Genom att fusionera (sammanföra) data från olika sensorer kan ett resultat uppnås som ger mer än de enskilda sensorerna var för sig. Här utreds vilka sensorer och sensorfusionsmetoder som kan vara aktuella att använda för Scanias adaptiva farthållare (ACC). Den adaptiva farthållaren anpassar det egna fordonets hastighet inte bara till en förinställd hastighet utan även till framförvarande fordons hastighet. Scanias ACC-system använder idag en radar för måldetektering. Det finns ett antal algoritmer och arkitekturer som passar för sensorfusionssystem beroende på nivån hos sensordatan och användningsområdet. Minstakvadratmetoder kan användas då data ska matchas mot en fysisk modell, ofta med lågnivådata. När tillgänglig data är på den nivån att den används direkt för att fatta beslut kan sannolikhetsmetoder användas. Intelligent fusion består av kognitiva modeller som avser härma den mänskliga beslutsprocessen. Till detta passar data på hög nivå. Två lösningar, för två olika sensoruppsättningar, har tagits fram. Båda lösningarna är uppbyggda av bayesiska nätverk. Det första nätverket fusionerar data från den befintliga radarenheten med data från en kamera som detekterar vägmarkeringar. Resultaten visar att filbyten kan upptäckas tidigare i och med fusionen. Det andra nätverket använder sig av två radarenheter, den ursprungliga samt en likadan enhet till, vilket resulterar i ett bredare synfält. Nätverket avgör vilka mål hos respektive radar som kan anses vara samma matchade mål. Informationen kan användas för att öka redundansen i systemet samt för att upptäcka mål tidigare än förut. / By fusing data from different sensors a result can be achieved that is worth more than the data from each sensor by itself. Which sensors and sensor fusion methods that could be used in Scania's adaptive cruise control system (ACC) is investigated. The ACC system adapts the vehicle's speed not only to a driver decided set speed but also to the speed of preceding vehicles. Scania's ACC system uses a radar for target detection. There exists a number of algorithms and architectures fit for use in sensor fusion systems. Which one to use depends on the level of the data to be fused and on the field of application. Least square methods are used when matching data to a physical model, data to be used is often at a low level. When working with data at decision level, probability methods are favored. Another example is intelligent fusion, cognitive methods intending to mimic the human decision process. Suitable data is data at a high level. Two solutions, for two different sensor sets, are proposed. Both solutions are made out of Bayesian networks. The first one fuses data from the existing radar unit with data from a camera which detects lane markings. The results show that lane changes can be detected earlier thanks to the fusion. The second network uses two radar sensors of the same kind as the first, resulting in a wider field of view. The network decides which ones of each radars targets that are the same matching targets. This information could be used to increase the redundancy of the system and to detect targets earlier.

Bakgrund: Smärta definieras som en subjektiv upplevelse där upplevelsen till viss del formas i hjärnan genom komplexa processer. Långvarig stress har visat sig leda till förändring i smärtkänsligheten vilket kanske förklaras av att akut stress förändrar aktivitet i främre delar av hjärnan. Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) är ett frontalt hjärnområde med en roll i den emotionella upplevelsen av smärta. Det finns indikationer på förändringar i ACC av den hämmande transmittorsubstansen GABA, och den stimulerande transmittorsubstansen glutamat, vid vissa smärttillstånd.  Motiv: I dagsläget saknas kunskap om hur stress påverkar smärtkänslighet samt hur det påverkar grundnivåerna av transmittorsubstanserna GABA och glutamat.  Syfte: Att studera samband mellan skattad stress och skattad smärta, samt studera samband mellan skattad stress, smärta, GABA och glutamat i två ACC regioner.  Metod: En experimentell pilotstudie med kvantitativ design utfördes med 10 friska deltagare. Percieved Stress Questionnaire användes för skattning av stressnivåer före smärtprovokation och Numeric Rating Scale användes för att skatta smärta vid smärtprovokation. GABA- och glutamatnivåer i två ACC regioner mättes med hjälp av Magnetic Resonans Spectroscopi.  Resultat: Spearmans test visade att det fanns ett signifikant positivt samband mellan skattad stress och skattad smärta (r=.86, p=.001). Det fanns även signifikant positivt samband mellan skattad stress och glutamat (r=.778, p=.008), skattad smärta och glutamat (r=.729, p=.017). Samt ett signifikant negativt samband mellan skattad stress och GABA (r= -.687, p=.028), skattad smärta och GABA (r=-.667, p=.035) i två ACC regioner.  