Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:24:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Janine M Guedes.pdf: 986675 bytes, checksum: 0cc34cd9a835050bc20a4f5c99b5b4a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-15 / Rice (Oryza sativa) stands out in Brazil for its economic and social importance, being an important source of protein and energy. Selecting lines of upland rice adapted to different environments is critical to the success of breeding programs targeted to family farmers in the state of Goiás, The objective of this work was to evaluate S0:2 families drawn from CNA9 population of the upland rice breeding program in greenhouse and in the field, aiming to select families for recombination and obtainment of a new selecting cycle. 50 families from CNA9 population from recurrent selection were used, in four experiments, with N, P, and inoculant combinations, in a randomized bloc design arrangement with two replicates in greenhouse. Traits evaluated were: plant height, chlorophyll content, canopy dry matter, roots dry matter and volume. The field experiment was arranged in a 14 X 14 square lattice, with 194 families, two controls, and three replicates. Traits evaluated were: plant height, flowering and yield, besides the following diseases: leaf and neck blast, scald, brown spot, grain spot, and narrow leaf spot. Results obtained from greenhouse indicate that families studied performed similarly in the absence of the inoculant, but responded differently for plant height, dry matter, and root volume, regarding nitrogen and phosphorus combinations. Field data showed that the families drawn from CNA9 population showed superior performance when compared to controls and to the original population, especially regarding neck blast and yield. It was possible to select 48 families from the field to recombine in the next breeding cycle. / O arroz (Oryza sativa) destaca-se no Brasil por sua importância econômica e, sobretudo social, sendo uma importante fonte de proteína e energia. Selecionar linhagens de arroz de terras altas adaptadas a ambientes diversos é de extrema importância para o sucesso dos programas de melhoramento direcionados para os agricultores familiares do estado de Goiás. O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar famílias S0:2 da população CNA9 do programa de melhoramento de arroz de terras altas em casa de vegetação e no campo, visando a seleção de famílias para recombinação e obtenção de um novo ciclo de seleção. Foram utilizadas 50 famílias da população CNA9 de seleção recorrente em quatro experimentos, utilizando combinações de N, P e inoculante, no delineamento blocos casualizados com duas repetições, em casa de vegetação. Os caracteres avaliados foram altura de plantas, teor de clorofila, matéria seca da parte aérea, matéria seca de raiz e volume. O experimento em campo foi um látice quadrado 14 x 14 com 194 famílias e 2 testemunhas, com três repetições. Foram avaliados os caracteres altura de plantas, floração e produtividade, além das principais doenças: brusone na folha, brusone no pescoço, escaldadura, mancha parda, mancha de grãos e mancha estreita. Dos resultados obtidos para casa de vegetação, pode-se concluir que as famílias mostraram comportamento semelhante na ausência ou presença do inoculante e houve resposta diferenciada das famílias para os caracteres altura de plantas, matéria seca e volume de raiz para as combinações de nitrogênio e fósforo. Os resultados obtidos no campo mostraram que as famílias avaliadas da população CNA9 apresentaram desempenho superior às testemunhas e a população original principalmente em relação a brusone no pescoço e a produtividade de grãos. Foi possível selecionar 48 famílias no campo para recombinação e obtenção do próximo ciclo.

