La thérapie cellulaire est basée sur l'administration de cellules immunocompétentes dans le but d'induire une réponse thérapeutique. Le transfert de gène est un moyen d'optimiser et de sécuriser la thérapie cellulaire. Récemment, plusieurs essais cliniques d'immunothérapie ont montré l'efficacité de lymphocytes T reprogrammés pour le traitement des cancers. De plus, le transfert de gène « suicide » permet de sécuriser les effecteurs immunitaires utilisés en thérapie cellulaire. Cependant, les capacités des cellules pourraient encore être améliorées par l'expression de cytokines et de récepteurs aux chémiokines. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif de ce projet de thèse était le développement et la caractérisation d'outil innovants de thérapie génique. Ce travail a demandé le développement de vecteurs sécurisés pour 1 reprogrammation des lymphocytes T avec un CAR et leur persistance in vivo. Ces outils pourront par la suite être mis à la disposition de la recherche clinique afin de promouvoir de nouvelles stratégies de thérapi cellulaire anti-tumorale. / Cell therapy is based on administration of immunocompetent cells in order to induce a therapeutic response. Gene transfer can optimize and secure the cell therapy. Recently, several clinical trials of immunotherapy have shown the efficacy of reprogrammed T cells for the treatment of cancers. Moreover, the transfer of suicide gene enables th use of secure immune effectors in cell therapy. However, capacities of cells could be further improved by the expression of cytokines and receptors chemiokines. ln this context, the aim of this thesis project was the development and the characterization of innovative tools for gene therapy. This work required the development of safe retroviral vectors for reprogramming T cells with Chi me rie Antigen Receptor (CAR). These tools will be made available for clinical research in order to promote new anti-tumor cell therapy strategies.

Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM) is a nontraditional machining process used for machining intricate shapes in high strength and temperature resistive (HSTR) materials. WEDM provides high accuracy, repeatability, and a better surface finish; however the tradeoff is a very slow machining rate. Due to the slow machining rate in WEDM, machining tasks take many hours depending on the complexity of the job. Because of this, users of WEDM try to predict machining rate beforehand so that input parameter values can be pre-programmed to achieve automated machining. However, partial success with traditional methodologies such as thermal modeling, artificial neural networks, mathematical, statistical, and empirical models left this problem still open for further research and exploration of alternative methods. Also, earlier efforts in applying the decision tree rule induction algorithms for predicting the machining rate in WEDM had limitations such as use of coarse grained method of discretizing the target and exploration of only C4.5 as the learning algorithm. The goal of this dissertation was to address the limitations reported in literature in using decision tree rule induction algorithms for WEDM. In this study, the three decision tree inductive algorithms C5.0, CART and CHAID have been applied for predicting material removal rate when the target was discretized into varied number of classes (two, three, four, and five classes) by three discretization methods. There were a total of 36 distinct combinations when learning algorithms, discretization methods, and number of classes in the target are combined. All of these 36 models have been developed and evaluated based on the prediction accuracy. From this research, a total of 21 models found to be suitable for WEDM that have prediction accuracy ranging from 71.43% through 100%. The models indentified in the current study not only achieved better prediction accuracy compared to previous studies, but also allows the users to have much better control over WEDM than what was previously possible. Application of inductive learning and development of suitable predictive models for WEDM by incorporating varied number of classes in the target, different learning algorithms, and different discretization methods have been the major contribution of this research.

Goal of this work is to make acquaintance and study meta-learningu methods, program algorithm and compare with other machine learning methods.

Introduction: Virus-specific CD8+ T cells are crucial to suppress the viral replication in HIV infection. Their functional status is important as well. Also, the chronic nonspecific immune activation of T and B lymphocytes plays an important role in the immunopathogenesis of HIV infection. Aim of the study: To analyze the frequency and functional status of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells and the expression of nonspecific activation markers on B and T cells in HIV+ patients and to assess the effect of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) on these parameters. Patients and methods: Our cohort included 80 HIV+ patients: 36 HIV+ patients on cART, 18 patients without therapy, in whom cART was introduced during our study, 9 patients without therapy, 10 patients with primary HIV infection, 3 long-term non-progressors and 4 patients initially on cART, in whom the therapy was discontinued. Control group consisted of 34 HIV- healthy individuals. We examined CD4+ a CD8+ T cell counts, viral load, expression of nonspecific activation markers on T cells and the frequency of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells by ELISpot method and flow cytometry using MHC tetramers and intracellular cytokine detection. Results: No significant differences in HIV-specific CD8+ T cells were found between treated and untreated HIV+ patients. The frequency...

