No / Incorporating edge activators (surfactants) into liposomes was shown previously to improve estradiol vesicular skin delivery; this phenomenon was concentration dependent with low or high concentrations being less effective. Replacing surfactants with limonene produced similar behaviour, but oleic acid effects were linear with concentration up to 16% (w/w), beyond which it was incompatible with the phospholipid. This present study thus employed high sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry to probe interactions of additives with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) membranes to explain such results. Cholesterol was included as an example of a membrane stabiliser that removed the DPPC pre-transition and produced vesicles with a higher transition temperature (Tm). Surfactants also removed the lipid pre-transition but reduced Tm and co-operativity of the main peak. At higher concentrations, surfactants also formed new species, possibly mixed micelles with a lower Tm. The formation of mixed micelles may explain reduced skin delivery from liposomes containing high concentrations of surfactants. Limonene did not remove the pre-transition but reduced Tm and co-operativity of the main peak, apparently forming new species at high concentrations, again correlating with vesicular delivery of estradiol. Oleic acid obliterated the pre-transition. The Tm and the co-operativity of the main peak were reduced with oleic acid concentrations up to 33.2 mol%, above which there was no further change. At higher concentrations, phase separation was evident, confirming previous skin transport findings.

Microcalorimetric measurements and contact angle measurements were conducted to assess the surface chemistry of the mineral talc. The contact angles were performed on both flat and powdered samples and the results were used to determine the surface free energy components and parameters (SFEC) using the acid-base theory for solids, according to the van Oss-Chaudhury-Good approach. It was found that the surface hydrophobicity of talc increases with decreasing particle size up to a limit after which hydrophilicity (polarity) increases. The increase in hydrophobicity was attributed to the increase of the delamination of the lamellar talc particles. Delamination is a comminution mechanism that preferentially exposes talc's hydrophobic basal planes, while fracture is another mechanism that breaks the lamellae, rupturing covalent bonds thus exposing more hydrophilic edge surfaces. The decrease in hydrophobicity, beyond a given particle size, could be related to the prevail of fracture over delamination during grinding which generated more hydrophilic edge surfaces. The flow microcalorymetry combined with thin layer wicking allowed the separate estimation of the SFEC at the basal plane and edge surfaces of talc. The results suggested that the basal surface of talc is monopolar basic, while the edge surface is monopolar acidic, which are in agreement with the crystal structure of the mineral. The combination of two particle size distribution techniques, which are based on different physical principles, permitted the quantitative determination of the aspect ratio of highly anisometric particles, such as talc. The same trend obtained using flow microcalorimetry was observed for the evolution of the aspect ratio as a function of particle fineness, i.e. the fracture prevails over delamination after achieving a maximum aspect ratio value of about 35. The agreement between two distinct methods was considered rather encouraging. / Master of Science

Yes / A full-scale composite floor plate was tested to investigate the flexural behavior and in-plane effects of the floor slab in a grillage of composite beams that reduces the tendency for longitudinal splitting of the concrete slab along the line of the primary beams. This is important in cases where the steel decking is discontinuous when it is orientated parallel to the beams. In this case, it is important to demonstrate that the amount of transverse reinforcement required to transfer local forces from the shear connectors can be reduced relative to the requirements of Eurocode 4. The mechanism under study involved in-plane compression forces being developed in the slab due to the restraining action of the floor plate, which was held in position by the peripheral composite beams; while the secondary beams acted as transverse ties to resist the forces in the floor plate that would otherwise lead to splitting of the slab along the line of the primary beams. The tendency for cracking along the center line of the primary beam and at the peripheral beams was closely monitored. This is the first large floor plate test that has been carried out under laboratory conditions since the Cardington tests in the early 1990s, although those tests were not carried out to failure. This floor plate test was designed so that the longitudinal force transferred by the primary beams was relatively high (i.e., it was designed for full shear connection), but the transverse reinforcement was taken as the minimum of 0.2% of the concrete area. The test confirmed that the primary beams reached their plastic bending resistance despite the discontinuous decking and transverse reinforcement at the minimum percentage given in Eurocode 4. Based on this test, a reduction factor due to shear connectors at edge beams without U-bars is proposed.

KS0365 activated recombinant and native mouse TRPV3 more potently and with a higher efficacy compared with 2-APB and did not activate TRPV2 or TRPV4 channels. The activation of TRPV3 by KS0365 super-additively accelerated the EGF-induced keratinocyte migration, which was inhibited by the TRP channel blocker ruthenium red or by siRNA-mediated TRPV3 knockdown. Moreover, KS0365 induced strong Ca2+ responses in migrating front cells and in leading edges of keratinocytes.

