This thesis investigates the factors that can sufficiently explain China's policy change on climate change issue. We utilize interest-based theory in environmental politics and constructivism to explore the drivers behind China's climate change policy formulation. The theories are tested by process tracing the historical development of China's policy on climate change. The analysis is further complemented by other explanatory factors based on empirical findings, including domestic policy process and the impact of non-state actors. The study finds out that China's climate change policy has experienced positive changes with growing policy stringency. The result shows that China's climate change policy cannot be sufficiently explained by the interest-based theory, the factor regarding ecological vulnerability can be only partially confirmed. Instead, international norms can provide plausible incentives for policy change through the process of socialization. The final policy outcomes are also connected to the interest of the most influential domestic political actor. The study results help us to better understand the environmental politics in China and provides guidelines to predict China's role in international climate change negotiation after the Conference of Parties in Paris.

Background. Ray tracing can be used to achieve hyper-realistic 3D rendering but it is a computationally heavy task. Since hardware support for real-time ray tracing was released, the game industry has been introducing this feature into games. However, even modern hardware still experience performance issues when implementing common rendering techniques with ray tracing. One of these problematic techniques is alpha testing. Objectives. The thesis will investigate the following: 1) How the texture format of the alpha map and the number of alpha maps affect the rendering times. 2) How tessellation of the alpha tested geometry affects the performance and if tessellation has the potential to fully replace the alpha test from a performance perspective. Methods. A DXR 3D renderer will be implemented capable of rendering alpha tested geometry using an any-hit shader. The renderer was used to conduct a computational performance benchmark of the rendering times while varying texture and geometry data. Two alpha tested tree models were tessellated to various levels and their related textures were converted into multiple formats that could be used for the test scenes. Results & Conclusions. When the texture formats BC7, R(1xfloat32), and BC4 were used for the alpha map, the rendering times decreased in all cases, relative RGBA(4xfloat32). BC4 showed to give the best performance gain, decreasing the rendering times with up to 17% using one alpha map per model and up to 43% using eight alpha maps. When increasing the number of alpha maps used per model the rendering times increased with up to 52% when going from one alpha map to two. A large increase in rendering times was observed when going from three to four alpha maps in all cases. Using alpha testing on the tessellated model versions increased the rendering times in most cases, at most 135%. A decrease of up to 8% was however observed when the models were tessellated a certain amount. Turning off alpha testing gave a significant decrease in rendering allowing higher tessellated versions to be rendered for all models. In one case, while increasing the number of triangles with a factor of 78 the rendering times were still decreased by 30% relative to the original alpha test implementation. This suggests that pre-tessellated models could potentially be used to replace alpha tessellated geometry when performance is highly required. / Bakgrund. Strålspårning(Ray tracing) kan användas för att uppnå hyperrealistisk 3D-rendering, men det är en mycket tung beräkningsuppgift. Sedan hårdvarustöd för att utföra strålspårning i realtid lanserades har spelindustrin introducerat funktionen i spel. Trots modern hårdvara upplevers fortfarande prestandaproblem när vanliga renderingstekniker kombineras med strålspårning. En av dessa problematiska tekniker är alfa-testning(alpha testing). Syfte. Denna avhandling kommer att undersöka följande: 1) Hur texturformatet på alfamasken(alpha map) och hur antalet alfamaskar påverkar renderingstiderna. 2) På vilket sätt tesselering av den alfa-testade geometrin påverkar prestandan och om tesselering har potentialen att ersätta alfa-testet helt ur ett prestandaperspektiv. Metod. En DXR 3D-renderare kommer att implementeras som kan rendera alfatestad geometri med hjälp av en “Any-hit” shader. Renderaren användes för att mäta och jämföra renderingstider givet varierande textur- och geometri-data. Två alfaprövade trädmodeller tesselaterades till olika nivåer och deras relaterade texturer konverterades till fyra format som användes i testscenerna. Resultat & Slutsatser. När texturformaten BC7, R(1xfloat32) och BC4 användes för alfamasken visade alla en minskad renderingstid relativ RGBA (4xfloat32). BC4 gav bästa prestandaökningen och minskade renderingstiden med upp till 17% med en alfamask per modell och upp till 43% med åtta alfamasker. När antalet alfamasker som användes per modell ökade renderingstiderna med upp till 52% när alfamaskerna ökade från en till två. En stor ökning av renderingstiden observerades när alfamaskerna gick från tre till fyra i alla testfall. När alfatestning användes på de tesselerade modellversionerna ökade renderingstiderna i de flesta fall, som högst 135%. En minskning på upp till 8% observerades emellertid när modellerna tesselaterades till en viss grad. Att stänga av alfatestning gav en signifikant ökning av prestandan, vilket tillät högre tesselerade versioner att renderas för alla modeller. Samtidigt som antalet trianglar ökade med en faktor på 78, i ett av fallen, minskades renderingstiden med 30%. Detta antyder att förtesselerade modeller potentiellt kan användas för att ersätta alfatestad geometri när prestanda är ett högt krav.

