Computational tools of use in the objective assessment of image quality for tomography systems were developed for computer processing units (CPU) and graphics processing units (GPU) in the image quality lab at the University of Arizona. Fast analytic x-ray projection code called IQCT was created to compute the mean projection image for cone beam multi-slice helical computed tomography (CT) scanners. IQCT was optimized to take advantage of the massively parallel architecture of GPUs. CPU code for computing single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) projection images was written calling upon previous research in the image quality lab. IQCT and the SPECT modeling code were used to simulate data for multimodality SPECT/CT observer studies. The purpose of these observer studies was to assess the benefit in image quality of using attenuation information from a CT measurement in myocardial SPECT imaging. The observer chosen for these studies was the scanning linear observer. The tasks for the observer were localization of a signal and estimation of the signal radius. For the localization study, area under the localization receiver operating characteristic curve (A(LROC)) was computed as A(LROC)^Meas = 0.89332 ± 0.00474 and A(LROC)^No = 0.89408 ± 0.00475, where "Meas" implies the use of attenuation information from the CT measurement, and "No" indicates the absence of attenuation information. For the estimation study, area under the estimation receiver operating characteristic curve (A(EROC)) was quantified as A(EROC)^Meas = 0.55926 ± 0.00731 and A(EROC)^No = 0.56167 ± 0.00731. Based on these results, it was concluded that the use of CT information did not improve the scanning linear observer's ability to perform the stated myocardial SPECT tasks. The risk to the patient of the CT measurement was quantified in terms of excess effective dose as 2.37 mSv for males and 3.38 mSv for females.Another image quality tool generated within this body of work was a singular value decomposition (SVD) algorithm to reduce the dimension of the eigenvalue problem for tomography systems with rotational symmetry. Agreement in the results of this reduced dimension SVD algorithm and those of a standard SVD algorithm are shown for a toy problem. The use of SVD toward image quality metrics such as the measurement and null space are also presented.

The subject of this thesis is the motion planning algorithm known as the continuation method. To solve motion planning problems, the continuation method proceeds by lifting curves in state space to curves in control space; the lifted curves are the solutions of special initial value problems called path-lifting equations. To validate this procedure, three distinct obstructions must be overcome. The first obstruction is that the endpoint maps of the control system under study must be twice continuously differentiable. By extending a result of A. Margheri, we show that this differentiability property is satisfied by an inclusive class of time-varying fully nonlinear control systems. The second obstruction is the existence of singular controls, which are simply the singular points of a fixed endpoint map. Rather than attempting to completely characterize such controls, we demonstrate how to isolate control systems for which no controls are singular. To this end, we build on the work of S. A. Vakhrameev to obtain a necessary and sufficient condition. In particular, this result accommodates time-varying fully nonlinear control systems. The final obstruction is that the solutions of path-lifting equations may not exist globally. To study this problem, we work under the standing assumption that the control system under study is control-affine. By extending a result of Y. Chitour, we show that the question of global existence can be resolved by examining Lie bracket configurations and momentum functions. Finally, we show that if the control system under study is completely unobstructed with respect to a fixed motion planning problem, then its corresponding endpoint map is a fiber bundle. In this sense, we obtain a necessary condition for unobstructed motion planning by the continuation method. / Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-18 20:53:43.272

Pagrindinis šio darbo tikslas susipažinti su steganografijos mokslu bei statistiniais stegoanalizės metodais, kurių dėka slepiama ir atrandama informacija įvairiuose failuose. Šitame magistro darbe išnagrinėti, aprašyti bei įgyvendinti du steganografijos ir du stegoanalizės metodai. Visi metodai realizuoti JAVA programavimo kalba, daliai matematiniams skaičiavimams atlikti panaudota MAPLE programa. Darbo pabaigoje pateikta metodų analizė. / The main goal of the thesis is to review the methods of steganography and steganalysis and to experiment with them. Steganography helps to embed hidden messages in such way that anyone except the intended recipient is unaware of the existence of the message but with the use of statistical steganalysis methods those hidden messages can be detected. This thesis consists of two steganography (LSB and LSBH) and two steganalysis methods (RS and PoV) description and implementation. All methods were implemented with JAVA code. Thesis is concluded with a comparison of these methods' quality.