Comentando-se algumas evidências da literatura e da análise de dados secundários de morbidade e mortalidade, estabelece-se a hipótese de que as doenças chiadoras recorrentes da infância possam constituir-se em fator de risco para o desenvolvimento de infecções pulmonares. Um estudo caso-controle é desenvolvido para testar esta hipótese reunindo 51 casos de pneumonia pareados por sexo e idade a 51 controles sadios e 51 controles doentes não respiratórios. A amostra é colhida entre pacientes do Hospital Universitário da USP sendo condição de entrada para os casos um diagnóstico de pneumonia adquirida na comunidade e livre de tratamento anterior. Os controles são selecionados dentro da mesma clientela entre pacientes com outro diagnóstico e crianças sadias usuárias dos mesmos serviços, identificadas entre acompanhantes de pacientes. Casos e controles são submetidos a idêntica investigação quanto a presença de doença (pneumonia) e de exposição ao fator de risco investigado (doença chiadora recorrente) através de anamnese e exame físico padronizados, realizados independentemente por dois observadores distintos. Ambos os observadores são pediatras designados pelo Departamento de Pediatria do Hospital para esta tarefa e recebem orientação e supervisão para uma observação padronizada. Os dados assim recolhidos são processados em análises estatísticas uni e multivariadas para explorar diferenças entre casos e controles. A amostra estudada resulta constituída por crianças de idade média de 2 anos (com variação entre um mês e sete anos), entre as quais 47 por cento são meninos. O diagnóstico de pneumonia é validado através da aplicação de análise discriminante multivariada das informações relativas a sinais clínicos, encontrando-se uma compatibilidade entre a conclusão clínica e estes sinais da ordem de pelo menos 75 por cento . O diagnóstico de exposição a doença chiadora é validado pela presença de história compatível segundo premissas pré-estabelecidas nos métodos do estudo (diagnóstico de asma e pelo menos um episódio de dispnéia nos últimos 12 meses ou história de chiado recorrente que melhora com medicação e pelo menos dois episódios nos últimos 12 meses) em 40 dos 41 expostos identificados. O questionário de identificação da exposição tem a repitibilidade medida através de sua reaplicação pelo mesmo observador a uma amostra de 20 por cento do total de crianças examinadas. Encontra-se um nível geral de concordância entre a primeira e segunda aplicação do questionário de 76,7 por cento e um índice Kappa de 0,65. A associação entre pneumonia e doença chiadora recorrente é analisada através de regressão logística com controle para todas as variáveis que em análise univariada mostram frequência estatisticamente significante entre casos e controles. Encontra-se que o risco de pneumonia entre crianças expostas a doença chiadora é 7 vezes maior do que entre crianças não expostas, controladas a renda familiar e a situação de aglomeração no quarto de dormir, também identificadas como fatores de risco para pneumonia (\"odds ratio\" de 5,6 e 2,4 para rendas baixa e média comparadas com renda alta e \"odds ratio\" de 1,5 para cada pessoa a mais no quarto de dormir). Calcula-se que para a comunidade hospitalar estudada a doença chiadora recorrente represente um risco atribuível para pneumonia entre 33 por cento e 51 por cento , conforme a aplicação de diferentes técnicas de cálculo. Conclui-se que as doenças chiadoras recorrentes da infância constituem-se em importante fator de risco para pneumonia e que seu controle, através da inclusão de assistência sistemática a pacientes com este diagnóstico nos programas de Saúde Pública para o controle de doenças respiratórias da infância, pode ter importante impacto sobre a incidência de pneumonias. / Taking into account some evidences from the literature and from analysis of available data, a hyphothesis that childhood wheezing diseases are related to pneunomia is established. A case-control study is designed to test this hypothesis taking 51 cases of pneumonia matched by sex and age to 51 healthy and 51 non-respiratory controls. The sample is drawn from patients of the \"Hospital Universitário da USP\". Entry condition for cases is to bear a community acquired pneumonia free of previous treatment and for controls is to be custommer of the same health services. Cases and controls are equally investigated with regards to the presence of pneumonia and history of wheezing diseases, investigation being conducted by two independent observers. Both are paediatricians selected by the Hospital Paediatric Department and are dully trained and supervised as to assure a standardized observation. Data are processed in oneway and multivariate statistical analyses to explore diferences between cases and controls. The sample studied comprises children aged 2 years in average (range between one month and seven years) and male subjects account for 47 per cent of the total. The diagnosis of pneumonia is validated through multivariate discriminant analysis which shows that clinical opinion is compatible to clinical signs in at least 75 per cent of the cases. The clinical conclusion of presence of wheezing disease is found compatible to previously defined criteria in 40 out of 41 patients. Repeatability of such information is assessed by re-aplication of the questionnaire for wheezing disease investigation to a sample of 20 per cent of the total number of children, which is carried out by the same observer of the first interview. An overall agreement of 76.7 per cent and a Kappa of 0.65 is found. Association between pneumonia and wheezing disease is analysed through logistic regression controlling the effects of all variables which have shown statistically significant differences between cases and controls. It is found that children who bear a wheezing disease have a risk to pneumonia which is 7 times greater than those who do not, allowing for socioeconomic status and bedroom crowding, both also risk fators: odds ratio of 5.6 and 2.4 for low and medium family income as opposed to high income and odds ratio of 1.5 for each increase of one person in bedroom.Derived from different techniques, an attributable risk for wheezing disease ranging from 33 per cent to 51 per cent is calculated. It is concluded that wheezing diseases of childhood are an important risk factor to pneumonia and that its control, by means of regular medical assistance of patients being included among the items of current public health programmes, should result in an important effect over the frequency of pneumonia.

