OBJETIVO: Utilizar a tomografia de coerência óptica (TCO) de domínio Fourier para avaliar as camadas internas da retina de olhos de pacientes com esclerose múltipla (EM) ou neuromielite óptica (NMO), com ou sem história de neurite óptica (NO), e compará-los entre si e com os olhos de controles normais. Investigar a correlação entre os achados da TCO e os achados do campo visual nesse grupo de pacientes. MÉTODOS: Cento e oitenta e dois indivíduos foram estudados incluindo 74 com diagnóstico de EM, 33 com NMO, 30 com mielite transversa aguda longitudinal extensa (MTALE) e 45 controles normais. Todos os indivíduos foram submetidos a exame oftalmológico completo incluindo a perimetria computadorizada e a TCO de domínio Fourier. Os olhos estudados foram divididos em 5 grupos: olhos de pacientes com EM e episódio prévio de neurite óptica (EM-NO) olhos de pacientes com EM sem episódio prévio de neurite óptica (EM-sNO), olhos de pacientes com NMO e história de neurite olhos de pacientes com MTALE e olhos de controles normais. Foram analisadas as seguintes medidas obtidas pela TCO: a espessura da camada de fibras nervosas retiniana (CFNR) peri-papilar, a espessura macular total (EMT) avaliada em 8 setores de acordo com o mapa do \"Early Treatment Diabetes Retinopathy Treatment Trial\" e medidas segmentadas da CFNR na mácula, da camada de células ganglionares (CCG), camada nuclear interna (CNI). Os resultados da perimetria foram avaliados levando em consideração o \" mean deviation ( desvio médio)\" (MD) e os valores de diferentes regiões do campo visual divididos de acordo com a sua correspondência no disco óptico seguindo o mapa de Garway-Heath. A comparação dos achados entre os diferentes grupos foi feita usando modelos \"generalized estimated equations\" (GEE) de tal forma a fazer a compensação pela interdependência dos dois olhos de um mesmo indivíduo. Foram também calculadas e comparadas as áreas sob as áreas sob as curvas ROC (\"Receiver operating characteristics\") nos diferentes grupos. Foram calculadas as correlações de Spearman ou Pearson dependendo da distribuição dos valores. RESULTADOS: Não houve diferença significativa em relação à idade média e à distribuição dos pacientes quanto ao sexo nos 5 grupos estudados. Quando comparados ao grupo controle, os 4 grupos de olhos dos doentes apresentaram a espessura da CFNR peri-papilar e a CFNR macular significativamente menor que as medidas dos controles normais. Em relação à CCG e à EMT, os grupos NMO, EM-NO e EM-sNO apresentaram espessura estatisticamente menor que os controles enquanto que no grupo MTALE esta diferença não foi evidenciada. Quando a CNI foi estudada não houve diferença entre os controles e os 2 grupos com EM, enquanto que os grupos NMO e MTALE apresentaram espessura estatisticamente maior que os controles. Os dois grupos com história prévia de NO (NMO e EM-NO) apresentaram a espessura da CFNR peri-papilar e macular, da CCG e da EMT menores do que seus grupos correspondentes sem história prévia de NO (respectivamente MTALE e EM-sNO). Quando os grupos NMO e EM-NO foram comparados entre si não houve diferença de espessura em nenhuma camada exceto na CNI onde o grupo NMO foi estatisticamente mais espesso. Houve correlação entre os achados do TCO e aqueles da campimetria para ambas as doenças e esta correlação foi maior na NMO do que na EM, em especial quando a EMT foi o parâmetro do TCO utilizado na comparação. CONCLUSÕES: A TCO é capaz de demonstrar a perda neural nos doentes com EM ou NMO e evidencia perda neural subclínica tanto em olhos com MTALE como em pacientes com EM, sem história de NO prévia e demonstra aumento da CNI nos olhos de pacientes com NMO ou MTALE. Além do já conhecido mecanismo de lesão do nervo óptico por desmielinização o fato da CNI estar alterada no espectro NMO mostra que outros processos podem estar envolvidos na patogênese destas doenças e que esta camada pode ajudar na diferenciação entre as duas doenças, EM e NMO / PURPOSE: To evaluate, by the using of Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) the retinal inner layers of eyes with or without previous history of optic neuritis (ON) in multiple sclerosis (MS) or neuromyelitis optica (NMO) patients and compare them with normal controls. To investigate the correlation between the OCT and the visual field fidings. METHODS: One hundred two subjects were studied, 74 diagnosed as MS, 33 as NMO, 30 as longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM) and 45 nolmal controls. All patients were submitted to a complete ophthalmic evaluation including automated perimetry and Fourier domain OCT. The studied eyes were divided in 5 groups: eyes of MS patients with previous episodes of optic neuritis (MS-ON, group 1), eyes of MS patients without previous episodes of optic neuritis (MS-nON, group 2), eyes of NMO patients (group 3), eyes of LETM patients (group 