Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctoral Degree in Nursing, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / This mixed methods study aimed to assess the functioning and processes of the Fast Queue Service Point in order to analyse the quality of care rendered in primary health care (PHC) facilities in the eThekwini district of the KwaZulu­ Natal Province in South Africa. The Fast Queue Service Point provides service in PHC facilities for health care users requiring short consultations. Congestion of PHC facilities is a result of increased access to PHC services with the introduction of free PHC services. This congestion was aggravated by the decentralization of services from hospitals to PHC level such as the introduction on Nurse Initiated Management of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (NIMART). In 2010, the National Core Standards (NCS) for health establishments were formulated further to the PHC Service package, to address issues of quality. An explanatory sequential mixed methods study design was used and data collection was conducted in two phases; the quantitative data collection phase consisting of two subsets of observations namely; the retrospective record review and structured observations of the Fast Queue Service Point process. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 was used to analyse data. During the second phase semi-structured interviews were conducted with PHC staff members to describe their experiences of the Fast Queue Service Point and to clarify issues from the quantitative phase. Although Fast Queue Service users received sufficient care, there were important care assessments that had been inadequately performed or omitted. These included discussing side effects of medications and or immunizations and management thereof. Childrens' weights were not interpreted, an important aspect for children under five years of age. There was also lack of supportive supervision coupled with shortage of resources and too many time-consuming written records that were required to compile accurate statistics. Retraining and in-servicing of health personnel and making resources available, would assist in strengthening patient assessment, management and recording thereof. While clinic managers require to offer supportive supervision to health care providers, provision of lower categories of staff would be beneficial in supporting PNs and ENs so that they have time to compile records for statistics purposes, which were found to be taking up the bulk of their time. The framework for continuous quality improvement in implementing a Fast Queue Service in PHC settings was developed based on the findings of the study / D

No description available.

"A distributed queueing Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol is used in Distributed Queue Dual Bus (DQDB) networks. A modified version of the MAC protocol was proposed by R.R. Pillai and U. Mukherji in an attempt to overcome some of the shortcomings of the DQDB MAC protocol. They analyzed the performance of the system for Bernoulli arrivals and for large propagation delays between the nodes. We extend the performance analysis of the modified MAC protocol for a DQDB type of Network. The parameter of interest to us is the bus access delay. This has two components, viz., the request bus access delay and the data bu6 access delay. We use the model at the request point at node and present methods to evaluate the delay experienced in such a model. The model is an n-priority ./D/l queue with D vacations (non-preemptive priority) where n is the number of nodes sending requests on the request bus for transmission on the data bus. The methods presented help to evaluate the request bus access delay when the arrivals at each node are Markovian Arrival Processes (MAPs). The algorithms for evaluating the mean request bus access delay are based on matrix geometric techniques. Thus, one can use the algorithms developed in the literature to solve for the finite buffers case too. This model, for the request bus access delay, holds irrespective of the propagation delay between the nodes. We also evaluate the inter-departure time of class 1 customers and virtual customers in a 2-priority M/G/l system with G vacations (non-preemptive priority). In the case of Poisson arrivals at all the nodes, we would have a 2-priority M/D/l system with D vacations (non-preemptive priority). We thus evaluate the inter-arrival time of the free slots on the data bus as seen by Node 2. Note that this is independent of the number of active nodes in the network We then develop methods to evaluate the mean data bus access delay experienced by the customers at Node 2 in a three-node network with 2 nodes communicating with the third when the propagation delay between the nodes is large. We consider the case of finite Local Queue buffers at the two nodes. Using this assumption we arrive at process