As imunodeficiências primárias são um grupo heterogêneo de doenças hereditárias do sistema. Aqui nós descrevemos 4 famílias (2 Turcas e 2 Brasileiras), que apresentaram infecções recorrentes desde os primeiros dias de vida. Após uma análise clínica bem detalhada, combinamos as técnicas de sequenciamento de alta geração para identificar novos defeitos genéticos que levam ao fenótipo de IDP. Finalizamos com a identificação e caracterização de três IDP, sendo que duas inéditas. A primeira identificada (P1) foi causada por uma mutação bialélica no sítio de splice do gene PRKCD (c.1352+1G>A). A segunda (P2 e P3) foi causada por uma mutação bialélica no gene que codifica NIK (c. C1694G; p. Pro565Arg). A terceira (P4) foi causada uma mutação no gene IL7Rα (c.G353A). Finalizamos a análise da P5, mas nenhum dos genes candidatos foi confirmado. A análise genética e a identificação do defeito genético, permite que nossos pacientes possam ter uma melhor sobrevida, podendo realizar um tratamento correto e permite o aconselhamento genético na família. / Primary immunodeficiencies are a heterogeneous group of inherited diseases of the immune system. Here we describe 5 patients from 4 families (2 Turks and 2 Brazilian), all patients had recurrent infections since the firsts days of life. After a very detailed clinical analysis, we applied the Next Generation Sequencing to identify new genes that could be lead to PID phenotype. We finished with the identification and characterization of 3 PID, where 2 of them was new. The first identified (P1) was a biallelic mutation in the splice site of the gene PRKCD (c.1352 + 1G>A). The second (P2 and P3) was a biallelic mutation in the gene encoding NIK (MAP3K14; c.C1694G;. p.Pro565Arg). The third (P4) has a mutation in the gene IL7Rα (c.G353A). We finished the analysis of P5, but no candidate gene was confirmed to be the defect cause. Genetic analysis and identification of the genetic defect allows our patients may have a better survival and can perform a proper treatment and genetic counseling allows the family.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-04-24T17:21:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 leandrorodriguesmansosilva.pdf: 691785 bytes, checksum: 4024e0e319f1469cc354c2c346a90dbe (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-04-24T17:59:43Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 leandrorodriguesmansosilva.pdf: 691785 bytes, checksum: 4024e0e319f1469cc354c2c346a90dbe (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-24T17:59:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 leandrorodriguesmansosilva.pdf: 691785 bytes, checksum: 4024e0e319f1469cc354c2c346a90dbe (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-29 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A distorção harmônica, dentre outras formas de poluição na rede de sistemas de energia, é um importante problema para as concessionárias. De fato, o aumento do uso de dispositivos não-lineares na indústria resultou em um aumento direto da distorção harmônica nos sistemas elétricos de potência nos últimos anos. Com isso, a modelagem destas cargas e suas interações se tornaram de grande importância, e portanto, o uso de novas técnicas computacionais passou a ser de grande interesse para este fim. Neste contexto, este trabalho descreve uma metodologia baseada em técnicas de Inteligência Computacional (Redes Neurais Artificiais (RNA)s e Lógica Fuzzy (LF)), proposta para modelagem de cargas não-lineares presentes em sistemas elétricos de potência, bem como a estimação de sua parcela na distorção harmônica do sistema. A principal vantagem deste método é que apenas as formas de onda de tensão e corrente no ponto de acoplamento comum precisam ser medidas, além disso esta técnica pode ser aplicada na modelagem de cargas monofásicas bem como cargas trifásicas. / The harmonic distortin, among other forms of pollution to the electric power systems is an important issue for electric utilities. In fact, the increased use of nonlinear devices in industry has resulted in direct increase of harmonic distortion in industrial power grids in recent years. Thus, the modeling of these loads and the understanding of their interactions with the system have became of great importance, then the use of computational-based techniques has emerged as a suitable tool to deal with these requirements. In this context, this work describes a methodology based on Computational Intelligence (Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)s and Fuzzy Logic (FL)) for modeling nonlinear loads present in electric power systems, as well as the estimation of their contribution in the harmonic distortion. The main advantage of this technique is that only the waveforms of voltages and currents at the point of common coupling must be measured and it can be applied to model single and three phase loads.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-08-17T17:42:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 carlakarolinepiresgeneroso.pdf: 14361490 bytes, checksum: 84df5809af87f48f3b7f1313923e54f8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-08-18T11:01:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 carlakarolinepiresgeneroso.pdf: 14361490 bytes, checksum: 84df5809af87f48f3b7f1313923e54f8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-18T11:01:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 carlakarolinepiresgeneroso.pdf: 14361490 bytes, checksum: 84df5809af87f48f3b7f1313923e54f8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-06 / As quedas configuram-se como um evento prevalente entre os idosos e em virtude de sua dimensão física, psicológica, social e econômica é considerada um grave problema de saúde pública. Subjacente aos fatores de risco já conhecidos, enfatizamos neste estudo fatores comportamentais como a autopercepção e a influência de