Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Technologiae Electrical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Supervisor: Mr. J. Wheeler Co-supervisor: Dr. R.H. Wilkinson Cape Town October 2013 / This report presents the design and development of a five cell multicell inverter for driving a piezoelectric load. The multicell inverter was chosen for this application as it became evident that it would be more suitable for driving piezoelectric transducers due to its high apparent switching frequency. The multicell inverter was designed using DirectFET’s as this type of FET has a high current switching ability in a very small package. A positive and negative bootstrap power supply was incorporated in the design to reduce the number of supplies to power the gate drive circuits of the multicell inverter. Three compensation networks were designed and constructed to investigate which one would transfer the most energy to the piezoelectric transducer. It was also important to investigate whether these compensation networks were able to reduce the harmonic content produced by the multicell inverter. This is necessary in order to excite the transducer correctly. It was found that the Q-Matching compensation network reduced the harmonic content applied to the load the most. Experiments were also conducted to determine if the advantage of the apparent frequency of the multicell inverter would mean that the piezoelectric load could be driven directly with the multicell inverter without any damage to the transducer. It was however required to increase the applied apparent power to the transducer to compensate for the reactive component of the load in order to melt the plastic which was used as the load to the transducer. Experiments were conducted to determine if the charge on the cell capacitors of the multicell inverter would stay balanced while driving a non linear load such as a piezoelectric transducer. The results showed that the voltages stayed balanced when driving the piezoelectric transducer.

CAPES / Neste trabalho foram demonstrados transdutores a fibra ótica baseados em redes de período longo (LPG) modificadas com nanoestruturas para otimização do desempenho. Nanopartículas de ouro (AuNPs) foram depositadas na região da casca da fibra que contém a rede, por funcionalização da superfície da fibra com 3- aminopropiltrietoxisilano e posterior recobrimento com solução de ácido tetracloroaurico e redução desta por boridreto de sódio. A ressonância plasmônica localizada de superfície (LSPR) que ocorre nas AuNPs foi excitada pelo acoplamento com os modos de transmissão da LPG. Esse dispositivo foi projetado visando o aumento da sensibilidade, particularmente em ambientes hídricos. Comparado ao transdutor não modificado, a sensibilidade foi 17 vezes maior, na LPG com nanopartículas de ouro (LPG-AuNPs) interrogada em intensidade, para o índice de refração de 1,3933. As resoluções atingidas foram tão pequenas quanto 0,0003 RIU (unidades de índice de refração), na faixa de 1,3629 a 1,4399. Para a LPG-AuNPs interrogada em comprimento de onda, obtiveram-se sensibilidades maiores nos índices de refração próximos ao índice da água, assim como resoluções tão pequenas quanto 0,00001 RIU, para índices próximos ao índice da casca da fibra. No entanto, esse dispositivo não se mostrou capaz de detectar pequenas variações na concentração de analitos em soluções aquosas. As nanopartículas de ouro depositadas na LPG foram posteriormente modificadas quimicamente via adesão de cisteamina. A rede que contém as AuNPs foi inserida em uma solução aquosa de cloridrato de cisteamina. Em seguida, a seletividade da LPG foi avaliada com soluções aquosas de glifosato, em concentrações na faixa de 1 μM a 100 μM. Para esses transdutores, a interrogação em intensidade resultou numa variação de 0,6 % nas bandas de transmissão, e a variação em comprimento de onda chegou a 0,34 nm, mostrando a possibilidade de detecção seletiva de traços de analitos em ambientes hídricos. / This work shows optical fiber transducers based on long period gratings (LPG), modified with nanostructures to achieve optimized performance. The cladding of the fiber with the previously recorded grating was coated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), by functionalizing its surface with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, further recoated with tetrachloroauric acid solution and sodium borohydride reduction. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) on the AuNPs was excited by its coupling with LPG transmission modes. Such device was projected aiming to increase its sensitivity, particularly in water environments. A 17-times increased sensitivity was obtained for this LPG modified with gold nanoparticles (LPG-AuNPs) intensity coded, when compared with the non-modified transducer, for refractive indices close to 1.3933. Resulting resolutions were as small as 0.0003 RIU (refractive index units), within the range from 1.3629 to 1.4399. For the LPG-AuNPs wavelength coded, higher sensitivities were obtained for refractive indices close to the water refractive index, as well as a limit resolution of 0.00001 RIU in environments with refractive indices close to the fiber cladding refractive index. However, this device was not able to detect small changes in concentration of analytes in water solution. A further chemical modification of the AuNPs was carried out by functionalization with cysteamine. The LPG-AuNPs was inserted in a cysteamine hydrochloride aqueous solution, and the transducer selectivity was assessed for water solutions of glyphosate in the 1 μM to 100 μM concentration range. For the latter transducer configuration, changes of 0.6 % and 0.34 nm were obtained for intensity coded and wavelength coded operation, respectively, showing the prospect of selective detection of traces of analytes in water environments.

