The respiratory system can be targeted by many different types of diseases, for example asthmaand cancer. The drug delivery method by inhaling substances for treating diseases only started in the 1950s with the treating of asthma, considered also for many other diseases. Mathematical dosimetry models are used in drug development to predict the deposition of particles in the lungs. This prediction is not easily achieved experimentally, and therefore these mathematically models are of high importance. Monkeys are often used in the late stages of drug development due to their resemblance in humans. A good model for predicting the deposition pattern in monkeys is therefore useful in the development of drugs. However, there is at the moment no developed deposition mode lfor monkeys. In this thesis both a static model and the first dynamic deposition model was developed sing the data on the breathing pattern from respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) bands. This dynamic model provides regional and time resolved information on the particle deposition in the lungs of monkeys and can be used to get a deeper understanding of the fate of inhaled particles. This model can also determine inter-animals differences which have not been achieved before. An extensive implementation of these time resolved deposition models could be used to increase understanding about deposition in a variety of species and help the field to move forward.

Hearing-impaired individuals that use hearing aids often experience problemswhen exposed to daily situations in life. The di↵erent environments include forexample classrooms, offices and public areas. For the hearing impaired, the correctadjustments of the hearing aids are of great importance. For these settings to beproper, a measurement called the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII), is questionedto be implemented in the clinical hearing care. To answer this question of issuewhether feasibility lay in the implementation of SII in the clinical hearing carewith the interface of hearing aids, a literature study ordered by the Hearing- &Balance Clinic (H&B) at Karolinska University Hospital situated at RosenlundHospital, was initiated. The focus of the study was primarily held in concern ofSII as a hearing aid validation measurement and later extended to SII as a roomacoustic measurement disregarding the e↵ect of hearing aids. The result of thestudy showed that the use of SII in the clinical hearing care is troubled and furtherthat the implementation as a room acoustic measurement is probable but has tobe additionally investigated.

This master thesis evaluated the optimal tube voltage for low-contrast imaging of a micro-CT system (intended for small animal imaging) built at the School of Technology and Health (STH) of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). The main goal of this work was to calibrate the above-mentioned device (composed moreover by a Hamamatsu microfocus L10951-01 X-ray tube, a CMOS flat panel Hamamatsu C7942CA-22 and using a Cone-Beam CT reconstruction algorithm) for obtaining the best imaging of low-contrast structures. In order to do this, an analytical model, re-adapted from the previous state-of-the-art Micro-CT studies, was evaluated for finding a sub-optimal tube voltage from which to start the experiments, done on a reference Low-Contrast phantom specifically intended for the calibration of Micro-CT devices.  Finally, by looking to the results from the experiments, a good tube setting for the optimization of the CT for low-contrast imaging was found. The optimal tube voltage for low-contrast imaging, from the experiments on the QRM phantom, was found to be between 48 and 50 kV. This tube voltage values gave the best CNR and contrast profiles results.  Ultimately, we found that the usage of a 1mm Al filtration reduced the absorbed dose without affecting the image quality.

One has come to a conclusion that there is a lack of correct information regarding wall sockets and their labels, in addition lacking information regarding one’s evaluation when choosing wall sockets for the medical technical equipment at Akademiska Sjukhuset in Uppsala. Therefore an education was needed where the hospitals employees learn about the electrical system and their relevant aspects are brought up. The purpose of the study was therefore to create a learning material about the electric system. For the education to be rewarding and pedagogical and also have an easy access, one has chosen for it to be web-based furthermore interactive. A survey was created to study the knowledge and get feedback in addition to suggestions from the healthcare staff. After literature studies and interviews with key people for the collection of information, a script was written for the education. Then a PowerPoint presentation was made from the script. The script was read and recorded by a narrator. The audio files were then synced to the PowerPoint images. Afterwards examination questions about the relevant parts of the education were written. The result was a completed web-based education that was placed on the learning platform Pingpong. / Man har kommit fram till att det råder brist på korrekt information gällande eluttag och deras märkning samt bristande information om hur man gör sin bedömning vid val av eluttag till den medicintekniska utrustningen på Akademiska Sjukhuset i Uppsala. Därutav behövdes en utbildning där sjukhuspersonalen får lära sig om elsystemet och där dem relevanta aspekterna tas upp. Målet med studien var därför att skapa en utbildning som handlar om el- och reservsystem. För att utbildningen ska vara givande och pedagogisk samt lättillgänglig har man valt att den ska vara webbaserad samt interaktiv. En enkätundersökning gjordes för att studera kunskapsnivån och få återkoppling samt förslag från vårdpersonalen. Efter litteraturstudier och intervjuer med nyckelpersoner för insamling av information, skrevs ett manus till utbildningen. Sedan gjordes en PowerPoint presentation av manuset. Manuset lästes av en berättarröst och spelades in. Ljudfilerna synkades därefter med PowerPointbilderna. Därefter gjordes examinationsfrågor som handlar om dem relevanta delarna av utbildningen. Resultatet blev en färdig webbaserad utbildning som lades på lär-plattformen Pingpong. Slutsatsen av arbetet att en webbaserad interaktiv utbildning blev framtagen.

