No description available.

Sistemas nanocarreadores de moléculas orgânicas têm emergido como promissores sistemas para aplicação na terapêutica e/ou diagnóstico. No presente trabalho foram desenvolvidas nanocápsulas poliméricas contendo, em seus diferentes domínios, sondas fluorescentes capazes de fornecer imagem quando analisadas em microscópio de fluorescência confocal, mostrando as potencialidades do sistema como agente para imagem ótica. Uma importante característica de moléculas propostas como marcadores fluorescentes, é que não haja sobreposição dos espectros de absorção e emissão de fluorescência. Para tanto, foi utilizado um corante sintético do grupo dos benzoxazólicos (HBO-C8) para marcação do núcleo lipofílico, e os polímeros PCL e quitosana foram ligados covalentemente aos corantes rodamina B e alaranjado de acridina, respectivamente. As formulações desenvolvidas e caracterizadas com dois ou três marcadores apresentaram caráter nanotecnológico e as fotomicrografias de transmissão revelaram que as nanopartículas contendo HBO-C8 e PCL-Rho (sem quitosana), preservou a morfologia da nanopartícula. Adicionalmente, o HBO-C8 foi quantificado na formulação contendo HBO-C8 e PCL-Rho, onde verificou-se que 98% do corante está internalizado na nanopartícula, alcançando assim, o objetivo proposto de usá-lo como sonda para marcação do núcleo lipofílico. Por meio da microscopia de fluorescência confocal, foram obtidas imagens dos marcadores fluorescentes colocalizados, para as formulações contendo dois ou três domínios fluorescentes, demonstrando que essas nanocápsulas podem ser propostas como uma plataforma promissora para serem empregadas como sondas para imagem ótica. / Nanocarriers systems of organic molecules have emerged as promising systems for application in therapy and diagnosis. In the present study polymeric nanocapsules containing fluorescent probes in their different domains, capable of providing image when analyzed in confocal fluorescence microscope, showing the potential of the system as an agent for optical imaging. An important feature of proposed molecules as fluorescent probes, there is no overlap of the spectra of absorption and fluorescence emission. Thus, a group of synthetic dye benzoxazólicos (HBO-C8) to mark the lipophilic core, and PCL and chitosan polymers were covalently linked to dye rhodamine B and acridine orange , respectively. The formulations developed and characterized with two or three markers showed nanotechnological character and transmission photomicrographs showed that nanoparticles containing PCL-Rho and HBO-C8 (without chitosan) preserved morphology of the nanoparticle. Additionally, the HBO-C8 was was quantified on formulation contained HBO-C8 and PCL-Rho, where it was found that 98% of the dye is internalized in the nanoparticle thus reaching the purpose proposed to use as a probe for marking the lipophilic core . By images of confocal fluorescence microscopy were obtained the colocalized of fluorescent markers to formulations containing two or three fluorescent domains, demonstrating that these nanocapsules can be proposed as a promising platform to be used as probes for optical image.

Sistemas nanocarreadores de moléculas orgânicas têm emergido como promissores sistemas para aplicação na terapêutica e/ou diagnóstico. No presente trabalho foram desenvolvidas nanocápsulas poliméricas contendo, em seus diferentes domínios, sondas fluorescentes capazes de fornecer imagem quando analisadas em microscópio de fluorescência confocal, mostrando as potencialidades do sistema como agente para imagem ótica. Uma importante característica de moléculas propostas como marcadores fluorescentes, é que não haja sobreposição dos espectros de absorção e emissão de fluorescência. Para tanto, foi utilizado um corante sintético do grupo dos benzoxazólicos (HBO-C8) para marcação do núcleo lipofílico, e os polímeros PCL e quitosana foram ligados covalentemente aos corantes rodamina B e alaranjado de acridina, respectivamente. As formulações desenvolvidas e caracterizadas com dois ou três marcadores apresentaram caráter nanotecnológico e as fotomicrografias de transmissão revelaram que as nanopartículas contendo HBO-C8 e PCL-Rho (sem quitosana), preservou a morfologia da nanopartícula. Adicionalmente, o HBO-C8 foi quantificado na formulação contendo HBO-C8 e PCL-Rho, onde verificou-se que 98% do corante está internalizado na nanopartícula, alcançando assim, o objetivo proposto de usá-lo como sonda para marcação do núcleo lipofílico. Por meio da microscopia de fluorescência confocal, foram obtidas imagens dos marcadores fluorescentes colocalizados, para as formulações contendo dois ou três domínios fluorescentes, demonstrando que essas nanocápsulas podem ser propostas como uma plataforma promissora para serem empregadas como sondas para imagem ótica. / Nanocarriers systems of organic molecules have emerged as promising systems for application in therapy and diagnosis. In the present study polymeric nanocapsules containing fluorescent probes in their different domains, capable of providing image when analyzed in confocal fluorescence microscope, showing the potential of the system as an agent for optical imaging. An important feature of proposed molecules as fluorescent probes, there is no overlap of the spectra of absorption and fluorescence emission. Thus, a group of synthetic dye benzoxazólicos (HBO-C8) to mark the lipophilic core, and PCL and chitosan polymers were covalently linked to dye rhodamine B and acridine orange , respectively. The formulations developed and characterized with two or three markers showed nanotechnological character and transmission photomicrographs showed that nanoparticles containing PCL-Rho and HBO-C8 (without chitosan) preserved morphology of the nanoparticle. Additionally, the HBO-C8 was was quantified on formulation contained HBO-C8 and PCL-Rho, where it was found that 98% of the dye is internalized in the nanoparticle thus reaching the purpose proposed to use as a probe for marking the lipophilic core . By images of confocal fluorescence microscopy were obtained the colocalized of fluorescent markers to formulations containing two or three fluorescent domains, demonstrating that these nanocapsules can be proposed as a promising platform to be used as probes for optical image.

