No description available.

Development of state-of-the-art medical imaging modalities such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Computed Tomography, Galactography, MR Diffusion Tensor Imaging, and Tomosynthesis plays an important role for visualization and assessment of anatomical structures. Included among these structures are structures of branching topology such as the bronchial tree in chest computed tomography images, the blood vessels in retinal images and the breast ductal network in x-ray galactograms and the tubular bone patterns in dental radiography. Analysis of such images could help reveal abnormalities, assist in estimating a risk of diseases such as breast cancer and COPD, and aid in the development of realistic anatomy phantoms. This thesis aims at the development of a set of automated methods for the analysis of anatomical structures of tree and network topology. More specifically, the two main objectives include (i) the development of analysis framework to explore the association between topology and texture patterns of anatomical branching structures and (ii) the development of the image processing methods for enhanced visualization of regions of interest in anatomical branching structures such as branching nodes. / Computer and Information Science

Τα δεδομένα εικόνων που προκύπτουν από την χρήση βιο-ιατρικών μηχανημάτων είναι από την φύση τους ασαφή, χάρη σε μια σειρά από παράγοντες ανάμεσα στους οποίους οι περιορισμοί στον χώρο, τον χρόνο, οι παραμετρικές αναλύσεις καθώς και οι φυσικοί περιορισμοί που επιβάλλει το εκάστοτε μηχάνημα. Όταν το αντικείμενο ενδιαφέροντος σε μια τέτοια εικόνα έχει κάποιο μοτίβο φωτεινότητας ευκρινώς διαφορετικό από τα μοτίβα των υπόλοιπων αντικειμένων που εμφανίζονται, είναι εφικτή η κατάτμηση της εικόνας με έναν απόλυτο, δυαδικό τρόπο που να εκφράζει επαρκώς τα όρια των αντικειμένων. Συχνά ωστόσο σε τέτοιες εικόνες υπεισέρχονται παράγοντες όπως η ανομοιογένεια των υλικών που απεικονίζονται, θόλωμα, θόρυβος ή και μεταβολές στο υπόβαθρο που εισάγονται από την συσκευή απεικόνισης με αποτέλεσμα οι εντάσεις φωτεινότητας σε μια τέτοια εικόνα να εμφανίζονται με έναν ασαφή, βαθμωτό, «μη-δυαδικό» τρόπο. Μια πρωτοπόρα τάση στην σχετική βιβλιογραφία είναι η αξιοποίηση της ασαφούς σύνθεσης των αντικειμένων μιας τέτοιας εικόνας, με τρόπο ώστε η ασάφεια να αποτελεί γνώρισμα του εκάστοτε αντικειμένου αντί για ανεπιθύμητο χαρακτηριστικό: αντλώντας από την θεωρία ασαφών συνόλων, τέτοιες προσεγγίσεις κατατμούν μια εικόνα με βαθμωτό, μη-δυαδικό τρόπο αποφεύγοντας τον μονοσήμαντο καθορισμό ορίων μεταξύ των αντικειμένων. Μια τέτοια προσέγγιση καταφέρνει να αποτυπώσει με μαθηματικούς όρους την ασάφεια της θολής εικόνας, μετατρέποντάς την σε χρήσιμο εργαλείο ανάλυσης στα χέρια ενός ειδικού. Από την άλλη, το μέγεθος της ασάφειας που παρατηρείται σε τέτοιες εικόνες είναι τέτοιο ώστε πολλές φορές να ωθεί τους ειδικούς σε διαφορετικές ή και αντικρουόμενες κατατμήσεις, ακόμη και από το ίδιο ανθρώπινο χέρι. Επιπλέον, το παραπάνω έχει ως αποτέλεσμα την οικοδόμηση βάσεων δεδομένων στις οποίες για μια εικόνα αποθηκεύονται πολλαπλές κατατμήσεις, δυαδικές και μη. Μπορούμε με βάση μια κατάτμηση εικόνας να ανακτήσουμε άλλες, παρόμοιες τέτοιες εικόνες των οποίων τα δεδομένα έχουν προέλθει από αναλύσεις ειδικών, χωρίς σε κάποιο βήμα να υποβαθμίζουμε την ασαφή φύση των αντικειμένων που απεικονίζονται; Πως επιχειρείται η ανάκτηση σε μια βάση δεδομένων στην οποία έχουν αποθηκευτεί οι