Analyse d'images Terahertz

Cette thèse à publications présente toutes nos contributions qui se rapportent à la segmentation d’images Térahertz. La thèse comprend quatre chapitres. Les deux premiers chapitres introduisent deux nouvelles approches de segmentation basées sur des techniques d'échantillonnage. Dans la première approche, nous formulons la technique de classification K-means dans le cadre de l'échantillon d'ensembles ordonnés pour surmonter le problème d'initialisation des centres. Le deuxième chapitre aborde la sélection des données à travers la pondération de caractéristiques et l'échantillonnage aléatoire simple pour la classification des pixels en vue d'une segmentation des images Térahertz. Une estimation automatique de la taille de l'échantillon aléatoire et du nombre de caractéristiques sélectionnées sont également proposés. Les deux chapitres suivants introduisent une autre famille de techniques de classification des séries chronologiques basées sur la régression et qui sont adaptées aux séries chronologiques. Nous supposons que les valeurs associées à chaque pixel d'une image Térahertz sont échantillonnées à partir d'un modèle autorégressif. La segmentation de l'image est alors vue comme un problème de classification de séries chronologiques. Ainsi, dans le troisième chapitre, la classification est formulée comme un problème d'optimisation non-linéaire. L'ordre du modèle et le nombre de classes sont estimés en utilisant un critère généralisé d'information. Finalement, le quatrième chapitre est une généralisation des résultats obtenus dans le troisième chapitre. Au lieu de considérer un problème de moindres carrés, nous proposons une approche de classification probabiliste basée sur le mélange de modèles autorégressifs. Les paramètres de l'approche proposée sont automatiquement estimés en utilisant un critère généralisé d'information

A Model for the Development of a Popular Music Listening Curriculum

Secondary schools in Texas typically only offer performance-based ensembles to students as their music options. These classes require public performances, extracurricular time commitments, and financial obligations. Because of these and other issues, many students select non-music classes to fulfill their fine arts graduation requirements. Although it can be passive in nature, listening is how most people interact with music. Unfortunately, listening-based curricula are rarely available to secondary students. Where music appreciation classes are offered, the music studied is often outdated and unfamiliar to students. This qualitative study identified the pedagogical components present in an existing classical music listening curricula. These components were used as a model for the development of a lesson framework, allowing music educators to incorporate popular music into any secondary music class. Secondary music educators were given sample popular music listening lessons based on the framework developed and later interviewed to record their reactions

Prevalence and Clinical Characteristics of Teeth Extracted with a Diagnosis of Cracked Tooth: A Retrospective Study

The body of knowledge that exists regarding cracked teeth is limited. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of cracks among extracted teeth. This retrospective longitudinal cohort study included patients of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry that underwent extraction procedures over a 6 year period. The sample consisted of 20,408 patients and 40,870 teeth. Statistical analysis software was used to identify diagnoses of a crack, fracture, or split tooth prior to extraction of the tooth by analyzing the Electronic Health Record (EHR) (axiUm™, Version 6.03.03.1035, Exan Corporation, Vancouver, BC, Canada). There were 3,228 teeth identified as cracked in the 40,870 extracted teeth—an overall prevalence of 7.90%. The percentage of cracked teeth were compared using a chi-square test of homogeneity. The prevalence of cracked teeth varied according to tooth type (chi-square = 95.5, df = 7, p \u3c .0001). Tukey’s multiple-comparison procedure identified the groups of tooth types with a significantly different cracked prevalence. The mandibular 2nd molar had the highest prevalence (9.72%). Age and gender were also significantly correlated with cracked teeth

Integrating heterogeneous data into electronic medical record analysis

Electronic medical records (EMRs) are the digital equivalent of paper records at a clinician's office. They contain patient information such as treatment and medical history, and have been shown to have a wide variety of benefits. However, EMRs typically contain a multitude of diverse data, including images, doctor notes, medical test results, and genomic data. This heterogeneity generates high dimensionality and data sparsity, which are two of the most prevalent culprits that exacerbate already difficult computational problems. Additionally, domain-specific characteristics, such as the existence of synonyms in the medical vocabulary, introduce ambiguity. This can further reduce the data mining potential of EMRs. This thesis is a systematic study that addresses these issues associated with EMRs. In particular, I utilized heterogeneous data sources that are typically incompatible, and then developed frameworks in which these data sources complement one another. As a result, these methods have the potential for direct clinical translation, paving the way for improving healthcare from a data-driven perspective. To improve a variety of downstream healthcare applications, such as patient subcategorization, survival analysis, and visualization, I used external networks of domain knowledge consisting of drug-symptom relationships, protein-protein interactions, and genetic information to enhance patient records. I found that this enhancement process increased the data mining capabilities as well as the interpretability of the EMRs. To improve EMR retrieval systems, I developed a query expansion method that frames symptoms and treatments as two different languages. I found that a topic modeling method that follows this dual-language framework yielded the highest performance. Lastly, I showed that due to pathological similarities, jointly studying Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease resulted in higher computational power by effectively increasing the size of the training datasets. This allowed for the accurate prediction of the onset of dementia in both diseases. Each of these results can lay the groundwork for applications that have the potential to be implemented directly in clinical practice, improving the safety and quality of patient care