déficits visual, sobretudo o auditivo autopercebidos relacionados à queda e quedas recorrentes. Considera-se a importância de conhecer os serviços de saúde que esses indivíduos têm acesso e utilizam após ocorrência desse evento. Portanto, o objetivo deste estudo foi estimar a prevalência e recorrência de queda e sua associação com a déficit visual e auditivo autopercebidos, descrever o acesso e gravidade relativo a este evento em idosos do município de Juiz de Fora. Estudo de delineamento transversal, que avaliou 315 idosos comunitários ≥ 60 anos, de ambos os sexos por meio de inquérito domiciliar. Os dados foram analisados pelo programa Stata 13,0 verificando as Razões de Prevalência com respectivos Intervalos de Confiança de 95% (IC 95%) e α = 0,10. Nas análises multivariadas ajustaram-se modelos de Regressão de Poisson e Multinomial. Os resultados serão apresentados em dois estudos. No primeiro a prevalência de quedas foi de 34,3% e 10,8% de recorrência. A prevalência de quedas nos indivíduos com deficiência auditiva autopercebida foi de 45,6%. Esteve associada à queda: faixa etária de 70 a 79 anos sexo feminino e não uso de dispositivos para correção visual e a Quedas recorrentes: idade ≥ 80 anos e Deficiência visual e Deficiência auditiva autopercebidas. No segundo estudo observamos que idade superior a 80 anos, necessidade de internação em pronto atendimento ou internação e maior percentual de perda de consciência após a queda esteve mais associada à queda recorrente que foi considerada mais grave que as quedas sofridas pelos idosos que caíram uma vez. Ambos os grupos declararam ter mais acesso aos serviços públicos, apesar de grande parcela ter pelo menos algum plano de saúde. As quedas caracterizaram-se como domiciliares e diurnas, porém idosos que relatam uma queda caíram mais na escada e varanda diferente da queda recorrente que ocorreu em locais mais restritos como quarto e sala. Os resultados indicam importante relação entre déficit auditivo autopercebido e queda além de informações relevantes sobre as características e gravidade da queda entre idosos comunitários. Considerando a partir disso a necessidade de investigação ampla da relação entre déficits auditivos e as adaptações que são feitas aos idosos que escutam pouco e que segundo nosso estudo tem pouco acesso aos dispositivos de correção auditiva poderiam auxiliar em estratégias para a prevenção deste evento. Além de salientar a importância da prevenção através de um acesso mais eficaz à atenção primaria e assim como a oferta de visitas domiciliares pelas equipes de Estratégias de Saúde da Família que poderiam auxiliar em orientações a fim de diminuir a ocorrência de quedas nos locais mais prevalentes e o impacto do medo de quedas recorrentes entre os idosos da comunidade. / The falls are a prevalent event among the elderly and because of their physical, psychological, social and economic dimension, it is considered a serious public health problem. Underlying the already known risk factors, we emphasize in this study behavioral factors such as self-perception and the influence of visual deficits, especially the self-perceived auditory hearing related to fall and recurrent falls. It is considered the importance of knowing the health services that these individuals have access to and use after this event occurs. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence and recurrence of falls and their association with selfperceived visual and auditory deficit, to describe the access and severity related to this event in the elderly in the city of Juiz de Fora. A cross - sectional study, which evaluated 315 community - dwelling elderly individuals ≥ 60 years of age, of both sexes by means of a household survey. Data were analyzed by the Stata 13.0 program, checking the Prevalence Ratios with 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI) and α = 0.10. In the multivariate analyzes, the Poisson and Multinomial Regression models were fitted. The results will be presented in two studies. In the first, the prevalence of falls was 34.3% and 10.8% of recurrence. The prevalence of falls in individuals with self-perceived hearing loss was 45.6%. It was associated with the fall: age group of 70 to 79 years female and no use of devices for visual correction and recurrent falls: age ≥ 80 years and Visual Deficiency and Self-perceived Deficiency. In the second study, we observed that age greater than 80 years, need for hospitalization at the prompt or hospitalization, and greater percentage of loss of consciousness after the fall was more associated with the recurrent fall that was considered more severe than the falls suffered by the elderly who fell once. Both groups reported having more access to public services, although a large portion had at least some health insurance. The falls were characterized as domiciliary and diurnal, but elderly people reporting a fall fell more on the staircase and balcony different from the recurring fall that occurred in more restricted places such as bedroom and living room. The results indicate an important relation between selfperceived hearing deficit and fall besides relevant information about the characteristics and severity of falls among community-dwelling elders. Considering from this the need for a broad investigation of the relationship between auditory deficits and the adaptations that are made to the elderly who listen poorly and who according to our study have little access to hearing correction devices could help in strategies for the prevention of this event. In addition to highlighting the importance of prevention through more effective access to primary care and the provision of home visits by Family Health Strategy teams that could assist in guidelines to reduce the occurrence of falls in the most prevalent places and the impact of the fear of recurrent falls among the elderly in the community.

