Multitemporal SAR images have been increasingly used for the detection of different types of environmental changes. The detection of urban changes using SAR images is complicated due to the complex mixture of the urban environment and the special characteristics of SAR images, for example, the existence of speckle. This thesis investigates urban change detection using multitemporal SAR images with the following specific objectives: (1) to investigate unsupervised change detection, (2) to investigate effective methods for reduction of the speckle effect in change detection, (3) to investigate spatio-contextual change detection, (4) to investigate object-based unsupervised change detection, and (5) to investigate a new technique for object-based change image generation. Beijing and Shanghai, the largest cities in China, were selected as study areas. Multitemporal SAR images acquired by ERS-2 SAR and ENVISAT ASAR sensors were used for pixel-based change detection. For the object-based approaches, TerraSAR-X images were used. In Paper I, the unsupervised detection of urban change was investigated using the Kittler-Illingworth algorithm. A modified ratio operator that combines positive and negative changes was used to construct the change image. Four density function models were tested and compared. Among them, the log-normal and Nakagami ratio models achieved the best results. Despite the good performance of the algorithm, the obtained results suffer from the loss of fine geometric detail in general. This was a consequence of the use of local adaptive filters for speckle suppression. Paper II addresses this problem using the nonlocal means (NLM) denoising algorithm for speckle suppression and detail preservation. In this algorithm, denoising was achieved through a moving weighted average. The weights are a function of the similarity of small image patches defined around each pixel in the image. To decrease the computational complexity, principle component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dimensionality of the neighbourhood feature vectors. Simple methods to estimate the number of significant PCA components to be retained for weights computation and the required noise variance were proposed. The experimental results showed that the NLM algorithm successfully suppressed speckle effects, while preserving fine geometric detail in the scene. The analysis also indicates that filtering the change image instead of the individual SAR images was effective in terms of the quality of the results and the time needed to carry out the computation. The Markov random field (MRF) change detection algorithm showed limited capacity to simultaneously maintain fine geometric detail in urban areas and combat the effect of speckle. To overcome this problem, Paper III utilizes the NLM theory to define a nonlocal constraint on pixels class-labels. The iterated conditional mode (ICM) scheme for the optimization of the MRF criterion function is extended to include a new step that maximizes the nonlocal probability model. Compared with the traditional MRF algorithm, the experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm was superior in preserving fine structural detail, effective in reducing the effect of speckle, less sensitive to the value of the contextual parameter, and less affected by the quality of the initial change map. Paper IV investigates object-based unsupervised change detection using very high resolution TerraSAR-X images over urban areas. Three algorithms, i.e., Kittler-Illingworth, Otsu, and outlier detection, were tested and compared. The multitemporal images were segmented using multidate segmentation strategy. The analysis reveals that the three algorithms achieved similar accuracies. The achieved accuracies were very close to the maximum possible, given the modified ratio image as an input. This maximum, however, was not very high. This was attributed, partially, to the low capacity of the modified ratio image to accentuate the difference between changed and unchanged areas. Consequently, Paper V proposes a new object-based change image generation technique. The strong intensity variations associated with high resolution and speckle effects render object mean intensity unreliable feature. The modified ratio image is, therefore, less efficient in emphasizing the contrast between the classes. An alternative representation of the change data was proposed. To measure the intensity of change at the object in isolation of disturbances caused by strong intensity variations and speckle effects, two techniques based on the Fourier transform and the Wavelet transform of the change signal were developed. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the result show that improved change detection accuracies can be obtained by classifying the proposed change variables. / <p>QC 20150529</p>

