Canadian bitumen is mainly transported in a diluted form via pipeline and train, all posing a risk as they can lead to the release of diluted bitumen (dilbit) in the environment. In the summer of 2018, a collaborative large-scale field experiment was conducted at the International Institute for Sustainable Development - Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA), a world-renowned aquatic research facility. The research objectives of the Boreal lake Oil Release Experiment by Additions to Limnocorrals (BOREAL) project were to understand the fate, behaviour, and potential toxic effects of dilbit in a freshwater Boreal lake to inform evidence-based management strategies for the transport of dilbit. A range of controlled dilbit spills was performed in seven 10 m diameter limnocorrals (~100,000 L of water) resulting in environmentally realistic dilbit:water dilutions ranging from 1:69,200 to 1:504, representing the upper half of the distribution of oil spill sizes in North America in the last decade. Additionally, two limnocorrals not treated with dilbit were studied as controls. This thesis identifies the bioaccumulating compounds derived from naturally weathered dilbit in adult giant floater mussels (Pyganodon grandis), to determine the rates at which they were accumulated and excreted. More specifically, the bioaccumulation potential and toxicokinetic parameters of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) and various metals were assessed in mussels exposed ex situ for 41 days (25 days of exposure and 16 days of depuration) to water from the limnocorrals. These compounds have shown to be toxic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic to aquatic organisms. Mussels exposed to dilbit-contaminated water experienced significantly greater TPACs concentrations (0.40 – 0.90 µg L-1, n=12) compared to mussels from the Control (0.017 µg L-1, n=4). Furthermore, dilbit-contaminated water had a higher proportion of alkylated PACs compared to their parent counterpart, demonstrating petrogenic PAC profiles. We detected significantly greater TPACs concentrations in mussels exposed to dilbit-contaminated water (25.92 – 27.79 µg g-1, ww Lipid, n=9, at day 25 of the uptake phase) compared to mussels from the Control (average of 2.62 ± 1.95 µg g-1, ww Lipid; ±SD, n=17). Alkylated PACs represented 96.4 ± 1.8%, ±SD, n=12 of TPACs in mussels from dilbit-contaminated treatments at day 25 of the uptake phase, indicating the importance of conducting a more inclusive assessment of petrochemical mixtures as most studies only focus on parent PACs. From first-order one-compartment models derived from nonlinear curve fitting of the accumulation phase or sequential modelling method, uptake (0.66 – 24.65 L g-1 day-1, n=87) and depuration (0.012 – 0.37 day-1, n=87) kinetic rate constants, as well as bioconcentration factors (log values from 3.85 – 6.12 L kg-1, n=87) for the 29 PACs that bioaccumulated in mussels suggested that alkylated PACs have greater bioaccumulation potential compared to their parent PAC counterpart. Results from this study also demonstrated that giant floater mussels could be used to biomonitor PAC contamination following oil spills as PACs accumulated in mussel tissue and were still present following the 16 day depuration phase. The results of this study are the largest, most comprehensive set of toxicokinetic and bioaccumulation information of PACs (44 analytes) in freshwater mussels obtained to date. Metal contamination following the controlled dilbit spill was minimal, but mussels exposed to water contaminated with naturally weathered dilbit experienced elevated concentrations of dissolved zinc (30.26 – 38.26 µg L-1, n=12) compared to the mussels in the uncontaminated water (6.75 ± 3.31 µg L-1, n=4), surpassing the Canadian water quality guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. However, it is not clear if dilbit contamination caused elevated zinc concentrations in the water as other factors, such as limnocorral building materials and/or galvanized minnow traps used in the limnocorrals, could have contributed to zinc contamination. Nonetheless, giant floater mussels did not accumulate zinc in their tissues.

Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) have been traditionally constrained to the premises of the healthcare provider. This has limited the availability of these systems in many parts of the world and mandated major costs in infrastructure for those who employ them. Public cloud services could be a solution that eases the cost of ownership and provides greater flexibility for PACS implementations. This could make it possible to bring medical imaging services to places where it was previously unavailable and reduce the costs associated with these services for those who utilize them. Moving these systems to public cloud infrastructure requires that an authentication and encryption policy for communications is established within the PACS environment to mitigate the risks incurred by using the Internet for the communication of medical data. This thesis proposes a framework which can be used to create an authenticated and encrypted channel to secure the communications with a cloud-based PACS. This framework uses the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol and X.509 certificates to create a secured channel. An enterprise style PKI is used to provide a trust model to authorize endpoints to access the system. The validity of this framework was tested by creating a prototype cloud-based PACS with secured communications. Using this framework will provide a system based on trusted industry standards which will protect the confidentiality and integrity of medical data in transit when using a cloud-based PACS service.

O objetivo desse trabalho é apresentar as características de um Sistema de Apoio ao Diagnóstico em Sistema Hospitalar Suportando Busca por Imagens Similares, a ser desenvolvido e implantado no Hospital das Clínicas de Ribeirão Preto. A recuperação de imagens baseada no conteúdo é uma área de pesquisa que tem evoluído bastante nos últimos anos. Assim, um sistema de busca e obtenção de imagens, utilizando tal técnica, deve ser extensível aos novos algoritmos de extração de características e métodos de indexação. A extração de características de imagens, tais como informações de cor, textura, forma e o relacionamento entre elas são utilizadas para descrever o conteúdo das imagens. Essas características são então utilizadas para indexar e possibilitar a comparação de imagens no processo de recuperação. O sistema proposto utilizará um método de indexação de dados recém-desenvolvido – a Slim-tree – para indexar as características extraídas das imagens. Através desse método o Sistema de Apoio ao Diagnóstico possibilitará a consulta por conteúdo em imagens médicas. / This works presents the main characteristics of a diagnosis support system based on image similarity search for medical applications. This system was developed to be used in the Clinical Hospital of Ribeirao Preto of the University of Sao Paulo. The content-based image retrieval (CBIR) researching area has evolved greatly in the last years. Thus, a CBIR system should be able to incorporate the new techniques developed, such as, new feature extraction algorithms and indexing methods among others. Traditionally, the main features extracted from images to get the image essence are color, texture, shape and the relationship among them. Therefore, such features describe the images under analysis, and are used to index and to compare images during the content-based retrieval process. The proposed system takes advantage of a new metric access method - the Slim-tree, which allows the indexing and the retrieval of the images through their extracted features.

