This study examined whether parents social support was related to their childrens peer acceptance and likability. The moderating role of the parents and the childs gender was also examined. Father (N = 146-150) and mother (N = 201) reports of social support and peer reports of peer acceptance were obtained from 107 boys and 96 girls (7.92-16.76 years, M = 11.77). Aspects of fathers and mothers social support were observed to be differentially correlated with their childrens friendships and likability. While fathers social support was moderately correlated with their childrens friendships, mothers social support was not. The implications of these findings for the role of fathers in childrens social functioning are discussed.

In this thesis, the recent development step of magnetron sputtering, termed high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) has been studied. Compared to conventional magnetron sputtering HiPIMS provides a higher plasma density which can ionise the sputtered material. The beneficial influence of the coating properties due to this ionisation has been extensively shown in academic publications. Here, industrial conditions, i.e. no substrate heating and high vacuum conditions have been used during the studies, of which one was performed in an industrial deposition system. For eight metallic targets, films were deposited with HiPIMS and conventional sputtering. The films were evaluated by Rutherford back scattering analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and profilometry. It was found that the density of the HiPIMS grown films exhibited a statistically significant higher density of approximately 5-15% in comparison to films deposited using DCMS under identical conditions. A global plasma model was employed to evaluate the degree of ionisation for some of the target materials, and process conditions used in the study. Conformity between density increase and degree of ionisation as assessed by the plasma model was confirmed. The influence of using HiPIMS during reactive sputtering of TiC was also studied. A metallic Ti target was sputtered in a gas mixture of Ar and C2H2. The coatings were evaluated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, 4 point probe resistivity measurements, and nanoindentation. The coatings were found to be nanocomposite TiC/a-C:H. For the HiPIMS process the transition zone between metallic and compound target states was found to be significantly expanded over a wide reactive gas flow range. The implications of choice of deposition method for coating composition, chemical structure, as well as electrical and mechanical properties were evaluated for DCMS and HiPIMS. The process behaviour was suggested to be due to the pulsed nature of the HiPIMS, the high plasma density, and ion content of the particles reaching the substrate.

This thesis describes work to investigate the potential of using an ordinary mobile phone to perform chemical sensing by colorimetric analysis of reflected light. The wide availability and familiarity of mobile phones make them excellent devices for aiding consumers in making on site tests in their everyday lives. A major part of the work has been the development of the necessary software to be able to use a standard mobile phone to study diffuse reflection with the screen as illumination source and the front view camera for collection of spectral information. Java Micro Edition was used to control the hardware resources of the phone. The NetBeans 6.5 platform facilitated the design, development, testing and implementation of a dedicated Mobile Information Device  applet for performing the necessary tasks associated with controlling the screen light and recording the reflected light intensities. MATLAB was employed to extract spectral information from the recorded images. Initially, tests with a virtual sample having areas with different colors were performed. Optimization of the alignment of the sample and the distance between the camera and the sample were carried out and the influence of ambient light was investigated. The lateral resolution of the images enables optical readout of sensor arrays as well as arrays for diagnostics. The potential of using the technique for direct measurement of properties related to the quality of drinking water, food and beverages was also investigated. Liquid samples were prepared in deionized water. Colored compounds such as iron(III)chloride and humic acid in the concentration range 2-10 mg/l were classified from their reflected intensities. Colorless arsenic(III) was analyzed by its bleaching reaction with iodine/starch. An alternative arsenic detection method based on measurement of discoloration of iron containing sand was demonstrated. We have also demonstrated that mobile phones can be used for qualitative analysis of food and drink, such as cold drinks, meat,  vegetables and milk in terms of general food quality.

Wide band gap semiconductors, Zinc Oxide (ZnO), Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC) have been emerged to be the most promising semiconductors for future applications in electronic, optoelectronic and power devices. They offer incredible advantages in terms of their optical properties, DC and microwave frequencies power handling capability, piezoelectric properties in building electromechanical coupled sensors and transducers, biosensors and bright light emission. For producing high quality devices, thermal treatment always plays an important role in improving material structural quality which results in improved electrical and optical properties. Similarly good quality of metal–semiconductor interface, sensitive to the semiconductor surface, is always required. In this thesis we report the study of the interface states density for Pd/Ti/Au Schottky contacts on the free-standing GaN and post fabrication annealing effects on the electrical and optical properties of ZnO/Si hetero-junction diodes. The determination of interface states density (NSS) distribution within the band gap would help in understanding the processes dominating the electrical behavior of the metal–semiconductor contacts. The study of annealing effects on photoluminescence, rectification and ideality factor of ZnO/Si hetero-junction diodes are helpful for optimization and realization to build up the confidence to commercialize devices for lightening. A comparison of device performance between the physical simulations and measured device characteristics has also been carried out for pd/ZnO Schottky diode to understand the behavior of the devices. This research work not only teaches the effective way of device fabrication, but also obtains some beneficial results in aspects of their optical and electrical properties, which builds theoretical and experimental foundation for much better and broader applications of wide band gap semiconductor devices.

