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Depuis que les Hommes communiquent, le besoin de dissimuler tout ou partie de la communication existe. On peut citer au moins deux formes de dissimulation d'un message au sein d'une communication: Dans le premier cas, le message à envoyer peut lui même être modifié, de telle sorte que seul le destinataire puisse le décoder. La cryptographie s'emploie par exemple à cette tâche. Une autre forme est celle de la stéganographie, qui vise à dissimuler le message au sein d'un document. Et de même que pour la cryptographie dont le pendant est la cryptanalyse visant à décrypter le message, la stéganalyse est à l'opposé de la stéganographie et se charge de détecter l'existence d'un message. Le terme de stéganalyse peut également désigner l'importante classe de problèmes liés à la détection de l'existence du message mais aussi à l'estimation de sa taille (stéganalyse quantitative) ou encore de son contenu. Dans cette thèse, l'accent est tout d'abord mis sur le problème classique de stéganalyse (détection de la présence du message). Une méthodologie permettant d'obtenir des résultats statistiquement fiables dans ce contexte est proposée. Il sagit tout d'abord d'estimer le nombre d'échantillons (ici des images) suffisant à l'obtention de résultats pertinents, puis de réduire la dimensionalité du problème par une approche basée sur la sélection de variables. Dans le contexte de la stéganalyse, la plupart des variables obtenues peuvent être interprétées physiquement, ce qui permet une interprétation de la sélection de variables obtenue: les variables sélectionnées en premier réagissent vraisemblablement de façon importante aux changements causés par la présence du message. Leur analyse peut permettre de comprendre le fonctionnement et les faiblesses de l'algorithme de stéganographie utilisé, par exemple. Cette méthodologie peut s'avérer complexe en termes de calculs et donc nécessiter des temps d'éxecution importants. Pour pallier à ce problème, un nouveau modèle pour le "Machine Learning" est proposé, l'OP-ELM. L'OPELM est constitué d'un Réseau de Neurones au sein duquel des projections aléatoires sont utilisées. Les neurones sont ensuite classés par pertinence vis à vis du problème, et seuls les plus pertinents sont conservés. Cette structure de modèle parvient à obtenir des performances similaires à celles de l'état de l'art dans le domaine du "Machine Learning". Enfin, le modèle OP-ELM est utilisé dans le cadre de la stéganalyse quantitative, cette fois (l'estimation de la taille du message). Une approche nouvelle sur ce problème est utilisée, faisant appel à une technique de ré-insertion d'un message au sein d'une image considérée comme suspecte. En répétant ce processus de ré-insertion un certain nombre de fois, et pour des messages connus de tailles différentes, il est possible d'estimer la taille du message original utilisé par l'expéditeur. De plus, par l'utilisation de la largeur de l'intervalle de confiance obtenu sur la taille du message original, une mesure de la difficulté intrinsèque à l'image est présentée. Ceci permet d'estimer la fiabilité de la prédiction obtenue pour la taille du message original.

A conexão de Geradores Distribuídos (GDs) no sistema de distribuição vem se intensificando nos últimos anos. Neste cenário, o aumento de GDs pode trazer alguns benefícios, como a redundância da geração e redução das perdas elétricas. Por outro lado, o problema do ilhamento também vem se destacando. Atualmente, existem técnicas já consolidadas para a detecção do ilhamento, sendo que as técnicas passivas estão entre as mais utilizadas. Entretanto, as técnicas passivas são bastante dependentes do desbalanço de potência entre a geração e as cargas no momento de ocorrência do ilhamento para atuarem corretamente. Caso o desbalanço de potência seja pequeno, as técnicas passivas tendem a não identificar o ilhamento, gerando as chamadas Zonas de Não Detecção (ZNDs). Para mitigar este problema, a pesquisa por técnicas passivas inteligentes baseadas em aprendizagem de máquina vem se tornando cada vez mais comum. Neste trabalho foi modelada uma proteção anti-ilhamento baseada em Redes Neurais Artificiais (RNAs). A classificação do ilhamento é feita com base no espectro de frequência das tensões nos terminais do GD com o uso da Transformada de Stockwell, ou apenas Transformada S (TS). Outro ponto importante da metodologia foi a implementação de uma etapa de detecção de eventos, também baseada nas energias do espectro de frequência das tensões, para evitar a constante execução do classificador. Assim, a RNA apenas irá classificar o evento após receber um sinal de trigger da etapa de detecção de evento. Para o treinamento da RNA foram testados dois algoritmos diferentes, o clássico Backpropagation (BP) e a Máquina de Aprendizado Extremo, do inglês Extreme Learning Machine (ELM). Ressalta-se o melhor desempenho obtido com as redes treinadas pelo ELM, que apresentaram uma capacidade de generalização muito maior, logo, resultando em taxas de acerto mais elevadas. De modo geral, depois de comparada com métodos passivos convencionais para a detecção de ilhamento, a proteção proposta se mostrou mais precisa e com um tempo de detecção