Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (site viewed on Feb. 6, 2007). PDF text: 163 p. : ill. (some col.). UMI publication number: AAT 3221295. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche format.

Thèse (Docteur ès sciences)--Université de Genève, 2002. / Summary in French. "Thèse no 3396." Includes bibliographical references.

Gravitational lensing, initially a phenomenon used as a solid confirmation of General Relativity, has defined itself in the past decade as a standard astrophysical tool. The ability of a lensing system to produce multiple images of a luminous source is one of the aspects of gravitational lensing that is exploited both theoretically and observationally to improve our understanding of the Universe. In this thesis, within the field of multiple imaging we explore the case of maximal lensing, that is, the configurations and conditions under which a set of deflecting masses can produce the maximum number of images of a distant luminous source, as well as a study of the value for this maximum number itself. We study the case of a symmetric distribution of n-1 point-mass lenses at the vertices of a regular polygon of n-1 sides. By the addition of a perturbation in the form of an n-th mass at the center of the polygon it is proven that, as long as the mass is small enough, the system is a maximal lensing configuration that produces 5(n-1) images. Using the explicit value for the upper bound on the central mass that leads to maximal lensing, we illustrate how this result can be used to find and constrain the mass of planets or brown dwarfs in multiple star systems. For the case of more realistic mass distributions, we prove that when a point-mass is replaced with a distributed lens that does not overlap with existing images or lensing objects, an additional image is formed within the distributed mass while positions and numbers of existing images are left unchanged. This is then used to conclude that the maximum number of images that n isolated distributed lenses can produce is 6(n-1)+1. In order to explore the likelihood of observational verification, we analyze the stability properties of the symmetric maximal lensing configurations. Finally, for the cases of n=4, 5, and 6 point-mass lenses, we study asymmetric maximal lensing configurations and compare their stability properties against the symmetric case.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine abnormality with multiple diagnostic criteria due to its heterogenic manifestations. One of the diagnostic criterion includes analysis of ultrasound images of ovaries for the detection of number, size, and distribution of follicles within the ovary. This involves manual tracing of follicles on the ultrasound images to determine the presence of a polycystic ovary (PCO). A novel method that automates PCO morphology detection is described. Our algorithm involves automatic segmentation of follicles from ultrasound images, quantifying the attributes of the segmented follicles using stereology, storing follicle attributes as feature vectors, and finally classification of the feature vector into two categories. The classification categories are PCO morphology present and PCO morphology absent. An automatic PCO diagnostic tool would save considerable time spent on manual tracing of follicles and measuring the length and width of every follicle. Our procedure was able to achieve classification accuracy of 92.86% using a linear discriminant classifier. Our classifier will improve the rapidity and accuracy of PCOS diagnosis, and reduce the chance of the severe health implications that can arise from delayed diagnosis.

Gravitational lensing, initially a phenomenon used as a solid confirmation of General Relativity, has defined itself in the past decade as a standard astrophysical tool. The ability of a lensing system to produce multiple images of a luminous source is one of the aspects of gravitational lensing that is exploited both theoretically and observationally to improve our understanding of the Universe. In this thesis, within the field of multiple imaging we explore the case of maximal lensing, that is, the configurations and conditions under which a set of deflecting masses can produce the maximum number of images of a distant luminous source, as well as a study of the value for this maximum number itself. We study the case of a symmetric distribution of n-1 point-mass lenses at the vertices of a regular polygon of n-1 sides. By the addition of a perturbation in the form of an n-th mass at the center of the polygon it is proven that, as long as the mass is small enough, the system is a maximal lensing configuration that produces 5(n-1) images. Using the explicit value for the upper bound on the central mass that leads to maximal lensing, we illustrate how this result can be used to find and constrain the mass of planets or brown dwarfs in multiple star systems. For the case of more realistic mass distributions, we prove that when a point-mass is replaced with a distributed lens that does not overlap with existing images or lensing objects, an additional image is formed within the distributed mass while positions and numbers of existing images are left unchanged. This is then used to conclude that the maximum number of images that n isolated distributed lenses can produce is 6(n-1)+1. In order to explore the likelihood of observational verification, we analyze the stability properties of the symmetric maximal lensing configurations. Finally, for the cases of n=4, 5, and 6 point-mass lenses, we study asymmetric maximal lensing configurations and compare their stability properties against the symmetric case.

No description available.

