Les cellules folliculo-stéllaires (FS) de l'hypophyse antérieure possèdent une forme étoilée et étendent de longues projections cytoplasmiques qui forment des pseudo-follicules entourant les cellules endocrines. Les cellules FS sont connectées entre elles par des jonctions lacunaires (des fois aussi connu sous le nom de jonction communicante) formant ainsi un réseau tridimensionnel continu. Un des rôles principaux des cellules FS est le maintien du microenvironnement de l'hypophyse antérieure, une activité qui est en partie réalisée par la sécrétion de divers facteurs de croissance et de cytokines. Ces messagers chimiques, y compris le bFGF, le VEGF, l’IL-6 et l’IL-1 contrôlent de nombreux processus cellulaires tels que l’expression des gènes d’hormones. Notre intérêt est de déterminer si la communication entre les cellules FS contribue à leur activité régulatrice. Dans notre étude, nous avons utilisé la lignée cellulaire TtT/GF qui partage de nombreuses caractéristiques morphologiques, physiologiques et biochimiques avec les cellules FS. Les jonctions lacunaires/communicantes sont formées par l’association de deux connexons de cellules adjacentes qui unissent le cytoplasme des cellules connectées et permet la diffusion de petites molécules. Chaque connexon est formé par l’oligomérisation de six protéines connexine (Cx) de la famille α, β ou γ. Les connexons, intégrés dans la membrane d’une vésicule du cytoplasme, se migrent vers la membrane cellulaire où ils s’incorporent dans la couche bilipidique. L’expression de la Cx43 (α) par les cellules FS est régulée en réponse à des facteurs de croissance et des cytokines. Des changements dans le microenvironnement de l'hypophyse antérieure causés par des molécules de signalisation sont susceptibles de modifier la Cx43, en particulier l’état de phosphorylation de la protéine. Ces modifications de la Cx43 peuvent ensuite déclencher des changements du comportement de jonctions lacunaires/communicantes formées par la Cx43, comme leur perméabilité et le renouvellement de la protéine Cx43. Les tissus expriment généralement plus d’un type de connexine. Jusqu’aujourd’hui, la Cx43 est la seule connexine à avoir été identifiée dans les cellules FS. Le cristallin exprime les connexines α: Cx43, Cx46 et Cx50. Leur expression est modulée par des facteurs de croissance. Notre hypothèse de travail a été de vérifier si la Cx46 et la Cx50 étaient exprimées par les cellules FS et si celles-ci contribuaient au rôle modulateur des cellules FS hypophysaires. Dans cette étude, nous avons identifié et caractérisé la Cx46 et la Cx50 dans la lignée cellulaire TtT/GF. Nous avons identifié les produits de transcription de Cx46 et de Cx50 par la technique d’analyse northern blot (PCR). Par la suite, les protéines Cx46 et Cx50 ont été identifiées en utilisant des anticorps dans des analyses western blot. Par microscopie confocale, nous avons déterminé la co-localisation de la Cx46 avec certaines marqueurs d’organites : réseau trans-Golgien, endosomes précoces et lysosomes. La Cx50 co-localise avec des marqueurs du réticulum endoplasmique, du réseau cis-Golgien et des endosomes précoces. Un protocole d’isolation des membranes résistantes aux détergents non-ionique a révélé que la Cx46 et la Cx50 n’étaient pas associées à des radeaux lipidiques ni aux cavéoles. Cependant, la microscopie confocale a montré une co-localisation cytoplasmique de la Cx50 et de la flotilline-1. Nous avons poursuivi l’étude sur la localisation de la Cx46 dans le noyau en utilisant une technique d’isolation des fractions enrichies en noyau. Nous avons établi que plusieurs isoformes de la Cx46 sont exclusivement associées au noyau. De plus, avec la microscopie confocale nous avons démontrée une co-localisation de la Cx46 avec un marqueur du nucléole/corps de Cajal. Nous avons démontré un effet du bFGF sur l'expression temporelle de la Cx46 et de la Cx50. L’expression de la Cx46 diminue au cours de longues expositions au bFGF tandis que les niveaux de Cx50 augmentent de façon transitoire au cours du traitement. Dans une autre étude nous avons démontré des changements importants dans les niveaux de la Cx46 et de la Cx50 dans l’hypophyse antérieure des visons durant le cycle de reproduction annuel. Notre étude démontre que les cellules FS expriment la Cx46 et la Cx50. Nous avons aussi établi que la Cx46 et la Cx50 sont localisées dans différentes structures sous-cellulaires, ce qui suggère des rôles différents dans les cellules FS pour ces protéines de jonction lacunaire/communicante. Il est possible que la Cx46 et la Cx50 ne jouent pas un rôle majeur dans la communication intercellulaire dans les cellules FS quiescentes. Nos résultats suggèrent que la Cx46 et la Cx50 peuvent avoir d'autres fonctions : des isoformes de la Cx46 peuvent contribuer à la biogenèse des ribosomes tandis que la Cx50 pourrait avoir un rôle dans la communication dans les cellules stimulées au bFGF. Nos études établissent une base pour des recherches futures. / The folliculo-stellate (FS) cells of the anterior pituitary are star-shaped and extend long cytoplasmic processes forming pseudo-follicles encircling hormone-secreting cells. Dispersed throughout the anterior pituitary gland, FS cells are joined to form a continuous three dimensional network through communicating gap junctions. One of the primary roles of FS cells is the maintenance of the anterior pituitary microenvironment, accomplished through the expression and secretion of various growth factors and cytokines. These chemical messengers, including bFGF, VEGF, IL-6 and IL-1 mediate a range of cellular processes such as hormone gene expression. Our aim is to study whether intercellular communication among FS cells contributes to the modulatory activity of the FS cells within the anterior pituitary gland. To pursue this, we use the TtT/GF cell line that shares many morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics with FS cells. Gap junctions are formed by the joining of two connexons/hemichanels from adjacent cells that link their cytoplasms allowing for the passive diffusion of small molecules. Connexons/hemichannels are themselves formed by the oligomerization of six connexin (Cx) proteins from the family α, β or γ, which then migrate into the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. FS cells express Cx43 (α-connexin), which is regulated in response to growth factors and cytokines. Changes in the anterior pituitary microenvironment due to signaling molecules results in modifications to Cx43, particularly in the phosphorylation status of the protein. Such alterations yield alterations in the physiological behaviour of Cx43 gap junctions such as permeability and turnover. Tissues generally express more than one connexin type and to date, Cx43 has been the sole connexin to be identified in FS cells. The ocular lens expresses the α-connexins: Cx43, Cx46 and Cx50, which are modulated by growth factors that are also present in the anterior pituitary. Based on these facts, we hypothesize that Cx46 and Cx50 are also expressed by the FS cells and contribute to the FS modulatory role in the anterior pituitary gland. In the present study, we have identified and characterized Cx46 and Cx50 in the TtT/GF cell line. We identified Cx46 and Cx50 transcripts through northern blots and identified the corresponding protein products using antibodies and western blot analyses. Through confocal microscopy, we determined that Cx46 co-localized with the organelle markers: trans-Golgi, early endosomes and lysosomes. Cx50 co-localized with markers for the ER, cis-Golgi and early endosomes. An isolation procedure using a non-ionic detergent we showed that neither Cx46 nor Cx50 were associated to lipid rafts or caveolae. However, confocal microscopy showed a cytoplasmic co-localization between Cx50 and flotillin-1. We pursued a finding that localized Cx46 to the nucleus and using a nuclear isolation technique, demonstrated that several isoforms of Cx46 are exclusively located in the nuclear compartment. Furthermore, with confocal microscopy we found a co-localization of Cx46 with a nucleolus/coiled body marker. We demonstrated an effect of bFGF on the temporal expression patterns of Cx46 and Cx50 and showed that Cx46 levels decreased over longer exposures to the growth factor while Cx50 levels transiently increased. Lastly, drastic changes were noted in an in situ study of Cx46 and Cx50 in the male and female mink anterior pituitary during the annual reproductive cycle. Our study indicates that addition to Cx43, FS cells also express Cx46 and Cx50. We also demonstrated that Cx46 and Cx50 localize to different sub-cellular structures, suggesting different roles in the FS cells. While they may not play a major role in intercellular communication in quiescent FS cells, our results suggest that Cx46 and Cx50 may serve other functions: Cx46 isoforms may contribute to ribosome biogenesis and Cx50 may have communication-related responsibilities in stimulated cells. Importantly, our identification and characterization studies provide a foundation on which future studies can be built.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to analyze the possibilities of employing visually handicapped people in a library environment in the Czech Republic and to suggest possible library occupations suitable for these people. The thesis is divided into several chapters. After the introduction there follows a general background to this topic which is followed by chapters dealing with vocational training and employment of visually impaired people in libraries. In the following chapter there is presented a questionnaire research which was carried out within selected libraries. The aim of the questionnaire research was to determine the state of employing visually impaired people in libraries in the Czech Republic and to explore future possibilities in this area. In the conclusion of the thesis there are suggested library occupations suitable for visually impaired people.

