Les déchets solides générés par notre société sont nombreux. Les cendres volantes sont des déchets solides produits lors de la combustion de déchets domestiques ou industriels dans des incinérateurs. Les cendres volantes sont également produites par la combustion du charbon dans les centrales à charbon. Les cendres volantes sont des résultats de ces combustions et représentent importante quantité de déchets produits chaque année par notre société. Les possibilités de recyclage de ces déchets sont nombreuses : dans la construction, l'industrie routière. Elles sont également stockées pour une utilisation ultérieure. Les origines différentes des charbons et déchets incinérés conduisent à une minéralogie et une composition élémentaire complexe. En tant que sous-produit le devenir des cendres volantes est important à déterminer, aussi la détermination de la composition élémentaire de ces cendres volantes est-elle indispensable.Les méthodes classiques de préparation des échantillons solides sont la minéralisation acide ou la fusion alcaline. Ces procédures prennent du temps et supposent l'utilisation de réactif, de plus la digestion complète n'est pas toujours assurée. Le risque de contamination par les réactifs employés est important au cours de ces méthodes classiques de préparation. Au cours de la dernière décennie, le développement d'analyse directe d'échantillons solides en utilisant des méthodes d'ablation laser a été important en raison de la nécessité de réduire le temps d'analyse et de réduire aussi la consommation de réactifs. Dans ce travail, deux méthodes basées sur l'ablation par laser seront étudiées pour l'analyse des cendres: Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) et Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). La spectrométrie LIBS sera étudiée pour la détermination quantitative des éléments majeurs dans les échantillons de cendres alors que le couplage ablation laser ICP / MS sera employé pour détermination des éléments traces. L'optimisation de la sensibilité et les stratégies d'étalonnage sont les principaux problèmes traités dans ce travail. La préparation des échantillons et l'optimisation ont été effectuées pour déterminer les éléments tels que Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Pb, Sr, V et Zn par les deux méthodes.Les performances analytiques telles que les limites de détection, justesse ont été obtenus à la suite d'optimisations appropriées des liants et de la sélection de l'étalon interne approprié. En conclusion, l'analyse directe de solides en utilisant les techniques basées sur l'ablation laser développées dans ce travail conduisent à une justesse acceptable pour la détermination des éléments majeurs et traces dans les cendres volantes

The Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm is one of the most commonly used range image processing methods. However, slow operational speeds and high input band-widths limit the use of ICP in high-speed real-time applications. This thesis presents and examines a novel hardware implementation of a high-speed ICP object tracking system that uses stereo vision disparities as input. Although software ICP trackers already exist, this innovative hardware tracker utilizes the efficiencies of custom hardware processing, thus enabling faster high-speed real-time tracking. A custom hardware design has been implemented in an FPGA to handle the inherent bottlenecks that result from the large input and processing band-widths of the range data. The hardware ICP design consists of four stages: Pre-filter, Transform, Nearest Neighbor, and Transform Recovery. This custom hardware has been implemented and tested on various objects, using both software simulation and hardware tests. Results indicate that the tracker is able to successfully track free-form objects at over 200 frames-per-second along arbitrary paths. Tracking errors are low, in spite of substantial noisy stereo input. The tracker is able to track stationary paths within 0.42mm and 1.42degs, linear paths within 1.57mm and 2.80degs, and rotational paths within 0.39degs axis error. With further degraded data by occlusion, the tracker is able to handle 60% occlusion before a slow decline in performance. The high-speed hardware implementation (that uses 16 parallel nearest neighbor circuits), is more then five times faster than the software K-D tree implementation. This tracker has been designed as the hardware component of ‘FastTrack’, a high frame rate, stereo vision tracking system, that will provide a known object’s pose in real-time at 200 frames per second. This hardware ICP tracker is compact, lightweight, has low power requirements, and is integratable with the stereo sensor and stereo extraction components of the FastTrack’ system on a single FPGA platform. High-speed object tracking is useful for many innovative applications, including advanced spaced-based robotics. Because of this project’s success, the ‘FastTrack’ system will be able to aid in performing in-orbit, automated, remote satellite recovery for maintenance. / Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-15 22:50:30.369

