This thesis focuses on the design and evaluation of the meander-line antenna geometry. One standard meander-line antenna and other two non-standard meander antennas have been studied. These printed antennas are discussed with the goal of identifying which is suitable for use in a miniaturized wireless transceiver design and which is able to provide the better performance using minimal Printed Circuit Board (PCB) space. In a word, the main objective is to characterize tradeoffs and identify which antenna provides the best compromise among volume, bandwidth and efficiency. The performance of each antenna is evaluated based on return loss, operational bandwidth, and radiation pattern characteristics. During our measurement, return loss is measured by reading the S11-port reflection coefficient on Vector Network Analyzer (VNA). This coefficient can be used to characterize how well the antenna is able to be efficiently fed. Operational bandwidth is measured as the frequency range over which the antenna keeps the value of Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) or equivalently has -10dB return loss. Ansoft High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) is used to simulate expected characteristics which are resonant frequency, bandwidth, VSWR, and radiation pattern. HFSS is used to provide a good guide for the antenna design before the actual prototype is manufactured. Simulated results are compared with results of measurement to point out the differences and help demonstrate the practical effects on antenna performance. Radiation pattern are measured to illustrate the effects of antenna miniaturization. All the above measurements are done in the anechoic chamber.

Supply chain management involves inter-organizational interactions and integration as a whole, sharing operational resources and information among supply chain members, and an objective to optimize the supply chain performance. Among the management processes exists uncertainty that disrupts operational performance. The uncertainty occurs when supply chain members have insufficient information for decision making. The lack of information transparency leads to a rise in each member¡¦s cost and inventory level, inefficiency in capacity utilization, reduction of business values, etc. For these reasons, this study holds that information sharing can effectively deal with uncertainty and improve the performance of the whole supply chain. This research mainly studies information sharing in a supply chain and proposes a theoretical framework of information sharing. It investigates by a case study the uncertainty that the focal company faces in demand, supply, and manufacturing process, explores the company¡¦s current status of information sharing, and researches the factors that may influence information sharing. The results show that PCB (Printed Circuit Board), a highly customized product with a short life cycle and a simple combination of raw materials, has a supply chain of divergent differentiation. PCB has a higher demand uncertainty, but that uncertainty can be effectively reduced by information sharing and process coordination with demand side customers. Besides, the order fulfillment process may be improved as a result. Based on inter-organizational coordination, information sharing through vendor managed inventory mechanism will facilitate supply chain collaboration, and ease the significant influence of bullwhip effect on upstream PCB manufacturers. In this way, PCB manufacturers can share risks and profits with customers. Furthermore, the extent of trust and risk may influence the process of information sharing. A greater extent of trust helps members to share information with each other. Nevertheless, it is considered risky to share sensitive information, which is regarded as a bargaining power.

This research aims to design and implement GaAs HBT MMICs for the two crucial components in W-CDMA transmitters, quadrature modulator and upconverter, with thorough evaluation of the package and PCB effects. To construct a strong theoretical foundation, the small-signal modeling of HBTs and the EM-characterization of package and PCB interconnects are intensively studied. In this dissertation, a novel extrinsic-inductance independent approach is developed for direct extraction of the intrinsic elements in a hybrid-pi equivalent circuit of HBTs. The interconnects of leadless RFIC packages and test PCBs are investigated using the 3-D EM simulation tools and transformed into the equivalent circuits for co-analysis with the designed HBT MMICs. The first HBT MMIC design is a W-CDMA direct-conversion quadrature modulator incorporating a new 90 degrees phase shifter. Although the proposed 90 degrees phase shifter has a remarkable advantage over the others in implementation loss, it is rather susceptible to the package and PCB effects, resulting in a moderate degradation of EVM. The second HBT MMIC design is a W-CDMA upconverter incorporating a popular micromixer. Although the micromixer-based upconverter consumes much less current at low output powers to achieve the same high linearity when compared to a Gilbert mixer-based design, it is quite susceptible to the package and PCB effects, causing a significant degradation in ACPR. Comparison between theory and measurement shows good agreement in evaluating the influences of package and PCB interconnects on both HBT MMICs.