Sistemas nanocarreadores de moléculas orgânicas têm emergido como promissores sistemas para aplicação na terapêutica e/ou diagnóstico. No presente trabalho foram desenvolvidas nanocápsulas poliméricas contendo, em seus diferentes domínios, sondas fluorescentes capazes de fornecer imagem quando analisadas em microscópio de fluorescência confocal, mostrando as potencialidades do sistema como agente para imagem ótica. Uma importante característica de moléculas propostas como marcadores fluorescentes, é que não haja sobreposição dos espectros de absorção e emissão de fluorescência. Para tanto, foi utilizado um corante sintético do grupo dos benzoxazólicos (HBO-C8) para marcação do núcleo lipofílico, e os polímeros PCL e quitosana foram ligados covalentemente aos corantes rodamina B e alaranjado de acridina, respectivamente. As formulações desenvolvidas e caracterizadas com dois ou três marcadores apresentaram caráter nanotecnológico e as fotomicrografias de transmissão revelaram que as nanopartículas contendo HBO-C8 e PCL-Rho (sem quitosana), preservou a morfologia da nanopartícula. Adicionalmente, o HBO-C8 foi quantificado na formulação contendo HBO-C8 e PCL-Rho, onde verificou-se que 98% do corante está internalizado na nanopartícula, alcançando assim, o objetivo proposto de usá-lo como sonda para marcação do núcleo lipofílico. Por meio da microscopia de fluorescência confocal, foram obtidas imagens dos marcadores fluorescentes colocalizados, para as formulações contendo dois ou três domínios fluorescentes, demonstrando que essas nanocápsulas podem ser propostas como uma plataforma promissora para serem empregadas como sondas para imagem ótica. / Nanocarriers systems of organic molecules have emerged as promising systems for application in therapy and diagnosis. In the present study polymeric nanocapsules containing fluorescent probes in their different domains, capable of providing image when analyzed in confocal fluorescence microscope, showing the potential of the system as an agent for optical imaging. An important feature of proposed molecules as fluorescent probes, there is no overlap of the spectra of absorption and fluorescence emission. Thus, a group of synthetic dye benzoxazólicos (HBO-C8) to mark the lipophilic core, and PCL and chitosan polymers were covalently linked to dye rhodamine B and acridine orange , respectively. The formulations developed and characterized with two or three markers showed nanotechnological character and transmission photomicrographs showed that nanoparticles containing PCL-Rho and HBO-C8 (without chitosan) preserved morphology of the nanoparticle. Additionally, the HBO-C8 was was quantified on formulation contained HBO-C8 and PCL-Rho, where it was found that 98% of the dye is internalized in the nanoparticle thus reaching the purpose proposed to use as a probe for marking the lipophilic core . By images of confocal fluorescence microscopy were obtained the colocalized of fluorescent markers to formulations containing two or three fluorescent domains, demonstrating that these nanocapsules can be proposed as a promising platform to be used as probes for optical image.

