Carbon fiber (CF) is predominantly produced from fossil-based sources and is therefore an area of interest for further development towards a more sustainable society. The purpose of this thesis work was to investigate the possibility of producing precursor fibers (PFs) for CF production from a blend of renewable cellulose andlignin. Cellulose, which is used to some extent for CF production, was chosen, while the possibility of adding lignin was investigated in hope of increasing the gravimetric yield of the CF production. Blends of softwood kraft cellulose pulp (SKP) and softwood kraft lignin (SKL) were dissolved in an alkaline (NaOH) solvent system at different cellulose/lignin ratios. A total of eight dopes were prepared (SKP/SKL ratios of 100/0–60/40 wt./wt.) with total dope concentrations ranging from 4.5 wt.% to 9.2 wt.%. The addition of SKL resulted in dark colored dopes with viscosities of which mainly appeared to depend on the SKP concentration. The dopes were wet spun, resulting in continuously spun PFs. The PFs showed on an increasing pyrolysis yield with increased SKL content but decreasing mechanical properties. However, process optimization was not included in the work, subsequently leading to the assumption that greater values on mechanical properties can be achieved. A pure SKP PF and a SKP-SKL (70/30 wt./wt.) PF were successfully thermally converted into CFs by carbonization at 1000 °C. The PF containing SKL had a total gravimetric yield more than twice as high as the pure SKP PF, 28 wt.% and 12 wt.%, respectively. Thereby, the addition of SKL seems to have a positive impact on the CF yield when utilizing a NaOH(aq) solvent system. This thesis work has become a base for the future work towards the development of CFs from wet spun cellulose-lignin PFs in the NaOH(aq) solvent system.

Our society is becoming more and more electrified every day. However, a significant portion of the world’s electricity generation relies on the combustion of fossil fuels to produce heat, which is subsequently harnessed to generate electricity. One way of generating electricity from heat is by utilizing a Rankine cycle. The basis of a Rankine cycle is to heat a liquid to its boiling point, which causes an increase in pressure that is used to spin a turbine and a generator. Many industries, such as transportation and manufacturing, produce large amounts of waste heat that needs to be removed from the main process. A Rankine cycle variant called an organic Rankine cycle can be used in a heat power system to generate electricity from lower-temperature waste heat, which increases efficiency since less heat is wasted. This thesis focuses on constructing a dynamic model of Climeon’s heat power system called HP300. The HP300 utilizes an organic Rankine cycle to generate electricity. Dynamic modeling is valuable because it provides a deeper understanding of the system, which is beneficial for its development and improvement. Moreover, a system model has the potential to enhance the system’s performance by using advanced control methods. The HP300 consists of four main components: a pump, a turbine, an evaporator, and a condenser. Each component will be modeled individually, and the complete model will be constructed by combining the component models. Additionally, an in-depth investigation of an advanced modeling method for heat exchangers is to be conducted. The constructed model in this thesis has an average error of 4%. The pump and turbine were modeled as steady-state models, and the evaporator and condenser were modeled with data-driven state-space models. The most important output of the model is the power generated by the turbine. The power was modeled with an average error of 6%. The turbine model performs best for pressure ratios of 1.75 and above. The model for the condenser had larger errors than the evaporator since it had fewer input variables. Improving the model of the condenser would decrease the overall errors of the model. / Vårt samhälle blir mer och mer elektrifierat för varje dag som går. En betydande del av världens elproduktion är dock beroende av förbränning av fossila bränslen för att producera värme, som sedan utnyttjas för att generera el. Ett sätt att generera el från värme är att använda en Rankine-cykel. Grundprincipen för en