A avaliação da presença de hidrocarbonetos de petróleo em mangue na região entre a Estrada Rio-Santos e o Canal Bertioga ? São Paulo ? Brasil foi realizada através da análise de amostras de sedimento coletadas em testemunhos em épocas distintas (2001 e 2005). O rompimento de um oleoduto em outubro de 1983 derramou 3.000.000 litros de petróleo (também analisado) nesse local. Esse óleo desceu pelo Rio Iriri até atingir o Canal de Bertioga, espalhando-se por cerca de 60 quilômetros. Uma batalha jurídica teve início em 1985 e se encontra atualmente em fase de execução da sentença. Neste trabalho foram descritas algumas questões jurídicas envolvendo o derramamento ocorrido e as análises químicas para serem utilizadas como nexo causal. Os hidrocarbonetos foram analisados através da extração com solvente orgânico em sistema Soxhlet e por cromatografia a gás com detecção de ionização de chama (GC-FID) para n-alcanos e alcanos isoprenóides e com espectrometria de massas (GC-MS) para biomarcadores de petróleo e compostos policíclicos aromáticos (CPAs). Os resultados dos hidrocarbonetos alifáticos somente permitiram avaliar a contribuição de origem petrogênica pela presença de mistura complexa não resolvida (UCM) em algumas amostras de sedimentos. Não foi possível avaliar a contribuição petrogênica nos sedimentos baseado nas concentrações de n-alcanos, de alifáticos totais e as relações pristano/fitano, pristano/n-C17 e fitano/n-C18. A relação entre os homólogos e isômeros dos biomarcadores de petróleo, entretanto, indicou a presença do petróleo derramado no mangue depois de duas décadas. As maiores concentrações dos biomarcadores de petróleo foram encontradas na região mais próxima do derramamento e nos topos dos testemunhos. As análises de CPAs nos sedimentos foram importantes para a identificação de compostos mutagênicos e carcinogênicos provenientes do petróleo derramado no mangue. / The evaluation of the presence of hydrocarbons of oil in mangrove in the region between the Rio-Santos Road and Bertioga Channel - São Paulo - Brazil was carried out through the analysis of sediment samples collected in cores in distinct times (2001 and 2005). The disruption of a pipeline in October of 1983 spilled 3,000,000 of liters of petroleum (also analyzed) in that area. That oil has gone down the Iriri River as far as the Bertioga Channel and has spread for about 60 kilometers. A judicial process has been started in 1985 and nowadays it is in the final phase when the sentence will be given by the law court. In this work some legal issues involving the occurred spilling and the chemical analyses have been described to be used as causal nexus. The hydrocarbons have been analyzed through an organic solvent extraction using Soxhlet apparatus and gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) for n-alkanes and isoprenoids alkanes, and with mass spectrometer (GC-MS) for petroleum biomarkers and polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). The analysis of the aliphatic hydrocarbons allowed evaluating only the contribution of petrogenic origin through the presence of unresolved complex mixture (UCM) in some sediment samples. It has not been possible to evaluate the petrogenic contribution in the sediments based on the concentrations of n-alkanes, total aliphatic hydrocarbons and the ratios between pristane/n-C17 and phythane/n-C18. The ratio between petroleum biomarker homologous and isomers has indicated the presence of the oil spilled in the mangrove after two decades. The highest concentrations of the petroleum biomarkers have been found in the region next to the spilling and in the top-core samples. The analyses of CPAs in the sediments have been important to the identification of mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds present in the petroleum spilled in the mangrove.

D'origine essentiellement religieuse, la répudiation est la rupture unilatérale et discrétionnaire du mariage décidée par l'époux. En droit musulman, elle permet au mari de mettre un terme à la relation maritale sans avoir à se justifier. En France, cette institution est critiquée et même rejetée tant elle paraît étrangère à la civilisation européenne. Pourtant, à y regarder de plus près, la rupture unilatérale et discrétionnaire du couple existe en droit français sous l'appellation de " divorce pour altération définitive du lien conjugal " pour le mariage, mais encore de "rupture unilatérale " s'agissant du pacte civil de solidarité et du concubinage. La différence tient au titulaire de l'exercice de ce droit, alors que la répudiation ne peut être mise en oeuvre que par l'homme, la rupture unilatérale et discrétionnaire du mariage, du PACS et du concubinage peut être décidée par l'homme ou la femme. Toutefois, fondamentalement, les effets sont les mêmes : l'un décide, l'autre subit. Que la rupture soit judiciaire ou non judiciaire, ce mode de dissolution laisse perplexe quant à l'attitude du juge et du législateur français face à la répudiation. Le premier refuse, depuis le 17 février 2004, de reconnaître des effets aux répudiations musulmanes en France sous couvert de la violation du principe d'égalité entre époux. Le second, cautionne la rupture unilatérale et discrétionnaire au sein du couple.