Cette thèse a été effectuée dans le cadre du projet européen WYSIWYD (What You Say is What You Did). Ce projet a pour but de rendre, plus naturelles, les interactions Humain-robot, notamment par le biais du langage. Le déploiement de robots compagnon et de robots de service requière que les humains et les robots puissent se comprendre mutuellement et communiquer. Les humains ont développé une codification avancée de leur comportement qui fournit la base de la transparence de la plupart de leurs actions et de leur communication. Jusqu'à présent, les robots ne partagent pas ce code de comportement et ne sont donc pas capables d'expliquer leurs propres actions aux humains. Nous savons que dans le langage parlé, il existe un lien direct entre le langage et le sens permettant à une personne qui écoute d'orienter son attention sur un aspect précis d'un événement. Ceci est particulièrement vrai en production de langage. On sait que la perception visuelle permet l'extraction des aspects de «qui a fait quoi à qui» dans la compréhension des événements sociaux. Mais dans le cadre d'interactions humaines, il existe d'autres aspects importants qui ne peuvent être déterminés uniquement à partir de l'image visuelle. L'échange d'un objet peut être interprété suivant différents points de vue, par exemple du point de vue du donateur ou de celui du preneur. Nous introduisons ainsi la notion de construal. Le construal est la manière dont une personne interprète le monde ou comprend une situation particulière. De plus, les événements sont reliés dans le temps, mais il y a des liens de causalité ainsi que des liens intentionnels qui ne peuvent pas être vus d'un point de vue uniquement visuel. Un agent exécute une action, car il sait que cette action satisfait le désir d'un autre agent. Cela peut ne pas être visible directement dans la scène visuelle. Le langage permet ainsi de préciser cette particularité : "Il vous a donné le livre parce que vous le vouliez". La première problématique que nous mettons en évidence dans ce travail est la manière dont le langage peut être utilisé pour représenter ces construals. Autrement dit, la manière dont un orateur choisit une construction grammaticale plutôt qu'une autre en fonction de son centre d'intérêt. Pour y répondre, nous avons développé un système dans lequel un modèle mental représente un événement d'action. Ce modèle est déterminé par la correspondance entre deux vecteurs abstraits : le vecteur de force exercée par l'action et le vecteur de résultat correspondant à l'effet de la force exercée. La deuxième problématique que nous étudions est comment des constructions de discours narratif peuvent être apprises grâce à un modèle de discours narratifs. Ce modèle se base sur des réseaux neuronaux de production et de compréhension de phrases existants que nous enrichissons avec des structures additionnelles permettant de représenter un contexte de discours. Nous présentons également la manière dont ce modèle peut s'intégrer dans un système cognitif global permettant de comprendre et de générer de nouvelles constructions de discours narratifs ayant une structure similaire, mais des arguments différents. Pour chacun des travaux cités précédemment, nous montrons comment ces modèles théoriques sont intégrés dans la plateforme de développement du robot humanoïde iCub. Cette thèse étudiera donc principalement deux mécanismes qui permettent d'enrichir le sens des évènements par le langage. Le travail se situe entre les neurosciences computationnelles, l'élaboration de modèles de réseaux neuronaux de compréhension et de production de discours narratifs, et la linguistique cognitive où comprendre et expliquer un sens en fonction de l'attention est crucial / This thesis takes place in the context of the European project WYSIWYD (What You Say is What You Did). The goal of this project is to provide transparency in Human-robot interactions, including by mean of language. The deployment of companion and service robots requires that humans and robots can understand each other and communicate. Humans have developed an advanced coding of their behavior that provides the basis of transparency of most of their actions and their communication. Until now, the robots do not share this code of behavior and are not able to explain their own actions to humans. We know that in spoken language, there is a direct mapping between languages and meaning allowing a listener to focus attention on a specific aspect of an event. This is particularly true in language production. Moreover, visual perception allows the extraction of the aspects of "who did what to whom" in the understanding of social events. However, in the context of human interaction, other important aspects cannot be determined only from the visual image. The exchange of an object can be interpreted from the perspective of the giver or taker. This introduces the notion of construal that is how a person interprets