Seven wetlands, constructed on agricultural land in the south of Sweden, were investigated with respect to phosphorus (P) retention. The overall aim was to increase the understanding of P retention and find possible explanations for the variations in retention that have been observed in previous studies. This was done by i) investigating P retention in wetlands receiving various water and P loads, ii) investigating the effect of variations in water flow on P transport, iii) comparing how well retention estimates based on water quality data agreed with measurements of the amount of P accumulated in the sediment. Results showed that P retention was positive in all wetlands, but it was variable (1–58 kg ha-1 yr-1) and months with negative retention were observed in nearly all wetlands. Such  monthly negative retention coincided with i) high flow periods, when particulate P was either flushed straight through the wetlands or resuspended from the bottoms, and ii) warm low flow periods, in which case dissolved P was probably released from wetland sediments due to anoxic conditions. The results from the two methods for estimating P retention differed. Based on water quality data, the total P load during four years was 65 kg ha-1 and the mean P retention 2.8 kg ha-1 yr-1, or 17% of the total P load. In contrast, the amount of P accumulated in the inlet zone alone amounted to 78% of the P load, and the P content in the upper sediment of the whole wetland area exceeded the P load with a factor four. This discrepancy showed the need to add studies of sediment accumulation to inflow-outflow estimates for an improved understanding of wetland P retention.

In this thesis work two very similar processes have been studied both involving excitations of particles during recombination of exciton complexes in quantum dots, reducing the energy of the emitted photon. Different exciton complexes are defined according to the number of electrons and holes in the quantum dot upon recombination. The neutral exciton complexes with one electron and one hole (X–) and two electrons and two (X+) holes respectively are referred to as the exciton andthe biexciton. Accordingly the charged exciton complexes consisting of two electrons and one hole (X–) and one electron and two holes (X+), respectively, are referred to as negatively- and positively charged excitons, respectively. Whenever another particle is excited during the recombination of one electron-hole pair within these complexes, the result is a weak satellite peak, spectrally redshifted with respect to the main emission peaks related to the exciton complex. In the first part of this thesis work, described in the first two papers, the exciton-LO-phonon interaction is studied with a weak redshifted satellite peak as the signature, referred to as a phonon replica. The intensity ratio between the replicas and the corresponding main emission were determined from the obtained microphotoluminescencespectra. It was found that this ratio was significantly weaker for the positively charged exciton X+ compared to the neutral exciton, X, and the negatively charged exciton, X–. This experimentally obtained result was further supported by computations. Interestingly, the computations revealed that despite that X+ displays the weakest phonon replica among the investigated complexes, it possesses the strongest Fröhlich coupling to phonons in the lattice before recombination. In addition, the spectral broadening of the phonon replicas compared to the main emission is discussed. Also, the origin of the exciton-LO-phonon coupling is concluded to be from the QD itself, based on a comparison between quantum dots with different barriers. In the last paper an additional weak redshifted satellite peak in the recombination spectra is studied. The intensity of this weak satellite peak is correlated to the peak intensity of the positively charged exciton, X+, main emission peak. In addition to this photoluminescence excitation experiments, magnetic field measurement and calculations further support our interpretation that the satellite peak is related to the shake-up of the ground-state hole in the QD that is not involved in the optical recombination. This hole is thus excited by Coulomb interaction to an excited state yielding a photon energy reduced with the difference between the ground-state and the excited state of the spectator hole.