παραπάνω πολλαπλές κατατμήσεις για κάθε εικόνα; Αποτελεί κριτήριο ομοιότητας μεταξύ εικόνων το πόσο συχνά θα επέλεγε ένας ειδικός να οριοθετήσει ένα εικονοστοιχείο μιας τέτοιας εικόνας εντός ή εκτός ενός τέτοιου θολού αντικειμένου; Στα πλαίσια της παρούσας εργασίας προσπαθούμε να απαντήσουμε στα παραπάνω ερωτήματα, μελετώντας διεξοδικά την διαδικασία ανάκτησης τέτοιων εικόνων. Προσεγγίζουμε το πρόβλημα θεωρώντας ότι για κάθε εικόνα αποθηκεύονται στην βάση μας περισσότερες της μίας κατατμήσεις, τόσο δυαδικής φύσης από ειδικούς όσο και από ασαφείς από αυτόματους αλγορίθμους. Επιδιώκουμε εκμεταλλευόμενοι το χαρακτηριστικό της ασάφειας να ενοποιήσουμε την διαδικασία της ανάκτησης και για τις δυο παραπάνω περιπτώσεις, προσεγγίζοντας την συχνότητα με την οποία ένας ειδικός θα οριοθετούσε το εκάστοτε ασαφές αντικείμενο με συγκεκριμένο τρόπο καθώς και τα ενδογενή χαρακτηριστικά ενός ασαφούς αντικειμένου που έχει εξαχθεί από αυτόματο αλγόριθμο. Προτείνουμε κατάλληλο μηχανισμό ανάκτησης ο οποίος αναλαμβάνει την μετάβαση από τον χώρο της αναποφασιστικότητας και του ασαφούς στον χώρο της πιθανοτικής αναπαράστασης, διατηρώντας παράλληλα όλους τους περιορισμούς που έχουν επιβληθεί στα δεδομένα από την πρωταρχική ανάλυσή τους. Στην συνέχεια αξιολογούμε την διαδικασία της ανάκτησης, εφαρμόζοντας την νέα μέθοδο σε ήδη υπάρχον σύνολο δεδομένων από το οποίο και εξάγουμε συμπεράσματα για τα αποτελέσματά της. / Image data acquired through the use of bio-medical scanners are by nature fuzzy, thanks to a series of factors including limitations in spatial, temporal and parametric resolutions other than the physical limitations of the device. When the object of interest in such an image displays intensity patterns that are distinct from the patterns of other objects appearing together, a segmentation of the image in a hard, binary manner that clearly defines the borders between objects is feasible. It is frequent though that in such images factors like the lack of homogeneity between materials depicted, blurring, noise or deviations in the background pose difficulties in the above process. Intensity values in such an image appear in a fuzzy, gradient, “non-binary” manner. An innovative trend in the field of study is to make use of the fuzzy composition of objects in such an image, in a way in which fuzziness becomes a characteristic feature of the object instead of an undesirable trait: deriving from the theory of fuzzy sets, such approaches segment an image in a gradient, non-binary manner, therefore avoiding to set up a clear boundary between depicted objects. Such approaches are successful in capturing the fuzziness of the blurry image in mathematical terms, transforming the quality into a powerful tool of analysis in the hands of an expert. On the other hand, the scale of fuzziness observed in such images often leads experts towards different or contradictory segmentations, even drawn by the same human hand. What is more, the aforementioned case results in the compilation of image data bases consisting of multiple segmentations for each image, both binary and fuzzy. Are we able, by segmenting an image, to retrieve other similar such images whose segmented data have been acquired by experts, without downgrading the importance of the fuzziness of the objects depicted in any step involved? How exactly are images in such a database storing multiple segmentations of each retrieved? Is the frequency with which an expert would choose to