Hearing-impaired individuals that use hearing aids often experience problems when exposed to daily situations in life. The dierent environments include for example classrooms, oces and public areas. For the hearing impaired, the correct adjustments of the hearing aids are of great importance. For these settings to be proper, a measurement called the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII), is questioned to be implemented in the clinical hearing care. To answer this question of issue whether feasibility lay in the implementation of SII in the clinical hearing care with the interface of hearing aids, a literature study ordered by the Hearing- & Balance Clinic (H&B) at Karolinska University Hospital situated at Rosenlund Hospital, was initiated. The focus of the study was primarily held in concern of SII as a hearing aid validation measurement and later extended to SII as a room acoustic measurement disregarding the eect of hearing aids. The result of the study showed that the use of SII in the clinical hearing care is troubled and further that the implementation as a room acoustic measurement is probable but has to be additionally investigated. / Horselskadade personer som anvander horhjalpmedel upplever ofta problem nar de benner sig i vardagliga situationer i livet. De olika situationerna innefattar exempelvis vistelse i klassrum, pa kontor eller i oentliga miljoer. For den horselskadade ar diverse justeringar av horapparaturer av stor betydelse. Dessa installationer kraver skilda matmetoder som utnyttjas inom horselvarden. Dock nns det en hel del parametrar som inte tas med i berakningarna som utfors av metoderna. I dagslaget ifragasatts darfor om ett matt som kallas taluppfattbarhetsindex (SII) har mojlighet att gora intrade i den kliniska horselvarden. Med den kliniska horselvarden menas om hansyn till horapparatur tar vid matningarna. For att besvara fragan om det nns en genomforbarthet for SII initierades en litteraturstudie som bestallts av Horsel- & Balans Kliniken (H&B) vid Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset pa Rosenlund Sjukhus. Fokus for studien var framst att utvardera SII som ett valideringsmatt da hansyn till horapparatur togs och utvidgades senare till att betrakta SII som ett rumsakustiskts matt, dvs da eekten av horapparater fransags. Resultatet av studien visade att anvandningen av SII i den kliniska horselvarden ar problematisk och vidare att intradandet av SII som ett rumsakustisk matt ar troligt men maste undersokas ytterligare.

Ultraljudsmätning av karotiskärlens axiella och laterala deformation med speckle tracking är en potentiellt betydelsefull klinisk metod för att identifiera patienter med risk för kardiovaskulär sjukdom. Specklemönstret i en kärna som används som referenspunkt och följs genom mätningarna är inte alltid stabilt, vilket kan ge mätosäkerhet. Valet av optimalt område för mätningen är litet studerat. Syftet med studien var att jämföra metoder för att beskriva gråskalevariation i simulerade ultraljudsbilder och testa dem som kvalitetsmått. En speckle tracking-algoritm baserad på normerad korskorrelation användes för att testa ett antal kvalitetsmått.  Kanter i kärnan, gray-level co-occurrencemåtten(GLCM) kontrast, homogenitet, korrelation samt intensitet efter högpassfiltrering jämfördes med kvadratmedelfelet (RMSE) i rörelseestimeringen. Den normerade korskorrelationskoefficienten användes också som kvalitetsmått. Stor variation i en kärnas gråskaleintensitet beskriven med dessa kvalitetsmått korrelerade väl med minskat RMSE i rörelseestimeringen, bättre speckletracking. Det kan även finnas ett samband med riktningen på gråskalemönstret och resultatet i rörelseestimeringen. GLCM-metoderna kontrast och korrelation identifierades som särskilt intressanta att utveckla då de inte beror av analys av bilden innan mätningarna.