Rankine-cykel är att värma upp en vätska till dess kokpunkt, vilket orsakar en tryckökning som används för att snurra en turbin, kopplad till en generator. Många industrier, som exempelvis transport och tillverkning, producerar stora mängder restvärme som måste avlägsnas från huvudprocessen. En variant av Rankine-cykeln som kallas organisk Rankinecykel kan användas i ett värmekraftsystem för att generera elektricitet från restvärme med lägre temperatur, vilket ökar effektiviteten eftersom mindre värme går förlorad. Detta examensarbete fokuserar på att konstruera en dynamisk modell av Climeons värmekraftsystem vid namn HP300. HP300 använder en organisk Rankine-cykel för att generera elektricitet. Dynamisk modellering är värdefull eftersom den ger en djupare förståelse av systemet, vilket är fördelaktigt för dess utveckling och förbättring. Dessutom har en systemmodell potentialen att förbättra systemets prestanda genom att använda avancerade reglermetoder. HP300 består av fyra huvudkomponenter: en pump, en turbin, en förångare och en kondensor. Varje komponent modelleras individuellt och hela modellen konstrueras genom att komponentmodellerna kombineras. Dessutom utförs en fördjupad undersökning av en avancerad modelleringsmetod av värmeväxlare. Den konstruerade modelled i detta arbete har ett genomsnittligt fel på 4%. Pumpen och turbinen modellerades som stationära modeller, medan förångaren och kondensorn modellerades med datadrivna state-space-modeller. Modellens viktigaste variabel är den effekt som genereras av turbinen. Den modellerade effekten hade ett genomsnittligt fel på 6%. Turbinmodellen presterar bäst för tryck-kvoter på 1, 75 och högre. Kondensor modellen hade större fel än förångaren eftersom den hade färre ingångsvariabler. En förbättring av kondensorns modell skulle förbättra modellens övergripande noggrannhet.

There are two kinds of protein aggregates associated with Alzheimer’s disease: amyloid-beta and tau aggregates. Protein ligands are molecules with the ability to bind to these pathologicalprotein accumulations, and if the ligands are fluorescent, they can be used to detect the aggregates they’re bound to. The ligands can be selective and only bind to one kind of protein aggregate, or they can be general and bind to both kinds. PI-2620 is a ligand selective for tau aggregates, and in this thesis, three analogues of PI-2620 were synthesized and determined to be functional fluorescent protein ligands. Two of them, designated A1 and B1, were selective for amyloid-beta aggregates, while the third ligand, A2, obtained by ester-hydrolysis of A1, would bind to both tau and amyloid-beta aggregates. This finding suggests that introducing a charge to a ligand lowers its selectivity, since the staining experiments were carried out in a buffered solution at pH 7.4, where ligand A2 might be partially charged.

The use of drones is becoming increasingly common in the industry due to their efficiency and safety in environments that are difficult to access. The development of industrial drones has created a new need for specialized drones with unique functions. This has led to a growing interest in additive manufacturing as a production method. Additive manufacturing, previously primarily used for prototyping, is now emerging as a viable manufacturing method. This evolution has in turn opened new design methods intended for additive manufacturing, such as topology optimization. The purpose of this project was to redesign a drone to increase its strength, reduce its weight and improve water resistance and appearance. This was achieved using a classic product development process where a concept was developed and refined using simulation tools and a product requirement specification derived from interviews and observations of the existing drone. The product was developed using SolidWorks tools such as Topology Optimization, The Finite Element (FEM) and Computer Aided Design (CAD). The result of the work is a detailed design and a prototype developed using Topology simulations based on the product requirement specification. This project lays the foundation for continued production and development of the drone. The conclusion drawn from the work is that the new product is an improved version in several aspects compared to the previous product.