4) and eyes of normal controls (group 5). The retinal layers measured by OCT were from the optic nerve, peri-papillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and from the macula: the total macular thickness (TMT), which was sub-divided in 8 sectors according to \"Early treatment diabetic retinopathy study\", and the segmented inner macula layers, RNFL, ganglion cell layer (CGL) and inner nuclear layer (INL). Regard to automated perimetry we analyzed the \"mean deviation\" (MD) and different sectors of the visual field according to their correspondence to Garway-Heath optic nerve map. Generalized estimation equation (GEE) models accounting for age and within-patient, inter-eye correlations, were used to compare the results among different groups. We also compare the area under ROC (receiver operating charactheristics) curve among the different groups. We also compute either Spearman or Pearson correlation according to values distributions. RESULTS: There was no statistical difference among the groups regard to sex or mean age. All 4 diseased groups presented peri-papillary RNFL and macular RNFL thicknesses statistically thinner than normal controls. Regarding to GCL thickness and TMT, the NMO, MS-ON and MS-nON groups were statistically thinner than controls, on the other hand the LETM group was not statistically different. When the INL thickness was studied, there was no statistical difference between controls and both MS groups, whereas the NMO and LETM groups were statistically thicker than controls. Both groups with previous history of ON (NMO and MS-ON) presented peri-papillary RNFL, macular RNFL, GCL and TMT thinner than theirs corresponding groups without previous history of ON (LETM and MS-nON, respectively). When NMO and MS-ON were compared, there was no statistical difference in any layer, except the INL, which was thicker in NMO group. There was statistical correlation between OCT and automated perimetry findings for both, MS and NMO, diseases and the correlation was bigger in NMO, particularly when TMT was the OCT parameter used. CONCLUSION: The OCT is able to demonstrate the neural loss in MS and NMO patients and it also shows sub-clinical neural loss in LETM and MS-nON patients. Besides the already known mechanism of optic nerve injury caused by demyelination, the presence of a abnormal INL in the NMO and LETM patients suggest that different processes may be involved in the pathogenesis of these diseases and also that the INL may help differentiating between NMO and MS

Esta dissertação apresenta o desenvolvimento, a validação e a aplicação de algoritmos para inferência de conectividade neural em registros de EEG contendo potenciais evento-relacionados (ERP). Os sinais foram caracterizados via modelos auto-regressivos multivariados (MVAR) e empregou-se a coerência parcial direcionada (PDC) no estudo das relações de causalidade entre eles. Certas características dos ERPs, como sua transitoriedade intrínseca e as múltiplas repetições em experimentos, levaram ao desenvolvimento de novos algoritmos, como a estimação de modelos conjuntos a partir de vários segmentos de sinal e um procedimento em janela deslizante capaz de descrever a evolução temporal da estatística dos sinais de interesse. Ademais, mostrou-se a possibilidade de estender os resultados da análise assintótica da estatística da PDC ao caso multi-trecho, tornando possível o estudo de sua significância estatística sem recorrer a procedimentos de reamostragem. Os algoritmos foram validados em exemplos com neural mass models, modelos não-lineares capazes de gerar sinais com características muito semelhantes a sinais de EEG reais, e aplicados a uma base de dados pública contendo resultados de experimentos com ratos. / This dissertation presents the development, validation, and application of algorithms for inferring neural connectivity in EEG signals containing event-related potentials (ERP). The time series were described via multivariate auto-regressive models (MVAR) and partial directed coherence (PDC) was used to study causal relations between them. Certain features of the ERPs, such as their transitory behavior and the existence of multiple trials in an experiment, lead to the development of a new algorithm capable of estimating a joint model from multiple segments and a sliding-window procedure for describing the nonstationarity behavior of the signals of interest. Furthermore, the possibility of extending the asymptotic results for PDC\'s statistics to the multi-trial case was demonstrated, allowing, therefore, the study of its statistical significance without recurring to resampling methods. The algorithms were validated in examples with neural mass models, non-linear models capable of generating signals with features very similar to real EEG recordings, and then applied to a publicly available dataset of experiments in rats.

