In this master's thesis I'm engaged in problematic of texture mapping in ray tracing. Ray tracing is shortly described in the beginning. Texture mapping methods are described then, solid textures first and 2D textures follow. Implementation of MIP map method is deeply described in next chapters. The results are evaluated at the end.

This thesis analyzes the mean variance optimization problem with respect to cardinalityconstraints. The aim of this thesis is to figure out how much of an impact transactionchanges has on the profit and risk of a portfolio. We solve the problem by implementingmixed integer programming (MIP) and solving the problem by using the Gurobi solver.In doing this, we create a mathematical model that enforces the amount of transactionchanges from the initial portfolio. Our results is later showed in an Efficient Frontier,to see how the profit and risk are changing depending on the transaction changes.Overall, this thesis demonstrates that the application of MIP is an effective approachto solve the mean variance optimization problem and can lead to improved investmentoutcomes.

One hundred billion tons of mine solid waste are estimated to be produced worldwide each year. In Canada, the mining and oil industries produce the most solid and semi-solid waste in the country, with more than a billion tons each year. In the earlier days of mining, the initial practices that were used to contain these waste materials consisted of surface storage, river dumping or just simple abandonment, while the more recent practices include dam impoundment and underground waste fill. These methods however can potentially cause environmental hazards and geotechnical problems. Against this context and as a result of stricter environmental regulations, cemented paste backfilling has been developed as a solution. This relatively new technology uses the produced waste tailings to backfill the mine stopes, greatly reducing their environmental impact while offering proper structural support in an efficient manner. However, the cost of cemented paste backfill (CPB) is greatly impacted by the binder content which can constitute up to 75% of its total cost. Additionally, the binder is usually mostly composed of ordinary Portland cement, and its production is highly energy-intensive and generates a large volume of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Indeed, it is estimated that the cement industry accounts for approximately 7% of the global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, which is expected to increase on an annual basis. All of these factors have compelled the mining industry to seek alternatives for cement to enhance CPB strength, in hopes of reducing its carbon footprint. Against this context, this study investigates the effect of the addition of nanoparticles, namely nano silica (SiO₂) and nano-calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), on the strength development of CPB cured at a constant room temperature and in non-isothermal conditions. Nanoparticles have been studied and used as chemical admixtures in different cementitious materials with promising results; non-isothermal curing conditions better reflect the in-situ thermal curing conditions of CPB. Thus, numerous different laboratory tests and analyses, including uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests, thermogravimetric/derivative thermogravimetric (TG/DTG) analyses and electrical conductivity monitoring, have been conducted on CPB samples with or without nanoparticles, and cured at room temperatures or under non-isothermal conditions. The non-isothermal conditions replicate the development of temperature in two different sizes of CPB structures in the field. The results show that CPB that contains nanoparticles show a higher UCS over the entire period of curing in all of the tested conditions. The mechanical performance is further enhanced when tested under higher temperatures in non-isothermal temperature profiles. Most of the strength increase takes place at the early ages (3 days) of the testing. The reason for the improvement in the mechanical strength is linked to accelerated binder hydration and the nucleating and filler effects of the nano-material, which is corroborated by results obtained through microstructural analyses and EC monitoring. The use of natural gold tailings affects the mechanical performance of CPB and the accelerating effect of the nanoparticles due to sulphate attacks. Overall, these promising findings can help to contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of mining activities, and improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of mine backfilling processes.