New technologies are constantly introduced in our everyday life. Societies and people have reaped great benefits from integrating information technology into a plethora of societal and commercial functions. However, innovations are not unconditionally accepted by users. Since digital innovations constantly are introduced to aid us, there is an interest in understanding what factors would either influence us or make us prone to adopt new technologies. The main research question is to identify the key influences, both positive and negative, within technology adoption. The scope was limited to Scandinavian supermarkets and the technology of adoption intention was the Smart Cart; a seamless approach to make your shopping experience easier. Through a value-based acceptance model (VAM), a quantitative survey was conducted to explore consumers, attitudes towards Smart Cart through the factors perceived usefulness (PU), perceived enjoyment (PE), perceived privacy risk (PPR) and perceived difficulty to use (PDU), in relation to the perceived value (PV) of the product which can eventually lead to intention to adopt and use(IAU). The findings showed that perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived enjoyment (PE) demonstrated a strong positive correlation to potential users’ perceived value (PV) of Smart Cart while perceived privacy risk (PPR) showed a weak negative and perceived difficulty to use (PDU) showed a medium-strong positive correlation to potential consumers’ perceived value (PV) of the product. Potential consumers’ perception of Smart Cart’s value (PV) showed a strong positive correlation with intention to adopt and use (IAU).

I dagens samhälle blir många saker smartare, främst med hjälp av Internet of Things.En överblick på smart shopping visar att flera alternativa sätt att shoppa på harintroducerats under de senaste åren för att förbättra och effektivisera shopping. Någraav dessa är online-shopping och självtjänster som inkluderar självutcheckningar ochhandhållna skannrar. Detta har varit ett framgångsrikt tillvägagångssätt, vilket kanses av det faktum att en av de största dagligvaruhandelskedjorna i Sverige, ICA, har1,5 miljoner kunder i sitt lojalitetsprogram där cirka 30% av dessa använderhandhållna skannrar. Dessa 30% ger cirka 60% av ICAs totala intäkter i några avderas största butiker. En av de stora utmaningarna med självbetjäning är dock att deär mycket dyrt, då ett system för en genomsnittlig butik i Sverige kan kosta cirka 1,5miljoner SEK. Detta gör det svårt för mindre butiker att erbjuda denna tjänst. Ett sättatt överkomma detta kan vara att skapa en applikation för smartphone-shopping(Smart Cart-app) med en användarcentrerad design, som med största sannolikhetsänker kostnader samt sparar tid. Tidigare forskning har visat försök på liknandeteknologies, men vissa av dessa hade begränsningar i presentationen av sin design ochanvändardata/användarforskning. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka möjlighetenatt utforma en Smart Cart-applikationsprototyp med en användarcentrerad designbaserad på Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) för att utvidga på tidigare förslag.Användardata, som har analyserats för att hitta viktiga punkter och önskemål idesign, har samlats in genom ett frågeformulär med 275 deltagare och intervjuer med3 personer. Denna data har använts tillsammans med information från enlitteraturöversikt för att utforma prototypen för Smart Cart-appen, som är envisualisering av studieresultaten. Prototypen stöds av en analys som visar varför det ärviktigt att involvera användare i designprocessen och vad som bör beaktas när mangör detta. Studien fann också en begäran efter en sådan app, då exempelvis 51,7% avsjälvscannande kunder skulle överväga att använda den. Dessutom stöder resultatenockså det faktum att om användaren accepterar och har en bekantskap med vissafunktioner i applikationen, är de mer benägna till att ta an applikationen. Majoritetenav deltagarna har en positiv inställning till applikationer inom smart shopping och harliknande önskemål om funktioner och utseende.Slutligen behövs framtida forskning om olika aspekter och synpunkter förvidareutveckling av Smart Cart-applikationen och andra liknande applikationer / In today's society, many things are becoming smarter, mostly with the help of theInternet of Things. Taking a look at smart shopping, several optional ways of shoppinghave been introduced in recent years to enhance and streamline shopping. Some ofthese are online shopping and self-services which include self-checkouts and handheldscanners. This has been a successful approach, which can be seen by the fact that oneof the biggest grocery shopping chains in Sweden called ICA has 1.5 million customersin their loyalty program where around 30% of these use handheld scanners. These30% bring about 60% of ICAs total revenue in some of their biggest stores. However,one of the major challenges with self-services is that they are very expensive, as asystem for an average sized store in Sweden can cost around 1.5 million SEK, whichmakes it difficult for smaller stores to offer this service. A way of combating this couldbe to create a smartphone shopping application (Smart Cart app) with a user-centereddesign, which has a strong likelihood to lower the costs as well as save time. Previousresearch has shown attempts of similar technologies, however, some of these hadlimitations in the presentation of their design and user research. This study aims toexplore the possibility of designing a Smart Cart application prototype with auser-centered approach based on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to extend uponprevious proposals.User data, which has been analyzed to find key points in design, has been gathered bya questionnaire with 275 participants and interviews with 3 people. This data has beenused together with information from a literature review in order to design the SmartCart app prototype, which is a visualisation of the study results. The prototype issupported by an analysis which shows why it is important to involve users in thedesign process and what should be considered when doing so. The study also found adesire for such an app as, for instance, 51.7% of self-scanning customers wouldconsider using it. In addition, results also support that when users accept and arefamiliar with certain functionalities in applications, they are more likely to adopt theapplication. The majority of the participants have a positive attitude towardsapplications in smart shopping and have similar desires of functions and appearance.Lastly, future research is needed on different aspects and point of views for furtherdevelopment of the Smart Cart application and other similar applications.

