Yes / This paper presented a planar printed multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna with a dimension of 100 x 45 mm2. It composed of two crescent shaped radiators placed symmetrically with respect to the ground plane. Neutralization line applied to suppress mutual coupling. The proposed antenna examined both theoretically and experimentally, which achieves an impedance bandwidth of 18.67% (over 2.04-2.46 GHz) with a reflection coefficient < -10 dB and mutual coupling minimization of < -20 dB. An evaluation of MIMO antennas is presented, with analysis of correlation coefficient, total active reflection coefficient (TARC) and capacity loss. These characteristics indicate that the proposed antenna suitable for some wireless applications.

Within this thesis, we investigate the possibilities of physical layer secrecy for two special system models. In detail, we study beamforming and protection strategies in the Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) Gaussian Wiretap Channel (WTC) and the Gaussian two-hop relay WTC with multiple antennas at transmitter and receiver. In both system models, we examine the influence of partial Channel State Information (CSI) on the link to the eavesdropper and compare the achievable secrecy rates with the case of full CSI. We show for the MISO WTC that in the fast fading scenario the Beamforming Vector (BV) can be optimized such that the ergodic secrecy rate is maximized with regard to the degree of channel knowledge. Further we show that the ergodic secrecy rate can be significantly increased by usage of Artificial Noise (AN), if applied in a smart way. This means that the degree of channel knowledge on the link to the eavesdropper influences the portion of power that is spent for AN at the transmitter as well as the direction, in which the AN signal is sent. In addition, we apply the same beamforming and protection strategies to the slow fading scenario and find that these techniques also reduce the secrecy outage probability. For the two-hop relay WTC, we introduce Information Leakage Neutralization (IN) as a new protection strategy. If applied to a system model, where the transmitter has full CSI, the instantaneous secrecy rate performs almost as well as the instantaneous capacity of the peaceful system without an eavesdropper. The IN protected scheme outperforms the AN protected approach and performs much better than any beamforming scheme without additional protection mechanism. Another positive aspect of the IN protected scheme in the case of full CSI is that conventional channel codes can be applied instead of wiretap codes. For the case of partial CSI, where the transmitter has only an outdated estimate on the channel between relay and the eavesdropper, we show that the IN protected scheme can also be applied. Here, it strongly depends on the channel realizations and the delay of the estimate, whether the IN or the AN protection scheme should be applied. / In dieser Arbeit wird das Leistungsvermögen der Sicherheit auf der physikalischen Schicht anhand von zwei speziellen Systemmodellen untersucht. Im Detail werden Beamforming- und Absicherungsstrategien im gaußschen Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) Wiretap Channel (WTC) und dem gaußschen Two-hop Relay WTC mit mehreren Antennen am Sender und Empfänger studiert. In beiden Systemmodellen wird der Einfluss von partieller Kanalkenntnis zum Abhörer betrachtet und die so erreichbaren Sicherheitsraten mit denen verglichen, die bei voller Kanalkenntnis erreichbar sind. Für den MISO WTC kann gezeigt werden, dass für Kanäle mit schnellem Schwund der Beamforming-Vektor in Hinblick auf die ergodische Sicherheitsrate unter Berücksichtigung des Grades der Kanalkenntnis optimiert werden kann. Zudem kann durch die intelligente Verwendung von künstlichem Rauschen (Artificial Noise, AN) die ergodische Sicherheitsrate signifikant erhöht werden. Hierbei nimmt der Grad der Kanalkenntnis direkt Einfluss auf die Aufteilung der Leistung zwischen Daten- und AN-Signal am Sender sowie auch auf die Richtung, in der das AN-Signal gesendet wird. Zudem kann gezeigt werden, dass dieselben Beamforming- und Absicherungsstrategien ebenfalls die Sicherheitsausfallwahrscheinlichkeit für Kanäle mit langsamem Schwund minimieren. Im gaußschen Two-hop Relay WTC wird Information Leakage Neutralization (IN) als neuartige Absicherungsstrategie eingeführt. Diese Absicherungsstrategie erreicht nahezu dieselben instantanen Raten wie ein friedvolles System ohne Abhörer, wenn es bei voller Kanalkenntnis am Sender eingesetzt wird. Weiterhin sind durch die IN-Absicherungsstrategie höhere Raten erreichbar als durch den Einsatz von AN. Zusätzlich kann im Fall von voller Kanalkenntnis auf den Einsatz von Wiretap-Codes verzichtet werden. Auch im Fall partieller Kanalkenntnis, wo der Sender nur eine veraltete Schätzung des Kanals zwischen Relay und Abhörer besitzt, kann gezeigt werden, dass die IN-Absicherungsstrategie angewendet werden kann. Hierbei hängt es jedoch stark von den Kanalrealisierungen und dem Alter der Kanalschätzung ab, ob die IN- oder die AN-Absicherungsstrategie bessere Ergebnisse bringt und daher angewandt werden sollte.