Arvika Fjärrvärme AB is manufacturing and distributing district heating to around 300 customers in Arvika. Heat production consists of a BFB boiler fed with GROT fuel (branches and peaks) and delivers a maximum power of 30 MW. In order to operate the plant, an average of 60 m3 of water per day is consumed from the urban water network. The water consumption is divided between water treatment, sooting and process cooling. In the processes, sulfur is dosed to obtain a more complete combustion of the hazardous flue gases that can occur. This is a result of previous thesis made for Arvika fjärrvärme. GROT is a fuel that contains high levels of moisture, which means that a high amount of condensate is formed during combustion, averaging 100 m3 per day. At present, condensate is sufficient to meet the condensate limit values ​​to be flushed into the drain. This is achieved by sand filtration and pH neutralization. Today, Arvika heat production is equipped with a purification stage for the feed water consisting of a softening filter and membrane filtration. This creates good conditions for cleaning the condensate and recirculating it in the process. Questions for this study are which hazardous substances the condensate can contain and how the condensate composition affected due to sulfur dosage. In addition, Arvika fjärrvärme wants to find out whether the purified condensate can replace the use of the urban water and, finally, if the condensate can be purified and used as feed water in the process. The execution of the work was based on a full-scale attempt in two operating cases of 9 and 18 MW. The tank collecting all condensate after purification in the sand filter and pH neutralization was coupled to the feed water purification stage. Thus, the condensate was pumped and purified in the softening filter and membrane filter. Assay substrates were collected before and after purification of the condensate. In addition to the topics that Arvika investigates, high levels of alkalinity were found in the condensate. The sulfur dosage that Arvika technology works with can be the cause of the high concentrations of sulphate. However, it appears that both the sulfate and alkalinity were purified in the membrane filter. The amount of condensate formed cannot completely replace the entire water requirement, but definitely large parts. The condensate can be used as feed water based on the retention rate for all substances. However, it appears that two substances, chloride and sulphate can create problems for the membrane filter. To investigate this, the condensate should be tested over a longer period of time to see the affect the chloride as well as the sulphate in the long run. / Arvika Fjärrvärme AB bedriver produktion och distribution av fjärrvärme till ca 300 kunder runt om i Arvika. Värmeproduktionen består av en BFB-panna som matas med bränslet GROT (grenar och toppar) och levererar en maxeffekt på 30 MW. För att driva anläggningen förbrukas i snitt 60 m3 vatten per dag från stadsvattennätet för spädvattenförberedning, sotning och processkylning. I denna typ av värmeproduktion som Arvika Fjärrvärme bedriver doseras svavel. Detta är ett resultat av ett tidigare examensarbete som visade att vid en dosering av svavel bildas det färre farliga rökgaser som kan uppstå vid förbränningen. GROT är ett bränsle som innehåller höga halter fukt vilket innebär att höga mängder kondensat bildas vid förbränningen, i snitt 100 m3 per dag. I dagsläget renas kondensatet tillräckligt för att möta de gränsvärden för att kondensatet ska få spolas ner i avloppet. Detta uppnås genom en sandfiltrering och pH-neutralisering. Idag är Arvika Fjärrvärme utrustade med ett reningssteg för spädvattnet bestående av ett avhärdningsfilter samt membranfilter. Detta skapar goda förutsättningar för att rena kondensatet och återcirkulera det i processen. Funderingar som uppstår är vilka farliga ämnen som kondensatet kan innehålla samt hur kondensatsammansättningen påverkas av svaveldoseringen. Dessutom ställer sig värmeverket frågan om det renade kondensatet kan ersätta förbrukningen av stadsvattnet och slutligen om kondensatet kan renas och användas som spädvatten i processen. Genomförandet av arbetet baserades på ett fullskaligt försök under två driftfall på 9 samt 18 MW. Tanken som samlar upp allt kondensat efter rening i sandfiltret och pH neutraliseringen kopplades på i steget för spädvattenrening. På så sätt pumpades kondensatet igenom och renades i avhärdningsfiltret samt membranfiltret. Analysunderlag samlades in före samt efter rening av kondensatet. Förutom de ämnen som Arvika fjärrvärme undersöker förkommer höga halter alkalinitet i kondensatet som bidrar till bildning av pannsten. Svaveldoseringen som Arvika fjärrvärme jobbar med kan vara orsaken till de höga koncentrationerna av sulfat. Det visar sig dock att både sulfatet och alkaliniteten renas bort i membranfiltret. Mängden kondensat som bildas kan inte helt ersätta hela vattenbehovet men definitivt stora delar. Kondensatet kan användas som spädvatten om retentionsgraden för ämnena anses hög nog. Det visar sig dock att två ämnen, klorid och sulfat, kan skapa problem för membranfiltret. För att undersöka detta bör kondensatet testas under en längre tidsperiod för att se vilken påverkan klorid och sulfat har i längden.

