Otitis media, which is an upper respiratory tract infection that affect the middle ear, is the second most common disease in childhood, outnumbered in prevalence only by the common cold. Diagnosis of middle ear inflammation is often performed in the primary healthcare where the normal procedure involves anamnesis and physical examination of the tympanic membranes (TM) of the patient, usually be means of otoscopy. The general aim of this thesis was to develop optical methods that enable quantification of TM characteristics associated with otitis media. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy was applied to quantify TM erythema using previously suggested erythema detection algorithms. Healthy TM:s were significantly distinguished from TM:s with induced erythema (p < 0.01) and from TM:s in ears with mucous middle ear effusion (p < 0.05). A new technique for surface shape assessment based on an on-axis dual fibre array incorporated in an otoscope was developed and evaluated in ear models and on tympanic membranes from harvested temporal bones. The technique utilises the combined effects of source-detector fibre separation and fibre-to-sample distance on the detected light intensity. Optical phantoms, both polyacetal plastic solids and latex membranes, were utilised to demonstrate the ability of the surface shape assessment technique to differentiate between convex and concave surfaces – as a bulging tympanic membrane is typically associated with acute otitis media whereas a retracted eardrum is associated with otitis media with effusion. Monte Carlo simulations of the surface shape data were performed in order to validate the experimental results with a theoretical model that are consistent with light transport theory. Retracted and bulging tympanic membranes from harvested temporal bones could be separated with a single measurement, given that variations in measurement distance were accounted for and that measurement from normally positioned tympanic membranes were used for signal normalization. In conclusion, the studies implicate that for individual otitis diagnosis, the hyperaemic tympanic membrane was separated from the healthy by application of erythema indices using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Moreover, bulging and retracted positions of the tympanic membrane were separable by means of the source-detector intensity matrix. For further clinical studies it is reasonable to assume that data from both methods are needed for diagnosis.

Two sets of experiments were performed on a simulated turbine nozzle guide vane. First, adiabatic and overall effectiveness measurements were taken in the showerhead region of the vane using adiabatic and matched Biot vane models, respectively. Measurements of overall effectiveness in the showerhead region are not found in the literature, and are a useful baseline for validating the results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Overall effectiveness is useful because it shows the results of combining film cooling, internal convection, and surface conduction to provide a more complete picture of vane cooling than adiabatic effectiveness. An impingement plate was utilized to generate internal jet cooling. Momentum flux ratios were matched between the models and ranged from I*SH = 0.76 to 6.70, based on showerhead upstream approach velocity. The second set of experiments used a different model to examine the effects of surface curvature on adiabatic effectiveness. Results in open literature are found by varying the radius of curvature of a fixed setup, so the current approach was novel in that it looked at adiabatic effectiveness at locations of various curvature around the same vane. Blowing ratios from M = 0.4 to M = 1.6 were tested at a density ratio of DR = 1.20 for two locations on the suction side of the vane. Results were presented in terms of laterally averaged adiabatic effectiveness and contour plots of adiabatic effectiveness, and were compared to literature. / text

This thesis presents a new system that reconstructs the 3D representation of dental casts. To maintain the integrity of the 3D representation, a standard model is built to cover the blind spots that the camera cannot reach. The standard model is obtained by scanning a real human mouth model with a laser scanner. Then the model is simplified by an algorithm which is based on iterative contraction of vertex pairs. The simplified standard model uses a local parametrization method to obtain the curvature information. The system uses a digital camera and a square tube mirror in front of the camera to capture multi-view images. The mirror is made of stainless steel in order to avoid double reflections. The reflected areas of the image are considered as images taken by the virtual cameras. Only one camera calibration is needed since the virtual cameras have the same intrinsic parameters as the real camera. Depth is computed by a simple and accurate geometry based method once the corresponding points are identified. Correspondences are selected using a feature point based stereo matching process, including fast normalized cross-correlation and simulated annealing.

yes / Recent studies have reported that quantifying symphyseal and auricular surfaces curvature changes on 3D models acquired by laser scanners have a potential for age estimation. However, no tests have been carried out to evaluate the repeatability of the results between different laser scanners. 3D models of the two pelvic joints were generated using three laser scanners (Custom, Faro, Minolta). The surface curvature, the surface area and the distance between co-registered meshes were investigated. Close results were found for surface areas (differences between 0.3% and 2.4%) and for distance deviations (average < 20 μm, SD < 200 μm). The curvature values were found to be systematically biased between different laser scanners, but still showing similar trends with increasing phases / scores. Applying a smoothing factor to the 3D models, it was possible to separate anatomy from the measurement error of each instrument, so that similar curvature values could be obtained (p < 0.05) independent of the specific laser scanner. / The full text was made available at the end of the publisher's embargo: 31st March 2016

This study performed detailed measurements on and around scaled up conducting and adiabatic airfoils with and without film cooling. The conducting vane was a matched Bi airfoil, which accurately scaled the convective heat transfer and conduction through the solid, in order to produce non-dimensional surface temperatures and thermal boundary layers that were representative of an actual engine. Measurements made on all vane models included surface temperature measurements and thermal profiles above the walls. Separate measurements on non-film cooled and film cooled conducting models allowed for the individual contributions of the internal convective cooling and external film cooling to the overall cooling scheme to be quantified. Surface temperature and thermal field measurements above the wall were also performed on a film cooled adiabatic model. For the conducting model with internal cooling only, strong streamwise temperature variations were seen. The surface temperature variations were highly dependent on the local external and internal heat transfer coefficients. Spanwise temperature variations also existed, but were modest in comparison to streamwise variations. Comparing the thermal fields above the film cooled adiabatic and conducting walls allowed for the assumption that the conducting wall would not significantly affect the thermal field in the film cooling jet to be tested. Near the edge of the film cooling jet the developing thermal boundary layer had a clear effect on the overlying gas temperature, suggesting that the common assumption that the adiabatic wall temperature is the appropriate driving temperature for heat transfer to a film cooled wall was invalid. On the jet centerline thermal boundary layer effects were less influential, due to the development of a new, thin boundary layer. This suggested that the adiabatic wall temperature as driving temperature for heat transfer was a reasonable assumption on the jet centerline for most cases tested. As film cooling momentum flux ratio increase, thermal boundary layer effects became more influential on the jet centerline. Additionally, the high resolution surface temperature measurements and thermal field measurements above the wall presented in the current study represent a significant improvement in the data available for validation of computational simulations of conducting turbine airfoils. / text

We have developed an analytical technique for single molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) data that avoids filtering prior to analysis and performs pattern recognition to identify distinct SMFS events. The technique characterizes the signal similarity between all curves in a data set and generates a hierarchical clustering tree, from which clusters can be identified, aligned, and examined to identify key patterns. This procedure was applied to alpha-lactalbumin (aLA) on polystyrene substrates with flat and nanoscale curvature, and bacteriorhodopsin (bR) adsorbed on mica substrates. Cluster patterns identified for the aLA data sets were associated with different higher-order protein-protein interactions. Changes in the frequency of the patterns showed an increase in the monomeric signal from flat to curved substrates. Analysis of the bR data showed a high level of multiple protein SMFS events and allowed for the identification of a set of characteristic three-peak unfolding events.