This thesis concerns methods to enhance current and explore future radiometric imaging systems for security screening. Its main focus is on the test and calibration procedures for the BorderWatch system – an established 33 GHz passive millimetre-wave imager developed by QinetiQ PLC as an outdoor security scanning portal for soft-sided heavy goods vehicles at ports of entry. The effects of the limited size of the sky background reflector of the operational system are addressed and modifications to mitigate these effects are proposed. Systematic diurnal and seasonal variations in the receiver output powers are characterised and strongly linked with variations in the physical temperature of the RF components. The proposed BorderWatch temperature calibration subsystem requires a reliable cold sky temperature reference point; the aim being to reduce the level of fixed pattern noise in present-day imagery and allow for post-processing methods requiring absolute temperature values. Cost considerations rule out independent millimetre-wave radiometers at each site so a proposed alternative is to use infra-red measurements as a proxy. A literature investigation is made into the millimetre-wave and infrared atmospheric opacities for a variety of meteorological conditions. The design, calibration and operation of a 35 GHz switching radiometer is described together with a comparison of the millimetre-wave radiometric brightness temperature measurements against the data from a low cost commercial infra-red sensor and from a nearby meteorological station. The results show an excellent correlation between the zenith sky temperatures in the infrared and millimetre-wave bands but only in clear sky conditions – as anticipated the presence of clouds affects the infra-red brightness distribution much more strongly than that of the millimetre-wave. Future security imagers may well incorporate interferometric arrays. An extensive simulation programme has been carried out to explore appropriate numbers of antennas and whether radio astronomy configurations and post-processing techniques can offer cost-effective routes to high image fidelity. The results of a quantitative analysis are promising and array configurations and techniques appropriate for potential future security imagers are suggested.

No description available.

Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is one of the promising imaging modalities that pro- vides functional information of the soft biological tissues in-vivo, such as breast and brain tissues. The near infrared (NIR) light (600-1000 nm) is the interrogating radiation, which is typically delivered and collected using fiber bundles placed on the boundary of the tissue. The internal optical property distribution is estimated via model-based image reconstruction algorithm using these limited boundary measurements. Image reconstruction problem in DOT is known to be non-linear, ill-posed, and some times under-determined due to the multiple scattering of NIR light in the tissue. Solving this inverse problem requires regularization to obtain meaningful results, with Tikhonov-type regularization being the most popular one. The choice of the regularization parameter dictates the reconstructed optical image quality and is typically chosen empirically or based on prior experience. An automated method for optimal selection of regularization parameter that is based on regularized minimal residual method (MRM) is proposed and is compared with the traditional generalized cross-validation method. The results obtained using numerical and gelatin phantom data indicate that the MRM-based method is capable of providing the optimal regularization parameter. A new approach that can easily incorporate any generic penalty function into the diffuse optical tomographic image reconstruction is introduced to show the utility of non-quadratic penalty functions. The penalty functions that were used include, quadratic (`2), absolute (`1), Cauchy, and Geman-McClure. The regularization parameter in each of these cases were obtained automatically using the generalized cross-validation (GCV) method. The reconstruction results were systematically compared with each other via utilization of quantitative metrics, such as relative error and Pearson correlation. The reconstruction results indicate that while quadratic penalty may be able to provide better separation between two closely spaced targets, it's contrast recovery capability is limited and the sparseness promoting penalties, such as `1, Cauchy, Geman-McClure have better utility in reconstructing high-contrast and complex-shaped targets with Geman-McClure penalty being the most optimal one. Effective usage of image guidance by incorporating the refractive index (RI) variation in computational modeling of light propagation in tissue is investigated to assess its impact on optical-property estimation. With the aid of realistic patient breast three-dimensional models, the variation in RI for different regions of tissue under investigation is shown to influence the estimation of optical properties in image-guided diffuse optical tomography (IG-DOT) using numerical simulations. It is also shown that by assuming identical RI for all regions of tissue would lead to erroneous estimation of optical properties. The a priori knowledge of the RI for the segmented regions of tissue in IG-DOT, which is difficult to obtain for the in vivo cases, leads to more accurate estimates of optical properties. Even inclusion of approximated RI values, obtained from the literature, for the regions of tissue resulted in better estimates of optical properties, with values comparable to that of having the correct knowledge of RI for different regions of tissue. Image reconstruction in IG-DOT procedure involves reduction of the number of optical parameters to be reconstructed equal to the number of distinct regions identified in the structural information provided by the traditional imaging modality. This makes the image reconstruction problem to be well-determined compared to traditional under- determined case. Still, the methods that are deployed in this case are same as the one used for traditional diffuse optical image reconstruction, which involves regularization term as well as computation of the Jacobian. A gradient-free Nelder-Mead simplex method was proposed here to perform the image reconstruction procedure and shown to be providing solutions that are closely matching with ones obtained using established methods. The proposed method also has the distinctive advantage of being more efficient due to being regularization free, involving only repeated forward calculations.