of arrivals to the Combined Queue and the process of free slots on the data bus to be Markov Modulated Bernoulli processes. The model at the combined queue at Node 2 then has a Quasi Birth-Death evolution. Thus, this system is solved by using the Ramaswami-Latouche algorithm. The stationary probabilities are then used to evaluate the mean data bus access delay experienced at Node 2. The finite buffer case of this system can be solved by G.Wi Stewart's algorithm. The method in modelling the system and the results are presented in detail for Poisson arrivals. The extension of this to more complex processes is also explained. We encounter in the analysis an explosion of the state-space of the system. We try to counter this by considering approximations to the process of free slots on the data bus. The approximations considered are on the basis of what are known as Idealized Aggregates. The performance of the approximation is also detailed. It works very well under low and moderate load but underestimates the mean delay under heavy load. Thereafter, we discuss the performance of the system with reference to the mean of the access delay and the standard deviation of the access delay under varying traffic at the two nodes. For this part we use simulation results to discuss the performance. The comparison between the performance measures at both the nodes is also done. Then we develop methods/techniques to understand the performance of the system when we have finite propagation delays between the nodes. We concentrate on the 3-node problem and calculate performance bounds based on linear programs. This is illustrated in detail for Bernoulli arrivals for the case of 1 slot propagation delay between the nodes as well as for the case of 2 slots propagation delay. The performance of the bounds obtained is also detailed. The presence of an idling system at the combined queue of Node 2 makes the bounds somewhat loose. Finally, we discuss the performance of the system with reference to the mean access delay and the standard deviation of the access delay under varying load on the system. Again, we rely on simulation studies. Finally, we study the performance of the system as a multiplexer. For this, we re­strict the traffic to Markov Modulated Processes (or those which would satisfy the Gartner-Ellis Theorem requirements). The traffic is characterized by what are known as Envelope Processes - Lower and Upper. The class of processes which satisfy the conditions of the Gartner-Ellis theorem come under the category where both the Envelope Processes exist and the Minimum Envelope Rate and the Maximum Lower Envelope Rate are the same. We use the system evolution equations at the combined queue at any node to develop re­lations between the various input and output processes. First, this is done for a. system of this kind, in isolation. Then, we consider this system as a part of the modified protocol and present relations, among the various input and output processes, which are specific to the modified protocol. The possible use of all of the above to do Admission Control at the entry point to the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network is also presented.

Οι οικονομικές και τεχνολογικές εξελίξεις των τελευταίων ετών, η απελευθέρωση της αγοράς, οι ισχυρές κατά απαίτηση πολυμεσικές υπηρεσίες καθώς και ο αυξημένος αριθμός χρηστών των κινητών δικτύων υποδεικνύουν την αναγκαιότητα της σύγκλισης των δύο δικτυακών τεχνολογιών (κινητή τηλεφωνία και internet) με στόχο την παροχή υπηρεσιών Internet στο περιβάλλον των κινητών επικοινωνιών. Η παραπάνω απαίτηση οδήγησε στην δημιουργία του δικτύου επόμενης γενιάς NGN. Η διπλωματική αυτή εργασία ασχολείται με την μελέτη της αρχιτεκτονικής του επιπέδου υπηρεσιών και την υποστήριξη Ποιότητας Υπηρεσίας (QoS) σε δίκτυα Νέας Γενιάς. Συγκεκριμένα δίνεται έμφαση στις λειτουργίες ελέγχου, σηματοδοσίας και λειτουργιών αρχιτεκτονικής του QoS σε επίπεδο υπηρεσιών. Αρχικά, ορίζουμε την έννοια “QoS” όσον αφορά την οπτική του δικτύου και το χρήστη. Περιγράφονται η αρχιτεκτονική του στρώματος υπηρεσιών του δικτύου καθώς και οι λειτουργίες ελέγχου πόρου και αποδοχής των κλήσεων, που αποτελούν σημαντικό μέρος της αρχιτεκτονικής του NGN. Στη συνέχεια παρουσιάζονται αρχιτεκτονικές που προορίζονται για την παροχή του QoS (IntServ, DiffServ), στη Συμφωνία Στάθμης Παρεχόμενης Υπηρεσίας (SLA), το πρωτόκολλο σηματοδοσίας COPS. Επίσης, δίνουμε έμφαση σε ορισμένες πτυχές (χρονοδρομολόγηση, διαχείριση ουρών) μίας QoS αρχιτεκτονικής, οι οποίες είναι ζωτικής σημασίας όσον αφορά την αποδοτική παροχή Ποιότητας Υπηρεσίας. Στη συνέχεια, με τη χρήση του εργαλείου προσομοίωσης OPNET, διεξάγουμε μια σειρά προσομοιώσεων σε ένα ATM και σε ένα NGN δίκτυο. Τέλος, παραθέτουμε και αναλύουμε τα αποτελέσματα των προαναφερθέντων πειραμάτων. / The concept of an NGN (Next Generation Network) has been introduced to take into consideration the new realities in the