<p> Lung disease is the leading threat to human health worldwide. In particular, two threats are responsible for the majority of the pulmonary disease burden: infection and tobacco smoke exposure. Efforts to combat these diseases have been hampered by gaps in our understanding of the complex interactions between environmental threats and the host's own immune defences. Indeed, much of the pulmonary disease burden should be ascribed not to direct smoke-, virus-or bacteria-induced damage, but to maladaptive host defence responses against these threats. This is an understudied topic. Efforts to redress this deficiency have been hampered by the lack of available animal models. Thus, the present studies developed and examined models of Heterologous pulmonary infection, in which hosts must defend against two different infections, and of tobacco smoke exposure. In the first study, a critical role for MIP-2 driven pulmonary neutrophilia was elucidated in the pathology associated with bacterial superinfection of influenza virus infection. This study further demonstrated that the timing and sequence in which pathogens were encountered played important roles in determining the outcome of disease, and that viral and bacterial infections have different but long-lived impacts on alveolar macrophages. In the second study, it was determined that cigarette smoke exposure impacts host defence without exhausting T-or B-cells. Collectively, these studies have advanced our understanding of complex lung pathologies, and suggest an important role for the innate immune system in mediating such diseases. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A new branch of machine and deep learning models has evolved in constrained optimization, specifically in mixed integer programming problems (MIP). These models draw inspiration from earlier solver methods, primarily the heuristic, branch and bound. While utilizing the branch and bound framework, machine and deep learning models enhance either the computational efficiency or performance of the model. This thesis examines how imitating different variable selection strategies of classical MIP solvers behave on a state-of-the-art deep learning model. A recently developed deep learning algorithm is used in this thesis, which represents the branch and bound state as a bipartite graph. This graph serves as the input to a graph network model, which determines the variable in the MIP on which branching occurs. This thesis compares how imitating different classical branching strategies behaves on different algorithm outputs and, most importantly, time span. More specifically, this thesis conducts an empirical study on a MIP known as the facility location problem (FLP) and compares the different methods for imitation. This thesis shows that the deep learning algorithm can outperform the classical methods in terms of time span. More specifically, imitating the branching strategies resulting in small branch and bound trees give rise to a more rapid performance in finding the global optimum. Lastly, it is shown that a smaller embedding size in the network model is preferred for these instances when looking at the trade-off between variable selection and time cost. / En ny typ av maskin och djupinlärningsmodeller har utvecklats inom villkors optimering, specifikt för så kallade blandade heltalsproblem (MIP). Dessa modeller hämtar inspiration från tidigare lösningsmetoder, främst en heuristisk som kallas “branch and bound”. Genom att använda “branch and bound” ramverket förbättrar maskin och djupinlärningsmodeller antingen beräkningshastigheten eller prestandan hos modellen. Denna uppsats undersöker hur imitation av olika strategier för val av variabler från klassiska MIP-algoritmer beter sig på en modern djupinlärningsmodell. I denna uppsats används en nyligen utvecklad djupinlärningsalgoritm som representerar “branch and bound” tillståndet som en bipartit graf. Denna graf används som indata till en “graph network” modell som avgör vilken variabel i MIP-problemet som tas hänsyn till. Uppsatsen jämför hur imitation av olika klassiska “branching” strategier påverkar olika algoritmutgångar, framför allt, tidslängd. Mer specifikt utför denna uppsats en empirisk studie på ett MIP-problem som kallas för “facility location problem” (FLP) och jämför imitationen av de olika metoderna. I denna uppsats visas det att denna djupinlärningsalgoritm kan överträffa de klassiska metoderna när det gäller tidslängd. Mer specifikt ger imitation av “branching” strategier som resulterar i små “branch and bound” träd upphov till en snabbare prestation vid sökning av den globala optimala lösningen. Slutligen visas det att en mindre inbäddningsstorlek i nätverksmodellen föredras i dessa fall när man ser på avvägningen mellan val av variabler och tidskostnad.