Yes / Falls on stairs are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in elderly people. A simple safety strategy to avoid tripping on stairs is increasing foot clearance. We determined whether a horizontal–vertical illusion superimposed onto stairs to create an illusory perceived increase in stair-riser height would increase stair ascent foot clearance in older participants. Methods.: Preliminary experiments determined the optimum parameters for the horizontal–vertical illusion. Fourteen older adults (mean age ± 1 SD, 68.5 ± 7.4 years) ascended a three-step staircase with the optimized version of the horizontal–vertical illusion (spatial frequency: 12 cycles per stair riser) positioned either on the bottom or top stair only, or on the bottom and top stair simultaneously. These were compared to a control condition, which had a plain stair riser with edge highlighters positioned flush with each stair-tread edge. Foot clearance and measures of postural stability were compared across conditions. Results.: The optimized illusion on the bottom and top stair led to a significant increase in foot clearance over the respective stair edge, compared to the control condition. There were no significant decreases in postural stability. Conclusions.: An optimized horizontal–vertical visual illusion led to significant increases in foot clearance in older adults when ascending a staircase, but the effects did not destabilize their postural stability. Inclusion of the horizontal–vertical illusion on raised surfaces (e.g., curbs) or the bottom and top stairs of staircases could improve stair ascent safety in older adults.

Epileptic seizure presents a formidable threat to the life of its sufferers, leaving them unconscious within seconds of its onset. Having a mortality rate that is at least twice that of the general population, it is a true cause for concern which has gained ample attention from various research communities. About 800 million people in the world will have at least one seizure experience in their lifespan. Injuries sustained during a seizure crisis are one of the leading causes of death in epilepsy. These can be prevented by an early detection of seizure accompanied by a timely intervention mechanism. The research presented in this dissertation explores Kriging methods to exploit spatial correlations of electroencephalogram (EEG) Signals from the brain, for fast and accurate seizure detection in the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) using edge computing paradigms, by modeling the brain as a three-dimensional spatial object, similar to a geographical panorama. This dissertation proposes basic, hierarchical and distributed Kriging models, with a deep neural network (DNN) wrapper in some instances. Experimental results from the models are highly promising for real-time seizure detection, with excellent performance in seizure detection latency and training time, as well as accuracy, sensitivity and specificity which compare well with other notable seizure detection research projects.

Le commerce a connu à travers le temps de nombreuses évolutions, tant dans sa forme que dans son implantation, passant de grands magasins prestigieux dans le cœur des villes au début du XXe siècle à de grands centres commerciaux à la jonction d’autoroute dans les années 2000. Le lifestyle center est la forme commerciale la plus aboutie, concept américain existant depuis les années 80, il est apparu pour la première fois au Québec en 2006 à Brossard sur la Rive-Sud de Montréal. Ses caractéristiques hors du commun ; une surface de vente de près de 2 000 000 pi² faisant de lui un centre d’envergure supra régional, son agencement de boutiques en plein air regroupé autour d’une rue piétonne ainsi qu’un mix commercial extrêmement varié rompt avec les traditionnels centres commerciaux existants. Ainsi en s’implantant à Brossard le Quartier DIX30 est venu modifier profondément la structure commerciale de la Rive-Sud en s’imposant comme un contre poids de taille par rapport à la domination du pôle des Promenades Saint-Bruno. Cependant, le Quartier DIX30 ne va pas seulement modifier cette structure commerciale, mais plus globalement la centralité urbaine de la Rive-Sud en s’imposant comme un pôle central majeur. Le Quartier DIX30 grâce à sa mixité d’activité et son concept favorisant les interactions sociales est en train d’insuffler un mouvement de concentration d’activité commerciale et tertiaire. Ainsi aujourd’hui se développe au pourtour du Quartier DIX30 de nombreux locaux à bureaux. Cependant, cette nouvelle centralité créée par le Quartier DIX30 soulève des interrogations notamment vis-à-vis de la privatisation d’un espace s’imposant de plus en plus comme un des pôles principaux de croissance de la Rive-Sud. Ainsi, une question légitime se pose, ne sommes-nous pas en train d’assister à une privatisation d’un centre-ville en devenir ? / Over the time, trade has knew numerous changes in term of location and form, passing from prestigious department stores in the heart of cities in the early twentieth century to large shopping centers at the junction of highways in the years 2000. The lifestyle center is the most accomplished commercial form, the American concept exists since the years 1980 and it appeared for the first time in Quebec in 2006 in Brossard on the South Shore of Montreal. Its unusual features: a sales area of almost 2 000 000 square feet (making it a center of supra-regional scale), a mix of shops clustered around a pedestrian street and numerous other activities, breaks with the traditional agencement of the existing shopping malls. Thus, by becoming established in Brossard, the Quartier DIX30 modifies profoundly the commercial structure of the South Shore of Montréal. The Quartier DIX30 imposes itself as a major commercial pole against the domination of the Promenades Saint Bruno. The Quartier DIX30 will not only change the commercial structure of the South Shore, but more generally the urban centrality of the South Shore established itself as a major center pole. Due to the variety of activities and its concept of mix of shops clustered around a pedestrian street permitting social interaction, the Quartier DIX30 creates a commercial and office concentration. Thus, today develops around the Quartier DIX30 many building with offices. However, this new centrality created by the Quartier DIX30 raises interrogations in particular with respect to the privatization of a space imposing itself more and more like one of the principal poles of growth of the South Shore. Thus, a question legitimate is posed, does we aren't attending a privatization of a downtown area in becoming?