The American mink is considered to be an invasive, alien species across Europe, North Asia and also in South America and now it is perceived as a permanently growing treat for native biodiversity. Mink is an extremely adaptable predator, which achieves to adapt to almost any conditions and different food niches. The aim of this study was to contribute to cognition of biology of this species in Czechomoravian highlands condition. A telemetry study was run between 2004 and 2012 during which in total six individuals (3 males and 3 females) were being monitored on the Sázava River near Havlíčkův Brod. This study was supplemented by usage of photo traps. A couple of finding can be drawn from this study. Mainly, the records show the significant differences between sexes. Males and females differ in home range size, in day/night activity and in length of day movements. The second part of this study was focused on distinguishing tracks of three different species of mustelids: American mink, European mink and Western polecat. In total, 211 tracks obtained from these three species were measured. Seven points on a track has been identified, and the computer program Measuring tracks automatically created 131 parameters. These parameters were processed with canonical discriminant analysis. The results showed...

Cette thèse traite de l'utilisation de méthodes séquentielles et variationnelles de suivi pour des problèmes de suivi dans des séquences d'images. Ces méthodes cherchent à estimer l'état d'un système à partir d'un modèle d'évolution dynamique et d'un ensemble d'observations bruitées et généralement incomplètes de l'état. Ces techniques sont appliquées à divers problèmes de vision par ordinateur: le suivi de courbe, l'estimation de champs de mouvement fluide et le suivi couplé de courbe et de champs de vecteurs. Nous montrons comment l'assimilation de données permet de gérer des occultations totales pendant le suivi d'objets sur une séquence d'images. Nous nous intéressons enfin à l'estimation de mouvement de couches atmosphériques à partir d'images satellitaires, puis étudions l'estimation de coefficients associés à des systèmes dynamiques réduits associés à la visualisation d'écoulements expérimentaux.

Les robots humanoïdes sont de plus en plus important dans nos vies quotidiennes en raison du fort potentiel qu'ils ont pour aider les personnes. Pour être en mesure d'aider, il est nécessaire que le robot peut communiquer avec les humains, et pour cela, il est l'information importante du monde collectées par les capteurs intégrés au robot. Dans notre cas particulier, le rellevant la plupart sont des cam ́eras et des micros, qui peuvent fournir une description assez complète de l'environnement du robot. Dans cette th'ese, nous avons l'intention d'utiliser les informations fournies par les caméras et les micros de robot humano ̈ıde Nao de d ́evelopper des applications qui permettent une interaction homme-robot. Avec l'information visuelle deux algorithmes diff ́erents st ́er ́eo, qui serviront de base pour concevoir d'autres applications, sont pr ́esent ́es. La premi'ere utilise des in- formations provenant framse temporelle diff ́erente de surmonter certains prob- lmes avec les r ́egions sans texture, tandis que la deuxi'eme chaˆıne hi-fi et le flux optique sont recherch ́ees en mˆeme temps afin d'avoir plus d'informations sur la sc'ene. Dans les vecteurs de b ́eton, de position et de vitesse pour chaque pixel. Est le dernier algorithme que le descripteur est con ̧cu pour la reconnaissance d'actions avec des donn ́ees st ́er ́eo. Le but de cela est de tirer parti de l'information suppl ́ementaire qui peut fournir l'st ́er ́eo comme en face de traditionnels algo- rithmes monoculaires qui existent 'a ce jour. Pour compl ́eter et am ́eliorer le taux de reconnaissance moyen de la reconnaissance d'actions, l'information auditive est ́egalement utilis ́e. Il est bien connu que les donn ́ees provenant visuelle et capteurs auditifs est compl ́ementaire et peut aider dans des situations ou' des objets sont cach ́e ou ne sont tout simplement pas l'a. Enfin, une derni'ere application vers une meilleure interaction entre l'humain et le robot est un d ́etecteur de haut-parleur. en ce cas, les donn ́ees des deux modalit ́es est ́egalement utilis ́e, mais il en diff'ere sur la mani'ere dont les informations sont combin ́ees, ainsi que les informations extraites de capteurs visuels et auditifs. Presque la totalit ́e des applications sont mises en œuvre et ex ́ecuter en robot humano ̈ıde NAO.