the world and perceive a particular situation. The events are related in time, but there are causal and intentional connexion that cannot be seen only from a visual standpoint. An agent performs an action because he knows that this action satisfies the need for another person. This may not be directly visible in the visual scene. The language allows specifying this characteristic: "He gave you the book because you like it." The first point that we demonstrate in this work is how the language can be used to represent these construals. In response, we have developed a system in which a mental model represents an action event. This model is determined by the correspondence between two abstract vectors: the force vector exerted by the action and the result vector corresponding to the effect of the applied force. The application of an attentional process selects one of the two vectors, thus generating the construal of the event. The second point that we consider in this work is how the construction of narrative discourse can be learned with a narrative discourse model. This model is based on both existing neural networks of production and comprehension of sentences that we enrich with additional structures to represent a context of discourse. We present also how this model can be integrated into an overall cognitive system for understanding and generate new constructions of narrative discourse based on similar structure, but different arguments. For each of the works mentioned above, we show how these theoretical models are integrated into the development platform of the iCub humanoid robot. This thesis will explore two main mechanisms to enrich the meaning of events through language. The work is situated between computational neuroscience, with development of neural network models of comprehension and production of narrative discourse, and cognitive linguistics where to understand and explain the meaning according to joint attention is crucial

Two influential theories of consciousness disagree about if consciousness initially arises along the occipitotemporal cortex to later engage frontoparietal regions and attentional mechanisms, or if it necessarily requires the latter. Consequently, different predictions are made about the temporal emergence of consciousness. The event-related potential (ERP) technique can be used to resolve the issue. It can temporally track neural activity of consciously perceived stimuli relative to stimuli bypassing consciousness. This essay describes the two theories and reviews ERP studies on visual consciousness and its relationship to attention. Three ERP correlates of consciousness have been proposed. The question is if they should be interpreted as supporting the one or the other theory. Most plausibly, visual consciousness arises along occipitotemporal regions and later incorporates frontal areas engaging higher cognitive functions. Importantly it seems that consciousness cannot arise without spatial attention/parietal regions.

L'étude des Hydrocarbures Aromatiques Polycycliques (PAH) a connu un intérêt croissant depuis une trentaine d'années, en raison notamment de leur possible présence dans le milieu interstellaire qui expliquerait l'observation des bandes d'émission IR encore non attribuées. Dans ce travail de thèse, la dynamique de refroidissement du cation naphtalène C10H8+, la plus petite molécule de la famille des PAH, est étudiée dans un anneau de stockage électrostatique, le Mini-Ring. La distribution en énergie interne des ions stockés est sondée en induisant la photo dissociation d'une fraction des ions par une excitation laser à la longueur d'onde 532 nm. La dynamique de refroidissement des cations photo-excités est observée en mesurant en fonction du temps le nombre de neutres émis par dissociation. La courbe de déclin du signal de neutres est directement reliée à la distribution en énergie interne des ions à l'instant de l'excitation laser. Cette distribution en énergie interne peut alors être déterminée à différents temps de stockage en analysant les courbes de déclin à l'aide d'un programme numérique développé pendant la thèse. L'évolution temporelle de la distribution met en évidence un processus de refroidissement rapide caractérisé par un taux de refroidissement compris entre 70 et 90 s−1 pour des énergies internes de 5.9 et 6.8 eV. Ce refroidissement rapide ne peut être expliqué par l'émission de photons infrarouges. Il est attribué à la "fluorescence de Poincaré" caractérisée par un processus de conversion interne inverse suivie de l'émission d'un photon dans le domaine du visible. Cette fluorescence de Poincaré ou fluorescence récurrente a été prédite il y a plus de 20 ans mais n'a jamais été mesurée directement à ce jour. Les taux de refroidissement mesurés lors de ce travail de thèse apportent une évidence indirecte de ce processus / The study of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) has been of