Para que a tecnologia de eletrônica orgânica alcance todo o seu potencial é primordial que o processo de fabricação seja rápido e barato, e uma das maneiras de alcançar isto é com a utilização de processos gráficos especialmente adaptados para a produção de eletrônica, processo esse conhecido por roll-to-roll. Uma grande carência mundial se encontra em equipamentos de produção roll-to-roll de porte laboratorial, que possam ser utilizados para estudos de construção dos dispositivos e, mais importante, a transferência das tecnologias desenvolvidas em laboratório para processos que possam ser facilmente expandidos para a indústria. Neste sentido, durante este trabalho foi desenvolvido um sistema roll-to-roll compacto para produção e estudo de dispositivos orgânicos que apresenta as técnicas de deposição por rotogravura, wire-bar e knife-over-edge comutáveis, sendo empregada uma técnica por vez. O equipamento foi projetado e fabricado de forma a permitir a maior quantidade possível de ajustes das variáveis, com um pequeno consumo de material polimérico e de substrato. Além disto, desenvolveu-se um software de controle operado empregando-se o programa LabVIEW para regulagem da temperatura de secagem, velocidades do substrato e impressão. Como primeiro dispositivo fabricado optou-se por células eletroquímicas emissoras de luz (PLEC) por estas apresentarem baixa tensão de operação e uma baixa influência da espessura e dos eletrodos em suas propriedades optoeletrônicas. Desta forma, foi produzido um dispositivo luminescente sobre papel alumínio, flexível, de baixo custo, sem ITO e todo fabricado no equipamento roll-to-roll aqui desenvolvido. Além disto, o processo foi projetado para ser executado no ambiente, isto é, sem etapas que necessitem vácuo ou atmosfera controlada. Estes dispositivos comprovaram a aplicabilidade do sistema desenvolvido para a produção e desenvolvimento da eletrônica orgânica em laboratório visando a produção industrial final. / To develop the entire potential of Organic Electronic (OE) industry, it is necessary to generate processing methods that include high speed production at low cost. One technique that is emerging as very promising is that known as roll-to-roll. Despite the existence of several roll-to-roll machinery in the market, a small prototype that can be used in laboratories certainly will be very useful for research and as first experiments for production. In this work, we developed a compact roll-to-roll system devoted specifically to the production of printable electronic devices. In particular, this machine disposes deposition techniques as rotogravure, wire-bar and knife-over-edge. It is a versatile machine, which allows the operation of several technical parameters, using a relatively low amount of polymer material and substrate. In addition, we developed a numerical control system that is operated by a computer trough a LabWIEW program. This regulates the drying temperature and the substrate speed, parameters of fundamental importance for a good printed product. As first test we opted for building a coated Light Emitting Electrochemical Cell (PLEC), which are optoelectronic devices that uses relatively low operation voltage and does not exhibit critical thickness dependence. We printed this low cost and flexible device onto aluminum paper, then avoiding any other process and the use of ITO. All the coating processing was carried out in environmental conditions, being not necessary vacuum or accurate control of atmosphere. This application gives a strong evidence that this compact roll-to-roll machine presents a good performance in the fabrication of organic optoelectronic devices, being adequate for research and as guide for industrial production.

Occupational exposure limits are generally decreasing and traditional samplers used for quantifying occupational exposures have numerous limitations: cost, disposability, detection of low concentrations, and some even fail to match international inhalable sampling conventions. A low cost, high-flow (10 L min-1) inhalable prototype sampler was developed from the 37-mm cassette and tested in previous studies. These studies called for additional field testing as an area and personal sampler. The sampler was paired with the IOM (2 L min-1), a traditional inhalable air sampler, and deployed in metal working facilities. The samplers were compared to determine whether the prototype matched the IOM and whether the new sampler could improve the sensitivity for detecting lower concentrations of metals. The following processes were sampled: welding, grinding, soldering, pouring, sawing, tending and shooting guns. A total of 21 out of 28 paired samples had detectable metals out of 15 possible metals. There were seven out of eight personal samples and 14 out of 20 area samples with detectable metal concentrations. The average sample time was seven hours, but ranged from 4.2 – 8.3 hours. The most common metals that were detected on 10 or more samples were iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and lead. Metal concentrations collected by the two samplers were not statistically different for the aggregate metal concentrations collected (p = 0.67), metals collected by sample type, personal or area (p = 0.52) or by particle “sizes,” small or large (p = 0.40), collected from the processes. While the samplers were not statistically different, linear regression equations to assess the sampler relationships showed that there were significant differences between the two samplers. Over the total metal concentrations collected, the prototype collected about 71% of what the IOM collected. By sample type, the prototype performed better during area sampling as opposed to personal sampling and by particle size, the prototype performed better in the collection of smaller, heat generated particles, as opposed to larger, mechanically generated particles. Though minor differences were found between concentrations detected on the prototype and IOM, it was determined that in general, these differences were negligible in their interpretation and comparison to occupational exposure limits. Plots also indicated that the prototype sampler performs well at sampling low concentrations of metals, however, only a small amount of metals were detected on the prototype that were not found on the IOM, therefore, the improvement of sensitivity was not assessed. High-flow sampling was hindered by the ability of air sampling pumps to maintain the required operation flow rate of 10 L min-1 for the duration of a work shift. Additional field studies are needed to determine whether the sensitivity for detecting lower concentrations of metals can be improved.

