A WIoT is a wireless network of low-power sensing nodes placed on the human body. While operating, these networks routinely collect physiological signals to send to offsite medical professionals for review. In this manner, these networks support a concept known as pervasive healthcare in which patients can be continuously monitored and treated remotely. Given that these networks are used to guide medical treatment and depend on transmitting sensitive data, it is important to ensure that the communication channel remains secure. Symmetric pairwise cryptography is a traditional scheme that can be used to provide such security. The scheme functions by sharing a cryptographic key between a pair of sensors. Once shared, the key can then be used by both parties to encrypt and decrypt all future messages. To configure a WIoT to support the use of symmetric pairwise cryptography a key distribution protocol is required. Schemes for pre-deployment are often used to perform this distribution. These schemes usually require inserting key information into WIoT devices before they can be used in the network. Unfortunately, this need to manually configure WIoT devices can decrease their usability. In this thesis we propose and evaluate an alternative approach to key distribution that uses physiological signals derived from accelerometer and gyroscope sensors. The evaluation of our approach indicates that more study is required to determine techniques that will enable ballistocardiography-derived physiological signals to provide secure key distribution.

Os modelos autoregressivos simétricos são modelos de regressão em que os erros são correlacionados -- AR(1) -- e pertencem à classe de distribuições simétricas. O objetivo deste trabalho é discutir métodos de diagnóstico de influência para esses modelos. Para ilustrar a metodologia, são apresentados exemplos do modelo de precificação de ativos (CAPM). / The symmetric autoregressive models are regression models in which the errors are correlated and belong to the class of symmetrical distributions. The aim of this work is to discuss influence diagnostic methods for those models. To illustrate the methodology, examples of Capital Asset Pricing Models (CAPM) are presented.

The main purpose of this thesis is to calculate the integral cohomology ring of the symmetric square of quaternionic projective space, which has been an open problem since computations with symmetric squares were first proposed in the 1930's. The geometry of this particular case forms an essential part of the thesis, and unexpected results concerning two universal Pin(4) bundles are also included. The cohomological computations involve a commutative ladder of long exact sequences, which arise by decomposing the symmetric square and the corresponding Borel space in compatible ways. The geometry and the cohomology of the configuration space of unordered pairs of distinct points in quaternionic projective space, and of the Thom space MPin(4), also feature, and seem to be of independent interest.

Cordeiro e Andrade (2009) incorporam a ideia de variável resposta transformada ao modelo GARMA, autorregressivo e de médias móveis generalizado, introduzido por Benjamin et al. (2003), desenvolvendo assim, o modelo TGARMA, autorregressivo e de médias móveis generalizado transformado. O objetivo do presente trabalho é desenvolver o modelo TGARMA introduzido por Cordeiro e Andrade (2009) para distribuições condicionais simétricas contínuas com e sem heteroscedasticidade e uma possível função não linear para os parâmetros de regressão. Ao longo desta tese derivamos um processo iterativo para estimar os parâmetros desses modelos por máxima verossimilhança. Nós produzimos uma fórmula simples para estimar o parâmetro que define a transformação da variável resposta para uma subclasse de modelos. Fornecemos os momentos para a variável dependente original. Para o modelo homoscedástico, discutimos inferência de alguns parâmetros, propomos uma análise de diagnóstico e a definição de um resíduo padronizado. Finalmente, para ilustrar a teoria desenvolvida, tanto no caso homoscedástico quanto no caso heteroscedástico, utilizamos conjuntos de dados reais e avaliamos os resultados desenvolvidos por meio de estudos de simulação. / Cordeiro and Andrade (2009) incorporate the idea of transforming the response variable to the GARMA model, generalized autoregressive moving average, introduced by Benjamin et al. (2003), thus developing the TGARMA model, transformed generalized autoregressive moving average. The goal of this thesis is to develop the TGARMA model introduced by Cordeiro and Andrade (2009) for symmetric continuous conditional distributions and a possible non-linear structure for the mean that enables the fitting of a wide range of models to several data types. When the assumption of homoscedasticity is not verified, heteroscedastic models are proposed. Throughout this thesis, we derive an iterative process for fitting the parameters of the models by maximum likelihood. We produce a simple formula to estimate the parameter which defines the transformation of the response variable and the moments of the original dependent variable which generalize previous published results. For the homoscedastic model, we discuss inference, we propose a diagnostic analysis and define a standardized residuals. Finally, to illustrate the theory developed, we use real data sets and we evaluate the results developed through simulations studies.

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have grown in popularity beyond the original video game enthusiast audience. They have been embraced by the high-performance computing community due to their high computational throughput, low cost, low energy demands, wide availability, and ability to dramatically improve application performance. In addition, as hybrid computing continues into mainstream applications, the use of GPUs will continue to grow. However, due to architectural difference between the CPU and GPU, adapting CPU-based scientific computing applications to fully exploit the potential speedup that GPUs offer is a non-trivial task. Algorithms must be designed with the architecture benefits and limitations in mind in order to unlock the full performance gains afforded by the use GPU. In this work, we develop fast GPU methods to improve the performance of two important components in computational lung modeling - image registration and particle tracking. We first propose a novel method for multi-level mass-preserving deformable image registration. The strength of this method is that it allows for flexibility of choice for the similarity criteria to be used by the registration method, making possible the implementation of simple and complex similarity measures on the GPU with excellent performance results. The method is tested using three similarity criteria for registering two CT lung datasets - the commonly used sum of squared intensity differences (SSD), the sum of squared tissue value differences (SSTVD), and a symmetric version of SSTVD currently being developed by our research group. The GPU method is validated against a previously validated single-threaded CPU counterpart using six healthy human subjects, and demonstrated strong agreement of results. Separately, three GPU methods were developed for tracking particle trajectories and deposition efficiencies in the human airway tree, including a multiple-GPU method. Though parallelization was straightforward, the complex geometry of the lungs and use of an unstructured mesh provided challenges that were addressed by the GPU methods. The results of the GPU methods were tested for various numbers of particles and compared to a previously validated single-threaded CPU version and demonstrated dramatic speedup over the single-threaded CPU version and 12-threaded CPU versions.

