There are many kinds of commercial memory cards on the market. Due to great improvements in modern technology, they have great amounts of capacity, low power consumption, and are easily available. Therefore a data logging system using a commercial memory card is a convenient and economic procedure. This thesis introduces a wearable data logging system for physiological recording. A front-end amplifier, analog to digital converter, and a memory card controller compose the basis of this system. The front-end amplifier uses a switched-capacitor structure, so the output waveform is discrete in regard to the time domain. This brings an advantage in saving power for not keeping charging the load capacitance. Lateral bipolar transistors fabricated in a CMOS process are used as input devices. A conventional ADC is used to convert the amplified signal into digital data. Finally MultiMediaCard is chosen as a large storage space. This thesis contributes the analysis, design and measurement of the amplifier front-end. In addition, the design and implementation of a controller circuit for sequential data storage into the MultiMediaCard memory is described. Special attention was paid to achieving a small area, low-complexity and low-power implementation suitable for integration. Measured results obtained from a preliminary FPGA implementation are reported and the functionality of a complete logger circuit is demonstrated with measured results.

Many research investigations have indicated that projects have a higher chance of success when thorough front end planning is performed. Previous research efforts have sought to determine a statistical link between front end planning and the performance metrics for both building and industrial projects. The author of this thesis intends to supplement prior research with case study analysis that provides situational insight that supports business decision making of business managers and project representatives. The research conducted in this study was performed in conjunction with CII Research Team 213, Support for Pre-Project Planning. The data for this thesis was gathered through a series of questionnaires and interviews with project representatives from 17 projects totaling $1.5 billion. Case studies were written by the author, reviewed by supervising professor and project representatives for accuracy and anonymity. The lessons learned from the case studies were distilled and evaluated to uncover correlations between front end planning issues and project success. A matrix of issues was created, and along with pattern-matching techniques, project data were sorted. The conclusions were drawn using expert knowledge of the author, supervising professor and research team. The case study analyses identified several planning related issues that affect project success, including: defined front end planning process, adequate scope definition, existing conditions definition, correct contracting strategy, alignment, teambuilding, participation of owner and contractors in the front end planning process, leadership, experience, and labor availability and skill. Anecdotal evidence is provided to support the proper implementation of these issues. / text

The success of the new product development (NPD) process is vital for the survival of projects. Especially for small entrepreneurial projects that try to survive in a very competitive environment, affected by constant market and technical changes. Previous literature emphasize the importance of the generation of new ideas, to improve the product concept during the pre-development stage, but it did not pay a lot of attention to the sources of ideas. For this reason, this study aims to develop the knowledge concerning the sources of ideas of small entrepreneurial projects, during the fuzzy front-end (FFE). The literature review of this study presents the previous researches that relate to the sources of ideas, during the idea generation stage of the FFE. The structure of the existing model, integrating the sources of ideas, is based on three categories: environmental scanning, innovative organizational culture and joint research. An inductive study and a research, based on the analysis of one small high-tech entrepreneurial project, were conducted to cover the literature gap. This choice of methodology reflects the experimental purpose of this research. The empirical data are only primary data, collected by analyzing the diaries of the two entrepreneurs involved in the project. Our findings reveal that contact with lead user, entrepreneur experience, customer involvement, brainstorming sessions, competitor analysis, resource constraints and prototype conception represent the main sources of ideas of small entrepreneurial projects in the FFE. The practical purpose of this study is to offer some advices to entrepreneurs of small entrepreneurial projects for accessing to sources of ideas, during the idea generation stage of the FFE, and manage their impact on the development of the product concept. The theoretical implications contribute to the identification of new sources of ideas and a proposition of framework of their impact.