Konklusion: Resultatet indikerar att sambandet mellan stress och smärta kan förklaras av förändringar i transmittorsubstansnivåer i två ACC regioner. Denna kunskap kan bidra till ökad förståelse hos vårdpersonalen för individuella skillnader i smärtkänslighet och hur komplex situationen kring patienter med smärta är, vilket motiverar till omvårdnadsåtgärder som minskar stress och smärta. / Background: Pain is defined as a subjective experience that some extent is formed through complex processes in the brain. Prolonged stress can affect pain sensitivity, which may be explained by changes in frontal parts of the brain. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a frontal brain area that plays a role in the emotional experience of pain. In certain pain conditions, there are indications of changes in the neurotransmitter level GABA and glutamate in ACC. Motive: At present, there is a lack of knowledge about how stress affects pain sensitivity and how it affects the basic levels of the neurotransmitter GABA and glutamate in ACC.  Aim: To study the correlation between rated stress and pain, and study the correlation between rated stress, pain, GABA, and glutamate in ACC.  Methods: An experimental pilot study was performed with 10 healthy participants. The Perceived Stress Questionnaire was used to rate stress levels before pain provocation and the Numeric Rating Scale was used to rate pain during pain provocation. GABA and glutamate levels were measured in ACC by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.  Result: Spearman´s test showed a significant positive correlation between rated stress and rated pain (r = .86, p = .001). There was a significant positive relationship between rated stress and glutamate (r = .778, p = .008), rated pain and glutamate (r = .729, p = .017) and a significant negative correlation between rated stress and GABA (r = -.687, p = .028), rated pain and GABA (r = -.667, p = .035) in ACC.  Conclusion: The results indicate that the correlation between stress and pain can be explained by changes in transmitter levels in the ACC region. This knowledge can contribute to increased understanding among healthcare professionals for individual differences in pain sensitivity and the complexity of pain conditions.

Agir de façon optimale dans un environnement incertain nécessite d'évaluer et de comparer les coûts et bénéfices des différentes alternatives. Cela implique aussi de réguler et de contrôler le comportement de façon flexible pour optimiser les périodes de recherche de gains ou de ressources et les périodes d'exploitation des acquis. Une des hypothèses actuelles sur les mécanismes neurobiologiques impliqués, propose que cortex cingulaire antérieur (CCA), associé à l’évaluation de l’action, et cortex préfrontal dorsolatéral (CPFdl), associé au contrôle cognitif, interagiraient pour réguler le comportement. Les travaux réalisés au cours de cette thèse ont permis de préciser le rôle joué par le CCA dans la détection et l’évaluation des performances ainsi que ses interactions avec le CPFdl au sein d'une boucle du contrôle cognitif. Menés grâce à des enregistrements électrophysiologiques chez le singe en comportement, ils apportent des précisions sur la séquence d’activation du CCA et du CPFdl dans la bande de fréquences gamma lors de l'adaptation du comportement. L’étude des potentiels de champs locaux de ces deux régions amènent à poser des hypothèses sur les mécanismes oscillatoires sous-jacents et notamment sur le rôle des communications basses fréquences entre le CCA et le CPFdl et leur implication différentielle entre recherche et exploitation. / Acting optimally in uncertain environments requires evaluating costs and benefits of choosing each alternative. It also requires to flexibly regulate between exploration for and exploitation of resources. One current hypothesis is that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), involved in action valuation, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), involved in cognitive control, interact to elaborate an optimal regulation of behaviour. Studies achieved during this thesis allowed to precise the role of ACC in the detection and valuation of action outcomes as well as to describe the interactions with dlPFC in a cognitive control loop. Thanks to neurophysiological recordings in behaving monkey our work give new clues on the sequential activation of ACC and dlPFC during adaptation. The analyses of local field potentials allowed us to suggest hypotheses on the underlying oscillatory mechanisms, in particular on low frequency communications between ACC and dlPFC, and their modulation during exploration and exploitation.