The aim of this thesis is to generate original symmetric presentations for finite non-abelian simple groups. We will discuss many permutation progenitors, including but not limited to 2*14 : D28, 2∗9 : 3•(32), 3∗9 : 3•(32), 2∗21 : (7X3) : 2 as well as monomial progenitors, including 7∗5 :m A5, 3∗5 :m S5. We have included their homomorphic images which include the Mathieu group M12, 2•J2, 2XS(4, 5), as well as, many PGL′s, PSL′s and alternating groups. We will give proofs of the isomorphism types of each progenitor, either by hand using double coset enumeration or computer based using MAGMA. We have also constructed Cayley graphs of the following groups, 25 : S5 over 2∗5 : S5, PSL(2, 8) over 2∗7 : D14, M12 over a maximal subgroup, 2XS5. We have developed a lemma using relations to factor permutation progenitors of the form m∗n : N to give an isomorphism of mn : N . Motivated by Robert T. Curtis’ research, we will present a program using MAGMA that, when given a target finite non-abelian simple group, the program will generate possible control groups to write progenitors that will give the given finite non-abelian simple group. Iwasawa’s lemma is also discussed and used to prove PSL(2, 8) and M12 to be simple groups.

I will be going over writing representations of both permutation and monomial progenitors, which include 2^{*4} : D_4, 2^(*7) :L_2 (7) as permutation progenitors, and monomial progenitors 7^(*2) :_m S_3 \times 2, 11^{*2} :_m (5:2)^{*}5, 11^{*3} :_m (25:3), 11^{*4} :_m (4 : 5)^{*}5. Also, the images of these different progenitors at both lower and higher fields and orders. \\ We will also do the double coset enumeration of S5 over D6, S6 over 5 : 4, A_5 x A_5 over (5:2)^{*}5, and go on to also do the double coset enumeration over maximal subgroups for larger constructions. We will also do the construction of sporadic group M22 over maximal subgroup A7, and also J1 with the monomial representation 7^(*2) :_m S_3 \times 2 over maximal subgroup PSL(2,11). We will also look at different extension problems of composition factors of different groups, and determine the isomorphism types of each extension.

Let G be an undirected graph on n vertices and let S(G) be the class of all real-valued symmetric n × n matrices whose nonzero off-diagonal entries occur in exactly the positions corresponding to the edges of G. Let V = {1, 2, . . . , n} be the vertex set of G. A scheme on G is a function f : V → {0, 1}. Given a scheme f on G, there is an associated class of matrices Sf (G) = {A ∈ S(G)|aii = 0 if and only if f(i) = 0}. A scheme f is said to be constructible if there exists a matrix A ∈ Sf (G) with rank A = min{rank M|M ∈ S(G)}. We explore properties of constructible schemes and give a complete classification of which schemes are constructible for paths and cycles. We also consider schemes on complete graphs and show the existence of a graph for which every possible scheme is constructible.

The results of this thesis are motivated by the investigation of abstract Cauchy problems. Our primary contribution is encapsulated in two new theorems. The first main theorem is a generalisation of a result of E. M. Stein. In particular, we show that every symmetric diffusion semigroup acting on a complex-valued Lebesgue space has a tensor product extension to a UMD-valued Lebesgue space that can be continued analytically to sectors of the complex plane. Moreover, this analytic continuation exhibits pointwise convergence almost everywhere. Both conclusions hold provided that the UMD space satisfies a geometric condition that is weak enough to include many classical spaces. The theorem is proved by showing that every symmetric diffusion semigroup is dominated by a positive symmetric diffusion semigoup. This allows us to obtain (a) the existence of the semigroup's tensor extension, (b) a vector-valued version of the Hopf--Dunford--Schwartz ergodic theorem and (c) an holomorphic functional calculus for the extension's generator. The ergodic theorem is used to prove a vector-valued version of a maximal theorem by Stein, which, when combined with the functional calculus, proves the pointwise convergence theorem. The second part of the thesis proves the existence of abstract Strichartz estimates for any evolution family of operators that satisfies an abstract energy and dispersive estimate. Some of these Strichartz estimates were already announced, without proof, by M. Keel and T. Tao. Those estimates which are not included in their result are new, and are an abstract extension of inhomogeneous estimates recently obtained by D. Foschi. When applied to physical problems, our abstract estimates give new inhomogeneous Strichartz estimates for the wave equation, extend the range of inhomogeneous estimates obtained by M. Nakamura and T. Ozawa for a class of Klein--Gordon equations, and recover the inhomogeneous estimates for the Schr??dinger equation obtained independently by Foschi and M. Vilela. These abstract estimates are applicable to a range of other problems, such as the Schr??dinger equation with a certain class of potentials.

<p>In case of the PDE's the concept of solving by separation of variables</p><p>has a well defined meaning. One seeks a solution in a form of a</p><p>product or sum and tries to build the general solution out of these</p><p>particular solutions. There are also known systems of second order</p><p>ODE's describing potential motions and certain rigid bodies that are</p><p>considered to be separable. However, in those cases, the concept of</p><p>separation of variables is more elusive; no general definition is</p><p>given.</p><p>In this thesis we study how these systems of equations separate and find that their separation usually can be reduced to sequential separation of single first order ODE´s. However, it appears that other mechanisms of separability are possible.</p>