either include or exclude from a fuzzy object a pixel of an image, a criterion of semblance between objects depicted in images? Finally, how able are we to tackle the feature of fuzziness in a probabilistic manner, thus providing a valuable tool in bridging the gap between automatic segmentation algorithms and segmentations coming from field experts? In the context of this thesis, we tackle the aforementioned problems studying thoroughly the process of image retrieval in a fuzzy context. We consider the case in which a database consists of images for which exist more than one segmentations, both crisp, derived by experts’ analysis, and fuzzy, generated by segmentation algorithms. We attempt to unify the retrieval process for both cases by taking advantage of the feature of fuzziness, and by approximating the frequency with which an expert would confine the boundaries of the fuzzy object in a uniform manner, along with the intrinsic features of a fuzzy, algorithm-generated object. We propose a suitable retrieval mechanism that undertakes the transition from the field of indecisiveness to that of a probabilistic representation, at the same time preserving all the limitations imposed on the data by their initial analysis. Next, we evaluate the retrieval process, by implementing the new method on an already existing data-set and draw conclusions on the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Digital image archiving urgently requires advanced techniques for more efficient storage and retrieval methods because of the increasing amount of digital. Although JPEG supply systems to compress image data efficiently, the problems of how to organize the image database structure for efficient indexing and retrieval, how to index and retrieve image data from DCT compressed domain and how to interpret image data semantically are major obstacles for further development of digital image database system. In content-based image, image analysis is the primary step to extract useful information from image databases. The difficulty in content-based image retrieval is how to summarize the low-level features into high-level or semantic descriptors to facilitate the retrieval procedure. Such a shift toward a semantic visual data learning or detection of semantic objects generates an urgent need to link the low level features with semantic understanding of the observed visual information. To solve such a 'semantic gap' problem, an efficient way is to develop a number of classifiers to identify the presence of semantic image components that can be connected to semantic descriptors. Among various semantic objects, the human face is a very important example, which is usually also the most significant element in many images and photos. The presence of faces can usually be correlated to specific scenes with semantic inference according to a given ontology. Therefore, face detection can be an efficient tool to annotate images for semantic descriptors. In this thesis, a paradigm to process, analyze and interpret digital images is proposed. In order to speed up access to desired images, after accessing image data, image features are presented for analysis. This analysis gives not only a structure for content-based image retrieval but also the basic units ii for high-level semantic image interpretation. Finally, images are interpreted and classified into some semantic categories by semantic object detection categorization algorithm.

