Magistro studijų baigiamajame darbe išanalizuoti fleksografinių spausdinimo formų gamybos procesai, išnagrinėti ir atskleisti vaizdų rastravimo ypatumai, detaliai aprašyta originalo (projekto) paruošimo spausdinimui eiga ir spausdinimo formų gamyba. Eksperimentiškai ištirta rastravimo proceso režimų įtaka spausdinimo formų kokybei naudojant skirtingas skaitmenines plokštes. Nustatytos geriausios rastravimo programų versijos atskiriems atvejams. / In the MS thesis are analyzed procedures of the flexographic printing plates manufacturing. The peculiarities of the screening processes are revealed. The details of the workflow of the preparation of the originals (projects) for printing and the process of printing plates manufacturing are described. Experimentally is investigated the influence of the screening regimes on the quality of the printing plates using different photopolymeric plates. The best versions of the screening program for the particular cases were determined.

Baigiamajame magistro darbe nagrinėjama spaudos inžinerijos srities studijų programų absolventų padėtis darbo rinkoje. Teorinėje dalyje apžvelgta su spaudos inžinerija susijusių studijų programų pasiūla Lietuvos aukštosiose mokyklose, spaudos inžinerijos studijų sritį besirenkančių studentų ir absolventų kitimas Lietuvoje 2007–2013 metais, šios srities rengiamų specialistų pasiūla. Atlikta spaudos pramonės srities darbų pasiūlos analizė. Tiriamojoje dalyje atlikus empirinį, kiekybinį, tyrimą, išanalizuoti VGTU, KTU ir KK aukštųjų mokyklų absolventų, baigusių su spaudos inžinerija susijusias studijų programas duomenys, absolventų padėtis darbo rinkoje, studijų programos trūkumai, privalumai. Išnagrinėjus teorinę dalį ir atlikus tyrimo analizę pateikiamos baigiamojo darbo išvados ir rekomendacijos. Darbą sudaro 6 dalys: įvadas, literatūros apžvalga, teorinė ir tiriamoji dalys išvados ir rekomendacijos, literatūros sąrašas. Darbo apimtis – 55 p. teksto be priedų, 25 pav., 9 lent., 26 bibliografiniai šaltiniai Atskirai pridedami darbo priedai. / The thesis contains the investigation of the situation for the Printing engineering graduate students in labour market. The theoretical part presents an overview of the study programs related to the Printing engineering programs in Lithuanian higher schools. The changes in labour marked in 2007 – 2013 of the students who were choosing study programs related to the Printing engineering and the field of trained specialists supply was overlooked. The research part contains the survey of the VGTU, KTU and KK high school graduates of study programs related to the Printing engineering, empirical, quantitative analyses which illustrates advantages and disadvantages of these studies. After examination of the theoretical part and analysis conclusions and recommendations are provided. of the study and carried out the analysis, conclusions and recommendations. Master thesis includes 6 chapters: introduction, publications review, theoretical research conclusions and recommendations, references. Thesis consist of: 55 p. text without appendixes, 25 pictures,9 tables, 26 bibliographical entries.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) refers to the use of a group of technologies capable of combining material layer-by-layer to manufacture geometrically complex products in a single digitally controlled process step, entirely without moulds, dies or other tooling. AM is a parallel manufacturing approach, allowing the contemporaneous production of multiple, potentially unrelated, components or products. This thesis contributes to the understanding of the economic aspects of additive technology usage through an analysis of the effect of AM s parallel nature on economic and environmental performance measurement. Further, this work assesses AM s ability to efficiently create complex components or products. To do so, this thesis applies a methodology for the quantitative analysis of the shape complexity of AM output. Moreover, this thesis develops and applies a methodology for the combined estimation of build time, process energy flows and financial costs. A key challenge met by this estimation technique is that results are derived on the basis of technically efficient AM operation. Results indicate that, at least for the technology variant Electron Beam Melting, shape complexity may be realised at zero marginal energy consumption and cost. Further, the combined estimator of build time, energy consumption and cost suggests t AM process efficiency is independent of production volume. Rather, this thesis argues that the key to efficient AM operation lies in the user s ability to exhaust the available build space.

