Human blood reflects the health of internal organs and tissues, the constituent can be affected on account of abnormal health status. Moreover, the ion concentration of chloride and ammonium in human blood relates to the functionality of our kidney and liver, which is one of the most important health indicators. For real-time monitoring and detecting applications, this study uses micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) surface micromachining process technology to develop an extended-gate field-effect transistors (EGFET), and by combining two different ion-selective membranes (ISM), a disposable silicon-based chloride and ammonium micro ion sensor was fabricated. The main process steps include four photolithography process and two thin film deposition. In order to probe into the influences on modulating three designing parameters: (i) channel width to length ratio; (ii) channel shape; (iii) mixing ratio of the sensing film additives, the size of the sensing area is fixed to 1¡Ñ1 mm2 while the device is fixed to 6 mm3. In this thesis, the optimization of the development chloride and ammonium micro ion sensors, according to the measuring results from the commercial semiconductor analyzer (Agilent B1500A), when measuring range of 10-1~10-5 mol/L, the sensitivity and linearity for the chlorine ion sensor is 47.5 mV/pCl and 99.13%, as for the ammonium ion sensor are 41.2 mV/pNH4 and 99.28%, the interfering ion selectivity coefficients (log KCl,OH, log KNH ,Na) are -4.71 and 0.53 respectively.

As working time increases for most people, dining out and staying up late is inevitable, resulting in bad health conditions. The concentrations of calcium and sodium ion in human blood not only respond directly to health conditions, but can also obtain symptoms of different diseases by observing it. This shows that the concentrations of calcium and sodium ion in human blood are an important index of health. In order to manufacture disposable ion sensor and make it easy to measure, this study uses extended gate field effect transistor (EGFET) with an ion selective membrane(ISM) on top of the gate sensitive layer to replace traditional ion sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET). The ISM adsorbs the appointed ion by means of ion selective medicament which is covered by a macromolecule. The main processing steps of the extended gate field effect transistor developed in this study involve at least four photolithographic and two thin-film deposition processes. The influence of the channel¡¦s width to length ratio, the design of channel, the area of the gate sensitive layer, the energy and dose of ion implantation used for the transistor and ion sensor were investigated. Based on the measurement results of the ion sensor, a sensitivity of 40mV/decade with linearity of 98.589 % is measured for calcium ion concentration in human blood ranging from 5 ¡Ñ 10-3 mol/L to 5 ¡Ñ 10-4 mol/L. On the other hand, a sensitivity of 56 mV/decade with linearity of 98.589 % is measured for sodium ion concentration in human blood ranging from 1 mol/L to 10-1 mol/L.

Income inequality has been on the rise in many industrialised countries since around the 1980’s. In Sweden the increase of income inequality has been particularly large. This in spite of Sweden’s extensive redistribution system and public policy that prioritize equality among its population. This paper investigates a potential factor for the rise in inequality that is yet fairly unexplored, namely immigration. As inequality has increased in Sweden, so has also immigration. Sweden experienced large refugee inflows after the 1970’s, the largest flow consisting of circa 100 000 Yugoslavs during the Bosnian war. This study provides indications on what way immigration shapes the income distribution and lays the ground for prospective studies. Results show that the inflow of new migrants during the early 1990’s in Sweden raises income inequality and it is almost entirely due to increased dispersion in the lower tail of the income distribution.

Bakalauro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjamos Lietuvos namų ūkio nariui tenkančios vidutinės mėnesio disponuojamos pajamos ir numatomos šių pajamų perspektyvos. Teoriniu aspektu analizuojama pajamų sąvoka, jų gavimo šaltiniai ir klasifikacija. Išskiriamos dvi pagrindinės disponuojamų pajamų funkcijos (vartojimas ir taupymas) ir jų pokyčius sąlygojantys veiksniai. Empirinėje darbo dalyje išanalizuota Lietuvos namų ūkio nariui per mėnesį tenkančių disponuojamų pajamų dinamika ir struktūra. Norint nustatyti veiksnius, lėmusius tokias disponuojamų pajamų kitimo tendencijas, atlikta priklausomybės tarp disponuojamų pajamų ir jų pokyčius galėjusių sąlygoti pagrindinių makroekonominių rodiklių analizė. Nustačius veiksnius, lemiančius Lietuvos namų ūkio nario vidutines mėnesio disponuojamas pajamas, ir atsižvelgus į jų pokyčius, atliktas disponuojamų pajamų perspektyvų numatymas kintančioje Lietuvos ekonominėje situacijoje. / In this bachelor‘s paper are analyzed average monthly disposable income per inhabitant of Lithuania‘s households and estimated perspecitives of this income. In the theoretical part of this bachelor‘s paper is analyzed the concept of income, the sources of income and classification. There are also presented two main functions of disposable income (consumption and saving) and factors influencing the changes of disposable income. In the empirical part of this work paper is analyzed dynamics and structure of Lithuania‘s households average monthly disposable income per inhabitant. To determine the factors that led to such disposable income changes, there is conducted the dependence between household disposable income per inhabitant and economic factors such as the gross domestic product per capita, the unemployment rate and average anually infliation rate. There is performed forecasting of the Lithuanian household member‘s average monthly disposable income, after the factors, which led to the disposable income changes, were determined and basing on their changes.