<p>As a part of the fight against the global warming the energy production needs to be more efficient and redirected towards sustainable options. One alternative is cogeneration, which means that electricity and heat is produced in one plant. The purpose with this survey is to examine if there are any commercial available combined heat and power techniques, based on combustion of solid moist biomass, which are suitable to small-scale applications. The technique must be able to produce between 2 and 10 MW thermal and the heat demand is a Swedish district-heating system. When already published reports had been studied, the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) was chosen as the most suitable technique. The possibility of using the ORC to generate electricity from the district-heating return flow was considered simultaneously. The chosen ORC-technique was then evaluated in Excel. The first aspect to be examined was how the performance of a combined heat and power plant was affected by variations in the supply line temperature. It showed that the performance reaches top levels when the temperature is low. The second part contains an optimisation, in a techno-economical perspective, of the ratio between cogeneration and separate heat production for district-heating systems with heat demands below 50 GWh/year. The most profitable combined heat and power plant generates 45 % of the installed power in a 50 GWh system. The profit is, however, too low to justify any construction plans. The conclusion was that there are no economical reasons to choose combined heat and power based on an organic rankine cycle in Sweden today.</p>

<p>During half a century the society has been changed from an industrial to knowledge-driven society. Industry companies have standardized requirements and companies that works with development in production has unique qualifications. The public employment office was created during a time that each tailored to then general requirements were dominating and the adaptation average appropriate worker and appropriate work where general. When the monopoly was stopped, crew companies begun to settle down on the market that flexibly adapt themselves to carried out now specialized needs that require sophisticated adaptation average work and job seekers. Companies lose the confidence for the public employment office and politicians threaten the organization with big closure. If the public employment office can continue to exist the adaptation of the average appropriate work and appropriate job seeker must function better. This led to the essay's aim: Which differences are between the public employment office and the private employment offices with respect to change ability?</p><p>In order to reply to the aim deductive run-up and qualitative survey method with semi structured interviews on a public employment office and private employment office were used. A higher manager and two section managers were interviewed on the public employment office and a manager on Adecco with snowball selection stem to get higher results that otherwise could not have been possible.</p><p>The result showed that the public employment office is devoting too much time to administrative information and meetings that instead would give results through communicating with carried out. But the personnel is motivated and becomes encouraged to giving new proposals, but that the legislation does not permit all changes. The crew company Adecco is a profit driven company that aims itself on profitable trade groups and does not have an extensive legislation what do that changes easy can come to levels. A lot of resources are imposed carried out and the adaptation goes good.</p><p>The conclusion is drawn that the public employment office can deliver a customer value to carry out. In order to that all companies will experience a value the public employment office also needs to concentrate against companies that require university graduates.