Background. Hardware-accelerated ray tracing has enabled ray traced reflections for real-time applications such as games. However, the number of rays traced each frame must be kept low to achieve expected frame rates. Therefore, techniques such as rendering the reflections at quarter resolution are used to limit the number of rays traced each frame. The new hardware features inline ray tracing, and hardware variable rate shading (VRS) could be combined to limit the rays even further. Objectives. The first goal is to use hardware VRS to limit the number of rays even further than rendering the reflections at quarter resolution, while maintaining the visual quality in the final rendered image. The second goal is to determine if inline ray tracing provides better performance than using ray generation shaders. Methods. Experiments are performed on a ray traced reflections pipeline using different techniques to generate rays. The techniques use inline ray tracing, inline ray tracing combined with VRS, and ray generation shaders. These are compared and evaluated using performance tests and the image evaluator \FLIP. Results. The results show that limiting the number of rays with hardware VRS result in a performance increase. The difference in visual quality between using inline ray tracing with VRS and previous techniques remain comparable. The performance tests show that inline ray tracing performs worse than ray generation shaders with increased scene complexity. Conclusions. The conclusion is that hardware VRS can be used to limit the number of rays and achieve better performance while visual quality remain comparable to previous techniques. Inline ray tracing does not perform better than ray generation shaders for workloads similar to ray traced reflections. / Bakgrund. Hårdvaruaccelererad strålspårning har möjliggjort strålspårade reflektioner för realtidsapplikationer såsom spel. Däremot måste antalet strålar som spåras hållas lågt för att förväntade bildfrekvenser ska uppnås. Därför används renderings-tekniker som att rendera reflektioner i en fjärdedels upplösning för att begränsa mängden strålar. De nya teknikerna inline strålspårning och hårdvarubaserad variable rate shading (VRS) kan användas för att minska antalet strålar ytterliggare. Syfte. Det första målet är att använda hårdvarubaserad VRS för att minska antalet strålar ytterligare jämfört med att rendera reflektioner i en fjärdedels upplösning, men samtidigt upprätthålla den visuella kvalitén. Det andra målet är att avgöra om inline strålspårning ger bättre prestanda än att använda strålgenererings shaders för reflektioner. Metod. För att svara på forskningsfrågorna ufördes experiment på en strålspårad reflektionspipeline med olika tekniker för att generera strålar. Teknikerna som testas är inline strålspårning, inline strålspårning kombinerat med VRS, samt strålgenererings shaders. Dessa jämförs och evalueras med prestandatester och bild-evaulatorn \FLIP. Resultat. Resultaten visar att minska mängden strålar med hårdvarubaserad VRS resulterar i en prestandaökning. Skillnaden i visuell kvalité mellan inline strålspårning kombinerat med VRS och tidigare tekniker är jämförbara. Prestandatesterna visar att inline strålspårning presterar värre än strålgenererings shaders vid ökad scenkomplexitet. Slutsatser. Slutsatsen är att hårdvarubaserad VRS kan användas för att minska antalet strålar och resultera i bättre prestanda, medan den visuella kvalitén är jämförbar med tidigare tekniker. Inline strålspårning ger inte bättre prestanda än strålgenererings shaders vid strålspårade reflektioner och liknande arbetsbelastning.