<p><font face="Times-Roman" size="3"><font face="Times-Roman" size="3"><font face="Times-Roman" size="3"><font face="Times-Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">The purpose of this research effort is to contribute to the discussion on consumer indebtedness and poverty, analyse the causes and levels of indebtedness as well as the role played by both the consumer and the credit provider in the growth of consumer indebtedness among the sampled population of the Cape Flats area of West Bank in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The methodology used in this study included both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The research methods comprised of a comprehensive literature study and secondary data analysis, immersion in the case study area in order to observe the consumer credit market dynamics and its trends. In-depth informal and semi-formal interviewing, focus group discussions as well as a questionnaire survey were also used to gather primary data.</p> </font></font></font></font></p>

Disposable technology has gained increasing acceptance in the biopharmaceutical industry over the last decade, and provides many advantages over conventional stainless steel equipment. Disposable rocking bioreactors (RBs) are widely employed for cultivation of recombinant mammalian and insect cell lines, although the perception of inadequate mass transfer has prevented their application to bioprocesses based on microbial platforms. In an effort to thoroughly evaluate the suitability of disposable RBs for cultivation of aerobic microorganisms, a comparative study of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) disposable RBs, and the conventional stirred tank reactor (STR) was performed. The comparison involved: 1) physical characterization of oxygen mass transfer efficiency and mixing intensity, 2) batch cultivation of Escherichia coli BL21 for comparison of growth characteristics, and 3) batch cultivation of recombinant E. coli BL21 expressing a clinical therapeutic, hCD83ext (the extracytoplasmic domain of human CD83). Oxygen mass transfer (evaluated as the mass transfer coefficient, kLa) was comparable between the 1D RB and STR (approximately 150 h-1) at low working volume (WV), declining linearly with increasing WV, while kLa was highest in the 2D RB for all tested WVs, providing the maximum kLa (394 h-1) at 3 L WV. Fast mixing (t95 of 8-20 s) was observed in all three systems for water and aqueous carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) solutions. Batch growth characteristics of E. coli BL21 were similar in each system, although acetate accumulation was significant in the 1D RB. Batch production of GST-hCD83ext (glutathione S-transferase-hCD83ext fusion protein) resulted in similar soluble protein yields and inclusion body formation between bioreactors. Although cell growth and protein expression were comparable between all bioreactors, the 1D RB is not considered a suitable cultivation system for E. coli under experimental conditions given the significant acetate accumulation observed and high supplemental oxygen requirement for low cell density cultures. On the other hand, considering its formidable mass transfer capacity and overall performance in batch cultivations, the CELL-tainer® is an attractive alternative to the STR for cultivation of recombinant E. coli expressing high value therapeutic proteins.