Bancos de Tecidos de diversas regiões do mundo têm estocado cartilagens humanas obtidas de doadores post mortem para uso em diversos tipos de cirurgias reconstrutivas. Para garantir que tais tecidos não estejam contaminados, estes têm sido esterilizados com radiação ionizante. Entretanto, altas doses de radiação gama podem causar efeitos indesejáveis nos tecidos. No presente trabalho, avaliamos a viabilidade de utilizar duas técnicas, Tomografia por Coerência Óptica (OCT) e Termogravimetria (TGA), para identificar possíveis modificações estruturais causadas na cartilagem costal humana em decorrência dos métodos de preservação e doses de radiação ionizante utilizadas. As cartilagens obtidas de doadores cadavéricos foram congeladas a -70 ºC ou preservadas em glicerol. A seguir, as amostras foram irradiadas por fontes de 60Co com doses de 15, 25 e 50 kGy. Nos resultados de TGA verificamos que as cartilagens preservadas em glicerol e irradiadas com diferentes doses de radiação não apresentaram diferenças estatisticamente significantes quando comparadas ao grupo controle, no que tange a taxa de desidratação do tecido, sendo que o mesmo não ocorre com cartilagens congeladas a -70 ºC e irradiadas com doses de 15 kGy. Em relação ao uso da técnica de OCT, por meio do cálculo do coeficiente de atenuação óptica total, verificamos que doses de 15 kGy promovem a criação de ligações cruzadas entre as fibrilas de colágeno, corroborando os resultados de TGA. Ainda, os valores do coeficiente de atenuação óptica total são diretamente proporcionais à tensão de ruptura das cartilagens, o que nos possibilitará, em um futuro próximo, predizer a qualidade de um enxerto sem a necessidade de perda de material biológico, visto ser o OCT um método não destrutivo. Por meio das imagens de PS-OCT podemos verificar que as doses de radiação utilizadas para esterilizar as amostras não provocam danos à rede de colágeno a ponto de que sua birrefringência seja perdida. Assim, o TGA e OCT são técnicas que podem ser utilizadas por bancos de tecidos de forma a verificar a qualidade dos tecidos antes de serem transplantados em pacientes. / Tissue Banks around the world have stored human cartilages obtained from post mortem donors for use in several kinds of reconstructive surgeries. To ensure that such tissues are not contaminated, they have been sterilized with ionizing radiation. However, high doses of gamma radiation may cause undesirable changes in the tissues. In this work, we evaluated the possibility of use Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) to identify possible structural modifications caused by both preservation methods of cartilage and gamma irradiation doses. Cartilages were obtained from cadaveric donors and were frozen at -70 ºC or preserved in glycerol. Irradiation was performed by 60Co source with doses of 15, 25 and 50 kGy. Our TGA results showed that glycerolized cartilages irradiated with different doses of radiation does not presented statistical differences when compared to the control group for the dehydration rate. However, the same was not observed for deep-fronzen cartilages irradiated with 15 kGy. The results of OCT associated to total optical attenuation coefficient showed that doses of 15 kGy promote cross-link between collagen fibrils, corroborating the results obtained from TGA. Moreover, total optical attenuation coefficient values are proportionals to stress at break of cartilages, what will be very useful in a near future to predict the quality of the allografts, without unnecessary loss of biological tissue, once OCT is a nondestructive technique. By PS-OCT images, we found that high doses of ionizing radiation does not promote sufficient impairments to promote complete loss of tissue birefringence. Thus, TGA and OCT are techniques that can be used for tissue banks to verify tissue quality before its transplant.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:46:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Isabel da Silva.pdf: 328763 bytes, checksum: b306f5ebc19b383ed99117ead5aabf7b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-05-13 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / This essay focuses in the most important process of the articulation of a text, connected in two levels: - syntactic structure and the semantic arrangement. It s around these two axes that the linguistic and speech procedures are explored, axes that are responsible for the meaning of the text. Owing to this, some proposals of the textual linguistics which are concerned about the mainly criteria of textuality and cognitive process have been employed. This essay will focus only on the study of linguistic operations responsible for the production, construction and procedures of texts, whose language is