The number of secure data streams a relay-assisted interference channel can support has been an intriguing problem. The problem is not solved even for a fundamental scenario with a single antenna at each transmitter, receiver and relay. In this paper, we study the achievable secure degrees of freedom of instantaneous relay-assisted interference channels with real and complex coefficients. The study of secure degrees of freedom with complex coefficients is not a trivial multiuser extension of the scenarios with real channel coefficients as in the case for the degrees of freedom, due to secrecy constraints. We tackle this challenge by jointly designing the improper transmit signals and widely-linear relay processing strategies.

Within this thesis, we investigate the possibilities of physical layer secrecy for two special system models. In detail, we study beamforming and protection strategies in the Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) Gaussian Wiretap Channel (WTC) and the Gaussian two-hop relay WTC with multiple antennas at transmitter and receiver. In both system models, we examine the influence of partial Channel State Information (CSI) on the link to the eavesdropper and compare the achievable secrecy rates with the case of full CSI. We show for the MISO WTC that in the fast fading scenario the Beamforming Vector (BV) can be optimized such that the ergodic secrecy rate is maximized with regard to the degree of channel knowledge. Further we show that the ergodic secrecy rate can be significantly increased by usage of Artificial Noise (AN), if applied in a smart way. This means that the degree of channel knowledge on the link to the eavesdropper influences the portion of power that is spent for AN at the transmitter as well as the direction, in which the AN signal is sent. In addition, we apply the same beamforming and protection strategies to the slow fading scenario and find that these techniques also reduce the secrecy outage probability. For the two-hop relay WTC, we introduce Information Leakage Neutralization (IN) as a new protection strategy. If applied to a system model, where the transmitter has full CSI, the instantaneous secrecy rate performs almost as well as the instantaneous capacity of the peaceful system without an eavesdropper. The IN protected scheme outperforms the AN protected approach and performs much better than any beamforming scheme without additional protection mechanism. Another positive aspect of the IN protected scheme in the case of full CSI is that conventional channel codes can be applied instead of wiretap codes. For the case of partial CSI, where the transmitter has only an outdated estimate on the channel between relay and the eavesdropper, we show that the IN protected scheme can also be applied. Here, it strongly depends on the channel realizations and the delay of the estimate, whether the IN or the AN protection scheme should be applied. / In dieser Arbeit wird das Leistungsvermögen der Sicherheit auf der physikalischen Schicht anhand von zwei speziellen Systemmodellen untersucht. Im Detail werden Beamforming- und Absicherungsstrategien im gaußschen Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) Wiretap Channel (WTC) und dem gaußschen Two-hop Relay WTC mit mehreren Antennen am Sender und Empfänger studiert. In beiden Systemmodellen wird der Einfluss von partieller Kanalkenntnis zum Abhörer betrachtet und die so erreichbaren Sicherheitsraten mit denen verglichen, die bei voller Kanalkenntnis erreichbar sind. Für den MISO WTC kann gezeigt werden, dass für Kanäle mit schnellem Schwund der Beamforming-Vektor in Hinblick auf die ergodische Sicherheitsrate unter Berücksichtigung des Grades der Kanalkenntnis optimiert werden kann. Zudem kann durch die intelligente Verwendung von