A Quimioterapia antineoplásica (QtA) adjuvante para câncer colorretal (CCR) traz consequências fisiológicas e psicossociais como os eventos adversos (EA) gastrintestinais e dermatológicos, que podem trazer dificuldades na utilização de equipamentos para os pacientes com estomia intestinal. Este estudo teve por objetivos analisar a produção científica nacional e internacional sobre os EA gastrintestinais e dermatológicos para pacientes com CCR em QtA adjuvante; e estabelecer as recomendações em relação à indicação de equipamentos coletores e adjuvantes para os pacientes com estomia intestinal por CCR, assim como para os cuidados com a estomia intestinal e o manejo destes equipamentos durante a QtA, com base nas evidências científicas. Trata-se de uma Revisão Integrativa, fundamentada na Prática Baseada em Evidências, cuja pergunta formulada foi: Quais os EA gastrintestinal e dermatológico decorrentes da quimioterapia adjuvante em pacientes com câncer colorretal? Os descritores utilizados para as buscas foram Neoplasias Colorretais, Quimioterapia, Toxicidade, Efeitos adversos, nas bases de indexação eletrônica PubMed, Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), e Excerpta Médica (EMBASE), mediante os critérios de inclusão: estudos que abordassem a ocorrência e o tratamento de EA gastrintestinais ou dermatológicos em pacientes com CCR em QtA adjuvante; e estudos publicados em inglês, português ou espanhol, sem corte temporal de publicação; obtidos na íntegra via Biblioteca Central do Campus de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo; e os critérios de exclusão que foram estudos em modelo animal e modelo in vitro; estudos sobre metástases associadas ao tumor primário colorretal. Do total de 4.021 artigos científicos, resultantes das buscas, foram selecionados mediante os critérios de inclusão e exclusão, 20 estudos que constituíram a amostra final, sendo que todos foram publicados em inglês, com níveis de evidência pouco fortes em 65% (IV e VI) e cujos aspectos abordados foram categorizados em quatro temáticas: Diarreia e demais EA gastrintestinais; Diarreia e EA Gastrodermatológicos; EA Gastrintestinais; e EA Dermatológicos. No tema Diarreia e demais EA gastrintestinais evidenciou-se diarreia, náusea, perda de apetite e constipação, vinculados à QtA adjuvante com 5-FU, capecitabina e irinotecano. No tema Diarreia e EA Gastrodermatológicos evidenciou-se síndrome palmar-plantar, outras afecções cutâneas (eritema, úlcera, descamação, prurido, eritema, bolha), estomatite, edema das mãos/face/boca, e hipersensibilidade por capecitabina e oxaliplatina. No tema EA Gastrintestinais verificamos que náusea e vômito foram mais frequentes e relacionados à oxaliplatina. No tema EA Dermatológicos, evidenciou-se rash cutâneo, rubor, prurido, reações alérgicas, síndrome palmar-plantar nos esquemas com 5-FU, capecitabina, oxaliplatina e irinotecano. Considerando estas evidências e a necessidade de utilização de equipamentos coletores do paciente com estomia intestinal por CCR em QtA adjuvante, a assistência de enfermagem especializada deve assegurar a demarcação de estoma, ensino do autocuidado sobre EA e seu manejo, indicação e fornecimento de equipamentos coletores e adjuvantes, que atendam as suas necessidades, assim como o desenvolvimento de protocolos para avaliação dos EA gastrintestinais e dermatológicos durante a QtA adjuvante / The antineoplastic chemotherapy for adjuvant colorectal cancer (ACC) brings physiological and psychosocial consequences such as gastrointestinal and dermatologic adverse events (AE), which can cause difficulties in using equipment for patients with ostomy. This study aimed to analyze the national and international scientific literature on the gastrointestinal and dermatological EA for patients with CRC in adjuvant chemotherapy; and establish recommendations regarding the indication of equipment supplies and also aid for patients with ostomy by CRC, as well as for ostomy care and management of this equipment during the chemotherapy, based on scientific evidence. This is an integrative review, based on the evidence-based practice, whose question was: What are the gastrointestinal and dermatological EA resulting from adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer? The descriptors used for the search were Colorectal neoplasms, Drug therapy, Toxicity, and Adverse effects, in electronics PubMed indexing bases, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences (LILACS), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) and Excerpta Medical (EMBASE) by the inclusion criteria: studies that addressed the occurrence and treatment of gastrointestinal or dermatological EA in patients with CRC in adjuvant chemotherapy; and studies published in English, Portuguese or Spanish, without temporal cutting time publication; obtained in entirety at Ribeirão Preto Campus Central Library of the University of São Paulo; and the exclusion criteria were studies in animal models and in vitro model; studies on colorectal metastases associated with primary tumor. Of the total of 4,021 scientific articles resulting from the searches, they were selected by the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 20 studies which formed the final sample, all of which have been published in English, with little strong evidence levels 65% (IV and VI) and whose addressed aspects were categorized into four themes: Diarrhea and other gastrointestinal EA; Diarrhea and gastrointestinal and dermatologic EA; Gastrointestinal EA; Dermatologic EA. In the subject Diarrhea and other gastrointestinal EA became evident diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite and constipation linked with adjuvant 5-FU, capecitabine, and irinotecan. On the topic diarrhea and Gastrointestinal and dermatologic EA showed up hand-foot syndrome, other skin disorders (erythema, ulcers, peeling, itching, erythema, and bubble), and stomatitis, swelling of the hands / face / mouth, and hypersensitivity oxaliplatin and capecitabine. On the topic Gastrointestinal EA were found that nausea and vomiting were more frequent and related to oxaliplatin. On the topic of Dermatological EA, evidence of skin rash, redness, itching, allergic reactions and palmar-plantar syndrome in the schemes with 5-FU, capecitabine, oxaliplatin and irinotecan. Considering this evidence and the need for equipment supplies in patients with ostomy by CRC in chemotherapy, specialized nursing care to ensure the demarcation of stoma, self-care education on EA and its management, display and supply collectors equipment and adjuvants that meet their needs, as well as the development of protocols for evaluation of gastrointestinal and dermatological EA during adjuvant chemotherapy.

