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<p>In this thesis I present three publications about the use of<br />valence bonds to gain information about quantum spin systems.<br />Valence bonds are an essential ingredient of low energy states present<br />in many compounds.<br /><br />The first part of this thesis is dedicated to<br />two studies of the antiferromagnetic J₁-J₂ chain with<br />S=1/2. We show how automated variational calculations based on<br />valence bond states can be performed close to the Majumdar-Ghosh point<br />(MG-point). At this point, the groundstate is a product state of<br />dimers (valence bonds between nearest neighbours). In the dimerized<br />region surrounding the MG-point, we find such variational computations<br />to be reliable.<br /><br />The first publication is about<br />the entanglement properties of an impurity attached to the chain. We show<br />how to use the variational method to calculate the negativity, an<br />entanglement measure between the impurity and a distant part of the<br />chain. We find that increasing the impurity coupling and a<br />minute explicit dimerization, suppress the long-ranged entanglement<br />present in the system for small impurity coupling at the MG-point. <br /><br />The second publication is about a<br />transition from commensurate to incommensurate behaviour and how its<br />characteristics depend on the parity of the length of the chain. The<br />variational technique is used in a parameter regime inaccessible to<br />DMRG. We find that in odd chains, unlike in even chains, a very<br />intricate and interesting pattern of level crossings can be observed. <br /><br />The publication of the second part is about novel worm algorithms for<br />a popular quantum Monte Carlo method called valence bond quantum Monte<br />Carlo (VBQMC). The algorithms are based on the notion of a worm<br />moving through a decision tree. VBQMC is entirely formulated in<br />terms of valence bonds. In this thesis, I explain how the approach<br />of VBQMC can be translated to the S_z-basis. The algorithms explained<br />in the publication can be applied to this S_z-method.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Ancylostoma caninum, un nématode parasite, présente une prévalence élevée chez les chiens dans le monde. L'ankylostomiase canine peut être diagnostiquée à l'aide de tests coprologiques qui détectent les œufs ressemblant à des ankylostomes, ainsi que la présence de symptômes tels que l'anémie et les selles noires. Ces dernières années, le nombre de rapports établissant une résistance aux anthelminthiques chez A. caninum aux États-Unis d’Amérique a considérablement augmenté. Cette tendance émergente a incité notre enquête sur la possibilité qu’un scénario similaire se produise au Canada. L'objectif de cette étude était d'étudier la survenue d'une infection à A. caninum chez un groupe de chiens de refuge au Québec ayant préalablement reçu un traitement anthelminthique. De plus, l'étude visait à évaluer l'établissement potentiel d'une résistance anthelminthique contre ce parasite en employant des approches modifiées pour détecter les infections à faible prévalence. La procédure d'examen a été réalisée dans deux groupes distincts : un groupe local et un groupe composé de trois chiens des États-Unis d'Amérique (groupe USA). Le test coprologique a été réalisé avant et après un traitement anthelminthique incluant les benzimidazoles. De plus, la présence d'A. caninum a été confirmée par une amplification PCR précise du gène ITS-2. Le groupe local a montré un effet thérapeutique significatif après avoir reçu du fenbendazole. L'identification d'une mutation hétérozygote au niveau du codon 167 du gène de l'isotype 1 de la β-tubuline dans le groupe américain a été réalisée par analyse moléculaire. Ainsi, en évaluant les résultats thérapeutiques du fenbendazole, nous pouvons confirmer son efficacité variable comme anthelminthique contre A. caninum. De plus, des preuves moléculaires indiquent la présence d'isolats résistants dans le pays, ce qui pourrait potentiellement constituer un défi important pour contrôler les nématodes gastro-intestinaux chez les animaux de compagnie / Ancylostoma caninum, a parasitic nematode, exhibits a high prevalence in dogs globally. Canine ancylostomiasis can be diagnosed using coprological tests that detect hookworm-like eggs, as well as the presence of symptoms such as anaemia and dark stool. In recent years, there has been a significant rise in the number of reports establishing anthelmintic resistance in A. caninum within the United States of America. This emerging trend has prompted our investigation on the possibility of a similar scenario occurring in Canada. The objective of this study was to investigate the occurrence of A. caninum infection in a group of shelter dogs in Quebec who had previously received anthelmintic treatment. Additionally, the study aimed to assess the potential establishment of anthelmintic resistance against this parasite by employing modified approaches to detect infections with a low prevalence. The examination procedure was carried out in two distinct groups: a native group and a group consisting of three dogs from the United States of America (USA group). The coprological test was undertaken both prior to and following anthelmintic treatment, which included the benzimidazoles. Moreover, A. caninum presence was confirmed via precise PCR amplification of the ITS-2 gene. The native group showed a significant treatment effect after receiving fenbendazole. The identification of a heterozygous mutation at codon 167 on the β-tubulin isotype-1 gene in the USA group was achieved through molecular analysis. Thus, by assessing the therapeutic outcomes of fenbendazole, we can confirm its varying effectiveness as an anthelmintic against A. caninum. Additionally, molecular evidence indicates the presence of resistant isolates in the country, which could potentially pose a significant challenge for controlling gastrointestinal nematodes in companion animals.