telecommunications industry, characterized by factors such as: competition among operators due to ongoing deregulation of markets, explosion of digital traffic, e.g.,increasing use of "the Internet", increasing demand for new multimedia services, increasing demand for a general mobility, convergence of networks and services, etc. This thesis has as subject the architecture of service stratum and presents an overview of standards functions defining the Quality of Service (QoS) in Next Generation Networks (NGNs). Several standards bodies define the QoS control architectures based on their scope of work. Specifically, emphasis is given to control functions, signalling and functional architecture of QoS in service stratum. Firstly, we define the meaning of QoS according to the view of the operator’s network and terminal users. The functional architecture of service stratum and especially the part of resource and admission control functions are described in the main body. Furthermore, architectures as IntServ and DiffServ, SLAs and COPS protocol are used as providers of the QoS. Scheduling and queuing management are necessary to optimize the QoS in NGN networks. In this project, we use OPNET simulator in two scenarios to determine construct and control ATM and NGN networks. Finally, collect the results of the experiments and analyze them.

Orientador: Nelson Luis Saldanha da Fonseca / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-13T10:35:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santi_Julianade_M.pdf: 1658984 bytes, checksum: 8a9f078587406a06815484e4fe057f7d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: A utilização eficiente da banda passante em redes de alta velocidade e grandes atrasos, denominadas redes com produto banda-atraso elevado (PBA), tornou-se um grande desafio. Isto ocorre devido aos ajustes do protocolo Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). O High Speed TCP (HSTCP), uma variante do TCP para redes com PBA elevado, emprega ajustes mais agressivos permitindo, assim, que a utilização da banda seja escalável. As políticas de Gerenciamento Ativo de Filas ou Active Queue Management (AQM), monitoram o nível de ocupação das filas nos roteadores e notificam o congestionamento incipiente aos emissores TCP através do descarte/marcação de pacotes. O sistema de controle de congestionamento apresenta natureza de retroalimentação, na qual a taxa de transmissão dos nós fontes é ajustada em função do nível de ocupação da fila. Os controladores AQM determinam a probabilidade de descarte/marcação para maximizar a vazão e minimizar perdas, garantindo, assim, a estabilidade do tamanho da fila independentemente das variações das condições da rede. Neste trabalho, define-se a política de gerenciamento ativo de filas HSTCP-H2 para redes com PBA elevado que utilizam o protocolo HSTCP. Para a derivação de HSTCP­H2: são utilizadas técnicas de Teoria de Controle Ótimo. A principal característica desta política é considerar o atraso do sistema o que permite melhor utilização dos recursos disponíveis. A estabilidade e os objetivos de desempenho do sistema são expressos e solu­cionados através de Desigualdades Matriciais Lineares, permitindo que os parâmetros do controlador possam ser calculados através da solução de um problema convexo simples. Diferentes controladores foram derivados considerando-se diferentes objetivos de de­sempenho, os quais consideram as características de redes com produto banda-atraso elevado. Através de simulações, os desempenhos dos controladores derivados são avalia­dos e a eficácia do controlador que apresentou o melhor desempenho foi comparado com o desempenho da política de AQM RED. São considerados cenários com enlace gargalo único e com múltiplos gargalos. / Abstract: The efficient utilization of bandwidth in high speed and large delay networks, called high bandwidth-delay product networks (BDP), has become a major challenge. This is due to adjustments of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The High Speed TCP HSTCP): a TCP variant to high BDP networks, employs more aggressive adjustments, allowing scalable bandwidth utilization. The Active Queue Management (AQM) policies monitor the queue length in the routers and notify incipient congestion to TCP source by marking or dropping packets. The congestion control system presents intrinsic feedback nature, where the transmission rates of the sources are adjusted according to the level of congestion inferred by the queue occupancy. The AQM controllers determine the dropping marking probability values to maximize throughput and minimize losses, giving guarantees to stabilize the queue length independent of network conditions. In this work, it is defined HSTCP-H2, an active queue management policy to high BDP networks, which adopt the HSTCP as their transport protocol. Optimal control theory is used to conceive HSTCP-H2. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in consider the delay of the system which allows better use of available resources. Furthermore, in the proposed approach, stability and performance objectives are completely expressed as Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs), thus requiring the solution of a single convex problem for the computation of the controller parameters. Different controllers are derived considering different design goals, which take into ac­count the characteristics of the high bandwidth-delay product networks. The performance produced by different optimal controllers was investigated. The efficacy of the control­ler with the best performance was then compared to the performance of RED policy. The simulation experiments were carried out using topologies with single and multiple bottleneck. / Mestrado / Redes de Computadores / Mestre em Ciência da Computação

In this thesis, we study the tradeoff of average delay with average service cost and average utility for both continuous time and discrete time single server queueing models without and with admission control. The continuous time and discrete time queueing models that we consider are motivated by cross-layer models for point-to-point links with random packet arrivals and fading at slow and fast time scales. Our studies are motivated by the need to optimally tradeoff the average delay of the packets (a network layer performance measure) with the average service cost of transmitting the packets, e.g. the average power required for transmission (a physical layer performance measure) under a lower bound constraint on the average throughput, in various point-to-point communication scenarios. The tradeoff problems are studied for a class of monotone and stationary scheduling policies and under the assumption that the service cost rate and utility rate are respectively convex and concave functions of the service rate and arrival rate. We also consider the problem of optimally trading off the average delay and average error rate of randomly arriving message symbols which are transmitted over a noisy point-to-point link, in which case the service cost function is non-convex. The solutions to the tradeoff problems that we address in the thesis are asymptotic in nature, and are similar in spirit to the Berry-Gallager asymptotic bounds. It is intuitive that to keep a queue stable under a lower bound constraint on the average utility a minimum number of customers have to be served per unit time. This in turn implies that queue stability requires a minimum average service cost expenditure. In the thesis we obtain an asymptotic characterization of the minimum average delay for monotone stationary policies subject to an upper bound constraint on the average service cost and a lower bound constraint on the average utility, in the asymptotic regime where the average service cost constraint is made arbitrarily close to the above minimum average service cost. In the thesis, we obtain asymptotic lower bounds on the minimum average delay for the cases for which lower bounds were previously not known. The asymptotic characterization of the minimum average delay for monotone stationary policies, for both continuous time and discrete time models, is obtained via geometric bounds on the stationary probability of the queue length, in the above asymptotic regime. The restriction to monotone stationary policies enables us to obtain an intuitive explanation for the behaviour of the asymptotic lower bounds using the above geometric bounds on the stationary probability distribution of the queue length. The geometric bounds on the stationary probability of the queue length also lead to a partial asymptotic characterization of the structure of any optimal monotone stationary policy, in the above asymptotic regime, which was not available in previous work. Furthermore, the geometric bounds on the stationary probability can be extended to analyse the tradeoff problem in other scenarios, such as for other continuous time queueing models, multiple user communication models, queueing models with service time control, and queueing models with general holding costs. Usually, queueing models with integer valued queue evolution, are approximated by queueing models with real valued queue evolution and strictly convex service cost functions for analytical tractability. Using the asymptotic bounds, we show that for some cases the average delay does not grow to infinity in the asymptotic regime, although the approximate model suggests that the average delay does grow to infinity. In other cases where the average delay does grow to infinity in the asymptotic regime, our results illustrate that the tradeoff behaviour of the approximate model is different from that of the original integer valued queueing model unless the service cost function is modelled as the piecewise linear lower convex envelope of the service cost function for the original model.