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Les épithéliums muqueux se présentent comme porte d’entrée majeure du virus de l’immunodéficience humaine (VIH) et jouent un rôle critique dans la transmission sexuelle du virus. Les cellules épithéliales et les cellules dendritiques dans les muqueuses pluristratifiés, sont des cibles initiales pour la transmission virale. Il a été déjà montré, sur les muqueuses génitales chez l’homme, que la circoncision réduit plus de 60% acquisition du virus chez l’homme. Les mécanismes d’entrée du VIH au niveau du tractus génital chez l’homme sont tres mal connus et pratiquement pas étudiés. Nous avons émis l’hypothèse selon laquelle le prépuce, qui est enlevé lors de la circoncision, pourrait être une porte d’entrée majeure du virus. Nous avons d’abord montré que le VIH peut pénétrer effectivement au niveau du prépuce ex vivo, la partie interne du prépuce présente plus permissive que la partie externe. De plus, le virus pénètre uniquement dans le prépuce après formation d’une synapse virologique entre la cellule infectée, présente dans les secrétions génitales et la surface muqueuse du prépuce. La formation de la synapse virologique induit le bourgeonnement massif et polarisé de virions dans la fente synaptique; ceux ci pénètrent dans l’épiderme du prépuce. À l’inverse, l’entrée du VIH sous forme de virus libre dans le prépuce est inefficace. Nous avons ensuite caractérisé la séquence des événements initiaux mis en place lors de l’entrée du VIH dans le prépuce interne. La première cellule cible immune est la cellule de Langerhans (LCs), dont le rôle physiologique est de protéger la muqueuse contre les pathogènes qui l’envahissent. Après la capture du virus les LCs migrent vers le derme pour former des conjugués cellulaires avec les cellules T CD4+ du derme. La dynamique de migration de LCs est régulée par de sécrétion de cytokines et chimiokines (RANTEs et MIP- 3alpha) induites par la pénétration du virus dans le tissu. Nous avons ensuite caractérisé les mécanismes de l’immunité mis en jeu au niveau des kératinocytes de l’épiderme lors de la formation de la synapse virologique et évalué comment ces signaux contribuent à l’entrée efficace du virus dans la muqueuse du prépuce interne chez l’homme, ex vivo. À l’aide d’un modèle cellulaire de muqueuse simplifiée basé sur des kératinocytes primaires humains ex vivo, nous avons montré que les protéines d’enveloppe du VIH , gp120 mais pas gp41, et les molécules d’adhésion (intégrines LFA-1, leurs ligands ICAM-1 and -3) contrôlent la formation de la synapse virologique. La synapse virologique induit au niveau des kératinocytes l’activation de la voie NF- B indépendentmmment de MyD88 après activation du Toll-like-receptor 4 (TLR4) exprimé par les kératinocytes. En recherchant quelle cytokine pouvait être induite par cette signalisation, nous avons montré que la synapse virologique induit la sécrétion par les kératinocytes d’une cytokine produite par les cellules non-hématopoïétiques, la thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP). La TSLP est un chemoattracteur des cellules myéloïdes comme les cellules LCs et peut induire leur maturation. Nous avons ensuite montré que, sur des explants de prépuce humain ex vivo, la synapse virologique induit bien la sécrétion de TSLP, laquelle en premier lieu attire les LCs qui expriment le TSLP-récepteur vers la surface du tissus induisant leur maturation. Les LCs peuvent ensuite migrer dans l’autre sens vers le derme. La sécrétion des cytokines comme RANTEs, MIP-3alpha, qui sont impliquées lors de la pénétration effective du virus dans les tissus n’a pas de rôle dans la signalisation induite par la formation de la synapse virologique proprement dite. Les kératinocytes de l’épiderme du prépuce interne, grâce à leur réponse innée TSLP induite par la synapse virologique ont un rôle déterminant dans l’entrée du VIH dans le prépuce. Ainsi, en réponse de la synapse virologique, les kératinocytes secrètent du TSLP après activation de la voie de NF- B dépendante de MyD88. (...) / The mucosal epitheliums are presented as a major portal of HIV-1, and play a critcal role for the sexual transmission of HIV-1. Epithelial cells, and dendritic cells in the pluristratified mucosa, are the initial targets of viral transmission. It has already been shown, in the genital mucosa in men, circumcision reduces by more than 60 % of virus acqusition by men. The entry mechanisms of HIV-1 in the male urogenital tracts are poorly understood and not pratically studied. We suggested that foreskin, removal by circumcision surgery, could be a major portal of HIV-1 entry. We first showed that HIV-1 could enter efficiently ex vivo inner foreskin mucosa, the inner part of foreskin which is more permissive than the outer part. More over, virus penetrates only after the viral synapse (VS) formation between HIV-1-infected cells and foreskin epidermis, in the presence of genital secretion on the surface of foreskin mucosa. The formation of VS induces massive and polarized budding of HIV-1 particles within the synaptic cleft. The virions therefore penetrate into the foreskin epidermis. Inversely, cell-free virus entry is inefficient in the foreskin. Next, we characterized the initial events of HIV-1 VS formation in the inner foreskin. The first cell type that HIV-1 encounters is Langerhans cells (LCs), whose physiological role is to protect the mucosa against invasive pathogens. After capture of virus, LC migrates towards the dermis to form intercellular conjugates with dermal CD4+ T cells. The dynamic of LC migraiton is regulated by the secretion of cytokines in the mucosa, induced by HIV-1 entry, including RANTEs and MIP-3alpha. We then characterized the mechanisms of foreskin epidermal keratinocyte (KC), activated innate immunity during the VS formation and the signaling pathway contributed to the efficient entry of HIV-1 via inner foreskin mucosa. Using a simplified mucosal model based on human primary foreskin keratinocytes, we demonstrated that HIV-1 envelope protein, gp120, but not gp41 and the adhesion molecules (integrins LFA-1, ICAM-1/-3), contribute to the VS formation. VS induces at the KC level the activation of NF- B pathway by I B and p65 molecules, after activation of TLR4 expressed on KCs. By