Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T18:05:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo502_1.pdf: 4410988 bytes, checksum: 044aeb3e87c891836eec101e604034ae (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal a construção e utilização de um laser pulsado operando com travamentos de modos passivo. O laser construído tem a sua tecnologia toda baseada em fibras ópticas, e o travamento de modos é obtido através da rotação não linear da polarização. Foram realizadas caracterizações espectrais, temporais e medidas de rotação de polarização utilizando um polarímetro, em função da potência de bombeamento. Foi analisado também o efeito da dispersão na cavidade. O meio ativo laser foi uma fibra dopada com o íon terra rara Er+3 com absorção de 35 dB/m em 1530 nm, sendo esse meio ativo bombeado com um laser de diodo operando em 980 nm, gerando emissão laser em torno de 1560 nm. Com o laser foram gerados pulsos em torno de 5 picosegundos de largura temporal e uma taxa de repetição de aproximadamente 16 MHz. Dependendo do comprimento da cavidade, a taxa de repetição pode ser variada. O laser foi utilizado para medir o índice de refração não linear da água, utilizando para isso a técnica de varredura Z (Z-scan) com controle térmico. Na montagem do experimento foi usado o laser de fibra operando em 1562 nm, com pulsos da ordem de 6 ps de duração, e uma taxa de repetição da ordem de 29 MHz. Obtivemos para o índice de refração não linear da água o valor de n2 = −1,62×10−14cm2/W, que tem como origem o efeito não linear térmico presente em líquidos

This thesis work provides a new way to detect and track the displacement of flexor tendons within the human arm, using a non-invasive, ultrasound-based, speckle tracking technique. By tracking the tendons in the arm, it provides a way to monitor a person’s intention to move their hands and fingers. This has application to hand prosthetic control, as well as tendon injury assessment, which has significant contributions to the medical and rehabilitation community. The system works by capturing and processing a sequence of B-scan ultrasound images, to detect and track the flexor tendon motion (excursion) in the wrist, as the user flexes their muscles. Given the biomechanics of the hand, tendon displacement is correlated to the user’s intention to move their finger. Several speckle tracking techniques using B-scan ultrasound image sequences are developed in this work, including: auto-location of the tendon, a stationary ROI (region of interest), and novel use of similarity measures such as FT (Fisher Tippett), and hybrid methods. As well, work is done to investigate various speckle tracking parameters, and their effects on tracking accuracy. The different speckle tracking techniques are developed using data obtained from cadaver hands, and human volunteers undergoing regular surgery. The tracking techniques are compared in terms of successfully detecting the tendon, accurately tracking tendon displacement, successfully tracking multiple tendons, successfully detecting and tracking the onset of low tendon displacement, and computational efficiency of the algorithms. Another major aspect of this work is the design of a novel quad-array transducer that can collect image sequences from up to four tendons simultaneously. This transducer is instrumental to the motivation for controlling an advanced prosthesis. As well, specialized hardware is designed for the cadaver-based studies. Overall, this thesis successfully demonstrated the proposed tracking algorithms and newly designed hardware, for tracking the displacement of single and multiple flexor tendons. It has provided several important contributions to the field. / Graduate / 0548 / 0986 / 0760