Zeitreisen und Reisen mit Überlichtgeschwindigkeit sind zwei Menschheitsträume; sie beflügeln die Fantasie und bieten Stoff für skurrile Geschichten. Eine Arbeit zum Thema „Zeitreisen und Reisen mit Überlichtgeschwindigkeit“ zwingt zu einer Auseinandersetzung mit dem Begriff der „Zeit“. Die Vielschichtigkeit und der antinomische Charakter dieses Begriffes machen es schwer, „Zeit“ genauer zu fassen. Zeit tritt uns entgegen als Form der Wahrnehmung in ihrer zutiefst subjektiven Seite, als biologischer Rhythmus, als soziales Phänomen im Sinne einer kollektiven Zeitbestimmung, aber eben auch als physikalischer Parameter. Einsteins Relativitätstheorie revolutioniert unsere Vorstellungen von Raum und Zeit, indem sie sich vom newton-mechanischen Konzept des absoluten Raumes und der absoluten Zeit löst. Sie macht aber das, was bei Wells zehn Jahre vorher noch reine Fiktion war, zu einem für die Physik diskussionswürdigen Thema, nämlich das „Problem der Zeitreisen“. Einsteins Spezielle Relativitätstheorie (1905) erlaubt durch den von ihr vorhergesagten Effekt der Zeitdilatation „Reisen in die Zukunft“, und die Einstein’sche Gravitationstheorie lässt geschlossene zeitartige Linien als Lösungen ihrer Gleichungen zu (z. B. Gödel-Kosmos, Anti-de-Sitter-Kosmos). Allerdings würde eine Reise auf einer Zeitschleife sofort ein ganzes Bündel von Paradoxien (z. B. Großvater-Paradoxon, Informationsparadoxon) und semantischen Inkonsistenzen nach sich ziehen. Obwohl erstaunlicherweise die fundamentalen Gesetze der Physik (abgesehen von extrem seltenen und makroskopisch nicht in Erscheinung tretenden quantenmechanischen Effekten) bei einer Zeitumkehr nicht verletzt würden, scheint es in der Natur doch ein grundsätzliches Verbot von Vergangenheitsreisen zu geben. Der Physiker Dieter Zeh, dessen Position im Schlusskapitel der Arbeit näher beleuchtet wird, vertritt die Auffassung, dass die Science-Fiction-Literatur zum Thema „Zeitreisen“ überwiegend auf einfachen begrifflichen Fehlern beruhe. Die in Anlehnung an die Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie konstruierten Vorgänge seien bestenfalls genauso „theoretisch möglich“ wie ein Gas, das sich von selbst in einer Ecke des Gefäßes versammelt. Die vorliegende Arbeit erörtert Ansätze für „Zeitmaschinen“ und superluminale Prozesse, die in Einklang mit der modernen Physik stehen. Besprochen werden u. a. die Tachyonen-Hypothese, Tiplers rotierender Zylinder, der Gödel-Kosmos, der Anti-de-Sitter-Kosmos, die sogenannten „Wurmlöcher“ und die Alcubierre-Metrik. Zugleich sollen Ansätze vorgestellt werden (z. B. Eternalismus, Viele-Welten-Modell, Prinzip der konsistenten Geschichte), die Lösungsversuche für die Paradoxien von Vergangenheitsreisen bieten. Um die Reisen in die Vergangenheit und Reisen mit Überlichtgeschwindigkeit scheint es zu stehen wie mit einer Anfrage an Radio Jerewan; die Antwort lautet stets: „Im Prinzip ja, aber …“ Doch die Faszination dieser Idee wird weiterhin Stoff für die „Fiction“ liefern. / Time travel and superluminal travel are two of mankind's dreams. They inspire our imagination and provide material for bizarre stories. A work on the subject of time travel and superluminal travel forces us to re-examine our concept of "time". The complexity and the contradictory nature this subject makes it difficult to be more precise about "time". On its deepest subjective side, time is a means of perception, a biological rhythm, a social phenomenon in terms of our collective understanding of time. But it is also a physical parameter. Einstein's Theory of Relativity revolutionised our idea of space and time by freeing us from the Newtonian concept of absolute space and absolute time. The "problem of time travel", a subject that Wells wrote about just ten years before as mere fiction, was now a discussion worthy of physics. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (1905), by predicting the effects of time dilation, allowed for "travels into the future" and Einstein's Theory of Gravity used closed time-like lines for solutions to calculations about time travel (for example, the Gödel Universe and the Anti-de Sitter Universe). However, a trip to a time warp would immediately involve a whole set of paradoxes (for example, the grandfather paradox and the information paradox) and semantic inconsistencies. Surprisingly, the fundamental laws of physics (apart from extremely rare and non-emergent macroscopic quantum mechanical effects) are not violated by the concept of time reversal. Yet, in nature, there still seems to be a fundamental prohibition against time travel to the past. Physicist Dieter Zeh, whose position is more closely presented in the final chapter of this work, supports the view that science fiction literature on the subject of "time travel" is overwhelmingly based on simple conceptual errors. The processes used in this literature, which are based on the General Theory of Relativity, at best, are just as "theoretically possible" as a gas which gathers itself into the corner of a container. This work discusses approaches for "time machines" and superluminal travel which are consistent with modern physics. Some of the discussions that will be presented are the tachyon hypothesis, Tipler's rotating cylinder, the Gödel Universe, the Anti-de Sitter Universe, so-called "wormholes" and the Alcubierre-metric. At the same time, approaches will be presented (for example, Eternalism, the Many-Worlds Interpretation and the Consistent Histories Approach) that will provide attempts to find a solution for paradoxes regarding time travel to the past. Questions about time travel to the past and superluminal travel are like the questions asked on Radio Yerevan. The answer is always, "In principle yes, but…" But the fascination about time travel will continue to provide material for "fiction".