CNPq / Uma alternativa para as análises tradicionais do biodiesel e misturas BX, como a cromatografia, a espectroscopia e a ressonância magnética nuclear, é a análise por meio de um transdutor de índice de refração a fibra ótica, como uma LPG. Entretanto, como os índices de refração do biodiesel e do óleo diesel são próximos ou maiores do que o índice de refração da casca da fibra na qual a rede se encontra, há uma grande perda de energia para o meio externo, comprometendo a eficiência do sensor. Com o propósito de diminuir o índice de refração do biodiesel, uma substância miscível e de baixo índice de refração, o ciclohexano, foi escolhida para ser misturada a esse biocombustível, assim como à mistura óleo diesel-biodiesel. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o ciclohexano não é reagente com essas substâncias, atuando apenas como solvente. Além disso, as diluições 1:1 e 1:2 (uma parte de mistura BX para uma parte de ciclohexano; uma parte de mistura BX para duas partes de ciclohexano) têm índices de refração menores do que o da casca da fibra, o que faz com que a banda ressonante seja deslocada para menores comprimentos de onda, possibilitando, assim, a detecção por meio da LPG. Após as curvas de calibração serem representadas em gráficos de variação de comprimento de onda (nm) em função da concentração de biodiesel em óleo diesel, BX (% v/v), para as duas diluições, obteve-se, por meio da derivada desta, a sensibilidade. As características metrológicas foram calculadas, levando à obtenção da incerteza expandida, que é de 3,7 % para a diluição 1:1 e de 5,9 % para a diluição 1:2, para um nível de confiança de 95,45 %. / An alternative for the traditional biodiesel and BX blends analysis (X is the biodiesel volumetric concentration in the blend), such as chromatography, spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance, is by means of an optical fiber refractive index transducer, such as an LPG. However, as the biodiesel and diesel refractive index are close or bigger than the fiber cladding index, there is an important loss of power to the surrounding environment, impairing the sensor performance. In order to decrease the refractive index of biodiesel, a miscible and low refractive index substance, cyclohexane, was chosen to blend to this biofuel and also to the biodiesel-diesel blend. The results show that the cyclohexane does not react with biodiesel, acting only as a solvent. Besides, the 1:1 and 1:2 dilution (one part of BX blend and one part of cyclohexane in volume concentration; one part of BX blend and two parts of cyclohexane in volume concentration) have a refractive index lower than the fiber cladding, what shifts the resonant band of the LPG towards lower wavelengths. After representing the calibration curves in graphics of wavelength shift (nm) as function of biodiesel-diesel blend concentration, BX (% v/v), for both dilution, the concentration sensitivity has been obtained. The metrological characteristics were calculated, leading to the expanded uncertainty, which is 3,7 % for the 1:1 dilution and 5,9 % for the 1:2 dilution, for a 95,45 % confidence level.

