L’acétylcholine (ACh) endogène de la corne dorsale de la moelle épinière (CDME) exerce une analgésie puissante utilisée en clinique, dont la source et les mécanismes demeurent inconnus. Elle siège probablement au niveau d’un plexus de fibres cholinergiques de la CDME d’origine non-élucidée. Dans ce contexte, nous avons pu établir que ce plexus est principalement issu d’interneurones cholinergiques spinaux caractérisés dans ces travaux, qui seraient donc le substrat probable de l’analgésie décrite. Décrits comme concourant aux effets aigus et analgésiques de la morphine, nous avons, par ailleurs, pu observer que les récepteurs de l’ACh participaient également aux effets chroniques et pro-algésique de la morphine, notamment au niveau de la CDME. Ceci place donc l’ACh comme un effecteur ou intermédiaire de la morphine.Nos travaux suggèrent ainsi que le système cholinergique spinal pourrait constituer une cible thérapeutique alternative pour de nouveaux traitements de la douleur / In the spinal cord dorsal horn (SCDH), endogenous acetylcholine (ACh) acts as a powerful analgesia, of clinical use. Though its source and mechanisms remain unravelled, this analgesia probably lies in a plexus of cholinergic fibers (PCF) located in the SCDH and of undetermined origin. In this context, we established that the PCF mainly originates from a spinal population of cholinergic interneurons, fully characterized in this work. These are, thus, the likely substrate of the spinal cholinergic analgesia.Besides, ACh receptors (AChR) partly mediate the analgesic acute effects of morphine. In this work, we also observed that a chronically-administered AChR agonist reproduces as well the pro-algesic effects of morphine in the same conditions. Thus, ACh appears as a possible intermediary or a final effecter of the morphine pain pathways.Our data suggest that the cholinergic system could become a new putative therapeutic target in pain management and treatment.

Dans les années à venir, l’industrie de l’aéronautique doit améliorer le contrôle thermique des composants et modules hautement intégrés. Les approches de refroidissement standard, utilisant l’air forcé ne sont plus utilisables. Il est donc nécessaire de développer de nouvelles technologies capables d’offrir des solutions compatibles avec ces nouvelles problématiques. Une revue bibliographique approfondie est présentée pour montrer les solutions existantes pour l’avionique. Les systèmes à changement de phase, tels que les boucles diphasiques capillaires (LHPs), sont très attractifs puisqu’ils peuvent être utilisés pour transporter la chaleur vers une grande surface d’un radiateur qui dissipera la chaleur vers le milieu ambiant. Une première famille de LHP, conçue et réalisée par la compagnie Atherm, et remplie avec du méthanol, est décrite. Deux autres familles de LHP sont également présentées. La première a été réalisée par la société ATHERM et a un condenseur et des lignes de transports modifiés, afin d’être intégrée sur une carte électronique existante. La deuxième famille, a été conçue et réalisée par l’Institut of Thermal Physics (ITP), sur la base de spécifications similaires. Un banc d’essai expérimental est conçu et réalisé pour tester ces systèmes. Les effets de la charge en fluide, baïonnette, et mèche secondaire, sont observés. Des tests d’orientation et d’accélération sont réalisés sur des LHPs intégrées dans un rack aéronautique. Même une certaine sensibilité aux orientations et accélérations est observée, les LHPs fonctionnement toujours jusqu’à l’accélération maximale testée de 6 G. Un modèle stationnaire d’une boucle diphasique basé sur une approche à plusieurs échelles est développé. Plusieurs niveaux de complexité et de précision peuvent être sélectionnés pour le modèle des composants individuels de la boucle, allant du modèle nodal au modèle 3D. Le modèle est validé avec les données expérimentales. Un bon accord entre les simulations numériques et les résultats expérimentaux est obtenu. Les résultats numériques montrent que la charge de fluide dans le réservoir affecte le comportement thermique de la LHP en modifiant la répartition des flux de chaleurs. Des gradients de température importants sont observés dans la plaque du condenseur, et un nouveau tracé de la ligne condenseur est proposé. Plusieurs modifications de l’évaporateur sont analysées. La diminution la plus importante de la résistance thermique de l’évaporateur est obtenue par une bonne disposition des rainures axiales de la mèche, associée à une semelle optimisée, ou à des rainures radiales. / In the coming years, the avionics industry will have to improve the thermal control of both existing and emerging highly integrated electronic components and modules. The standard cooling approaches using forced air are no longer applicable. It is necessary to develop new technologies being able to offer solutions compatible with those new problematic. An extensive literature review is presented to show the existing cooling solutions for avionics. Two-phase passive systems, such as LHPs are very attractive as they may be used as heat spreader, associated with a classical heat sink to dissipate the heat. A first family of LHP, designed and manufactured by the ATHERM Company and filled with methanol as the working fluid is described. Two other LHP families are also presented. The first one was manufactured by ATHERM and has modified condenser and transport line shapes, in order to be integrated into an existing electronic card. The second one was manufactured and designed by the Institute of Thermal Physics, on the same specification basis. An experimental setup is designed and built to test these LHPs. The effects of fluid fill charge, bayonet and secondary wick are observed. Orientation and acceleration tests are conducted on LHPs integrated within an avionic rack. Even if the LHPs exhibited sensitivity to orientation and acceleration, no failure of the LHP was observed up to the maximum applied acceleration (6 G). A steady state model of LHP based on a multi-level approach is developed. Various levels of complexity and precision can be selected for the model of the individual component, going from the nodal to the 3D model. The model is validated with experimental data from the laboratory tests. A good agreement is achieved between the experimental and the numerical data. The numerical results show that the fluid fill charge within the reservoir affects the thermal behavior of the LHP, by modifying the heat flux distribution. High temperature gradients are highlighted in the condenser plate and a redesign of its shape is proposed. Various modifications of the evaporator design are considered. The most important decrease of the evaporator thermal resistance is brought by a good disposition of the axial vapor grooves associated with an optimized saddle shape or radial vapor grooves.

