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På huden lever en sammansättning av olika mikroorganismer såsom bakterier, svampar och virus. Dessa mikroorganismer kallas hudens mikrobiom. Sammansättningen av en individs mikrobiom kan ge mycket information om en individens hälsa. För att undersöka sammansättningen av bakterier på hudytan med exempelvis qPCR, behöver bakterier samlas in och DNA extraheras. Bakteriekoncentrationen på hudens torrare områden som exempelvis armar har normalt en relativt låg bakteriekoncentration vid 102-104 bakterier per cm2. Huden koloniseras till stor del av grampositiva bakterier. Grampositiva bakterier är i regel svårare att lysera än andra bakterier och kräver därför hårdare lysering. En bra extraktionsmetod ska erhålla mycket DNA utan att påverka dess kvalité. I detta arbete utvärderades initialt fem olika extraktionsmetoder på bakteriesuspension med Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), både direkt på bakteriesuspension men också från svabb. Utvärdering gjordes på PureLink Microbiome DNA Purification Kit, QlAamp PowerFecal Pro, QlAamp DNA Mini Kit och KOH-EDTA. Metoden med QlAamp DNA Mini Kit testades med två olika protokoll och räknades som två separata metoder. Metoderna som gav bäst resultat vid initial utvärdering var PureLink Microbiome och KOH-EDTA. Därefter utvärderades dessa två metoderna på prov insamlat med svabb från huden på 10 frivilliga deltagare.

I världens omvandling mot en bioekonomi kommer lignocellulosa material spela en stor roll i ersättningen av fossila resurser. Lignin är den mest tillgängliga källan av förnybara och naturligt förekommande aromatiska ämne och den utgör 15–30% av ved. Det lignin som är för nuvarande tillgängligt i marknaden är begränsat i sina appliceringar på grund av ämnets komplexa och outforskade kemisk struktur. I ett försök att bidra till ’lignin-först’ bioraffinaderi konceptet, undersöker detta arbete effekten av urea och karboxymetylering som förbehandlingsmetoder på utbyte av lignin såväl som de kemiska och fysiska egenskaperna av lignin. Karaktäriseringstekniker som Fourier-transform infra-red och nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy används för att analysera den kemiska strukturen av ligninet efter extraktion. Det resulterade i att båda förbehandlingsmetoder ökade utbytet av lignin med mellan 1% och 16%. Urea förbehandlingen hade ingen effekt på den kemiska strukturen av varken fibrer eller lignin. Men, karboxymetylering förbehandlingen ändrade i kemiska strukturen av lignin genom att lägga till karboxymetyl-grupper i både den alifatiska och den fenoliska regionen. Medans att öka förbehandlingstiden ökade utbyte i båda förbehandlingsmetoder, hade detta effekten att minska mängden kvantifierbara bindningar mellan enheterna för karboxymetylering förbehandlingen. Dessa diskuterade metoder har potential att användas i valorisering av lignin. / In the world’s transformation towards a bioeconomy, lignocellulosic biomass plays a key role as a substitute for fossil-based resources. Lignin is the most abundant source of renewable and naturally occurring aromatics and it constitutes 15-30% of lignocellulosic biomass. The technical lignin currently available on the market is limited in its applications because of its complex and poorly understood chemical structure. To contribute to the lignin-first biorefinery concept, this work investigates the effect of urea and carboxymethylation pretreatments on the yield as well as the chemical and physical properties of lignin. Characterization techniques such as Fourier-transform infra-red and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were utilized to analyze the molecular structure of the lignin product after extraction. It was shown that both pretreatment methods resulted in higher yields between 1% and 16%. The urea pretreatment had no effect on the chemical structure of the fibers nor the lignin. However, carboxymethylation altered the chemical structure of the lignin by adding carboxymethyl groups in both the aliphatic and phenolic regions. While increasing the pretreatment time increased the yield for both pretreatment methods, in the case of carboxymethylation it reduced the amount of quantifiable inter-unit linkages. Overall, the pretreatment methods discussed have potential use for lignin valorization.