</p> / <p>Under ett halvt sekel har samhället förändrats från industrisamhälle till kunskapssamhälle. Industriföretag har standardiserade krav och företag som sysslar med produktionsutveckling har unika kvalifikationer. Den offentliga arbetsförmedlingen skapades under en tid som var anpassad till då generella krav var dominerande och anpassningen mellan lämplig arbetare och lämpligt arbete var generell. När monopolet avvecklades började bemanningsföretag etablera sig på marknaden som flexibelt anpassar sig till företagens numera specialiserade behov som kräver förfinad anpassning mellan arbete och arbetssökande. Företag mister förtroendet för den offentliga arbetsförmedlingen och politiker hotar organisationen med stora nedläggningar. För att den offentliga arbetsförmedlingen skall kunna fortsätta existera måste anpassningen mellan lämpligt arbete och lämplig arbetssökande fungera bättre. Allt detta ledde fram till uppsatsens syfte: Vilka skillnader finns mellan den offentliga arbetsförmedlingen och de privata arbetsförmedlingarna med avseende på förändringsförmåga?</p><p>För att svara på syftet användes deduktiv ansats och kvalitativ undersökningsmetod med semistrukturerade intervjuer på en offentlig arbetsförmedling respektive privat arbetsförmedling. En högre chef och två mellanchefer intervjuades på den offentliga arbetsförmedlingen samt en chef på Adecco med snöbollsurval för att få fram högre resultat som annars inte hade varit möjligt.</p><p>Resultatet gav att inom den offentliga arbetsförmedlingen ägnas allt för mycket åt administrativa uppgifter och möten som istället skulle ge resultat genom att kommunicera med företagen. Men personalen är motiverad och blir uppmuntrade till att ge nya förslag, men att regelverket inte tillåter alla förändringar. Bemanningsföretaget Adecco är ett vinstdrivande företag som inriktar sig på lönsamma yrkesgrupper och har inte ett omfattande regelverk vilket gör att förändringar lätt kan komma till stånd. Mycket resurser läggs på företagen och anpassningen går bra.</p><p>Slutsatsen dras att den offentliga arbetsförmedlingen kan leverera ett kundvärde till företagen. För att alla företag skall uppleva ett värde behöver den offentliga arbetsförmedlingen även inrikta sig mot företag som kräver akademiker.</p>

<p>The first part of the work describes a procedure of oligonucleotide purification using a reversed-phase cartridge. The developed method employs a very efficient yet mild oligonucleotide detritylation on the cartridge support allowing fast purification of oligonucleotides regardless of their 5´-modification. Thiol- and amino-modified oligonuc-leotides were detritylated and purified with the same high efficiency as non-modified oligonucleotides. The method enables fast, parallel and automated purification of many oligonucleotide probes that was not possible before. In combination with the method of removal of tritylated failure fragments oligonucleotides were produced with purity superior to that of oligonucleotides purified using RP HPLC.</p><p>In the second part of the present study a method of solid-phase RNA synthesis using 2´-tert-butyldithiomethyl (2´-O-DTM) is discussed. The stability of the DTM group during oligonucleotide assembly and deprotection in ammonia, together with its ability for rapid deprotection under mild conditions, allowed the synthesis of RNA with the quality similar to that of synthetic DNA oligonucleotides. The advantage of the 2´-O-DTM group is that it is completely orthogonal to all protecting groups used for the traditional solid-phase DNA synthesis. Therefore, the synthesis can be performed using a standard DNA synthesis procedure – no changes are needed for the product assembly. RNA oligonucleotides synthesized with retained 5´-terminal trityl group can be subjected to a cartridge-based purification using the procedure described in the first part of the study. The phosphoramidite synthesis was optimized for a large scale preparation and gives versatility for introduction of other alkyldithiomethyl groups according to the preference to their certain properties.</p><p>The third part of the thesis describes the synthesis of a dithiomethyl linker and its utility for reversible conjugation of oligonucleotides. A dithiomethyl group, cleavable under mild conditions, was introduced onto 3´-OH of tritylated nucleosides via 3´-O-methylthiomethyl derivatives. The influence of different alkyl substituents on the disulfide bond stability was investigated, and stable analogues were employed in oligosyntheses. Two applications were developed using the present linker: 1) purification of oligonucleotides linked to the solid support; and 2) cartridge-based purification of tritylated oligonucleotides having an additional hydrophobic group on their 3´- terminus.</p>