A integração da inteligência de mercado e a estruturação eficaz das fases iniciais (também conhecidas como front-end) do processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos são dois dos mais importantes e difíceis desafios que inovadores enfrentam. Esta tese concentra-se na ligação entre estes dois aspectos, oferecendo um modelo conceitual para a sistematização e integração da inteligência de mercado nas atividades do front-end. O modelo, intitulado MISIPro (Market Intelligence Sistematization e Integration Process – Processo de sistematização e integração da inteligência de mercado), considera dois tipos diferentes de atividades que ocorrem no front-end: a) atividades de processamento de informações de mercado; e b) atividades de desenvolvimento de produtos. Essas atividades são então definidas, estruturadas e integradas. O modelo foi desenvolvido com base numa revisão da literatura sobre desenvolvimento de produtos, orientação de mercado e gestão do conhecimento e em 5 estudos de caso em empresas no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos. Como contribuição teórica, esta tese apresenta uma integração de conceitos importantes provenientes de diferentes perspectivas e áreas de conhecimento e uma nova abordagem e estrutura para a concepção do conceito. Para os profissionais, o modelo oferece uma ferramenta útil para a estruturação das atividades do front-end e integração das informações de mercado no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos. / Integrating market intelligence and effective structuring of the planning stages (also known as front-end) of new product development (NPD) process are two of the most important and difficult challenges facing innovators. This dissertation focuses on the link between these two elements, offering a conceptual model for the systematization and integration of market intelligence into the frontend activities. The model, entitled MISIPro (Market Intelligence Systematization and Integration Process), considers two different types of activities that take place in the front-end: a) market information processing activities; and b) product development activities. These activities are herein defined, structure and mutually integrated. The model was developed based on a review of the literature about product development, market orientation and knowledge management, and 5 case studies in Brazilian and U.S. companies. From a theoretical perspective, this dissertation offers an integration of the important concepts from different perspectives and areas of knowledge and a new approach and structure for the concept design. For practitioners, the model offers a useful tool for structuring the front-end activities and integrating market intelligence into the NPD process.

The salient issues of integrated biosensors on a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) platform are the limited transducer design and the need for post-processing. To overcome these issues, a heterogeneously integrated system, which employs both CMOS and large-area processing, was proposed and developed. The system presented, could become a rapid, low-cost and disposable sensing platform for point-of-care applications. The heterogeneously integrated system, comprising a CMOS front-end circuit and disposable electrodes, was applied to measure the impedance of suspended DNA at different concentrations. The measurement showed a double sensitivity compared to the one carried out on the CMOS platform only. The noise analysis of CMOS transimpedance amplifiers was performed, and the impact of technology scaling on low-noise transimpedance amplifiers was studied using the Enz-Krummenacher-Vittoz (EKV) model. It was found that the noise performance improves slowly with device scaling down to 90 nm. Further device scaling may increase the gate leakage current noise due to the very thin gate oxide. Disposable electrodes fabricated using large-area processing are low cost and flexible in terms of design. In particular, inkjet-printed silver electrodes on glossy paper and gold electrodes on the glass substrate were characterised. Both electrodes with the same dimension agreed well in determining solution resistance. In addition, the paper-based electrodes presented an improved sensitivity of impedance measurement at low frequencies. The amorphous oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) is promising for implementing active circuits on disposable substrates. In particular, the low-frequency noise of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) TFTs was characterised, and a TFT-based regulated cascade transimpedance amplifier was designed and simulated with the extracted device parameters. The a-IGZO TFT showed a comparable noise performance to the PMOS device in deep submicron processes. The simulated circuit featured a transimpedance gain up to 120 dB, a bandwidth of 29.4 kHz, input-referred noise PSD of 2.91 pA/√Hz, and a power consumption of 18.55 μW, indicating that TFT-based front-end circuits are promising for implementing low-cost, low-noise and low-power biosensors.