Accumulating evidence indicates that oxygen free radicals are involved in many diseases and pathological conditions, such as aging, inflammation, reperfusion damage of ischemic tissue and various cardiovascular diseases. Extracellular superoxide dismutase (ECSOD) thus plays a major role in the maintenance of cells by providing protection against these toxic substances in the extracellular space. Various animal studies have shown that ECSOD has the ability to protect against many of these disorders, and interest has therefore evolved in the potential therapeutic use of the enzyme. However, despite strenuous efforts, large-scale production of the enzyme has not been achieved. To overcome this problem, a mimic of the enzyme, PseudoECSOD, has previously been constructed. This chimera is easy to produce in large amounts and has all the structural, enzymatic and heparin-binding characteristics of ECSOD, making it a potential substitute for ECSOD in therapeutic situations. However, the copper content of PseudoECSOD has been shown to be rather low, and since the copper ion is very important for the catalytic function of the enzyme, a production system that utilizes a copper chaperone for proper insertion of copper into the active site of the enzyme was constructed. The results show that the copper content of PseudoECSOD produced by this system is close to 100 %. In order to use PseudoECSOD therapeutically, further investigations of its binding capability and protective properties are needed. Therefore, the binding of ECSOD and PseudoECSOD to heparin was investigated using isothermal titration calorimetry. The results show that although some purely ionic interactions are important for the binding between ECSOD and heparin, there is also a substantial contribution from non-ionic interactions. The investigation also showed that the C-terminal domain is the only part of ECSOD that contributes to productive binding, and that the binding of PseudoECSOD and ECSOD to heparin is similar. In addition, analysis of mutant proteins strongly indicated that the amino acids R210, K211 and R214 are important for optimal binding of ECSOD to heparin, accounting for about 30 % of the total binding energy. The structural placement of these amino acids in an α-helix also confirms the hypothesis postulated by Margalit et al., that a common structural motif for heparin-binding proteins may be two positively charged amino acids at a distance of approximately 20 Å in the 3D-structure, facing opposite directions of a α-helix. The importance of these residues was also confirmed by analysis of a phage display library of the C-terminal domain of ECSOD. The binding of PseudoECSOD to heparan sulfate on cell surfaces of two different cell types, HepG2 and endothelial cells, was also investigated. The results clearly show that PseudoECSOD binds to these cells in a very similar manner to ECSOD. To investigate the protective properties of PseudoECSOD against ischemia-reperfusion injuries, an isolated rabbit heart model was used. The results indicate that the enzyme has a protective effect. However, more experiments using the rabbit heart and other animal models are needed to identify the optimal dose for protective purposes. The protective properties of PseudoECSOD in human tissue should also be thoroughly investigated. In summary, the findings in these studies, together with earlier results showing the close resemblance of PseudoECSOD to ECSOD in structural, enzymatic and heparin-binding properties, further support the proposition that PseudoECSOD may be a good substitute for ECSOD to use in therapeutic interventions.

<p>As the need for and usage of biomaterials in medicine constantly increase, so do the requirements for increased biocompatibility and hemocompatibility. Initially in blood-biomaterial interactions, the surface of an implanted biomaterial is enclosed with adsorbed host proteins and the composition of the adsorbed protein layer depends mainly on the physical-chemical properties of the biomaterial. It is known that the adsorption of proteins on the biomaterial surface may be followed by conformational changes of the adsorbed proteins and subsequent activation of the complement system. For example, binding of complement component C1q to IgG and IgM associated with biomaterial surfaces mediates complement classical pathway activation. The aim of this degree project work was to prepare and evaluate IgG and IgM free sera with functional complement activity for complement activation studies. Further complement studies necessitated IgG and IgM free sera, since two novel polymers with different compositions needed evaluation regarding their ability to induce antibody-independent complement classical pathway activation. Initially, immunoglobulin deficient fetal bovine serum was evaluated regarding complement activity, but no detectable complement activation was present. Different methods for depleting human serum of IgG and IgM were instead utilized and evaluated. From the results, it can be concluded that a close to complete IgG-depletion of human serum is achievable with serum maintaining low but functional complement activity. None of the applied methods for IgM-depletion were however successful and necessitate further optimization and evaluation.</p>