During orthopaedic surgery, preoperative CT scans can be aligned to the patient to assist the guidance of surgical instruments and the placement of implants. Registration (i.e. alignment) can be accomplished in many ways: by registering implanted fiducial markers, by touching a probe to the bone surface, or by aligning intraoperative two dimensional flouro images with the the three dimensional CT data. These approaches have problems: They require exposure of the bone, subject the patient and surgeons to ionizing radiation, or do both. Ultrasound can also be used to register a preoperative CT scan to the patient. The ultrasound probe is tracked as it passes over the patient and the ultrasound images are aligned to the CT data. This method eliminates the problems of bone exposure and ionizing radiation, but is computationally more difficult because the ultrasound images contain incomplete and unclear bone surfaces. In this work, we compare three methods to register a set of ultrasound images to a CT scan: Iterated Closest Point, Mutual Information and a novel method Points-to-Image. The average Target Registration Error and speed of each method is presented along with a brief summary of their strengths and weaknesses. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2009-01-22 04:21:22.569

This thesis describes the synthesis and characterization of metal-encoded polystyrene microspheres with a narrow size distribution designed for mass cytometry-based immuno- and oligonucleotide-assays. These particles were prepared by multiple stage dispersion polymerization techniques using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a steric stabilizer. As a cytometeric technique, mass cytometry necessitated metal-encoded microspheres to perform the same roles of fluorescent microspheres used in conventional flow cytometry. The first role of the microsphere was to be able to act as a platform (classifier microspheres) for bioassays. Secondly, the microspheres should be suitable for mass cytometry machine calibration as standards. To perform these roles, metal-encoded microspheres were required to have certain size, functionality and metal content criteria. Lanthanide elements were chosen as the metals for encoding the microspheres for their low natural abundance in biological systems and for their similar chemistry. My goal was to employ two-stage dispersion polymerization, of styrene in ethanol, to introduce the lanthanide salts along with excess acrylic acid in the second stage, one hour after the initiation. Acrylic acid deemed to serve as a ligand for the lanthanide ions, through its carbonyl group, so the lanthanide ions get incorporated into the microsphere while acrylic acid is copolymerizing with styrene. Using two-stage dispersion polymerization, I could synthesize lanthanide encoded microspheres with narrow size distribution and high lanthanide content. However the lanthanide content distributions were unexpectedly much broader than the size distribution obtained. In addition, I could not attach biomolecules to the surface of such particles. In an attempt to improve the characteristics of these microspheres, I employed modified versions of multiple stage dispersion polymerization and seeded emulsion polymerization to grow functional polymer shell on the surface of the particles prepared by dispersion polymerization. Moreover, I coated the lanthanide encoded microspheres with silica shell which enabled me to grow another layer of functional-silica. Consequently, I could use these particles as classifier microspheres for mass cytometry-based immunoassays as well as fluorescence-based oligonucleotide-assays.

Ce travail étudie le potentiel de l'électrophorèse capillaire couplée à la spectrométrie de masse à ionisation par plasma (ICP/MS) pour le criblage d'une bibliothèque de ligands en fonction de leur affinité pour l'europium en milieu hydro-organique. Cette méthode permet, d'une part, d'évaluer l'affinité des ligands phosphorés en moins de deux heures et en utilisant moins de 15 ng de ligand, et d'autre part, de déterminer les constantes de complexation. Les résultats sont en accord avec ceux obtenus par titrage spectrophotométrique.Parallèlement, une bibliothèque de copolymères pour l'extraction solide/liquide de l'europium a été étudiée. Le protocole d'extraction mis au point permet de les classer selon leur affinité pour celui-ci en milieu hydro-organique et en utilisant 60 mg de copolymère. Pour les plus prometteurs, les propriétés de reconnaissance et la sélectivité La3+/Eu3+/Lu3+ ont été évaluées.

