Le développement des approches robustes et non paramétriques pour l’analyse et le traitement statistique de gros volumes de données présentant une forte variabilité,comme dans les domaines de l’environnement et de la génétique, est fondamental.Nous modélisons ici des données complexes de biologie appliquées à l’étude du comportement de bivalves et à l’analyse de liaison génétique. L’application des mathématiques à l’analyse du comportement de mollusques bivalves nous a permis d’aller vers une quantification et une traduction mathématique de comportements d’animaux in-situ, en milieu proche ou lointain. Nous avons proposé un modèle de régression non paramétrique et comparé 3 estimateurs non paramétriques, récursifs ou non,de la fonction de régression pour optimiser le meilleur estimateur. Nous avons ensuite caractérisé des rythmes biologiques, formalisé l’évolution d’états d’ouvertures,proposé des méthodes de discrimination de comportements, utilisé la méthode des shot-noises pour caractériser différents états d’ouverture-fermetures transitoires et développé une méthode originale de mesure de croissance en ligne.En génétique, nous avons abordé un cadre plus général de statistiques robustes pour l’analyse de liaison génétique. Nous avons développé des estimateurs robustes aux hypothèses de normalités et à la présence de valeurs aberrantes, nous avons aussi utilisé une approche statistique, où nous avons abordé la dépendance entre variables aléatoires via la théorie des copules. Nos principaux résultats ont montré l’intérêt pratique de ces estimateurs sur des données réelles de QTL et eQTL. / The development of robust and nonparametric approaches for the analysis and statistical treatment of high-dimensional data sets exhibiting high variability, as seen in the environmental and genetic fields, is instrumental. Here, we model complex biological data with application to the analysis of bivalves’ behavior and to linkage analysis. The application of mathematics to the analysis of mollusk bivalves’behavior gave us the possibility to quantify and translate mathematically the animals’behavior in situ, in close or far field. We proposed a nonparametric regression model and compared three nonparametric estimators (recursive or not) of the regressionfunction to optimize the best estimator. We then characterized the biological rhythms, formalized the states of opening, proposed methods able to discriminate the behaviors, used shot-noise analysis to characterize various opening/closing transitory states and developed an original approach for measuring online growth.In genetics, we proposed a more general framework of robust statistics for linkage analysis. We developed estimators robust to distribution assumptions and the presence of outlier observations. We also used a statistical approach where the dependence between random variables is specified through copula theory. Our main results showed the practical interest of these estimators on real data for QTL and eQTL analysis.

Quantum information processing (QIP), which inherently utilizes quantum mechanical phenomena to perform information processing, may outperform its classical counterpart at certain tasks. As one of the physical implementations of QIP, the electron-spin based architecture has recently attracted great interests. Endohedral fullerenes with unpaired electrons, such as N@C₆₀, are promising candidates to embody the qubits because of their long spin decoherence time. This thesis addresses several fundamental aspects of the strategy of engineering the N@C₆₀ molecules for applications in QIP. Chemical functionalization of N@C₆₀ is investigated and several different derivatives of N@C₆₀ are synthesized. These N@C₆₀ derivatives exhibit different stability when they are exposed to ambient light in a degassed solution. The cyclopropane derivative of N@C60 shows comparable stability to pristine N@C₆₀, whereas the pyrrolidine derivatives demonstrate much lower stability. To elucidate the effect of the functional groups on the stability, an escape mechanism of the encapsulated nitrogen atom is proposed based on DFT calculations. The escape of nitrogen is facilitated by a 6-membered ring formed in the decomposition of the pyrrolidine derivatives of N@C₆₀. In contrast, the 4-membered ring formed in the cyclopropane derivative of N@C₆₀ prohibits such an escape through the addends. Two N@C₆₀-porphyrin dyads are synthesized. The dyad with free base porphyrin exhibits typical zero-field splitting (ZFS) features due to functionalization in the solid-state electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrum. However, the nitrogen ESR signal in the second dyad of N@C₆₀ and copper porphyrin is completely suppressed at a wide range of sample concentrations. The dipolar coupling between the copper spin and the nitrogen spins is calculated to be 27.0 MHz. To prove the presence of the encapsulated nitrogen atom in the second dyad, demetallation of the copper porphyrin moiety is carried out. The recovery of approximately 82% of the signal intensity confirms that the dipolar coupling suppresses the ESR signal of N@C₆₀. To prepare ordered structure of N@C₆₀, the nematic matrix MBBA is employed to align the pyrrolidine derivatives of N@C₆₀. Orientations of these derivatives are investigated through simulation of their ESR spectra. The derivatives with a –CH3 or phenyl group derived straightforward from the N-substituent of the pyrrolidine ring are preferentially oriented based on their powder-like ESR spectra in the MBBA matrix. An angle of about is also found between the directors of fullerene derivatives and MBBA. In contrast, the derivatives with a –CH₂ group inserted between the phenyl group and the pyrrolidine ring are nearly randomly distributed in MBBA. These results illustrate the applicability of liquid crystal as a matrix to align N@C₆₀ derivatives for QIP applications.