Dans le cadre des recherches de la qualité des ressources en eau, l’étude du processus de transfert de masse du sol vers la nappe phréatique constitue un élément primordial pour la compréhension de la pollution de cette dernière. En effet, les éléments polluants solubles à la surface (produits liés aux activités humaines tels engrais, pesticides...) peuvent transiter vers la nappe à travers le milieu poreux qu’est le sol. Ce scénario de transfert de pollution repose sur deux phénomènes : la pluie qui génère la masse d’eau à la surface et la dispersion de celle-ci à travers le milieu poreux. La dispersion de masse dans un milieu poreux naturel comme le sol forme un sujet de recherche vaste et difficile aussi bien au plan expérimental que théorique. Sa modélisation constitue une préoccupation du laboratoire EMMAH, en particulier dans le cadre du projet Sol Virtuel dans lequel un modèle de transfert (modèle PASTIS) a été développé. Le couplage de ce modèle de transfert avec en entrée un modèle décrivant la dynamique aléatoire de la pluie est un des objectifs de la présente thèse. Ce travail de thèse aborde cet objectif en s’appuyant d’une part sur des résultats d’observations expérimentaux et d’autre part sur de la modélisation inspirée par l’analyse des données d’observation. La première partie du travail est consacrée à l’élaboration d’un modèle stochastique de pluie. Le choix et la nature du modèle sont basés sur les caractéristiques obtenus à partir de l’analyse de données de hauteur de pluie recueillies sur 40 ans (1968-2008) sur le Centre de Recherche de l’INRA d’Avignon. Pour cela, la représentation cumulée des précipitations sera assimilée à une marche aléatoire dans laquelle les sauts et les temps d’attente entre les sauts sont respectivement les amplitudes et les durées aléatoires entre deux occurrences d’événements de pluie. Ainsi, la loi de probabilité des sauts (loi log-normale) et celle des temps d’attente entre les sauts (loi alpha-stable) sont obtenus en analysant les lois de probabilité des amplitudes et des occurrences des événements de pluie. Nous montrons alors que ce modèle de marche aléatoire tend vers un mouvement brownien géométrique subordonné en temps (quand les pas d’espace et de temps de la marche tendent simultanément vers zéro tout en gardant un rapport constant) dont la loi de densité de probabilité est régie par une équation de Fokker Planck fractionnaire (FFPE). Deux approches sont ensuite utilisées pour la mise en œuvre du modèle. La première approche est de type stochastique et repose sur le lien existant entre le processus stochastique issu de l’équation différentielle d’Itô et la FFPE. La deuxième approche utilise une résolution numérique directe par discrétisation de la FFPE. Conformément à l’objectif principal de la thèse, la seconde partie du travail est consacrée à l’analyse de la contribution de la pluie aux fluctuations de la nappe phréatique. Cette analyse est faite sur la base de deux relevés simultanées d’observations de hauteurs de pluie et de la nappe phréatique sur 14 mois (février 2005-mars 2006). Une étude statistique des liens entre les signaux de pluie et de fluctuations de la nappe est menée comme suit : Les données de variations de hauteur de nappe sont analysées et traitées pour isoler les fluctuations cohérentes avec les événements de pluie. Par ailleurs, afin de tenir compte de la dispersion de masse dans le sol, le transport de la masse d’eau pluviale dans le sol sera modélisé par un code de calcul de transfert (modèle PASTIS) auquel nous appliquons en entrée les données de hauteurs de pluie mesurées. Les résultats du modèle permettent entre autre d’estimer l’état hydrique du sol à une profondeur donnée (ici fixée à 1.6m). Une étude de la corrélation entre cet état hydrique et les fluctuations de la nappe sera ensuite effectuée en complément à celle décrite ci-dessus pour illustrer la possibilité de modéliser l’impact de la pluie sur les fluctuations de la nappe / Within the research quality of water resources, the study of the process of mass transfer from soil to groundwater is a key element for understanding the pollution of the latter. Indeed, soluble contaminants to the surface (related to human activities such fertilizers, pesticides products ...) can transit to the web through the porous medium that is the ground. This scenario transfer pollution based on two phenomena: the rain that generates the body of water to the dispersion and the surface thereof through the porous medium. The dispersion of mass in a natural porous medium such as soil forms a subject of extensive research and difficult both experimental and theoretical grounds. Its modeling is