CAPES / Neste trabalho foram demonstrados transdutores a fibra ótica baseados em redes de período longo (LPG) modificadas com nanoestruturas para otimização do desempenho. Nanopartículas de ouro (AuNPs) foram depositadas na região da casca da fibra que contém a rede, por funcionalização da superfície da fibra com 3- aminopropiltrietoxisilano e posterior recobrimento com solução de ácido tetracloroaurico e redução desta por boridreto de sódio. A ressonância plasmônica localizada de superfície (LSPR) que ocorre nas AuNPs foi excitada pelo acoplamento com os modos de transmissão da LPG. Esse dispositivo foi projetado visando o aumento da sensibilidade, particularmente em ambientes hídricos. Comparado ao transdutor não modificado, a sensibilidade foi 17 vezes maior, na LPG com nanopartículas de ouro (LPG-AuNPs) interrogada em intensidade, para o índice de refração de 1,3933. As resoluções atingidas foram tão pequenas quanto 0,0003 RIU (unidades de índice de refração), na faixa de 1,3629 a 1,4399. Para a LPG-AuNPs interrogada em comprimento de onda, obtiveram-se sensibilidades maiores nos índices de refração próximos ao índice da água, assim como resoluções tão pequenas quanto 0,00001 RIU, para índices próximos ao índice da casca da fibra. No entanto, esse dispositivo não se mostrou capaz de detectar pequenas variações na concentração de analitos em soluções aquosas. As nanopartículas de ouro depositadas na LPG foram posteriormente modificadas quimicamente via adesão de cisteamina. A rede que contém as AuNPs foi inserida em uma solução aquosa de cloridrato de cisteamina. Em seguida, a seletividade da LPG foi avaliada com soluções aquosas de glifosato, em concentrações na faixa de 1 μM a 100 μM. Para esses transdutores, a interrogação em intensidade resultou numa variação de 0,6 % nas bandas de transmissão, e a variação em comprimento de onda chegou a 0,34 nm, mostrando a possibilidade de detecção seletiva de traços de analitos em ambientes hídricos. / This work shows optical fiber transducers based on long period gratings (LPG), modified with nanostructures to achieve optimized performance. The cladding of the fiber with the previously recorded grating was coated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), by functionalizing its surface with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, further recoated with tetrachloroauric acid solution and sodium borohydride reduction. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) on the AuNPs was excited by its coupling with LPG transmission modes. Such device was projected aiming to increase its sensitivity, particularly in water environments. A 17-times increased sensitivity was obtained for this LPG modified with gold nanoparticles (LPG-AuNPs) intensity coded, when compared with the non-modified transducer, for refractive indices close to 1.3933. Resulting resolutions were as small as 0.0003 RIU (refractive index units), within the range from 1.3629 to 1.4399. For the LPG-AuNPs wavelength coded, higher sensitivities were obtained for refractive indices close to the water refractive index, as well as a limit resolution of 0.00001 RIU in environments with refractive indices close to the fiber cladding refractive index. However, this device was not able to detect small changes in concentration of analytes in water solution. A further chemical modification of the AuNPs was carried out by functionalization with cysteamine. The LPG-AuNPs was inserted in a cysteamine hydrochloride aqueous solution, and the transducer selectivity was assessed for water solutions of glyphosate in the 1 μM to 100 μM concentration range. For the latter transducer configuration, changes of 0.6 % and 0.34 nm were obtained for intensity coded and wavelength coded operation, respectively, showing the prospect of selective detection of traces of analytes in water environments.