used as metalinguistics. It s also concerned about the surface linking on the level on linguistic components, the conceptual coherence on semantics and cognitive and the pragmatic one, on the level of actions and intentions. The objects of study are short stories written by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, which explore metalinguistic function. / Este trabalho aborda os processos mais importantes de articulação do texto estes integrados em dois níveis: estrutura sintática e organização semântica. Exploram-se em torno desses dois eixos os procedimentos lingüísticos e discursivos responsáveis pela significação do texto. Para isso, foram adotadas propostas da lingüística textual que se preocupa com os principais critérios de textualidade e do processamento cognitivo. Deter-se-à, portanto, no estudo das operações lingüísticas responsáveis pela produção, construção e funcionamento de textos cuja linguagem se propõe como metalingüística. Sua preocupação abrange, também, a coesão superficial no nível dos constituintes lingüísticos, a coerência conceitual no nível semântico e cognitivo e a pragmática no plano das ações e das intenções. O objeto de estudo são crônicas de Carlos Drummond de Andrade, que exploram a função metalingüística.

Redes de computadores estão sob constante ameaça, ainda mais quando conectadas à Internet. Para reduzir o risco, dispositivos de segurança como o filtro de pacotes são usados. Uma primeira camada de segurança, o filtro de pacotes é responsável pelo bloqueio do tráfego indesejado em posições chave da rede. Os pacotes que devem ser permitidos ou bloqueados pelo filtro são definidos através de um conjunto de regras programadas pelo administrador da rede. Essas regras tem duas partes: a seleção e a ação. Conforme cresce a rede e o número de serviços, a quantidade de regras tende a aumentar. Passado certo limite, a complexidade de manter uma quantidade grande de regras se torna um fardo para o administrador. Isso aumenta a probabilidade de enganos que podem prejudicar a segurança da rede. Este trabalho desenvolve o conceito de “anomalia”, cada qual representa um problema em potencial, uma contradição ou uma regra supérflua dentro do conjunto de regras; ou seja, cada anomalia alerta o administrador da rede para determinada situação. Há 7 tipos de anomalias, que podem ser divididos em dois grupos: anomalias de filtro único e anomalias em rede. As anomalias de filtro único alertam o administrador sobre regras que se contradizem (“bloqueio”) ou que não possuem efeito no filtro (“invisibilidade” e “redundância”). As anomalias em rede, por sua vez, alertam o administrador sobre filtros que se contradizem (“discordância”), filtros que bloqueiam tráfego desejado (“bloqueio”), regras que não se aplicam a nenhum pacote que passe pelo filtro onde estão (“irrelevância”) e roteadores que permitem a passagem de tráfego indesejado (“vazamento”). Cada um desses tipos de anomalia é definido formalmente e apresentado junto com um algoritmo que a encontra. As anomalias e seus algoritmos foram usados para implementar uma ferramenta, o Packet Filter Checker (PFC), que lê as regras e a descrição da topologia da rede e cria um relatório com todas as anomalias presentes. Este trabalho apresenta um caso de uso fictício que é analisado e corrigido com base nos resultados apresentados pela ferramenta. O caso de uso é apresentado em diversas iterações, cada uma representando alterações nos requisitos da rede. Este caso mostra a ferramenta e os conceitos no contexto-alvo: na ajuda ao administrador da rede. / Computer networks are under constant threat, even more when connected to the Internet. To decrease the risk of invasions and downtime, security devices such as the packet filter are deployed. As a first layer of security, the packet filter is responsible for blocking out unwanted traffic at key network locations. The packets dropped or forwarded by the filter are defined by a set of rules programmed by the network administrator. These rules are in the form of guarded commands, each with a condition and a decision section. As the number of services and networks grow, the number of rules tend to grow as well. Beyond a certain threshold, the complexity of maintaining such a large and distributed set of rules becomes a burden for the network administrator. Mistakes can be easily made, compromising security. This work develops the concept of “anomaly”, each representing a potential problem, a contradiction or a superfluous rule in the rule set; i.e. a warning to the system administrator. There are 7 types of anomalies divided in two groups: single filter anomalies and networked anomalies. The single-filter anomalies warns the administrator about rules that contradict one another (the “conflict” anomaly) or