Nous étudions la réalisation optique de réseaux neuronaux simples. La réalisation optique de tels modèles passe par l'étude d'éléments non linéaires et de connecteurs holographiques. Nous proposons un schéma global faisant appel a une architecture optoélectronique pour réaliser des modèles d'ordre élevé. Cette approche est validée par une expérience en laboratoire. Dans la seconde partie, nous abordons une étude préliminaire de faisabilité d'un générateur optique de tableaux de nombres aléatoires. Nous proposons un montage optimise permettant la réalisation d'un prototype compact, rapide et fiable

Cette thèse présente des travaux de recherche de métrologie en ligne de faisceaux de rayons X dans les installations synchrotrons. Deux approches principales ont été étudiées pour extraire la phase d'un front d'onde X : les méthodes utilisant des réseaux optiques et celles utilisant l'effet speckle dans le domaine X. L'interféromètre à réseaux X est l'outil le plus répandu résentatif de la première catégorie. Ses performances et son potentiel furent étudiés dans diverses situations de métrologie en ligne. Les méthodes utilisant le speckle X sont des techniques originales développées au cours de ce projet. Elles utilisent des membranes faites de petits grains diffusants, dont seule la distribution statistique est connue, pour permettre la modulation du front d'onde. Les différentes techniques furent déployées expérimentalement sur les lignes de lumière BM05 de l'ESRF et B16 de Diamond Light Source. Leurs implémentations servirent à la caractérisation de différents composants optiques utilisés pour manipuler les faisceaux synchrotron X et à l'étude de la faisabilité de micro imagerie par contraste de phase avec les sus citées techniques.

Lors de la systole, le ventricule gauche (VG) se déforme suite à la contraction des cardiomyocytes. De part l’orientation en spirale des fibres myocardiques, ces déformations incluent un mouvement de torsion, la base et l’apex du VG tournant dans des sens opposés. L’emmagasinement d’énergie élastique par ce mécanisme et surtout sa restitution très précoce en début de diastole jouent un rôle clé dans le remplissage ventriculaire gauche. Les objectifs de ce travail ont été d’étudier les adaptations mécaniques ventriculaires gauche en se focalisant sur le rôle de la torsion 1) lors d’un exercice d’intensité croissante chez le sujet sédentaire jeune, 2) suite à l’entrainement aérobie au repos et lors d’un exercice d’intensité croissante et, 3) concomitantes aux dysfonctions cardiaques observées après un exercice épuisant de longue durée. Pour cela, nous avons effectué des échocardiographies au repos et/ou lors d’épreuves d’effort d’intensité croissante en incluant l’utilisation d’un nouvel outil échocardiographique basé sur le "speckle tracking" (STE). Nos résultats soulignent le rôle clé de la torsion dans le couplage systole – diastole à l’effort. De plus, nos résultats montrent une modification des adaptations mécaniques ventriculaires gauche à l’effort en parallèle à l’amélioration de la fonction diastolique chez les sportifs entrainés en endurance aérobie. Enfin, la dysfonction ventriculaire gauche transitoire observée après un exercice épuisant de longue durée est caractérisée par une diminution et un décalage dans le temps de la torsion, limitant probablement la diminution précoce des pressions intraventriculaires gauche et donc le remplissage. L’ensemble de ces résultats mettent en évidence, d’une part, l’intérêt de l’évaluation par STE de la mécanique ventriculaire gauche au repos et à l’effort, et d’autre part le rôle clé du mécanisme de torsion – détorsion dans l’explication de fonctions diastoliques améliorées ou altérées / During systole, contraction of cardiomyocytes induces left ventricular (LV) strains. Moreover, the helical orientation of myofibers induces LV torsion consequently to LV basal and apical rotations. LV torsion stores energy in elastic component that is released very early in diastole and constitutes a key factor of LV filling. The aims of this thesis were to characterize LV mechanicals adaptations focussing on the role of LV torsion 1) during a progressive exercise test in healthy sedentary subjects, 2) induced by aerobic training at rest and during a progressive exercise test and, 3) concomitant with cardiac dysfunctions