Dans cette thèse nous étudions différents problèmes de graphes et multigraphes arêtes-coloriés tels que la connexité propre, la coloration forte d'arêtes et les chaînes et cycles hamiltoniens propres. Enfin, nous améliorons l'algorithme connu $O(n^4)$ pour décider du comportement d'un graphe sous opérateur biclique, en étudiant les bicliques dans les graphes sans faux jumeaux. Plus précisément, 1) Nous étudions d'abord le nombre $k$-connexité-propre des graphes, noté $pc_k(G)$, ç'est à dire le nombre minimum de couleurs nécessaires pour colorer les arêtes d'un graphe de façon à ce qu'entre chaque paire de sommets, ils existent $k$ chemins intérieurement sommet-disjoints. Nous prouvons plusieurs bornes supérieures pour $pc_k(G)$. Nous énonçons quelques conjectures pour les graphes généraux et bipartis et nous les prouvons dans le cas où $k = 1$. 2) Nous étudions l'existence de chaînes et de cycles hamiltoniens propres dans les multigraphes arêtes-coloriés. Nous établissons des conditions suffisantes, en fonction de plusieurs paramètres tels que le nombre d'arêtes, le degré arc-en-ciel, la connexité, etc. 3) Nous montrons que l'indice chromatique fort est linéaire au degré maximum pour tout graphe $k$-dégénéré où, $k$ est fixe. En corollaire, notre résultat conduit à une amélioration des constantes et donne également un algorithme plus simple et plus efficace pour cette famille de graphes. De plus, nous considérons les graphes planaires extérieurs. Nous donnons une formule pour trouver l'indice chromatique fort exact pour les graphes bipartis planaires extérieurs. Nous améliorons également la borne supérieure pour les graphes planaires extérieurs généraux. 4) Enfin, nous étudions les bicliques dans les graphes sans faux jumeaux et nous présentons ensuite un algorithme $O(n+m)$ pour reconnaître les graphes convergents et divergents en améliorant l'algorithme $O(n^4)$. / In this thesis, we study different problems in edge-colored graphs and edge-colored multigraphs, such as proper connection, strong edge colorings, and proper hamiltonian paths and cycles. Finally, we improve the known $O(n^4)$ algorithm to decide the behavior of a graph under the biclique operator, by studying bicliques in graphs withoutfalse-twin vertices. In particular: 1) We first study the $k$-proper-connection number of graphs, this is, the minimum number of colors needed to color the edges of a graph such that between any pair of vertices there exist $k$ internally vertex-disjoint paths. We denote this number $pc_k(G)$. We prove several upper bounds for $pc_k(G)$. We state some conjectures for general and bipartite graphs, and we prove all of them for the case $k=1$. 2) Then, we study the existence of proper hamiltonian paths and proper hamiltonian cycles in edge-colored multigraphs. We establish sufficient conditions, depending on several parameters such as the number of edges, the rainbow degree, the connectivity, etc. 3) Later, we showthat the strong chromatic index is linear in the maximum degree for any $k$-degenerate graph where $k$ is fixed. As a corollary, our result leads to considerable improvement of the constants and also gives an easier and more efficient algorithm for this familly of graphs. Next, we consider outerplanar graphs. We give a formula to find exact strong chromatic index for bipartite outerplanar graphs. We also improve the upper bound for general outerplanar graphs from the $3\Delta-3$ bound. 4) Finally, we study bicliques in graphs without false-twin vertices and then we present an $O(n+m)$ algorithm to recognize convergent and divergent graphs improving the $O(n^4)$ known algorithm.