Dans cette thèse nous obtenons des approximations et les erreurs associées pour la distribution de la statistique de scan discrète multi-dimensionnelle. La statistique de scan est vue comme le maximum d'une suite de variables aléatoires stationnaires 1-dépendante. Dans ce cadre, nous présentons un nouveau résultat pour l'approximation de la distribution de l'extremum d'une suite de variables aléatoire stationnaire 1-dépendante, avec des conditions d'application plus larges et des erreurs d'approximations plus petites par rapport aux résultats existants en littérature. Ce résultat est utilisé ensuite pour l'approximation de la distribution de la statistique de scan. L'intérêt de cette approche par rapport aux techniques existantes en littérature est du à la précision d'une erreur d'approximation, d'une part, et de son applicabilité qui ne dépend pas de la distribution du champ aléatoire sous-adjacent aux données, d'autre part.Les modèles considérés dans ce travail sont le modèle i.i.d et le modèle de dépendance de type block-factor. Pour la modélisation i.i.d. les résultats sont détaillés pour la statistique de scan uni, bi et tri-dimensionnelle. Un algorithme de simulation de type "importance sampling" a été introduit pour le calcul effectif des approximations et des erreurs associées. Des études de simulations démontrent l'efficacité des résultats obtenus. La comparaison avec d'autres méthodes existantes est réalisée. La dépendance de type block-factor est introduite comme une alternative à la dépendance de type Markov. La méthodologie développée traditionnellement dans le cas i.i.d. est étendue à ce type de dépendance. / In this thesis, we derive accurate approximations and error bounds for the probability distribution of the multidimensional discrete scan statistics. We start by improving some existing results concerning the estimation of the distribution of extremes of 1-dependent stationary sequences of random variables, both in terms of range of applicability and sharpness of the error bound. These estimates play the key role in the approximation process of the multidimensional discrete scan statistics distribution. The presented methodology has two main advantages over the existing ones found in the literature: first, beside the approximation formula, an error bound is also established and second, the approximation does not depend on the common distribution of the observations. For the underlying random field under which the scan process is evaluated, we consider two models: the classical model, of independent and identically distributed observations and a dependent framework, where the observations are generated by a block-factor. In the i.i.d. case, in order to illustrate the accuracy of our results, we consider the particular settings of one, two and three dimensions. A simulation study is conducted where we compare our estimate with other approximations and inequalities derived in the literature. The numerical values are efficiently obtained via an importance sampling algorithm discussed in detail in the text. Finally, we consider a block-factor model for the underlying random field, which consists of dependent data and we show how to extend the approximation methodology to this case. Several examples in one and two dimensions are investigated.

Along Sweden’s east coast there are thousands of well-preserved shipwrecks after an extensive shipping that stretches far back in history. The Baltic Sea is a unique sea in the sense that the ship worm Teredo Navalis cannot live here, which means that the ship’s timber is well preserved under water. But we have little knowledge how many these wrecks are and where they are located. No comprehensive underwater inventory like those made on land has even been made. Therefore, these shipwrecks are threatened with destruction by our ignorance of them. By scanning water areas in our immediate environment with Side scan sonar technology, our state of knowledge can be significantly improved. With this method, these relics can be found and preserved as far as possible for future generations. The wrecks can also be used for recreation and experience activities.

Convolutinal coding is a coding scheme often employed in deep space communications and recently in digital wireless communications. Viterbi decoders are used to decode convolutional codes. Viterbi decoders employed in digital wireless communications are complex and dissipate large power. With the proliferation of battery powered devices such as cellular phones and laptop computers, power dissipation, along with speed and area, is a major concern in VLSI design. In this thesis, we investigated a low-power design of Viterbi decoders for wireless communications applications. In CMOS technology the major source of power dissipation is attributed to dynamic power dissipation, which is due to the switching of signal values. The focus of our research in the low-power design of Viterbi decoders is reduction of dynamic power dissipation at logic level in the standard cell design environment. We considered two methods, clock-gating and toggle-filtering, in our design. A Viterbi decoder consists of five blocks. The clock-gating was applied to the survivor path storage block and the toggle-filtering to the trace-back block of a Viterbi decoder. We followed the standard cell design approach to implement the design. The behavior of a Viterbi decoder was described in VHDL, and then the VHDL description was modified to embed the low-power design. A gate level circuit was obtained from the behavioral description through logic synthesis, and a full scan design was incorporated into the gate level circuit to ease testing. The gate level circuit was placed and routed to generate a layout of the design. Our experimental result shows the proposed design reduces the power dissipation of a Viterbi decoder by about 42 percent compared with the on without considering the low-power design. / Master of Science