Laser Ablation - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is a powerful analytical technique for the direct elemental analysis of solid samples, with spatial resolution down to a few microns However, calibration remains the limiting factor in obtaining quantitative analysis by LA-ICP-MS for a wide range of sample types. No universal method exists as yet and the ones that are currently used tend to employ matrix-matched solid standards Matrix-matched solid standards are not available for many types of sample, such as polymers, biological materials, fluid inclusions, etc The need for a universal method of calibration that involves standards that are easy to prepare and suitable for any type of sample is required. Additional to matrix-matching, internal standards are widely used in LA-ICP-MS for quantitative analyses The internal standard compensates for the different ablation yields from the sample and the standard and for the laser shot to shot variation. Given that the use of an internal standard is required to obtain reliable results, the need for matrix-matching might be regarded as questionable This project has focused on the development and application of a new method of calibration for LA-ICP-MS. It involves the use of aqueous standards whose absorption characteristics are modified by the addition of a chromophore to the solution. Additives were selected for ablation with KrF excimer, and Nd.YAG lasers The influence of the additive concentration on the ablation yield was investigated for different laser energies. Response curves were obtained showing that as the additive concentration was increased, less energy was required to ablate the modified standard solutions efficiently. A general procedure was then defined for the preparation and use of the modified standard solutions for a given sample. The new method of calibration was used for the quantitative analysis of different sample types· low density polyethylene (LDPE), polyketone (PK), polyethylene thin film as well as gels contained in the thin film, and stainless steel. Investigations were carried out on the mechanism of ablation of the modified standard solutions. It appeared that the ablation proceeded by a three-step process leading ultimately to nebulisation of the bulk liquid.

Although the benefits of ICP-MS are well documented, the determination of analytes at low levels in high concentrations of matrix elements has proved difficult. As ICP-MS is a 'flow into' instrument the deposition of salts throughout the system is a common cause of significant loss of signal. The application of desolvation of aluminosilicate samples, to aid in the production of more robust plasma conditions, was investigated to increase the efficiency of the ICP in processing the sample. The performance of the ICP-MS was monitored with different cone arrangements and by running the skimmer cones at elevated temperatures. An alternative to modification of the instrument is to employ chemical modification of the sample and hence the separation of Au and Pt from an aluminosilicate matrix via the use of solid phase extraction (SPE) columns were investigated as a means of dealing with high levels of dissolved solids. OVB based SPE columns were found to give high retentions of Au and Pt when chelated with ammonium pyrrolidinediethylcarbamate (APOC). A second alternative that avoided digestion of the aluminosilicate matrices, was to carry out the analysis using laser ablation (LA). LA-ICP-MS is becoming increasingly used for trace elemental analysis but as yet no universal calibration method is available. The general problems associated with matrix matched standards are inherent as the ablation mechanism and plasma conditions can differ dramatically with very small changes in matrix composition. Hence the addition of chromophores was employed to increase the absorption of the laser energy. The use of vanillic, nicotinic and pyrazinoic acid were used to improve the ablation of pressed powder discs at the laser wavelength of 213 nm. Synthetic aluminosilicate discs and standard additions were both employed for the calibration and determination of Ti.

