A elevada introdução de antibióticos no ambiente aquático tem aumentado a preocupação em relação ao desenvolvimento de microrganismos resistentes aos agentes antimicrobianos e seu potencial impacto na biota aquática. Com o objetivo de monitorar a presença, persistência e destinação desses fármacos no meio ambiente, há a necessidade de se desenvolver métodos analíticos altamente sensíveis a baixas concentrações desses antibióticos, na ordem de ng L-1 a μg L-1. Nesse contexto o trabalho tem como objetivo a síntese de sorventes seletivos como polímeros molecularmente impressos (MIP) e polímeros molecularmente impressos com acesso restrito (RAMIP) para a análise de amostras aquosas complexas contendo fluoroquinolonas, empregando extração em fase sólida (SPE) online acoplada por column-switching (CS) à LC-MS/MS. Dois MIPs (MIP1 e MIP2) foram sintetizados utilizando ofloxacino como molécula molde, ácido metacrílico como monômero e, etileno glicol dimetacrilato (MIP1) ou trimetilpropano trimetacrilato (MIP2) como agente de ligação cruzada. O glicerol dimetacrilato e hidroximetil dimetacrilato foram utilizados para promover a formação de uma superfície hidrofílica sobre os MIP1 e MIP2 (RAMIP1 e RAMIP2). Os polímeros sintetizados (MIP1, MIP2, RAMIP1 e RAMIP2) foram acondicionados em colunas de 21,7 x 2,0 mm e empregados para análise direta das matrizes em um sistema de CS-LC-MS/MS online, para avaliação da seletividade, exclusão de macromoléculas e recuperação relativa do processo. As fases sintetizadas foram recobertas com ácidos húmicos (MIP1-AH, MIP2-AH, RAMIP1-AH, RAMIP2-AH) e foram comparadas a fase extratora HLB-AH quanto a seletividade e capacidade de exclusão de proteínas e ácidos húmicos. Os polímeros sintetizados mostraram-se seletivos para a análise de fluoroquinolonas quando comparados com possíveis interferentes, em especial o MIP1 e MIP-AH, com seletividade maior em relação à apresentada pelas fases comerciais HLB Oasis® e StrataX®. Além disso, foi possível eliminar cerca de 92-100% de proteína quando percolada uma solução aquosa de 44 mg mL-1 de albumina sérica bovina (BSA) e de 94-96% quando percolada uma solução aquosa de 6 mg mL-1 de ácido húmico. A eficiência relativa do processo de preparo de amostra apresentada pelos polímeros sintetizados foi comparável à da fase comercial, no entanto o desvio padrão relativo (DPR) apresentado pela fase HLB foi maior. O polímero MIP1-AH apresentou melhor eficiência no processo de extração para a maioria dos analitos quando analisado em matriz de esgoto preparado em laboratório e esgoto sanitário enquanto que as fases MIP2 e RAMIP1 apresentaram um melhor desempenho na extração dos analitos em matriz de efluente de ETE. Em suma, o efeito matriz mostrou-se ainda persistente devido à complexidade das matrizes avaliadas, o que foge à idealidade para que se tenha detecção de fluoroquinolonas em baixíssimas concentrações, como objetivo desse trabalho. Dessa forma, para que o método possa ser utilizado para análise de amostras reais é necessária a compatibilização das matrizes durante a validação do método. / The increased use of antibiotics has led to a higher presence of these molecules into environment. Therefore, there is a raising concern on this matter, since antibiotics may yield microorganisms resistant to their effects. Aiming to monitoring the presence, persistence and destination of these drugs on the environment, there is an urge for the development of highly sensitive analytical methods, capable of detecting at the μg L-1 to the ng L-1 concentration levels. In this fashion, this thesis focuses on the synthesis of selective sorbents such as molecular imprinted polymers (MIP) and restricted access molecular imprinted polymers (RAMIP) for the analysis of complex water samples containing fluoroquinolones. Additionally, it includes the use of these sorbents by online solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled to LC-MS/MS, using a column-switching (CS) setup. Two MIPs (MIP1 and MIP2) were synthesized using ofloxacin as template, methacrylic acid as monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (MIP1) or trimethylpropane trimethacrylate (MIP2) as cross-linking agent. The glycerol dimethacrylate and hydroximethyl dimethacrylate were employed to promote the formation of a hydrophilic surface layer on MIP1 and MIP2 (RAMIP1 and RAMIP2). The synthesized polymers (MIP1, MIP2, RAMIP1, RAMIP2) were packed into 21,7 x 2,0 mm columns and used for the direct analysis of complex water matrices using an online CS-LC-MS/MS system, for the evaluation of the selectivity, macromolecules exclusion and relative process efficiency. The synthesized phases were coated with humic acids (MIP1-AH, MIP2-AH, RAMIP1-AH, RAMIP2-AH) and were compared to the extraction phase HLB-AH regarding its selectivity and capability of proteins and humic acid exclusion. The synthesized polymers displayed selectivity for the analysis of fluoroquionolones when compared to the possible interferents, specially the MIP1 and MIP1-AH, with a higher selectivity when compared with the commercial phases Oasis® HLB and Strata X®. Additionally, when percolating an aqueous solution containing 44 mg mL-1 of bovine seric albumin (BSA) it was possible to eliminate ca. 92-100% of the proteins and 94-96% of exclusion was obtained when percolating an aqueous solution containing 6 mg mL-1 of humic acid. The relative process efficiency of sample preparation resulted from the synthesized polymers was comparable to that of the commercial phase, however the relative standard deviation (RSD) for the HLB phase was higher. The polymer MIP1-AH displayed better efficiency for the extraction process for most of the analytes on both sewage matrices, the one prepared on the laboratory and the sanitary one. The phases MIP2 and RAMIP1 presented a better performance for the extraction of analytes in effluents of a wastewater treatment plant. In conclusion, the matrix effect showed to be a persistent effect, given the complexity of the matrices analyzed. This fact is far from an ideal condition of detecting fluoroquinolones in real-life application where they are present at very low concentrations. In this sense, for the application of this method for real samples, a strategy of matrix matching would be needed during the validation of the method.