have no effect (“invisibility” and “redundancy”) in the analysed filter. The networked anomalies, on the other hand, analyse the filters in the context of the network topology and warn the administrator about filters that contradict one another (“disagreement”), filters that block desired traffic (“blocking”), rules that have no effect on the given network topology (“irrelevancy”) and routers that are enabling unwanted traffic (“leaking”). Each type of anomaly is formally defined along with its algorithm. The developed concepts were used to implement a tool — the Packet Filter Checker (PFC) — that reads a description of the rules and network topology in a simple custom language and reports all anomalies present. This tool is used to analyse and fix a fictional user case in several iterations of changing requirements. This shows the tool and the anomalies in the target context: where they help the network administrator.

Os programas de computador têm apoiado o estudo de sistemas biomédicos em que um volume considerável de dados são empregados. Na biomecânica, a análise das influências entre as articulações pode melhorar o conhecimento das lesões relacionadas à corrida associadas ao uso excessivo durante a atividade de corrida. Compreender os padrões de interação entre diferentes articulações anatômicas, durante o movimento, pode contribuir para o aprimoramento de programas de treinamento, reabilitação e prevenção a lesões. Neste trabalho, um software personalizado foi desenvolvido para implementar a Coerência Parcial Direcionada (PDC), uma abordagem no domínio da freqüência da Causalidade de Granger (GC), adequado às especificidades da fisioterapia. Com entradas independentes e padronizadas, modularização e parametrização, as rotinas investigaram a direção de interação entre diferentes canais, registrando e salvando arquivos intermediários. Separados nos três planos anatômicos, sagital, frontal e transverso, foram utilizados dados cinemáticos para analisar as interações entre tornozelo, joelho, quadril, pelve e tronco durante a corrida. Três modificações de técnica de corrida foram abordadas: com aterrissagem iniciada com o antepé, com aumento de 10% na taxa de passo e com aumento de flexão de tronco, além da habitual. As análises foram realizadas para o ciclo completo (apoio e balanço) e com separação da fase de apoio, e revelaram que essas duas estratégias de processamento são complementares. Comparando as influências proximal e distal, os procedimentos sugeriram uma predominância das interações proximal a distal, mostrando uma origem central de movimentos. Dessa forma, destaca-se a relevância em controlar e fortalecer tronco e quadril para a minimização de lesões. Considerando os resultados e a oportunidade de configuração, o software pode ser empregado para estudar outras articulações e aplicações, bem como evoluir para um sistema automatizado de apoio à decisão. / Computer programs have supported the study of biomedical systems in which a considerable amount of data is employed. In biomechanics, analysis of influences between joints can improve the knowledge of the Running-Related-Injuries (RRI) associated to overuse during running activity. Understanding the patterns of interaction among anatomical joints during movement can contribute to the improvement of training, rehabilitation and injury prevention programs. In this work, a customized software was developed to implement Partial Directed Coherence (PDC), an approach in the frequency domain of Granger Causality (GC), adapted to the physical therapy specificities. With independent and standardized inputs, modularization and parameterization, the routines investigated the interaction direction between different channels, logging and saving intermediate files. Separated in the three anatomical planes, sagittal, frontal and transverse, kinematic data were employed to analyze the interactions between ankle, knee, hip, pelvis and trunk during running. Three running technique modifications were addressed: forefoot strike landing pattern, increasing 10% of the step rate and increasing trunk flexion, in addition to usual running. The analyzes were performed for the complete cycle (stance and swing) and with separation of the stance phase, and revealed that these two processing strategies are complementary. Comparing proximal and distal influences, procedures suggested a predominance of proximal to distal interactions, showing a central origin of movements. In this way, the importance of controlling and strengthening trunk and hip to minimize injuries is highlighted. Considering the results and the processing configuration opportunity, the software can be employed to study other joints and applications, as well as evolve to an automated decision support system.