The aim of this study is to explore if pre-school teachers view ACC as a component of the children’s literacy development. The questions of issue is what assumption the pre-school teachers does about the usage of ACC and how ACC can be used as a aid of communication. To answer my questions of issue I used semistructured interviews as my method, which means I had questions that I prepared in advantage with the chance to follow up on the answers I’d received. The results show that pre-school teachers finds that ACC is a good tool to use in pre- school, especially towards the younger children, the age of 1 to 3. Respondents don’t see or finds few disadvantages with ACC and uses ACC as a amplification to the verbal language. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka om pedagoger ser Tecken som Alternativ och Kompletterande Kommunikation (TAKK) som en del av barns litteracitetsutveckling med frågeställningarna vilket ställningstagande pedagogerna gör kring användningen av TAKK och på vilket sätt TAKK används som kommunikativt hjälpmedel. För att få svar på frågeställningarna använde jag mig av semistrukturerade intervjuer som metod, vilket betyder att jag har utgått från en intervjuguide med chans att ställa följdfrågor till respondenterna. I resultatet framgår att pedagogerna anser att TAKK är ett bra hjälpmedel att använda i förskolan, speciellt mot de yngre barnen, 1–3 år. Respondenterna ser få eller inga nackdelar med TAKK och använder sig av TAKK som en förstärkning till det verbala språket.

The development of Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) produces comfort and safety through the application of several control theories. One of these systems is the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). In this work, a distribution of two control loops of such system is developed for an embedded application to a vehicle. The vehicle model was estimated using the system identification theory. An outer loop control manages the radar data to compute a suitable cruise speed, and an inner loop control aims for the vehicle to reach the cruise speed given a desired performance. For the inner loop, it is used two different approaches of model predictive control: a finite horizon prediction control, known as MPC, and an infinite horizon prediction control, known as IHMPC. Both controllers were embedded in a microcontroller able to communicate directly with the electronic unit of the vehicle. This work validates its controllers using simulations with varying systems and practical experiments with the aid of a dynamometer. Both predictive controllers had a satisfactory performance, providing safety to the passengers. / A inclusão de sistemas avançados para assistência de direção (ADAS) tem beneficiado o conforto e segurança através da aplicação de diversas teorias de controle. Um destes sistemas é o Sistema de Controle de Cruzeiro Adaptativo. Neste trabalho, é usado uma distribuição de duas malhas de controle para uma implementação embarcada em um carro de um Controle de Cruzeiro Adaptativo. O modelo do veículo foi estimado usando a teoria de identificação de sistemas. O controle da malha externa utiliza dados de um radar para calcular uma velocidade de cruzeiro apropriada, enquanto o controle da malha interna busca o acionamento do veículo para atingir a velocidade de cruzeiro com um desempenho desejado. Para a malha interna, é utilizado duas abordagens do controle preditivo baseado em modelo: um controle com horizonte de predição finito, e um controle com horizonte de predição infinito, conhecido como IHMPC. Ambos controladores foram embarcados em um microcontrolador capaz de comunicar diretamente com a unidade eletrônica do veículo. Este trabalho valida estes controladores através de simulações com sistemas variantes e experimentos práticos com o auxílio de um dinamômetro. Ambos controladores preditivos apresentaram desempenho satisfatório, fornecendo segurança para os passageiros.