muito menor, sendo inferior a 2 ciclos. Por fim, ainda foi realizada a análise das ZNDs para a proteção proposta e as técnicas convencionais, por ser uma característica muito importante para a proteção antiilhamento, mas que não é comumente abordada para técnicas passivas inteligentes. Nesta análise, o método para a detecção de ilhamento proposto novamente se sobressaiu às técnicas convencionais, apresentado uma ZND muito menor. / The connection of distributed generators (DG) in the distribution system has been intensified in the recent years. In this scenario, the increase of DG can bring some benefits, such as generation redundancy and reduction of power losses. On the other hand, the problem of islanding is also been highlighted. Currently, there are already consolidated techniques for islanding detection, and passive techniques are among the most used ones. However, the passive techniques are very dependent of the power unbalance between the generation and the loads at the moment of the islanding in order to actuate properly. If the power mismatch is small, the passive techniques tend to not identify the islanding, generating the so called Non-Detection Zones (NDZ). To mitigate this issue, the research of intelligent passive techniques based in machine learning is becoming more common. In this study, an anti-islanding protection based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) was modelled. The islanding classification is done based on the frequency spectrum of the DG\'s terminal voltages using the Stockwell Transform, or just S-Transform (ST). Another important point of the methodology was the implementation of an event detection stage, also based on the energies of the voltages frequency spectrum, to avoid the constant execution of the classifier. Therefore, the ANN will only classify the event after receiving a trigger signal from the event detection stage. To train the ANN, two different algorithms were tested: the classic Backpropagation and the Extreme Learning Machine (ELM). It is noteworthy the better performance obtained with the neural networks trained by the ELM, which had a greater capacity of generalization, hence resulting in higher success rates. In general, after being compared with conventional passive techniques for islanding detection, the proposed protection was more accurate and with a much smaller detection time, being less than 2 cycles. Finally, the analysis of the NDZ for the proposed protection and the conventional techniques was carried out, as it is a very important feature for anti-islanding protection, but is not commonly addressed for intelligent passive techniques. In this analysis, the islanding detection method proposed again overcame the conventional techniques, presenting a much smaller NDZ.

Clinical diagnosis of chronic disease is a vital and challenging research problem which requires intensive clinical practice guidelines in order to ensure consistent and efficient patient care. Conventional medical diagnosis systems inculcate certain limitations, like complex diagnosis processes, lack of expertise, lack of well described procedures for conducting diagnoses, low computing skills, and so on. Automated clinical decision support system (CDSS) can help physicians and radiologists to overcome these challenges by combining the competency of radiologists and physicians with the capabilities of computers. CDSS depend on many techniques from the fields of image acquisition, image processing, pattern recognition, machine learning as well as optimization for medical data analysis to produce efficient diagnoses. In this dissertation, we discuss the current challenges in designing an efficient CDSS as well as a number of the latest techniques (while identifying best practices for each stage of the framework) to meet these challenges by finding informative patterns in the medical dataset, analysing them and building a descriptive model of the object of interest and thus aiding in medical diagnosis. To meet these challenges, we propose an extension of conventional clinical decision support system framework, by incorporating artificial immune network (AIN) based hyper-parameter optimization as integral part of it. We applied the conventional as well as optimized CDSS on four case studies (most of them comprise medical images) for efficient medical diagnosis and compared the results. The first key contribution is the novel application of a local energy-based shape histogram (LESH) as the feature set for the recognition of abnormalities in mammograms. We investigated the implication of this technique for the mammogram datasets of the Mammographic Image Analysis Society and INbreast. In the evaluation, regions of interest were extracted from the mammograms, their LESH features were calculated, and they were fed to support vector machine (SVM) and echo state network (ESN) classifiers. In addition, the impact of selecting a subset of LESH features based on the classification performance was also observed and benchmarked against a state-of-the-art wavelet based feature extraction method. The second key contribution is to apply the LESH technique to detect lung cancer. The JSRT Digital Image Database of chest radiographs was selected