Background. The real-time renderers used in video games and similar graphics applications do not model the polarization aspect of light. Polarization parameters have previously been incorporated in some offline ray-traced renderers to simulate polarizing filters and various optical effects. As ray tracing is becoming more and more prevalent in real-time renderers, these polarization techniques could potentially be used to simulate polarization and its optical effects in real-time applications as well. Objectives. This thesis aims to determine if an existing polarization technique from offline renderers is, from a performance standpoint, viable to use in real-time ray-traced applications to simulate polarizing filters, or if further optimizations and simplifications would be needed. Methods. Three ray-traced renderers were implemented using the DirectX RayTracing API: one polarization-less Baseline version; one Polarization version using an existing polarization technique; and one optimized Hybrid version, which is a combination of the other two. Their performance was measured and compared in terms of frametimes and VRAM usage in three different scenes and with five different ray counts. Results. The Polarization renderer is ca. 30% slower than the Baseline in the two more complex scenes, and the Hybrid version is around 5–15% slower than the Baseline in all tested scenes. The VRAM usage of the Polarization version was higher than the Baseline one in the tests with higher ray counts, but only by negligible amounts. Conclusions.  The Hybrid version has the potential to be used in real-time applications where high frame rates are important, but not paramount (such as the commonly featured photo modes in video games). The performance impact of the Polarization renderer's implementation is greater, but it could potentially be used as well. Due to limitations in the measurement process and the scale of the test application, no conclusions could be made about the implementations' impact on VRAM usage. / Bakgrund. Realtidsrenderarna som används i videospel och liknande grafikapplikationer simulerar inte ljusets polarisering. Polariseringsinformation har tidigare implementerats i vissa stålföljningsbaserade (ray-traced) offline-renderare för att simulera polariseringsfilter och diverse optiska effekter. Eftersom strålföljning har blivit allt vanligare i realtidsrenderare så kan dessa polariseringstekniker potentiellt också användas för att simulera polarisering och dess optiska effekter i sådana program. Syfte. Syftet med denna rapport är att avgöra om en befintlig polariseringsteknik från offline-renderare, från en prestandasynpunkt, är lämplig att använda för att simulera polariseringsfilter i stålföljningsbaserade realtidsapplikationer, eller om ytterligare optimeringar och förenklingar behövs. Metod. DirectX RayTracing API:et har använts för att implementera tre stålföljningsbaserade realtidsrenderare: en polarisationsfri Baseline-version; en Polarization-version med en befintlig polariseringsteknik; och en optimerad Hybrid-version, som är en kombination av de andra två. Deras prestanda mättes och jämfördes med avseende på frametime och VRAM-användning i tre olika scener och med fem olika antal strålar per pixel. Resultat. Polarization-versionen är ca 30% långsammare än Baseline-versionen i de två mest komplexa scenerna, och Hybrid-versionen är ca 5–15% långsammare än Baseline-versionen i alla testade scener. Polarization-versionens VRAM-användningen var högre än Baseline-versions i testerna med högre strålantal, men endast med försumbara mängder. Slutsatser. Hybrid-versionen har potential att användas i realtidsapplikationer där höga bildhastigheter är viktiga, men inte absolut nödvändiga (exempelvis de vanligt förekommande fotolägena i videospel). Polarization-versionens implementation hade sämre prestanda, men även den skulle potentiellt kunna användas i sådana applikationer. På grund av mätprocessens begränsningar och testapplikationens omfattning så kunde inga slutsatser dras gällande implementeringarnas påverkan på VRAM-användning.