<p> The "microelectronic revolution" and the accompanying decrease in the cost of semiconductor memory has increased the availability of raster-scan graphical displays, yet, as pointed out in a recent survey [BAE79], the implementation of graphics software for raster-scan systems has lagged behind that for random-scan systems. The aim of the work described in this report has been to apply random-scan display techniques to a system employing a relatively inexpensive raster-scan device. The system, incorporating a segmented display file processor, is implemented on a KIM^TM microcomputer. The display device is composed of a Micro Technology Unlimited^TM (MTU) 8K Visable Memory^TM (VM) video board and a standard TV monitor.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Dopamine and serotonin are two neurotransmitters known to both play a very important role in the human brain. For example, the death of dopamine producing neurons in a region of the brain known as the substantia nigra are known to cause the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Also, many antidepressants are believed to work by increasing the extracellular level of serotonin in the brain. For the first time, it is now possible to measure the release of these two chemicals at sub-second time resolution in a human brain using a technique known as fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, for example from patients undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrode implantation surgery. In this work, we aimed to assess the feasibility of obtaining veridical dual measurements of serotonin and dopamine from substrates with mixtures of both chemicals. In the wet lab, data was collected on known concentrations of dopamine and serotonin and then used to make models capable of estimating the concentration of both chemicals from the voltammograms recorded in the patients. A method of linear regression known as the elastic net was used to make models from the wet lab data. The wetlab data was used to compare the performance of univariate and multivariate type models over various concentration ranges from 0-8000nM of dopamine and serotonin. Cross validation revealed that the multivariate model outperformed the univariate model both in terms of the linear correlation between predictions and actual values, and pH induced noise. The pH induced noise for the univariate model was 3.4 times greater for dopamine and 4.1 times greater for serotonin than the multivariate model. Raman spectroscopy was also investigated as a possible alternative to fast-scan cyclic voltammetry. Raman spectroscopy could have several benefits over fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, including the ability to chronically implant the measurement probe into a patient's brain and make observations over a long period of time. Raman spectroscopy data was collected on known concentrations of dopamine to investigate its potential in making in vivo measurements, however this data collection failed. Therefore, simulations were made which revealed the potential of the elastic net algorithm to determine the Raman spectra of several neurotransmitters simultaneously, even when they are in mixtures and the spectra are obstructed by the noisy background. The multivariate type model outperformed the univariate type model on Raman spectroscopy data and was able to predict dopamine with an error of 805nM RMS and serotonin with an error of 475nM RMS after being trained on concentrations smaller than 5uM of both dopamine and serotonin. In addition, the original Raman spectra of both neurotransmitters was extracted from the noise and reproduced very accurately by this method. / Master of Science

Phishing has been a big concern due to its active roles in recent data breaches and state- sponsored attacks. While existing works have extensively analyzed phishing websites and detection methods, there is still a limited understanding of the data flow of the phishing process. In this thesis, we perform an empirical measurement to draw a clear picture of the data flow of phishing from both attacker and defender perspectives. First, from attackers' perspective, we want to know how attackers collect the sensitive information stolen from victims throughout the end-to-end phishing attack process. So we collected more than 179,000 real-world phishing URLs. Then we build a measurement tool to feed fake credentials to live phishing sites and monitor how the credential information is shared with the phishing server and potentially third-party collectors on the client side. Besides, we also obtain phishing kits to analyze how credentials are sent to attackers and third-parties on the server side. Then, from defenders' perspective, online scan engines such as VirusTotal are heavily used by phishing defenders to label phishing URLs, however, the data flow behind phishing detection by those scan engines is still unclear. So we build our own phishing websites, submit them to VirusTotal for scanning, to understand how VirusTotal works and the quality of its labels. Our study reveals the key mechanisms for information sharing during phishing attacks and the need for developing more rigorous methodologies to assess and make use of the labels obtained from VirusTotal. / Master of Science / Phishing attack is the fraudulent attempt to lure the target users to give away sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details. Cybercriminals usually build phishing websites (mimicking a trustworthy entity), and trick users to reveal important credentials. However, the data flow of phishing process is still unclear. From attackers' per- spective, we want to know how attackers collect the sensitive information stolen by phishing websites. On the other hand, from defenders' perspective, we are trying to figure out how online scan engines (e.g., VirusTotal) detect phishing URLs and how reliable their detection results are. In this thesis, we perform an empirical measurement to help answer the two questions above. By monitoring and analyzing a large number of real-world phishing websites, we draw a clear picture of the credential sharing process during phishing attacks. Also, by building our own phishing websites and submitting to VirusTotal for scanning, we find that more rigorous methodologies to use VirusTotal labels are desperately needed.

Neste trabalho foi utilizado o método de regressão do diâmetro para a medida do limiar de ablação nos materiais Suprasil, BK7, Safira e Ti:Safira por pulsos de femtossegundos. Através de medidas dos limiares de ablação para pulsos únicos e pulsos sobrepostos, quantificou-se o parâmetro de incubação para cada dielétrico. Essas medidas preliminares serviram para validação do método denominado Diagonal Scan ou D-scan. Para tanto, o método D-scan teve seu formalismo expandido o que possibilitou a quantificação da sobreposição de pulsos durante o seu uso. A simplicidade e rapidez do método D-scan permitiram que o limiar de ablação no BK7 fosse medido para diferentes larguras temporais e sobreposições. O limiar de ablação para pulsos únicos em função da largura temporal dos pulsos foi comparado com uma simulação teórica. A partir do conhecimento do parâmetro de incubação desenvolveu-se uma metodologia de usinagem em dielétricos que considera a sobreposição de pulsos durante a ablação. Isso permitiu a fabricação de microcanais para uso em microfluídica em BK7. / In this study, the diameter regression method was used to measure the ablation threshold of Suprasil, BK7, Sapphire and Ti: Sapphire by femtosecond pulses. Through measurements of the ablation thresholds for single and overlapping pulses, the incubation parameter for each dielectric was quantified. These preliminary steps were used to validate the method called Diagonal Scan or D-scan. This was made possible by expanding the D-scan formalism, which allowed the quantification of overlapping pulses during its use. The simplicity of the D-scan method allowed the ablation threshold measurement in BK7 for different temporal widths and overlaps. The ablation threshold for single pulse for different temporal width was compared with a theoretical simulation. From the knowledge of the parameter of incubation, a methodology that considers dielectric machining overlapping pulses during ablation was developed. This allowed the manufacture of microchannels on BK7 for microfluidics.