Newly available industry well data and seismic attribute analysis reveal that late Ordovician-early Devonian Hunton Group strata are more widespread (i.e., not removed by mid-Devonian erosion) in the central and southern portions of the Arkoma Basin in eastern Oklahoma than previously thought. This study demonstrates the value of applying seismic attribute analysis to problems of quantifying and mapping stratigraphic features caused by erosions and/or karstification. Well and seismic isochron data in the Red Oak petroleum field for the Viola-Woodford interval (the units that lie stratigraphically beneath and above, respectively, the Huton Group) show isolated ~40-m thick lenses of Hunton rocks, on average measuring 3 km in diameter, with a surrounding halo of karsted rock. This distribution can be explained in two different ways: 1) Hunton occurrences could represent isolated erosional remnants reflecting incomplete removal of the Hunton Group during Middle Devonian time (pre-Woodford unconformity) or 2) due to karsting and collapse of stratigraphically lower units (Viola or Bromide carbonates), lenses of Hunton rocks would have sagged into sinkholes where they were preserved beneath regional base level. Using formation tops from a well data set correlated with attribute and structure maps from a proprietary 3-D seismic data set, we identify three seismic characteristics in the middle Paleozoic interval that correlate well with: 1) absent Hunton seismic markers, indicating that Hunton rocks were completely removed, 2) the Hunton contacts, indicating where a seismically visible section of Hunton rocks remains, 3) absent Hunton but with a thin horizon included within lower carbonate strata that is interpreted to be an incipient karst zone, which is consistently adjacent to areas containing Hunton rocks. The base of the Sylvan Shale and the top of the Woodford Shale, the respective lower and upper adjoining units, form significant chronostratigraphic surfaces. As such, anomalous thicknesses of these units are depositionally related; thick Woodford sections often correlate to thin or absent Hunton rocks, possibly indicating back-filled pre-Woodford channels eroded into or through the Hunton Group. Conversely, when there is little or no Woodford thickening over Hunton lenses and when adjacent areas show thinning and partially karsted Viola rocks, we propose that karstic collapse of Viola strata was responsible for the Hunton rocks preservation. A combination of these models may be necessary to account for areas where we see thinning both in the Woodford and Viola, suggesting that a Hunton lens is structurally lowered due to karsting, but due to its erosionally resistive nature, the lens forms a depositional high, causing the Woodford to thin over it. The 3-D approach is absolutely necessary to reveal the subtle waveform details that illustrate the karstic and erosional processes involved in the preservation of the Hunton wedges. These findings were interpolated, constrained by well data, over the entire Oklahoma portion of the Arkoma basin in order to produce a new Hunton isopach map and 20 separate cross-sections (two shown herein). These show a broad linear region of absent Hunton. Eustatic sea levels rose throughout the middle and late Devonian, so this large area of eroded Hunton is interpreted as a post-Hunton, pre-Woodford structural uplift. Other Hunton wedges, similar in size and extant to that seismically imaged in this study, were also found in the well data. The karstic collapse of the Viola and subsequent preservation of Hunton rocks occurred on both limbs of the arch.