Feeding behaviour and its relationship to weight gain in infancy: behaviour and its relationship to weight gain

This thesis involved a longitudinal study of 30 healthy infants from 6 weeks to 15 months to investigate the relationship between feeding behaviour and weight gain in infancy. Poor infant weight gain is associated with adverse outcomes in childhood (e.g. Skuse, Pickles, Wolke, et al 1994) and adulthood (e.g. Fall, Vijayakumar, Barker, et al 1995). Previous research has investigated the relationship between feeding behaviour and concurrent weight, but with a few exceptions there has been little previous work on the relationship between feeding behaviour and weight gain in infants. Feeding behaviour was measured at four breastfeeds in 32 infants at six weeks and later in 30 of the same infants at 12 months during solids feeding. Birthweight was obtained from parents' child health records and weight was measured at 6 weeks, 3 months and thereafter every 3 months until 15 months. Sucking patterns during milk feeding were found to be independently associated with infant weight gain, but there was no independent association between solids feeding behaviour and weight gain. Other independent predictors of weight gain were; infant sex, milk intake during breastfeeding and age of introduction of solids. An analysis of associations between milk and solids feeding behaviour found some evidence of parallels within infants across the two different types of feeding and the implications of this are discussed. A new method for the analysis of breastfed infants' sucking patterns which resolves the serious problems of the already published methods was developed during die course of the study and an outline of this is provided. Previously unavailable data on (1) the behaviour of one year olds during solids feeding and (2) the components of variation in milk and solids feeding behaviour are discussed

Development of a decision support system for assessment of mobile bridges

The development of a prototype Decision Support System (DSS) for the condition assessment of the Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (AVLB) has been demonstrated in the current work. AVLB is a mobile bridge that has been used by the US Army for tank and assault vehicle crossing. It is employed for spanning short gaps of 50 feet or less in the terrain. The condition assessment of such bridges, to ensure safety of personnel and tank, is of strategic importance. The methodology of the prototype DSS is based on a refined visual inspection procedure and a previously established vibration measurement technique.;Conforming to the design requirements, the DSS has been developed as an Internet based, interactive application, and is integrated with an automated vibration measurement system. The web-based DSS, which incorporates an expert system and a database system, can be run from a web-browser. The development of the system, as described in this thesis, involved: identification of important visual and vibration inspection parameters; development of an expert system for bridge condition assessment, based on these parameters; and design of a database for storing important inspection data and other vital bridge records. The prototype system has been validated through limited test runs. Discussion on further verification and validation issues has also been put forth in this work.;The unique feature of this DSS is its accessibility through the Internet, which is practical considering that the AVLB is deployed worldwide. With a central database, this system provides a useful research tool for further study of the AVLB behavior and damage mechanisms, and can be used to establish failure prediction model and remaining life assessment

A Descriptive study of Naadi Thervu and Its Clinical features based on the text “Sadhaga Naadi”

Naadi diagnosis is the best diagnostic method in siddha system. • Tree Naadi analytical methods, manual Naadi, naadi Thrangini & symptom based Naadi, are used in this descriptive analysis based on Agathiyar vaidhya sadhaga Naadi. • The fundamentals and basic of Naadi and its diagnostic methods are discussed and data collected. • The data analysis and interpretation done by T-Test and one way annova by using SPSS software and the results are discussed. Naadi diagnosis is the best diagnostic method in siddha system. Tree Naadi analytical methods, manual Naadi, naadi Thrangini & symptom based Naadi, are used in this descriptive analysis based on Agathiyar vaidhya sadhaga Naadi. The fundamentals and basic of Naadi and its diagnostic methods are discussed and data collected. The data analysis and interpretation done by T-Test and one way annova by using SPSS software and the results are discussed. The author concluded the descriptive analytical study of Naadi thervu and its clinical features based on “sadhaga naadi” if effective in diagnosis of disease. According to one way ANOVA The symptom based naadi is take as a control test & other two analysis of Naadi patern Manual Naadi & Nadditharangini is compared with one another. There is no significantly difference in between Manual naadi and symptom based naadi. The naadi tharangini and manual naadi is not significantly variable. Pitham only is significantly variable in between symptom based naadi and naadi tharangini. Author conclude that the brief history taking based on sadhaga naadi clinical feature and compare any one of the naadi thervu by manual or electronic based divice and correlative comparison method is effective in naadi based diagnosis. The naadi tharangini is not much more effective in diagnosis compared with the Manual naadi and symptom based naadi