This document presents the Centralized Energy Management System (CEMS), a dynamic fault-tolerant reclustering protocol for wireless sensor networks. CEMS reconfigures a homogeneous network both periodically and in response to critical events (e.g. cluster head death). A global TDMA schedule prevents costly retransmissions due to collision, and a genetic algorithm running on the base station computes cluster assignments in concert with a head selection algorithm. CEMS' performance is compared to the LEACH-C protocol in both normal and failure-prone conditions, with an emphasis on each protocol's ability to recover from unexpected loss of cluster heads.

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L’objectif de cette thèse est de définir des biomarqueurs relatifs à l’immunothérapie allergénique (ITA). Il peut s’agir de biomarqueurs prédictifs d’une réponse au traitement qui vont permettre aux cliniciens d’adapter les schémas thérapeutiques ou de biomarqueurs d’efficacité facilitant le suivi clinique des patients au cours du traitement. La stratégie de recherche est basée sur une hypothèse qui consiste à dire que les cellules dendritiques (DCs) sont impliquées dans le succès de l’immunothérapie. En particulier, nous supposons que le traitement induit une baisse des DCs effectrices et une augmentation des DCs tolérogènes.Dans une première partie, un criblage de molécules biologiques et pharmacologiques a été entrepris sur les DCs dérivées des monocytes afin de générer in vitro des DCs effectrices de type DC1 etDC17 et des DCs régulatrices. Quatre molécules ont ainsi été identifiées pour leurs propriétés polarisantes. En particulier, les protéases d’Aspergillus oryzae se sont révélées être des inducteurs forts de tolérance. Le phénotype des DCs régulatrices obtenu a été étudié en détail ainsi que la polarisation et la fonctionnalité des lymphocytes T générés après cocultures.Dans une deuxième partie, deux approches de protéomique quantitative (la 2D-DIGE et la LCMS/MS sans marquage) ont été utilisées pour comparer les protéomes des DCs régulatrices et desDCs effectrices. Le différentiel d’expression des protéines les plus pertinentes a été validé au niveau transcriptionnel et protéique dans différents modèles. Le suivi des marqueurs dans des cellules du sang de patients traités ou non par ITA lors d’une étude clinique randomisée, contrôlée, en double aveugle, a permis de définir deux nouveaux biomarqueurs d’efficacité précoce de l’immunothérapie. Ces marqueurs pourront être suivis lors des traitements de désensibilisation pour distinguer les patients répondeurs des non-répondeurs. Par ailleurs, le suivi de ces biomarqueurs pourrait être essentiel dans d’autres pathologies comme les maladies auto-immunes ou encore la transplantation. / The aim of this thesis is to define biomarkers of allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT).These biomarkers can be predictive of a clinical response or could be efficacy biomarkersable to discriminate responders versus non responder patients. The research strategy is based on the following hypothesis: if immunotherapy works, effector DCs are decreased where as regulatory DCs are increased locally or in the peripheral blood.First, we screened several biological or pharmacological agents to identify effector orregulatory DCs polarization agents. Four distinct molecules lead to the generation of eitherDC1, DC17 or regulatory DCs. In particular, proteases from Aspergillus Oryzae were clearinducer of tolerogenic DCs. The phenotype of those cells and the CD4+ T cell polarization induced after coculture were characterized extensively.In a second part, two proteomic approaches were used to compare the whole cell proteome of generated DCs. Most pertinent markers of polarization were validated in several cellular models. Markers were also followed in a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled clinical trial testing the efficacy of grass pollen tablets. Two markers were up regulated in patients who responded to the treatment pointing to a potential role of these proteins as early efficacy biomarkers. These markers are of crucial interest in the follow up of patients after SIT and could also be used in other diseases like autoimmune diseases or transplantation.

The immune system relies on the collaboration of heterogeneous cell types to respond to infection, develop immunological memory, and to maintain immunological tolerance. In response to infection, naïve lymphocytes must divide and give rise to differentiated effector cells while also regenerating a population of memory cells that may respond more efficiently to future infection. It has been demonstrated in B cells and T cells that the generation of these cell types may be accomplished simultaneously through asymmetric cell division. The second chapter of this thesis focuses on what factors may drive the divergence of cell fates in asymmetric cell division of CD8+ T cells. We demonstrate unequal expression of transcription factor TCF1 between cytokinetic sibling cells, which may be driven by unequal transduction of nutrient-sensitive PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling. In chapter three, we extend our interrogation of asymmetric cell division in lymphocytes to the development of regulatory T cells, which are important for the maintenance of immunological self-tolerance. It has been shown that there is some overlap in the T cell receptor repertoires of Tregs and conventional CD4+ T cells. We propose that this overlap may be a result of an asymmetric cell division, giving rise to one Treg and one conventional CD4+ T cell. We demonstrate asymmetric Foxp3 expression between cytokinetic sibling cells found in the thymus as well as from an in vitro Treg induction model. We also show that in vitro upregulation of Foxp3, the major Treg-associated transcription factor, is inhibited by cell cycle inhibitors, further linking the act of cell fate divergence to a divisional event.

There is an increasing desire to deploy low-cost robotic systems in nuclear decommissioning environments. These environments include long-standing nuclear fuel storage ponds such as those at the Sellafield site in Cumbria, UK as well as areas affected by expulsion of radioactive material from sites such as the Fukushima accident in Japan 2011. An area of concern for the successful deployment of robotic platforms in a radioactive field is their radiation tolerance. It is necessary to understand how the low-cost components used within robotic platforms react to radiation exposure in a nuclear decommissioning environment. This thesis discusses the radiation tolerance of multiple commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components that are commonly used within a robotic platform up to an expected yearly total dose of 5 kGy(Si). It was found that COTS voltage regulators are susceptible to gamma exposure, however, development of a discrete voltage regulator showed an increased tolerance to radiation under certain load and temperature conditions. Inertial measurement units were also investigated and found to be susceptible to a total ionising dose.