after prolonged and strenuous exercise. We used a novel echocardiographic tool, based on Speckle Tracking (STE), in order to evaluate LV function at rest and/or during a progressive exercise test. Our results underlined the key role of LV torsion in systolic – diastolic coupling during exercise. Moreover, our results showed an alteration of LV mechanical adaptation paralleling the enhancement of diastolic function during effort in aerobic trained subjects. At last, transient LV dysfunction after prolonged and strenuous exercise was associated with decreased and delayed LV torsion, probably limiting the early drop of LV intraventricular pressures and thus LV filling. All together, these results underlined the usefulness to evaluate LV mechanics at rest and during effort by STE, and point out the key role of twisting – untwisting mechanism in improved or depressed LV diastolic function

La microcirculation cutanée a été proposée comme modèle d’étude de la dysfonction microvasculaire globale dans les maladies cardiovasculaires. Par ailleurs, elle est spécifiquement atteinte dans la sclérodermie systémique (SSc), qui est une maladie dysimmunitaire rare, particulièrement invalidante, caractérisée par une fibrose cutanée et viscérale associée à une atteinte microvasculaire diffuse et la présence d’auto anticorps dirigés contre des antigènes cellulaires. L’exploration de la fonction microvasculaire cutanée suscite donc un réel intérêt, même s’il n’existe pas de technique standardisée pour l’étude de la fonction microvasculaire, en particulier endothéliale.La première partie de ce travail a porté sur l’étude physiologique de la microcirculation cutanée chez le volontaire sain, en utilisant les méthodes les plus récentes adaptées à l’étude fonctionnelle de la microcirculation (tests de réactivité vasculaire couplés à l’enregistrement du flux sanguin cutané par laser speckle contrast imaging). Dans une seconde partie, nous avons étudié la pathologie de la microcirculation cutanée dans la sclérodermie systémique, en utilisant les mêmes d’étude fonctionnelle de la microcirculation. La dernière partie de cette thèse a été consacrée à l’étude d’une nouvelle approche pharmacologique et thérapeutique dans la prise en charge des manifestations vasculaires cutanées périphériques identifiées chez les patients. Nous avons évalué l’effet vasodilatateur du tréprostinil, analogue de la prostacycline, sur le flux sanguin cutané de divers zones anatomiques, chez le volontaire sain, le patient atteint de SSc, le patient diabétique et lors d’un refroidissement local dans la SSc. / Cutaneous microcirculation has been proposed as a model to study the global microvascular dysfunction occurring in cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, it is specifically impaired in systemic sclerosis (SSc), which is a rare and particularly invalidating auto-immune disease, characterized by a cutaneous and visceral fibrosis, associated with a diffuse microvascular impairment and auto-antibodies targeting some cellular antigens. The study of cutaneous microvascular function provides a real interest despite the lack of available standardized techniques, particularly to explore endothelial microvascular function.In the first part of this work, we aimed to study the physiology of cutaneous microcirculation in healthy volunteers, using the more recent methods in this field, adapted to functional study of microcirculation (vascular reactivity tests coupled with cutaneous blood flow recording by laser speckle contrast imaging). The second part of our work aimed to study the pathology of cutaneous microcirculation in SSc volunteers, by using the same functional exploration methods. The last part of this work has been dedicated to a new pharmacologic and therapeutic approach for the management of peripheral cutaneous vascular manifestations in patients, using innovating technics as cutaneous iontophoresis. We studied the vasodilator effect of treprostinil, a prostacycline analogue, on cutaneous blood flow in several anatomic regions in healthy subject, SSc patient and diabetic patient, and also during a local cooling in SSc.