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Le Modèle Standard de la physique des particules décrit les particules elementaires et leurs interactions avec une grande précision. Il décrit trois des quatre interactions fondamentales connues entre les particules elementaires : les interactions faibles, fortes et électromagnétiques. Le Modèle standard fournit aussi une description précise des interactions électrofaibles jusqu’à des échelles d’énergie qui ont été étudies dans les expériences de physique de haute énergie. Les interactions ainsi que les désintégrations d'un grand nombre de particules découvert et observe tout au long des expériences différentes dans les 50 dernières années sont également décrites. En dépit de son succès, le Modèle Standard est loin d’être une théorie complète des interactions fondamentales car il n’intègre pas la théorie complète de la gravitation telle que décrite par la relativité générale, ni la prédiction de l’accélération de l'expansion de l'univers (qui pourrait être décrite par l’énergie noire). La théorie ne contient aucune particule de matière noire viable qui possède toutes les propriétés déduites de la cosmologie observationnelle. Également, elle ne prend pas en compte les oscillations de neutrinos (et leurs masses non nulles). On pense que la nouvelle physique doit exister conduisant a de nouvelles particules et phénomènes. L’échelle a laquelle cette nouvelle physique devrait apparaıtre n'est pas bien connue, cependant plusieurs arguments soulignent l’échelle du TeV et nécessitent une très haute énergie et des puissants collisionneurs de hadrons. Le Large Hadron Collider (LHC) est le plus grand accélérateur et collisionneur de particules existant. / The Standard Model of particle physics is very successful in describing elementary particles and their interactions with a great precision. It describes three of the four known fundamental interactions between elementary particles : the weak, the strong and the electromagnetic interactions. The Standard Model also provides an accurate description of the electroweak interactions up to energy scales that have been explored in high energy physics experiments. The interaction and decay of a large number of particles discovered and observed throughout different experiments in the last 50 years are also described. Despite its great success, the Standard Model falls short of being a complete theory of fundamental interactions because it does not incorporate the full theory of gravitation as described by general relativity, or predict the accelerating expansion of the universe (as possibly described by dark energy). The theory does not contain any viable dark matter particle that possesses all of the required properties deduced from observational cosmology. It also does not account for neutrino oscillations (and their non-zero masses). It is thought that new physics should exist leading to new particles and phenomena. The scale at which this new physics should appear is not well known, though several arguments point to the TeV scale and require a very high energy and powerful hadron collider. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the biggest existing particle accelerator and collider. It is designed to provide proton-proton collisions with an unprecedented center-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, with instantaneous luminosities up to 10^{34} cm−2s−1.

M. Tech. (Information Technology, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences, Vaal University of Technology / The number of students passing computer programming modules at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa at first year level is low. Only with the second attempt do most students pass. This delay results in students completing their three-year undergraduate qualification in four or even five years. One potential contribution towards addressing this problem is the introduction of a collaborative (cooperative) pedagogical approach where students develop software in teams, known in the Information Technology (IT) sector as pair-programming. This study endeavoured to investigate the impact of pair-programming on the academic progress of students registered for the Information Technology qualification at HEIs in South Africa. The study warranted the selection of action research as the most appropriate research strategy. Multi-methods data collection was carried out over two consecutive semesters. The data collection methods included a semi-structured interview, observations and empirical assessment. The participants were students registered for the Information Systems module, which focuses on software development. Pair-programming was introduced to one group of software development students, while a second group continued with the normal solo-programming approach. Semi-structured interviews were held with the students before commencement and after completion of the pair-programming intervention, to establish a change, if any, in the academic performance, attitude and enjoyment level of students introduced to pair-programming compared to those who continued with solo-programming. Observations were conducted throughout the course of the practical sessions over both semesters. Empirical assessments were done by means of tests given to both groups of students during the practical sessions, three tests per semester. Data analysis techniques included t-tests and thematic analysis. The findings concluded that pair-programming had a significant positive impact on the academic progress of IT students, including an increase in the enjoyment level and a more positive attitude towards software development.