Guidewires have been used in many operating rooms by vascular surgeons to assist them in positioning and maneuvering through a tortuous stenosis or lesion to a desired location, and to be used as a guide for the implantation of a catheter. Surgeons are tasked with having to insert a guidewire inside a small cavity, which requires a high level of skill and patience. The insertion of the guide wire is controlled by a torque device, which allows a surgeon to advance, rotate and grip the wet hydrophilic coating of the guidewire. Despite its many advantages, the torque device does, in fact, give rise to many time consuming issues that results in delays to the surgical procedure. One main problem in the use of the torque device is that it is introduced through the proximal end of the guidewire. Therefore, it requires the assistance of another individual, the surgical technician, to advance the torque device from the furthest point away from the patient. Once the torque device is in position, it is up to the surgeon to attempt to control the tightening, advancing and loosening of the device all with one hand. The other, free hand is used as a placement hand to secure the positioning of the guidewire within the patient. Another issue arises in the removal of the torque device, which must be loosened with one hand and slid off the same end it was introduced, often resulting in the unwanted ejection of the guide wire tip from within the patient's body. The process must then commence from the start, resulting in loss of valuable time, and be repeated until the distal tip of the guidewire is secure in the desired location and the catheter can now be introduced. The main purpose of this research is to investigate, design, and develop a new guidewire torque device to facilitate in a more controlled manipulation of a guidewire by vascular surgeons. Through in-depth interviews with both surgeons and surgical residents alike, direct observational time in the vascular surgery OR (operating room), and I obtained knowledge used as a design basis for the development of the product. For example, observations of relevant medical procedures were also accomplished at Tampa General Hospital to establish a basis for the design,and to assess current vascular surgery medical procedures. Initial design concepts where created using SolidWorks CAD software. After a period of researching and understanding user needs, an assortment of non-slip adhesives where found to be a viable solution to the problem. A characterization analysis was done on the highest rated non-slip adhesive to further define design parameters, and pave the way for FDA approval and product commercialization.

La miniaturisation des moteurs est un point important dans le domaine des microsystèmes. De nouveaux moteurs synchrones planaires de diamètres § 3 à <|> 8 mm ont été fabriqués, qui devraient stimuler le développement des micromoteurs. Leurs performances remarquables sont dues à leur conception hybride adaptée à l'état de l'art des moyens de fabrication disponibles. Ils allient ainsi un bobinage statorique triphasé à 2 couches obtenu par une utilisation innovante des techniques de lithographie profonde, à un rotor disque en SmCo aimanté avec jusqu'à 15 paires de pôles, le tout étant encapsulé dans un boîtier usiné avec lès moyens éprouvés de l'industrie horlogère. Ce travail fait d'abord un bilan général de l'état de l'art des micromoteurs, puis décrit tout le processus de conception, et enfin la fabrication de prototypes de micromoteurs synchrones planaires à aimants, qui développent un couple nominal approchant 100 uN.m.

<p>There are a vast number of research and studies undertaken within the domain of user-centered design concerning the design process of an artifact, but still there are questions being raised of the relatively new and successful field of mobile design. During recent years mobile technology have surpassed the standardized thoughts of how to prototype and evaluate such a ubiquitous device. The paper addresses this predicament by discussing aspects of fidelity differences in an early design process of a mobile design. The example being presented refers to a design study of an iPhone-application, where two different types of prototypes were created and user tested, a low-fidelity paper prototype and a mixed-fidelity interactive prototype. The paper sets focus on the various differences between these fidelities closely related to the case. It also reflects on how mobile design approaches can mature during the early stages of a design process.</p>