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Inter-domain routing connects individual pieces of Internet topology, creating an integral, global data delivery infrastructure. Currently, this critical function is performed by the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) version 4 [RFC1771]. Like all routing protocols, BGP is vulnerable to instabilities that reduce its effectiveness. Among the causes of these instabilities are those which are maliciously induced. Although there are other causes, e.g., natural events and network anomalies, this thesis will focus exclusively on maliciously induced instabilities. Most current models that attempt to predict a BGP routing instability confine their focus to either macro- or micro-level metrics, but not to both. The inherent limitations of each of these forms of metric gives rise to an excessive rate of spurious alerts, both false positives and false negatives. It is the original intent of this thesis to develop an improved BGP instability prediction model by statistically combining BGP instability metrics with user level performance metrics. The motivation for such a model is twofold. 1) To provide sufficient prior warning of impending failure to facilitate proactive protection measures. 2) To improve warning reliability beyond existing models, by demonstrably reducing both false positives and false negatives. However, our analysis of actual network trace data shows that a widely used BGP instability metric, the total number of update messages received in a time period, is not a good indicator of future user level performance. / Civilian, Department of Defense

This thesis is focussed on the investigation of matrices for matrix-assisted diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (MAD). Diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) is a family of experiments where the resonances in the chemical shift dimension are further dispersed in an extra dimension according to diffusion coefficient. A typical DOSY spectrum shows one single diffusion coefficient for all the resonances coming from one single species. However, If two or more resonances overlap, the diffusion resolution of the DOSY spectrum is compromised and a spurious diffusion coefficient results, intermediate between the species. In case of signal overlap, the use of more advanced processing methods aids to separate two analytes that differ by at least 30% in diffusion coefficient. In practice, many mixtures contain species of similar diffusion coefficients whose resonances overlap in the chemical shift dimension. The addition of co-solutes can modify the chemical environment (matrix), with which different analytes interact to different extents, and enhance the diffusion resolution of DOSY. However, the addition of co-solutes can risk the benefits of DOSY by increasing the probability of signal overlap. Signal overlap in MAD is avoided by using a 1H NMR-invisible surfactant such as sodium perfluorooctanoate (NaPFO), which has replaced each proton by a fluorine atom. PFO micelles are a tunable matrix which allows the separation of analytes via coulombic interactions by adjusting the pH. Differences in diffusion coefficient in NaPFO solution can be analysed using a modified Lindman's law to model the diffusion coefficient as a function of pH. The model rationalises the binding constants of analytes to PFO micelles with good accuracy, subject to the spectral data quality. Another alternative to resolve diffusion coefficients using the invisible MAD approach is by means of a commercially available alkyl surfactant like cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). CTAB in high ionic strength solution forms worm-like micelles whose resonances can be filtered out from the final DOSY spectrum. CTAB worm-like micelles have short transverse relaxation times compared to all of the analytes in the mixture. If a transverse relaxation filter is positioned at the beginning of a standard DOSY pulse sequence, as in PROJECT-Oneshot, the strong CTAB signals vanish and leave behind only the analyte resonances and hence avoid signal overlap. Finally, the use of bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a potential invisible matrix, using a similar approach to CTAB worm-like micelles is investigated, using a relaxation-weighted DOSY pulse sequence to suppress most of the BSA background signal (at a cost in analyte signal to noise ratio). An alternative to suppress most of the BSA background and preserve most of the analyte signal is by means of mild transverse relaxation filtration and spectral editing to obtain an edited DOSY spectrum that shows only the analyte signals. Nonetheless, it is a shame that useful MAD results can only be obtained under a narrow set of conditions: i) different mole ratios BSA: analyte to aid diffusion resolution, ii) mild T2 filtration to improve analyte signal to noise ratio and iii) spectral editing to remove residual BSA background.

Les populations humaines sont exposées à de très nombreux polluants. Il apparaît donc essentiel d'évaluer la toxicité de ces molécules au sein des compartiments récepteurs. En milieu urbain, de nombreux polluants (principalement hydrocarbures et métaux lourds) s'accumulent sur les surfaces imperméables (routes, toitures, parkings, bâtiments…). Ils sont remis en suspension et drainés par les eaux de pluie jusque dans les bassins d'infiltration. Ces structures ont été construites afin de réinfiltrer les eaux de ruissellement dans les nappes phréatiques sous-jacentes et de les détoxifier. Ces molécules toxiques sont capturées et accumulées au niveau des sédiments fins constitutifs des bassins, où elles peuvent atteindre des concentrations très élevées. Malgré cette forte contrainte, quelques rares invertébrés vivent dans les sédiments pollués des bassins d'infiltration, ce qui sous-entend des adaptations métaboliques, physiologiques et/ou comportementales spécifiques. L'un des plus répandus est l'oligochète aquatique Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri. Ce ver tubificidé construit des galeries (activité de bioturbation) dans les sédiments où il favorise l'activité des microorganismes sur la minéralisation de la matière organique et le recyclage des nutriments. Cette espèce présente donc un rôle essentiel dans le fonctionnement des bassins d'infiltration, et donc sur la qualité de l'eau des nappes phréatiques. Elle est aujourd'hui considérée à la fois comme une espèce sentinelle de l'état de santé de son biotope et comme un ingénieur des écosystèmes. Le premier objectif de ce travail de thèse a été de mettre en évidence les réponses écophysiologiques permettant à L. hoffmeisteri de survivre dans ces biotopes particulièrement anthropisés. Pour cela, nous avons exposé/élevé cet organisme pendant 1, 3 ou 6 mois dans des sédiments pollués issus de 3 bassins d'infiltration et un sédiment issu d'un milieu non urbanisé (sédiment témoin très peu pollué), en laboratoire. Nous avons ensuite analysé sur ce ver la survie, la consommation d'oxygène, l'état des réserves énergétiques, les concentrations de métaux lourds bioaccumulés, le stress oxydant engendré par les polluants (niveau de peroxydation lipidique) et enfin les mécanismes de protection associés (activités des principales enzymes antioxydantes). Le deuxième objectif a été de déterminer l'impact des polluants urbains sur les métabolismes aérobie et anaérobie chez L. hoffmeisteri. Pour cela, nous avons mesuré différents paramètres témoignant de l'activité mitochondriale (activités de la chaîne respiratoire mitochondriale et de l'ATP synthétase) ainsi que les concentrations des principaux produits terminaux du métabolisme anaérobie chez des vers exposés aux mêmes sédiments (4) pollués ou témoin. Cette étude a démontré que les contaminants induisent une transition partielle du métabolisme aérobie vers les voies anaérobies suite à un dysfonctionnement mitochondrial, et a aussi révélé que certains produits terminaux du métabolisme anaérobie (succinate et propionate) constituent des marqueurs pertinents de la pollution urbaine. Enfin, le troisième objectif de cette thèse a été d'évaluer l'impact d'une pollution d'origine anthropique sur l'activité d'ingénierie de L. hoffmeisteri (i.e. sur son rôle dans le fonctionnement des bassins d'infiltration). Pour cela, nous avons mesuré pendant 1 mois le comportement de fouissage de ce ver bioturbateur par tomographie aux rayons X dans des microcosmes contenant des sédiments pollués ou non. De plus, des mesures régulières des flux de nutriments, d'oxygène dissous, de CO2 et de CH4 au cours de l'expérimentation ont permis d'évaluer l'influence du taux de contamination sur le recyclage des nutriments dans nos systèmes expérimentaux. Ces mesures ont été effectuées à la fois dans des systèmes colonisés par L. hoffmeisteri, mais aussi dans des systèmes sans faune, afin de quantifier précisément le rôle de ces organismes ingénieurs / Human populations are exposed to numerous pollutants. It is now necessary to evaluate the toxicity of urban contaminants in receptor ecosystems. In anthropized areas, many pollutants (mainly hydrocarbons and heavy metals) accumulate on the impervious surfaces (roads, parks, buildings, rooftops…). During a rainfall event, these compounds are re-suspended and drained up to stormwater infiltration basins. These structures were built to detoxify and to infiltrate runoff water to underlying groundwater. Toxic compounds are captured and accumulated in the fine sediment layer of the infiltration basins, where their concentrations may achieve important concentrations. Despite this harsh constraint, a few invertebrates inhabit stormwater basin sediments and have developed specific metabolic, physiological and/or behavioural adaptations. One of the most spread is the oligochaeta Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri. This tubificid worm burrows galleries (bioturbation activity) in sediments where it enhances the organic matter mineralization and the nutrients recycling. This species has an essential role in the infiltration basin functioning and on groundwater quality. L. hoffmeisteri is considered both as a sentinel species of ecosystem health and an engineer species. The first aim of this work was to highlight the ecophysiological responses that allow L. hoffmeisteri to survive in these harsh conditions. We exposed this organism during 1, 3 or 6 months to polluted sediments (from 3 infiltration basins), under laboratory conditions. Then, we measured the survival, the oxygen consumption, the energy body stores, the oxidative stress induced by urban pollutants (through the lipid peroxidation level), and the antioxidant defence mechanisms (the activity of the antioxidant enzymes) in L. hoffmeisteri. The same analyses were realized on worms incubated 1 to 6 months in a sediment from a non-urbanized environment (considered as a low-polluted/control sediment). The second objective of the present work was to determine the impact of urban pollutants on aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms in L. hoffmeisteri. We measured several mitochondrial parameters (the mitochondrial respiratory chain activity and the ATP production rate) and anaerobic end product concentrations in worms exposed to the 4 same sediments (polluted or not). This study demonstrated that urban pollutants induced a shift from aerobic to the anaerobic metabolism, linked to a mitochondrial dysfunctioning. Moreover, this study also showed that two anaerobic end products (succinate and propionate) constitute relevant biomarkers of urban pollution. Lastly, the third goal of this thesis was to evaluate the impact of an anthropic pollution on the engineering activity of L. hoffmeisteri (i.e. its role in the infiltration basin functioning). To this end, we measured during 1 month the burrowing activity of this tubificid worm using X-ray tomography, in microcosms containing slightly or highly polluted sediments. We measured nutrients fluxes, dissolved oxygen, CO2 and CH4 concentrations during the experiment to determine the influence of the pollution rate on nutrients recycling. These measurements were also realized in microcosms with or without worms, to quantify the functional role of engineer organisms

The main objective of this study is to examine the potential contribution of households’ involvement in mopane worm activities (harvesting, commercialisation and consumption) to households’ food security in the Mopani District of the Limpopo Province. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire from a stratified sample of 120 households, 60 of which are mopane worm harvesters. The Binary Logit Model was used to determine households’ socio-economic factors affecting participation in mopane worm harvesting. The results revealed that gender of the household head, age of the respondent, households’ size and the level of income per month increases the probability of households participating in mopane worm harvesting whilst distance to the market and food expenditure as well as religion (belonging to the Zion Christian Church) decreased the probability of being mopane worm harvester. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) model was used to identify households’ socio-economic factors that determine the rate of commercialisation of mopane worms within harvesting households. 53 percent of the households commercialized their harvest. The model identified that gender, harvesting experience and income from mopane worm sales are the main factors determining commercialisation within harvesting households. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) was used to determine household food security status. The result revealed that about 20 percent of the harvesters were food secure, while 80 percent where food insecure. In addition, about 12 percent of the non-harvesters were food secured. An OLS model was also used to examine the impact of mopane worms in the food security status of the households in the Limpopo Province. The results revealed that age, education level of a household head, level of income, income from mopane worm sales and frequency of consuming mopane worm/day improve the food security status of households whilst households’ size and the distance to the market worsens the food security status of the households. The study found that about 48 to 60 percent of the households to be adopting less pervasive strategies like asking neighbours/family relatives for help, borrowing money for food and selling mopane worms for cash to protect their food consumption and over 70 percent adopted strategies like reducing food intake, portion size and eating less preferred food were adopted to modify their food consumption. The findings indicated that policy priorities should be focused on the promotion of harvesters associations for collective marketing and creating an enabling environment for sustainable harvesting and commercialisation. / M. Sc. Agric. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2013.

Network programming is one of the most important applications in Wireless Sensor Networks as It provides an efficient way to update program Images running on sensor nodes without physical access to them. Securing these updates, however, remains a challenging and important issue, given the open deployment environment of sensor nodes. Though several security schemes have been proposed to impose the authenticity and Integrity protection on network programming applications, they are either energy Inefficient as they tend to use digital signature or lacks the data confidentiality. In addition, due to the absence of secure memory management in the current sensor hardware, the attacker could inject malicious code into the program flash by exploiting buffer overflow In the memory despite the secure code dissemination. The contribution of this thesis Is to provide two software-based security protocols and one hardware-based remote attestation protocol for network programming application. Our first protocol deploys multiple one-way key chains for a multi-hop sensor network. The scheme Is shown to be lower In computational, power consumption and communication costs yet still able to secure multi??hop propagation of program images. Our second protocol utilizes an Iterative hash structure to the data packets in network programming application, ensuring the data confidentiality and authenticity. In addition, we Integrated confidentiality and DoS-attack-resistance in a multi??hop code dissemination protocol. Our final solution is a hardware-based remote attestation protocol for verification of running codes on sensor nodes. An additional piece of tamper-proof hardware, Trusted Platform Module (TPM), is imposed into the sensor nodes. It secures the sensitive information (e.g., the session key) from attackers and monitors any platform environment changes with the Internal registers. With these features of TPM, the code Injection attack could be detected and removed when the contaminated nodes are challenged in our remote attestation protocol. We implement the first two software-based protocols with Deluge as the reference network programming protocol in TinyOS, evaluate them with the extensive simulation using TOSSIM and validate the simulation results with experiments using Tmote. We implement the remote attestation protocol on Fleck, a sensor platform developed by CSIRO that Integrates an Atmel TPM chip.

Network programming is one of the most important applications in Wireless Sensor Networks as It provides an efficient way to update program Images running on sensor nodes without physical access to them. Securing these updates, however, remains a challenging and important issue, given the open deployment environment of sensor nodes. Though several security schemes have been proposed to impose the authenticity and Integrity protection on network programming applications, they are either energy Inefficient as they tend to use digital signature or lacks the data confidentiality. In addition, due to the absence of secure memory management in the current sensor hardware, the attacker could inject malicious code into the program flash by exploiting buffer overflow In the memory despite the secure code dissemination. The contribution of this thesis Is to provide two software-based security protocols and one hardware-based remote attestation protocol for network programming application. Our first protocol deploys multiple one-way key chains for a multi-hop sensor network. The scheme Is shown to be lower In computational, power consumption and communication costs yet still able to secure multi??hop propagation of program images. Our second protocol utilizes an Iterative hash structure to the data packets in network programming application, ensuring the data confidentiality and authenticity. In addition, we Integrated confidentiality and DoS-attack-resistance in a multi??hop code dissemination protocol. Our final solution is a hardware-based remote attestation protocol for verification of running codes on sensor nodes. An additional piece of tamper-proof hardware, Trusted Platform Module (TPM), is imposed into the sensor nodes. It secures the sensitive information (e.g., the session key) from attackers and monitors any platform environment changes with the Internal registers. With these features of TPM, the code Injection attack could be detected and removed when the contaminated nodes are challenged in our remote attestation protocol. We implement the first two software-based protocols with Deluge as the reference network programming protocol in TinyOS, evaluate them with the extensive simulation using TOSSIM and validate the simulation results with experiments using Tmote. We implement the remote attestation protocol on Fleck, a sensor platform developed by CSIRO that Integrates an Atmel TPM chip.