künstlichem Rauschen (Artificial Noise, AN) die ergodische Sicherheitsrate signifikant erhöht werden. Hierbei nimmt der Grad der Kanalkenntnis direkt Einfluss auf die Aufteilung der Leistung zwischen Daten- und AN-Signal am Sender sowie auch auf die Richtung, in der das AN-Signal gesendet wird. Zudem kann gezeigt werden, dass dieselben Beamforming- und Absicherungsstrategien ebenfalls die Sicherheitsausfallwahrscheinlichkeit für Kanäle mit langsamem Schwund minimieren. Im gaußschen Two-hop Relay WTC wird Information Leakage Neutralization (IN) als neuartige Absicherungsstrategie eingeführt. Diese Absicherungsstrategie erreicht nahezu dieselben instantanen Raten wie ein friedvolles System ohne Abhörer, wenn es bei voller Kanalkenntnis am Sender eingesetzt wird. Weiterhin sind durch die IN-Absicherungsstrategie höhere Raten erreichbar als durch den Einsatz von AN. Zusätzlich kann im Fall von voller Kanalkenntnis auf den Einsatz von Wiretap-Codes verzichtet werden. Auch im Fall partieller Kanalkenntnis, wo der Sender nur eine veraltete Schätzung des Kanals zwischen Relay und Abhörer besitzt, kann gezeigt werden, dass die IN-Absicherungsstrategie angewendet werden kann. Hierbei hängt es jedoch stark von den Kanalrealisierungen und dem Alter der Kanalschätzung ab, ob die IN- oder die AN-Absicherungsstrategie bessere Ergebnisse bringt und daher angewandt werden sollte.

The number of secure data streams a relay-assisted interference channel can support has been an intriguing problem. The problem is not solved even for a fundamental scenario with a single antenna at each transmitter, receiver and relay. In this paper, we study the achievable secure degrees of freedom of instantaneous relay-assisted interference channels with real and complex coefficients. The study of secure degrees of freedom with complex coefficients is not a trivial multiuser extension of the scenarios with real channel coefficients as in the case for the degrees of freedom, due to secrecy constraints. We tackle this challenge by jointly designing the improper transmit signals and widely-linear relay processing strategies.

Skin is the largest immune organ and an ideal site to administer vaccines. However, by nature, skin is not permeable to antigens, which are macromolecules. The major hurdle in skin permeation is the outermost stratum corneum layer. Microneedles have proven feasible to create micron-sized channels in the epidermis of the skin, through which protein and plasmid DNA antigens can penetrate into the viable skin epidermis and dermis. However, the immune responses induced by microneedle-mediated transcutaneous immunization with protein or plasmid DNA alone are generally weak, and a vaccine adjuvant is often required to induce strong immune responses. Data from numerous previous studies have shown that nanoparticles as a vaccine carrier can significantly enhance the immunogenicity of antigens, but the feasibility of utilizing nanoparticles as a vaccine carrier to enhance the immune responses induced by microneedle-mediated transcutaneous immunization has rarely been studied. In this dissertation, using protein antigen (OVA) chemically conjugated onto the surface of solid-lipid nanoparticles and plasmid DNA (pCMV-beta, pVax/opt-BoNT/C-Hc50, and pCI-neo-sOVA) physically coated on the surface of cationic polymeric nanoparticles, we showed that the immune responses induced by microneedle-mediated transcutaneous immunization with protein antigens or plasmid DNA vaccines are significantly enhanced by delivering the proteins and plasmid DNA with nanoparticles. Importantly, microneedle-mediated transcutaneous immunization with proteins or plasmid DNA induces not only systemic immune responses, but also mucosal immune responses. In addition, it is generally believed that microneedles are safe. However, it remained unclear whether the micropores created by microneedles on the skin will also facilitate the permeation of microbes such as bacteria into the skin. In this dissertation, we also designed an unique ex vivo model to evaluate the permeation of live bacteria through mouse skin pretreated with microneedles. The results demonstrated that the risk of potential bacterial infection associated with microneedle treatment is not greater than that associated with a hypodermic needle injection. / text