Polysaccharide has attracted great attentions for its benefits to human health. Polysaccharide from natural sources have diverse anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant and wound healing activities. Polysaccharide is not only valuable in medicine, also widely used in foodstuffs such as gel thickening or emulsifying agents, emulsifiers, fillers. Recently there has been an increase in the demand for polysaccharides, so research into new sources of polysaccharide with plant-based bio-activity is essential. Pseuderanthemum crenulatum (Wall. ex Lindl.) Radlk belong to genus of Pseuderanthemum. Common names (Vietnamese): Xuân hoa răng. This species is native in the forests of Vietnam. The polysaccharide content in P. crenulatum leaves was (7.47 ± 0.6) % in dry weight. The appropriate polysaccharide extraction conditions were determined: material/ water ratio (1g/25ml), extracted temperature of 60°C, extraction time 12 hours. The polysaccharide composition was purified by TCA 10%, with a purity of (55.6 ± 1.19) %. / Trong những năm gần đây, polysaccharide là nhóm hợp chất rất được các nhà khoa học trên thế giới quan tâm do các tác dụng quan trọng của chúng về tăng cường miễn dịch, kháng viêm, làm lành vết thương, chống ung thư… Polysaccharide không những có giá trị trong Y học mà còn được sử dụng rộng rãi trong thực phẩm như các chất tạo độ đặc hay tạo gel, chất làm bền nhũ tương, chất độn… Hiện nay, nhu cầu sử dụng polysaccharide từ thực vật ngày càng gia tăng nên việc điều tra, khai thác nguồn polysaccharide mới có hoạt tính sinh học là rất cần thiết. Pseuderanthemum crenulatum (Wall. ex Lindl.) Radlk thuộc chi Pseuderanthemum sp, tên thông thường là cây Xuân hoa răng, là cây mọc tự nhiên trong rừng Việt nam. Trong nghiên cứu này, chúng tôi đã tách chiết, xác định hàm lượng và tinh sạch sơ bộ polysaccharide từ lá cây Pseuderanthemum crenulatum. Hàm lượng polysaccharide trong lá cây Xuân hoa răng đạt (7.47 ± 0.6) % trọng lượng khô. Các điều kiện chiết rút polysaccharide thích hợp đã được xác định: nhiệt độ chiết rút 60°C, tỷ lệ nguyên liệu/nước (1g mẫu khô/25ml nước), thời gian chiết rút 12 giờ. Chế phẩm polysaccharide đã được tinh sạch bằng TCA 10%, có độ sạch đạt (55.6 ± 1.19)%.

Intresset för användningen av material från förnybara råvaror ökar. Produktionen av vedmassa och material i skogsindustrin genererar dagligen stora mängder biprodukter, särskilt bark. Barken innehåller många värdefulla komponenter som kan förädlas och öka värdet för barken, men först måste de separeras. Målet med denna undersökning var att separera dessa genom att jämföra två olika typer av extraktionsmetoder. Den första metoden använde programmerbar utrustning som namnges accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) och den andra använde manuell teknik som namnges Soxhlet extraktion. Syftet med undersökningen var att avgöra vilken extraktionsmetod som kan användas till att utvinna bark komponenter mest effektivt. Metoden ASE omfattar acetonextraktion och varmvattenextraktion där trycket var 100 bar, temperaturen 100oC och tiden drygt en timme. Soxhletextraktion omfattade enbart acetonextraktion under atmosfäriskt tryck, kontinuerlig värme och tiden 90 minuter. ASE-metoden gav fyra extrakt; acetonextrakt vid 100oC samt varmvattenextrakt vid 100oC, 140oC och 160oC.  Barken som studerades var uppdelad i två fraktioner, fuktig bark och torr bark. En beräkning av utbyte % utfördes efter varje extraktion. Extrakten från fuktig bark hade mörkare färg än extrakten från torr bark. Det uppmätes pH-värden för alla vattenextrakt och den som gav lägst pH var vattenextrakt som erhölls vid 160oC. Slutligen visade utbyteresultaten inga stora skillnader mellan de utförda ASE vattenextraktionerna exklusive extraktfärgen som kan vara en indikation till skillnad i extraherade molekyler. Användningen av sand under varmvattenextraktionerna gav inga förbättringar i extraktionsmetoden. / Interest in the use of materials from renewable sources is increasing. The production of wood pulp and materials in the forest industry generates large amounts of by- products daily, especially tree bark. Bark contains many valuable components which if separated can be used in various types of applications. The aim of this study was to compare two extraction methods. The first method used programmable equipment and is named accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and the second used manual technology and is named Soxhlet extraction.  The purpose of the study was to determine which extraction method can be used to extract bark components more efficiently. The ASE method included acetone extraction and hot water extraction where the pressure was 100 bar, the temperature 100oC and the time just over an hour. Soxhlet extraction involved only acetone extraction under atmospheric pressure, continuous heating, and a time of 90 minutes. The ASE method yielded four extracts: acetone extract at 100oC and hot water extract at 100oC, 140oC and 160oC.  The bark studied was divided into two parts, undried bark and dry bark. Total calculation of yield% was performed after each extraction. The extracts from undried bark had a darker color than the extracts from dry bark. The pH values were measured for all water extracts and the one that gave the lowest pH was obtained at 160oC. Finally, the extraction results did not show any major differences between the ASE water extractions performed excluding the extract color which may be an indication of difference in extracted molecules. The use of sand during the hot water extractions did not improve the extraction method.