3D printers that precisely fuse plastic filament are enabling medical manufacturers to produce high-quality plastic medical devices and implants. However, the low-temperature fusing process implies that post-production sterilization must also occur at a low temperature or destroy the precision of the product. This study characterizes the effects of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) vapour sterilization on ASTM-compliant tensile samples of polylactic acid, polycaprolactone, and polycarbonate. The sterilization process caused physical deformations in polycaprolactone. Additionally, increases were observed in polycaprolactone and polycarbonate sample thickness, and in polycarbonate sample width. Decreases in E were found in all three materials, while UTS decreased in polycarbonate, and strain at UTS increased in polycaprolactone. The findings demonstrate that the materials can be compatible with H2O2 vapour sterilization, but products must be designed to accommodate for changes that occur due to sterilization. / February 2017

Why write music theory and publish it? In the thesis I investigate the reasons for a seeming over-abundance of practically oriented music treatises in early seventeenth-century Italy. Throughout I challenge our conventional assessment of the study of music theory: I suggest that we can define a music-theoretical text in terms of its material form in addition to its content. Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634) was the most prolific theorist in early seventeenth-century Italy. His music-theory books exemplify contemporary printing patterns, an overt practical focus, and a synthesis of contemporary theoretical innovations. In Chapter 1, after considering the meaning of 'music theory' and how it is typically classified, I discuss the process of and purposes for writing and publishing music theory. In Chapter 2 I explore Banchieri's practical and philosophical motives for writing music theory, and thus introduce the reader to his music-theoretical corpus. The focus of the thesis then broadens: in Chapter 3 I survey the typical authors, publishing houses, content, material form, function and readers of the various kinds of theoretical texts printed in Italy between 1600 and 1630. In Chapter 4 I examine the widespread practice of publishing second and revised editions of music-theory books in order to establish the extent to which a new edition corresponds to a seeming demand for a particular text. The case study of the paratext of Banchieri's Conclusiones de musica (Bologna, 1627) in Chapter 5 demonstrates the great extent to which the preliminary matter of an early Seicento music-theory book is embedded in its socio-cultural context and how a paratext projects ideas contained in the text proper. Lastly, in Chapter 6 I explore to whom and in which particular forums theoretical writings circulated. Here I focus principally on Banchieri's printed letters, which provide evidence of how an author circulated his music books.

There is a wide range of applications for 3D printing technology with an additive manufacturing such as aerospace, automotive, marine and oil/gas, medical, consumer, electronics, building construction, and many others. There have been many pros and cons for 3D additive manufacturing. Even though 3D printing technology has many advantages: freedom to design and innovate without penalties, rapid iteration through design permutations, excellence mass customization, elimination of tolling, green manufacturing, minimal material wastes, energy efficiency, an enablement of personalized manufacturing. 3D additive manufacturing still has many disadvantages: unexpected pre- and post-processing requirement, high-end manufacturing, low speed for mass production, high thermal residual stress, and poor surface finish and dimensional accuracy, and many others. Especially, the issues for 3D additive manufacturing are on high cost for process and equipment for high-end manufacturing, low speed for mass production, high thermal residual stress, and poor surface finish and dimensional accuracy. In particular, it is relatively challenging to produce casting products with lattice or honeycomb shapes having sophisticated geometries. In spite of the scalable potential of periodic cellular metals to structural applications, the manufacturing methods of I∙AM Casting have been not actively explored nor fully understood. A few qualitative studies of I∙AM Casting has been reported. Recently, a sand casting of cellular structures was attempted, resulting in casting porosity and the sharp corners in the lattice structure of the cellular structural molds, a sharpness which prevent fluid-flow and causes undesired solidification, resulting in misrun casting defects. Research on the indirect AM methods has not been aggressively conducted due to the highly complex and multidisciplinary problems across the process – continuum modeling (thermal stress, flow, heat transfer, and water diffusion) with multiple materials (polymer, metals, and ceramic) for multiphase simulations – solid, liquid, and gas. As an initial step to fully understand the processing of I∙AM Casting, a quantitative study on I∙AM Casting is conducted in this work.

Föreliggande rapport syftar till att redogöra för hur olika 3D-tekniker kan fungera som praktiskt användbara hjälpmedel i arbeten rörande möbelkonservering och möbelrestaurering. Arbetet behandlar olika tekniker för att skanna och skriva ut, presenterar ett urval av tidigare forskning vilket berör det aktuella ämnet, samt ger inblick i praktiska fallstudier. Den tekniska utvecklingen av 3D-printing och skanning går stadigt framåt vilket väcker frågan om tekniken kan vara ett lämpligt hjälpmedel inom området för föremålsbevarande arbete. I arbetet presenteras ett antal fallstudier där 3D-tekniken har använts för dokumentation och restaurering av olika föremål. Teknikerna har sedan jämförts med konventionella metoder. PLA är ett utskriftsfilament, kanske främst avsett för kommersiellt bruk. I arbetet undersöks detta material och dess kompabilitet med andra material. Efter åldring genomgår materialet ett hållfasthets- och kulörtest. Resultaten visar att PLA kan vara känsligt för UV-strålning och temperaturer över 60°C. Vi anser att 3D-tekniken i flera fall kan fungera som ett användbart hjälpmedel för möbelkonservering. / This thesis seeks to explain how the various 3D-technologies can serve as a practical aid in applied furniture conservation. The thesis deals with various techniques to scan and print, presents a selection of previous research relevant to the topic, and provides insight into the practical case studies. The technical development of 3D printing and scanning is advancing rapidly which raises the question whether the technology can be a useful tool in the field of conservation. The thesis presents a number of case studies where 3D technology has been used for documentation and restoration of various objects. These techniques have been compared with conventional methods. PLA is a printing fillament, perhaps primarily intended for commercial use. The work examines this material and its compatibility with other materials. After aging, the fillament undergoes a structural and color test. The results show that PLA is sensitive to UV-radiation and temperatures above 60°C. We believe that 3D technology can, in many cases, serve as a useful tool for furniture preservation.