Orientadores: José Roberto de França Arruda, Philippe Herzog / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T06:12:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pasqual_AlexanderMattioli_D.pdf: 10340586 bytes, checksum: 74b86a8897be1f1c00e3c13b018e73bb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: O controle angular da radiação sonora pode ser obtido utilizando um arranjo compacto de alto-falantes independentemente programáveis operando na mesma faixa de frequência. Geralmente, os alto-falantes são dispostos sobre uma estrutura de formato esférico seguindo a geometria de um sólido de Platão a fim de se obter uma configuração altamente simétrica. Recentemente, protótipos de arranjos esféricos compactos de alto-falantes vêm sendo desenvolvidos e aplicados a medições em acústica de salas, performances de música eletroacústica e síntese de padrões de diretividade de fontes acústicas tais como instrumentos musicais. Contudo, muitos aspectos referentes a seu controle, projeto e comportamento eletromecânico, bem como à sua habilidade em proporcionar uma experiência sonora mais realista que sistemas de áudio convencionais, permanecem não esclarecidos. Este trabalho contempla a análise e síntese de campos sonoros através de um arranjo esférico compacto de alto-falantes e pretende contribuir para o esclarecimento de alguns aspectos supracitados. Propõe-se uma estratégia de controle baseada nos modos de radiação acústica do arranjo esférico, a qual apresenta várias vantagens sobre a estratégia usual fundada nos harmônicos esféricos. Uma análise teórica e experimental do comportamento eletromecânico de arranjos compactos de alto-falantes também é apresentada, na qual o acoplamento acústico entre os alto-falantes no interior da estrutura esférica é considerado. Além disso, os sinais ótimos dos alto-falantes correspondentes a um dado padrão de diretividade são calculados utilizando duas funções custo distintas, revelando que o realismo do padrão sintetizado pode ser significativamente ampliado desprezando-se a fase da diretividade alvo. Finalmente, os modelos teóricos propostos são validados por medições de impedância elétrica, velocidade dos diafragmas dos alto-falantes e padrões de diretividade / Abstract: Angular control of the sound radiation can be achieved by using a compact array of independently programmable loudspeakers operating at the same frequency range. The drivers are usually distributed over a sphere-like frame according to a Platonic solid geometry to obtain a highly symmetrical configuration. Prototypes of compact spherical loudspeaker arrays have been recently developed and applied in room acoustics measurements, electroacoustic music performance and synthesis of directivity patterns of acoustical sources such as musical instruments. However, many aspects concerning their control, design, electromechanical behavior and ability to provide a more realistic sound experience than conventional audio systems remain unclear. This work concerns the analysis and synthesis of sound fields by a compact spherical loudspeaker array and aims to contribute to clarifying some aspects mentioned above. A control strategy based on the acoustic radiation modes of the spherical array is proposed, which presents several advantages over the usual strategy based on the spherical harmonics. A theoretical and experimental analysis of the electromechanical behavior of compact loudspeaker arrays is also presented, in which the acoustic coupling between drivers inside the array frame is taken into account. In addition, optimumdriver signals corresponding to a given target directivity pattern are derived using two different cost functions, indicating that the realism of the synthesized pattern may be significantly increased by neglecting the phase of the target directivity pattern. Finally, the proposed theoretical models are validated through measurements of electrical impedance, loudspeaker diaphragm velocity and directivity patterns / Doutorado / Mecanica dos Sólidos e Projeto Mecanico / Doutor em Engenharia Mecânica

Orientador: Eduardo Tavares Costa / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T13:09:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cheade_EduardodeLima_M.pdf: 4329649 bytes, checksum: cccb5144d6d74ac9e7db94da82d1e776 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: A utilização de próteses de válvulas cardíacas tanto mecânicas quanto biológicas tem se tornado cada vez mais freqüente. Estas próteses devem ser avaliadas (testes in-vitro e in-vivo) para que sejam utilizadas clinicamente. Os testes de desempenho hidrodinâmico são realizados in vitro, e a análise dos resultados é importante para a classificação e caracterização de uma determinada prótese, sendo atualmente um dos requisitos obrigatórios exigido por órgãos reguladores para a aprovação de próteses a serem empregadas clinicamente. Os testes de desempenho hidrodinâmico são realizados por sistemas complexos, denominados duplicadores de pulso, cuja finalidade é reproduzir o comportamento hidrodinâmico do coração e simular as variáveis fisiológicas às quais as válvulas são normalmente submetidas em