increasing interest during the last thirty years: their possible presence in the interstellar medium is commonly invoked to explain the observation of still unassigned IR emission bands. In this thesis, the cooling dynamics of the naphthalene cations C10H8 +, the smallest molecule of the PAH family, is studied in an electrostatic storage ring, the Mini-Ring. Particularly, we consider the two main cooling processes for naphthalene cation, the dissociation and photon emission. Naphthalene molecules are ionized in an electron cyclotron resonance source (ECR), accelerated to 12 keV and then injected and stored in the Mini-Ring for several milliseconds. The internal energy distribution of the stored ions is probed by laser induced dissociation using an excitation wavelength at 532 nm. The cooling dynamics of the photo-excited cations is observed by measuring the number of emitted neutrals as a function of time. The decay curve of the neutral signal is directly related to the internal energy distribution of the ions at the excitation time. This internal energy distribution can then be determined at various storage times by analyzing the decay curves using a code developed during this thesis. The time evolution of the internal energy distribution shows a fast cooling process characterized by a cooling rate increasing from 70 to 90 s−1 for internal energies from 5.9 to 6.8 eV. This fast cooling process can’t be explained by infrared photons emission. It is attributed to the "Poincaré fluorescence " which involves an inverse internal conversion process followed by the emission of a visible photon. This fluorescence from thermally excited electron or recurrent fluorescence was predicted more than 20 years ago, but has never been measured directly up to now. The measured cooling rates in this thesis provide indirect evidence of this process

Dreaming is a complex, multimodal and sequentially organized model of the waking world (Metzinger, 2003). Nightmares are a category of dreams involving threatening scenarios, anxiety and other negative emotions (Hartmann, 1998; Nielsen & Levin, 2007). Dreams and nightmares are explored in this present thesis in the light of psychology and modern cognitive neuroscience as to their nature, function and neural correlates. The three main dream theories and their leading investigations are reviewed to evaluate their evidence and overall explanatory power to account for the function of dreams and nightmares. Random Activation Theories (RATs) claim dreams are biological epiphenomena and by-products of sleep underlying mechanisms (Crick & Mitchison, 1983; Flanagan, 1995, 2000a, 2000b, Hobson & McCarley, 1997). Mood regulation theories consider that the psychological function of dreams is to regulate mood and help with the adaptation of individuals to their current environment such as solving daily concerns and recovery after trauma exposure (Hartmann, 1996; Levin, 1998; Stickgold, 2008; Kramer, 1991a, 1991b, 2014). Threat Simulation Theories of dreams present the evolutionary function for dreaming as a simulating off-line model of the world used to rehearse threatening events encountered in the human ancestral environment (Revonsuo, 2000a). With the threat-simulation system, threats were likely to be recognized and avoidance skills developed to guarantee reproductive success. TST consider nightmares to reflect the threat-simulation system fully activated (Revonsuo, 2000a). Supported by a robust body of evidence TST is concluded to be the most plausible theory at the moment to account as a theoretical explanation of dreams and nightmares

Aujourd'hui, la plupart des ordinateurs sont encore basés sur des concepts développés il y a plus de 60 ans par Alan Turing et John von Neumann. Cependant, ces ordinateurs numériques ont déjà commencé à atteindre certaines limites physiques via la technologie de la microélectronique au silicium (dissipation, vitesse, limites d'intégration, consommation d'énergie). Des approches alternatives, plus puissantes, plus efficaces et moins consommatrices d'énergie, constituent depuis plusieurs années un enjeu scientifique majeur. Beaucoup de ces approches s'inspirent naturellement du cerveau humain, dont les principes opérationnels sont encore loin d'être compris. Au début des années 2000, la communauté scientifique s'est aperçue qu'une modification du réseau neuronal récurrent (RNN), plus simple et maintenant appelée Reservoir Computing (RC), est parfois plus efficace pour certaines fonctionnalités, et est un nouveau paradigme de calcul qui s'inspire du cerveau. Sa structure est assez semblable aux concepts classiques de RNN, présentant généralement trois parties: une couche d'entrée pour injecter l'information dans un système dynamique non-linéaire (Write-In), une seconde couche où l'information d'entrée est projetée dans un espace de grande dimension (appelé réservoir dynamique) et une couche de sortie à partir de laquelle