A presente tese de doutoramento insere-se no debate sobre a temática da erosão e/ou neutralização da marca de gênero da Língua Hebraica Israelense nas relações morfossintáticas entre numerais cardinais e/ou pronomes com substantivos e configurações verbais do futuro em textos selecionados a partir do século XXI. O trabalho está fundado na percepção, derivada da literatura especializada sobre o tema, de que existe uma tendência da perda da marca de gênero nestas relações morfossintáticas estabelecidas, além de outras nuances como o apagamento do gênero feminino nas 2ª e 3ª pessoas plurais do sistema verbal no tempo futuro. Em termos de estratégias de pesquisa, a investigação fundamenta-se no estudo da formação e consolidação da identidade israelense e suas implicações equalizadoras no plano linguístico quanto ao uso da flexão de gênero tornando-os como unidade empírica. Nosso objetivo é examinar o funcionamento deste fenômeno linguístico, como isso é expresso na escrita e quais suas implicações na fala. A hipótese de trabalho para esta pesquisa é que o fenômeno de erosão e/ou neutralização da marca de gênero no Hebraico tem causado profundas transformações na estrutura da língua que se caracteriza na distinção clara de dois gêneros, seja nos nomes e numerais ou, ainda, no sistema verbal. Neste quadro, pretendo validar ou refutar conceitos tradicionais utilizados no estudo do Hebraico, tomando como base a medida da variação diglóssica. Por fim, desejamos, através dos dados obtidos nas obras selecionadas, apresentar nossas reflexões e apontar possíveis motivações para uma tendência erosão e/ou neutralização das configurações pesquisadas. / This doctoral thesis is part of the debate on the issue of erosion and / or neutralization of gender brand of Israeli Hebrew Language in morphosyntactic relationship between cardinal numbers and / or pronouns with noun and verb of the future settings on selected texts from the XXI century. The work is based on the perception, derived from the specialized literature on the subject, that there is a trend of the lost gender brand in these morphosyntactic relationships established, beyond other nuances like erasing female gender in 2nd and 3rd plural people of the verbal system in the future tense. In terms of research strategies, the investigation is based on the study of the formation and consolidation of Israeli Identity and their equalizing implications the linguistic plan in the use of gender bending making them as empirical unit. Our objetive is to examine the functioning of this linguistic phenomenon, as it is expressed in writing and what its implications in speech. The working hypothesis for this research is that the erosion phenomenon and / or neutralization of the gender brand in Hebrew has caused profound changes in the structure of language that characterized the clear distinction between two genres, whether the names and numerals, or more the verbal system. In this presentment, I intent to validate or refute traditional concepts used in the study of Hebrew, based on the measurement of diglossic variation. Finally, we wish through the data in the selected works, present our ideas and to point possible motivations for an erosion trend and / or neutralization of the surveyed settings.