Em sólidos dopados com Cr+3, o efeito não-linear ocorre devido à população de íons dopantes no estado metaestável, o qual possui uma polarizabilidade diferente do estado fundamental. Nestes materiais, o índice de refração não-linear n2 é proporcional a &#916;&#945;/Is , onde &#916;&#945; é a diferença de polarizabilidade, entre os estados, excitado (metaestável) e o fundamental, e Is a intensidade de saturação da transição. A técnica conhecida como Z-Scan é na atualidade a mais popular para medidas de n2 e foi recentemente aplicada em cristais dopados com Cr+3. Nestes materiais, o tempo de resposta do meio não-linear é dado pelo longo tempo de vida espontâneo do estado excitado &#964;0 (usualmente &#964;0 > 100 &#181;s) tornando possível medidas da resposta transiente do sinal. Isto torna possível a normalização do sinal pela medida em t =O (quando o efeito não-linear ainda não se manifestou) com o intuito de eliminar efeitos lineares parasíticos (devido a imperfeições da superfície da amostra, não paralelismo, etc.). Neste trabalho 7 nós usamos o método de Z-Scan resolvido no tempo para determinar não apenas n2, mas também a intensidade de saturação Is. Nós introduzimos um novo método para determinação de Is, através da medida de Z-Scan transiente. Os valores de n2 e Is, podem ser usados para calcular a seção de choque da absorção no estado fundamental &#963;1, &#916;&#945; e &#916;&#963; (a diferença de seção de choque de absorção entre o estado excitado e metaestável). , Fizemos medidas em cristais de rubi e alexandrita usando um laser de Ar modulado por um \"chopper\". No caso da alexandrita, o Cr+3 pode ocupar dois sítios que apresentam propriedades bastante diferentes. A técnica resolvida no tempo permite que se diferencie estes dois sítios, e então se determine n2, Is, &#964;0, &#916;&#945; e &#916;&#963; para o íon de Cr+3 em cada tipo de sítio (no caso do sítio de espelho os valores de n2 e &#916;&#945; são inéditos). / In Cr+3 doped solids, the nonlinearity originates from the population of dopant íon metastable excited state, which has a polarizability different from that of ground state. In these materials, the non-linear refractive index n2 is proportional to a &#916;&#945;/Is, where a &#916;&#945; is polarizability difference between excited and ground states and Is is the transition saturation intensity. The thecnique known as Z-Scan is nowadays the most popular one for n2 measurements and was recently applied to Cr+3 doped solids. In this material, the nonlinearity response time is given by the excited state spontaneous lifetime &#964;0 (usually &#964;0 > 100 &#181;s) permitting transient response measurements. This allows signal normalization at t=0 (when the nonlinear effect did not appear yet) in order to eliminate parasitic linear effects (due to nonparallel sample surfaces, surface imperfections, etc.). In the present work we used a time resolved Z-Scan method to determine not only n2 but also the saturation intensity Is and these values can be used to calculate the ground state absorption cross section &#963;1, &#916;&#945; and &#916;&#963; (where &#916;&#963; is the absorption cross section difference between excited and ground states). We introduced a new method to measure Is through transient Z-Scan measurements. We performed measurements in ruby and alexandrite using a chopped Ar+ ion laser. In the alexandrite crystal the Cr+3 ion can occupied two different sites that have very different spectroscopy properties. The time resolved technique allowed us to distinguished these two sites and then determine n2, &#963;0, &#916;&#945; , &#916;&#963; and Is for the Cr+3 ion each kind of site(our n2, &#916;&#945; and Is results for the mirror site are original contributions of these work).