This thesis deals with the time-domain analysis of switched linear networks and investigates inherent problems which have to be considered when analyzing this class of networks. Computer simulation requires the use of numerical methods and we focus on the transmission -line modelling technique (TLM) and the numerical inverse Laplace transform. A general approach based on the one-graph modified nodal description is given which allows the formulation of circuit equations of a TLM-modelled circuit by inspection. The numerical equivalence of TLM and trapezoidal rule has been found and a proof is given. A variable step size simulator has been developed based on the 4th order numerical inverse Laplace transform. The properties of this method are reviewed and its limitations are discussed. Simulation results are given to illustrate capabilities of the simulator.

Commutation is a fundamental feature of all DC machines. In conventional DC machines the commutation function is performed by the commutator and brushes. These act as both position sensors and switches. The mechanical commutator has obvious disadvantages. Overcoming those disadvantages has been a major reason behind the development of brushless DC (BLDC) machines. In brushless DC machines commutation is performed by power electronic devices forming part of an inverter bridge. However, switching of the power electronic devices has to be synchronised with rotor position. Position sensing is therefore an essential requirement. This can be done by using sensors such as Hall Effect devices or a sensorless approach may be adopted. Advantages of sensorless techniques include reduced cost and wiring. The most common sensorless method is based on detection of the zero crossing of back EMF signals. But this technique works only above a certain speed since back EMF is directly proportional to speed. As a result BLDC systems which rely solely on back EMF signals for commutation suffer from relatively poor starting performance characterised by back rotation of up to one hundred and eigthty electrical degrees and large fluctuations in electromagnetic torque resulting from non-ideal commutation instants. This may not be acceptable for some applications and many researchers have attempted to overcome those problems. The aim of this project has been to investigate the possibility of a sensorless technique which does not cost more than the back EMF method but with a performance at start-up comparable with that obtained when Hall sensors are used. Initial investigations led to a saliency based method. Detailed theoretical analysis is presented which shows that the method is insensitive to variations in operational parameters such as load current and circuit parameters such as power device voltage drops and winding resistances. There is a close parallel between it and the back EMF method and this makes it easy to swap to the latter method at high speed if necessary. A starting strategy, relying on saliency related measurements, is proposed which offers starting performance much better than the back EMF method and almost as good as Hall sensor based techniques. Experimental evidence is provided to confirm that commutation instants determined by the proposed method are practically coincident with those obtained when Hall sensors are used.