Today’s data rates in wired networks can reach 100 Gbit/s using optical fiber while data rates in wireless networks are much lower - tens of Mbit/s for 3G mobile communication and 480 Mbit/s for ultra-wideband (UWB) short range wireless communications. This difference in data rates can mainly be explained by the limited allowed frequency spectrum, the nature of the radio signal and the high requirements imposed on all hardware designed for high speed and wideband wireless communications. However, the demand on wireless commercial applications at competitive costs is growing. The first step in regulations allowing higher data rates for wireless communications was taken in 2002, when the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in USA released unlicensed the 3.1-10.6 GHz frequency band restricting only the power level (maximum mean equivalent isotropic radiated power density of a UWB transmitter is -41.3 dBm/MHz) in the band 3.1-10.6 GHz. But Europe, Japan and recently China have put additional restrictions on the 3.1-4.8 GHz band. The restrictions address the problems that have raised from the coexistence and colocation of the UWB systems with other narrowband wireless systems. Thus, the 6-9 GHz band combined with an increased modulation order scheme is of large interest. Operating at higher frequency and wider bandwidth than today’s communication technologies, with the general task of maximizing the wireless data rate while keeping the power consumption low, requires new communication system solutions and new circuit design approaches. These new solutions also require understanding of many multi-disciplinary areas which until the recent past were not directly related: from classic analog circuit design to microwave design, from modulation techniques to radio system architecture. In this thesis, new design techniques for wide bandwidth circuits above 3 GHz are presented. After focusing on ultra-wideband low-noise amplifier (UWB LNA) design for low-power and low-cost applications, the practical implementation and measurement of a 3.1-4.8 GHz UWB LNA is addressed. Passive distributed components of microstrip transmission lines are intensively used and their contribution to the UWB LNA performance is studied. In order to verify the design methodology while extending it to the UWB radio front-end, the UWB LNA is integrated on the same substrate with a pre-selecting filter with the frequency multiplexing function. In this way, the concept of frequencytriplexed UWB front-end is demonstrated for the Mode 1 multi-band UWB bandwidth 3.1-4.8 GHz. Using the proposed receiver front-end topology, better receiver sensitivity and selective operation can be achieved. The later part of the thesis investigates ultra-wideband 6-9 GHz receiver and transmitter front-end topologies for Gbit/s data rates and low power consumption. To capture the advantages offered by distributed passive components, both the transmitter and receiver use the six-port correlator as the core of a passive mixer. Modelling and design of the 6-9 GHz UWB front-end transceiver include different receiver topologies and different modulation schemes. Finally, the 7.5 GHz UWB transceiver front-end is implemented and evaluated. Measurement results confirm the large potential of the six-port UWB front-end to achieve multiple Gbit/s data rates. This may open for future solutions to meet the continuous challenge of modern communication systems: higher data rates at low power consumption and low cost.

Alumina-zirconia thin films have been deposited using dual magnetron sputtering. Film growth was performed at relatively low-to-medium temperatures, ranging from ~300°C to 810 °C. Different substrates were applied, including silicon (100), and industrially relevant materials, such as WC-Co hardmetal. Both radio-frequency sputtering and direct-current magnetron sputtering were utilised to achieve a range of film compositions. The influence of sputtering target was investigated; both ceramics and metals were used as sputtering sources. Microstructural characterisation was performed with a range of electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction techniques which show that the pure zirconia was deposited in the monoclinic phase. Reduced mobility of depositing species, as in the case of direct-current sputtering, yielded preferred crystallographic orientation in the {100} directions. The initial nucleation layer consisted of the metastable tetragonal zirconia phase. This phase could be grown over film thicknesses ~1 μm through the addition of ~3 at.% Al under similar low mobility conditions. For cases of higher mobility, as obtained through radio-frequency sputtering, the metastable cubic zirconia phase formed in the film bulk for alumina-zirconia nanocomposites. A combination of two mechanisms is suggested for the stabilisation of metastable zirconia phases: oxygen-deficiency and aluminium segregations with resultant restraint on the zirconia lattice. The sputter deposition process was investigated through energy resolved mass spectrometry in the case of radio-frequency sputtering; the sputter deposition flux contained a mixture of metallic ions, metaloxygen clusters, and oxygen ions. The presence of metal-oxygen clusters was found to be important in oxygen-stoichiometry and thus the phase selection of the resultant film. The energy distributions were similar when comparing sputtering from ceramic and metallic targets. A mass-balance model has also been developed for the transport phenomena and reactions of particles in reactive sputtering of two targets in a two-gas scenario for the alumina-zirconia system. Addition of nitrogen to the working gas was found to eliminate the hysteresis in the target poisoning for oxygen reactive sputtering. The higher reactivity of oxygen contributed to a higher oxygen content in resultant films compared to the oxygen content in the oxy-nitride working gas. The model was thus shown to be successful for tuning depositions in the alumina-zirconia oxy-nitride system.