Hospital-acquired infections are to date a major challenge in the patient safety. The proliferation of pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae is often reported in connection with textiles, which represent a significant source of transmission. This leads most often to the contamination and cross-contamination of the hospitalized patient and the hospital staff. A promising approach and the immediate objective of this research is the application of probiotics to a textile fabric. They provide preliminary evidence in being able to inhibit pathogenic bacteria growth through their competitive mechanism. During this study, screen-printing was used as a method to apply probiotics on a polyester fabric. The viability of probiotics on the fabric was evaluated in the agar plate test method. Samples that exhibited a growth of grown out colonies were further tested regarding their efficacy towards the abovementioned pathogens. This was determined in a competition test, that included the individually inoculation of the samples with the different bacteria strains. Contact-angle measurements and abrasion resistance as well as the durability were tested in order to investigate the applicability of the fabric and scanning electron microscope images were taken to detect probiotics and to evaluate the quality of the print on the fabric. Major findings included that probiotics were able to survive on the polyester fabric and that these viable probiotics are further successful in the growth inhibition of pathogenic bacteria. Thereby their efficacy against pathogens is related to the viability the probiotics. As neither the probiotics used in this study, nor the other ingredients are considered as hazardous, this process is environment-friendly. This work increases the understanding of probiotics mechanism and their survival and competition behaviour on a textile material. It opens a way in the reduction of hospital-acquired infections through the beneficial effects of probiotics.

This thesis is designed to emphasize and illustrate that marginal costing is a tool of management that can make clear the how, when, why, and wherefor of the price determining affect and its results.

With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), wireless body area networks (WBANs) are becoming increasingly pervasive in everyday life. Most WBANs are currently working at the IEEE 802.15.4 Zigbee standard. However there are growing interests to investigate the performance of BANs operating at higher frequencies (e.g. millimetre-wave band), due to the advantages offered compared to those operating at lower microwave frequencies. This thesis aims to realise printed conductive traces on flexible substrates, targeted for high frequency wearable electronics applications. Specifically, investigations were performed in the areas pertaining to the surface modification of substrates and the electrical performance of printed interconnects. Firstly, a novel methodology was proposed to characterise the dielectric properties of a non-woven fabric (Tyvek) up to 20 GHz. This approach utilised electromagnetic (EM) simulation to improve the analytical equations based on transmission line structures, in order to improve the accuracy of the conductor loss values in the gigahertz range. To reduce the substrate roughness, an UV-curable insulator was used to form a planarisation layer on a non-porous substrate via inkjet printing. The results obtained demonstrated the importance of matching the surface energy of the substrate to the ink to minimise the ink de-wetting phenomenon, which was possible within the parameters of heating the platen. Furthermore, the substrate surface roughness was observed to affect the printed line width significantly, and a surface roughness factor was introduced in the equation of Smith et al. to predict the printed line width on a substrate with non-negligible surface roughness (Ra ≤ 1 μm). Silver ink de-wetting was observed when overprinting silver onto the UV-cured insulator, and studies were performed to investigate the conditions for achieving electrically conductive traces using commercial ink formulations, where the curing equipment may be non-optimal. In particular, different techniques were used to characterise the samples at different stages in order to evaluate the surface properties and printability, and to ascertain if measurable resistances could be predicted. Following the results obtained, it was demonstrated that measurable resistance could be obtained for samples cured under an ambient atmosphere, which was verified on Tyvek samples. Lastly, a methodology was proposed to model for the non-ideal characteristics of printed transmission lines to predict the high frequency electrical performance of those structures. The methodology was validated on transmission line structures of different lengths up to 30 GHz, where a good correlation was obtained between simulation and measurement results. Furthermore, the results obtained demonstrate the significance of the paste levelling effect on the extracted DC conductivity values, and the need for accurate DC conductivity values in the modelling of printed interconnects.