The main aim of this thesis is to develop a library for integrating fully homomorphic encryption-based computations on a standard database. The fully homomorphic encryption is an encryption scheme that allows functions to be performed directly on encrypted data without the requirement of decrypting the data and yields the same results as if the functions were run on the plaintext. This implementation is a promising solution for preserving the privacy of the health care system, where millions of patients’ data are stored. The personal health care tools gather medical data and store it in a database. Upon importing this library into the database, the data that is being entered into the database is encrypted and the computations can be performed on the encrypted data without decrypting.

Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a form of chronic lung allograft dysfunction, represents a major cause of mortality after lung transplantation. This disease is associated with a progressive fibro-obliteration of small airways (known as obliterative bronchiolitis) which leads to respiratory impairment and graft failure. The mechanisms behind airway occlusion remain unclear, and no curative treatment is available at the moment. Myofibroblasts are considered central effectors in this fibrotic process, but their origin is controversial. They can arise either from donor cells (resident fibroblasts and epithelial cells) or recipient cells (bone marrow-derived cells).The purpose of this project was to identify the precursors of mesenchymal cells responsible for post-transplant airway fibro-obliteration. Lineage-tracing tools were used to track or deplete potential sources of myofibroblasts in the heterotopic tracheal transplantation model, which produces a surrogate of obliterans bronchiolitis. Confocal analysis showed that myofibroblasts in the allografts were mostly recipient-derived, even though immunosuppression with tacrolimus induced a mild increase of donor-derived myofibroblasts. Occasional epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition was detected, but only in tacrolimus-treated recipients. On the other hand, fate-mapping techniques demonstrated that myeloid cells gave rise to the majority of mesenchymal cells in occluded airways. Accordingly, specific ablation of Cx3cR1+ mononuclear phagocytes significantly decreased allografts fibrosis. In parallel, single-cell RNA-sequencing unveiled surprising similarities between myeloid-derived cells (i.e. fibrocytes and macrophages) from the allografts and both murine and human samples of pulmonary fibrosis. Finally, analysis of BOS lesions from transplanted patients allowed us to translate our results to a clinical level. Indeed, confocal microscopy revealed that myofibroblasts expressing the macrophage marker CD68 were increased in BOS explants when compared to controls, and their numbers seemed correlated with the intensity of fibrosis.Collectively, these findings indicate that recipient mononuclear phagocyte system constitutes a clinically relevant source of mesenchymal cells infiltrating the airways after allogeneic transplantation. Therefore, therapies targeting migration and differentiation of mononuclear phagocytes and fibrocytes could prevent fibrotic remodelling of small airways and improve long-term outcomes after lung transplantation. / La bronchiolite oblitérante (bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, BOS), une forme de dysfonction chronique du greffon, représente une des majeures causes de mortalité après transplantation pulmonaire. Cette pathologie est associée à une oblitération progressive et irréversible des petites voies aériennes par de la fibrose, qui mène à une perte de fonction respiratoire jusqu’à la défaillance du greffon. Les mécanismes impliqués dans la fibroproliferation ne sont pas encore bien compris, et il n’existe pas de traitement efficace de la BOS à l’heure actuelle. Les myofibroblastes joueraient un rôle majeur dans le développement de la fibrose, mais leur origine reste controversée. Ils pourraient dériver des cellules du donneur (fibroblastes in situ ou cellules épithéliales) ou bien du receveur (à partir de la moelle osseuse). L’objectif