As the capabilities of autonomous vehicles increase, their use in situations that are dangerous or dull for humans is becoming more popular. Autonomous systems are currently being used in several military and civilian domains, including search and rescue operations, disaster relief coordination, infrastructure inspection and surveillance missions. In order to perform high level mission autonomy tasks, a method is required for the vehicle to localize itself, as well as generate a map of the environment. Algorithms which allow the vehicle to concurrently localize and create a map of its surroundings are known as solutions to the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) problem. Certain high level tasks, such as drivability analysis and obstacle avoidance, benefit from the use of a dense map of the environment, and are typically generated with the use of point cloud data. The point cloud data is incorporated into SLAM algorithms with scan registration techniques, which determine the relative transformation between two sufficiently overlapping point clouds. The Normal Distributions Transform (NDT) algorithm is a promising method for scan registration, however many issues with the NDT approach exist, including a poor convergence basin, discontinuities in the NDT cost function, and unreliable pose estimation in sparse, outdoor environments. This thesis presents methods to overcome the shortcomings of the NDT algorithm, in both 2D and 3D scenarios. To improve the convergence basin of NDT for 2D scan registration, the Multi-Scale k-Means NDT (MSKM-NDT) algorithm is presented, which divides a 2D point cloud using k-means clustering and performs the scan registration optimization over multiple scales of clustering. The k-means clustering approach generates fewer Gaussian distributions when compared to the standard NDT algorithm, allowing for evaluation of the cost function across all Gaussian clusters. Cost evaluation across all the clusters guarantees that the optimization will converge, as it resolves the issue of discontinuities in the cost function found in the standard NDT algorithm. Experiments demonstrate that the MSKM-NDT approach can be used to register partially overlapping scans with large initial transformation error, and that the convergence basin of MSKM-NDT is superior to NDT for the same test data. As k-means clustering does not scale well to 3D, the Segmented Greedy Cluster NDT (SGC-NDT) method is proposed as an alternative approach to improve and guarantee convergence using 3D point clouds that contain points corresponding to the ground of the environment. The SGC-NDT algorithm segments the ground points using a Gaussian Process (GP) regression model and performs clustering of the non ground points using a greedy method. The greedy clustering extracts natural features in the environment and generates Gaussian clusters to be used within the NDT framework for scan registration. Segmentation of the ground plane and generation of the Gaussian distributions using natural features results in fewer Gaussian distributions when compared to the standard NDT algorithm. Similar to MSKM-NDT, the cost function can be evaluated across all the clusters in the scan, resulting in a smooth and continuous cost function that guarantees convergence of the optimization. Experiments demonstrate that the SGC-NDT algorithm results in scan registrations with higher accuracy and better convergence properties than other state-of-the-art methods for both urban and forested environments.

Submitted by Ana Borges (ana.azevedo@udesc.br) on 2017-06-09T11:56:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Cristiane Mezaroba.pdf: 9118688 bytes, checksum: 7706a8529180fd844f20da89e3df3d57 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-09T11:56:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cristiane Mezaroba.pdf: 9118688 bytes, checksum: 7706a8529180fd844f20da89e3df3d57 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-23 / CAPES / Plasma sterilization present effective and extensive microbial lethality, fast action, compatibility with various materials, high diffusion through porous substances and are non-polluting systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate if the inductive RF plasma and N2-O2 mixture is efficient for use in sterilization of polymer medical-hospital and dental materials, represented in this study by the polymer HDPE. It was also the objective of this study to evaluate the possible superficial modifications of HDPE after sterilization. HDPE films were used with spores of Geobacillus stearothermophilus, with ≅5,73x107 UFC/film. In the microbiological tests were used 20W and 40W power, 0.5 Torr pressure and exposure times of 2,5,10,15 and 20 minutes. Low temperature was maintained (T<40°C), and the results demonstrated sterilization efficiency. The samples were characterized by contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy field emission (FEG-SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the "Attenuated Total Reflectance" (FTIR-ATR) mode. The active species formed in plasma were identified by a system of optical emission spectroscopy (OES). / A esterilização por plasma têm oferecido vantagens em relação a outros métodos à baixa temperatura utilizados, a começar por alta eficácia e abrangente letalidade microbiana, ação rápida, compatibilidade com vários materiais, alta difusibilidade e é um sistema não poluente. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar se o plasma RF indutivo (ICP) e mistura de N2-O2 é eficiente para uso em esterilização de materiais poliméricos médico-hospitalares e odontológicos, representado neste estudo pelo polímero PEAD. Também foi objetivo deste trabalho avaliar as possíveis modificações superficiais do PEAD após a esterilização. Foram utilizados filmes de PEAD com esporos de Geobacillus stearothermophilus, com ≅5,73x107 UFC/filme. Nos testes microbiológicos foram utilizadas potências de 20W e 40W, pressão de 0,5 Torr e tempos de exposição de 2,5,10,15 e 20 minutos. Foi mantida baixa temperatura (T<40°C), e os resultados demonstraram eficiência de esterilização. Os filmes de PEAD após esterilização foram caracterizados por medidas do ângulo de contato, microscopia de força atômica (AFM), microscopia eletrônica de varredura por emissão de campo (FEG-MEV) e espectroscopia no infravermelho por transformada de Fourier no modo “Refletância Total Atenuada” (FTIR-ATR). As espécies ativas formadas no plasma foram identificadas por um sistema de espectroscopia óptica de emissão (OES).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:36:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCCC.pdf: 1000443 bytes, checksum: ddedf64b615b10f0a375f5b68b3da175 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-04-07 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / With the objective to attain maximum productivity with small costs, organic and inorganic chemical parameters are used to evaluate and monitoring crops and animals development. Inorganic amounts in agronomic samples have great importance in the production evaluation. Some of elements in those samples could be an indicative of quality, owing to their requirement (Se) or toxicity (As, Sb), even when they are present in µg kg-1 levels, needing a technique with high sensibility for quantification. The aim of this work was the development of a simple system of hydride generation by continuous flow combined with an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry for simultaneous determination of As, Sb and Se in agronomic samples. The work attained to a gas-liquid separator development, and an experimental planning to established the chemical and instrumental conditions of hydride generation. The HCl, NaBH4 and KI concentrations, such as the R.F. power, carrier gas flow and the viewing height, were evaluated besides the study of a more appropriate sample preparation. Limits of detection of the proposed system were 0.1 µg L-1 for As, Sb and Se and the limits of quantification were 0.3, 0.2 and 0.2 µg L-1 for As, Sb and Se respectively with RSD smaller than 10% and 30 samples per hour of reading speed. In view to observe the accuracy, four different kinds of samples forage and bovine-derived samples (blood, viscera and semen) were spiking with analytes concentration in the µg L-1 level. Recoveries around 77 to 112% were found. The results present the possibility to use the proposed system in agronomic projects developed with the objective to determine essential and toxic analytes in different kinds of feed and animal samples, contributing to evaluation of nutritional demands and the increase of efficiency in the bovine production systems. / Com o objetivo de atingir a maior produtividade com menores custos, parâmetros químicos, orgânicos e inorgânicos, são usados cada vez mais para avaliar e monitorar o desenvolvimento de uma cultura ou espécie. A determinação de constituintes inorgânicos em amostras agronômicas possui grande importância na avaliação da produção. Alguns elementos presentes nessas amostras são indicativos da qualidade devido à essencialidade (Se) ou toxicidade (As, Sb), porém estão presentes na ordem de µg kg-1, necessitando de uma técnica com alta sensibilidade para quantificação. O objetivo deste trabalho foi o desenvolvimento de um sistema simples de geração de hidretos por fluxo contínuo acoplado a um espectrômetro de emissão óptica com plasma induzido para a determinação simultânea de As, Sb e Se em amostras agronômicas. Esse trabalho envolveu o desenvolvimento de uma câmara de separação gás-líquido e um planejamento experimental para a definição das melhores condições químicas e instrumentais da geração de hidretos. Foram estudadas a concentração de HCl, NaBH4 e KI; a potência de radiofreqüência do plasma, o fluxo do gás carregador e a altura de observação do plasma, além do estudo do preparo de amostra mais adequado. Usando as condições otimizadas, foram obtidos limites de detecção de 0,1 µg L-1 para As, Sb e Se e limites de quantificação de 0,3; 0,2 e 0,2 µg L-1 respectivamente para As, Sb e Se com RSD menores que 10% e velocidade de leitura de 30 amostras por hora. Para observar a exatidão do procedimento proposto quatro amostras diferentes - forrageira e amostras bovinas (sangue, víscera e sêmen) - foram dopadas com os analitos na ordem de µg L-1. Recuperações entre 77 e 112% foram encontradas. Espera-se com essa proposta a complementação dos estudos que determinam analitos essenciais e tóxicos em amostras de tecido, fluídos e na alimentação bovina, contribuindo para a avaliação das exigências nutricionais e o aumento da eficiência dos sistemas de produção de bovinos.