les informations traitées sont extraites par une fonction dite de lecture-sortie. Dans l'approche RC, la procédure d'apprentissage est effectuée uniquement dans la couche de sortie, tandis que la couche d'entrée et la couche réservoir sont fixées de manière aléatoire, ce qui constitue l'originalité principale du RC par rapport aux méthodes RNN. Cette fonctionnalité permet d'obtenir plus d'efficacité, de rapidité, de convergence d'apprentissage, et permet une mise en œuvre expérimentale. Cette thèse de doctorat a pour objectifs d'implémenter pour la première fois le RC photoniques en utilisant des dispositifs de télécommunication. Notre mise en œuvre expérimentale est basée sur un système dynamique non linéaire à retard, qui repose sur un oscillateur électro-optique (EO) avec une modulation de phase différentielle. Cet oscillateur EO a été largement étudié dans le contexte de la cryptographie optique du chaos. La dynamique présentée par de tels systèmes est en effet exploitée pour développer des comportements complexes dans un espace de phase à dimension infinie, et des analogies avec la dynamique spatio-temporelle (tels que les réseaux neuronaux) sont également trouvés dans la littérature. De telles particularités des systèmes à retard ont conforté l'idée de remplacer le RNN traditionnel (généralement difficile à concevoir technologiquement) par une architecture à retard d'EO non linéaire. Afin d'évaluer la puissance de calcul de notre approche RC, nous avons mis en œuvre deux tests de reconnaissance de chiffres parlés (tests de classification) à partir d'une base de données standard en intelligence artificielle (TI-46 et AURORA-2), et nous avons obtenu des performances très proches de l'état de l'art tout en établissant un nouvel état de l'art en ce qui concerne la vitesse de classification. Notre approche RC photonique nous a en effet permis de traiter environ 1 million de mots par seconde, améliorant la vitesse de traitement de l'information d'un facteur supérieur à ~3. / Nowadays most of computers are still based on concepts developed more than 60 years ago by Alan Turing and John von Neumann. However, these digital computers have already begun to reach certain physical limits of their implementation via silicon microelectronics technology (dissipation, speed, integration limits, energy consumption). Alternative approaches, more powerful, more efficient and with less consume of energy, have constituted a major scientific issue for several years. Many of these approaches naturally attempt to get inspiration for the human brain, whose operating principles are still far from being understood. In this line of research, a surprising variation of recurrent neural network (RNN), simpler, and also even sometimes more efficient for features or processing cases, has appeared in the early 2000s, now known as Reservoir Computing (RC), which is currently emerging new brain-inspired computational paradigm. Its structure is quite similar to the classical RNN computing concepts, exhibiting generally three parts: an input layer to inject the information into a nonlinear dynamical system (Write-In), a second layer where the input information is projected in a space of high dimension called dynamical reservoir and an output layer from which the processed information is extracted through a so-called Read-Out function. In RC approach the learning procedure is performed in the output layer only, while the input and reservoir layer are randomly fixed, being the main originality of RC compared to the RNN methods. This feature allows to get more efficiency, rapidity and a learning convergence, as well as to provide an experimental implementation solution. This PhD thesis is dedicated to one of the first photonic RC implementation using telecommunication devices. Our experimental implementation is based on a nonlinear delayed dynamical system, which relies on an electro-optic (EO) oscillator with a differential phase modulation. This EO oscillator was extensively studied in the context of the optical chaos cryptography. Dynamics exhibited by such systems are indeed known to develop complex behaviors in an infinite dimensional phase space, and analogies with space-time dynamics (as neural network ones are a kind of) are also found in the literature. Such peculiarities of delay systems supported the idea of replacing the traditional RNN (usually difficult to design technologically) by a nonlinear EO delay architecture. In order to evaluate the computational power of our RC approach, we implement two spoken digit recognition tests (classification tests) taken from a standard databases in artificial intelligence TI-46 and AURORA-2, obtaining results very close to state-of-the-art performances and establishing state-of-the-art in classification speed. Our photonic RC approach allowed us to process around of 1 million of words per second, improving the information processing speed by a factor ~3.