In Sweden and many other northern countries, it is common for heat to be distributed to homes and industries through district heating networks. Such networks consist of pipes buried underground carrying hot water or steam with temperatures in the range of 90-150 C. Due to bad insulation or cracks, heat or water leakages might appear. A system for large-scale monitoring of district heating networks through remote thermography has been developed and is in use at the company Termisk Systemteknik AB. Infrared images are captured from an aircraft and analysed, finding and indicating the areas for which the ground temperature is higher than normal. During the analysis there are, however, many other warm areas than true water or energy leakages that are marked as detections. Objects or phenomena that can cause false alarms are those who, for some reason, are warmer than their surroundings, for example, chimneys, cars and heat leakages from buildings. During the last couple of years, the system has been used in a number of cities. Therefore, there exists a fair amount of examples of different types of detections. The purpose of the present master’s thesis is to evaluate the reduction of false alarms of the existing analysis that can be achieved with the use of a learning system, i.e. a system which can learn how to recognize different types of detections.  A labelled data set for training and testing was acquired by contact with customers. Furthermore, a number of features describing the intensity difference within the detection, its shape and propagation as well as proximity information were found, implemented and evaluated. Finally, four different classifiers and other methods for classification were evaluated. The method that obtained the best results consists of two steps. In the initial step, all detections which lie on top of a building are removed from the data set of labelled detections. The second step consists of classification using a Random forest classifier. Using this two-step method, the number of false alarms is reduced by 43% while the percentage of water and energy detections correctly classified is 99%.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine abnormality with multiple diagnostic criteria due to its heterogenic manifestations. One of the diagnostic criterion includes analysis of ultrasound images of ovaries for the detection of number, size, and distribution of follicles within the ovary. This involves manual tracing of follicles on the ultrasound images to determine the presence of a polycystic ovary (PCO). A novel method that automates PCO morphology detection is described. Our algorithm involves automatic segmentation of follicles from ultrasound images, quantifying the attributes of the segmented follicles using stereology, storing follicle attributes as feature vectors, and finally classification of the feature vector into two categories. The classification categories are PCO morphology present and PCO morphology absent. An automatic PCO diagnostic tool would save considerable time spent on manual tracing of follicles and measuring the length and width of every follicle. Our procedure was able to achieve classification accuracy of 92.86% using a linear discriminant classifier. Our classifier will improve the rapidity and accuracy of PCOS diagnosis, and reduce the chance of the severe health implications that can arise from delayed diagnosis.

The aim of this thesis is to describe Western images of China by focusing on media representations of Chinese attempts to invest in Saab. Theories of media representation, orientalism, racialization and stereotype are applied and used in the qualitative discourse analysis in order to find out if there are orientalist and racialized stereotypes in the material. The findings show that there are orientalist stereotypes and racialized stereotypes presented in the material. The analysis also sums up that China is a country whose people are represented to be adaptable and to have amazing productivity, since China has cheap labor power and lax labor law. Furthermore, China is represented as a country whose financial power is strong and solid, Western media characterizes China as a threat. Moreover, Chinese negotiators who went to Sweden to negotiate not only are represented as full of ambitions, but also they are seen as the saviors for Western companies which are on the verge of bankrupt. This thesis contributes to the literature by filling the gap about the Chinese attempts to invest in Saab, which is characterized by Western media.

It is the moment for another extraordinary improvement of photography technology. With the great development of digital technology, some characteristics which are the main reason why photography is photography confront challenges. I question this situation and try to trace back the ¡§genie¡¨ of photography. Therefore, this thesis start the discussion of core elements of photography in phenomenology way, and try to realize the most important characteristics that make photography to be photography from these basic elements. Then the discussions expand out to several phenomenon between people and photo apparatus, including contradictions inside the apparatus and different situations of photographers and models. These topics last from the age of traditional photography to digital photography. At last, this thesis try to analyzes the appearance of digital world, and combine these analyses with the photography characteristics which are just discussed above, makes several classification for the works of digital photography. Above all, this thesis realizes that the most important influence of digitalization to photography is ¡§after¡¨ it. That is, most of the changes is happening in the phase of post-production but the process of photoing. Digitalization increase the way of photography, however, it¡¦s not mean that traditional photography is fading away. In addition, photos can be exist in ¡§pixel¡¨ way by digitalization technology. It also riches the usage and quantity of photo images. In this situation, it seems that these two different symbol systems, images and words, are about to meet each other in digital age.