In this study two nonlinear analysis methods are proposed for investigation of nonlinear effects of high temperature superconductive(HTSC) thin film planar microwave circuits. The MoM-HB combination method is based on the combination formulation of the moment method(MoM) and the harmonic balance(HB) technique. It consists of linear and nonlinear solvers. The power series method treats the voltages at higher order frequencies as the excitations at the corresponding frequencies, and the higher order current distributions are then obtained by using the moment method again. The power series method is simple and fast for finding the output power at higher order frequencies. The MoM-HB combination method is suitable for strong nonlinearity, and it can be also used to find the fundamental current redistribution, conductor loss, and the scattering parameters variation at the fundamental frequency. These two proposed methods are efficient, accurate, and suitable for distributed-type HTSC nonlinearity. They can be easily incorporated into commercial EM CAD softwares to expand their capabilities. These two nonlinear analysis method are validated by analyzing a HTSC stripline filter and HTSC antenna dipole circuits. HTSC microstrip lines are then investigated for the nonlinear effects of HTSC material on the current density distribution over the cross section and the conductor loss as a function of the applied power. The HTSC microstrip patch filters are then studied to show that the HTSCinterconnecting line could dominate the behaviors of the circuits at high power. The variation of the transmission and reflection coefficients with the applied power and the third output power are calculated. The HTSC microstrip line structure with gilded edges is proposed for improving the power handling capability of HTSC thin film circuit based on a specified limit of harmonic generation and conductor loss. A general analysis approach suitable for any thickness of gilding layer is developed by integrating the multi-port network theory into aforementioned proposed nonlinear analysis methods. The conductor loss and harmonic generation of the gilded HTSC microstrip line are investigated.

Compte tenu de la vulnérabilité de la population rurale de la région sahélienne aux aléas pluviométriques, et devant les ambitions de certains acteurs d’utiliser le levier de l’usage des terres pour contribuer à l’atténuation du changement climatique, il est important de comprendre les facteurs contribuant à la variabilité de la couverture végétale au Sahel.Une synthèse de la littérature expliquant l’évolution récente de la végétation au Sahel est donc d’abord présentée. Les études s’intéressant au paradigme qui souligne l’impact de l’usage des terres sur les précipitations en Afrique de l’Ouest évaluent principalement ces effets par le couplage de modèles dynamiques globaux de végétation – DGVM – avec des modèles de circulation générale. C’est à l’amélioration d’un tel DGVM, ORCHIDEE, développé à l’Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, que le reste du travail cherche à contribuer.Comme d’autres études ont montré qu’il était possible d’utiliser en première approximation les steppes pâturées et les jachères pour décrire le comportement global de la surface sahélienne, les écarts entre modèle et mesures sont caractérisés pour une jachère située à proximité de Wankama (Niger). Plus précisément, les forces et faiblesses de la paramétrisation et de la structure par défaut du modèle sont diagnostiqués, et l’importance de la réduction d’erreur permise par l’optimisation de certains des paramètres est donnée. En particulier, l’emploi d’une résolution aux différences finies de la diffusion de l’eau dans la colonne de sol est évalué, dans la mesure où cela permet de mieux simuler la réponse rapide du flux évaporatoire aux événements pluvieux que le schéma conceptuel utilisé par défaut dans ORCHIDEE.Le réalisme du modèle est également mesuré à l’échelle régionale, par la comparaison d’observations de NDVI GIMMS_3G à la couverture végétale simulée par le modèle en réponse à différents forçages climatiques . Si les modifications introduites au cours du travail ne permettent pas de mieux décrire les tendances de la végétation au cours des dernières décennies, tirer partie des leçons du présent travail pourra se révéler utile. Il en est de même des conclusions de l’étude de la transitivité des biais conditionnels du modèle réalisée avec Tao Wang et présentée en annexe B. / The evolution of the land-surface conditions is often assessed through the use of “dynamic global vegetation models”, as is shown in a review of the current understanding of the factors of variability and of the recent evolution of the vegetation cover in the Sahel. Such models are also coupled to atmospheric general circulation models to evaluate the land feedback on precipitation in monsoonal climates.Thus, the improvement of the skills of such surface models to simulate the radiative and turbulent fluxes between the land of surface and the atmosphere in the Sahel over a range of scales from hourly to multi-annual has a potential to have significant implications. This is especially true considering the vulnerability of the rural population of the region, which largely relies on rainfed agriculture and the interest on the evolution of the carbon stocks of ecosystems in the context of climate change. Such a work on the ORCHIDEE model is presented here. In complement to croplands, rangelands and fallows represent a large share of the sahelian landscapes and have intermediate characteristics between erosion glacis and acacia bushes. As such, their evolution (in terms of albedo, roughness length,…) may be used to study the Sahel ecosystem behaviour as a first approximation. Differences between model outputs and field observations are quantified for a fallow close to Wankama (Niger). More precisely, some of the drawbacks of the standard parametrisation and structure of the model are diagnosed, and the range of reduction of the model-observation mismatch that results from optimizing some of the parameters are given (plant phenology,…). In particular, the use of a finite difference resolution of the soil water diffusion is considered as it enables to better simulate the fast response of evaporative fluxes to rainfall than the conceptual scheme routinely used in ORCHIDEE. The benefits of the use of such a “physical” hydrological scheme on the different outputs of the surface scheme is evaluated.The realism of the model is also measured at the regional scale, through a comparison with GIMMS_3G NDVI time series over West Africa. If the modifications that have been introduced in the model don’t improve its ability to describe the vegetation cover trends over the last decades in the region, several lessons can be kept from the analysis that has been realised, especially from the work on the transitivity of state-dependant model biases that has been conducted with Tao Wang and which is presented in annex B.