Les prairies permanentes (PP) jouent un rôle agronomique et environnemental important. Cependant, leur faible niveau de subventions, une méconnaissance de leur fonctionnement et un désintérêt de ces surfaces au profit de productions fourragères plus productives ont accéléré leur retournement. Revaloriser ces surfaces dans les systèmes fourragers en mettant notamment en avant les services rendus par les PP est donc un enjeu important. Dans ce cadre, l’objectif de notre étude était d’identifier des descripteurs pédoclimatiques et des pratiques de gestion ainsi que les états de la végétation pertinents pour prédire ces services. Notre approche s’est appuyée sur une démarche en plusieurs étapes : i) identification et caractérisation des services fourragers et environnementaux pertinents pour les PP, ii) identification des critères d’aptitude (valeur nutritive, quantité de nectar disponible…), qui permettent d’évaluer le degré d’atteinte du service, iii) prévision des valeurs de chaque critère d’aptitude à partir des états de la végétation (composition botanique et fonctionnelle) et iv) construction des liens entre les états de la végétation et des descripteurs pédoclimatiques (température, régime hydrique…) et de pratiques de gestion (fertilisation, date de première fauche…). Un travail de bibliographie, d’expertise et d’enquêtes en ferme a permis de sélectionner les services fourragers et environnementaux, les critères d’aptitude, les états de la végétation et les descripteurs pédoclimatiques et des pratiques de gestion. Au total, quatre services environnementaux et 10 services fourragers ont été étudiés, en tenant compte de 12 états de la végétation (composition botanique (présence et dominances en espèces) et fonctionnelle (traits de vie et propriétés des espèces)), de 15 descripteurs pédoclimatiques (température, humidité du sol, …) et 19 descripteurs des pratiques de gestion (fertilisation, intensité d’utilisations de la prairie,...). L’étude d’un réseau national de 190 parcelles nous a permis de montrer que les compositions fonctionnelle et botanique sont non redondantes et influencées par des descripteurs pédoclimatiques et des pratiques de gestion différentes. La composition fonctionnelle est influencée par des descripteurs pédoclimatiques et des pratiques de gestion alors que la composition botanique, qui fait appel à un plus grand nombre de descripteurs, est majoritairement prédite par des descripteurs pédoclimatiques. Les modèles de prévisions sont meilleurs pour la composition botanique que pour la composition fonctionnelle. L’étude de ce réseau ainsi que d’un dispositif en station expérimentale nous ont permis d’évaluer la qualité de prédiction des critères d’aptitude fourragers (production et valeur nutritive) à partir de la composition fonctionnelle (types fonctionnels (TF) de graminées, proportion de graminées, légumineuses et diverses) de la végétation. L’étude, dans un même milieu de trois prairies de composition en TF contrastée confirme sur l’ensemble de la saison de végétation les différences de qualité et de production de la prairie induites par la composition en TF. En revanche, à l’échelle du réseau national de prairies, la composition en TF n’explique qu’une part limitée des variations de qualité et de production observées. D’autres états de la végétation comme les proportions de légumineuses et de plantes diverses, ainsi que le stade moyen de la végétation et la teneur en matière sèche de la prairie contribuent également à expliquer les différences de production et de qualité entre prairies. Enfin une démarche multicritères nous a permis de construire une méthode d’évaluation des services fourragers et environnementaux à partir des critères d’aptitude. / The contribution of permanent grasslands (PG) to agronomic and environmental services is important. However, their low level of subsidies, a lack of knowledge about their management and a disinterest of these surfaces in favour of more productive forage production have accelerated their downturn. The upgrade of these surfaces in forage systems in particular by studying services of PG is an important issue. In this context, the objective of our study was to identify pedoclimatic and management practices descriptors and characteristics of the vegetation relevant to predict these services. Our approach was based on different steps: i) identification and characterization of forage and environmental services relevant to the PG, ii) identification of aptitude criteria (herbage quality, amount of nectar available ...) which allow to assess the degree of achievement of the services, iii) prediction of values for each criterion of aptitude from characteristics of vegetation (botanical and functional composition) and iv) building links between characteristics of vegetation and pedoclimatic (temperature, soil moisture) and management practices (fertilization, date of first cut) descriptors. From the literature survey, expertise and farm surveys we selected the forage and environmental services, the criteria of aptitude, the characteristics of vegetation and pedoclimatic and management practices descriptors. In total, four environmental services and 11 feed services were studied, taking into account the 12 characteristics of the vegetation (botanical composition (presence and dominance of species) and functional composition (life traits and properties