a concern EMMAH laboratory, particularly in the context of Virtual Sol project in which a transfer model (PASTIS model) was developed. The coupling of this transfer model with input a model describing the dynamics of random rain is one of the objectives of this thesis. This thesis addresses this goal by relying in part on the results of experimental observations and also on modeling inspired by the analysis of observational data. The first part of the work is devoted to the development of a stochastic model of rain. The choice and nature of the model are based on the features obtained from the analysis of data collected rainfall over 40 years (1968-2008) on the Research Centre INRA Avignon. For this, the cumulative rainfall representation will be treated as a random walk in which the jumps and waiting times between jumps are the amplitudes and durations between two random occurrences of rain events. Thus, the probability jumps (log-normal distribution) and that of waiting between jumps (Law alpha-stable) time is obtained by analyzing the laws of probability amplitudes and occurrences of rain events. We show that the random walk model tends towards a subordinate in time geometric Brownian motion (when space step and time step walking simultaneously tend to zero while maintaining a constant ratio), the law of probability density is governed by a Fokker Planck fractional (FFPE). Two approaches are then used to implement the model. The first approach is based on stochastic type and the relationship between the stochastic process derived from the differential equation of Itô and FFPE. The second approach uses a direct numerical solution by discretization of the FFPE. Accordance with the main objective of the thesis, the second part of the work is devoted to the analysis of the contribution of rain to fluctuations in groundwater. We approach this analysis on the basis of two simultaneous records of observations of rainfall amounts and groundwater over 14 months (February 2005-March 2006). A statistical study of the relationship between the signals of rain and fluctuating water will be conducted. Data sheet height variations are analyzed and processed to isolate coherent fluctuations with rain events. In addition, to take account of the mass dispersion in the soil, the mass transport of storm water in the soil layer is modeled by a calculation code transfer (PASTIS model) which we apply input data measured heights of rain. The model results allow between another estimate soil water status at a given depth (here set at 1.6m). A study of the correlation between the water status and fluctuating water will then be performed in addition to that described above to illustrate the ability to model the impact of rain on the water table fluctuations

Firm real time system with Poisson arrival process, iid exponential service times and iid deadlines till the end of service of a job, operated under the First Come First Served (FCFS) scheduling policy is well studied. In this thesis, we present an exact theoretical analysis of a similar (M/M/1 + G queue) system with exact admission control (EAC). We provide an explicit expression for the steady state workload distribution. We use this solution to derive explicit expressions for the loss ratio and the sojourn time distribution. An exact theoretical analysis of the performance of an M/M/1 + G queue with preemptive deadlines till the end of service, operating under the Earliest Deadline First (EDF) scheduling policy, appears to be difficult, and only approximate formulas for the loss ratio are available in the literature. We present in this thesis similar approximate formulas for the loss ratio in the present of an exit control mechanism, which discards a job at the epoch of its getting the server if there is no chance of completing it. We refer to this exit control mechanism as the Early job Discarding Technique (EDT). Monte Carlo simulations of performance indicate that the maximum approximation error is reasonably small for a wide range of arrival rates and mean deadlines. Finally, we compare the loss ratios of the First Come First Served and the Earliest Deadline First scheduling policies with or without admission or exit control mechanism, as well as their counterparts with deterministic deadlines. The results include some formal equalities, inequalities and some counter-examples to establish non-existence of an order. A few relations involving loss ratios are posed as conjectures, and simulation results in support of these are reported. These results lead to a complete picture of dominance and non-dominance relations between pairs of scheduling policies, in terms of loss ratios.