A avaliação da presença de hidrocarbonetos de petróleo em mangue na região entre a Estrada Rio-Santos e o Canal Bertioga ? São Paulo ? Brasil foi realizada através da análise de amostras de sedimento coletadas em testemunhos em épocas distintas (2001 e 2005). O rompimento de um oleoduto em outubro de 1983 derramou 3.000.000 litros de petróleo (também analisado) nesse local. Esse óleo desceu pelo Rio Iriri até atingir o Canal de Bertioga, espalhando-se por cerca de 60 quilômetros. Uma batalha jurídica teve início em 1985 e se encontra atualmente em fase de execução da sentença. Neste trabalho foram descritas algumas questões jurídicas envolvendo o derramamento ocorrido e as análises químicas para serem utilizadas como nexo causal. Os hidrocarbonetos foram analisados através da extração com solvente orgânico em sistema Soxhlet e por cromatografia a gás com detecção de ionização de chama (GC-FID) para n-alcanos e alcanos isoprenóides e com espectrometria de massas (GC-MS) para biomarcadores de petróleo e compostos policíclicos aromáticos (CPAs). Os resultados dos hidrocarbonetos alifáticos somente permitiram avaliar a contribuição de origem petrogênica pela presença de mistura complexa não resolvida (UCM) em algumas amostras de sedimentos. Não foi possível avaliar a contribuição petrogênica nos sedimentos baseado nas concentrações de n-alcanos, de alifáticos totais e as relações pristano/fitano, pristano/n-C17 e fitano/n-C18. A relação entre os homólogos e isômeros dos biomarcadores de petróleo, entretanto, indicou a presença do petróleo derramado no mangue depois de duas décadas. As maiores concentrações dos biomarcadores de petróleo foram encontradas na região mais próxima do derramamento e nos topos dos testemunhos. As análises de CPAs nos sedimentos foram importantes para a identificação de compostos mutagênicos e carcinogênicos provenientes do petróleo derramado no mangue. / The evaluation of the presence of hydrocarbons of oil in mangrove in the region between the Rio-Santos Road and Bertioga Channel - São Paulo - Brazil was carried out through the analysis of sediment samples collected in cores in distinct times (2001 and 2005). The disruption of a pipeline in October of 1983 spilled 3,000,000 of liters of petroleum (also analyzed) in that area. That oil has gone down the Iriri River as far as the Bertioga Channel and has spread for about 60 kilometers. A judicial process has been started in 1985 and nowadays it is in the final phase when the sentence will be given by the law court. In this work some legal issues involving the occurred spilling and the chemical analyses have been described to be used as causal nexus. The hydrocarbons have been analyzed through an organic solvent extraction using Soxhlet apparatus and gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) for n-alkanes and isoprenoids alkanes, and with mass spectrometer (GC-MS) for petroleum biomarkers and polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). The analysis of the aliphatic hydrocarbons allowed evaluating only the contribution of petrogenic origin through the presence of unresolved complex mixture (UCM) in some sediment samples. It has not been possible to evaluate the petrogenic contribution in the sediments based on the concentrations of n-alkanes, total aliphatic hydrocarbons and the ratios between pristane/n-C17 and phythane/n-C18. The ratio between petroleum biomarker homologous and isomers has indicated the presence of the oil spilled in the mangrove after two decades. The highest concentrations of the petroleum biomarkers have been found in the region next to the spilling and in the top-core samples. The analyses of CPAs in the sediments have been important to the identification of mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds present in the petroleum spilled in the mangrove.

O objetivo desse trabalho é apresentar as características de um Sistema de Apoio ao Diagnóstico em Sistema Hospitalar Suportando Busca por Imagens Similares, a ser desenvolvido e implantado no Hospital das Clínicas de Ribeirão Preto. A recuperação de imagens baseada no conteúdo é uma área de pesquisa que tem evoluído bastante nos últimos anos. Assim, um sistema de busca e obtenção de imagens, utilizando tal técnica, deve ser extensível aos novos algoritmos de extração de características e métodos de indexação. A extração de características de imagens, tais como informações de cor, textura, forma e o relacionamento entre elas são utilizadas para descrever o conteúdo das imagens. Essas características são então utilizadas para indexar e possibilitar a comparação de imagens no processo de recuperação. O sistema proposto utilizará um método de indexação de dados recém-desenvolvido – a Slim-tree – para indexar as características extraídas das imagens. Através desse método o Sistema de Apoio ao Diagnóstico possibilitará a consulta por conteúdo em imagens médicas. / This works presents the main characteristics of a diagnosis support system based on image similarity search for medical applications. This system was developed to be used in the Clinical Hospital of Ribeirao Preto of the University of Sao Paulo. The content-based image retrieval (CBIR) researching area has evolved greatly in the last years. Thus, a CBIR system should be able to incorporate the new techniques developed, such as, new feature extraction algorithms and indexing methods among others. Traditionally, the main features extracted from images to get the image essence are color, texture, shape and the relationship among them. Therefore, such features describe the images under analysis, and are used to index and to compare images during the content-based retrieval process. The proposed system takes advantage of a new metric access method - the Slim-tree, which allows the indexing and the retrieval of the images through their extracted features.