Ce travail de thèse porte sur l’étude de la dynamique femtoseconde de photo-commutation de matériaux moléculaires bistables, à l’aide d’expériences pompe-sonde basées sur les spectroscopies optiques et rayons X. Une partie des expériences a été réalisée sur synchrotron et X-FEL (X-ray Free Electron Laser). La première partie de la thèse, qui est consacrée à l’étude de systèmes à transition de spin non-octaédriques, a révélé différents chemins de transformations sur la surface de potentiel, associés à différents mécanismes de changement d’état électronique et modulant la cohérence de la dynamique structurale pilotant le processus. La seconde partie porte sur l’étude d’analogues du bleu de Prusse (CoFe) où les expériences ultra-rapides ont permis de d’étudier les dynamiques de transformation autour des sites de fer et de cobalt. / This thesis focuses on the study of the femtosecond photoswitching dynamic in the bistable molecular materials, using the pump-probe experiments which are based on the optical and x-ray spectroscopies.  Part of these experiments was performed at synchrotron and X-FEL (X-ray Free Electron Laser). The first part of the thesis, which is devoted to the study of non-octahedral spin transition systems, revealed different pathways of transformation on the potential surface. The second part focuses on the study of the Prussian Blue Analogues (CoFe), where the ultra-fast experiments allowed to follow the dynamics around the two metal ions.

Summarization models which operate on meaning representations of documents have been neglected in the past, although they are a very promising and interesting class of methods for summarization and text understanding. In this thesis, I present one such summarizer, which uses the proposition as its meaning representation. My summarizer is an implementation of Kintsch and van Dijk's model of comprehension, which uses a tree of propositions to represent the working memory. The input document is processed incrementally in iterations. In each iteration, new propositions are connected to the tree under the principle of local coherence, and then a forgetting mechanism is applied so that only a few important propositions are retained in the tree for the next iteration. A summary can be generated using the propositions which are frequently retained. Originally, this model was only played through by hand by its inventors using human-created propositions. In this work, I turned it into a fully automatic model using current NLP technologies. First, I create propositions by obtaining and then transforming a syntactic parse. Second, I have devised algorithms to numerically evaluate alternative ways of adding a new proposition, as well as to predict necessary changes in the tree. Third, I compared different methods of modelling local coherence, including coreference resolution, distributional similarity, and lexical chains. In the first group of experiments, my summarizer realizes summary propositions by sentence extraction. These experiments show that my summarizer outperforms several state-of-the-art summarizers. The second group of experiments concerns abstractive generation from propositions, which is a collaborative project. I have investigated the option of compressing extracted sentences, but generation from propositions has been shown to provide better information packaging.