La détection de changements dans une scène est l’un des problèmes les plus complexes en télédétection. Il s’agit de détecter des modifications survenues dans une zone géographique donnée par comparaison d’images de cette zone acquises à différents instants. La comparaison est facilitée lorsque les images sont issues du même type de capteur c’est-à-dire correspondent à la même modalité (le plus souvent optique multi-bandes) et possèdent des résolutions spatiales et spectrales identiques. Les techniques de détection de changements non supervisées sont, pour la plupart, conçues spécifiquement pour ce scénario. Il est, dans ce cas, possible de comparer directement les images en calculant la différence de pixels homologues, c’est-à-dire correspondant au même emplacement au sol. Cependant, dans certains cas spécifiques tels que les situations d’urgence, les missions ponctuelles, la défense et la sécurité, il peut s’avérer nécessaire d’exploiter des images de modalités et de résolutions différentes. Cette hétérogénéité dans les images traitées introduit des problèmes supplémentaires pour la mise en œuvre de la détection de changements. Ces problèmes ne sont pas traités par la plupart des méthodes de l’état de l’art. Lorsque la modalité est identique mais les résolutions différentes, il est possible de se ramener au scénario favorable en appliquant des prétraitements tels que des opérations de rééchantillonnage destinées à atteindre les mêmes résolutions spatiales et spectrales. Néanmoins, ces prétraitements peuvent conduire à une perte d’informations pertinentes pour la détection de changements. En particulier, ils sont appliqués indépendamment sur les deux images et donc ne tiennent pas compte des relations fortes existant entre les deux images. L’objectif de cette thèse est de développer des méthodes de détection de changements qui exploitent au mieux l’information contenue dans une paire d’images observées, sans condition sur leur modalité et leurs résolutions spatiale et spectrale. Les restrictions classiquement imposées dans l’état de l’art sont levées grâce à une approche utilisant la fusion des deux images observées. La première stratégie proposée s’applique au cas d’images de modalités identiques mais de résolutions différentes. Elle se décompose en trois étapes. La première étape consiste à fusionner les deux images observées ce qui conduit à une image de la scène à haute résolution portant l’information des changements éventuels. La deuxième étape réalise la prédiction de deux images non observées possédant des résolutions identiques à celles des images observées par dégradation spatiale et spectrale de l’image fusionnée. Enfin, la troisième étape consiste en une détection de changements classique entre images observées et prédites de mêmes résolutions. Une deuxième stratégie modélise les images observées comme des versions dégradées de deux images non observées caractérisées par des résolutions spectrales et spatiales identiques et élevées. Elle met en œuvre une étape de fusion robuste qui exploite un a priori de parcimonie des changements observés. Enfin, le principe de la fusion est étendu à des images de modalités différentes. Dans ce cas où les pixels ne sont pas directement comparables, car correspondant à des grandeurs physiques différentes, la comparaison est réalisée dans un domaine transformé. Les deux images sont représentées par des combinaisons linéaires parcimonieuses des éléments de deux dictionnaires couplés, appris à partir des données. La détection de changements est réalisée à partir de l’estimation d’un code couplé sous condition de parcimonie spatiale de la différence des codes estimés pour chaque image. L’expérimentation de ces différentes méthodes, conduite sur des changements simulés de manière réaliste ou sur des changements réels, démontre les avantages des méthodes développées et plus généralement de l’apport de la fusion pour la détection de changements / Change detection is one of the most challenging issues when analyzing remotely sensed images. It consists in detecting alterations occurred in a given scene from between images acquired at different times. Archetypal scenarios for change detection generally compare two images acquired through the same kind of sensor that means with the same modality and the same spatial/spectral resolutions. In general, unsupervised change detection techniques are constrained to two multiband optical images with the same spatial and spectral resolution. This scenario is suitable for a straight comparison of homologous pixels such as pixel-wise differencing. However, in somespecific cases such as emergency situations, punctual missions, defense and security, the only available images may be of different modalities and of different resolutions. These dissimilarities introduce additional issues in the context of operational change detection that are not addressedby most classical methods. In the case of same modality but different resolutions, state-of-the artmethods come down to conventional change detection methods after preprocessing steps appliedindependently on the two images, e.g. resampling operations intended to reach the same spatialand spectral resolutions. Nevertheless, these preprocessing steps may waste relevant informationsince they do not take into account the strong interplay existing between the two images. The purpose of this thesis is to study how to more effectively use the available information to work with any pair of observed images, in terms of modality and resolution, developing practicalcontributions in a change detection context. The main hypothesis for developing change detectionmethods, overcoming the weakness of classical methods, is through the fusion of observed images. In this work we demonstrated that if one knows how to properly fuse two images, it is also known how to detect changes between them. This strategy is initially addressed through a change detection framework based on a 3-step procedure: fusion, prediction and detection. Then, the change detection task, benefiting from a joint forward model of two observed images as degradedversions of two (unobserved) latent images characterized by the same high spatial and highspectral resolutions, is envisioned through a robust fusion task which enforces the differencesbetween the estimated latent images to be spatially sparse. Finally, the fusion problem isextrapolated to multimodal images. As the fusion product may not be a real quantity, the process is carried out by modelling both images as sparse linear combinations of an overcomplete pair of estimated coupled dictionaries. Thus, the change detection task is envisioned through a dual code estimation which enforces spatial sparsity in the difference between the estimated codes corresponding to each image. Experiments conducted in simulated realistically and real changes illustrate the advantages of the developed method, both qualitatively and quantitatively, proving that the fusion hypothesis is indeed a real and effective way to deal with change detection