de cette étude était d’identifier les précurseurs des cellules mésenchymateuses responsables de l’obstruction des voies aériennes après transplantation allogénique. Nous avons utilisé des techniques de lineage tracing pour identifier les sources potentielles de myofibroblastes dans un modèle de transplantation hétérotopique de trachée, lequel permet d’obtenir une maladie fibro-oblitérante du greffon qui simule histologiquement la bronchiolite oblitérante. Les analyses par microscopie confocale ont montré que les cellules du receveur constituent la source principale de myofibroblastes dans les allogreffons, malgré une faible augmentation de la proportion de cellules mésenchymateuses dérivées du donneur lors du traitement immunosuppresseur. En plus, une minime fraction de myofibroblastes d’origine épithéliales a également été détectée, mais seulement dans les greffons traités par tacrolimus. D’autre part, nous avons établi que la lignée myéloïde produit la plupart des cellules mésenchymateuses détectés dans les voies aériennes oblitérées. Par ailleurs, la délétion spécifique de phagocytes mononucléaires Cx3cR1+ était associée avec une diminution significative du nombre de myofibroblastes et de la fibrose endoluminale dans les allogreffons. En parallèle, l’utilisation des techniques de séquençage en single cell a permis de révéler des ressemblances inattendues entre des populations de cellules d’origine myéloïdes (macrophages et fibrocytes) retrouvés dans les greffons et celles impliqués dans le développement de la fibrose pulmonaire chez l’homme et la souris. In fine, l’analyse par microscopie confocale des lésions pulmonaires de patients atteints de BOS nous a permis de transposer en clinique nos résultats expérimentaux. En effet, nous avons observé que la fraction de myofibroblastes positifs pour le CD68, un marqueur typiquement exprimé par les macrophages, était significativement augmentée dans les greffons avec bronchiolite oblitérante par rapport aux contrôles. De plus, leur nombre était corrélé avec la sévérité de la fibrose. L’ensemble de ces résultats indique que le système phagocytaire mononuclée constitue une source significative de cellules mésenchymateuses et contribue à la fibro-oblitération des voies aériennes après transplantation. L’utilisation de thérapies ciblant la migration et la différenciation des phagocytes mononuclées et des fibrocytes pourrait bloquer la destruction du greffon pulmonaire et améliorer la survie à long terme des patients transplantés. / Doctorat en Sciences médicales (Médecine) / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The aim of this thesis is to find an explanation of the obstacles to deploying Article 7 TEU measures as we see it today. This explanation will be sought in the events in this field starting from the formation of the provision, all the way up to this writing moment. The explanation will be searched for by using the research question: What in the process offorming and amending Article 7 TEU can explain the hesitancy and hardship to deploy the article today? Four hypotheses for explanations are identified; 1) Article 7 TEU is a political rather than legal provision, and is thus infiltrated with political subjectiveness rather than legal objective- ness, 2) lessons from the Haider affair have caused hesitancy, 3) adding intermediate steps and alternative procedures have weakened the nature of the provision, and 4) the nuclear notion has falsely created hesitancy to take action and oblivion of the softer mechanisms of the provision. This study concludes, that to fully understand the Article 7 TEU struggles as of today, both political implications, intermediate steps, alternative mechanisms and lessons from the Haider affair has to be taken into account. This com- plexity does then confirm the sufficiency of the explanation: Many factors has played a role in forming the hesitancy and hardship to deploy Article 7 TEU, but the intergovernmental and political nature of the provision explains why it still have not been fully implemented. This is although the scope and appli- cation of the provision fully fits the problems of democratic backsliding, that permeates some of the member states of the EU.