This paper presents a means of modulating timbre in digital sound synthesis using additive processes . A major portion of the paper is a computer program, written in Pl/1, which combines this additive method of timbre modulation with several other sound manipulation ideas to form a compositional program. This program-which is named CART for Computer Aided Rotational Translation-provides input for the Music 360 digital sound synthesis program. The paper contains three major parts: (1) a discussion of the CART program's evolution; (2) a manual describing in detail the use of CART; and (3) two tape compositions realized using the program. An appendix contains the program listing and listing of the input cards that were used to produce the two compositions.

Today an increasing share of shopping is happening online. The purchases are often made on online stores that are in turn often managed by software called shopping cart software. Simultaneously a new shift is underway in the e-commerce market where more and more purchases are made from mobile phones. In order to take advantage of this shift companies are eager to integrate their shopping cart software into mobile applications that take full advantage of the mobile phone’s capabilities and give the mobile shopper a better experience. Depending on the shopping cart software used, the software vendor might not provide any best practices for doing the mobile integration. Without any help from the software vendor, the businesses are facing a difficult problem with many possible integration architectures to choose from. The problem is therefore, that selecting the optimal integration architecture for integrating shopping cart software into a mobile application can be challenging and complex. In this thesis we explore the domain of shopping cart software with the purpose of developing a framework for integrating shopping cart software into a mobile application. We suggest an integration architecture selection framework, which we call A Framework for Integrating Shopping Cart Software in Mobile Applications (FISCiMA). Our goal is twofold: (1) guide entities in choosing an integration architecture for shopping cart software and (2) to provide a basis for further research in the domain of integration architecture selection models. Conducted research is of qualitative type, research method is applied research and research approach is inductive reasoning. We work in five research phases: (1) Literature study, (2) Interview of our client, (3) Design of framework, (4) Evaluation and (5) Fine-tuning. Following these phases, we collect basic knowledge of shopping cart software and their mobile integration from the two first phases to design a framework in the third phase. The designed framework is then evaluated in the fourth phase and finally improved according to the feedback received from the evaluation in the fifth phase. The evaluation of FISCSiMA framework is done using a questionnaire, which is answered to by our involved body. The results of the evaluation suggest that the framework is intuitive, straightforward and flexible and simplifies the integration of shopping cart software into mobile applications. The authors suggest further work should be done to evaluate the merits of the FISCSiMA framework and research if the FISCSiMA framework could be applicable to other types of software. / Idag handlar ett ökande antal konsumenter online. Konsumenter handlar ofta på onlinebutiker som i sin tur hanteras av programvara som kallas kundvagn mjukvara. Samtidigt pågår ett nytt skifte på e-handelsmarknaden där allt fler konsumenter handlar online från sina mobiltelefoner. För att dra nytta av detta skift och ge konsumenter som handlar online via mobilen en bättre upplevelse vill företag integrera sin kundvagns mjukvara in i mobila applikationer som kan bättre utnyttja mobiltelefonens unika förmågor.Beroende på vilken kundvagns mjukvara som används finns det en risk att mjukvaruleverantören inte tillhandahåller metoder för att integrera deras kundvagns mjukvara in i mobila applikationer. Utan någon hjälp från mjukvaruleverantören står företagen inför ett svårt problem med många möjliga integration arkitekturer att välja mellan. Således är problemet att det är utmanande och komplext att välja den optimala integrations arkitekturen för att integrera kundvagns mjukvara in i en mobilapplikation.I denna avhandling utforskar vi domänen för kundvagns mjukvara med syftet att utveckla ett ramverk för att integrera kundvagns mjukvara in i mobila applikationer. Vi föreslår ett integrations arkitektur urval ramverk, som vi kallar A Framework for Integrating Shopping Cart Software in Mobile Applications (FISCiMA). Vårt mål består av två delar: (1) vägleda enheter i att välja integrationsarkitektur för kundvagns mjukvara och (2) att ge en grund för ytterligare forskning inom området integration arkitektur urval modeller.Den genomförda forskningen är av kvalitativ typ, forskningsmetoden är tillämpad forskning och forsknings inriktningen är induktiv resonemang. Vi arbetar i fem forskningsfaser: (1) Litteraturstudie, (2)Intervju av vår klient, (3) Design av ramverk, (4) ärdering och (5) Finjustering. I de första två forsknings faserna samlar vi grundläggande kunskaper om kundvagns mjukvara och deras mobila integration för att sedan designa ett ramverk i den tredje fasen. Det designade ramverket utvärderas sedan i den fjärde fasen och förbättras slutligen enligt återkopplingen från utvärderingen i den femte fasen.Utvärderingen av FISCSiMA ramverket görs med hjälp av ett frågeformulär som besvarats av vår involverade part. Resultat av utvärderingen tyder på att ramverket är intuitivt, enkelt och flexibelt och förenklar integrationen av kundvagns mjukvara in i mobila applikationer. Författarna föreslår att ytterligare arbete görs för att utvärdera meriterna av FISCSiMA ramverket och forskning görs för att se om FISCSiMA ramverket kan appliceras på andra mjukvaru kategorier.