Lignin är, med undantag för cellulosa, den av de naturliga polymererna det finns mest av på jorden och den ledande källan till fenolföreningar. De träväxterna som existerar idag, innehåller ca 30 % av just denna biopolymer. Lignin har länge ansetts vara svår att utnyttja i materialapplikationer, i jämförelse med de polymererna som existerar i lignocellulosa biomassa, nämligen cellulosa och hemicellulosa. Konventionella metoder som innefattar lignin-extraktion leder ofta till strukturell skada på polymeren, men också, blir ofta resultatet en försämrad, modifierad produkt med få användningsområden. Mikrovågsextraktion är en nyare process som är både effektiv och selektiv. I denna rapport har tre typer av lignin-innehållande växter använts som biomass-råvara, nämligen barrträ, lövträ och halm för att utforska möjligheterna att isolera lignin med mikrovågs-assisterad extraktion. Utspädd svavelsyra har använts som lösningsmedel i denna extraktion. Olika kombinationer av parametrar har använts med avseende på temperatur (180-200 °C), processtid (5-20 minuter) samt koncentration av svavelsyra (0.2 M och 1 M). Syftet med extraktionen var att avlägsna cellulosa samt hemicellulosa. Även förbehandling av biomassan har undersökts med fokus på malningsprocessen och torkningsförhållandena. Den kvarvarande fasta fasen, förhoppningsvis syra-olösligt lignin, har analyserats med FTIR, TGA, HSQC-, 31P- samt 1H-NMR. Den lösliga fasen (potentiellt syra-lösligt lignin samt polysackarider) har analyserats med hjälp av 13C-NMR. Lignin, utvunnet från tall (mjukträ) vid 190 °C, 0.2 M svavelsyra under 15 respektive 20 minuter visade sig ha de mest önskvärda egenskaperna (högre lignin-innehåll). För provet med den lägre processtiden användes olika tillvägagångssätt för att utvinna mer produkt per mikrovågsextraktion vilket ledde till sämre resultat. På grund av tidsbegränsningen av arbetet, blandades de nya proven för att uppnå en lämplig mängd lignin för att fortsätta utvärdera de möjliga material-applikationerna. Det utvunna ligninet acetylerades för att förhoppningsvis förbättra kompatibilitet med den mer hydrofoba polymeren polylaktid (PLA). Därefter, blandades lignintyperna med PLA var för sig till 10 vikt% vardera. Nästa steg involverade filament-extrudering för att förbereda materialen för 3D-printing. Dessvärre, lyckades endast ett prov med en enhetlig extrudering, nämligen ligninet från den kortare mikrovågsprocessen, PLA/Lignin15. PLA extruderades för att kunna jämföra egenskaperna med lignin/PLA blandningen. Båda materialen 3D printades till en hundbenssliknande form och undersöktes med dragprovning. Resultatet var ett material med 10 vikt% lignin blandat med PLA med en lägre töjning vid brott (%) och med liknande maximal dragspänning (MPa) än PLA. / Lignin is, second after cellulose, the most abundant natural polymer on earth and the leading natural source of phenolic compounds. Woody plants that exist today consist of ∼30 % of this biopolymer. Lignin has long been seen as a difficult material to utilize in material applications in comparison to the other two main polymers existing in woody biomass- cellulose and hemicellulose. Conventional methods of extraction of lignin often result in a structurally damaged polymer, often highly degraded, modified or condensed lignin with finite usages. Microwave extraction is a more novel process contributing to efficient and selective processing. Softwood, hardwood and straw have been utilized as biomass sources in this study to evaluate the possibility of isolating lignin by microwave-assisted extraction. Diluted sulphuric acid was used as solvent in this extraction. Different parameters have been investigated- a temperature range of 180 °C-200 °C, a reaction duration varying from 5-20 minutes and a concentration of sulphuric acid of 0.2 M or 1 M. The aim of the extraction was to remove cellulose and hemicellulose. The remaining solid phase, expectantly lignin, was  analyzed by FTIR, TGA, HSQC-, 31P-, and 1H-NMR. The liquid phase after extraction was analyzed by 13C-NMR. The samples with the more favorable properties (higher lignin content) appeared to be lignin extracted from Pine (Softwood) with the processing temperature of 190 °C with 0.2 M