<p>The aim of this study was to find out whether Europeans and North Americans differ as to what they consider to be best examples of four categories; namely vehicles, clothes, vegetables, and furniture. I compared the two continents with each other and tried to find out to what extent the cultural differences really influence the best examples chosen by the research participants. Further, I briefly</p><p>compared the prototypes with European females and males and North American females and males and tried to point out some differences between the two genders. Moreover I tried to connect the differences to cultural and gender related factors. The results show the existence of some good and some bad examples that were the same no matter if we looked at the European list or the North American one. However, as we have found out through our research there seem to be strong cultural reasons for the best examples the participants chose. It is a natural behavior to choose prototypes of categories that are well known by the research participants. The best known items are those which are present in the lives of the participants. So, for example riding a bicycle does not seem to be very common among people in North America. They consider bicycle only a lower average example for the category vehicles, whereas Europeans for example seem to use bicycles much more often. They place it on rank four out of 17. People seem to choose things they know or are interested in.</p>

<p>The image analysis company Izolde was in need of a user friendly graphical user interface (GUI) to use as a modifiable template to be able to meet a variety of requests and demands from their clientele.</p><p>This paper describes the process of designing such a GUI with respect to theories within human computer interaction and available usability principles and theories.To familiarise and learn about other software on the market a background research was conducted. Wireframes as well as prototypes were created. With the help of recognised usability inspection tools tests were conducted on users with varied degree of computer experience. Test results were the basis for what would be altered and improved in terms of usability on the prototypes.</p><p>The final result is a flexible user friendly GUI in regards to the criteria outlined by Izolde.</p> / <p>Detta examensarbete beskriver tillvägagångssättet i skapandet av en mall till ett användargränssnitt. Ett användargränssnitt är utseendet på ett program som användaren ser och interagerar med på en datorskärm, skärmen på en telefon eller annan typ av skärm. Användargränssnittet är utseendet av en programvara och det användaren visuellt kan tolka. I klartext tillåter ett användargränssnitt en användare att interagera med hårdvara genom inmatning (användarens påverkan på systemet) och utdata (resultat av användarens påverkan).</p><p>Grafiska användargränssnitt skiljer sig från de textbaserade avändargränssnitten som tidigare var dominerande. Textbaserade lösningar känns ofta igen i äldre DOS-program och typiskt hos dessa är textinmatning av diverse kommandon och parametrar som leder till påverkan av systemet. Numer är det de grafiska användargränssnitten som dominerar. Fördelen med dessa är att de bygger på igenkänningsmekanismen hos människans tänkande och att de därför tillåter ett mer intuitivt användande av systemet i och med att de är just grafiska.</p><p>Målet med examensarbetet var att designa en gränssnittsmall åt bildanalysföretaget Izolde. Gränssnittsmallen ska kunna modifieras för att kunna möta Izoldes kunders efterfrågan utifrån den typ av analys de vill kunna genomföra. För att kunna genomföra designprocessen krävdes djupare kunskap i vad användarvänlighet innebär och hur denna skall tillämpas i skapandet av ett grafiskt användargränssnitt. Med hjälp av vedertagna principer och teorier inom användarvänlighet var det möjligt att anta rollen som interaktionsdesigner. Interaktiondesign är en disciplin som definieras som beteendet och interaktionen mellan ett föremål, i detta fall ett grafiskt användargränssnitt, och dess användare.</p><p>För att säkerställa att designprocessen skulle resultera i ett attraktivt och användarvänligt grafiskt användargränssnitt krävdes även att tester utfördes på användare med olika grad av datorkunskap på de wireframes och prototyper som skapades. En wireframe är en tidig skiss av designen på det slutgiltiga grafiska gränssnittet och kan beskrivas som en enkel ritning på ett papper eller en grov skiss skapat med lämplig programvara av vad designers vision av det slutgiltiga resultatet är. Genom att rita skisser skapar designern sig en god uppfattning om hur det grafiska gränssnittet kommer att presenteras i dess slutgiltiga skick. Dessutom är det mycket enklare och snabbare att göra ändringar på en skiss än i ett avancerat program som kräver mer exakt precision. Prototyper är mer sofistikerade versioner av wireframes och skapas i ett senare skede av designprocessen. Prototyper bär också större likheter med den slutliga produkten än wireframes.</p><p>Designprocessen resulterade i ett flexibelt användarvänligt grafiskt användargränssnitt vars karaktär är anpassat i avseende på de kriterier som angetts av Izolde. Förhoppningen är att det skapade gränssnittet kommer kunna användas som en förändringsbar mall till ett gränssnitt som kan anpassas efter de kriterier och önskemål som ges av Izoldes kunder.</p>