No description available.

Abstract Interacting many-body problems are central to most fields of physics. In condensed matter physics, the systems of interest consists of a number of bodies on the order of Avogadro's constant, ~10²³. The precise modeling of such systems is usually impossible. Under certain circumstances however, even these problems can become tractable. One such circumstance is that of a Fermi liquid. At sufficiently low temperatures, in describing the dynamics of a system of interacting fermions, it is possible to forgo description of the fermions themselves, and instead concentrate on the collective excitations of the entire fermion system. These collective excitations are called quasiparticles. In this thesis we study two phenomena related to the motion of objects in a Fermi liquid. First, we study the transmission of transverse oscillations through a thin film of normal Fermi liquid. The dynamics of normal Fermi liquid are described by Landau's Fermi liquid theory. Landau's theory predicts the existence of new modes of sound under conditions where sound ordinarily would not propagate. Using the equations of motion for the Fermi liquid quasiparticles, we calculate the linear response of a Fermi liquid film to the transverse oscillations of a planar substrate under a wide range of conditions. We present the linear response in terms of the film's acoustic impedance and study the effects of quasiparticle collisions and of the Fermi liquid interactions. The second phenomenon we study is the supercritical motion of a wire in a superfluid Fermi liquid. The prevailing assumption is that if the velocity of an object moving in a superfluid Fermi liquid surpasses a characteristic critical velocity, the object experiences a sudden onset of viscous forces. This viscosity is caused by the escape of quasiparticles, produced by pair breaking on the surface of the object, into the surrounding superfluid. We study Andreev reflection of the quasiparticles by the surrounding superfluid flow field, and modifications to the flow caused by pair breaking, as possible mechanisms for low-dissipation motion above the critical velocity. / Original publications The original publications are not included in the electronic version of the dissertation. Kuorelahti, J. A., Tuorila, J. A., & Thuneberg, E. V. (2016). Fermi liquid theory applied to a film on an oscillating substrate. Physical Review B, 94(18). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.94.184103 Kuorelahti, J. A., & Thuneberg, E. V. (2018). Two-parameter boundary condition applied to transverse acoustic impedance of a Fermi liquid. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 969, 12010. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/969/1/012010 http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/nbnfi-fe2018060425173 Kuorelahti, J. A., Laine, S. M., & Thuneberg, E. V. (2018). Models for supercritical motion in a superfluid Fermi liquid. Physical Review B, 98(14). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.98.144512 http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/nbnfi-fe2018112148794

One fundamental task in robotics is random bin-picking, where it is important to be able to detect an object in a bin and estimate its pose to plan the motion of a robotic arm. For this purpose, this thesis work aimed to investigate and evaluate algorithms for 6D pose estimation when the object was given by a CAD model. The scene was given by a point cloud illustrating a partial 3D view of the bin with multiple instances of the object. Two algorithms were thus implemented and evaluated. The first algorithm was an approach based on Point Pair Features, and the second was Fast Global Registration. For evaluation, four different CAD models were used to create synthetic data with ground truth annotations. It was concluded that the Point Pair Feature approach provided a robust localization of objects and can be used for bin-picking. The algorithm appears to be able to handle different types of objects, however, with small limitations when the object has flat surfaces and weak texture or many similar details. The disadvantage with the algorithm was the execution time. Fast Global Registration, on the other hand, did not provide a robust localization of objects and is thus not a good solution for bin-picking.

Neste trabalho vamos introduzir duas generalizações do conceito de cohomologia local formal, o qual chamaremos de cohomologia local formal e Cech-cohomologia local formal, ambas definidas por um par de ideais. Estudaremos seu comportamento em diversos aspectos, tais como anulamento e não anulamento, artinianissidade, finitude, relações comadualidade de Matlis,entre outros. Para isto, uilizaremos o conceito da cohomologia local definida por um par de ideais, introduzido em [50]. Estudaremos também o anel de endomorfismo da cohomologia local definida por um par de ideais e analisaremos quando a dualidadede Matlis de certos módulos de cohomologia local definidos por um par de ideais são módulos Cohen-Macaulay. / In this work we will introduce two generalizations of the concept of formal local cohomology, called formal local cohomology and Cech formal local cohomolgy, both defined by a pair of ideals. We study their behavior in several aspects, such as vanishing and non vanishing, artinianness, finiteness, relations with Matlis dual, and others. Forth is purpose, we use the concept of local cohomology defined by a pair of ideals, introduced in [50]. Also, we analyze the endomorphism ring of the local cohomology defined by a pair of ideal and when the Matlis dual of certain local cohomology defined by a pair of ideals are Cohen-Macaulaymodules.