Biological and physical chemistry treatment methods always are used to remove COD of organic wastewater contains PCB. The effect is not obvious when the compositions of pollutant are too refractory or complicated. The primary treatment method of wastewater containing copper is chemical coagulation/sedimentation and its disadvantage is producing a large of sludge. The objective of this study, using two combinative method of UV/H2O2-Ferrite Process and Fenton-Ferrite Process, is to remove organic compounds and heavy metal in real wastewater. Not only supernatant liquid could meet the standard of discharge wastewater but also produce general(non-hazardous) industrial wastes of heavy metal. The primary operation condition of Fenton and UV/H2O2 process, was ferrous ion and hydrogen peroxide concentration, pH, reaction time, and chemical dosing, searching best operation condition to combine with Ferrite Process. Operation of Fenton and UV/H2O2 process under acid condition (pH=2) and neutral condition (pH=8) showed the best operation condition of Fenton and UV/H2O2. The removal decreased when the dose of hydrogen peroxide was added too more or too less. As Fenton and UV/H2O2 process test finished, Ferrite Process is next used for treatment of heavy metal wastewater; Ferrite Process conducted as three stages and the operation conditions were controlled with temperature, pH and the ratio of Fe/M mole. The results showed that the best removal of treatment of copper containing wastewater by Ferrite Process achieved when the ratio of Fe/M mole was at 10. Treatment of PCB industrial real wastewater by Fenton-Ferrite Process and UV/H2O2-Ferrite Process which combined with Fenton, UV/H2O2 and Ferrite Process. The supernatant liquid containing organic compounds and heavy metal both could meet the standards of discharge wastewater and the sludge was judged with general(non-hazardous) wastes. The characteristic of the sludge were the diameter lattice less 100 nm and with magnetism and to develop recovery and utilization in a further work.

This research aims to design a dual-conversion tuner RFIC for DVB-H applications with EDA tools. In order to have good understanding of the EDA tools used, both time-domain and frequency-domain simulation techniques are studied and discussed in this thesis. The designed tuner RFIC is implemented by a TSMC 0.35£gm SiGe BiCMOS process. The parasitic effects from PCB interconnects are also considered in this work. We use 3-D quasi-static EM simulation tool to extract the parasitic elements for PCB interconnects, and co-simulate these parasitic elements with RFICs using circuit simulation tool. The implemented tuner RFIC integrates most key components into a single chip, including the variable-gain low noise amplifier, up-converting mixer, intermediate-frequency amplifier, and down-converting mixer. Under QPSK modulation test, the designed tuner RFIC shows a wide dynamic range with good protection ratio. In addition, it has a low power consumption and thus is suitable for use in portable digital TV equipments.

Abstract ¡@¡@The present study was undertaken to understand the accumulation of PCBs in the marine environment of Taiwan. Samples including oyster drills, oysters, sediments and seawater were collected from the West coast of Taiwan and analyzed by GC/ECD and GC/MS. ¡@¡@The concentration of PCBs in sediments was 31.05¡ã406.38 pg/g dry wt with the highest one at Tong-Kung. The PCBs in cultural oysters from Tong-Kung was 3.80 pg/g wet wt. Concentrations of PCBs in wild oysters from Tai-Si, Chi-Ku, and Pu-Dai were 123.57 pg/g wet wt, 2.93 pg/g wet wt, and 2.08 pg/g wet wt, respectively. The concentrations of PCBs in snails were in the range of 78.24 to 796.96 pg/g wet wt with the highest one from Tong-Kung. A positive correlations between the concentrations of PCBs in seawater and sediment (r=0.78; p<0.01) and in oysters and snails were also observed(r=0.79; p<0.01). The bioaccumulation of PCBs from seawater to oysters was about 72 times, and the biomagnification of PCBs from oysters to snails was 10 times.