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:06:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6277.pdf: 15816665 bytes, checksum: 105661656ee67fe816f34a96605797f9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-01-23 / The development of new methods and noisy images filtering techniques still attract researchers, which seek to reduce the noise with the minimal loss of details, edges, resolution and removal of fine structures of the image. Moreover, it is extremely important to expand the capacity of the filters for the different noise models present in the Image and Signal Processing literature, like the multiplicative noise speckle, present in the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. This Master s degree thesis aims to use a recent denoising algorithm: the nonlocal means (NLM), developed for the additive white gaussian noise (AWGN), and expand, analyze and compare its capacity for intensity SAR images denoising (despeckling), which are contaminated with the speckle. This expansion of the NLM filter is based with the use of the stochastic distances and the comparison of the estimated parameters with de G0 and the inverse Gamma distributions. Finally, this work compares the synthetic and real results of the proposed filter with some filters of the literature. / A elaboração de novos métodos e técnicas de filtragem de imagens ruidosas ainda atraem pesquisadores, que buscam a redução de ruído com a mínima perda dos detalhes, bordas, resolução e remoção de estruturas finas da imagem. Além disto, é de extrema importância ampliar a capacidade dos filtros para diversos modelos de ruído existentes na literatura de Processamento de Imagens e Sinais, como o ruído multiplicativo speckle , presente em imagens de radar de abertura sintética (SAR). Esta dissertação de Mestrado tem o objetivo de utilizar um algoritmo de filtragem recente: o nonlocal means (NLM), desenvolvido para o ruído branco aditivo gaussiano (AWGN), e ampliar, analisar e comparar a sua capacidade para a filtragem de imagens SAR de intensidade ( despeckling ), as quais são contaminadas com o speckle . Esta ampliação do filtro NLM é baseada no uso das distâncias estocásticas e na comparação dos parâmetros estimados através das distribuições G0 e da inversa da Gama. Por fim, este trabalho compara os resultados sintéticos e reais do filtro proposto com alguns filtros da literatura.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / We investigate the use of noise degraded facial images in the application of facial expression recognition. In particular, we trained Gabor+SVMclassifiers to recognize facial expressions images with various types of noise. We applied Gaussian noise, Poisson noise, varying levels of salt and pepper noise, and speckle noise to noiseless facial images. Classifiers were trained with images without noise and then tested on the images with noise. Next, the classifiers were trained using images with noise, and then on tested both images that had noise, and images that were noiseless. Finally, classifiers were tested on images while increasing the levels of salt and pepper in the test set. Our results reflected distinct degradation of recognition accuracy. We also discovered that certain types of noise, particularly Gaussian and Poisson noise, boost recognition rates to levels greater than would be achieved by normal, noiseless images. We attribute this effect to the Gaussian envelope component of Gabor filters being sympathetic to Gaussian-like noise, which is similar in variance to that of the Gabor filters. Finally, using linear regression, we mapped a mathematical model to this degradation and used it to suggest how recognition rates would degrade further should more noise be added to the images. / South Africa

A doença aterosclerótica coronariana tem um grande impacto na morbidade e mortalidade em todo mundo. A terapia cardíaca com ondas de choque consiste em uma nova opção potencial para o tratamento de pacientes com doença coronariana crônica e angina refratária. No presente estudo, avaliamos os efeitos das ondas de choque na mecânica do ventrículo esquerdo, avaliados pela ecocardiografia com speckle tracking, assim como nos sintomas clínicos e isquemia miocárdica em pacientes com angina refratária. Estudamos, prospectivamente, 19 pacientes com angina refratária submetidos à terapia com ondas de choque com 3 sessões de tratamento por semana, realizados na primeira, quinta e nona semanas, totalizando 9 semanas de tratamento. A mecânica do ventrículo esquerdo foi avaliada por meio da determinação do strain longitudinal global e segmentar. A perfusão miocárdica foi analisada por cintilografia de perfusão miocárdica com Tecnécio-99m Sestamibi, para determinação do summed stress score (SSS). Parâmetros clínicos foram mensurados pelo escore de angina da Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS), escore de insuficiência cardíaca da New York Heart Association (NYHA) e qualidade de vida pelo Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ). Todos os dados foram