of species)), 15 pedoclimatic descriptors (temperature, soil moisture ...) and 19 management practices descriptors (fertilization, intensity of use of grassland...). The study of a national network of 190 grasslands allowed us to show that botanical and functional composition are non-redundant and influenced by different pedoclimatic and management practices descriptors. The functional composition is influenced by pedoclimatic and management practices descriptors while the botanical composition, which uses a larger number of descriptors, is mainly predicted by pedoclimatic descriptors. The model predictions are better for the botanical composition than for the functional composition. The study of this network and of an experiment in control conditions allowed us to evaluate the quality of prediction of criteria of aptitude for forage services from the functional composition (functional types (FT), proportion of grasses, legumes and forbs, middle stage and dry matter content) of the vegetation. The study in a common environment of three grasslands contrasted on FT composition confirms on the whole growth season the differences in quality and production of grassland that are linked to the FT composition. In contrast, at the scale of the national grassland network, FT composition alone is not sufficient to predict the observed differences in production and quality. Other characteristics of vegetation such as the proportion of legumes and forbs, as well as the mean stage of vegetation or the dry matter content also contribute to explain the differences in production and quality between grasslands. Finally, a multicriteria approach allowed us to build an evaluation method of forage and environmental services from the criteria of aptitude.Thus, this thesis work allowed the development of a method to predict the forage and environmental services provided by permanent grasslands from the knowledge of pedoclimatic characteristics, management practices and of simple vegetation criteria

Cette thèse présente une méthodologie appliquée à la caractérisation de la dynamique de structures déformables sur des séquences temporelles (2D+t). Des indicateurs sont proposés pour estimer la mobilité de formes non-rigides, à partir de leurs contours. Deux approches complémentaires sont développées: En premier lieu, les descripteurs de forme sont utilisés pour quantifier les déformations globales des formes, et pour estimer des repères géométriques spécifiques. La deuxième approche repose sur l'appariement difféomorphique pour déterminer une paramétrisation unifiée des formes, afin de décrire les déformations. Une évaluation permet d'apprécier la qualité des indicateurs en termes de coût algorithmique, de robustesse face aux données altérées, et de capacité à différencier deux séquences.Cette approche de caractérisation est appliquée à des séquences IRM dynamiques de la cavité pelvienne, où les principaux organes pelviens (vessie, utérus-vagin, rectum) ont une grande variabilité morphologique, ils se déplacent et se déforment. Cette caractérisation est validée dans le cadre de deux applications. L'analyse statistique effectuée sur un ensemble de séquences permet de mettre en évidence des comportements caractéristiques des organes, d'identifier des références anatomiquement significatives, et d'aider à l'interprétation des diagnostics des organes. Aussi, dans le contexte de la réalisation d'une modélisation de la dynamique pelvienne patiente-spécifique, la caractérisation vise à évaluer quantitativement la précision de la modélisation, en utilisant l'IRM dynamique comme vérité-terrain. Ainsi, elle apporte des indications sur la correction des paramètres du modèle. / This thesis presents a methodology for the characterization of the dynamics of deformable structures on time-series data (2D+t). Some indicators are proposed in order to estimate non-rigid shape variations from their contours. Two complementary approaches are developed : First, shape descriptors are used to quantify the global deformations of the shapes, and to estimate specific geometric references. The second approach relies on the diffeomorphic mapping to determinate a unified parametrization of the shapes. Then, features are used to describe the deformations locally. Furthermore, the methodology has an evaluation step which consists in the assessment of the quality of the indicators in the algorithmic complexity, in the stability against data with a small variability, and in the ability to differentiate two sequences.The characterization is applied to dynamic MRI sequences of the pelvic cavity, where the main pelvic organs (bladder, uterus-vagina, rectum) have a high morphological variability, they undergo displacements and deformations. The characterization is validated within the context of two applications. Firslty, a statistical analysis is carried out on a set of sequences. It allows to highlight some properties of the organ behaviors, and to identify meaningful anatomical landmarks. The analysis helps also for the automatic interpretation of the organ diagnoses. Secondly, within the context of the development of a patient-specific pelvic dynamics modeling system, the characterization aims at assessing quantitatively the modeling precision. It uses the dynamic MRI as a ground truth. Thereby, it brings some clues about the correction of the model parameters.