The development of Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) produces comfort and safety through the application of several control theories. One of these systems is the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). In this work, a distribution of two control loops of such system is developed for an embedded application to a vehicle. The vehicle model was estimated using the system identification theory. An outer loop control manages the radar data to compute a suitable cruise speed, and an inner loop control aims for the vehicle to reach the cruise speed given a desired performance. For the inner loop, it is used two different approaches of model predictive control: a finite horizon prediction control, known as MPC, and an infinite horizon prediction control, known as IHMPC. Both controllers were embedded in a microcontroller able to communicate directly with the electronic unit of the vehicle. This work validates its controllers using simulations with varying systems and practical experiments with the aid of a dynamometer. Both predictive controllers had a satisfactory performance, providing safety to the passengers. / A inclusão de sistemas avançados para assistência de direção (ADAS) tem beneficiado o conforto e segurança através da aplicação de diversas teorias de controle. Um destes sistemas é o Sistema de Controle de Cruzeiro Adaptativo. Neste trabalho, é usado uma distribuição de duas malhas de controle para uma implementação embarcada em um carro de um Controle de Cruzeiro Adaptativo. O modelo do veículo foi estimado usando a teoria de identificação de sistemas. O controle da malha externa utiliza dados de um radar para calcular uma velocidade de cruzeiro apropriada, enquanto o controle da malha interna busca o acionamento do veículo para atingir a velocidade de cruzeiro com um desempenho desejado. Para a malha interna, é utilizado duas abordagens do controle preditivo baseado em modelo: um controle com horizonte de predição finito, e um controle com horizonte de predição infinito, conhecido como IHMPC. Ambos controladores foram embarcados em um microcontrolador capaz de comunicar diretamente com a unidade eletrônica do veículo. Este trabalho valida estes controladores através de simulações com sistemas variantes e experimentos práticos com o auxílio de um dinamômetro. Ambos controladores preditivos apresentaram desempenho satisfatório, fornecendo segurança para os passageiros.

<p>Automotive Radars have introduced various functions on automobiles for driver’s safety and comfort, as part of the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) including Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), collision warning or avoidance, blind spot surveillance and parking assistance. Although such radar systems with 24 GHz carrier frequency are already in use but due to some regulatory issues, recently a permanent band has been allocated at 77-81 GHz, allowing for long-term development of the radar service. In fact, switchover to the new band is mandatory by 2014.</p><p>A frequency multiplier will be one of the key components for such a millimeter wave automotive radar system because there are limitations in direct implementation of low phase noise oscillators at high frequencies. A practical way to build a cost-effective and stable source at higher frequency is to use an active multiplier preceded by a high spectral purity VCO operating at a lower frequency. Recent improvements in the performance of SiGe technology allow the silicon microelectronics to advance into areas previously restricted to compound semiconductor devices and make it a strong competitor for automotive radar applications at 79 GHz.</p><p>This thesis presents the design of active frequency doubler circuits at 20 GHz in a commercially available SiGe BiCMOS technology and at 40GHz in SiGe bipolar technology (Infineon-B7h200 design). Buffer/amplifier circuits are included at output stages to drive 50 Ω load. The frequency doubler at 20 GHz is based on an emitter-coupled pair operating in class-B configuration at 1.8 V supply voltage. Pre-layout simulations show its conversion gain of 10 dB at -5 dBm input, fundamental suppression of 25dB and NF of 12dB. Input and output impedance matching networks are designed to match 50 Ω at both sides.</p><p>The millimeter wave frequency doubler is designed for 5 V supply voltage and has the Gilbert cell-based differential architecture where both RF and LO ports are tied together to act as a frequency doubler. Both pre-layout and post-layout simulation results are presented and compared together. The extracted circuit has a conversion gain of 8 dB at -8 dB input, fundamental suppression of 20 dB, NF of 12 dB and it consumes 42 mA current from supply. The layout occupies an area of 0.12 mm2 without pads and baluns at both input and output ports. The frequency multiplier circuits have been designed using Cadence Design Tool.</p>