sulphuric acid with a time of 15 and 20 minutes. For the sample with the lower processing time different approaches were used to achieve more product per microwave extraction but this led to inferior results. Due to the limit of time, the new samples were blended to achieve an appropriate amount of lignin for further evaluation in material applications. More product from the lignin with the longer extraction time was also needed and resulted in more similar lignin properties. The goal was to blend the most suitable lignin (the sample with the more distinct lignin structure /highest lignin content based on the analysis) with PLA. The extracted lignin was acetylated to hopefully achieve better compatibility with the more hydrophobic PLA. Thereafter, filament extrusion took place prior to 3D printing. Extrusion of PLA with the modified lignin sample with a processing time of 20 minutes failed (PLA/Lignin19). The other blend on the other hand, PLA/Lignin15, was more successful leading to successful filament extrusion and 3D printing being performed. Also, neat PLA was extruded successfully and 3D printed for comparison in tensile testing. The result was a material with 10 wt. % of lignin incorporated in PLA. The material had a decrease in elongation at break (%) but similar tensile strength (MPa) compared to PLA.

The non-invasive fetal ECG (NIFECG), derived from abdominal surface electrodes, offers novel diagnostic possibilities for prenatal medicine. Despite its straightforward applicability, NIFECG signals are usually corrupted by many interfering sources. Most significantly, by the maternal ECG (MECG), whose amplitude usually exceeds that of the fetal ECG (FECG) by multiple times. The presence of additional noise sources (e.g. muscular/uterine noise, electrode motion, etc.) further affects the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the FECG. These interfering sources, which typically show a strong non-stationary behavior, render the FECG extraction and fetal QRS (FQRS) detection demanding signal processing tasks. In this thesis, several of the challenges regarding NIFECG signal analysis were addressed. In order to improve NIFECG extraction, the dynamic model of a Kalman filter approach was extended, thus, providing a more adequate representation of the mixture of FECG, MECG, and noise. In addition, aiming at the FECG signal quality assessment, novel metrics were proposed and evaluated. Further, these quality metrics were applied in improving FQRS detection and fetal heart rate estimation based on an innovative evolutionary algorithm and Kalman filtering signal fusion, respectively. The elaborated methods were characterized in depth using both simulated and clinical data, produced throughout this thesis. To stress-test extraction algorithms under ideal circumstances, a comprehensive benchmark protocol was created and contributed to an extensively improved NIFECG simulation toolbox. The developed toolbox and a large simulated dataset were released under an open-source license, allowing researchers to compare results in a reproducible manner. Furthermore, to validate the developed approaches under more realistic and challenging situations, a clinical trial was performed in collaboration with the University Hospital of Leipzig. Aside from serving as a test set for the developed algorithms, the clinical trial enabled an exploratory research. This enables a better understanding about the pathophysiological variables and measurement setup configurations that lead to changes in the abdominal signal's SNR. With such broad scope, this dissertation addresses many of the current aspects of NIFECG analysis and provides future suggestions to establish NIFECG in clinical settings.:Abstract Acknowledgment Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations List of Symbols (1)Introduction 1.1)Background and Motivation 1.2)Aim of this Work 1.3)Dissertation Outline 1.4)Collaborators and Conflicts of Interest (2)Clinical Background 2.1)Physiology 2.1.1)Changes in the maternal circulatory system 2.1.2)Intrauterine structures and feto-maternal connection 2.1.3)Fetal growth and presentation 2.1.4)Fetal circulatory system 2.1.5)Fetal autonomic nervous system 2.1.6)Fetal