As raias são peixes peçonhentos e estão frequentemente associadas a acidentes em seres humanos, principalmente na região Norte do Brasil, favorecidos pelo hábito desses peixes de permanecerem no fundo de águas rasas e pela contínua utilização humana dos rios. Os ferrões das raias causam lesões dolorosas, edema, necrose, e o muco que recobre toda a extensão do corpo desses peixes pode aumentar a gravidade desses ferimentos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a resposta imunológica induzida pelo muco de Paratrygon aiereba nativo ou irradiado por raios gama de 60Co em modelos animais. Foram realizados ensaios imunoenzimáticos e Western blotting para verificar a resposta humoral e reatividade cruzada dos soros provenientes de camundongos Swiss e coelhos New Zealand previamente imunizados contra o veneno, muco nativo ou irradiado. A indução da produção de anticorpos in vitro, as subclasses de IgG e a quantificação de citocinas foram analisados. Além de realizados ensaios de soroneutralização da atividade edematogênica in vitro e in vivo e de viabilidade celular. Os dados foram analisados estatisticamente por meio de análise de variância. O protocolo de imunização possibilitou a obtenção de soros com títulos satisfatórios de anticorpos policlonais. O muco e veneno de P. aiereba são imunogênicos e apresentam reatividade antigênica. O muco nativo ou irradiado induziu a produção de anticorpos IgG e esses reconheceram antígenos presentes no muco de outras espécies de raias. Células esplênicas de animais imunizados contra o muco irradiado produziram IFN-&gamma;, TNF- &alpha; e IL-10 e também foi observada a produção sérica de TNF-&alpha; (grupo imunizado contra o muco irradiado) e de IL-6 e IL-17 (grupo imunizado contra o muco nativo). O soro anti-muco irradiado reduziu a atividade edematogênica in vitro, ao contrária da in vivo que não foi neutralizada. Os resultados corroboram o uso da radiação ionizante, com produção de anticorpos altamente responsivos e melhor resposta imune, além de comprovar que o muco de Paratrygon aiereba foi capaz de estimular resposta imune adaptativa celular e humoral. / Freshwater stingrays are venomous animals, frequently associated with accidents in northern Brazil where the shallow waters and the human use of the rivers favour close proximity between the fish and potential victims. Ray stings induce painful lesions, edema, necrosis, and the mucus that covers the body of these fishes may increase the severity of the wounds. The aim of this work was to evaluate the immune response induced by native or 60Co Paratrygon aiereba mucus in animal models. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays and western blots were performed to compare humoral immune response as well as cross reactivity using antibodies raised in mice or rabbits against venom or mucus, the latter either in its native or irradiated form. Antibody production in vitro, immunoglobulins subclasses and cytokines production were evaluated. Immunization resulted in good levels of antibodies. Interestingly, both the mucus and the venom share many cross reactive components. Furthermore, antibodies raised against native mucus or its irradiated counterpart were cross-reactive against the mucus of other stingray species. Splenic cells from mice immunized with irradiated mucus secreted IFN-&gamma;, TNF-&alpha; and IL-10. The serum raised against irradiated mucus reduced edematogenic activity in vitro, but not in vivo, when the venom and the serum are injected separately. Our results corroborate the potential of ionizing radiation as a detoxifying agent for immunogens, with production of high antibody titers and, that the highly abundant mucus of freshwater stingrays contains basically the same repertoire of antigens as the venom, inducing the synthesis of high levels of neutralizing antibodies.