The presented master's thesis deals with the issue of storing and sharing data from medical imaging systems. This thesis, inter alia, consists of organizational and informatics aspects of medical imaging systems data in multicentric studies containing MRI brain images. This thesis also includes technical design of a web-based application for image data sharing including a web interface suitable for manipulation with the image data stored in a database.

Civil unions are currently a divisive issues in the United States. Religion has historically influenced these debates. The French version of civil union, the Pacte Civil de Solidarité (Pacs,) was created in 1999 after seven years of debate. Many have written about the Pacs in the last decade. However, few have explored the direct correlations with France's relationship with Catholicism, her dominant religion that is doctrinally opposed to any sexual relationships outside of marriage. Laïcité has influenced a steady decrease in religiosity among French Catholics. This thesis explores the impact of this religious decline on the creation and surprising popularity of the Pacs, especially among heterosexual couples seeking an alternative to traditional marriage. The author believes that French society's tendency to modify institutions to meet the needs of the times assures a permanent place in society for both marriage and the Catholic Church, though both will probably continue to change forms.

D’origine essentiellement religieuse, la répudiation est la rupture unilatérale et discrétionnaire du mariage décidée par l’époux. En droit musulman, elle permet au mari de mettre un terme à la relation maritale sans avoir à se justifier. En France, cette institution est critiquée et même rejetée tant elle paraît étrangère à la civilisation européenne. Pourtant, à y regarder de plus près, la rupture unilatérale et discrétionnaire du couple existe en droit français sous l’appellation de « divorce pour altération définitive du lien conjugal » pour le mariage, mais encore de «rupture unilatérale » s’agissant du pacte civil de solidarité et du concubinage. La différence tient au titulaire de l’exercice de ce droit, alors que la répudiation ne peut être mise en oeuvre que par l’homme, la rupture unilatérale et discrétionnaire du mariage, du PACS et du concubinage peut être décidée par l’homme ou la femme. Toutefois, fondamentalement, les effets sont les mêmes : l’un décide, l’autre subit. Que la rupture soit judiciaire ou non judiciaire, ce mode de dissolution laisse perplexe quant à l’attitude du juge et du législateur français face à la répudiation. Le premier refuse, depuis le 17 février 2004, de reconnaître des effets aux répudiations musulmanes en France sous couvert de la violation du principe d’égalité entre époux. Le second, cautionne la rupture unilatérale et discrétionnaire au sein du couple / Initially, repudiation is mainly religious. It is the one-sided and discretionary break of marriage bonds, decided by the husband. In muslim law, it allows the husband to put an end to the marital bonds, without justifying himself. In France, this institution is criticized and even rejected for it seems so far from european civilization. However, looking at it closer, theone-sided and discretionary break-up of the couple exists, under the denomination of «divorce for definitive alteration of the marriage». Concerning the Civil Solidarity Pact (PACS) or cohabitation, it is called «unilateral break». The difference lies on the spouse, which is entitled to this right. Whereas repudiation is only the husband right, unilateral and discretionary break of marriage bonds, civil solidarity pact and cohabitation can be decided by both spouses. However, the consequences are the same. One decides, the other puts up with it. This kind of dissolution, either judicial or extrajudicial, make many uestions arise, considering the french judge and lawmaker’s behaviour towards repudiation. The former is unwilling, since the 17th february 2004, to recognize in France any effect to muslim repudiations for it is considered as an attempt to the principle of equality between spouses. The latter guarantees the unilateral and discretionary break within the couple