Nowadays, there is a tendency to publish data on the Web, due to the benefits it brings to the society and the new legislation that encourage the opening of data. These collections of open data, also known as datasets, are typically published in open data portals by governments and institutions around the world in order to make it open -- available on the Web in a free and reusable manner. The common behaviour tends to be that publishers expose their data as individual tabular datasets. Open data is considered highly valuable because promoting the use of public information produces transparency, innovation and other social, political and economic benefits. Especially, this importance is also considerable in situational scenarios, where a small group of consumers (developers or data scientists) with specific needs require thematic data for a short life cycle. In order that these data consumers easily assess whether the data is adequate for their purpose there are different mechanisms. For example, SPARQL endpoints have become very useful for the consumption of open data, and particularly, Linked Open Data (LOD). Moreover, in order to access open data in a straightforward manner, Web Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are also highly recommended feature of open data portals. However, accessing this open data is a difficult task since current Open Data platforms do not generally provide suitable strategies to access their data. On the one hand, accessing open data through SPARQL endpoints is a difficult task because it requires knowledge in different technologies, which is challenging especially for novice developers. Moreover, LOD is not usually available since most used formats in open data government portals are tabular. On the other hand, although providing Web APIs would facilitate developers to easily access open data for reusing it from open data portals’ catalogs, there is a lack of suitable Web APIs in open data portals. Moreover, in most cases, the currently available APIs only allow to access catalog’s metadata or to download entire data resources (i.e. coarse-grain access to data), hampering the reuse of data. In addition, as the open data is commonly published individually without considering potential relationships with other datasets, reusing several open datasets together is not a trivial task, thus requiring mechanisms that allow data consumers to integrate and access tabular open data published on the Web. Therefore, open data is not being used to its full potential because it is not easily accessible. As the access to open data is thus still limited for end-users, particularly those without programming skills, we propose a model-based approach to automatically generate Web APIs from open data. This APIfication approach takes into account the access to multiple integrated tabular datasets and the consumption of data in situational scenarios. Firstly, we focus on data that can be integrated by means of join and union operations. Then, we coin the term disposable Web APIs as an alternative mechanism for the consumption of open data in situational scenarios. These disposable Web APIs are created on-the-fly to be used temporarily by a user to consume specific open data. Accordingly, the main objective is to provide suitable mechanisms to easily access and reuse open data on the fly and in an integrated manner, solving the problem of difficult access through SPARQL endpoints for most data consumers and the lack of suitable Web APIs with easy access to open data. With this approach, we address both open data publishers and consumers, as long as the publishers will be able to include a Web API within their data, and data consumers or reusers will be benefited in those cases that a Web API pointing to the open data is missing. The results of the experiments conducted led us to conclude that users consider our generated Web APIs as easy to use, providing the desired open data, even though coming from different datasets and especially in situational scenarios. / Esta tesis ha sido financiada por la Universidad de Alicante mediante un contrato destinado a la formación predoctoral, y por la Generalitat Valenciana mediante una subvención para la contratación de personal investigador de carácter predoctoral (ACIF2019).