Depuis 1973, l’un des objectifs principaux de la France est la diminution de la consommation des énergies de chauffage des bâtiments du résidentiel et du tertiaire qui représentent plus de 40% de la consommation énergétique totale du pays. Le développement des isolants thermiques a été par conséquent un sujet de recherche qui a abouti à de nouveaux matériaux : les super-isolants thermiques de conductivité thermique inférieure à 25 mW.m-1.K-1. Les aérogels organiques de faible densité de Z-Phe-NH-Napht étudiés au LCPM présentent une structure fibrillaire qui leur confère des propriétés thermiques intéressantes malgré une résistance mécanique faible. Une étude fondamentale de l’organisation supramoléculaire nous a permis d’une part de démontrer l’existence de deux modes d’empilement des molécules organogélatrices : tête-à-tête (monocristaux) et tête-à-queue (gels), caractérisées par une signature infrarouge propre à des pseudo-cycles respectivement en C12 et C10/C14. D’autre part, nous avons étudié le mécanisme de formation séquentiel de ces gels et abouti à un modèle complet d’organisation de la molécule isolée à la fibre basé sur une symétrie hexagonale. En vue d’une commercialisation d’un isolant à base d’aérogel organique, nous avons tout d’abord optimisé le protocole d’obtention des aérogels pour ensuite travailler à l’amélioration des propriétés thermiques et mécaniques. Nous sommes parvenus à un nouvel isolant hydrophobe présentant une conductivité thermique de l’ordre de celles des super-isolants et de bonnes propriétés mécaniques compatibles avec les pré-requis industriels pour une application dans le bâtiment / Since 1973, France's main objective in this domain has been to reduce the consumption of energy in heating residential and industrial buildings, which represents more than 40% of the national consumption. Consequently, the development of heat insulators has been the subject of research which has resulted in new materials: super thermal insulators with a thermal conductivity of less than 25 mW.m-1.K-1. Organic aerogels with a low density of Z-Phe-NH-Napht have been studied at LCPM for the past 10 years. Despite their very weak mechanical resistance they present a fibrillar structure which gives them very interesting thermal properties. A fundamental study of the supermolecular self-assembly allowed us to demonstrate the existence of two stacking methods of gelling molecules: head-to-head (monocrystals) and head-to-tail (gels) which are characterized by a specific infrared signature to the pseudo-cycles respectively on C12 and C10/C14. In addition, we also studied the sequential formation mechanism of these gels which resulted in a full model of their molecular organization from the single molecule to the fiber and based on a hexagonal packing symmetry. In aim of commercializing an insulator made from organic aerogels, we firstly optimized the protocol for obtaining aerogels to then work on improving their thermal and mechanical properties. We created a new hydrophobic insulator which has both a thermal conductivity in the range of the super heat insulators' and good mechanical properties that are compatible with industrial prerequisites for the construction of buildings

Les neurones dopaminergiques (DA) de l’aire tegmentale ventrale (VTA) sont influencés par différents stimuli comme des récompenses naturelles et d’autres stimuli moins physiologiques tels que les drogues d’abus. Ces drogues agissent en détournant les mécanismes d’apprentissage qui sous-tendent normalement la motivation pour des renforçateurs naturels. Les neurones DA, en conditions physiologiques, sont subtilement régulés par une balance entre tonus GABA et glutamatergique. Ils sont soumis à de multiples sources inhibitrices dont le noyau accumbens, les interneurones locaux ou les neurones GABA de la queue de la VTA (tVTA). Le glutamate est également important dans leur modulation. Il contrôle leur activité en bursts, qui est le mode de décharge le plus efficace pour libérer de la dopamine et coder des informations associées à la récompense. Il permet des adaptations synaptiques à long terme qui se sont révélées importantes dans la prise de drogue. La connaissance des facteurs endogènes qui contrôlent l’excitabilité des cellules DA de la VTA est essentielle à la compréhension des processus