In this work, we use optical methods to study electrochemical reactions and processes occurring on the nanometer length scale. Optical methods are advantageous over traditional electrochemical methods because of their high spatial resolution and sensitivity at both the single nanoparticle and single molecule level. This dissertation describes a series of studies in which super-localization and dark-field optical imaging is used to provide insight into spatial and temporal heterogeneity in nanoscale electrochemical systems with <25 nm spatial resolution. In the first set of experiments, three-dimensional (3-D) super-resolution imaging is used to determine the tip-substrate distance in nanoscale scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) with precision better than 25 nm. Correlating the tip-substrate distance using both optical and electrochemical techniques showed excellent agreement. Second, single nanoparticles (NP) were delivered through a nanopipette, and their resistive-pulse signals were correlated with a fluorescence optical signal. The diffusion trajectories of individual NP delivered to the external solution and to an electrified interface were obtained by 3-D super-resolution imaging, and showed signatures of both sub-diffusive and super-diffusive behavior, depending on the balance of forces between the flow from the pipette and the applied potential at the electrified substrate. Next, we studied the influence of surface oxide layers on single silver NP electrodissolution by tracking the intensity and spatial variation of scattering from single nanoparticles over time. We discovered that silver NPs can undergo electrodissolution in either a spatially symmetric or asymmetric manner, based on the nature of the surface oxide layer. Moreover, we also reported the simultaneous electrodeposition of silver oxide at the electrode surface during the electrodissolution of silver NPs, which enabled us to study the effect of multiple simultaneous redox reactions and their effects on one another. Overall, these experiments reveal local heterogeneity in nanoscale electrochemical processes and allow for many single nanoparticles to be measured in parallel, revealing relationships that are hidden using traditional electrochemical measurements. / Chemistry

L'ostéoporose est une maladie caractérisée par la perte de la masse osseuse et la dégradation de la micro-architecture osseuse. Bien que l'ostéoporose ne soit pas une maladie mortelle, les fractures qu'elle provoque peuvent entraîner de graves complications (lésions des vaisseaux et des nerfs, infections, raideur), parfois accompagnées de menaces de mort. La micro-architecture osseuse joue un rôle important dans le diagnostic de l'ostéoporose. Deux appareils de tomodensitométrie courants pour scanner la micro-architecture osseuse sont la tomodensitométrie quantitative périphérique à haute résolution et la tomodensitométrie microscopique. Le premier dispositif donne accès à l'investigation in vivo, mais sa résolution spatiale est inférieure. Le micro tomodensitomètre donne une meilleure résolution spatiale, mais il est contraint à une mesure ex vivo. Dans cette thèse, notre but est d'améliorer la résolution spatiale des images de tomodensitométrie périphérique à haute résolution afin que l'analyse quantitative des images résolues soit proche de celle donnée par les images de tomodensitométrie Micro. Nous sommes partis de la régularisation de la variation totale, à une combinaison de la variation totale et du potentiel de double puits pour améliorer le contraste des résultats. Ensuite, nous envisageons d'utiliser la méthode d'apprentissage par dictionnaire pour récupérer plus de détails sur la structure. Par la suite, une méthode d'apprentissage approfondi a été proposée pour résoudre un problème de super résolution et de segmentation joint. Les résultats montrent que la méthode d'apprentissage profond est très prometteuse pour les applications futures. / Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by loss of bone mass and degradation of bone microarchitecture. Although osteoporosis is not a fatal disease, the fractures it causes can lead to serious complications (damage to vessels and nerves, infections, stiffness), sometimes accompanied with risk of death. The bone micro-architecture plays an important role for the diagnosis of osteoporosis. Two common CT devices to scan bone micro architecture is High resolution-peripheral Quantitative CT and Micro CT. The former device gives access to in vivo investigation, but its spatial resolution is inferior. Micro CT gives better spatial resolution, but it is constrained to ex vivo measurement. In this thesis, we attempt to improve the spatial resolution of high resolution peripheral CT images so that the quantitative analysis of the resolved images is close to the one given by Micro CT images. We started from the total variation regularization, to a combination of total variation and double-well potential to enhance the contrast of results. Then we consider to use dictionary learning method to recover more structure details. Afterward, a deep learning method has been proposed to solve a joint super resolution and segmentation problem. The results show that the deep learning method is very promising for future applications.

L'analyse de la microstructure osseuse joue un rôle important pour étudier des maladies de l'os comme l'ostéoporose. Des nouveaux scanners périphériques haute résolution (HR-pQCT) permettent de faire des acquisitions de la micro-architecture osseuse in-vivo sur l'homme. Toutefois la résolution spatiale de ces appareils reste comparable à la taille des travées osseuses, ce qui limite leur analyse quantitative. L'objectif de cette thèse est de proposer de nouvelles approches jointes super-résolution/ segmentation pour une analyse quantitative plus fine des images HR-pQCT in-vivo de la structure osseuse trabéculaire. Dans une première étape nous nous sommes concentrés sur des méthodes 2D de super-résolution avec régularisation par variation totale (TV) puis par variation totale d'ordre plus élevé (Higher Degree TV), avec minimisation par un algorithme ADMM (Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers). Ensuite, nous avons proposé une méthode itérative combinant le principe de Morozov et la méthode de Newton pour estimer le paramètre de régularisation TV. Comparé à la méthode UPRE (Unbiased Predictive Risk Estimator), la méthode proposée est plus rapide et ne requiert pas un balayage exhaustif des valeurs des paramètres. Nous avons développé dans une deuxième étape une méthode de super-résolution/segmentation conjointe avec un a priori basé sur la Variation Totale et une relaxation convexe (Tvbox), qui permet d'améliorer les paramètres quantitatifs de l'os et de la connectivité 3D. La méthode a été validée sur des images expérimentales micro-CT déteriorées artificiellement. Finalement, en vue de l'application à des images réelles HR-pQCT, nous nous sommes intéressés à une approche conjointe semi-aveugle super-résolution/segmentation qui vise à estimer à la fois l'image binaire super-résolue et le noyau de convolution. Des résultats sur des images micro-CT et HR-pQCT sont présentés. En conclusion, notre travail montre que les méthodes d'optimisation basées sur la régularisation TV sont prometteurs pour améliorer la quantification de la micro-architecture osseuse sur des images HR-pQCT. / The investigation of trabecular bone micro-architecture provides relevant information to determine the bone strength, an important parameter in osteoporosis investigation. While the spatial resolution of clinical CT is not sufficient to resolve the trabecular structure, the High Resolution peripheral Quantitative CT (HR-pQCT) has been developed to investigate bone micro-architecture in-vivo at peripheral sites (tibia and radius). Despite this considerable progress, the quantification of 3D trabecular bone micro-architecture in-vivo remains limited due to a lack of spatial resolution compared to the trabeculae size. The objective of this thesis is to propose new joint super-resolution/segmentation approaches for improving the quantitative analysis of in-vivo HR-pQCT images of the trabecular bone structure. To begin with, we have investigated 2D super-resolution methods based on Total Variation (TV) and Higher Degree Total Variation (HDTV) and Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) minimization. Afterwards, an iterative method combining the Morozov principle and the Newton method was proposed in order to estimate the TV regularization parameter. The proposed method provides a very good regularization parameter only in few iterations compared with the UPRE method that requires an extensive scanning of parameter values. Furthermore, we have developed a 3D joint super-resolution/segmentation method based on a TV a prior with a convex relaxation (TVbox). The validation of the proposed methods was made on experimental micro-CT bone images artificially deteriorated. The results showed an improvement of the bone parameters and 3D connectivity with the TVbox method. Moreover, we have investigated a semi-blind joint super-resolution/ segmentation approach aiming to estimate both the binary super-resolved image and the assumed Gaussian blurring kernel that is not known for the real HR-pQCT images. Results on micro-CT and HR-pQCT experimental bone images were presented. In conclusion, our work has shown that TV based regularization methods promise to improve the quantification of bone micro-architecture from HR-pQCT images.

La reconstruction de bâtiments à partir de photographies aériennes et d’autres données spatiales urbaines multi-sources est une tâche qui utilise une multitude de méthodes automatisées et semi-automatisées allant des processus ponctuels au traitement classique des images et au balayage laser. Dans cette thèse, un système de relaxation itératif est développé sur la base de l'examen du contexte local de chaque bord en fonction de multiples sources d'entrée spatiales (masques optiques, d'élévation, d'ombre et de feuillage ainsi que d'autres données prétraitées, décrites au chapitre 6). Toutes ces données multisource et multirésolution sont fusionnées de manière à extraire les segments de ligne probables ou les arêtes correspondant aux limites des bâtiments. Deux nouveaux sous-systèmes ont également été développés dans cette thèse. Ils ont été conçus dans le but de fournir des informations supplémentaires, plus fiables, sur les contours des bâtiments dans une future version du système de relaxation proposé. La première est une méthode de réseau de neurones à convolution profonde (CNN) pour la détection de frontières de construction. Le réseau est notamment basé sur le modèle SRCNN (Dong C. L., 2015) de super-résolution à la pointe de la technologie. Il accepte des photographies aériennes illustrant des données de zones urbaines densément peuplées ainsi que leurs cartes d'altitude numériques (DEM) correspondantes. La formation utilise trois variantes de cet ensemble de données urbaines et vise à détecter les contours des bâtiments grâce à une nouvelle cartographie hétéroassociative super-résolue. Une autre innovation de cette approche est la conception d'une couche de perte personnalisée modifiée appelée Top-N. Dans cette variante, l'erreur quadratique moyenne (MSE) entre l'image de sortie reconstruite et l'image de vérité de sol (GT) fournie des contours de bâtiment est calculée sur les 2N pixels de l'image avec les valeurs les plus élevées. En supposant que la plupart des N pixels de contour de l’image GT figurent également dans les 2N pixels supérieurs de la reconstruction, cette modification équilibre les deux catégories de pixels et améliore le comportement de généralisation du modèle CNN. Les expériences ont montré que la fonction de coût Top-N offre des gains de performance par rapport à une MSE standard. Une amélioration supplémentaire de la capacité de généralisation du réseau est obtenue en utilisant le décrochage. Le deuxième sous-système est un réseau de convolution profonde à super-résolution, qui effectue un mappage associatif à entrée améliorée entre les images d'entrée à basse résolution et à haute résolution. Ce réseau a été formé aux données d’altitude à basse résolution et aux photographies urbaines optiques à haute résolution correspondantes. Une telle différence de résolution entre les images optiques / satellites optiques et les données d'élévation est souvent le cas dans les applications du monde réel. / Building reconstruction from aerial photographs and other multi-source urban spatial data is a task endeavored using a plethora of automated and semi-automated methods ranging from point processes, classic image processing and laser scanning. In this thesis, an iterative relaxation system is developed based on the examination of the local context of each edge according to multiple spatial input sources (optical, elevation, shadow & foliage masks as well as other pre-processed data as elaborated in Chapter 6). All these multisource and multiresolution data are fused so that probable line segments or edges are extracted that correspond to prominent building boundaries.Two novel sub-systems have also been developed in this thesis. They were designed with the purpose to provide additional, more reliable, information regarding building contours in a future version of the proposed relaxation system. The first is a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) method for the detection of building borders. In particular, the network is based on the state of the art super-resolution model SRCNN (Dong C. L., 2015). It accepts aerial photographs depicting densely populated urban area data as well as their corresponding digital elevation maps (DEM). Training is performed using three variations of this urban data set and aims at detecting building contours through a novel super-resolved heteroassociative mapping. Another innovation of this approach is the design of a modified custom loss layer named Top-N. In this variation, the mean square error (MSE) between the reconstructed output image and the provided ground truth (GT) image of building contours is computed on the 2N image pixels with highest values . Assuming that most of the N contour pixels of the GT image are also in the top 2N pixels of the re-construction, this modification balances the two pixel categories and improves the generalization behavior of the CNN model. It is shown in the experiments, that the Top-N cost function offers performance gains in comparison to standard MSE. Further improvement in generalization ability of the network is achieved by using dropout.The second sub-system is a super-resolution deep convolutional network, which performs an enhanced-input associative mapping between input low-resolution and high-resolution images. This network has been trained with low-resolution elevation data and the corresponding high-resolution optical urban photographs. Such a resolution discrepancy between optical aerial/satellite images and elevation data is often the case in real world applications. More specifically, low-resolution elevation data augmented by high-resolution optical aerial photographs are used with the aim of augmenting the resolution of the elevation data. This is a unique super-resolution problem where it was found that many of -the proposed general-image SR propositions do not perform as well. The network aptly named building super resolution CNN (BSRCNN) is trained using patches extracted from the aforementioned data. Results show that in comparison with a classic bicubic upscale of the elevation data the proposed implementation offers important improvement as attested by a modified PSNR and SSIM metric. In comparison, other proposed general-image SR methods performed poorer than a standard bicubic up-scaler.Finally, the relaxation system fuses together all these multisource data sources comprising of pre-processed optical data, elevation data, foliage masks, shadow masks and other pre-processed data in an attempt to assign confidence values to each pixel belonging to a building contour. Confidence is augmented or decremented iteratively until the MSE error fails below a specified threshold or a maximum number of iterations have been executed. The confidence matrix can then be used to extract the true building contours via thresholding.

Super-Resolution is a widely studied problem in the field of computer vision, where the purpose is to increase the resolution of, or super-resolve, image data. In Video Super-Resolution, maintaining temporal coherence for consecutive video frames requires fusing information from multiple frames to super-resolve one frame. Current deep learning methods perform video super-resolution, yet most of them focus on working with natural datasets. In this thesis, we use a recurrent back-projection network for working with a dataset of computer-generated graphics, with example applications including upsampling low-resolution cinematics for the gaming industry. The dataset comes from a variety of gaming content, rendered in (3840 x 2160) resolution. The objective of the network is to produce the upscaled version of the low-resolution frame by learning an input combination of a low-resolution frame, a sequence of neighboring frames, and the optical flow between each neighboring frame and the reference frame. Under the baseline setup, we train the model to perform 2x upsampling from (1920 x 1080) to (3840 x 2160) resolution. In comparison against the bicubic interpolation method, our model achieved better results by a margin of 2dB for Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), 0.015 for Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM), and 9.3 for the Video Multi-method Assessment Fusion (VMAF) metric. In addition, we further demonstrate the susceptibility in the performance of neural networks to changes in image compression quality, and the inefficiency of distortion metrics to capture the perceptual details accurately. / Superupplösning är ett allmänt studerat problem inom datorsyn, där syftet är att öka upplösningen på eller superupplösningsbilddata. I Video Super- Resolution kräver upprätthållande av tidsmässig koherens för på varandra följande videobilder sammanslagning av information från flera bilder för att superlösa en bildruta. Nuvarande djupinlärningsmetoder utför superupplösning i video, men de flesta av dem fokuserar på att arbeta med naturliga datamängder. I denna avhandling använder vi ett återkommande bakprojektionsnätverk för att arbeta med en datamängd av datorgenererad grafik, med exempelvis applikationer inklusive upsampling av film med låg upplösning för spelindustrin. Datauppsättningen kommer från en mängd olika spelinnehåll, återgivna i (3840 x 2160) upplösning. Målet med nätverket är att producera en uppskalad version av en ram med låg upplösning genom att lära sig en ingångskombination av en lågupplösningsram, en sekvens av intilliggande ramar och det optiska flödet mellan varje intilliggande ram och referensramen. Under grundinställningen tränar vi modellen för att utföra 2x uppsampling från (1920 x 1080) till (3840 x 2160) upplösning. Jämfört med den bicubiska interpoleringsmetoden uppnådde vår modell bättre resultat med en marginal på 2 dB för Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), 0,015 för Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM) och 9.3 för Video Multimethod Assessment Fusion (VMAF) mätvärde. Dessutom demonstrerar vi vidare känsligheten i neuronal nätverk för förändringar i bildkomprimeringskvaliteten och ineffektiviteten hos distorsionsmätvärden för att fånga de perceptuella detaljerna exakt.

Thesis (PhD (Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / Contains bibliography and index. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Super-resolution imaging is the process whereby several low-resolution photographs of an object are combined to form a single high-resolution estimation. We investigate each component of this process: image acquisition, registration and reconstruction. A new feature detector, based on the discrete pulse transform, is developed. We show how to implement and store the transform efficiently, and how to match the features using a statistical comparison that improves upon correlation under mild geometric transformation. To simplify reconstruction, the imaging model is linearised, whereafter a polygon-based interpolation operator is introduced to model the underlying camera sensor. Finally, a large, sparse, over-determined system of linear equations is solved, using regularisation. The software developed to perform these computations is made available under an open source license, and may be used to verify the results. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In super-resolusie beeldvorming word verskeie lae-resolusie foto's van 'n onderwerp gekombineer in 'n enkele, hoë-resolusie afskatting. Ons ondersoek elke stap van hierdie proses: beeldvorming, -belyning en hoë-resolusie samestelling. 'n Nuwe metode wat staatmaak op die diskrete pulstransform word ontwikkel om belangrike beeldkenmerke te vind. Ons wys hoe om die transform e ektief te bereken en hoe om resultate kompak te stoor. Die kenmerke word vergelyk deur middel van 'n statistiese model wat bestand is teen klein lineêre beeldvervormings. Met die oog op 'n vereenvoudigde samestellingsberekening word die beeldvormingsmodel gelineariseer. In die nuwe model word die kamerasensor gemodelleer met behulp van veelhoek-interpolasie. Uiteindelik word 'n groot, yl, oorbepaalde stelsel lineêre vergelykings opgelos met behulp van regularisering. Die sagteware wat vir hierdie berekeninge ontwikkel is, is beskikbaar onderhewig aan 'n oopbron-lisensie en kan gebruik word om die gegewe resultate te veri eer.

The Sun is of fundamental importance to life on earth and is studied by scientists from many disciplines. It exhibits phenomena on a wide range of observable scales, timescales and wavelengths and due to technological developments there is a continuing increase in the rate at which solar data is becoming available for study which presents both opportunities and challenges. Two satellites recently launched to observe the sun are STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory), providing simultaneous views of the SUN from two different viewpoints and SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) which aims to study the solar atmosphere on small scales and times and in many wavelengths. The STEREO and SDO missions are providing huge volumes of data at rates of about 15 GB per day (initially it was 30 GB per day) and 1.5 terabytes per day respectively. Accessing these huge data volumes efficiently at both high spatial and high time resolutions is important to support scientific discovery but requires increasingly efficient tools to browse, locate and process specific data sets. This thesis investigates the development of new technologies for processing information contained in multiple and overlapping images of the same scene to produce images of improved quality. This area in general is titled Super Resolution (SR), and offers a technique for reducing artefacts and increasing the spatial resolution. Another challenge is to generate 3D images such as Anaglyphs from uncalibrated pairs of SR images. An automated method to generate SR images is presented here. The SR technique consists of three stages: image registration, interpolation and filtration. Then a method to produce enhanced, near real-time, 3D solar images from uncalibrated pairs of images is introduced. Image registration is an essential enabling step in SR and Anaglyph processing. An accurate point-to-point mapping between views is estimated, with multiple images registered using only information contained within the images themselves. The performances of the proposed methods are evaluated using benchmark evaluation techniques. A software application called the SOLARSTUDIO has been developed to integrate and run all the methods introduced in this thesis. SOLARSTUDIO offers a number of useful image processing tools associated with activities highly focused on solar images including: Active Region (AR) segmentation, anaglyph creation, solar limb extraction, solar events tracking and video creation.

<p>Advancements in retinal imaging technologies have drastically improved the quality of eye care in the past couple decades. Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) are two examples of critical imaging modalities for the diagnosis of retinal pathologies. However current-generation SLO and OCT systems have limitations in diagnostic capability due to the following factors: the use of bulky tabletop systems, monochromatic imaging, and resolution degradation due to ocular aberrations and diffraction. </p><p>Bulky tabletop SLO and OCT systems are incapable of imaging patients that are supine, under anesthesia, or otherwise unable to maintain the required posture and fixation. Monochromatic SLO and OCT imaging prevents the identification of various color-specific diagnostic markers visible with color fundus photography like those of neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Resolution degradation due to ocular aberrations and diffraction has prevented the imaging of photoreceptors close to the fovea without the use of adaptive optics (AO), which require bulky and expensive components that limit the potential for widespread clinical use. </p><p>In this dissertation, techniques for extending the diagnostic capability of SLO and OCT systems are developed. These techniques include design strategies for miniaturizing and combining SLO and OCT to permit multi-modal, lightweight handheld probes to extend high quality retinal imaging to pediatric eye care. In addition, a method for extending true color retinal imaging to SLO to enable high-contrast, depth-resolved, high-fidelity color fundus imaging is demonstrated using a supercontinuum light source. Finally, the development and combination of SLO with a super-resolution confocal microscopy technique known as optical photon reassignment (OPRA) is demonstrated to enable high-resolution imaging of retinal photoreceptors without the use of adaptive optics.</p> / Dissertation

No description available.

Amphetamine (AMPH) and its derivatives embody a remarkable breadth of pharmacology. These molecules exert their effects, both therapeutic and pathological, at the human monoamine transporters, which tune synaptic dynamics by evacuating monoamine neuromodulators from the synapse subsequent to neuronal impulses. These transporters are electrogenic, and the transporter-mediated current can be correlated to a surrogate measure of the change in membrane voltage: Ca++ currents from co-transfected L-type Ca++ channels. The present work makes use of this assay, with which it is possible to derive pharmacodynamic metrics from both substrates and inhibitors. This work presents data on a heretofore-unstudied class of amphetamine analogs: the enantiomers of N-Me 4-Me AMPH and N-Et 4-Me AMPH. Remarkably, while both enantiomers of the N-Me version of this compound function as substrates at hDAT, both enantiomers of the N-Et version are inhibitors. This switch does not occur at hNET, where all enantiomers of both N-Me and N-Et 4-Me AMPH function as substrates. Further, (S)-N-Et 4-Me AMPH is a substrate at dDAT. EC50 and IC50 values for all drugs at both transporters are presented. I present the results of super-resolution microscopic co-localization studies on the plasmalemmal spatial relation of the human dopamine transporter and voltage gated calcium channel, L-type 1.2 (CaV1.2). I discuss future aims toward a unified understanding of the mechanisms of monoamine transporter function, with an emphasis on what amphetamine can illuminate in this regard.