Five sediment samples were collected in Bua on the Swedish west coast, near two industries, a paper mill, and a nuclear power plant. The two industries use water in their processes and have long been associated with releases of different substances, such as PCBs, and other chlorinated compounds. The environmental impact by the two industries is believed to be significant. The aim of the project was to examine the sediments close to both the water intake and water output to determine if these industrial activities have in any way changed the composition of the sediments. The sediments were extracted by Soxhlet extraction, followed by a deactivated silica and an acidic silica clean-up and then analysed by using a gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer, (GC-MS) with electron ionization, EI+, mode used in full scan mode. Each mass spectra were analysed by comparing them to the NIST database from 1998. The results were inconclusive since the peaks were not properly resolved, causing a poor correlation to the NIST database. One batch was specifically analysed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) by using an atmospheric pressure gas chromatograph (APGC) coupled to a mass spectrometer (MS). The PCB analysis provided accurate results, except for the Ringhals intake where the MS became saturated due to the high levels. The river Viskan also showed high levels of PCB. The congener pattern from PCBs found near Ringhals intake resembled an Aroclor pattern from Aroclor 1248. Since the Aroclor pattern is only seen in Ringhals intake, the source is most likely from the small harbour and not from either of the industries.

Despite having the numerous evolved heart rate measuring devices and progress in their development over the years, there always remain the challenges of modern signal processing implementation by a comparatively small size wearable device. This thesis paper presents a wearable reflectance photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor system for measuring the heart rate of a user both in steady and moving states. The size and, power consumption of the device are considered while developing, to ensure an easy deployment of the unit at the measuring site and the ability to power the entire unit with a battery .The selection of both the electronic circuits and signal processing techniques is based on their sensitivity to PPG signals, robustness against noise inducing artifacts and miniaturization of the entire measuring unit. The entire signal chain operates in the discrete-time, which allows the entire signal processing to be implemented in firmware on an embedded microprocessor. The PPG sensor system is implemented on a single PCB that consumes around 7.5mW of power. Benchmarking tests with standard heart rate measuring devices reveal that the developed measurement unit (combination of the PPG sensor system, and inertial measurement unit (IMU) developed in-house at Acreo Swedish ICT, and a battery) is comparable to the devices in detecting heart rate even in motion artifacts environment. This thesis work is carried out in Acreo Swedish ICT, Gothenburg, Sweden in collaboration with MidSweden University, Sundsvall, Department of Electronics Design. This report can be used as ground work for future development of wearable heart rate measuring units at Acreo Swedish ICT.

Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / William B. Kuhn / An important concern for high speed circuit designs is that of crosstalk and electromagnetic interference. In PCB board-level designs, crosstalk at microwave frequencies may result from imperfections in shielding of PCB interconnects or more generally transmission lines. Several studies have been done to characterize and improve the isolation between PCB transmission lines for both digital and RF circuits. For example, previous studies in the microwave region have examined the effect that line type, line length, and separation have on crosstalk and suggest that without full shielding, the upper limit of isolation is on the order of 60dB for traditional board-level lines [1]. In order to more fully characterize crosstalk and improve isolation above 60 dB, this thesis studies signal-to-ground-plane separation, considers advanced line types, and examines the effect of 3D shielding. Results are presented from 100MHz to 30GHz for the traditional transmission line structures of microstrip, CPW, differential pair and CPW differential pair. This study shows that with a halving of distance between signal and ground planes, isolation between transmission lines can be reduced by as much as 20dB, making this one of the best ways to improve performance. Advanced methods of shielding are then presented. Direct launch stripline and single-sided CPW improve upon existing crosstalk reduction techniques, while split shielding and ablation of dielectric PCB material are also proposed. The data and additional crosstalk reduction techniques discussed in this thesis serve two purposes. One: with a more complete understanding of the effects that transmission line types and parameters have on crosstalk, engineers can quickly identify potential crosstalk issues and resolve them before manufacturing. Second, this thesis presents the engineer with four new additional techniques that may become available in advanced manufacturing environments. Such techniques can further reduce crosstalk and may allow for isolation values to approach 100 dB at the PC board level.

This thesis covers considerations regarding commercially availble magnetic field sensors and the design work and assembly of a 3-axis magnetic field sensor of Hall technology that is tested for use in a cryostat at the FREIA laboratory, Uppsala university. The assembled sensor needs to withstand cryogenic temperatures and a high vacuum environment. A design for a mechanical structure that will be able to move a matrix of multiple sensors inside the cryostat is also covered. A short section discusses magnetoresistance magnetic field sensors for these purposes. The assembled sensor withstood a cryogenic test and a vacuum test separately, but it did start to show an odd behavior in a specific temperature range towards the last cycles of the cryogenic test. The printed ciruit board didn't show any damage on the board or the solder joints after operation in the vacuum environment.