This research developed new creative opportunities for textile design by investigating CO2 laser processing technology to achieve surface design and three-dimensional effects. A practice based and interdisciplinary textile design methodology was employed, integrating scientific and technical approaches with a reflective craft practice. It was found that the synthesis of design and science was imperative to achieving the research goal of evolving techniques that have opened new design opportunities for textile design whilst being viable and communicable for industrial and commercial application. Four distinct Laser Textile Design techniques were developed in this research including: a laser enhanced dyeing technique for wool and wool blends; Peri-Dyeing, a laser dye fixation technique; a laser moulding technique; and a laser fading linen technique.

The thesis covers a series of PC programs that we have written that will enable users to easily design FIR linear phase lowpass digital filters and multistage sampling rate conversion systems. The first program is a rewrite of the McClellanParks computer program with some slight modifications. The second program uses an algorithm proposed by Rabiner that determines the length of a lowpass digital filter. Rabiner used a formula proposed by Herrmann et al. to initially estimate the filter length in his algorithm. The formula, however, assumes unity gain. We present a modification to the formula so that the gain of the filter is normalized to accommodate filters that have a gain greater than one (as in the case of a lowpass filter used in an interpolator). We have also changed the input specifications from digital to analog. Thus, the user supplies the sampling rate, passband frequency, stopband frequency, gain, and the respective maximum band errors. The program converts the specifications to digital. Then, the program iteratively estimates the filter length and interacts with the McClellan-Parks Program to determine the actual filter length that minimizes the maximum band errors. Once the actual length is known, the filter is designed and the filter coefficients may be saved to a file. Another new finding that we present is the condition that determines when to add a lowpass filter to a multistage decimator in order to reduce the total number of filter taps required to implement the system. In a typical example, we achieved a 34% reduction in the total required number of filter taps. The third program is a new program that optimizes the design of a multistage sampling rate conversion system based upon the sum of weighted computational rates and storage requirements. It determines the optimum number of stages and the corresponding upsampling and downsampling factors of each stage of the design. It also determines the length of the required lowpass digital filters using the second program. Quantization of the filter coefficients may have a significant impact on the frequency response. Consequently, we have included a routine within our program that determines the effects of such quantization on the allowable error margins within the passband and stopband. Once the filter coefficients are calculated, they can be saved to files and used in an appropriate implementation. The only requirements of the user are the initial sampling rate, final sampling rate, passband frequency, stop band frequency, corresponding maximum errors for each band, and the weighting factors to determine the optimization factor. We also present another new program that implements a sampling rate conversion from CD (44.1 kHz) to DAT (48 kHz) for digital audio. Using the third program to design the filter coefficients, the fourth program converts an input sequence (either samples of a sine wave or a unit sample sequence) sampled at the lower rate to an output sequence sampled at the higher rate. The frequency response is then plotted and the output block may be saved to a file.

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The main objective of this research is to improve the energy efficiency of low throughput wireless biomedical systems by employing digital design techniques. The power consumed in conventional wireless EEG (biomedical) systems is dominated by digital microcontroller and the radio frequency (RF) transceiver. To reduce the power associated with the digital processor, data compression can reduce the volume of data transmitted. An adaptive data compression algorithm has been proposed to ensure accurate representations of critical epileptic signals, while also preserving the overall power. Further advances in power reduction are also presented by designing a custom baseband processor for data compression. A functional system has been hardware verified and ASIC optimized to reduce the power by over 9X compared to existing methods. The optimized processor can operate at 32MHz with a near threshold supply of 0.5V in a conventional 45nm technology. While attempting to reach high frequencies in the near threshold regime, the probability of timing violations can reduce the robustness of the system. To further optimize the implementation, a low voltage clock tree design has been investigated to improve the reliability of the digital processor. By implementing the proposed clock tree design methodology, the digital processor can improve its robustness (by reducing the probability of timing violations) while reducing the overall power by more than 5 percent. Future work suggests examining new architectures for low-throughput processing and investigating the proposed systems' potential for a multi-channel EEG implementation.

Today, the impact of information technologies on education field is ever more clarified with the integration of new tools and methods to the education. Education has been becoming away from the traditional classroom environment through virtual environment. Besides education of theoretical disciplines, education of practice based disciplines, like design related disciplines are moving toward virtual environments. One of these is Industrial Design (ID) education which also has made the transition to the virtual world. This thesis aims to explore and scrutinize the latest forms of ID education, especially the online distance ID education. In order to comprehend the technological progress of ID education and its possible future, an overview of the origins and an evaluation of the current state of distance online ID education are made. By this study, it is expected to shed light to the design educators and the educational systems&rsquo / developers, for designing these environments. At the end of this research, it is concluded that it is not possible to imagine a future of ID education without technology integration. However, it would be better to apply both technological and traditional methods. In fact, the key people in the development of these educational systems and tools would be the designers themselves.

In diesem Beitrag wird eine Methode zur Beschreibung von Kostenfaktoren und deren Verknüpfung über Hierarchiegrenzen hinweg dargestellt. Sie eignet sich sowohl für rein digitale Systeme mit Softwareanteilen als auch für gemischt analog/digitale Systeme. Damit ist sie im Hardware-Software Codesign und im Analog-Digital Codesign zum Vergleich verschiedener Systemkompositionen anwendbar. Die Implementierung mit C++ ermöglicht neben einer Nutzung mit digitalem SystemC auch den Einsatz mit der analogen SystemC-Erweiterung SystemC-AMS und vereinfacht die Nutzung gegenüber einer vorhandenen VHDL-Implementierung. Als Anwendungsbeispiel fungieren Komponenten eines Systems zur Inertialnavigation.