In connection with rising urbanization and more people deciding to live in cities the opportunity to cultivate plants decreases. Indoor gardening still tends to be a popular hobby. Because the flower and plants don’t get natural sunlight and water from rain, maintenance is required. A problem that may arise in the event of a longer absence is to cater for the plants watering needs. The purpose of this project was to create an automatic irrigation system that distribute water to the plants and flowers in order to maintain a predetermined moisture percentage in the soil. This was archived by using moisture sensors. Tests were conducted on the irrigation systems different components and the results shows that a track guided water delivery system is both accurate and durable, however with a lot of moving parts there is an increasing risk of malfunction. / I samband med urbaniseringen där fler människor bestämmer sig för att bo i storstan minskar många gånger möjligheterna till odling av växter. Odling inomhus tenderar ändå att vara en hobby för många. Eftersom blommor och växter inomhus inte får naturligt solljus och vatten från regn krävs det ett visst underhåll från odlaren för deras överlevnad. Svårigheten vid en längre frånvaro är bland annat att tillgodose växternas vattenbehov. Syftet med detta projekt var att skapa ett automatiskt bevattningssystem som distribuerar vatten till växter och blommor med syftet att bibehålla en bestämd fuktighet i jorden. För detta användes fuktsensorer. Tester utfördes på bevattningssystemens olika komponenter och resultatet visar att ett spårstyrt vattentillförselsystem är både tillförlitlig och hållbart, men med många rörliga delar ökar risken för funktionsfel.

Games provide ideal environments for assessingreinforcement learning algorithms because of their simple dynamicsand their inexpensive testing, compared to real-worldenvironments. Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic (A3C), developedby DeepMind, has shown significant improvements inperformance over other state-of-the-art algorithms on Atarigames. Additionally, the algorithm A3C(lambda) which is ageneralization of A3C, has previously been shown to furtherimprove upon A3C in these environments. In this work, weimplement A3C and A3C(lambda) on the environment Cart-Poleand Flappy Bird and evaluate their performance via simulation.The simulations show that A3C effectively masters the Cart-Poleenvironment, as expected. In Flappy Bird sparse rewards arepresent, and the simulations reveal that despite this A3C managesto overcome this challenge the majority of times, achievinga linear increase in learning. Further simulations were madeon Flappy Bird with the inclusion of an entropy term andwith A3C(lambda), which display no signs of improvement inperformance when compared to regular A3C. / Spel utgör ideella miljöer för att bedöma reinforcement learning algoritmer på grund av deras enkla dynamik och billiga testning jämfört med verkliga miljöer. Asynchronous advantage actor-critic (A3C) utvecklad av DeepMind har visat betydande förbättringar på Atari spel jämfört med andra etablerade RL-algoritmer. Vidare har algoritmen A3C(lambda), som är en generalisering av A3C, tidigare visats ge ännu bättre resultat för dessa spel. I denna studie implementerar vi A3C och A3C(lambda) på miljöerna Cart-Pole och Flappy Bird och utvärderar algoritmerna via simulering. Simuleringarna visar att A3C på kort tid bemästrar Cart-Pole, som väntat. I Flappy Bird är användbar information glest fördelad och belöningen har ett lokalt optimum vilket leder till att algoritmen riskerar att fastna. Trots detta visar simuleringarna att A3C lyckas ta sig förbi det lokala optimat majoriteten av försöken och förbättrar sin belöning linjärt därefter. Ytterligare simuleringar gjordes på Flappy Bird genom att inkludera en entropiterm och med A3C(lambda). Metoderna visade någon märkbar förbättring jämfört med vanlig A3C. / Kandidatexjobb i elektroteknik 2021, KTH, Stockholm