<p>This thesis concerns the study of reaction mechanisms by means of kinetic isotope effects (KIEs). Studies of the nucleophilic bimolecular substitution (S_N2) reaction had the dual purpose of improving our fundamental understanding of molecular reactivity and assessing the ability of kinetic isotope effects to serve as mechanistic tools. The transition state of the S_N2 reaction between a cyanide ion and ethyl chloride in tetrahydrofuran was found to be reactant like and only slightly tighter than has been found previously for the same reaction in dimethyl sulphoxide. One conclusion was that the transition-state structure in this reaction was predicted fairly well by the theoretical calculations, even without solvent modelling. The S_N2 reactions between cyanide ions and <i>para</i>-substituted benzyl chlorides were found to have reactant-like transition states, of which the C_α-Cl bond was most influenced by the <i>para</i>-substitution. Theoretical calculations indicated that the chlorine KIEs could be used as probes of the substituent effect on the C_α-Cl bond if bond fission was not too advanced in the transition state. Furthermore, the nucleophile carbon ¹¹C/¹⁴C KIEs were determined for the reactions between cyanide ions and various ethyl substrates in dimethyl sulphoxide.</p><p>Precision conductometry was employed to estimate the aggregation status of tetrabutylammonium cyanide in tetrahydrofuran and in dimethyl sulphoxide, which is of interest as tetrabutylammonium cyanide is frequently used as the nucleophilic reagent in mechanistic investigations and synthetic reactions. The tendency for ion-pair formation was found to be very slight, significant, and very strong in dimethyl sulphoxide, water, and tetrahydrofuran, respectively. </p><p>The nitrogen kinetic isotope effect on monoamine oxidase B catalysed deamination of benzylamine was determined in an attempt to obtain conclusive evidence regarding the mechanism of the oxidation. Monoamine oxidase is an important drug target in connection with the treatment of, for example, depression and Parkinson’s disease, and knowledge on how the enzyme effects catalysis would facilitate the design of highly selective and efficient inhibitors.</p>

This thesis is concerned with synthesis, structure and biochemical analysis of chemically modified oligonucleotides with potential therapeutic applications. The three types of chemical modifications described here are: (a) A North-East locked 1',2'-azetidine nucleoside (b) A North locked 2',4'-cyanomethylene bridged nucleoside and (c) A 2',4'-aza-ENA-T nucleoside. The synthesis of the 1',2'-azetidine fused nucleosides was described using two different approaches. A highly strained 2',4'-cyanomethylene locked nucleoside was synthesized but could not be converted to the phosphoramidite derivative due to instability during derivatization. The key cyclization step in the aza-ENA-T nucleoside synthesis gave rise to two separable diastereomers due to chirality at the exocyclic nitrogen. Conversion of diastereomer 55 to 56 occurred with a large free energy of activation (ΔG‡ = 23.4 kcal mol-1 at 298 K in pyridine-d5). Of the two isomers the equatorial NH product was more stable than the axial one due to reduced 1,3 diaxial interactions. As a result, all NH axial product was converted to the equatorial isomer during subsequent steps in the synthesis. NMR and ab initio experiments confirmed the North-East structure of the 1',2'-azetidine locked nucleoside and North conformation of aza-ENA-T locked nucleosides with a chair conformation of the piperidine ring. The amino modified nucleosides were incorporated into different positions of a 15mer oligonucleotide. The azetidine modified AONs did not form stable duplexes with complementary RNA (ΔTm ~-1 to -4 °C), but they performed better than previously synthesized isosequential 1',2'-oxetane modified oligonucleotides. The 2',4'-aza-ENA-T modified oligonucleotide, on the other hand, showed excellent target affinity with complementary RNA (ΔTm ~+4 °C). The azetidine and aza-ENA-T modified oligonucleotides showed significant stability in the presence of human serum and snake venom phosphodiesterase (3'-exonuclease) as compared to the unmodified native sequence. The singly modified 15mer oligonucleotides were also subjected to RNase H promoted digestion in order to evaluate their potential as effective antisense agents. The effective enzyme activity (kcat/Km) was found to be lower in the modified AONs due to reduced enzyme-substrate binding. However, the catalytic activity of RNase H with these modified-AON:RNA duplexes were higher than observed with the native duplex.