Orientador: Aparecido Nilceu Elias / Banca: Agma Juci Machado Traina / Banca: Wilson Massashiro Yonezawa / Resumo: Nos últimos anos tem sido observado um crescimento exponencial na oferta de cursos a distância realizados pela Internet, decorrente de suas vantagens e características (menores custos de distribuição e atualização de conteúdo, gerenciamento de grandes turmas, aprendizado assíncrono e geograficamente independente, etc.), bem como de sua regulamentação e apoio governamental. Entretanto, a falta de mecanismos eficazes para assegurar a autenticação dos alunos neste tipo de ambiente é apontada como uma séria deficiência, tanto no acesso ao sistema quanto durante a participação do usuário nas atividades do curso. Atualmente, a autenticação baseada em senhas continua predominante. Porém, estudos têm sido conduzidos sobre possíveis aplicações da Biometria para autenticação em ambientes Web. Com a popularização e conseqüente barateamento de hardware habilitado para coleta biométrica (como webcams, microfone e leitores de impressão digital embutidos), a Biometria passa a ser considerada uma forma segura e viável de autenticação remota de indivíduos em aplicações Web. Baseado nisso, este trabalho propõe uma arquitetura distribuída para um ambiente de e-Learning, explorando as propriedades de um sistema Web para a autenticação biométrica tanto no acesso ao sistema quanto de forma contínua, durante a realização do curso. Para análise desta arquitetura, é avaliada a performance de técnicas de reconhecimento de faces a partir de vídeo capturadas on-line por uma webcam em um ambiente de Internet, simulando a interação natural de um indivíduo em um sistema de e- Learning. Para este fim, foi criada uma base de dados de vídeos própria, contando com 43 indivíduos navegando e interagindo com páginas Web. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os métodos analisados, consolidados na literatura, podem ser aplicados com sucesso nesse tipo de aplicação... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In the last years it has been observed an exponential growth in the offering of Internet-enabled distance courses, due to its advantages and features (decreased distribution and content updates costs, management of large groups of students, asynchronous and geographically independent learning) as well as its regulation and governmental support. However, the lack of effective mechanisms that assure user authentication in this sort of environment has been pointed out as a serious deficiency, both in the system logon and during user attendance in the course assignments. Currently, password based authentication still prevails. Nevertheless, studies have been carried out about possible biometric applications for Web authentication. With the popularization and resultant decreasing costs of biometric enabled devices, such as webcams, microphones and embedded fingerprint sensors, Biometrics is reconsidered as a secure and viable form of remote authentication of individuals for Web applications. Based on that, this work presents a distributed architecture for an e-Learning environment, by exploring the properties of a Web system for biometric authentication both in the system logon and in continuous monitoring, during the course attendance. For the analysis of this architecture, the performance of techniques for face recognition from video, captured on-line by a webcam in an Internet environment, is evaluated, simulating the natural interaction of an individual in an e-Learning system. For that, a private database was created, with 43 individuals browsing and interacting with Web pages. The results show that the methods analyzed, though consolidated in the literature, can be successfully applied in this kind of application, with recognition rates up to 97% in ideal conditions, with low execution times and with short amount of information transmitted between client and server, with templates sizes of about 30KB. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-07-27Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:59:56Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 penteado_be_me_sjrp.pdf: 1032009 bytes, checksum: 4cf143854132e42249128674b69ba77b (MD5) / Nos últimos anos tem sido observado um crescimento exponencial na oferta de cursos a distância realizados pela Internet, decorrente de suas vantagens e características (menores custos de distribuição e atualização de conteúdo, gerenciamento de grandes turmas, aprendizado assíncrono e geograficamente independente, etc.), bem como de sua regulamentação e apoio governamental. Entretanto, a falta de mecanismos eficazes para assegurar a autenticação dos alunos neste tipo de ambiente é apontada como uma séria deficiência, tanto no acesso ao sistema quanto durante a participação do usuário nas atividades do curso. Atualmente, a autenticação baseada em senhas continua predominante. Porém, estudos têm sido conduzidos sobre possíveis aplicações da Biometria para autenticação em ambientes Web. Com a popularização e conseqüente barateamento de hardware habilitado para coleta biométrica (como webcams, microfone e leitores de impressão digital embutidos), a Biometria passa a ser considerada uma forma segura e viável de autenticação remota de indivíduos em aplicações Web. Baseado nisso, este trabalho propõe uma arquitetura distribuída para um ambiente de e-Learning, explorando as propriedades de um sistema Web para a autenticação biométrica tanto no acesso ao sistema quanto de forma contínua, durante a realização do curso. Para análise desta arquitetura, é avaliada a performance de técnicas de reconhecimento de faces a partir de vídeo capturadas on-line por uma webcam em um ambiente de Internet, simulando a interação natural de um indivíduo em um sistema de e- Learning. Para este fim, foi criada uma base de dados de vídeos própria, contando com 43 indivíduos navegando e interagindo com páginas Web. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os métodos analisados, consolidados na literatura, podem ser aplicados com sucesso nesse tipo de aplicação... / In the last years it has been observed an exponential growth in the offering of Internet-enabled distance courses, due to its advantages and features (decreased distribution and content updates costs, management of large groups of students, asynchronous and geographically independent learning) as well as its regulation and governmental support. However, the lack of effective mechanisms that assure user authentication in this sort of environment has been pointed out as a serious deficiency, both in the system logon and during user attendance in the course assignments. Currently, password based authentication still prevails. Nevertheless, studies have been carried out about possible biometric applications for Web authentication. With the popularization and resultant decreasing costs of biometric enabled devices, such as webcams, microphones and embedded fingerprint sensors, Biometrics is reconsidered as a secure and viable form of remote authentication of individuals for Web applications. Based on that, this work presents a distributed architecture for an e-Learning environment, by exploring the properties of a Web system for biometric authentication both in the system logon and in continuous monitoring, during the course attendance. For the analysis of this architecture, the performance of techniques for face recognition from video, captured on-line by a webcam in an Internet environment, is evaluated, simulating the natural interaction of an individual in an e-Learning system. For that, a private database was created, with 43 individuals browsing and interacting with Web pages. The results show that the methods analyzed, though consolidated in the literature, can be successfully applied in this kind of application, with recognition rates up to 97% in ideal conditions, with low execution times and with short amount of information transmitted between client and server, with templates sizes of about 30KB.