In this thesis, opti-acoustic stereo imaging, which is the deployment of two-dimensional (2D) high frequency imaging sonar with the electro-optical camera in calibrated stereo configuration, is studied. Optical cameras give detailed images in clear waters. However, in dark or turbid waters, information coming from electro-optical sensor is insufficient for accurate scene perception. Imaging sonars, also known as acoustic cameras, can provide enhanced target details under these scenarios. To illustrate these visibility conditions, a 2D high frequency imaging sonar simulator as well as an underwater optical image simulator is developed. A computationally efficient algorithm is also proposed for the post-processing of the returned sonar signals. Where optical visibility allows, integration of the sonar and optical images effectively provides binocular stereo vision capability and enables the recovery of three-dimensional (3D) structural information. This requires solving the feature correspondence problem for these completely different sensing modalities. Geometrical interpretation of this problem is examined on the simulated optical and sonar images. Matching the features manually, 3D reconstruction performance of opti-acoustic system is also investigated. In addition, motion estimation from opti-acoustic image sequences is studied. Finally, a method is proposed to improve the degraded optical images with the help of sonar images. First, a nonlinear mapping is found to match local the features in opti-acoustical images. Next, features in the sonar image is mapped to the optical image using the transformation. Performance of the mapping is evaluated for different scene geometries.

Cette thèse se situe dans le cadre de l'interprétation d'images satellite à haute résolution, et concerne plus spécifiquement la mise à jour de bases de données cartographiques grâce à des images optique et radar à haute résolution. Cette étude présente une chaîne de traitement générique pour la création ou la mise à jour de bases de données représentant les routes ou les bâtiments en milieu urbain. En fonction des données disponibles, différents scénarios sont envisagés. Le traitement est effectué en deux étapes. D'abord nous cherchons les objets qui doivent être retirés de la base de données. La seconde étape consiste à rechercher dans les images de nouveaux objets à ajouter dans la base de données. Pour réaliser ces deux étapes, des descripteurs sont construits dans le but de caractériser les objets d'intérêt dans les images d'entrée. L'inclusion ou élimination des objets dans la base de données est basée sur un score obtenu après fusion des descripteurs dans le cadre de la théorie de Dempster-Shafer. Les résultats présentés dans cette thèse illustrent l'intérêt d'une fusion multi-capteurs. De plus l'intégration aisée de nouveaux descripteurs permet à la chaîne d'être améliorable et adaptable à d'autres objets. / This work takes place in the framework of high resolution remote sensing image analysis. It focuses on the issue of cartographic database creation or updating with optical and SAR images. The goal of this work is to build a generic processing chain to update or create a cartographic database representing roads and buildings in built-up areas. According to available data, various scenarios are foreseen. The proposed processing chain is composed of two steps. First, if a database is available, the presence of each database object is checked in the images. The second step consist of looking for new objects that should be included in the database. To determine if an object should be present in the updated database, relevant features are extracted from images in the neighborhood of the considered object. Those features are based on caracteristics of roads and buildings in SAR and optical images. The object removal/inclusion in the DB is based on a score obtained by the fusion of features in the framework of the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory. Results highlight the interest of multi sensor fusion. Moreover the chosen framework allows the easy integration of new features in the processing chain.