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In this work, we examine the potential of Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) that have been implemented on NAND Flash memories using programming disturbances to act as sustainable primitives for the purposes of lightweight cryptography. In particular, we investigate the ability of such PUFs to tolerate temperature and voltage variations, and examine the current shortcomings of existing NAND-Flash-memory PUFs that are based on programming disturbances as well as how these could potentially be addressed in order to provide more robust and more sustainable security solutions., Comment: This work was accepted for and presented at the Workshop on Sustainability in Security, Security for Sustainability, which took place on 18 March 2022 and was co-located with the 25th Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE 2022)

Every year, millions of tons of red mud (RDM) are created across the globe. Its storage is a major environmental issue due to its high basicity and tendency for leaching. This material is often kept in dams, necessitating previous attention to the disposal location, as well as monitoring and maintenance during its useful life. As a result, it is critical to develop an industrial solution capable of consuming large quantities of this substance. Many academics have worked for decades to create different cost-effective methods for using RMD. One of the most cost-effective methods is to use RMD in cement manufacture, which is also an effective approach for large-scale RMD recycling. This article gives an overview of the use of RMD in concrete manufacturing. Other researchers’ backgrounds were considered and examined based on fresh characteristics, mechanical properties, durability, microstructure analysis, and environmental impact analysis. The results show that RMD enhanced the mechanical properties and durability of concrete while reducing its fluidity. Furthermore, by integrating 25% of RDM, the environmental consequences of cumulative energy demand (CED), global warming potential (GWP), and major criteria air pollutants (CO, NOX, Pb, and SO2) were minimized. In addition, the review assesses future researcher guidelines for concrete with RDM to improve performance.

Editor’s notes: This article presents a technique to create robust DRAM PUFs with commodity hardware, and demonstrates its use on a Linux-based off-the-shelf device. —Rosario Cammarota, Intel Labs —Francesco Regazzoni, University of Amsterdam and Universita della Svizzera Italiana.

According to the authors’ best information, the majority of research focuses on other waste materials, such as recycling industrial waste (glass, silica fume, marble and waste foundry sand), etc. However, some researchers suggest dune sand as an alternative material for concrete production, but knowledge is still scarce. Therefore, a comprehensive review is required on dune sand to evaluate its current progress as well as its effects on the strength and durability properties of concrete. The review presents detailed literature on dune sand in concrete. The important characteristics of concrete such as slump, compressive, flexural, cracking behaviors, density, water absorption and sulfate resistance were considered for analysis. Results indicate that dune sand can be used in concrete up to 40% without any negative effect on strength and durability. The negative impact of dune sand on strength and durability was due to poor grading and fineness, which restricts the complete (100%) substation of dune sand. Furthermore, a decrease in flowability was observed. Finally, the review highlights the research gap for future studies.

The objectives of the current study were to estimate the out-of-pocket costs of illness of blood culture-confirmed typhoid fever, as well as to evaluate the different brands of ciprofloxacin HCl used in the treatment of typhoid fever. Therefore, a comparative study was designed for the assessment of costs of treatment at sixteen public (Government sector) and private tertiary health care hospitals located in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. On the basis of prescriptions collected from the hospitals, seven different brands of ciprofloxacin HCl prescribed in the treatment of typhoid fever were purchased from retail pharmacies for quality assessment. The mean costs for fourteen days and seven days treatment were analyzed and the overall costs of treatment were high at private health care sectors than public sectors. Model independent approach like similarity factor (f2) was also applied to assess the similarity between the dissolution profiles of different brands, and result indicated that three brands were found to be similar with reference product, while, three were dissimilar. It can be concluded that this cost-effective analysis of antibiotics used in the typhoid fever, will help to the local regularity body as well as WHO to update typhoid fever immunization recommendations. Ciprofloxacin was found an effective antibacterial agent in the treatment of typhoid fever and all brands met the pharmaceutical quality parameters. Thus, physicians, pharmacists and patients can select most appropriate quality brand for the therapy of typhoid fever.