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is well known for its multiple bands with large meridional property gradients in the upper waters, each associated with a deep-reaching current core. A revised nineteen-year time series (1992?2011) of altimeter data from the CNES/CLS AVISO is analyzed to identify and trace the spatial distribution of ACC fronts. Specific contours of sea surface height (SSH) are selected within narrow continuous bands of relative maxima SSH slope in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean sector, where they closely follow the distribution of ACC fronts derived from inspection of concurrent high-resolution profile data at hydrographic stations. When applied to the full circumpolar belt, the frontal distribution derived from these new altimeter-based indicators also agrees well with the traces of current jets and in-situ dynamic height fields calculated from concurrent Argo profile data. The temporal variability of ACC fronts is analyzed in relation to dominant modes of atmospheric forcing variability in the Southern Ocean. All three ACC fronts have experienced large seasonal to decadal variability throughout the satellite altimetry era. The general seasonal tendency for each of these jets, with respect to long-term mean positions, is to be located farther to the south during the austral summer and to north in the winter. Circumpolar-mean annual frontal locations show a consistent linear trend of southward migration. However, the estimated decadal variability of the frontal distributions is highly localized, and due to selective response mechanisms to atmospheric variability. A persistent poleward drift of ACC fronts is observed in the Indian sector consistent with increasing sea surface temperature trends. In contrast, a vacillation in the meridional location of ACC fronts is observed in the Pacific sector in association to minor sea surface cooling trends. Therefore, unlike in the Indian sector, the regional Pacific Ocean response is significantly sensitive to dominant atmospheric forcing indices. Mesoscale eddies derived from instabilities at strong current cores are successfully identified with specific SSH gradient criteria. The new estimates of rings population in the Southern Ocean are tightly linked to interannual to decadal atmospheric variability. Increased number of mesoscale eddies correlate with positive SAM forcing about two years earlier, or negative ENSO forcing two to three months earlier. These cross-correlations might explain a prominent peak in rings abundance estimated during 2000 and 2001, and the short-lived maximum that appeared in 2010. There are no persistent trends in the estimated sea surface slope across Drake Passage, and therefore neither in the transport of the ACC. High cross-correlation between the abundance of mesoscale eddies and atmospheric forcing suggests that the overall ACC system is in an eddy-saturated state. However, Drake Passage positive sea level slope anomalies were two-year lagged with negative SAM forcing and with positive ENSO events. These regional responses are characteristic of eastward-propagating signals from a buoyancy-dominated Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean.

Soil salinity is a widespread problem that limits crop yield throughout the world. The accumulation of soluble salts in the soil can inhibit plant growth by increasing the osmotic potential of interstitial water, inducing ion toxicity and nutrient imbalances in plants. Over the last decade, considerable effort has been put into developing economical and effective methods to reclaim these damaged soils. Phytoremediation is a technique that uses plants to extract, contain, immobilize and degrade contaminants in soil. The most common process for salt bioremediation is phytoextraction which uses plants to accumulate salt in the shoots, which is then removed by harvesting the foliage. As developing significant plant biomass in saline soils is an issue, a group of free-living rhizobacteria, called plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), can be applied to plant seeds to aid plant growth by alleviating salt stress. The principle objective of this research was to test the efficacy of PGPR in improving the growth of plants on salt-impacted soils through greenhouse and field studies. In this research, previously isolated PGPR strains of Pseudomonas putida. UW3, Pseudomonas putida UW4, and Pseudomonas corrugata CMH3 were applied to barley (Hordeum valgare C.V. AC ranger), oats (Avena sativa C.V. CDC baler), tall wheatgrass (Agropyron elongatum), and tall fescue (festuca arundinacea C.V. Inferno). PGPR effects on plant growth, membrane stability, and photosynthetic activity under salt stress were examined. Greenhouse studies showed that plants treated with PGPR resulted in an increase in plant biomass by up to 500% in salt-impacted soils. Electrolyte leakage assay showed that plants treated with PGPR resulted in 50% less electrolyte leakage from membranes. Several chlorophyll a fluorescence parameters, Fv/Fm, effective quantum yield, Fs, qP, and qN obtained from pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) fluorometry showed that PGPR-treated plants resulted in improvement in photosynthesis under salt stress. Field studies showed that PGPR promoted shoot dry biomass production by 27% to 230%. The NaCl accumulation in plant shoots increased by 7% to 98% with PGPR treatment. The averaged soil salinity level at the CMS and CMN site decreased by 20% and 60%, respectively, during the 2008 field season. However, there was no evidence of a decrease in soil salinity at the AL site. Based on the improvements of plant biomass production and NaCl uptake by PGPR observed in the 2008 field studies, the phytoremediation efficiency on salt-impacted sites is expected to increase by 30-60% with PGPR treatments. Based on the average data of 2007 and 2008 field season, the time required to remove 25% of NaCl of the top 50 cm soil at the CMS, CMN and AL site is estimated to be six, twelve, and sixteen years, respectively, with PGPR treatments. The remediation efficiency is expected to accelerate during the remediation process as the soil properties and soil salinity levels improve over time.