for research experimentation. Prior to LESH feature extraction, we enhanced the radiograph images using a contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) approach. Selected state-of-the-art cognitive machine learning classifiers, namely the extreme learning machine (ELM), SVM and ESN, were then applied using the LESH extracted features to enable the efficient diagnosis of a correct medical state (the existence of benign or malignant cancer) in the x-ray images. Comparative simulation results, evaluated using the classification accuracy performance measure, were further benchmarked against state-of-the-art wavelet based features, and authenticated the distinct capability of our proposed framework for enhancing the diagnosis outcome. As the third contribution, this thesis presents a novel technique for detecting breast cancer in volumetric medical images based on a three-dimensional (3D) LESH model. It is a hybrid approach, and combines the 3D LESH feature extraction technique with machine learning classifiers to detect breast cancer from MRI images. The proposed system applies CLAHE to the MRI images before extracting the 3D LESH features. Furthermore, a selected subset of features is fed to a machine learning classifier, namely the SVM, ELM or ESN, to detect abnormalities and to distinguish between different stages of abnormality. The results indicate the high performance of the proposed system. When compared with the wavelet-based feature extraction technique, statistical analysis testifies to the significance of our proposed algorithm. The fourth contribution is a novel application of the (AIN) for optimizing machine learning classification algorithms as part of CDSS. We employed our proposed technique in conjunction with selected machine learning classifiers, namely the ELM, SVM and ESN, and validated it using the benchmark medical datasets of PIMA India diabetes and BUPA liver disorders, two-dimensional (2D) medical images, namely MIAS and INbreast and JSRT chest radiographs, as well as on the three-dimensional TCGA-BRCA breast MRI dataset. The results were investigated using the classification accuracy measure and the learning time. We also compared our methodology with the benchmarked multi-objective genetic algorithm (ES)-based optimization technique. The results authenticate the potential of the AIN optimised CDSS.

In this dissertation it is reported the results of a comprehensive comparative study involving seven machine learning algorithms applied to the task of approximating the inverse kinematic model of 3 robotic arms (planar, PUMA 560 and Motoman HP6). The evaluated algorithm are the following ones: Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), Least Squares Support Vector Regression (LS-SVR), Minimal Learning Machine (MLM), Gaussian Processes (GP), Adaptive Network-Based Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS) and Local Linear Mapping (LLM). Each algorithm is evaluated with respect to its accuracy in estimating the joint angles given the cartesian coordinates which comprise end-effector trajectories within the robot workspace. A comprehensive evaluation of the performances of the aforementioned algorithms is carried out based on correlation analysis of the residuals. Finally, hypothesis testing procedures are also executed in order to verifying if there are significant differences in performance among the best algorithms. / Nesta dissertaÃÃo sÃo reportados os resultados de um amplo estudo comparativo envolvendo sete algoritmos de aprendizado de mÃquinas aplicados à tarefa de aproximaÃÃo do modelo cinemÃtico inverso de 3 robÃs manipuladores (planar, PUMA 560 e Motoman HP6). Os algoritmos avaliados sÃo os seguintes: Perceptron Multicamadas (MLP), MÃquina de Aprendizado Extremo (ELM), RegressÃo de MÃnimos Quadrados via Vetores-Suporte (LS-SVR), MÃquina de Aprendizado MÃnimo (MLM), Processos Gaussianos (PG), Sistema de InferÃncia Fuzzy Baseado em Rede Adaptativa (ANFIS) e Mapeamento Linear Local (LLM). Estes algoritmos sÃo avaliados quanto à acurÃcia na estimaÃÃo dos Ãngulos das juntas dos robÃs manipuladores em experimentos envolvendo a geraÃÃo de vÃrios tipos de trajetÃrias no volume de trabalho dos referidos robÃs. Uma avaliaÃÃo abrangente do desempenho de cada algoritmo à feito com base na anÃlise dos resÃduos e testes de hipÃteses sÃo executados para verificar se hà diferenÃas significativas entre os desempenhos dos melhores algoritmos.

Thesis is aimed at the possibility of utilization of extreme learning machines and echo state networks for time series forecasting with possibility of utilizing GPU acceleration. Such predictions are part of nearly everyone’s daily lives through utilization in weather forecasting, prediction of regular and stock market, power consumption predictions and many more. Thesis is meant to familiarize reader firstly with theoretical basis of extreme learning machines and echo state networks, taking advantage of randomly generating majority of neural networks parameters and avoiding iterative processes. Secondly thesis demonstrates use of programing tools, such as ND4J and CUDA toolkit, to create very own programs. Finally, prediction capability and convenience of GPU acceleration is tested.