The study contrasts the architecture of the Art Nouveau period  1880-1915 with contemporary curvilinear computational designs created 1980-2015. This is done by examining similarities and differences in design context, methods, philosophy and forms. The study includes an analysis of the curved lines used in Art Nouveau architecture as well as comparative study of  the two periods’ building compositions, façades and ornamentation. The thesis tries to answer the following questions: Is it possible to identify significant forms or geometric markers in  the Art Nouveau architecture of the period 1890 to 1920? How do such markers differ from post 1980 computational curvilinear architecture? Is it possible to reinterpret Art Nouveau architecture today in a relevant way? / Denna studien kontrasterar Art Nouveau/ Jugendstil perioden 1880-1920 med dagens datorstödda design diskurs med fokus på den böjda linjen. Studien undersöker skillnader och likheter i kontext, metod, filosofi och form mellan de båda perioderna. Studien inkluderar en analys av den kurvatur som används inom Art Nouveau / Jugendstil och undersöker vidare byggnadskomposition,  fasader och ornament i de båda tidsperioderna. Studien försöker besvara följande frågor: Fins det några signifikanta former eller geometrier i  Art Nouveau / Jugendstil arkitekturen och hur skiljer dessa sig från dagens datorstödda arkitektur, Går det att på ett relevant sätt använda delar av  Art Nouveau / Jugendstil arkitekturen och dess diskurrs på ett idag relevant sätt.

The impacts and influences of globalised digitalisation has increased its presence within the political structures of both international economic and international security regimes, and the rise of e-governance systems and digital security technology has probed IR scholarship to study this policy shift from traditional forms of governance to digital ones. Less considered here is how digitalisation has been extended to the international humanitarian governance regime. Digital tools are increasingly being produced and employed within international humanitarian interventions. However, despite the rapid mobilisation of these digital technologies, humanitarian crises and their corresponding interventions are becoming more frequent and more prolonged and the assumed benefits of these well-intending digital tools are failing to improve the lives of their beneficiaries. While evaluations of these interventions are not lacking, the preoccupation of material, quantitative assessments of humanitarian missions erroneously neglect the perspectives and experiences of their intended beneficiaries. In this regard, the paper seeks to problematize the methods in which humanitarian practitioners produce and implement their digital aid in a critical study into the political and normative structures which shape the design of digitised humanitarian governance. Post Colonial theory is recalled as a central, anchoring framework from which its concepts of racialisation, hegemonic identity reconstruction, and exploitation will be theory-tested via public policy analysis to the research’s case study. Here, the ‘neutrality’ of humanitarian governance is debunked, and hidden lineages of coloniality within the UNHCR’s mandate in the Rohingya refugee emergency are brought to the fore.

This research paper aims to explore the knowledge gap among young designers in relation to sustainable human-computer interaction (HCI), focusing on Interaction Design, and investigating the necessary resources for designing sustainable HCI. Lack of knowledge among young designers regarding sustainable practices in digital design contributes to the overconsumption of energy, and increased carbon emissions, highlighting the need to raise awareness and bridge the knowledge gap in Sustainable Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design among youth. Using qualitative methods, including 14 semi-structured interviews with informatics students in Jönköping, Sweden, the study identifies three main themes: Lack of Knowledge, Resource Needs, and Concerns About the Design Process. The findings highlight a limited understanding of sustainable HCI among young designers, emphasizing the significance of educational modules in sustainability within digital design. This study provides insights and recommendations for digital designers, educators, and policymakers to implement sustainable digital design practices in order to lessen environmental impact and promote sustainability within the digital world. The implications of this study include addressing the knowledge gap, fostering educational initiatives, and serving as a foundation for future research in sustainable digital design and HCI. This study addresses the challenge of motivating young designers to learn more about sustainable HCI while identifying essential resource requirements, education, design tools, eco-feedback technology, and support.

Impulse Ultra Wideband (UWB) communications is an emerging technology that promises a number of benefits over traditional narrowband or broadband signals: extremely high data rates, extremely robust operation in dense multipath environments, low probability of intercept/detection, and the ability to operate concurrently with existing users. Unfortunately, most currently available UWB systems are based on dedicated hardware, preventing researchers from investigating algorithms or architectures that take advantage of some of the unique properties of UWB signals. This dissertation outlines the development of a general purpose software radio transceiver testbed for UWB signals. The testbed is an enabling technology that provides a development platform for investigating ultra wideband communication algorithms (e.g., acquisition, synchronization, modulation, multiple access), ranging or radar (e.g., precision position location, intrusion detection, heart and respiration rate monitoring), and could potentially be used in the area of ultra wideband based medical imaging or vital signs monitoring. As research into impulse ultra wideband expands, the need is greater now than ever for a platform that will allow researchers to collect real-world performance data to corroborate theoretical and simulation results. Additionally, this dissertation outlines the development of the Time-Interleaved Analog to Digital Converter array which served as the core of the testbed, along with a comprehensive theoretical and simulation-based analysis on the effects of Analog to Digital Converter mismatches in a Time-Interleaved Sampling array when the input signal is an ultra wideband Gaussian Monocycle. Included in the discussion is a thorough overview of the implementation of both a scaled-down prototype as well as the final version of the testbed. This dissertation concludes by evaluating the of the transceiver testbed in terms of the narrowband dynamic range, the accuracy with which it can sample and reconstruct a UWB pulse, and the bit error rate performance of the overall system. / Ph. D.