No description available.

Optical gas imaging denotes the visualisation of gases by means of an infrared camera, which allows operators to quickly, easily, and safely scan a large area and therefore plays a major role in the early detection and repair of gas leaks in various environments within the petrochemical industry such as processing plants and pipelines, but also in production facilities and hospitals. Thereby they help to avert damage to the environment as well as to health and safety of workers or inhabitants of nearby residential areas. The current generation of thermal gas cameras employs a so-called high-sensitivity mode, based on frame differencing, to increase the visibility of gas plumes. However, this method often results in image degradation through loss of orientation, distortion, and additional noise. Taking the increased prevalence and sinking costs for IR gas cameras – entailing an increased number of inexperienced users – into consideration, a more intuitive and user-friendly system to visualise gas constitutes a useful feature for the next generation of IR gas cameras. A system that retains the original infrared video images and highlights the gas cloud, providing the user with a clear and distinct visualisation of gas on the camera’s display, would be one example for such a visualisation system. This thesis discusses the design of such an automatic gas detection and visualisation framework based on machine learning and computer vision methods, where moving objects in video images are detected and classified as gas or non-gas based on appearance and spatiotemporal features. The main goal was to conduct a proof-of-concept study of this method, which included gathering examples for training a classifier as well as implementing the framework and evaluating several feature descriptors – both static and dynamic ones – with regard to their classification performance in gas detection in video images. Depending on the application scenario, the methods evaluated in this study are capable of reliably detecting gas.

Fall accidents are the type of accident in Sweden that cause most deaths, the largest number of hospitalizations, and most visits to the emergency room. The elderly are overrepresented in the statistics and with the aging population the costs are increasing. One way of reducing both the personal suffering and the cost to society is to introduce safety flooring. Svein Kleiven and Hans von Holst, professors at the department of Neuronics at KTH, have developed a new type of flooring system aimed to reduce fall related injuries. A first test area has been installed at a care facility and the Technical Research Institute of Sweden, SP, has conducted drop tests on nine different prototypes and found a reduction in impact force between 60- 75 % compared to a wooden flooring. The goals of this Master’s thesis were to conduct material testing to enable a better validation of the finite element (FE) model of the flooring system, validate a FE human body model for a hip impact and conduct fall simulations. The last goal was to evaluate the test area of the flooring system regarding effect on balance and work environment. Tensile tests were conducted to increase the knowledge regarding the different rubber mixtures and surface floors used in prototypes of the flooring system. The human body model had to be modified in regards to material models and anatomy of the hip joint before validated. Two fall simulations were conducted, however with low confidence in the results due to the lack of expected response in the model of the flooring system. A walking test was conducted to investigate if the flooring system affected the balance for the elderly and a questionnaire was created to get subjective ratings from the members of staff at the care facility. The results indicate no clear effect on balance and the subjective ratings shows the importance of also consider the work environment before installing the flooring system. More work remains in developing the flooring system; however this Master’s thesis has increased the understanding of the flooring system, both in regards to material properties and influence on the daily life at the care facility. This thesis also developed a more realistic human model, to be used in further hip impact simulations.

In modern clinical practice, gamma camera is one of the most important imaging modalities for tumour diagnosis. The standard technique uses scintillator-based gamma cameras equipped with parallel-hole collimator to detect the planar position of γ photon interaction (scintillation). However, the positioning is of insufficient resolution and linearity for breast imaging. With the aim to improve spatial resolution and positioning linearity, a new gamma camera configuration was described specifically for breast-imaging. This breast-specific gamma camera was supposed to have the following technical features: variable angle slant-hole collimator; double SiPM arrays readout at the front and back sides of the scintillator; diffusive reflectors at the edges around the scintillator. Because slant-hole collimator was used, a new 3D scintillation positioning method was introduced and tested. The setup of the gamma detector was created in a Monte Carlo simulation toolkit, and a library of a number of light distributions from known positions was acquired through optical simulation. Two library-based positioning algorithms, similarity comparison and maximum likelihood, were developed to estimate the 3D scintillation position by comparing the responses from simulated gamma interactions and the responses from library. Results indicated that the planar spatial resolution and positioning linearity estimated with this gamma detector setup and positioning algorithm was higher than the conventional gamma detectors. The depth-of-interaction estimation was also of high linearity and resolution. With the results presented, the gamma detector setup and positioning method is promising in future breast cancer diagnosis.