heart activity and underlying factors 2.2)Pathology 2.2.1)Premature rupture of membrane 2.2.2)Intrauterine growth restriction 2.2.3)Fetal anemia 2.3)Interpretation of Fetal Heart Activity 2.3.1)Summary of clinical studies on FHR/FHRV 2.3.2)Summary of studies on heart conduction 2.4)Chapter Summary (3)Technical State of the Art 3.1)Prenatal Diagnostic and Measuring Technique 3.1.1)Fetal heart monitoring 3.1.2)Related metrics 3.2)Non-Invasive Fetal ECG Acquisition 3.2.1)Overview 3.2.2)Commercial equipment 3.2.3)Electrode configurations 3.2.4)Available NIFECG databases 3.2.5)Validity and usability of the non-invasive fetal ECG 3.3)Non-Invasive Fetal ECG Extraction Methods 3.3.1)Overview on the non-invasive fetal ECG extraction methods 3.3.2)Kalman filtering basics 3.3.3)Nonlinear Kalman filtering 3.3.4)Extended Kalman filter for FECG estimation 3.4)Fetal QRS Detection 3.4.1)Merging multichannel fetal QRS detections 3.4.2)Detection performance 3.5)Fetal Heart Rate Estimation 3.5.1)Preprocessing the fetal heart rate 3.5.2)Fetal heart rate statistics 3.6)Fetal ECG Morphological Analysis 3.7)Problem Description 3.8)Chapter Summary (4)Novel Approaches for Fetal ECG Analysis 4.1)Preliminary Considerations 4.2)Fetal ECG Extraction by means of Kalman Filtering 4.2.1)Optimized Gaussian approximation 4.2.2)Time-varying covariance matrices 4.2.3)Extended Kalman filter with unknown inputs 4.2.4)Filter calibration 4.3)Accurate Fetal QRS and Heart Rate Detection 4.3.1)Multichannel evolutionary QRS correction 4.3.2)Multichannel fetal heart rate estimation using Kalman filters 4.4)Chapter Summary (5)Data Material 5.1)Simulated Data 5.1.1)The FECG Synthetic Generator (FECGSYN) 5.1.2)The FECG Synthetic Database (FECGSYNDB) 5.2)Clinical Data 5.2.1)Clinical NIFECG recording 5.2.2)Scope and limitations of this study 5.2.3)Data annotation: signal quality and fetal amplitude 5.2.4)Data annotation: fetal QRS annotation 5.3)Chapter Summary (6)Results for Data Analysis 6.1)Simulated Data 6.1.1)Fetal QRS detection 6.1.2)Morphological analysis 6.2)Own Clinical Data 6.2.1)FQRS correction using the evolutionary algorithm 6.2.2)FHR correction by means of Kalman filtering (7)Discussion and Prospective 7.1)Data Availability 7.1.1)New measurement protocol 7.2)Signal Quality 7.3)Extraction Methods 7.4)FQRS and FHR Correction Algorithms (8)Conclusion References (A)Appendix A - Signal Quality Annotation (B)Appendix B - Fetal QRS Annotation (C)Appendix C - Data Recording GUI

Spruce Bark contains several fundamental main substances; lignin, non-cellulose polysaccharides, cellulose and extractives. This undergraduate study focuses on developing a process to extract each of these components from spruce bark using a biorefinery concept, with a main focus on extracting lignin without degradation. The purpose of the Bark biorefinery concept is to contribute to a circular bioeconomy, by making use of natural resources. With extended research on the area, it will be possible to produce polymers, green chemicals and biofuel from the components in bark.  This report covers the extraction of the bark components with soxhlet extraction, Hot-water extraction, organosolv extraction and peracetic acid delignification. The extraction was made on two samples, matchstick-sized bark (MS) and 20 mesh-sized bark with a diameter of 0.8 mm (20M). The purpose was to be able to compare the efficiency of the extraction between the two samples. Afterwards, the characterisation of extracts and residue was executed with carbohydrate analysis, 2D HSQC-NMR and FTIR-analysis.  The results showed that a smaller particle size led to more efficient extractions of all components as well as more pure extract solutions. Lignin concentration determinations of samples at each step showed that a significant amount of lignin was lost prior to the organosolv extraction. Future research should look into ways to reduce this loss in order to increase the lignin yield. The findings in the FTIR and NMR analyses correlates with what could be seen in other reports, discussing similar subjects. For upscaling of this process, future research should go toward optimization of all extraction methods in order to make an upscaling of the process economically viable.