As cisteíno-proteases da família da papaína desempenham funções essenciais em processos biológicos, entre eles o desenvolvimento e crescimento do organismo, vias de sinalização celular e apoptose, invasão de parasitas em células hospedeiras. Assim, trata-se de uma classe de proteínas de grande interesse para as indústrias farmacêuticas, sendo utilizada como alvo para o tratamento de doenças como o câncer e metástases, osteoporose. Disfunções relacionadas ao sistema imune, doenças parasitárias como malária, leishmaniose, doença do sono e doença de Chagas. Esta última é uma enfermidade considerada negligenciada pelas grandes indústrias farmacêuticas, sem nenhum tratamento eficaz e seguro disponível, que gera um problema econômico de mais de sete bilhões de dólares anuais devido à perda de mão de obra e gastos com tratamento para amenizar os efeitos da doença. A cisteíno protease cruzaína de Trypanosoma cruzi, causador da Doença de Chagas, desponta como um alvo validado na busca de novos fármacos contra essa enfermidade. Essa enzima apresenta um par de aspartatos que interagem entre si, para os quais foi predito um pKa de 7, sendo possível a forma desprotonada desse par em condições biológicas. Neste caso, pode levar à exposição de uma nova cavidade por meio do movimento da alça entre os resíduos 57-62, segundo as simulações de dinâmica molecular desse trabalho, que se trata de uma possível candidata a ponto de seletividade de inibidores de cisteínoproteases de parasitos em relação às suas ortólogas em Homo sapiens que não possuem o par de aspartatos. Em pH ácido, foi mostrado por meio de análise de componentes principais de simulações de dinâmica molecular que as cisteíno protease apresentam uma restrição gradual na amostragem conformacional do sítio ativo quando complexadas com as formas não covalente e covalente de inibidores derivados de dipeptidil nitrilas. Isso sugere que esse sistema segue o modelo de seleção conformacional para flexibilidade de proteína. Notou-se também que o perfil de restrição de ligantes que inibem na faixa de nmol.L-1 difere daqueles a µmol.L-1 , o que possibilitou a construção de uma árvore de decisão para identificar os complexos que apresentam afinidade a nmol.L-1 . / The papain-like cysteine proteases are essentials for biological process, performing important roles on the parasite development, growth and also in the parasite invasion process on the host cell, in cellular signaling pathways and apoptosis, among others. Thus, the pharmaceutical industry widely uses this class of protein as target for the development of new drugs, against cancer and metastasis, osteoporosis and immune system disorders, resulting in many approved drugs. Additionally, these enzymes are validated target against parasitic diseases as leishmaniose, malaria and African and American trypanosomiasis. The last one, also known as Chagas\' disease, is neglected disease for which, further a century form this discovery, there is no effective and safe chemotherapy and is responsible for an economic loss of around seven billion dollars in the world per year due to the health care and lost productivity from infected people. Faced with this situation, the Cruzain, a cysteine protease from the Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas\' disease, is emerging as interesting and validated target to the search for new drugs against this sickness. This enzyme has a pair of interactiong Asp for which was predicted a pKa of 7, by computational methods. By this way, this pair under neutral to alkaline pH adopts the deprotonated form, which exposed a new cavity through a movement of loop of residues 57-62, as we showed here by molecular dynamics simulations. This cavity emerges as a possible selectivity point of the cruzain inhibitors, once Homo sapiens enzynes does not present the aspartic acid - aspartate pair. In condition of acidic pH, principal component analysis of molecular dynamics simulations showed a gradual reduction of the conformational space covered by the active site of cruzain, cathepsin K and cathepsin L in it free form and complexed with dipeptidyl nitrilelike molecules in it noncovalent e covalent forms. This suggests these systems follows the conformational selection model of protein flexibility. Furthermore, we observed the ligands that inhibits the protein at nmol.L-1 induces the protein flexibility in a similar way, while the µmol.L-1 ones leads to another pattern. That made possible the construction of a decision tree which is able to identify nmol.L-1 from µmol.L-1 complexes.