A integração da inteligência de mercado e a estruturação eficaz das fases iniciais (também conhecidas como front-end) do processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos são dois dos mais importantes e difíceis desafios que inovadores enfrentam. Esta tese concentra-se na ligação entre estes dois aspectos, oferecendo um modelo conceitual para a sistematização e integração da inteligência de mercado nas atividades do front-end. O modelo, intitulado MISIPro (Market Intelligence Sistematization e Integration Process – Processo de sistematização e integração da inteligência de mercado), considera dois tipos diferentes de atividades que ocorrem no front-end: a) atividades de processamento de informações de mercado; e b) atividades de desenvolvimento de produtos. Essas atividades são então definidas, estruturadas e integradas. O modelo foi desenvolvido com base numa revisão da literatura sobre desenvolvimento de produtos, orientação de mercado e gestão do conhecimento e em 5 estudos de caso em empresas no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos. Como contribuição teórica, esta tese apresenta uma integração de conceitos importantes provenientes de diferentes perspectivas e áreas de conhecimento e uma nova abordagem e estrutura para a concepção do conceito. Para os profissionais, o modelo oferece uma ferramenta útil para a estruturação das atividades do front-end e integração das informações de mercado no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos. / Integrating market intelligence and effective structuring of the planning stages (also known as front-end) of new product development (NPD) process are two of the most important and difficult challenges facing innovators. This dissertation focuses on the link between these two elements, offering a conceptual model for the systematization and integration of market intelligence into the frontend activities. The model, entitled MISIPro (Market Intelligence Systematization and Integration Process), considers two different types of activities that take place in the front-end: a) market information processing activities; and b) product development activities. These activities are herein defined, structure and mutually integrated. The model was developed based on a review of the literature about product development, market orientation and knowledge management, and 5 case studies in Brazilian and U.S. companies. From a theoretical perspective, this dissertation offers an integration of the important concepts from different perspectives and areas of knowledge and a new approach and structure for the concept design. For practitioners, the model offers a useful tool for structuring the front-end activities and integrating market intelligence into the NPD process.

A integração da inteligência de mercado e a estruturação eficaz das fases iniciais (também conhecidas como front-end) do processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos são dois dos mais importantes e difíceis desafios que inovadores enfrentam. Esta tese concentra-se na ligação entre estes dois aspectos, oferecendo um modelo conceitual para a sistematização e integração da inteligência de mercado nas atividades do front-end. O modelo, intitulado MISIPro (Market Intelligence Sistematization e Integration Process – Processo de sistematização e integração da inteligência de mercado), considera dois tipos diferentes de atividades que ocorrem no front-end: a) atividades de processamento de informações de mercado; e b) atividades de desenvolvimento de produtos. Essas atividades são então definidas, estruturadas e integradas. O modelo foi desenvolvido com base numa revisão da literatura sobre desenvolvimento de produtos, orientação de mercado e gestão do conhecimento e em 5 estudos de caso em empresas no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos. Como contribuição teórica, esta tese apresenta uma integração de conceitos importantes provenientes de diferentes perspectivas e áreas de conhecimento e uma nova abordagem e estrutura para a concepção do conceito. Para os profissionais, o modelo oferece uma ferramenta útil para a estruturação das atividades do front-end e integração das informações de mercado no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos. / Integrating market intelligence and effective structuring of the planning stages (also known as front-end) of new product development (NPD) process are two of the most important and difficult challenges facing innovators. This dissertation focuses on the link between these two elements, offering a conceptual model for the systematization and integration of market intelligence into the frontend activities. The model, entitled MISIPro (Market Intelligence Systematization and Integration Process), considers two different types of activities that take place in the front-end: a) market information processing activities; and b) product development activities. These activities are herein defined, structure and mutually integrated. The model was developed based on a review of the literature about product development, market orientation and knowledge management, and 5 case studies in Brazilian and U.S. companies. From a theoretical perspective, this dissertation offers an integration of the important concepts from different perspectives and areas of knowledge and a new approach and structure for the concept design. For practitioners, the model offers a useful tool for structuring the front-end activities and integrating market intelligence into the NPD process.

abstract: The International Energy Agency (IEA) anticipates the global energy demand to grow by more than 25% by 2040, requiring more than $2 trillion a year of investment in new energy supply (IEA, 2018). With power needs increasing as populations grow and climate extremes become more routine, power companies seek to continually increase capacity, improve efficiency, and provide resilience to the power grid, such that they can meet the energy needs of the societies they serve, often while trying to minimize their carbon emissions. Despite significant research dedicated to planning for industrial projects, including power generation projects as well as the pipeline projects that enable power generation and distribute power, there are still endemic cost overruns and schedule delays in large scale power generation projects. This research explores root causes of these seemingly systemic project performance issues that plague power generation projects. Specifically, this work analyzes approximately 770 power and pipeline projects and identifies how project performance indicators (i.e., cost and schedule performance) as well as planning indicators, compare in two regulatory environments, namely nonregulated and regulated markets. This contributes explicit understanding of the relationship between project performance and regulatory environment, both quantitatively and qualitatively, to the pipeline and power project planning and construction bodies of knowledge. Following an understanding of nonregulated versus regulated markets, this research takes a deeper dive into one highly-regulated power sector, the nuclear power sector, and explores root causes for cost overruns and schedule delays. This work leverages gray literature (i.e., newspaper articles) as sources, in order to analyze projects individually (most academic literature presents data about an aggregated set of projects) and understand the public perception of risks associated with such projects. This work contributes an understanding of the risks associated with nuclear power plant construction to the nuclear power plant construction body of knowledge. Ultimately, the findings from this research support improved planning for power and pipeline projects, in turn leading to more predictable projects, in terms of cost and schedule performance, regardless of regulatory environment. This enables power providers to meet the capacity demands of a growing population within budget and schedule. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2020

