECs feature uniform light-emission even under heavy bending and flexing. We have further looked into the fundamental aspects of the LEC operation and demonstrated that the in-situ doping formation, which is a characteristic and heralded feature of LECs, can bring problems in the form of doping-induced self-absorption. By quantitatively analyzing this phenomenon, we provided straightforward guidelines on how future efficiency-optimized LEC devices should be designed. The in-situ doping formation process brings the important advantage that LECs can be fabricated from solely air-stabile materials, but during light emission the device needs to be protected from the ambient air. We have therefore developed a functional glass/epoxy encapsulation procedure for the attainment of LEC devices that feature a record-long ambient-air operational lifetime of 5600 h. For the light-emission device of the future, it is however critical that the encapsulation is flexible, and in our last study, we show that the use of multi-layer barrier can result in high-performance flexible LECs.

Divalent thulium has been doped into CsCaI₃, CsCaBr₃, CsCaCl₃ and RbCaI₃- a series of AMX₃ salts. Using previously published optical spectra, a series of parameterised energy level calculations have been performed. The calculated energy levels, optimised crystal field parameters and simulated optical absorption spectra are presented. Theoretical predictions yield excellent approximation to the experimental data. Temperature dependent fluorescent lifetimes from the (³F₄,t₂g) and (³H₆,t₂g) excited (emitting) states have been measured using a pulsed dye laser. For CsCaBr₃ and RbCaI₃ doped with Tm²⁺, visible emission for the (³F₄,t₂g) state yields 10 K and 28 K lifetimes of 1.7 μs and 0.40 μs respectively. In both cases no emission is observed at room temperature. Considering direct multiphonon relaxation to the lower lying (³H₆,t₂g) levels, a simple energy gap law well accounts for the measured data with effective phonon energies in the range 100-200 cm⁻¹ - consistent with the phonon density of states in these low phonon energy hosts. Monitoring infrared emission from the (³H₆,t₂g) states, 14 K and 10 K lifetimes of 301 μs and 250 μs are found for CsCaBr₃ and CsCaCl₃ respectively. For CsCaBr₃ this value reduces to 270 μs at 200 K and is not quenched until 300 K, whilst for CsCaCl₃ emission is quenched by 170 K. This temperature dependent behavior is interpreted in terms of internal conversion via configurational crossing between the excited and ground state potential energy surfaces. Fitting the fluorescence lifetime data to a modified Mott equation, it is inferred that the potential barrier for non-radiative relaxation is five times larger in CsCaBr₃ compared to CsCaCl₃. This explains the fact that emission is still observable in the bromide host at room temperature.

While earlier studies have discussed such individual factors as motivation, retention, and productivity as they relate to effective and productive sales force management, organizational factors, such as organizational development interventions, are also critical in developing salespeople and identifying their value, and have not been sufficiently studied. In response to the research gap, this study presents a salesperson lifecycle management model for identifying and optimizing salespersons’ value using effective and productive organizational development interventions. Such organizational development interventions should be proven valid for recognizing the proper alignment of people strategies with organizational goals. Surprisingly, this important aspect of sales management has not gained serious attention thus far. To fill the research gap, this study develops a quantitative basis that measures salesperson value and salesperson lifetime value for identifying an optimal organizational development intervention decision. To address the research objective, this study conducts a simulation with four different organizational development investment strategies and, under each strategy, three different sales performance types. This study also empirically tests the quantitative basis developed in the study two with an actual salesperson performance data from one of global consumer financing company and finds that sales organizations can utilize the quantitative basis for effective and productive organizational development intervention strategies.

While earlier studies have discussed such individual factors as motivation, retention, and productivity as they relate to effective and productive sales force management, organizational factors, such as organizational development interventions, are also critical in developing salespeople and identifying their value, and have not been sufficiently studied. In response to the research gap, this study presents a salesperson lifecycle management model for identifying and optimizing salespersons’ value using effective and productive organizational development interventions. Such organizational development interventions should be proven valid for recognizing the proper alignment of people strategies with organizational goals. Surprisingly, this important aspect of sales management has not gained serious attention thus far. To fill the research gap, this study develops a quantitative basis that measures salesperson value and salesperson lifetime value for identifying an optimal organizational development intervention decision. To address the research objective, this study conducts a simulation with four different organizational development investment strategies and, under each strategy, three different sales performance types. This study also empirically tests the quantitative basis developed in the study two with an actual salesperson performance data from one of global consumer financing company and finds that sales organizations can utilize the quantitative basis for effective and productive organizational development intervention strategies.

Many biosurfactants show antimicrobial activity and some are found to be superior for isolating membrane proteins. This study was aimed towards a general understanding of the interactions of biosurfactants with lipid membranes on a molecular level. To this end, a new, fluorescence lifetime-based membrane leakage assay has been established that does not only quantify membrane permeabilization more precisely but reveals also the leakage mechanism. This mechanism, referred to as graded or all-or-none leakage, is crucial for interpreting potential biological activities and modes of action. Lipopeptides of the surfactin, fengycin, and iturin families as produced by Bacillus subtilis were studied along with synthetic surfactants. Their membrane permeabilizing activity and selectivity mirrored, to some extent, the active concentrations and fungicidal selectivity of the compounds in vivo. Furthermore, the effects of co-surfactants and co-solvents (glycerol, urea, DMSO) have been investigated to better understand and predict means of improving the performance of fungicidal products as well as conditions for membrane protein solubilization.