The aim of this dissertation is to give a detailed analysis of the Dutch verb komen ‘come’ and the Swedish verb komma ‘come’ based on a systematic comparison. Focus has been placed on grammatical polysemy and the study is written within the framework of cognitive linguistics. Both verbs can be defined as corresponding to a complex category consisting of a prototypical meaning and other meanings which can be central or peripheral in relation to the prototype. Two monolingual corpora consisting of newspaper texts were used as sources of data: INL 27 Miljoen Woorden Krantencorpus 1995 and Press 95, 96, 97 Concordances in Göteborg University’s Bank of Swedish. A sample of 1,490 tokens of komen and 1,518 tokens of komma was taken from the two corpora. When analyzing the two verbs and their context the following ten variables were taken into consideration: 1) physical movement, 2) animate or inanimate subject, 3) adverbial, 4) future reference 5) bounded or unbounded aktionsart, 6) ingressive meaning, 7) accidentality, 8) infinitive marker, 9) predictive and/or intentional meaning, and 10) causativity. The results indicate that komen and komma have the same prototypical meaning. However, the semantic extensions from the prototype differ between the two verbs. If we consider the two verbs in a network, the meanings of komen and komma occupy different positions relative to the prototype. On the one hand, when Dutch komen is a copulative verb and/or occurs in lexicalized verb phrases, the resultative meaning is more central, while the aspectual meaning is peripheral. On the other hand, the temporal meaning of Swedish komma, as a future auxiliary verb, holds a more central position than the resultative meaning which is more peripheral. Nevertheless, Dutch komen, which is not considered a future auxiliary verb, but is rather an aspectual auxiliary verb shows similarities in the present tense (komen te + V2) with the Swedish kommer att construction (a true future auxiliary verb). That is, Dutch komen can have clear future reference, but in a limited context. Whereas Dutch komen is categorized as a copulative verb, the Swedish komma is not considered a copulative verb. Nevertheless, it is clear from the corpus that Swedish komma has a copula-like function, but in a limited context. Finally, it has become clear that komen and komma have undergone somewhat different grammaticalization processes even though both verbs contain similar meanings.

This thesis presents a novel design paradigm of mobile robots: the Hybrid Mobile Robot system. It consists of a combination of parallel and serially connected links resulting in a hybrid mechanism that includes a mobile robot platform for locomotion and a manipulator arm for manipulation, both interchangeable functionally. All state-of-the-art mobile robots have a separate manipulator arm module attached on top of the mobile platform. The platform provides mobility and the arm provides manipulation. Unlike them, the new design has the ability to interchangeably provide locomotion and manipulation capability, both simultaneously. This was accomplished by integrating the locomotion platform and the manipulator arm as one entity rather than two separate and attached modules. The manipulator arm can be used as part of the locomotion platform and vice versa. This paradigm significantly enhances functionality. The new mechanical design was analyzed with a virtual prototype that was developed with MSC Adams Software. Simulations were used to study the robot’s enhanced mobility through animations of challenging tasks. Moreover, the simulations were used to select nominal robot parameters that would maximize the arm’s payload capacity, and provide for locomotion over unstructured terrains and obstacles, such as stairs, ditches and ramps. The hybrid mobile robot also includes a new control architecture based on embedded on-board wireless communication network between the robot’s links and modules such as the actuators and sensors. This results in a modular control architecture since no cable connections are used between the actuators and sensors in each of the robot links. This approach increases the functionality of the mobile robot also by providing continuous rotation of each link constituting the robot. The hybrid mobile robot’s novel locomotion and manipulation capabilities were successfully experimented using a complete physical prototype. The experiments provided test results that support the hypothesis on the qualitative and quantitative performance of the mobile robot in terms of its superior mobility, manipulation, dexterity, and ability to perform very challenging tasks. The robot was tested on an obstacle course consisting of various test rigs including man–made and natural obstructions that represent the natural environments the robot is expected to operate on.

<p> This research presents a new technique for user interface prototyping, called mixed-fidelity prototyping. Mixed-fidelity prototyping combines low-, medium-, and high-fidelity interface elements within a single prototype in a lightweight manner, supporting independent refinement of individual elements. The approach allows designers to investigate alternate designs, including more innovative designs, and elicit feedback from stakeholders without having to commit too early in the process. As well, the approach encourages collaboration among a diverse group of stakeholders throughout the design process. For example, individuals who specialize in specific fidelities, such as high-fidelity components, are able to become involved earlier on in the process. </p> <p> We developed a conceptual model called the Region Model and implemented a proof-of-concept system called ProtoMixer. We demonstrated the mixed-fidelity approach by using ProtoMixer to design an example application. </p> <p> ProtoMixer has several benefits over other existing prototyping tools. With ProtoMixer, prototypes can be composed of multiple fidelities, and elements are easily refined and transitioned between different fidelities. Individual elements can be tied into data and functionality, and can be executed inside prototypes. As well, traditional informal practices such as sketching and storyboarding are supported. Furthermore, ProtoMixer is designed for collaborative use on a high-resolution, large display workspace. </p>