Master of Science / Mathematics / Nathan Albin / Pietro Poggi-Corradini / This report explores singular integration, both real and complex, focusing on the the Cauchy type integral, culminating in the proof of generalized Sokhotski-Plemelj formulae and the applications of such to a Riemann-Hilbert problem.

[pt] Este trabalho investiga o impacto da utilização de técnicas para melhorar a qualidade da estimação de canal em sistemas MC CDMA (Multi Carrier Code Division Multiple Access) e MC DS CDMA (Multi Carrier Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access) em canais seletivos em frequência. Dois tipos de intevalos de guarda são considerados: Prefixo Cíclico CP (Cyclical Prefix) e Sufixo de Zeros ZP (Zero Padding) escolhidos por serem os mais populares na literatura. Inicialmente, a estimação de canal é assistida por símbolos piloto e baseada no critério de mínimo erro médio quadrático MMSE (Minimum Mean Square Error). São descritas expressões analíticas para as estimativas convencionais MMSE e para duas técnicas de melhoria das estimativas: aplicando uma matriz de projeção e aplicando uma restrição inicial. Na estimação cega de canal duas técnicas são estudadas para o enlace reverso do sistema MC DS CDMA, incorporando o intervalo de guarda do tipo ZP. A primeira técnica baseia-se na propriedade de ortogonalidade dos subespaços do sinal e do ruído e no método de potências. Na segunda técnica, a estimação de canal é baseada na técnica de casamento de correlação dos dados recebidos e os estimadores são obtidos por minimização de uma função custo. Essa função é definida como o quadrado da norma de Frobenius da matriz de erro resultante da comparação entre a matriz autocorrelação com a sua estimativa obtida por amostragem média. Os resultados simulados demonstraram que os métodos propostos para os algoritmos de estimação assistida e para os algoritmos de estimação cegos apresentam um compromisso desempenho versus complexidade satisfatório, permitem melhorar a qualidade dos respectivos estimadores derivados e revelaram que é possível obter ganho no desempenho de ambos os sistemas. / [en] This work investigates the impact of techniques to improve the channel estimation in Orthogonal Multi Carrier CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) Systems: MC CDMA (Multi Carrier Code Direct Multiple Access) and MC DS CDMA (Multi Carrier Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access) in frequency-selective channels. Two types of guard interval are considered, the zero padded (ZP) and cyclic prefix (CP) the most used in the literature. Initially, the channel estimation is assisted by pilot symbols and based in the minimum mean square error criterium. Analytical expressions for the mean square performance of the conventional estimator and two improved channel estimates: applying a projection matrix and applying a initial restriction are presented. In blind channel estimation two techniques are investigate for ZP MC DS-CDMA systems and alternatives methods are proposed. The first is based in subspace method and power techniques. The second is based in correlation matching and square minimization of the cost function; that is defined by the square Frobenius norm of the error matrix. This error matrix is obtained with matching the correlation matrix against its sample average estimated from the received data. The simulated results revel that the proposed assisted and blind methods achieve good performance with softer computational complexity in both systems.