Ma thèse de doctorat s’inscrit à l’interface entre la physique expérimentale et la biologie. Ce travail a été développé au sein de l’équipe imXgam du CPPM, qui a construit un prototype de micro-tomographie pour le suivi non-invasif du petit animal, équipé d’une caméra à pixels hybrides XPAD3 fonctionnant en mode comptage de rayons X. Le comptage de rayons X rendu possible par la technologie des pixels hybrides, permet de s’affranchir du bruit électronique et d’augmenter ainsi la détectabilité des tissus faiblement contrastés. Elle présente de plus la capacité d'appliquer à chaque pixel un seuil de détection en énergie permettant d’accéder à l’information spectrale des rayons X détectés et ouvre la voie au développement d’une méthode d’imagerie spectrale dite au K-edge, qui permet de différencier des agents de contraste particuliers. La caméra XPAD3 développée avec un capteur en Si présente une efficacité de détection qui limite son utilisation pour l’imagerie du vivant. Une caméra XPAD3 avec une meilleure efficacité au delà de 25 keV a été assemblée avec des capteurs en CdTe. Dans un premier temps, nous avons effectué une comparaison des caméras XPAD3/Si et XPAD3/CdTe en imagerie d’absorption standard et en imagerie au K-edge. Nous avons ensuite, en collaboration avec des biologistes de l’IBDM, assuré le suivi quantitatif et in vivo sur plusieurs mois, du développement de tumeurs hépatiques chez un modèle spécifique de souris et de l’efficacité d’un traitement ciblant les cellules tumorales. Enfin, nous avons développé un protocole d’acquisition spectrale à faible dose pour réaliser une tomographie spectrale in vivo d’un foie de souris en exploitant le K-edge du baryum. / My PhD thesis is at the interface between experimental physics and biology. This work has been developed within the imXgam team at CPPM, which has built a micro-computed tomography prototype for the non-invasive longitudinal monitoring of small animal, equipped with the XPAD3 hybrid pixel camera that operates in X-ray photon counting mode. X-ray photon counting that has been made possible by hybrid pixels, allows to free images from the electronic noise and thus to increase detectability of weakly contrasted tissues. Moreover, it provides the possibility to set an energy threshold for each pixel that allows to accessing spectral information on the detected X-rays and paving the way to the development of a spectral imaging modality also named K-edge imaging, which allows to differentiate selected contrast agents. Actually, the XPAD3 camera developed with a Si sensor presents a low detective efficiency that limits its use for biomedical imaging. A XPAD3 camera with a better efficiency above 25 keV has been assembled with high-Z CdTe sensors. Firstly, we have performed a comparison of XPAD3/Si and XPAD3/CdTe cameras for standard absorption CT and K-edge imaging. Then, in collaboration with a team of biologists from IBDM, we have carried out the quantitative and in vivo follow-up of hepatic tumour development in a specific mouse model over several months, and of the effectiveness of a treatment targeting these tumour cells. Finally, we have developed a protocol for low dose acquisition of spectral data to realize an in vivo spectral tomography of a mouse liver using the barium spectral signature.

This thesis is devoted to the optical properties of low-dimensional structures based on such two-dimensional materials as graphene, silicene and phosphorene. We investigate optical properties of a variety of quasi-one dimensional and quasi-zero-dimensional structures, which are promising for future optoelectronics. Primarily we focus on their low-energy optical properties and how these properties are influenced by the structures’ geometry, external fields, intrinsic strain and edge disorder. As a consequence of this endeavor, we find several interesting effects such as correlation between the optical properties of tubes and ribbons whose periodic and ‘hard wall’ boundary conditions are matched and a universal value of matrix element in narrow-gap tubes and ribbons characterizing probability of transitions across the band gap opened up by intrinsic strain originating from the tube’s surface curvature or ribbon’s edge relaxation. The analytical study of the gapped 2D Dirac materials such as silicene and germanene, which have some similarity to the aforementioned quasi-one-dimensional systems in terms of physical description, reveals a valley- and polarization-dependent selection rules. It was also found that absorption coefficient should change in gapped materials with increasing frequency and become a half of its value for gap edge transitions when the spectrum is linear. Our analysis of the electronic properties of flat clusters of silicene and phosphorene relates the emergence and the number of the peculiar edge states localized at zero energy, so-called zero-energy states, which are know to be of topological origin, to the cluster’s structural characteristics such as shape and size. This allows to predict the presence and the number of such states avoiding complicated topological arguments and provides a recipes for design of metallic and dielectric clusters. We show that zero-energy states are optically active and can be efficiently manipulated by external electric field. However, the edge disorder is important to take into account. We present a new fractal-based methodology to study the effects of the edge disorder which can be applied also to modeling of composite materials. These finding should be useful in design of optoelectronic devices such as tunable emitters and detectors in a wide region of electromagnetic spectrum ranging form the mid-infrared and THz to the optical frequencies.