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No description available.

<p>    </p> <p>Additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) is one of the manufacturing processes which is currently being explored for its applicability under space boundary conditions, also known as in-space manufacturing. The space boundary conditions specifically affect material properties which in turn affect the printability of materials in space. Printing of soft materials in space is a novel application and the intent of this research was to print the softest of materials: edible materials, as a case study. 3D food printing is a novel food delivery method of using food products to either reproduce as a more aesthetically pleasing product or to print more nutrient-diverse foods. Launch of payload carrier and the boundary conditions of low Earth orbit including a vacuum environment, microgravity, temperature fluctuations, etc. These conditions make printing difficult, and my thesis is to overcome the boundary conditions (except microgravity) using a 3D soft material printer operating within a CubeSat. A CubeSat is a small satellite usually launched as an auxiliary payload used for basic Earth observation and radio communication. The printer must be able to survive launch and operation conditions, print within a simulated space environment, and adhere to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specific definition of additive manufacturing. The 3D soft material printer was designed, fabricated, and tested using space and CubeSat boundary conditions for determining optimal design. Testing conditions including: (1) printing under Earth conditions showing it follows ASTM standards, (2) surviving NASA standards for vibration testing for microsatellites under launch conditions, (3) completing a print under a vacuum setting. The results of the testing would prove a small microsatellite could print in the vacuum of space and survive launch parameters. Further work would provide insight into the design of food printers being readily available in smaller sizes and its operability in microgravity condition. </p>

We formulate Local Shape Descriptor selection for model-based object recognition in range data as an optimization problem and offer a platform that facilitates a solution. The goal of object recognition is to identify and localize objects of interest in an image. Recognition is often performed in three phases: point matching, where correspondences are established between points on the 3-D surfaces of the models and the range image; hypothesis generation, where rough alignments are found between the image and the visible models; and pose refinement, where the accuracy of the initial alignments is improved. The overall efficiency and reliability of a recognition system is highly influenced by the effectiveness of the point matching phase. Local Shape Descriptors are used for establishing point correspondences by way of encapsulating local shape, such that similarity between two descriptors indicates geometric similarity between their respective neighbourhoods. We present a generalized platform for constructing local shape descriptors that subsumes a large class of existing methods and allows for tuning descriptors to the geometry of specific models and to sensor characteristics. Our descriptors, termed as Variable-Dimensional Local Shape Descriptors, are constructed as multivariate observations of several local properties and are represented as histograms. The optimal set of properties, which maximizes the performance of a recognition system, depend on the geometry of the objects of interest and the noise characteristics of range image acquisition devices and is selected through pre-processing the models and sample training images. Experimental analysis confirms the superiority of optimized descriptors over generic ones in recognition tasks in LIDAR and dense stereo range images. / Thesis (Ph.D, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-01 11:07:32.084