Die Effektivität der Reaktivextraktion als Verfahren zur Stoffabtrennung aus wässrigen Lösungen mit organischen Lösungsmitteln lässt sich durch den Zusatz weiterer Stoffe deutlich steigern. Das können Co-Ionen, Lösungsvermittler und Stoffe sein, die die Phasengrenzfläche beeinflussen. Wichtigste Vertreter der letzteren Gruppe sind Tenside, die die Grenzflächenspannung zwischen den Phasen verringern. Sie werden in der industriellen Technik bereits seit Jahrzehnten mit gleich bleibendem Erfolg angewandt. Dabei sind die Vorgänge an der Phasengrenze, die durch die Tenside beeinflusst werden, noch nicht vollständig geklärt. In diesem Umfeld ist auch die vorliegende Arbeit entstanden. Sie soll bereits am Lehrstuhl vorliegende Arbeiten ergänzen. Gegenstand der Untersuchungen ist der Einfluss von Tensiden auf die Extraktion von Schwermetallionen im elektrischen Feld, hier untersucht an dem kationischen Tensid Hexadecyltrimethylammoniumbromid (CTAB). Als Untersuchungsmethode wird die Polarographie verwendet. Der Ladungsdurchtritt durch die Grenzfläche Wasser/Quecksilber und deren Beeinflussung durch das Tensid werden für die Metallionen von Zink, Cadmium, Blei und Chrom bei unterschiedlichen pH-Werten untersucht. Es zeigt sich, dass die Modifizierung der Grenzfläche nur einen Teil der Beeinflussung ausmacht, weitere entstehen durch die chemische Modifizierung der vorhandenen Spezies. Weiterhin kann abgeleitet werden, dass trotz chemischer Verwandtschaft der eingesetzten Systeme eine klare Vorhersage der Beeinflussung nur begrenzt möglich ist. Der grundlegende Trend von Systemen mit chemisch ähnlicher Zusammensetzung ist zwar der gleiche, jedes System reagiert jedoch individuell in Abhängigkeit der genauen stofflichen Zusammensetzung und der Versuchsbedingungen, so dass stets konkrete Voruntersuchungen notwendig erscheinen.

Level-set methods have become a valuable and well-established field of visualization over the last decades. Different implementations addressing different design goals and different data types exist. In particular, level sets can be used to extract isosurfaces from scalar volume data that fulfill certain smoothness criteria. Recently, such an approach has been generalized to operate on unstructured point-based volume data, where data points are not arranged on a regular grid nor are they connected in form of a mesh. Utilizing this new development, one can avoid an interpolation to a regular grid which inevitably introduces interpolation errors. However, the global processing of the level-set function can be slow when dealing with unstructured point-based volume data sets containing several million data points. We propose an improved level-set approach that performs the process of the level-set function locally. As for isosurface extraction we are only interested in the zero level set, values are only updated in regions close to the zero level set. In each iteration of the level-set process, the zero level set is extracted using direct isosurface extraction from unstructured point-based volume data and a narrow band around the zero level set is constructed. The band consists of two parts: an inner and an outer band. The inner band contains all data points within a small area around the zero level set. These points are updated when executing the level set step. The outer band encloses the inner band providing all those neighbors of the points of the inner band that are necessary to approximate gradients and mean curvature. Neighborhood information is obtained using an efficient kd-tree scheme, gradients and mean curvature are estimated using a four-dimensional least-squares fitting approach. Comparing ourselves to the global approach, we demonstrate that this local level-set approach for unstructured point-based volume data achieves a significant speed-up of one order of magnitude for data sets in the range of several million data points with equivalent quality and robustness.