Background. Between 2012 and 2017 the plastic supply in Sweden increased by almost 400000 metric tons. In 2017, the hospitals in Sweden contributed to 4550 metric tons of plastic waste, disposable gloves counted for 2100 metric tons, which is 358 million disposable gloves. The majority made in other countries than Sweden, which is not only contributing to a considerable waste stream but also vulnerability when the system is dependent on continuous material supplies. Aim and Purpose. The research aim has been to understand the challenges and opportunities of needs relating to plastic waste flows from the health care sector. From the needs, choose an area to develop an innovative solution that changes the current waste flow into value for the health care sector in Sweden. Method. For this thesis, the researcher has used the Design Research Methodology and the MSPI innovation process. Design Research Methodology has been used to find and validate crucial information about the problem, by the usage of literature research and Unstructured interviews within the research area. MSPI was iteratively used with DRM to design the intended support as well as building the actual support. Results. The final prototype proves that circularity for plastic materials in hospitals is reachable. The Needfinding highlights the need for circularity, regarding both an effective use of the material and the health care’s readiness levels where access to Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) is crucial, especially in times of crisis. Conclusions. During the time of crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been clear that changes regarding preparedness and access to PPE needs improvement. Circularity is one way of achieving greater control of the material flow, which affects the hospital's level of independence. The development has proven one way of making the flow of disposable gloves circular by developing an inhouse recycling machine. This thesis work is just one angle of approach towards circularity and more efficient usage of material. To prove the concept in a hospital environment, future development is required. / Bakgrund. Mellan åren 2012 och 2017 har plastförsörjningen i Sverige ökat med nästan 400 000 ton. Under 2017 bidrog sjukhusen i Sverige till 4550 ton plastavfall varav engångshandskar bidrog med 2100 ton, vilket motsvarar 358 miljoner engångshandskar. Majoriteten är tillverkade i andra länder än Sverige, vilket inte bara bidrar till en stor avfallsström, utan också sårbarhet när systemet är beroende av kontinuerlig materialförsörjning. Syfte och Mål. Forskningens syfte har varit att förstå utmaningarna och möjligheterna med plastavfallsflöden från vårdsektorn. Från behoven väljs ett område för att utveckla en innovativ lösning som stöder cirkularitet inom hälso-sjukvården i Sverige. Metod. Denna avhandling har genomförts med hjälp av DRM- och MSPI-innovationsprocess. DRM, Design Research Methodology, har använts för att hitta och validera avgörande information kring problemet och har också gett akademisk trovärdighet. Detta har gjorts med litteraturforskning och ostrukturerade intervjuer inom forskningsområdet. MSPI har använts tillsammans med DRM på iterativt sätt för att utforma det avsedda stödet och bygga det faktiska stödet. Resultat. Projektets prototyp bevisar att cirkularitet för plastmaterial på sjukhus kan nås. Behovsundersökningen visar på behovet av cirkularitet, både när det gäller materiell effektivitet och beredskapsnivåer på sjukhus där tillgången till personlig skyddsutrustning är avgörande. Speciellt i kristider. Slutsatser. Under kristiden, covid-19-pandemin, har det varit tydligt att förändringar avseende beredskap och tillgång till personlig skyddsutrustning måste göras. Cirkularitet är ett sätt att uppnå större kontroll över materialflödet som påverkar sjukhusens självständighetsnivå. Projektet har visat ett sätt att göra flödet av engångshandskar cirkulärt genom att utveckla ett system för remanufacturing. Detta är bara en inställningsvinkel mot cirkularitet och en mer effektiv användning av material. För att bevisa konceptet i en riktig sjukhusmiljö krävs vidareutveckling.

There are many life cycle assessments performed on nappy products in different countries which differ with waste management, distances to producers of nappies and retailers. In this paper, life cycle assessment is performed using Simapro with assumptions on the Swedish customer and the current waste management that exist in Sweden to evaluate the environmental load for disposable and reusable nappies. The aim of this study is to find out which nappy is better from an environmental perspective. According to the results of this study, reusable nappies perform better in most of the chosen categories. Only a few were outperformed by disposable diapers, these include human carcinogenic, land use, water consumption and stratospheric ozone depletion. The highest impact in the life cycle of a reusable nappy was in the manufacturing phase with cotton production related processes and in the use phase, where most of the impact came from the additional electricity use. For the disposable system, a huge amount of 3796 diapers was needed in the production phase for the nappy usage of an average child. The manufacturing affects the environmental impact categories like resource depletion, freshwater and terrestrial ecotoxicity, ozone formation, global warming potential and others. These findings can improve understanding of different environmental loads of the manufacturing processes, use and end phases of the nappy and contribute to sustainable development. / <p>2020-06-05</p>