condições reais. Neste trabalho foi desenvolvido, para uso na empresa Braile Biomédica, utilizando a plataforma de programação LabVIEW®, um programa capaz de fazer a aquisição e interpretação dos sinais de fluxo e pressão provenientes de transdutores específicos, bem como a realização dos cálculos necessários e a geração de um relatório resultante do teste. Também foram desenvolvidos circuitos condicionadores de sinais para os transdutores de pressão e fluxo inerentes ao sistema duplicador de pulso existente na empresa. A partir das medidas e dos gráficos de pressão e fluxo é possível calcular os seguintes parâmetros: área específica do orifício, coeficiente de descarga, fração de regurgitação e índices de performance e eficiência da válvula. / Abstract: It has become very frequent the use of mechanic or biological cardiac valve prostheses. These prostheses must be evaluated (in vitro and in vivo tests) in order to be used clinically. The hydrodynamic performance tests are carried out in vitro. The analyses of the test results are very important for the characterizations and classification of a given prosthesis, being one of mandatory requirements of the regulatory organs in order to approve its clinical use. The hydrodynamic performance tests are carried out by complex systems often called pulse duplicators, which must reproduce the heart hydrodynamic behaviour and simulate the physiological variables that the cardiac valves are submitted in real conditions. In this work it has been developed a software program to be used at Braile Biomedica based on the LabVIEW® platform, capable of acquiring and processing flux and pressure signals from specific transducers, as well as all the necessary calculi and generation of the test results report. It has also been developed the signal conditioning circuits for the pressure and flux transducers inherent to the company pulse duplicator. The following parameters are calculated and reported with several graphics showing flux and pressure signals: orifice specific area, discharge coefficient, regurgitation fraction and valve performance and efficiency indices. / Mestrado / Engenharia Biomedica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Orientador: Vera Lúcia da Silveira Nantes Button / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T00:54:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gasparini_ReynaldoTronco_M.pdf: 4522453 bytes, checksum: a5e3883976604a06aa2fd8dcffb6cd3b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: O estudo do campo acústico gerado por um transdutor ultrassônico é fundamental para sua construção e caracterização, pois permite prever qual será seu comportamento antes mesmo de ser construído e indica se ele realmente é viável para aplicação para a qual foi projetado, e se são necessárias modificações para que se comporte como o esperado. O presente estudo teve como objetivo o desenvolvimento de um software, em ambiente MATLAB®, para a simulação computacional de campos acústicos gerados por transdutores ultrassônicos de diferentes configurações, utilizando dois modelos que descrevem o campo, o de Zemanek e o de Stepanishen. Os campos de transdutores com focalização, apodização e meios com atenuação também poderão ser simulados. Para a simulação do modelo de Zemanek é utilizado o método matemático de discretização e para o de Stepanishen é empregada uma solução analítica para a resposta impulsiva de cada geometria de transdutor. As simulações foram validadas com resultados obtidos anteriormente por alunos do DEB/FEEC/UNICAMP e os programas desenvolvidos foram agregados em um pacote computacional. Estes programas têm seus códigos abertos para que futuramente sejam implementadas outras funções e configurações de transdutor. O software pode auxiliar no projeto de transdutores e também no estudo da modelagem do campo acústico pelos diferentes modelos que o descrevem / Abstract: The study of the acoustic field generated by an ultrasonic transducer is fundamental to its construction and characterization, because it allows to predict how it will behave before being built and whether it is really feasible or not for the application to which it was designed, and to suggest modifications to behave as expected. The present study describes the development of a software implemented in MATLAB®, for computational simulation of acoustic fields generated by ultrasonic transducers, of different configurations, using two models that describe the field, Zemanek and Stepanishen. Transducers with focusing, apodization and attenuation environment may also be simulated. For Zemanek's model simulation is used the mathematical method of discretization and for Stepanishen's model, an analytical solution for the impulse response of each transducer geometry is employed. The simulations were validated with results obtained previously by students from DEB/FEEC/UNICAMP and the developed programs were aggregated into a computer package. These programs have their code available so that, in a near future, other functions and transducer configurations can be implemented. The software can support the transducer design and also the study of the acoustic