This thesis investigates the problem of detecting and tracking sticky notes on Kanban boards using classical computer vision techniques. Currently, there exists some alternatives for digitizing sticky notes, but none keep track of notes that have already been digitized, allowing for duplicate notes to be created when scanning multiple images of the same Kanban board. Kanban boards are widely used in various industries, and being able to recognize, and possibly in the future even digitize entire Kanban boards could provide users with extended functionality. The implementation presented in this thesis is able to, given two images, detect the Kanban boards in each image and rectify them. The rectified images are then sent to the Google Cloud Vision API for text detection. Then, the rectified images are used to detect all the sticky notes. The positional information of the notes and columns of the Kanban boards are then used to filter the text detection to find the text inside each note as well as the header text for each column. Between the two images, the columns are compared and matched, as well as notes of the same color. If columns or notes in one image do not have a match in the second image, it is concluded that the boards are different, and the user is informed of why. If all columns and notes in one image have matches in the second image but some notes have moved, the user is informed of which notes that have moved, and how they have moved as well. The different experiments conducted in this thesis on the implementation show that it works well, but it is very confined to strict requirements, making it unsuitable for commercial use. The biggest problem to solve is to make the implementation more general, i.e. the Kanban board layout, sticky note shapes and colors as well as their actual content. / Denna avhandling undersöker problemet med att upptäcka och spåra klisterlappar och Kanban-tavlor med hjälp av klassiska datorseendetekniker. För närvarande finns det några alternativ för att digitalisera klisterlappar, men ingen håller reda på anteckningar som redan har digitaliserats, vilket gör att duplicerade anteckningar kan skapas när du skannar flera bilder av samma Kanban-kort. Kanban-kort används flitigt i olika branscher och att kunna känna igen, och eventuellt i framtiden även digitalisera hela Kanban-tavlor, skulle kunna ge användarna utökad funktionalitet. Implementeringen som presenteras i denna avhandling kan, givet två bilder, upptäcka Kanban-brädorna i varje bild och korrigera dem. De korrigerade bilderna skickas sedan till Google Cloud Vision API för textidentifiering. Sedan används de korrigerade bilderna för att upptäcka alla klisterlappar. Positionsinformationen för anteckningarna och kolumnerna på Kanban-tavlan används sedan för att filtrera textdetekteringen för att hitta texten i varje anteckning såväl som rubriktexten för varje kolumn. Mellan de två bilderna jämförs och matchas kolumnerna, samt anteckningar av samma färg. Om kolumner eller anteckningar i en bild inte har en matchning i den andra bilden dras slutsatsen att brädorna är olika och användaren informeras om varför. Om alla kolumner och anteckningar i en bild har matchningar i den andra bilden men några anteckningar har flyttats, informeras användaren om vilka anteckningar som har flyttats och hur de har flyttats. De olika experiment som genomförs i denna avhandling om implementering visar att den fungerar bra, men den är mycket begränsad till strikta krav, vilket gör den olämplig för kommersiellt bruk. Det största problemet att lösa är att göra implementeringen mer generell, d.v.s. Kanban-tavlans layout, klisterlapparnas former och färger samt deras faktiska innehåll.

The thesis deals with colors - their representation in digital devices and how to provide the best color preservation accross different devices. In the first part of the work, the knowledge of colors and human vision is briefly summarized. Then color models and color spaces are elaborated, mainly those device independent. Spectrum of colors viewable or printable on a device - the gamut - is different for every device and there's a need of precise reproduction or record of color. That's why the system of color management is described further and especially the gamut mapping approaches and algorithms are mentioned. In the second part of the work, the implementation of how two algorithms of color gamut mapping (HPMINDE, SCLIP) can be implemented in MATLAB is described. In the third and last part of the work, the results of implemented algorithms are presented and discussed. These results are compared to results of commonly used color gamut mapping technique (Adobe Photoshop).

The Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve is located at the southern tip of South America. This large archipelago is considered one of the last pristine areas left on the world. Despite it being an unpopulated area with most of the native forest cover intact, it has not been exempt from biological invasions, one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss. Three species that naturally interact in their native range in North America – American beavers (Castor canadensis), muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus), and American mink (Neovison vison) – were independently introduced in this remote region. In my dissertation, I investigated (i) the hypothesis of niche expansion in the invasive mink population on Navarino Island towards terrestrial habitats; (ii) potential mink impact on breeding success of forest-bird populations; (iii) habitat selection of small-rodent species and their perception on the mink's novel predation risk; and (iv) the dynamics of multiple-species invasions under the hypothesis of an invasional meltdown. Additionally, I worked within the framework of environmental philosophy. I provide an example of combining ecological and cultural dimensions within the International Long-Term Ecological Research network to disentangle the ethical dilemmas that surround the management of invasive species. I finally proposed a management plan based on the idea of multiple invasive species management, discussing potential solutions to overcome the challenges that the control of invasive species represent and to more effectively protect the biological integrity of the native ecosystems.