Dans le cadre du projet Européen X-Media, de nombreuses contributions ont été apportées aux problèmes de classification d'image et de recherche d'images par le contenu dans des contextes industriels hétérogènes. Ainsi, après avoir établi un état de l'art des descripteurs d'image les plus courant, nous nous sommes dans un premier temps intéressé a des méthodes globales, c'est à dire basée sur la description totale de l'image par des descripteurs. Puis, nous nous sommes attachés a une analyse plus fine du contenu des images afin d'en extraire des informations locales, sur la présence et la localisation d'objets d'intérêt. Enfin, nous avons proposé une méthode hybride de recherche d'image basée sur le contenu qui s'appuie sur la description locale des régions de l'image afin d'en tirer une signature pouvant être utilisée pour des requêtes globales et locales. / The explosive development of affordable, high quality image acquisition deviceshas made available a tremendous amount of digital content. Large industrial companies arein need of efficient methods to exploit this content and transform it into valuable knowledge.This PhD has been accomplished in the context of the X-MEDIA project, a large Europeanproject with two major industrial partners, FIAT for the automotive industry andRolls-Royce plc. for the aircraft industry. The project has been the trigger for research linkedwith strong industrial requirements. Although those user requirements can be very specific,they covered more generic research topics. Hence, we bring several contributions in thegeneral context of Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR), Indexing and Classification.In the first part of the manuscript we propose contributions based on the extraction ofglobal image descriptors. We rely on well known descriptors from the literature to proposemodels for the indexing of image databases, and the approximation of a user defined categorisation.Additionally, we propose a new descriptor for a CBIR system which has toprocess a very specific image modality, for which traditional descriptors are irrelevant. Inthe second part of the manuscript, we focus on the task of image classification. Industrialrequirements on this topic go beyond the task of global image classification. We developedtwo methods to localize and classify the local content of images, i.e. image regions, usingsupervised machine learning algorithms (Support Vector Machines). In the last part of themanuscript, we propose a model for Content-Based Image Retrieval based on the constructionof a visual dictionary of image regions. We extensively experiment the model in orderto identify the most influential parameters in the retrieval efficiency.

<p> Recently, the discovery that taxol (2), a highly modified diterpenoid available from Taxus species, possesses anticancer activity has attracted considerable interest. The synthesis of [1-3H]-geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate(1b), a labelled form of the precursor to the diterpenoids(1a), and its incubation with a cell-free enzyme preparation from Taxus x media densiformis, a species of yew tree, were investigated.</p> <p> The investigation into the biosynthesis of taxol(2) was to be accomplished by monitoring the enzymatic transformations of (1b). The synthesis of 1b was accomplished via a convergent method using geraniol, a ten carbon compound, as the starting material. Essentially two molecules of geraniol were chemically manipulated and condensed to give geranyl geraniol which was oxidized to the corresponding aldehyde and then reduced using sodium borotritide. The radioactive alcohol was subsequently converted to the pyrophosphate (1b) using standard methodology. Cell-free extracts of Taxus x media densiformis were prepared and incubated with [1-3H]-GGPP (1b), the intermediates were extracted, and then analyzed by scintillation counting and radioactive gas chromatography. Identification of these labelled intermediates was attempted in order to provide information about the biosynthesis of 2. (Diagram included in thesis)</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Most gymnosperms produce a pollination drop that captures and transports pollen into the ovule. Pollination drops have other functions. These include influencing pollen germination and pollen tube growth, defending the ovule from pathogens and providing a food reward in insect-pollinated gymnosperms. Mineral and organic molecules, including proteins, are responsible for these additional functions. To date, pollination drops from a handful of conifers and one non-conifer gymnosperm, Welwitschia mirabilis, have been subjected to proteomic analysis. In the present study, tandem mass spectrometry was used to detect proteins in all gymnosperm lineages: cycads (Ceratozamia hildae, Cycas rumphii, Zamia furfuracea); Gnetales (Ephedra compacta, E. distachya, E. foeminea, E. likiangensis, E. minuta, E. monosperma, E. trifurca; Gnetum gnemon; Welwitschia mirabilis); Ginkgo biloba; conifers (Taxus x media). PEAKS 6 DB (Bioinformatics Solutions, Waterloo, ON, Canada) was used to make protein identifications. Proteins were detected in all gymnosperm species analyzed. The numbers of proteins identified varied between samples as follows: one protein in Welwitschia female; nine proteins in Cycas rumphii; 13 proteins on average in Ephedra spp.; 17 proteins in Gnetum gnemon; 38 proteins on average in Zamia furfuracea; 57 proteins in Ginkgo biloba; 61 proteins in Ceratozamia hildae; 63 in Taxus x media; 138 proteins in Welwitschia male. The types of proteins identified varied widely. Proteins involved in carbohydrate modification, e.g. galactosidase, chitinase, glycosyl hydrolase, glucosidase, were present in most gymnosperms. Similarly, defence proteins, e.g. reduction-oxidation proteins, lipid-transfer proteins and thaumatin-like proteins, were identified in many gymnosperms. Gymnosperms that develop a deep pollen chamber as the nucellus degrades, e.g., cycads, Ginkgo, Ephedra, generally contained higher proportions of proteins localized to intracellular spaces. These proteins represent the pollination drop degradome. Gymnosperms that either lack a pollen chamber, e.g. Taxus, or have a shallow pollen chamber, e.g. Gnetum, had greater proportions of extracellular proteins. These proteins represent the pollination drop secretome. Our proteomic analyses support the hypothesis that the pollination drops of all extant gymnosperms constitute complex reproductive secretions. / Graduate