field modeling by different models that describe it / Mestrado / Engenharia Biomedica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Cette thèse a eu pour objectif d'étudier des questions naturelles de définissabilité autour des transducteurs bidirectionnels.Il est bien connu que les transducteurs bidirectionnels définissent une plus grande classe de transductions que celles des transducteurs unidirectionnels. La première question que nous avons étudiée est donc de décider si un transducteur bidirectionnel est définissable par un transducteur unidirectionnel. Il a été montré en 2013 que cette question est décidable pour des transducteurs fonctionnels (nous montrons aussi en paralèlle que cette question devient indécidable si les transducteurs ne sont plus fonctionnels) mais la complexité de la procédure de décision était non-élémentaire.Nous proposons une caractérisation de la "définissabilité par transducteur unidirectionnel" décidable en espace doublement exponentiel. Cette caractérisation est effective en ce sens qu'elle produit en temps triplement exponentiel le transducteur équivalent. De plus, nous avons étudié ce problème aussi pour les transducteurs "sweeping", pour lesquels la procédure de décision et la construction du transducteur équivalent requièrent une exponentielle de moins. Comme nous avons par ailleurs montré qu'il existe des familles de fonctions réalisables de façon unidirectionnelle avec au minimum deux sauts exponentiels, notre procédure est optimale dans le cas "sweeping".Le fait d'avoir particulièrement étudié les transducteurs"sweeping" nous a poussé à étudier d'autres questions dedéfinissabilité~: est-ce qu'un transducteur donné estréalisable par un transducteur sweeping ? Et par un transducteursweeping réalisant au maximum k passages ? Nous montrons que cesquestions sont décidables avec les mêmes complexitésobtenues précédemment. Comme nous avons montré qu'ilexiste une borne sur le nombre de passages nécéssaires pourréaliser avec un transducteur sweeping une transductiondonnée, cela nous permet aussi de minimiser le nombre de passages d'untransducteur sweeping.Enfin nous avons cherché à caractériser la classe destransductions sweeping dans d'autres modèles de transductions,les Streaming String Transducers (SST) et lestransductions MSO. Cela a en autres permis, en établissant unecorrespondance entre le nombre de passages des transducteurssweeping et le nombre de registres d'une sous-classe de SST, deminimiser le nombre de registres pour une classe intéressantede SST. Dans l'ensemble, notre travail a permis de couvrir l'ensembledes relations entre ces modèles, et les questions dedéfinissabilité qui se posent naturellement. / The goal of this thesis was to study definability questionsabout finite-state transducers and in particular two-waytransducers. It is known that two-way transducers cover a larger classof transductions than one-way transducers. Then the first question wetackled is the one-way definability problem: is it possible torealize a given two-way transduction by a one-way transducer? Thisproblem was shown to be decidable for functionaltransducers (we also show as a side result that one-way definability becomes undecidable for non-functional transducers) but the decision procedure had non-elementary complexity.We proposed a characterization of one-way definability thatallows us to decide it in double-exponential space, and provide anequivalent one-way transducer of triple-exponential size. We firststudied this question for a restricted class, namely sweepingtransducers, for which the decision procedure and the construction ofthe one-way transducer take one less exponential. For suchtransducers, our procedure is optimal in the sense that we have shownthat there exists a family of functions that are one-way definable andfor which an equivalent one-way transducer requires doubly exponentialsize.The study of sweeping transducers raised other definability questions: Is a given transducer equivalent to some sweeping transducer? And to some sweeping transducer that performs at most k passes? We showed that those questions are decidable and the decision procedure, as well as the equivalent transducer, have the same complexity as in the one-way case. Moreover, as we have shown that there exists a bound on the number of passes required to realize a transduction by a sweeping transducer, we managed to obtain a procedure to minimize the number of passes of a sweeping transducer.Finally we tried to characterize sweeping transducers in other models for regular transductions such as Streaming String transducers (SST) and MSO transductions. As we obtained an equivalence between the number of passes of a sweeping transducer and the number of registers of the equivalent SST we provided a minimization procedure for the number of registers of a large class of SST's. To conclude, our work allowed us to provide a good overall understanding of the definability questions between the models for regular transductions and in particular regarding the resources, whether it is the number of passes (and of course one-way definability is crucial in that aspect) or the number of registers.