Le développement de la technologie « piles à combustible » nécessite l'utilisation d'outils de diagnostic adéquats notamment pour le monitoring de l'état de santé des systèmes industriels (stacks) dans les conditions réelles de fonctionnement. L'utilisation des moyens traditionnels de diagnostic nécessite l'arrêt ou la perturbation du fonctionnement du système. Le travail de cette thèse vise le développement d'une approche innovante non intrusive pour le diagnostic des stacks PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane), basée sur la mesure des petites fluctuations électriques (bruits électrochimiques). Pour mesurer les bruits, un système d'acquisition des faibles signaux à haute fréquence a été utilisé sans filtrage analogique préalable. Ces mesures ont été dans le cadre du projet ANR « Propice » pour quatre campagnes de mesures avec la collaboration du FCLAB et du CEA LITEN. Les mesures des bruits électrochimiques, sur plusieurs semaines, ont permis de construire une base de données extrêmement riche. Pour traiter ces données, différents approches statistiques dans le domaine temporel, fréquentiel et tempo-fréquentiel ont été utilisés pour la génération de descripteurs fiables et robustes. Il a été démontré que la mesure des bruits permet d'obtenir une riche signature des stacks PEM dans un vaste domaine fréquentiel. Cette signature reflète les différents phénomènes physico-chimiques et est très sensible aux paramètres de fonctionnement du système. L'évolution de cette signature au court de temps peut être utilisée pour le diagnostic in-situ de d'état de santé des stacks commerciaux dans les conditions réelles de fonctionnement et pour le développement des moyens de pronostic. / Fuel cell technology development requires adequate diagnostic tools, in particular for monitoring the state of health of industrial systems (stacks) under operating conditions. Traditional diagnostic tools require to stop or disrupt the system operating. This thesis aims at the development of an innovative and non-intrusive approach for the diagnostic of PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell stacks. The methodology is based on the measurement of small electrical fluctuations (electrochemical noise). To measure this noise, a high frequency signal acquisition system was used without prior analog filter. These measurements were obtained within the ANR project « Propice » using four measurement campaigns with the collaboration of FCLAB and CEA LITEN. Electrochemical noise Measurements, over several weeks, made it possible to build a rich database. To process these data, different statistical approaches in time, frequency and tempo-frequency domains have been used for the generation of reliable and robust descriptors. It has been shown that the measurement of noise makes it possible to obtain a rich signature of the PEM stacks in a wide frequency range. This signature reflects the various physico-chemical phenomena and it is very sensitive to the operating parameters of the system. The evolution of this signature in short time analysis can be used for an in-situ diagnostic of the state of health of commercial stacks under real operating conditions and for the development of prognostic strategies.

Dans le cadre de l'acquisition de l'information de profondeur de scènes texturées, un processus d'estimation de la profondeur basé sur la méthode de reconstruction 3D « Shape from Focus » est présenté dans ce manuscrit. Les deux étapes fondamentales de cette approche sont l'acquisition de la séquence d'images de la scène par sectionnement optique et l'évaluation de la netteté locale pour chaque pixel des images acquises. Deux systèmes d'acquisition de cette séquence d'images sont présentés ainsi que les traitements permettant d'exploiter celle-ci pour la suite du processus d'estimation de la profondeur. L'étape d'évaluation de la netteté des pixels passe par la comparaison des différents opérateurs de mesure de netteté. En plus des opérateurs usuels, deux nouveaux opérateurs basés sur les descripteurs généralisés de Fourier sont proposés. Une méthode nouvelle et originale de comparaison est développée et permet une analyse approfondie de la robustesse à différents paramètres des divers opérateurs. Afin de proposer une automatisation du processus de reconstruction, deux méthodes d'évaluation automatique de la netteté sont détaillées. Finalement, le processus complet de reconstruction est appliqué à des scènes agronomiques, mais également à une problématique du domaine de l'analyse de défaillances de circuits intégrés afin d'élargir les domaines d'utilisation / In the context of the acquisition of depth information for textured scenes, a depth estimation process based on a 3D reconstruction method called "shape from focus" is proposed in this thesis. The two crucial steps of this approach are the image sequence acquisition of the scene by optical sectioning and the local sharpness evaluation for each pixel of the acquired images. Two acquisition systems have been developed and are presented as well as different image processing techniques that enable the image exploitation for the depth estimation process. The pixel sharpness evaluation requires comparison of different focus measure operators in order to determine the most appropriate ones. In addition to the usual focus measure operators, two news operators based on generalized Fourier descriptors are presented. A new and original comparison method is developped and provides a further analysis of the robustness to various parameters of the focus measure operators. In order to provide an automatic version of the reconstruction process, two automatic sharpness evaluation methods are detailed. Finally, the whole reconstruction process is applied to agronomic scenes, but also to a problematic in failure analysis domain aiming to expand to other applications

No description available.