In this thesis we provide a model for a bufferless optical burst switching (OBS) and an optical packet switching (OPS) network. The thesis is divided in three parts. In the first part we introduce the basic functionality and structure of OBS and OPS networks. We identify the blocking probability as the main performance parameter of interest. In the second part we study the statistical properties of the traffic that will likely run through these networks. We use for this purpose a set of traffic traces obtained from the Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya. Our conclusion is that traffic entering the optical domain in future OBS/OPS networks will be long-range dependent (LRD). In the third part we present the model for bufferless OBS/OPS networks. This model takes into account the results from the second part of the thesis concerning the LRD nature of traffic. It also takes into account specific issues concerning the functionality of a typical bufferless packet-switching network. The resulting model presents scalability problems, so we propose an approximative method to compute the blocking probability from it. We empirically evaluate the accuracy of this method, as well as its scalability.

Due to the increased number of niched retail banks in Sweden, the competition for the customers has become severe. Bank customers in the Swedish bank market tend to stay with their bank. The challenge of how to manage to attract new customers is a central part of the retail banks’ management tasks. The research area on which we have been focusing on is the area of consumer behavior. We have been focusing on student switching behavior of financial services provided by retail banks in general and ICA banken in particular. To strengthen the practical connection, we choose to focus on the case of ICA banken. Our objective was to investigate which predictors that affect switching intention and investigate how these predictors affect students’ switching behavior, which in the extension will contribute to how retail banks can work towards manage these rising issues. We formulated the following research question: How do the predictors of switching intention affect switching behavior in the retail banking context? Our purpose was to investigate the predictors of switching intention and their effects on switching behavior in the retail banking context. The study was performed with a quantitative method and a deductive approach. By using a convenience sampling technique, we collected the data electronically. The population examined was the student segment at Umeå University. Our questionnaire was constructed with the theoretical chapter as framework, and the discussion, conclusion and practical implications are based on our empirical findings. Our study was geographically limited to Umeå University. The ability to generalize our findings was also limited, due to our chosen sampling technique. We reached a conclusion that the greatest predictor of switching intention was attitude towards switching. Additionally, the greatest predictors of switching behavior was a combination of attitude towards switching and customer satisfaction. Our practical implications consisted of the recommendation for retail banks to focus on developing marketing strategies that would bank customers more positive towards the act of switching bank in order to attract new customers. Our findings showed that bank customers in general were neither negative nor positive towards the act of switching bank. For ICA banken we gave three proposals; to attract new customers, to transform customers that only partly use the bank to customers that use ICA banken for the majority of their financial transactions and to maintain current customers. These actions are made by managing customer satisfaction, brand image, the relational investment between ICA banken and customers, and subjective norms since these should affect the attitude towards switching bank.