A design-based optimisation for pre-engineered steel frames comprising built-up sections is presented in this paper and the effect of unbraced length ratios on flange and web slenderness ratios is elaborated. A wide range of built-up sections was selected with different unbraced length ratios, web slenderness ratios and flange slenderness ratios. Web slenderness and flange slenderness were varied from a fairly compact range to highly slender values. The capacity of the design sections was determined using different design codes under the combined effect of compression and bending forces. The optimised values for flange and web slenderness were determined for each unbraced length ratio and a relationship between unbraced length and optimum flange slenderness values was established. Analysis of the results revealed that the use of appropriate values of flange and web slenderness in accordance with the member unbraced length can significantly reduce the section weight and improves its efficiency.

The use of superabsorbent polymers, sometimes known as SAP, is a tremendously efficacious method for reducing the amount of autogenous shrinkage (AS) that occurs in high-performance concrete. This study utilizes support vector regression (SVR) as a standalone machine-learning algorithm (MLA) which is then ensemble with boosting and bagging approaches to reduce the bias and overfitting issues. In addition, these ensemble methods are optimized with twenty sub-models with varying the nth estimators to achieve a robust R2. Moreover, modified bagging as random forest regression (RFR) is also employed to predict the AS of concrete containing supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and SAP. The data for modeling of AS includes water to cement ratio (W/C), water to binder ratio (W/B), cement, silica fume, fly ash, slag, the filer, metakaolin, super absorbent polymer, superplasticizer, super absorbent polymer size, curing time, and super absorbent polymer water intake. Statistical and k-fold validation is used to verify the validation of the data using MAE and RMSE. Furthermore, SHAPLEY analysis is performed on the variables to show the influential parameters. The SVM with AdaBoost and modified bagging (RF) illustrates strong models by delivering R2 of approximately 0.95 and 0.98, respectively, as compared to individual SVR models. An enhancement of 67% and 63% in the RF model, while in the case of SVR with AdaBoost, it was 47% and 36%, in RMSE and MAE of both models, respectively, when compared with the standalone SVR model. Thus, the impact of a strong learner can upsurge the efficiency of the model.

The utilization of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites as strengthening materials for structural components has become quite famous over the last couple of decades. The present experimental study was carried out to examine the effect of varied widths of externally bonded CFRP on the debonding strain of CFRP and the failure mode of plain concrete beams. Twelve plain concrete prims measuring 100 mm × 100 mm × 500 mm were cast and tested under identical loading conditions. The twelve specimens include two control prisms, i.e., without CFRP strips, and the remaining ten prisms were reinforced with CFRP strips with widths of 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, and 50 mm, respectively, i.e., two prisms in each group. Four-point loading flexural testing was carried out, and the resulting data are presented in the form of peak load vs. midpoint displacement, load vs. concrete strain, and load vs. CFRP strain. The peak load was directly recorded from the testing machine, while the midpoint deflection was recorded through the linear variable differential transducer (LVDT) installed at the midpoint. To measure the strain, two separate strain gauges were installed at the bottom of each concrete prism, i.e., one on the concrete surface and the other on the surface of the CFRP strip. The results of this study indicate that the debonding strain is a function of CFRP strip width and that the failure patterns of beams are significantly affected by the CFRP reinforcement ratio.

The study was aimed to formulate an extended release matrix tablets of celecoxib and to investigate the influence of different types and concentration of polymers on release of drug. Six formulations namely F1 – F6 were manually designed using different proportions of polymers. The matrix tablets formulations (F1 – F5) were composed of using different polymers such as, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC-K4M), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), ethylcellulose (EC-10 cps) and Carbopol-940, whereas plain tablets formulation (F6) without polymer contained microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), lactose monohydrate, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP-K30). The MCC, SLS and PVP-K30 were used in a fixed quantity in all formulations except F6 i.e. 20.7%, 6.7%, and 2%, respectively. Multiple point dissolution was performed in phosphate buffer of pH 7.4. Dissolution profiles indicated that formulations F2 and F3 extended the drug release up to the desired time period of 12 h. DD Solver (an add-in software for MS Excel) was used to analyze the dissolution profile data for drug release kinetics such as first order, Zero-order, Higuchi and Korsmeyer–Peppas models. However, formulation (F3) containing HPMC – K4M as a matrix former showed concentration-independent drug release as highest linearity was observed when zero-order model was applied (R2 = 0.933). Release mechanism of formulations F3 was super case-II transport. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to assess the drug polymers compatibility and no drug– excipients interaction was found. The present study accomplished that ethylcellulose and HPMC can be used successfully to develop an extended release matrix tablet formulation.

Background: Reinforced concrete silos and bunkers are commonly used structures for large storage of different materials. These structures are highly vulnerable when subjected to intense seismic forces. Available guidelines for analysis and design of these structures require special design skills and code procedures. Objective: The current study is aimed to elaborate the design procedures from different sources to a unified method, which can be applied to a larger class of reinforced concrete silos. In this study, analysis and design procedures are summarized and presented in a simplified form to make sure the efficient practical design applications of reinforced concrete silos. Method: Four different cases of silo design based on the type and weight of stored material were considered for the study. For each case, the silo was designed using given design procedure and modeled using FEM-based computer package. All of the reinforced concrete silos were subjected to gravity, wind and seismic forces. Results: After performing the analysis and design of different silos, the bending moment, shear force and axial forces profiles were given for a sample silo. The results obtained from the proposed design procedure were compared with FEM values for different components of silos such as slab, wall and hopper. Conclusion: The comparison of tangential and longitudinal forces, bending moments, shear forces and reinforcement ratios of different parts of silos have shown a fair agreement with the FEM model results. It motivates to use the proposed design procedure for an efficient design of reinforced concrete silos.

Background: Bentonite clays are widely used in a drilling operation and play a vital role as a drilling fluid. Bentonite clay mud performs several functions during the drilling operation and facilitates the drilling process. Objective: In this study, the locally available raw bentonite clays were investigated to evaluate its potential use as a mud for borehole drilling operation after its improvement with the additives. Method: Rheological properties such as plastic viscosity, yield point and gel strength were evaluated by using a viscometer and filtrate loss test was performed by using filter press on both locally available raw bentonite clays and the commercial bentonite named as Mill gel. Results: From the test results obtained for the up gradation of clays with the different beneficiating materials, the drastic increase in the plastic viscosity, yield point and gel strength has been observed. It shows that Xanthum gum produced better results for the improvement of rheological properties of such clays. Carboxymethyl cellulose and starch were used as additives and it has been observed that carboxymethyl cellulose has improved both viscosity and filtrate loss control, whereas starch muds have the best filtration control properties. Conclusion: Improved bentonite clays have rheological and filtration characteristics that have satisfied American Petroleum Institute specification at optimum conditions of clay. It was concluded that improved clays are the suitable material for the drilling operations and suitable to substitute commercial bentonite.

Background: General Medical Council survey (GMC, National Training Surveys 2018: Initial findings report) states that a quarter of medical trainees and over a fifth of trainers have reported burnout due to various reasons. Respiratory medicine is one of the more intense specialties in terms of workload and patient acuity. Aim: We aimed to study professional fulfilment (PF) and burnout among UK RP. Methods: 16-question survey, PF Index (PFI) as a validated tool (Trokel M, Bohman B et al. Academic Psychiatry 2018;42(1):11-24), was designed using Google Forms and sent to 14 deaneries across UK. Data was collected on RPs’ job role, age group, gender, job plan (i.e. general medicine (GIM) on-call commitment) and opinion on the leading causes of burnout. Results: 110 RP completed the survey. 43 (76.8%) consultants and 44 (91.7%) trainee registrars (TR) lacked professional fulfillment. 27 (48.2%) consultants and 26 (54.2%) TR were found to have burnout. All non-training registrars (n=6) were deficient of PF and had burnout. Participants rated Rota Gaps as the leading cause for burnout, while GIM on-call commitment and lack of respect from administrators were voted 2nd and 3rd respectively. Conclusion: Prevalence of burnout and scarcity of PF is much more profound among RP when comparing with similar studies in general medicine. Interestingly most of this is related to mandatory contribution to GIM on-calls than respiratory medicine and pose a threat to recruitment and retention. Ongoing rota gaps is a grave concern especially in wake of Brexit. We recommend running this survey on a wider forum to get thorough results and to take remedies against the leading causes.

Current research study consists of determining the optimum location of the shear wall to get the maximum structural efficiency of a reinforced concrete frame building. It consists of a detailed analysis and design review of a seven-story reinforced concrete building to understand the effect of shear wall location on the response of reinforced concrete structures when subjected to different earthquake forces. Three trail locations of shear walls are selected and their performance is monitored in terms of structural response under different lateral loads. Required objectives are achieved by obtaining design and construction drawings of an existing reinforced concrete structure and modeling it on Finite Element Method (FEM) based computer software. The structure is redesigned and discussed with four different configurations (one without shear wall and three with shear walls). Main framing components (Beams, Columns and Shear walls) of the superstructure are designed using SAP 2000 V. 19.0 whereas substructure (foundation) of RC building was designed using SAFE. American Concrete Institute (ACI) design specifications were used to calculate the cracked section stiffness or non-linear geometrical properties of the cracked section. Uniform Building Code (UBC-97) procedures were adopted to calculate the lateral earthquake loading on the structures. Structural response of the building was monitored at each story level for each earthquake force zone described by the UBC-97. The earthquake lateral forces were considered in both X and Y direction of the building. Each configuration of shear wall is carefully analyzed and effect of its location is calibrated by the displacement response of the structure. Eccentricity to the lateral stiffness of the building is imparted by changing the location of shear walls. Results of the study have shown that the location of shear wall significantly affects the lateral response of the structure under earthquake forces. It also motivates to carefully decide the center of lateral stiffness of building prior to deciding the location of shear walls.

Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) have become an important and promising hardware primitive for device fingerprinting, device identification, or key storage. Intrinsic PUFs leverage components already found in existing devices, unlike extrinsic silicon PUFs, which are based on customized circuits that involve modification of hardware. In this work, we present a new type of a memory-based intrinsic PUF, which leverages the Rowhammer effect in DRAM modules; the Rowhammer PUF. Our PUF makes use of bit flips, which occur in DRAM cells due to rapid and repeated access of DRAM rows. Prior research has mainly focused on Rowhammer attacks, where the Rowhammer effect is used to illegitimately alter data stored in memory, e.g., to change page table entries or enable privilege escalation attacks. Meanwhile, this is the first work to use the Rowhammer effect in a positive context: to design a novel PUF. We extensively evaluate the Rowhammer PUF using commercial, off-the-shelf devices, not relying on custom hardware or an FPGA-based setup. The evaluation shows that the Rowhammer PUF holds required properties needed for the envisioned security applications, and could be deployed today., Copyright held by IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works

The use of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites for strengthening concrete structures has gained a lot of popularity in the past couple of decades. The major issue in the retrofitting of concrete structures with FRP is the accurate evaluation of flexural and shear strains of polymer composites at the bonding interface of epoxy and concrete. To address it, a comprehensive experimental study was planned and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite was applied on the concrete surface with the help of adhesives. CFRP was used as an external mounted flexural and shear reinforcement to strengthen the beams. Flexural load tests were performed on a group of eight reinforced concrete beams. These beams were strengthened in flexural and shear by different reinforcement ratios of CFRP. The strain gauges were applied on the surface of concrete and CFRP strips to assess the strain of both CFRP and concrete under flexural and shear stresses. The resulting test data is presented in the form of load&ndash, deformation and strain values. It was found that the values of strains transferred to the FRP through the concrete are highly dependent on the surface tensile properties of concrete and debonding strength of the adhesive. The test results clearly indicated that the strength increment in flexural members is highly dependent on strain values of the CFRP.

The use of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites for strengthening concrete structures has gained a lot of popularity in the past couple of decades. The major issue in the retrofitting of concrete structures with FRP is the accurate evaluation of debonding flexural strain of polymer composites at the bonding interface of epoxy and concrete. In order to address it, a comprehensive experimental study was planned and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite was applied on the concrete surface with the help of adhesives. CFRP was used as an external mounted flexural and shear reinforcement to strengthen the beams. Flexural load test was performed on a group of eight reinforced concrete beams. These beams were strengthened in flexure and shear by different reinforcement ratios of CFRP. The strain gauges were applied on the surface of concrete and CFRP strips to assess the debonding strain of both CFRP and concrete under flexural and shear stresses. The resulting tests data is presented in the form of load –deformation and strain values. It has been found that the values of strains transferred to the FRP through the concrete are highly dependent on the surface tensile properties of concrete and debonding strength of the adhesive. The test results have clearly indicated that the strength increment in flexural members is highly dependent on debonding strain values of FRP from the concrete surface.

Sustainable construction of ecofriendly infrastructure has been the priority of worldwide researchers. The induction of modern technology in the steel manufacturing industry has enabled designers to get the desired control over the steel section shapes and profiles resulting in efficient use of construction material and manufacturing energy required to produce these materials. The current research study is focused on the optimization of steel building costs with the use of pre-engineered building construction technology. Construction of conventional steel buildings (CSB) incorporates the use of hot rolled sections, which have uniform cross-section throughout the length. However, pre-engineered steel buildings (PEB) utilize steel sections, which are tailored and profiled based on the required loading effects. In this research study, the performance of PEB steel frames in terms of optimum use of steel sections and its comparison with the conventional steel building is presented in detail. A series of PEB and CSB steel frames is selected and subjected to various loading conditions. Frames were analyzed using Finite Element Based analysis tool and design was performed using American Institute of Steel Construction design specifications. Comparison of the frames has been established in terms of frame weights, lateral displacements (sway) and vertical displacements (deflection) of the frames. The results have clearly indicated that PEB steel frames are not only the most economical solution due to lesser weight of construction but also have shown better performance compared to CSB frames.

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) based on the retention times of the cells of a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) can be utilised for the implementation of cost-efficient and lightweight cryptographic protocols. However, as recent work has demonstrated, the times needed in order to generate their responses may prohibit their widespread usage. In order to address this issue, the Row Hammer PUF has been proposed by Schaller et al. [1], which leverages the row hammer effect in DRAM modules to reduce the retention times of their cells and, therefore, significantly speed up the generation times for the responses of PUFs based on these retention times. In this work, we extend the work of Schaller et al. by presenting a run-time accessible implementation of this PUF and further reducing the time required for the generation of its responses. Additionally, we also provide a more thorough investigation of the effects of temperature variations on the the Row Hammer PUF and briefly discuss potential statistical relationships between the cells used to implement it. As our results prove, the Row Hammer PUF could potentially provide an adequate level of security for Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) devices, if its dependency on temperature is mitigated, and, may therefore, be commercially adopted in the near future.

In this study, the influence of mechanically activated electric arc furnace slag (EAFS) was investigated through compressive strength tests on 50 mm mortar cubes. The objective was to convert the wasteful EAFS into a useful binding material to reduce the cement content in concrete without compromising strength and economy. Four different groups of mortar were cast which include control mortar, reference fly ash mortar, mortar containing EAFS to determine its optimum fineness and replacement with cement, mortar blend containing fly ash and EAFS of optimum fineness. EAFS were identified with respect to its fineness as slag ground (SG), slag-fine (SF) 100% passing 75 µm sieve, and slag-super-fine (SSF) 100% passing 45 µm sieve. Compressive strength was measured according to ASTM C109. Specimens were cured under different temperatures and moisture to incorporate the effects of normal and hot environmental conditions. Compressive strength of mortars increases with fineness of EAFS and its strength activity index matches the ASTM C989 blast furnace slag (BFS) Grade 80 up to 30% cement substitution and Grade 100 when 10% cement substituted with SSF. The influence of curing temperatures was also significant in mortars containing SG or 10% SF where strength decreased with increasing curing temperature. However, a 20–30% and 20% cement substitution with SF produced strength comparable to control and reference fly ash mortars under moderate (40 °C) and high curing temperature (60 °C), respectively. The utilization of EAFS as binder in concrete may reduce needs for cement, as well as save environment and natural resources from depletion.

In this study, the researchers investigated the potential use of locally available waste materials from the lime stone quarry and the granite industry as a partial replacement of cement. Quarry sites and granite industry in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia produces tons of powder wastes in the form of quarry dust (QD) and granite sludge (GS), respectively, causing serious environmental problems along with frequent dust storms in the area. According to ASTM C109, identical 50-mm3 specimens were cast throughout this study to evaluate the compressive strength development of mortars (7, 28 and 91 days) containing these waste materials. Experimental variables included different percentage replacement of cement with waste materials (GS, QD), fineness of GS, various curing temperatures (20, 40 and 60 °C as local normal and hot environmental temperatures) and curing moisture (continuously moist and partially moist followed by air curing). Finally, the results of mortar containing waste materials were compared to corresponding results of control mortar (CM) and mortar containing fly ash (FA). The test results indicated that under normal curing (20 °C, moist cured), the compressive strength of mortar containing the different percentage of waste materials (QD, GS, FA and their combinations) remained lower than that of CM at all ages. However, the compressive strength of mortar containing waste materials slightly increased with increased fineness of GS and significantly increased under high curing temperatures. It was recommended that more fineness of GS be achieved to use its high percentage replacement with cement (30% or more) incorporating local environmental conditions.

This study focuses on evaluating the effect of the fineness of basaltic volcanic ash (VA) on the engineering properties of cement pozzolan mixtures. In this study, VA of two different fineness, i.e., VA fine (VF) and VA ultra-fine (VUF) and commercially available fly ash (FA) was used to partially replace cement. Including a control and a hybrid mix (10% each of VUF and FA), eleven mortar mixes were prepared with various percentages of VA and FA (10%, 20% and 30%) to partially replace cement. First, material characterization was performed by using X-ray florescence (XRF), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), particle size analysis, and a modified Chappelle test. Then, the compressive strength development, alkali silica reactivity (ASR), and drying shrinkage of all mortar mixes were investigated. Finally, XRD analysis on paste samples of all mixes was performed to assess their pozzolanic reactivity at ages of 7 and 91 days. The results showed increased Chappelle reactivity values with an increase in the fineness of the VA. Mortars containing high percentages of VUF (20% and 30%) showed almost equal compressive strength compared to corresponding FA mortars at all ages, however, the hybrid mix (10% VUF + 10% FA) exhibited higher strength than that of the reference mix (100% cement), particularly, at 91 days. At low percentages (10%), ASR expansion in both VF and VUF mortars was higher compared to the corresponding FA mortar and the opposite behavior was observed at high percentages (20% and 30%). Among all the mixes including the control, mortar with VUF was found to be most effective in controlling drying shrinkages at all ages. The rate of consumption of calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) for pastes containing VUF and FA was almost the same, while VF showed low Ca(OH)2 intensity. These results indicate that an increase in the fineness of VA significantly improvs performance, and therefore, it could be a feasible substitute for commercial admixtures in cement composites.

In the past few decades most of the efforts were made to achieve minimum weight of the steel structures by satisfying all the design requirements imposed by various latest building codes and this idea lead towards the concept of pre-engineered steel buildings (PEB). In current research work, minimum weight buildings are targeted with simple fabrication process and easy erection to have maximum structural efficiency. Minimum weight of structure is proportional to the minimum cost and hence lowers seismic and gravitational forces. To achieve above mentioned objectives and to verify the suitability and applicability of concept of PEB, a sample steel industrial building is first analyzed and designed by using conventional steel hot rolled sections and then by using pre-engineered tapered and cold formed sections. Results of analysis were compared in terms of weight and response of structures which clearly indicated that PEB structures are of less weight and structurally more efficient than conventional steel structures.

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication is a promising technology for various applications in upcoming 5G networks. This new communication paradigm has a lot to offer in terms of increased spectral efficiency, throughput and reduced communication delay. However, challenges like interference, overhead and energy efficiency still exist In fact, energy-efficiency is considered as one of the key enablers for 5G networks, e.g. Internet of Things (IoT). The integration of energy harvesting in a D2D network not only provides energy efficiency, but allows protocols to choose between high and low data rate applications. In this paper, we have investigated the performance of wireless routing protocols in a D2D network with energy harvesting capability. To this end, we realized a realistic energy harvesting framework in NS-3. The framework consists of a solar energy harvester which rejuvenate the energy source with the real world data set Subsequently, this framework is integrated with routing layer of NS-3 simulator. Our extensive simulations elaborate the importance of an energy harvester in a typical wireless network e.g. D2D network. Experimental results show two key findings. First, proactive routing protocol, in the presence of surplus energy, outperform reactive protocols for both high and low data rate applications in terms of residual energy, consumed energy and goodput Second, the network lifetime can be enhanced through harvesting framework.

Structural hollow sections are gaining worldwide importance due to their structural and architectural advantages over open steel sections. The only obstacle to their use is their connection with other structural members. To overcome the obstacle of tightening the bolt from one side has given birth to the concept of blind bolts. Blind bolts, being the practical solution to the connection hindrance for the use of hollow and concrete filled hollow sections play a vital role. Flowdrill, the Huck High Strength Blind Bolt and the Lindapter Hollobolt are the well-known commercially available blind bolts. Although the development of blind bolts has largely resolved this issue, the use of structural hollow sections remains limited to shear resistance. Therefore, a new modified version of the blind bolt, known as the “Extended Hollo-Bolt” (EHB) due to its enhanced capacity for bonding with concrete, can overcome the issue of low moment resistance capacity associated with blind-bolted connections. The load transfer mechanism of this recently developed blind bolt remains unclear, however. This study uses a parametric approach to characterising the EHB, using diameter as the variable parameter. Stiffness and load-carrying capacity were evaluated at two different bolt sizes. To investigate the load transfer mechanism, a component-based study of the bond and anchorage characteristics was performed by breaking down the EHB into its components. The results of the study provide insight into the load transfer mechanism of the blind bolt in question. The proposed component-based model was validated by a spring model, through which the stiffness of the EHB was compared to that of its components combined. The combined stiffness of the components was found to be roughly equivalent to that of the EHB as a whole, validating the use of this component-based approach.

学位の種別:課程博士, 審査委員会委員 : （主査）東京大学教授 目黒 公郎, （副査）東京大学教授 小澤 一雅, （副査）東京大学教授 岸 利治, （副査）東京大学准教授 長井 宏平, （副査）東京大学教授 中埜 良昭, （副査）横浜国立大学教授 小長井 一男

The severe hot temperature and high traffic loadings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are causing distress in flexible pavements within a few years of service. Secondly, the conventional bitumen extracted from Saudi oil refineries have a performance grade of 64-10 (PG 64-10), which does not meet the SuperPave performance grade requirement for most of the KSA’s regions. In order to improve the performance grade of bitumen, different percentages of municipal wastes (plastic and crumb rubber) were used as bitumen additives. The performance of bitumen at low, intermediate, and high temperatures was evaluated. This is important as the waste production is rising significantly due to the fast urbanization and high population growth in the KSA. Particularly, when there are very few ways of recycling these wastes (municipal, as well as industrial), which in fact have great impact on the environment. High-density polyethylene (HDP), low-density polyethylene (LDP), and crumb rubber (CR) with 5%, 10%, and 15% by weight of bitumen, were mixed with the base bitumen (PG 64-10). Rotational viscometer (RV), dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), and bending beam rheometer (BBR) were used to evaluate the viscosity, rutting, fatigue, and low-temperature behavior of base and modified binders. The test results indicated that the rutting (permanent deformation) and fatigue resistance were significantly improved in modified binders due to the improvement in the visco-elastic properties.

A Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) is a unique and stable physical characteristic of a piece of hardware, which emerges due to variations in the hardware fabrication processes. Prior works have demonstrated that PUFs are a promising cryptographic primitive that can enable secure key storage, hardware-based device authentication and identification. So far, most PUF constructions have required an addition of new hardware or an FPGA implementation for their operation. Recently, intrinsic PUFs, which can be found in commodity devices, have been investigated. Unfortunately, most of them suffer from the drawback that they can only be accessed at boot time. This paper focuses on a new class of run-time accessible, decay-based, intrinsic DRAM PUFs in commercial off-the-shelf systems, which requires no additional hardware or FPGAs. In order to enable secure key storage using DRAM PUFs, this work presents a new Helper Data System (HDS) specifically tailored to the properties of the decay process inherent to DRAM cells. The decay-based DRAM PUF and the new HDS are evaluated on commodity off-the-shelf devices to demonstrate their practicality. Furthermore, a novel lightweight protocol is presented that allows for mutual authentication.