physiologiques (recherche de plaisir…) mais aussi pathologiques (addiction…). L’objectif de mon travail a été de comprendre les circuits de régulation des neurones DA en conditions physiologiques et lors de l’exposition à la morphine. Dans un premier temps, nous avons étudié les mécanismes de régulation des neurones DA par la formation hippocampique ventrale incluant le subiculum ventral et l’aire CA1 ventrale (vSUB/CA1). Grâce à l’utilisation d’approches d’électrophysiologie in vivo chez le rat anesthésié, nous avons montré que le vSUB/CA1 exerce un contrôle excitateur glutamatergique des neurones DA. Nous avons mis en évidence que cette voie vSUB/CA1-VTA est polysynaptique, faisant intervenir le BNST comme relais. J’ai aussi pu confirmer le rôle fonctionnel de la tVTA en tant que nouvelle structure GABA modulant l’activité des neurones DA, renforçant ainsi l’idée d’une balance entre tonus GABA et glutamatergique régulant les neurones DA in vivo.La deuxième partie de ma thèse a consisté en l’étude des circuits neuronaux à l’origine des effets excitateurs de la morphine sur les neurones DA de la VTA in vivo. L’hypothèse actuelle est que la morphine excite les neurones DA par un mécanisme de désinhibition en inhibant les neurones GABA de la VTA. Grâce à l’utilisation d’approches multiples, nous avons proposé un nouveau circuit expliquant les effets de la morphine. Ces effets sont la conséquence d’une modification de la balance GABA/glutamate par la morphine. Elle se traduit par une diminution du tonus GABA et d’une augmentation du tonus glutamatergique. Enfin, nous avons pu démontrer qu’une seule exposition à la cocaïne augmente l’activité de base des neurones DA. Chez ces animaux, les effets excitateurs de la morphine sont potentialisés confirmant ainsi l’hypothèse que l’amplitude de l’activation des neurones DA par la morphine dépend de leur état d’excitabilité. / Dopaminergic (DA) neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are influenced by several stimuli such as natural rewards or drugs of abuse. Drugs shunt learning mechanisms which underlie motivation for natural reinforcers. Under physiological conditions, DA neurons are regulated by a balance between GABA and glutamatergic inputs. They receive several inhibitory inputs especially from the nucleus accumbens, VTA local interneurons and GABA neurons of the tail of the VTA (tVTA). Glutamate is also important in modulating DA neuron activity. It controls their bursting activity which is the most efficient way to release dopamine and to encode reward-associated informations. It allows long term synaptic adaptations important for addiction. Knowing how these endogenous factors control VTA DA neuron excitability is essential to understand physiological (search for pleasure…) and pathological (drug addiction…) processes.In the first part of my thesis, we studied the regulation of the VTA by the hippocampal formation including the ventral subiculum and the ventral CA1 area (vSUB/CA1). Using electrophysiological approaches in anesthetized animal, we showed that the vSUB/CA1 controls VTA DA neurons and that this input is glutamatergic. We also demonstrated that the vSUB/CA1-VTA pathway is polysynaptic implicating the BNST as a relay. I also confirmed the inhibitory control of the VTA by tVTA, new GABA input to DA neurons. Thus, in vivo, DA neurons are regulated by a balance between GABA and glutamatergic inputs. The second part of my research consisted in studying the neuronal circuits underlying excitatory effects of morphine on VTA DA neurons in vivo. The actual hypothesis is that morphine excites DA neurons by a disinhibition mechanism inhibiting VTA GABA neurons. Using several approaches (electrophysiological approaches in anesthetized animal, tract-tracing methods), we proposed a new circuitry explaining morphine effects. These excitatory effects result from a modification of the balance between GABA and glutamatergic inputs with a decrease of the GABA tone and an increase of the glutamatergic tone. Finally, we demonstrated that an acute cocaine exposure increases DA neuron activity. In animals exposed to cocaine, morphine excitatory effects are potentiated. This last experiment confirms the hypothesis that the amplitude of morphine-induced activation of VTA DA neurons depends on their excitability state.