mensurados antes do início do tratamento e 6 meses após a terapia com ondas de choque. Os nossos resultados demonstraram que as ondas de choque não ocasionaram efeitos colaterais importantes e os pacientes apresentaram melhora significativa dos sintomas. Antes do tratamento, 18 (94,7%) pacientes se apresentavam com angina CCS classe III ou IV, e 6 meses após houve redução para 3 (15,8%) pacientes (p = 0,0001), associada à melhora no SAQ (38,5%; p < 0,001). Treze (68,4%) pacientes estavam em classe funcional III ou IV da NYHA antes do tratamento, com redução significativa para 7 (36,8%); p = 0,014. Nenhuma alteração foi observada no SSS global basal no acompanhamento de 6 meses (15,33 ± 8,60 versus 16,60 ± 8,06, p = 0,155) determinado pela cintilografia miocárdica. No entanto, houve redução significativa no SSS médio dos segmentos isquêmicos tratados (2,1 ± 0,87 pré versus 1,6 ± 1,19 pós-terapia, p = 0,024). O strain longitudinal global do ventrículo esquerdo permaneceu inalterado (-13,03 ± 8,96 pré versus -15,88 ± 3,43 pós-tratamento; p = 0,256). Também não foi observada alteração significativa no strain longitudinal segmentar do ventrículo esquerdo pela ecocardiografia com speckle tracking. Concluímos que a terapia com ondas de choque é um procedimento seguro para tratamento de pacientes com angina refratária, que resulta em melhor qualidade de vida, melhora na perfusão miocárdica dos segmentos tratados e preservação da mecânica ventricular esquerda / Coronary atherosclerotic disease represents a major impact on morbidity and mortality worldwide. Cardiac shock wave therapy is a new potential option for the treatment of patients with chronic coronary disease and refractory angina. In the present study, we sought to determine the effects of shock wave therapy on the left ventricular mechanics, evaluated by speckle tracking echocardiography, as well as on myocardial perfusion and symptoms of patients with refractory angina. We prospectively studied 19 patients undergoing shock wave therapy with 3 sessions per week, on the 1st, 5th and 9th weeks, for a total of 9 weeks of treatment. The left ventricular mechanics was evaluated by global longitudinal strain using the speckle tracking echocardiography. Myocardial perfusion was assessed by myocardial scintigraphy with Technetium-99m Sestamibi, for determination of summed stress score (SSS). Clinical parameters were evaluated by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) angina score, New York Heart Association (NYHA ) heart failure score and quality of life by the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ). All data were measured prior to the treatment and 6 months after shock wave therapy. Our results demonstrated that shock wave therapy did not cause significant side effects and improved symptoms. Before treatment, 18 patients (94.7%) had CCS class III or IV angina, and 6 months later there was a reduction to 3 (15.8%), p = 0.0001, associated with improvement in SAQ ( 38.5%, p < 0.001). Thirteen (68.4%) were in NYHA class III or IV before treatment, with a significant reduction to 7 (36.8%); p = 0.014. No change was observed in the global SSS at 6-months follow-up (from 15.33 ± 8.60 baseline to 16.60 ± 8.06 post-treatment, p = 0.155). However, there was a significant reduction in the mean SSS of the treated ischemic segments (2.1 ± 0.87 pre versus 1.6 ± 1.19 post therapy, p = 0.024). The global longitudinal strain remained unchanged (-13.03 ± 8.96 pre versus -15.88 ± 3.43 6 months post-treatment, p = 0.256). In the same way, no significant difference was observed in the longitudinal strain of the left ventricular segments. We concluded that shock wave therapy is a safe procedure for the treatment of patients with refractory angina, resulting in better quality of life, improved myocardial perfusion of the treated segments, and preservation of left ventricular mechanics

Thesis deals with ultrasonographic contrast examinations, that are performed to assess tissue perfusion and non-invasive ultrasound method speckle tracking, overcoming the weaknesses of Doppler techniques used to scanning the movement of the tissue.

he thesis deals with proposal of an algorithm and implementation of a program that tracks a motion of the heart muscle in the captured ultrasound video of the heart. The point position estimation is calculated by optical flow method. The Active Shape Model method is used to confirm the accuracy of point's position tracking. The user annotates desired structure of the heart arch first and the application displays new points which represent a new deformed heart shape.