Neste trabalho, definimos a obstrução local de Euler de um espaço analítico complexo singular (X, \'x IND.0\'), denotada por Eu(X, \'x IND.0\'), e a obstrução local de Euler de uma função holomorfa f definida neste espaço, com uma singularidade isolada em \'x IND. 0\', denotada por \'Eu IND. f\' (X, \'x IND.0\'); e apresentamos duas fórmulas para seus respectivos cálculos. Em seguida, através de uma abordagem geométrica, determinamos as relações entre \'Eu IND. f\' (X,\'x IND.0\') e algumas generalizações do número de Milnor para funções em espaços singulares / In this work we define the local Euler obstruction of a complex analytic singularity (X, \'x IND.0\'), denoted Eu(X, \'x IND.0\'), and the local Euler obstruction of a holomorphic function f defined on this space, with an isolated singularity at \'x IND. 0\', denoted \'Eu IND. f\' (X, \'x IND.0\'); and we present two formulas for their respective calculations. Next, using a geometric approach, we determine the relations between \'Eu IND.f\' (X, \'x IND.0\') and several generalizations of the Milnor number for functions on singular spaces

Esta dissertação apresenta novos resultados para a solução de problemas de implementação computacional na estimativa de sistemas singulares e sistemas Markovianos. São apresentados algoritmos alternativos para problemas de filtragem de maneira a minimizar problemas causados principalmente por erros de arredondamento e mal condicionamento de matrizes. O trabalho envolve basicamente algoritmos array e filtragem de informação para a estimativa de sistemas singulares nominais e robustos. Também é deduzido um algoritmo array para a filtragem de sistemas lineares sujeitos a saltos Markovianos. / This dissertation presents new results to solve computational implementation problems to estimate singular and Markovian systems. Alternative algorithms to handle computational filtering errors due rounding errors and ill-conditioned matrices are developed. This dissertation comprehends basically array algorithms and information filters for the estimate of nominal and robust singular systems. Also, it is developed an array algorithm for Markovian jump linear systems filtering.

Un grand nombre de phénomènes nous entourant peuvent être décrit par des modèles hybrides, c'est-à-dire, mettant en jeu simultanément une dynamique continu et une dynamique discrète. Également, il n'est pas rare que ces dynamiques puissent évoluer dans des échelles de temps différentes. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à l'analyse de stabilité des systèmes à commutations singulièrement perturbés à temps continu. En présence de commutations, l'analyse de stabilité des systèmes singulièrement perturbés dite "classique" (séparation des échelles de temps) n'est plus valable. En nous plaçant en dimension deux et en considérant deux modes, nous donnons une caractérisation complète du comportement asymptotique de tels systèmes lorsque le paramètre de perturbation tend vers zéro. Ensuite, nous étudions la discrétisation des systèmes à commutations singulièrement perturbés, en portant un intérêt particulier aux méthodes de discrétisation permettant de préserver la stabilité et les fonctions de Lyapunov quadratiques communes / Many phenomena we encounter can be described by hybrid models, namely, consisting of one continuous dynamic and one discret dynamic at the same time. Moreover, these dynamics often evolves in different time scales. In this thesis, we deal with the stability analysis of singularly perturbed switched systems in continuous time. When we consider switchings, the "classical" approach (decoupling fast and slow dynamics) allowing to analyse stability of singularly perturbed systems doesn't hold anymore. Considering second order singularly perturbed switched systems woth two modes, we completely characterize de stability behavior of such systems when the perturbation parameter goes to zero. Then, we study the discretization of singularly perturbed switched systems. In particular, we focus on methods allowing to preserve stability and common quadratic Lyapunov functions