searching for which cytokine could be induced by this signalisation, we then showed that VS induced the secretion by KC of one cytokine, which is produced by the non-hematopoetic cells, thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP). TSLP is an chemoattractant for myeloid cells like LCs, and could induce LC maturation. We then showed, using the foreskin explants that, VS induces the secretion of TSLP, which first attracts LC expressing constitutively TSLP receptors to the apical surface of foreskin, inducing its maturation. These matured LCs then migrate to another direction towards the dermis. The secretion of cytokines such as RANTEs and MIP-3alpha, involved in the HIV-1 efficient entry has no roles in the signaling induced by VS formation as mentioned above. The Inner foreskin keratinocytes, due to the innate response of TSLP induced by VS, have a determinant role in the HIV-1 entry into the foreskin. Likewise, in response to VS, KCs secrete TSLP after NF- B activation dependent on regulator MyD88. The secreted TSLP, in addition to four different proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines (IL-6, IL-8, MIG, and MMP-9) allows virus to attract LCs to the foreskin surface, to capture the virus present in the synaptic cleft in order to facilite efficient transmission at the level of foreskin mucosa. Likely to the conventional immune cells, KCs, in one hand protects the foreskin mucosa and in another, is hijacked to facilitate HIV-1 transmission.

Cette thèse comporte des résultats théoriques et pratiques sur deux métaheuristiques, la Recherche Dispersée et la Recherche Voisinage variable (RVV), ainsi que sur des Matheuristiques. Au niveau théorique, la contribution principale de cette thèse est la proposition d’un algorithme de recherche dispersée avec l’arrondi directionnel convergent pour les programmes en nombres entiers mixtes (0-1 MIP), avec une preuve de cette convergence en un nombre fini d’itérations. En se basant sur cet algorithme convergeant, deux implémentations et plusieurs heuristiques sont proposées et testées sur des instances de 0-1 MIP. Les versions testées reposent sur des implémentations non optimisées pour mettre en évidence la puissance des approches dans une forme simplifiée. Nos résultats démontrent l’efficacité de ces approches initiales, ce qui les rend attractives lorsque des solutions de très haute qualité sont recherchées avec un investissement approprié en termes d’effort de calcul. Cette thèse inclut également quelques nouvelles variantes de la métaheuristique Recherche Voisinage Variable telles qu’une recherche voisinage variable deux niveaux, une recherche voisinage variable imbriquée, une descente voisinage variable cyclique et une heuristique de plongée voisinage variable. En outre, plusieurs implémentations efficaces de ces algorithmes basés sur la recherche voisinage variable ont été appliquées avec succès à des problèmes NP-Difficiles apparaissant en transport, logistique, production d’énergie, ordonnancement, et segmentation. Les heuristiques proposées se sont avérées être les nouvelles heuristiques de référence sur tous les problèmes considérés. La dernière contribution de cette thèse repose sur la proposition de plusieurs matheuristiques pour résoudre le problème de Conception de Réseau Multi-flots avec Coût fixe (CRMC). Les performances de ces matheuristiques ont été évaluées sur un ensemble d’instances de référence du CRMC. Les résultats obtenus démontrent la compétitivité des approches proposées par rapport aux approches existantes de la littérature. / This thesis consists of results obtained studying Scatter Search, Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS), and Matheuristics in both theoretical and practical context. Regarding theoretical results, one of the main contribution of this thesis is a convergent scatter search with directional rounding algorithm for 0-1 Mixed Integer Programs (MIP) with the proof of its finite convergence. Besides this, a convergent scatter search algorithm is accompanied by two variants of its implementation. Additionally, several scatter search based heuristics, stemming from a convergent scatter search algorithm have been proposed and tested on some instances of 0-1 MIP. The versions of the methods tested are first stage implementations to establish the power of the methods in a simplified form. Our findings demonstrate the efficacy of these first stage methods, which makes them attractive for use in situations where very high quality solutions are sought with an efficient investment of computational effort.This thesis also includes new variants of Variable Neighborhood Search metaheuristic such as a two-level variable neighborhood search, a nested variable neighborhood search, a cyclic variable neighborhood descent and a variable neighborhood diving. Additionally, several efficient implementation of those variable neighborhood search algorithms have been successfully applied for solving NP-Hard problems appearing in transportation, logistics, power generation, scheduling and clustering. On all tested problems, the proposed VNS heuristics turned out to be a new state-of-the art heuristics. The last contribution of this thesis consists of proposing several matheuristics for solving Fixed-Charge Multicommodity Network Design (MCND) problem. The performances of these matheuristics have been disclosed on benchmark instances for MCND. The obtained results demonstrate the competitiveness of the proposed matheuristics with other existing approaches in the literature.