Le Contrôle Non Destructif (CND) permet de sonder l’intérieur d’un milieu dans le but desurveiller son intégrité et son vieillissement. Assisté d’outils de simulation il permet de détecter, caractériseret localiser des défauts de structure du milieu inspecté mais sa fiabilité dépend de la précision des méthodesde simulation. Dans le cadre du CND ultrasonore, les méthodes usuelles (numériques et asymptotiques) sontbien souvent inadéquates pour simuler la diffraction par les défauts. On leur préfère des techniques hybrides.On propose dans cette thèse une nouvelle approche hybride pour la simulation numérique de la diffractionhaute fréquence en milieu étendu (configuration critique pour le CND). Combinant la méthode des équationsintégrales et la méthode des rayons, cette approche exploite le caractère multi-échelle du problème hautefréquence en proposant un modèle d’obstacle à deux échelles. Elle permet le calcul précis de la diffraction etla propagation rayon des champs. D’abord mise au point dans le cadre de la diffraction d’ondes acoustiquespar un obstacle de taille inférieure à la longueur d’onde (méthode barycentrique), l’approche est ensuiteétendue à des configurations de diffraction par des obstacles de l’ordre de la longueur d’onde grâce àl’introduction d’un partitionnement de l’unité de sa surface (méthode multi-centres). Pour accélérerl’approche hybride, on propose une procédure de résolution Online-Offline, basée sur un pré-calcul de lamatrice de diffraction associée à un ensemble réduit de directions d’incidence et d’observation et sur uneinterpolation polynomiale de ses vecteurs singuliers pour son évaluation dans des directions quelconquesd’émetteurs et de récepteurs. On étudie ensuite la stratégie dans le cadre de l’acoustique 3D puis on en faitune extension de principe à l’élastodynamique. On donne enfin un ensemble de pistes pour étendre l’approchehybride dans des cas de diffraction par un ou plusieurs obstacles pouvant être proches des bords du milieu. / Non Destructive Testing (NDT) aims at probing a medium to check its integrity and aging. Withthe help of simulation tools, it allows to detect, caracterize and locate flaws inside a material with a precisiondepending on that of the simulation methods. Usual numerical and asymptotic methods nevertheless often failat precisely computing diffraction for ultrasonic NDT. Hybrid approaches are thus prefered in this framework.In this thesis, we propose a new hybrid strategy combining the boundary integral equation method and raytracing to compute high frequency diffraction of an obstacle in a large medium (critical NDT configuration).This strategy allows to compute precisely the diffraction effects and to convert and propagate the diffractedfield as rays. The proposed strategy relies on a two-scale model of the diffracting obstacle. First developpedto simulate acoustic waves diffraction on an obstacle of size less than the wave length (barycentric method),the hybrid strategy is then extended to compute the diffraction by an obstacle of size some wave lengths(polycentric method) thanks to the introduction of a partition of unity of the obstacle surface. Besides, inorder to accelerate the hybrid approach, we propose an Online-Offline resolution procedure based on theOffline computation of the scattering matrix for a reduced set of incidence and observation directions and onthe use of a polynomial interpolation of its singular vectors for the Online evaluation of the scattering matrixfor any incidence and observation directions. We then study the possibility of extension of the hybrid strategyto 3D acoutics and elastodynamics. We finally give several perspectives for the adaptation of the approach todeal with diffraction by one or several obstacles potentially close to the propagating medium boundaries.

No description available.

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is an evolving field allowing molecular visu- alizations with picometer resolutions. Images are acquired by shooting electrons through molecular samples and detecting the scattered electrons. From such data, 3D shapes of the molecules can be inversely reconstructed. Currently, describing and simulating the cryo-EM image formation is based either on naive transmittance models or complicated wave-function formalisms. In this thesis, we explore the possibility of simulating cryo-EM image formation via Monte Carlo electron tracing. We combine a delta-tracking algorithm with an elec- tron elastic differential cross-section function and Rutherford formulae to derive two Monte Carlo estimators. The derived models are implemented in a high-performance C++/CUDA environment and compared with other common models. Our particle-based simulated images show considerable similarity to the wave-based state-of-the-art multi- slice model. We also evaluate our models on class averages of real measurements. Both of our proposed models have significantly higher normalized cross-correlation scores with the measured class averages when compared to the most commonly used transmittance model. The thesis proves the viability of a particle-based Monte Carlo simulation of elec- tron microscope...