Cette thèse est consacrée à l'amélioration de la cohérence dans le régime d'effet Hall quantique entier (EHQE) à facteur de remplissage ν=2, obtenu en appliquant un fort champ magnétique perpendiculairement au plan d'un gaz bidimensionnel d'électrons formé à l'interface d'une hétérostructure semiconductrice d'AlGaAs/GaAs. On obtient alors des conducteurs unidimensionnels chiraux (états de bord) permettant de réaliser l'équivalent électronique de l'interféromètre de Mach-Zehnder (IMZ), pour étudier la cohérence dans ce régime. L'observation inattendue d'une structure périodique en forme de lobes dans la visibilité des interférences en fonction de la tension appliquée en entrée suggère un rôle non négligeable des interactions.Dans un première partie nous expliquons l'émergence des états de bord dans le régime d'EHQE. Nous faisons ensuite l'état de l'art des connaissances concernant leur cohérence, puis nous présentons l'IMZ électronique du point de vue expérimental.Ensuite, nous détaillons les résultats expérimentaux, d'abord concernant la visibilité à tension finie: nos mesures confirment une prédiction théorique concernant un transition de phase quantique en fonction de la dilution de l'état de bord qui interfère ; nous ne voyons pas d'effet flagrant de la relaxation en énergie. Enfin, de précédents travaux(1) ayant identifié clairement l'état de bord voisin de celui qui interfère comme l'environnement limitant la cohérence du système, nous avons réalisé un nouveau type d'échantillon afin de diminuer le couplage à cet environnement de manière contrôlée. Nous avons ainsi augmenté la cohérence de moitié en accord quantitatif avec la théorie issue de précédents travaux(1).(1)P. Roulleau, F. Portier, P. Roche, A. Cavanna, G. Faini, U. Gennser, and D. Mailly. Noise Dephasing in Edge States of the Integer Quantum Hall Regime. Physical Review Letters, 101(18):186803–4, October 2008 / This PhD thesis is devoted to the engineering of quantum coherence in the integer quantum Hall effect regime (IQHE) at filling factor ν=2, obtained by applying a strong perpendicular magnetic field to a bidimensional electron gas formed at the interface of a GaAlAs/GaAs semiconducting heterostructure. Then unidimensional chiral conductors called edge states appear which can be used as electron beams to build the equivalent in condensed matter of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) so as to study coherence in this regime. The unexpected periodic lobe structure of the visibility as function of the bias voltage suggests that interactions play an important role.In the first part, we explain how edge states emerge in the IQHE regime. We picture the state of the art on the edge states coherence. Then we present the MZI from the experimental point of view.Next we show our results, first concerning the visibility at finite bias: our measurements confirm a prediction about a quantum phase transition as function of the interfering edge state dilution. We don't see any significant manifestation of energy relaxation in the visibility. Finally, having identified the adjacent edge state as the noisy environment limitating coherence thanks to previous works, we have designed a new kind of sample to decrease the coupling of the system to this environment in a controlled manner. We thus decreased dephasing by half, in quantitative agreement with the theory developped previously in our group.

Coronary atherosclerosis is by far the most frequent cause of ischemic heart disease. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) along with virtual histology (VH) is a useful tool for quantification of coronary plaque buildup and provides new insights into the diagnosis of coronary disease. Rupture of vulnerable plaque causing acute coronary syndromes, coronary remodeling maintaining lumen size and plaque phenotype revealing pathological severity are among the most important topics related to atherosclerosis. In this thesis, variations of IVUS-VH-derived thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA) definitions are proposed to evaluate the plaque rupture, which is further analyzed in a layered manner; statins effects on coronary remodeling are comprehensively assessed with the implementation of automated IVUS segmentation and registration of IVUS pullbacks based on baseline and 1-year followup datasets; plaque phenotypes are determined and analyzed morphologically and compositionally on segmental basis using the same serial datasets. In addition, our research involves another important coronary disease — coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV) which is a frequent complication of heart transplantation (HTx). Another intra-coronary imaging modality — intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) for quantifying CAV is involved. We present an optimal and automated 3-D graph search approach for the simultaneous IVOCT multi-layer segmentation by transforming the 3-D segmentation problem into finding a minimum-cost closed set in a weighted graph. Furthermore, a computer-aided just-enough-interaction refinement method is proposed to help achieve fully satisfactory 3-D segmentation of IVOCT images. We believe this is the first work that provides a fast, efficient and accurate solution for IVOCT multi-layer assessment in the context of CAV. The major contributions of this thesis are: (1) Proving that IVUS-VH-derived TCFA prevalence may be overestimated, and elucidating the potential loss of plaque material during rupture, (2) providing a comprehensive understanding of remodeling in the context of both changing the remodeling direction and changing the remodeling extent, and demonstrating the statin therapy effects on remodeling across patients, based on automated segmentation of IVUS images and registration of serial data, (3) showing that the pathological intimal thickening is the most active plaque phenotype in terms of plaque composition changes and plaque vulnerability progression, and (4) developing and validating a method for multi-layer 3-D segmentation of IVOCT images within a novel interactive environment.