Esse trabalho descreve o desenvolvimento de uma nova ferramenta quimioinformática designada de SISTEMATX que possibilitou a análise quimiotaxonômica da família Asteraceae, empregando novos parâmetros moleculares, bem como o estudo da relação quantitativa estrutura química atividade biológica de substâncias provenientes desse grupo vegetal. A família Asteraceae, uma das maiores entre as angiospermas, caracteriza-se quimicamente pela produção de sesquiterpenos lactonizados (SLs). Um total de 1111 (SLs), extraídos de 658 espécies, 161 gêneros, 63 subtribos e 15 tribos da família Asteraceae foram representados e cadastrados em duas dimensões no SISTEMATX e associados à respectiva origem botânica. A partir dessa codificação, o grau de oxidação e as estruturas em três dimensões de cada SL foram obtidos pelo sistema. Essas informações, associadas aos dados botânicos, foram exportadas para um arquivo texto, o qual permitiu a obtenção de vários tipos de descritores moleculares. Esses parâmetros moleculares foram correlacionados com o grau de oxidação médio por tribo e tiveram sua seleção realizada por regressão linear múltipla utilizando algoritmo genético. Equações com coeficientes estatísticos variando entre 0,725 ≤ r2 ≤ 0,981 e 0,647 ≤ Qcv2 ≤ 0,725 foram obtidas com apenas um descritor, possibilitando a identificação de algumas características estruturais relacionadas ao grau de oxidação. Não foi obtida nenhuma relação entre o grau de oxidação dos SL e a evolução das tribos da família Asteraceae. Os descritores moleculares também foram usados como dados de entrada para separar as ocorrências botânicas através de mapas auto-organizáveis (rede não supervisionada Kohonen). Os mapas gerados, com cada bloco de descritor, separaram as tribos da família Asteraceae com valores de índices de acerto total entre 66,7% e 83,6%. A análise desses resultados evidencia semelhanças entre as tribos Heliantheae, Helenieae, e Eupatorieae e, também, entre as tribos Anthemideae e Inuleae. Tais observações são coincidentes com as classificações sistemáticas propostas por Bremer, que utilizam principalmente dados morfológicos e, também, moleculares. A mesma abordagem foi utilizada para separar os ramos da tribo Heliantheae, segundo a classificação proposta por Stuessy, cuja separação é baseada no número de cromossomos das subtribos. Os mapas auto-organizáveis obtidos separam em duas regiões distintas os ramos A e C, com elevados índices de acerto total que variam entre 81,79% a 92,48%. Ambos os estudos demonstram que os descritores moleculares podem ser utilizados como uma ferramenta para classificação de táxons em níveis hierárquicos baixos, tais como tribos e subtribos. Adicionalmente, foi demonstrado que os marcadores químicos corroboram parcialmente com as classificações que empregam dados morfológicos e moleculares. Os descritores obtidos por fragmentos ou pela representação da estrutura dos SLs em duas dimensões foram suficientes para obtenção de resultados significativos, não sendo obtida melhora nos resultados com os descritores que utilizam a representação em três dimensões das estruturas. Paralelamente, um estudo adicional foi realizado relacionando a estrutura química, representada pelos mesmos descritores moleculares anteriormente mencionados, com a atividade citotóxica de 37 SLs frente às células tumorais da nasofaringe KB. Uma equação com índices estatísticos significativos (r2=0,826 e Qcv2=0,743) foi obtida. Os cinco descritores, selecionados a partir de uma equação estatisticamente mais significativa, representam uma descrição global de propriedades estéricas e características eletrônicas de cada molécula que auxiliaram na determinação de fragmentos estruturais importantes para a atividade citotóxica. Tal modelo permitiu verificar que os esqueletos carbônicos dos