Quorum sensing (QS) cell-cell communication systems are utilized by bacteria to coordinate their behaviour according to cell density. Several different types of QS signal molecules have been identified, among which acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) produced by Proteobacteria have been studied to the greatest extent. QS has been shown to be involved in many aspects of bacterial life, including virulence, bioluminescence, symbiosis, antibiotic production, swarming and swimming motility, biofilm formation, conjugation and growth inhibition. Although QS has been studied extensively in cultured microorganisms, little is known about the QS systems of uncultured microorganisms and the roles of these systems in microbial communities. To extend our knowledge of QS systems and to better understand the signalling that takes place in the natural environment, in the first part of this thesis, isolation and characterization of new QS systems from metagenomic libraries constructed using DNA from activated sludge and soil were described. Using an Agrobacterium biosensor strain, three cosmids (QS6-1, QS10-1 and QS10-2) that encode the production of QS signals were identified and DNA sequence analysis revealed that all three clones encode a novel luxI family AHL synthase and a luxR family transcriptional regulator. Thin layer chromatography revealed that these LuxI homolog proteins are able to synthesize multiple AHL signals. Tandem mass spectrometry analysis revealed that LuxIQS6-1 directs the synthesis of at least three AHLs, 3-O-C14:1 HSL, 3-O-C16:1 HSL and 3-O-C14 HSL; LuxIQS10-1 directs the synthesis of at least 3-O-C12 HSL and 3-O-C14 HSL; while LuxIQS10-2 directs the synthesis of at least C8 HSL and C10 HSL. Two possible new AHLs, C14:3 HSL and (?)-hydroxymethyl-3-O-C14 HSL, were also found to be synthesized by LuxIQS6-1. Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a plant pathogen that causes crown gall disease. Its ability to transfer and integrate foreign DNA into plant genome also makes it a useful tool for plant genetic engineering. Ethylene, the gaseous plant hormone, has been reported to be important for both crown gall development and A. tumefaciens mediated transformation efficiency to plants. ACC deaminase, an enzyme that can break down ACC, the direct precursor of ethylene biosynthesis in plants, is a mechanism used by some plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) to promote plant growth by reducing stress ethylene levels. In the second part of this thesis, the effect of ACC deaminase on A. tumefaciens induced crown gall development and on A. tumefaciens mediated transformation efficiency was studied. By either introduction of an ACC deaminase encoding gene into the virulent strain A. tumefaciens C58 or co-inoculation of A. tumefaciens C58 with an ACC deaminase containing PGPB P. putida UW4, using different plant systems including tomato plants and castor bean plants, it was found that the presence of an ACC deaminase significantly inhibited crown gall development. It was also found that introduction of an acdS gene into the disarmed A. tumefaciens strain GV3101::pMP90 reduced the ethylene levels evolved by plants during infection and cocultivation process and increased the transformation efficiency of commercialized canola cultivars. The A. tumefaciens D3 strain was reported to contain an ACC deaminase encoding gene (acdS). In this study it was determined that this strain is an avirulent strain and shows plant growth promoting activity. When co-inoculated with A. tumefaciens C58 on castor bean stems, both the wild type and the acdS knockout mutant showed biocontrol activity and were able to significantly inhibit crown gall formation, with the wild type strain showing slightly better tumor inhibition effects. The mutation of acdS and its regulatory gene lrpL in A. tumefaciens D3 was also found to affect QS signal production of this strain, which indicates a cross talk between the two sets of genes.