Detta examensarbete, vilket utförts hos Expektra, har bidragit till design, utveckling ochimplementation av ett webbaserat användargränssnitt för en av deras produkter, Predict Demand.För projektgenomförande har projektet inneburit att ta reda på olika metoder för att utvärdera derasnuvarande prototyp med utgångspunkt i människo-datorinteraktion och interaktionsdesign. Detta ärvärdefullt när det kommer till designen- och vidareutvecklingsprocessen för generellaanvändargränssnitt. I projektet har man även undersökt olika hjälpmedel och ramverk som föreffektiv implementeringen av gränssnittet.Resultat av design och implementation har i slutet av projektet utvärderats av två användare hos enreferenskund för tjänsten. Trots att antalet svar är begränsat och därmed inte är av statistisksignifikans kan svaren analyseras och ge input till vidareutveckling av gränssnittet. Svaren vargenomgående positiva till hur den slutgiltiga designen blev och alla de olika delar som togs upp ienkäten. När fler har anslutit sig till denna tjänst kan det göras ett nytt enkät-utskick för att få ettmer omfattande resultat.Detta examensarbete har fokuserat på front-end delen vilket innebär att inget av back-end kommertas upp i denna rapport. Man har även gjort avgränsningen att i tidigt skede bara fokusera på desenaste versionerna av webbläsaren Chrome. / This master thesis, which has been carried out at Expektra, has contributed to design, developmentand implementation of a web based interface for one of their products, Predict Demand. For theimplementation, the project has considered different methods to evaluate their prototype withfooting in human-computer interaction and interaction design. This is valuable when it comes to thedesign and further development process for general user interfaces. The project has also looked atdifferent tools and frameworks to make the implementation more efficient.The result of the design and implementation has at the end of the project been evaluated by two endusers from a reference customer for this service. Even though the number of responses was limitedand therefore of no statistical significance the answers can be analyzed and give input for furtherdevelopment of the interface.The answers from the questionnaire were positive of how the finished design turned out as well asall the different parts that were inquired about. When more customers have joined the service therecan be a new attempt with the questionnaire to be able to get a more comprehensive result.This master thesis has focused on the front-end part which means that no back-end relatedinformation will be covered. One of the early limitations that were decided was to only focus on thelatest version of the Chrome web browser.

A critical and important part of the medical diagnosis is the montioring of the biopotential signals. Patients are always connected to a bulky and mains-powered instrument. This not only restricts the mobility of the patients but also bring discomfort to them. Meanwhile, the measureing time can not last long thus affecting the effects of the diagnosis. Therefore, there is a high demand for low-power and small size factor ambulatory biopotential measurement systems. In addtion, the system can be configured for different biopotential applications.The ultimate goal is to implement a system that is both invisible and comfortable. The systems not onlyincrease the quality of life, but also sharply decrease the cost of healthcare delivery. In this paper, a continuously tunable gain and bandwidth analog front-end for ambulatory biopotential measurement systems is presented. The front-end circuit is capable of amplifying and conditioning different biopsignals. To optimize the power consumption and simplify the system architecture, the front-end only adopts two-stage amplifiers. In addition, careful design of the critical transistors eliminates the need of chopping circuits. The front-end is pure analog without interference from digital parts like chopping and switch capacitor circuits. The chip is fabricated under SMIC 0.18 μm CMOS process. The input-referred noise of the system is only 1.19 μVrms (0.48-2000Hz).Although the power consumption is only 32.1 μW under 3V voltage supply, test results show that the chip can successfully extract biopotential signals.