Les variations de pose et d’expression constituent des limitations importantes à la reconnaissance de visages en deux dimensions. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons d’augmenter la robustesse des algorithmes de reconnaissances faciales aux changements de pose et d’expression. Pour cela, nous proposons d’utiliser un modèle 3D déformable de visage permettant d’isoler les déformations d’identité de celles relatives à l’expression. Plus précisément, étant donné une image de probe avec expression, une nouvelle vue synthétique du visage est générée avec une pose frontale et une expression neutre. Nous présentons deux méthodes de correction de l’expression. La première est basée sur une connaissance a priori dans le but de changer l’expression de l’image vers une expression neutre. La seconde méthode, conçue pour les scénarios de vérification, est basée sur le transfert de l’expression de l’image de référence vers l’image de probe. De nombreuses expérimentations ont montré une amélioration significative des performances et ainsi valider l’apport de nos méthodes. Nous proposons ensuite une extension de ces méthodes pour traiter de la problématique émergente de reconnaissance de visage à partir d’un flux vidéo. Pour finir, nous présentons différents travaux permettant d’améliorer les performances obtenues dans des cas spécifiques et ainsi améliorer les performances générales obtenues grâce à notre méthode. / Expression and pose variations are major challenges for reliable face recognition (FR) in 2D. In this thesis, we aim to endow state of the art face recognition SDKs with robustness to simultaneous facial expression variations and pose changes by using an extended 3D Morphable Model (3DMM) which isolates identity variations from those due to facial expressions. Specifically, given a probe with expression, a novel view of the face is generated where the pose is rectified and the expression neutralized. We present two methods of expression neutralization. The first one uses prior knowledge to infer the neutral expression from an input image. The second method, specifically designed for verification, is based on the transfer of the gallery face expression to the probe. Experiments using rectified and neutralized view with a standard commercial FR SDK on two 2D face databases show significant performance improvement and demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Then, we aim to endow the state of the art FR SDKs with the capabilities to recognize faces in videos. Finally, we present different methods for improving biometric performances for specific cases.

A presente tese de doutoramento insere-se no debate sobre a temática da erosão e/ou neutralização da marca de gênero da Língua Hebraica Israelense nas relações morfossintáticas entre numerais cardinais e/ou pronomes com substantivos e configurações verbais do futuro em textos selecionados a partir do século XXI. O trabalho está fundado na percepção, derivada da literatura especializada sobre o tema, de que existe uma tendência da perda da marca de gênero nestas relações morfossintáticas estabelecidas, além de outras nuances como o apagamento do gênero feminino nas 2ª e 3ª pessoas plurais do sistema verbal no tempo futuro. Em termos de estratégias de pesquisa, a investigação fundamenta-se no estudo da formação e consolidação da identidade israelense e suas implicações equalizadoras no plano linguístico quanto ao uso da flexão de gênero tornando-os como unidade empírica. Nosso objetivo é examinar o funcionamento deste fenômeno linguístico, como isso é expresso na escrita e quais suas implicações na fala. A hipótese de trabalho para esta pesquisa é que o fenômeno de erosão e/ou neutralização da marca de gênero no Hebraico tem causado profundas transformações na estrutura da língua que se caracteriza na distinção clara de dois gêneros, seja nos nomes e numerais ou, ainda, no sistema verbal. Neste quadro, pretendo validar ou refutar conceitos tradicionais utilizados no estudo do Hebraico, tomando como base a medida da variação diglóssica. Por fim, desejamos, através dos dados obtidos nas obras selecionadas, apresentar nossas reflexões e apontar possíveis motivações para uma tendência erosão e/ou neutralização das configurações pesquisadas. / This doctoral thesis is part of the debate on the issue of erosion and / or neutralization of gender brand of Israeli Hebrew Language in morphosyntactic relationship between cardinal numbers and / or pronouns with noun and verb of the future settings on selected texts from the XXI century. The work is based on the perception, derived from the specialized literature on the subject, that there is a trend of the lost gender brand in these morphosyntactic relationships established, beyond other nuances like erasing female gender in 2nd and 3rd plural people of the verbal system in the future tense. In terms of research strategies, the investigation is based on the study of the formation and consolidation of Israeli Identity and their equalizing implications the linguistic plan in the use of gender bending making them as empirical unit. Our objetive is to examine the functioning of this linguistic phenomenon, as it is expressed in writing and what its implications in speech. The working hypothesis for this research is that the erosion phenomenon and / or neutralization of the gender brand in Hebrew has caused profound changes in the structure of language that characterized the clear distinction between two genres, whether the names and numerals, or more the verbal system. In this presentment, I intent to validate or refute traditional concepts used in the study of Hebrew, based on the measurement of diglossic variation. Finally, we wish through the data in the selected works, present our ideas and to point possible motivations for an erosion trend and / or neutralization of the surveyed settings.