Continued reduction in the size of a transistor has affected the reliability of pro- cessors built using them. This is primarily due to factors such as inaccuracies while manufacturing, as well as non-ideal operating conditions, causing transistors to slow down consistently, eventually leading to permanent breakdown and erroneous operation of the processor. Permanent transistor breakdown, or faults, can occur at any point in time in the processor's lifetime. Errors are the discrepancies in the output of faulty circuits. This dissertation shows that the components containing faults can continue operating if the errors caused by them are within certain bounds. Further, the lifetime of a processor can be increased by adding supportive structures that start working once the processor develops these hard errors. This dissertation has three major contributions, namely REPAIR, FaultSim and PreFix. REPAIR is a fault tolerant system with minimal changes to the processor design. It uses an external Instruction Re-execution Unit (IRU) to perform operations, which the faulty processor might have erroneously executed. Instructions that are found to use faulty hardware are then re-executed on the IRU. REPAIR shows that the performance overhead of such targeted re-execution is low for a limited number of faults. FaultSim is a fast fault-simulator capable of simulating large circuits at the transistor level. It is developed in this dissertation to understand the effect of faults on different circuits. It performs digital logic based simulations, trading off analogue accuracy with speed, while still being able to support most fault models. A 32-bit addition takes under 15 micro-seconds, while simulating more than 1500 transistors. It can also be integrated into an architectural simulator, which added a performance overhead of 10 to 26 percent to a simulation. The results obtained show that single faults cause an error in an adder in less than 10 percent of the inputs. PreFix brings together the fault models created using FaultSim and the design directions found using REPAIR. PreFix performs re-execution of instructions on a remote core, which pick up instructions to execute using a global instruction buffer. Error prediction and detection are used to reduce the number of re-executed instructions. PreFix has an area overhead of 3.5 percent in the setup used, and the performance overhead is within 5 percent of a fault-free case. This dissertation shows that faults in processors can be tolerated without explicitly switching off any component, and minimal redundancy is sufficient to achieve the same.

The task of obtaining and selecting plants which may not only survive under salty conditions, but grow and produce satisfactory yields is varied and complex. It is becoming necessary to select and breed crops for salt tolerance. Plants can be grown in artificially constructed salt basins to test their individual salt tolerance, but this takes time, at least one year. It would be desirable to develop a rapid test to determine the salt tolerance of a given plant. The use of a dye in conjunction with a series of salt solutions has been suggested for determining the salt tolerance of plants.

This paper analyzes how the Trump Administration’s zero-tolerance policy compares with the history of detention and immigration policy within the United States. President Trump believes there is a “border crisis,” wants to deter immigrants from coming to the U.S. and will “do whatever it takes to ensure border security” (Warner, 2018). A 7-year-old girl died in Customs and Border Patrol’s custody on December 7th, 2018. She suffered from dehydration and starvation (Valencia& Boyette 2018). This horrific event, and many other stories prompted me to do this research. In this thesis, I use qualitative and comparative methods of analysis by looking at the rate of immigration along the U.S. southern border under the Obama Administration and the Trump Administration. I unpack why detention is higher today than it was under Obama’s administration without a substantial spike in migration. I discuss how the human rights of these asylum seekers are being violated, in particular society’s most vulnerable social group: children. My thesis asks the question, how has the zero-tolerance policy of the Trump Administration resulted in human rights abuses? Using Foucault’s philosophy of prisons and punishment, this paper argues that the change in border policies since the Trump Administration’s zero-tolerance policy have led to clear human rights abuses, such as child separation, for the purpose of deterring other immigrants from coming to the United States.

Maternal responsiveness to infant needs is critical to child development. Few studies have attempted to identify basic processes that underlie responsiveness. Parenting theory suggests that distress tolerance (DT) may be important to understanding dysfunctional parenting. Distress tolerance refers to an individual’s ability to withstand subjective internal distress (e.g., uncomfortable thoughts, feelings). Despite its significance in the study of psychopathology, DT is not a well validated construct. Thus, the primary objectives of the present study were 1) to validate the construct of DT in a sample of perinatal women, and 2) to examine the concurrent and longitudinal associations between perinatal DT and maternal responsiveness. Eighty-six pregnant women in their third trimester and their respective informants completed an online survey of DT. At 4-months postpartum, a research team collected observational assessments of maternal responsiveness and a second assessment of self-reported DT. Factorial validity of DT was demonstrated through confirmatory factor analysis and suggested that DT is best represented as a multidimensional construct. Convergent validity of DT was demonstrated by small to moderate correlations (r’s = .16-.53) between self- and informant ratings of DT. Results of path analyses demonstrated a small association (r=.19) between prenatal DT and responsiveness; however, no association was found between postpartum DT and responsiveness. These findings suggest that targeting DT during pregnancy may improve outcomes for women and their infants. Distress tolerance skills are used in a number of empirically supported psychotherapies. Similarly, these skills could be incorporated into existing prenatal programs and parenting interventions to increase responsiveness and, ultimately, improve child outcomes.

In arid end semiarid areas in the Western United States, soluble salts tend to accumulate in the soil in amounts harmful to crop production. A considerable portion of this land cannot be reclaimed due to the poor quality of permeability of the soil o Therefore, the wise selection of crops that will produce satisfactory yields on these soils in necessary.