L’objectif de cette thèse a consisté en la synthèse d’un polymère à empreinte moléculaire (MIP) permettant l’extraction du phosmet, un pesticide organophosphoré largement utilisé en oléiculture. La recherche du monomère fonctionnel (MF) disposant de la meilleure capacité à interagir de manière non-covalente avec le phosmet en présence du solvant porogène le plus approprié a été réalisée pour la toute première fois au moyen d’un capteur à acétylcholinestérase. Cette stratégie innovante a permis une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes cinétiques à l’œuvre lors de l’interaction MF-molécule cible. De par l’importance de son rôle dans la détermination de la structure d’un MIP, le choix d’un agent réticulant aux caractéristiques physico-chimiques adéquates a permis de sélectionner le meilleur MIP en s’appuyant sur l’étude des isothermes d’adsorption selon les modèles de Freundlich et Langmuir. La procédure d’extraction du phosmet selon la procédure MISPE (Molecularly Imprinted Solid Phase Extraction) a été effectuée par le biais d’une cartouche SPE dont la capacité a été évaluée à partir d’une solution standard. La validation du choix des réactifs de MIP sélectionnés a été confortée par la réalisation d’une expérience de réactivité croisée appliquée à une molécule analogue au phosmet. L’extraction du phosmet de l’huile d’olive a pu être effectuée avec succès selon un protocole d’extraction en flux inverse optimisé. Cette étude ouvre ainsi la voie à la recherche de nouvelles interactions MFs-molécules cibles au moyen de biocapteurs enzymatiques inhibant des composés toxiques tels que les herbicides, fongicides et autres pesticides. / The objective of this thesis has been the synthesis of a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for the extraction of phosmet, an organophosphorus pesticide widely used in olive growing. The search for the functional monomer (FM) having the best ability to interact non-covalently with phosmet in the presence of the most suitable pore-forming solvent was carried out for the first time by means of an acetylcholinesterase sensor. This innovative strategy allowed us to better understand the kinetic mechanisms of FM-template interaction. Because of the importance of its role in determining the structure of a MIP, the selection of a crosslinking agent with adequate physicochemical characteristics made it possible to select the best MIP, whose adsorption isotherms were studied according to Freundlich and Langmuir models. Extraction of phosmet using a Molecularly Imprinted Solid Phase Extraction (MISPE) procedure was carried out via an SPE cartridge, whose capacity was evaluated from a standard solution. The choice of reagents and experimental conditions were validated by carrying out selectivity assays using another organophosphorus insecticide. Extraction of phosmet from olive oil was successfully carried out according to an optimized reverse flow extraction protocol. This work opens new opportunities for studying new FM-template interactions by means of enzymatic biosensors capable of detecting other inhibitors such as herbicides, fungicides and other pesticides.

Cette recherche vise à analyser et à identifier, par des essais, le comportement au fluage d'une argile de type kaolinite sous un état de contraintes triaxial. Une investigation fine de l’état microstructural, avant et après fluage, a par ailleurs été réalisée. Les résultats macroscopiques ont permis de constater que des phénomènes de dilatance et de contractante s’amplifient pendant le fluage. Les résultats montrent également que la position, sur le plan des contraintes (p'-q), du niveau de contrainte vis-à-vis des différents domaines volumétriques, contrôle le développement de la déformation au fluage et du taux de déformation. Les résultats de MEB ont montré que l'évolution microstructurale de l'argile, après le chargement mécanique, dépend fortement de l'histoire du chargement. / The objective of this research is to analyze the creep behavior of a typical clay along triaxial tests, moreover, to analyze the microstructural mechanisms of creep. Analysis on the macroscopic results ascertained that both dilatancy and contractancy phenomena could occur during creep. The magnitude of the dilatancy/contractancy during creep was guided by the test conditions: stress level and the over consolidation ratio, which specifically governed the direction of the volumetric strain variations. The results of SEM indicated that the microstructural evolution of the clay after the mechanical loading depend on the stress history. Afterwards, the structural evolution in creep phase depends on the structural pattern developed in monotonic loading