Low intensity and low frequency ultrasound has been shown to modulate ion channel currents, membrane capacitive currents, and as a result, neuronal activity. Ultrasound has been used as a non-invasive way to modulate neuronal activity in vivo using mice as well as human subjects. Ultrasound with acoustic frequency as low as 0.35 MHz can be focussed on a region as small as 2 mm with reversible effects and no increase in temperature. In this study, two ultrasound transducers with different resonant frequency have been used to excite neuronal cultures. The resulting changes in the network properties such as synchronised network burst frequency, density, clustering and path length have been analysed. The study shows that ultrasound stimulation at acoustic frequency 450 kHz (ISPPA =11.3 mW/cm2) significantly modulates the above mentioned parameters and causes deviations from small world network properties of the control network.

La tomographie ultrasonore assistée par ordinateur possède un fort potentiel en tant que moyen d'inspection des tissus mammaires pour le dépistage du cancer du sein; cette technique permet de réduire la dépendance à l'opérateur constatée avec l'échographie conventionnelle. Une antenne de transducteurs (3 MHz) à géométrie semi-circulaire conformée à l'anatomie du sein a été développée pour réaliser une imagerie de réflectivité des structures d'intérêt en employant une procédure de reconstruction tomographique. L'antenne comporte 1024 éléments répartis sur un arc de 190 degrés ayant un rayon de courbure de 100 mm. Les acquisitions sont gérées par une électronique à 32 voies parallèles indépendantes en émission/réception et par un multiplexer pour l'adressage des voies vers les éléments de l'antenne. Les circuits d'émission et de réception ont une fréquence d'échantillonnage allant jusqu'à 80 MHz avec une précision de 12 bits. Des formes d'ondes arbitraires (pseudo-chirp, codes de Golay) sont transmises afin d'améliorer le rapport signal sur bruit. L'électroacoustique a été caractérisée avec des objets académiques et un hydrophone afin de déterminer les propriétés d'émission du système d'imagerie (réponses impulsionnelles et distribution spatiale du champ) et de développer des outils de correction des données; ces résultats sont mis en regard avec le formalisme de résolution du problème inverse (algorithme de sommation des rétroprojections elliptiques filtrées en champ proche). L'évaluation du système d'imagerie est réalisées sur des objets ponctuels, des objets bidimensionnels à faible contraste d'impédance et un fantôme anthropomorphique de sein contenant des inclusions / Ultrasound computed tomography has considerable potential as a means of breast cancer detection since it reduces the operator-dependency observed in echography. A half-ring transducer array was designed based on the breast anatomy, to obtain reflectivity images of the ductolobular structures using tomographic reconstruction procedures. The 3-MHz transducer array comprises 1024 elements set, in a 190-degree circular arc with a radius of 100 mm. The front-end electronics incorporate 32 independent parallel transmit/receive channels and a 32-to-1024 multiplexer unit. The transmit and receive circuitries have a variable sampling frequency of up to 80 MHz and a 12-bit precision. Arbitrary waveforms are synthesized to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The set-up was calibrated with academic objects and a needle hydrophone to develop the data correction tools and specify the properties of the system; results are compared with the formalism of inverse problem (elliptical back-projection summation algorithm).The backscattering field was recorded using a restricted aperture, and tomographic acquisitions were performed with a pair of 0.08 mm diameter steel threads, a low contrast 2-D breast phantom, and a breast-shaped phantom containing inclusions. The pulse compression is used and the contribution of this technique to ultrasound computed tomography is evaluated with respect to the use of a standard broadband pulse. Prospects for development of inspection methods and also adaptations of the electroacoustic set-up dedicated to the anatomical tomographic imaging are proposed relative to conducted studies during this thesis.