tipos guaianolídeo e pseudoguaianolídeo são encontrados nos SLs que apresentam maior atividade citotóxica. / This work describes the development of a new chemoinformatic tool named SISTEMATX that allowed the chemotaxonomic analysis of the Asteraceae family employing new molecular parameters, as well as the quantitative structure activity relationship study of compounds produced by this botanical group. The Asteraceae, one of the largest families among of angiosperms, is chemically characterized by the production of sesquiterpene lactones (SLs). A total of 1111 (SLs), extracted from 658 species, 161 genera, 63 subtribes and 15 tribes of the Asteraceae, were represented and registered in two dimensions in the SISTEMATX and associated with their botanical source. From this codification, the degree of oxidation and the structures in three dimensions of each SL were obtained by the system. These data linked with botanical origin were exported for a text file which allow the generation of several types of molecular descriptors. These molecular parameters were correlated with the average oxidation degree by tribe and were selected by multiple linear regressions using genetic algorithms. Equations with statistical coefficients varying between 0,725 ≤ r2 0,981 and 0,647 ≤ Qcv2 ≤ 0,725 were obtained with only one descriptor, making possible the identification of some structural characteristics related to the oxidation level. Any relationship between the degree of oxidation of SL and the tribes evolution of the family Asteraceae was not obtained. The molecular descriptors were also used as input data to separate the botanical occurrences through the self organizing-maps (unsupervised net Kohonen). The generated maps with each block descriptor, divide the Asteraceae tribes with total indexes values between 66,7% and 83,6%. The analysis of these results shows evident similarities among the Heliantheae, Helenieae and Eupatorieae tribes and, also, between the Anthemideae and Inuleae tribes. Those observations are in agreement with the systematic classifications proposed by Bremer, that use mainly morphologic and, also, molecular data. The same approach was utilized to separate the branches of the Heliantheae tribe, according to the Stuessys classification, whose division is based on the chromosome numbers of the subtribes. From the obtained self-organizing maps, two different areas (branches A and C) were separated with high hit indexes varying among 81,79% to 92,48%. Both studies demonstrate that the molecular descriptors can be used as a tool for taxon classification in low hierarchical levels such as tribes and subtribes. Additionally, was demonstrated that the chemical markers partially corroborate with the classifications that use morphologic and molecular data. Descriptors obtained by fragments or by the representation of the SL structures in two dimensions were sufficient to obtain significant results, and were not obtained better results with descriptors that utilize the structure representation in three dimensions. An additional study was accomplished relating the chemical structure, represented by the same molecular descriptors previously mentioned, with the cytotoxic activity of 37 SLs against tumoral cells derived from human carcinoma of the nasopharynx (KB). An equation with significant statistical indexes was obtained. The five descriptors, selected from the more statistical significant equation, shows a global description of sterical properties and electronic characteristics of each molecule that aid in the determination of important structural fragments for the cytotoxic activity. From the model can be verified that the carbon skeletons of the guaianolide and pseudoguaianolide types are encountered in the SLs that show the higher cytotoxic activity.