Optical packet switching (OPS) is the most prominent candidate transport solution that can seamlessly integrate electrical and optical layers by transferring certain switching functionality from electronics to optics, thus alleviating unnecessarily slow and expensive optical-electrical-optical conversions and signal processing at the switching node. Optical Label Switching (OLS) is an important aspect of the optical packet switched network that enables very low-latency forwarding of ultra-high bit-rate, protocol-independent packets entirely in the optical domain. The objective of the proposed research is to develop novel, efficient techniques to realize several key enabling technologies such as optical label generation and encoding, optical label swapping, all-optical buffering, and spectral efficient transmission system for optical label switched based OPS networks. A novel scheme of generating optical label at the ingress node using optical carrier suppression and separation (OCSS) technique is proposed. This scheme does not suffer from any unavoidable interference, limited extinction ratio or strict synchronization requirements between payload and label as observed by the currently available other label generation methods. One of the primary challenges to realize optical label swapping at the core node of scalable OLS network is the insertion of new optical labels without any wavelength conversion for same wavelength packet routing. A novel mechanism to realize same wavelength packet switching without using any conventional wavelength converter in the OLS network carrying differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) modulated payload and on-off keying (OOK) modulated optical label is demonstrated. Also a new dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) optical buffer architecture using optical fiber delay lines that can provide wavelength selective reconfigurable variable delays is proposed. Optical packet switching provides automated, reconfigurable, and faster provision of both wavelength and bandwidth with finer granularity in the optical layer. However, a newer, cost-effective, and spectrally efficient optical transmission technology is essential to support the explosive bandwidth demand expected by the future optical packet switched networks. To meet this challenge, a spectrally efficient solution for transporting 40 Gbps per channel data over 50 GHz spaced DWDM system is developed by exploiting optical carrier suppression and separation technique and optical duobinary modulation.

Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, a sliding mode control design methodology is proposed in this thesis for a class of perturbed switched systems. The control of the systems is rest restricted to switching between two different constant values. New sliding mode reaching conditions are proposed for the controllers so that the controlled systems can enter the sliding mode in finite time. Once the switched control system is in the sliding mode, the stability of the system is guaranteed by choosing a suitable sliding surface. In addition, a method for alleviating the infinite switching phenomenon is also provided in this thesis. Finally, a numerical and a practical example with computer simulation results are given for demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.

This thesis analyses the controlled switching methods applied to modern SF6 type circuit breakers for the purpose of reducing switching overvoltages. Main emphasis is placed on controlled switching methods applied at extra high voltage level, since the cost of failures caused by switching overvoltages is highest in this voltage level. After a brief introduction about circuit breakers in general, switching overvoltages and controlled switching methods are analysed. Also a case study about controlled switching of an unloaded overhead line is provided, and success of controlled switching method is evaluated.

In this dissertation, a new signaling scheme known as Constant Voltage Power Transmission Line (CV-PTL) is presented to supply power to a digital I/O circuit. This signaling scheme provides power through a transmission line in place of a power plane while dynamically changing the impedance of the power delivery network to keep a constant voltage at the power pin of the IC. Consequently, this reduces the effects of return path discontinuities and can improve the quality of output signal by reducing power and ground bounce. Through theory, simulation, and measurements, we show that this new method can be used to reduce jitter and eye height with the proposed PDN methodology. In addition, the signaling scheme was extended to vertically-stacked 3D integrated circuits (3D ICs). It is known that power supply noise worsens as one goes higher up in the stack of dies due to increased interconnect inductance. However, by utilizing the CV-PTL concept in the PDN design of a 3-layer 3DIC system, the circuit showed considerable improvement in power supply noise and peak-to-peak jitter as compared to the conventional design approach. In addition to signal and power integrity of these signaling schemes, the noise coupling between digital and RF components is also investigated. A simple design for mitigating the coupling of power supply noise in mixed-signal electronics is presented. Currently used methods, such as electromagnetic bandgap structures have been shown to exhibit excellent noise isolation characteristics, and are a popular area of research in this area. However, these structures can pose difficulties for signal integrity. The proposed method extends the previous power transmission line work to address both the power supply noise generation and isolation. Test vehicles using these proposed methods, as well as using an EBG structure were fabricated and tested with regards to power supply noise, jitter, and noise isolation. The proposed methods show significant improvements in almost all performance metrics as compared to EBG. Finally, this dissertation discusses the effect of implementing a power transmission line in a power distribution network composed of a switching regulator and a voltage regulator module. The DC conductor losses of the PTL can not only affect power efficiency of the entire system, but can also affect the proper operation of the linear regulator module when supporting large currents. Consequently, recommendations are made on the design of the PTL to ensure proper operation and efficiency.

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts