Link to dataset: https://doi.org/10.25399/UnisaData.14152106.v1 / The work of Bruce Nauman can be understood as an enquiry into the absurd. His work is a critique of art, the artist and society, and is in part viewed as a mediation of stereotypical ‘truth’. The absurd is defined and analysed to elucidate the nature of art and human behaviour by means of literary comparison, in particular of Camus, Sartre and Wittgenstein. This research focusses on Nauman’s subversive performance- based work and analyses how he simulates a particular work of Duchamp. I propose that Nauman espouses human activity into the functionality of objects, such as fountains. My artworks expand on Nauman’s interrogation of the concept of a ‘true artist’ by embodying an absurd fountain as a Sisyphean construct. In contextualising my work in relation to incessant duty, insecurity and double negatives, I offer a regenerative vigour against idolisation of success through contemplation of the artist’s doubt and the absurd. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)

<div>Energy-efficient communication has remained the primary bottleneck in achieving fully energy-autonomous IoT nodes. Several scenarios including In-Sensor-Analytics (ISA), Collaborative Intelligence (CI) and Context-Aware-Switching (CAS) of the cluster-head during CI have been explored to trade-off the energies required for communication and computation in a wireless sensor network deployed in a mesh for multi-sensor measurement. A real-time co-optimization algorithm was developed for minimizing the energy consumption in the network for maximizing the overall battery lifetime of individual nodes.</div><div><br></div><div>The difficulty of achieving the design goals of lifetime, information accuracy, transmission distance, and cost, using traditional battery powered devices has driven significant research in energy-harvested wireless sensor nodes. This challenge is further amplified by the inherent power intensive nature of long-range communication when sensor networks are required to span vast areas such as agricultural fields and remote terrain. Solar power is a common energy source is wireless sensor nodes, however, it is not reliable due to fluctuations in power stemming from the changing seasons and weather conditions. This paper tackles these issues by presenting a perpetually-powered, energy-harvesting sensor node which utilizes a minimally sized solar cell and is capable of long range communication by dynamically co-optimizing energy consumption and information transfer, termed as Energy-Information Dynamic Co-Optimization (EICO). This energy-information intelligence is achieved by adaptive duty cycling of information transfer based on the total amount of energy available from the harvester and charge storage element to optimize the energy consumption of the sensor node, while employing event driven communication to minimize loss of information. We show results of continuous monitoring across 1Km without replacing the battery and maintaining an information accuracy of at least 95%.</div><div><br></div><div>Decades of continuous scaling in semiconductor technology has resulted in a drastic reduction in the cost and size of unit computing. This has enabled the design and development of small form factor wearable devices which communicate with each other to form a network around the body, commonly known as the Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). These devices have found significant application for medical purposes such as reading surface bio-potential signals for monitoring, diagnosis, and therapy. One such device for the management of oropharyngeal swallowing disorders is described in this thesis. Radio wave transmission over air is the commonly used method of communication among these devices, but in recent years Human Body Communication has shown great promise to replace wireless communication for information exchange in a WBAN. However, there are very few studies in literature, that systematically study the channel loss of capacitive HBC for <i>wearable devices</i> over a wide frequency range with different terminations at the receiver, partly due to the need for <i>miniaturized wearable devices</i> for an accurate study. This thesis also measures and explores the channel loss of capacitive HBC from 100KHz to 1GHz for both high-impedance and 50Ohm terminations using wearable, battery powered devices; which is mandatory for accurate measurement of the HBC channel-loss, due to ground coupling effects. The measured results provide a consistent wearable, wide-frequency HBC channel loss data and could serve as a backbone for the emerging field of HBC by aiding in the selection of an appropriate operation frequency and termination.</div><div><br></div><div>Lastly, the power and security benefits of human body communication is demonstrated by extending it to animals (animal body communication). A sub-inch^3, custom-designed sensor node is built using off the shelf components which is capable of sensing and transmitting biopotential signals, through the body of the rat at significantly lower powers compared to traditional wireless transmissions. In-vivo experimental analysis proves that ABC successfully transmits acquired electrocardiogram (EKG) signals through the body with correlation accuracy >99% when compared to traditional wireless communication modalities, with a 50x reduction in power consumption.</div>

Text in Afrikaans / This pastoral-narrative study pans the stories of multi disabled children's parents for story elements and account resources that lead to the development of alternative realities on the dominant reality of "disability". With a postmodern epistemology and postmodern theological background this study was performed with a qualitative narrative research approach. In this study the stories of eight multi "disabled children's parents are utilized. Story elements and account resources from social structures and existence are highlighted and discussed. Examples of this are family, circle of friends, hope and parental love. The account of this study underlines the value that alternative realities on the dominant reality of "disability" can add to the quality on how people experience life. It also services as prove of people's riches of inner power and resilience. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th.

This paper considers the role of the human body in Octavia E. Butler’s The Parable of theSower and the way it interacts with defined space to stage expressive forms of politicalopposition. Understanding the relationship between physical or metaphorical space and thecontradictions of the societies they encompass is crucial to deciphering Butler’s near-futuredystopia; a world where the problems of real-life Los Angeles and Southern California aredistorted into a gross carnivalesque of gender stereotypes, sociopolitical tensions, and vigilante warfare. This paper places a special emphasis on the areas of social and political stagnation found in Butler’s vision of near-future L.A., and analyses the dangers of clinging to archaic, patriarchal systems that no longer resonate with contemporary audiences. Focus is also placed on potential methods of resistance against oppressive social institutions, particularly exploring the limitations met by protagonist, Lauren Oya Olamina, in her attempts to voice concerns in a society where language is so nuanced by “traditional” gendered qualities that the female voice carries no political value. This papers also questions theories which promote violent confrontation as a means to social reform, disregarding collateral damage and victims of war in favour of insurgency. By exploring the movement of the human body away from defined space, this paper supports Butler’s notion of alternative prosocial action which celebrates the margins of society, positing a nurturing, constructive means to resist political opposition.

The interior of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) differs from passenger cars. Both the steering wheel and the occupant are positioned differently in a HGV and increases the risk of steering wheel rim impacts. Such impact scenarios are relatively unexplored compared to passenger car safety studies that are more prevalent within the field of injury biomechanics. The idea with using human body models (HBMs) is to complement current crash test dummies with biomechanical data. Furthermore, the biofidelity of a crash dummy for loading similar to a steering wheel rimimpact is relatively unstudied and especially to different rib levels. Therefore, the aim with this thesis was to evaluate HGV occupant thoracic response between THUMS v4.0 and Hybrid III (H3) during steering wheel rim impacts with respect to different rib levels (level 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 7-8, 9-10) with regards to ribs, aorta, liver, and spleen. To the author’s best knowledge, use of local injury risk functions for thoracic injuries is fairly rare compared to the predominant usage of global injury criteria that mainly predicts the most commonthoracic injury risk, i.e. rib fractures. Therefore, local injury criteria using experimental test datahave been developed for the ribs and the organs. The measured parameters were chest deflectionand steering wheel to thorax contact force on a global level, whilst 1st principal Green-Lagrangestrains was assessed for the rib and the organ injury risk. The material models for the liver and the spleen were remodelled using an Ogden material model based on experimental stress-strain data to account for hyperelasticity. Rate-dependency was included by iteration of viscoelastic parameters. The contact modelling of the organs was changed from a sliding contact to a tied contact to minimize unrealistic contact separations during impact. The results support previous findings that H3 needs additional instrumentation to accurately register chest deflection for rib levels beyond its current range, namely at ribs 1-2, 7-8, and 9-10. For THUMS, the chest deflection were within reasonable values for the applied velocities, but there were no definite injury risk. Fact is, the global injury criteria might overpredict the AIS3 injury risk (rib fractures) for rib level 1-2, 7-8, and 9-10. The rib strains could not be correlated with the measured chest deflections. This was explained by the unique localized loading characterized by pure steering wheel rim impact that mainly affected the sternum and the rib cartilage while minimizing rib deformation. The organ strains indicate some risk of rupture where the spleen deforms the most at rib levels 3-4 and 6-7, and the liver and the aorta at rib levels 6-7 and 7-8. This study provides a framework for complementing H3 with THUMS for HGV occupant safety with emphasis on the importance of using local injury criteria for functional injury prediction, i.e. prediction of injury risk using parameters directly related to rib fracture or organ rupture. Local injury criteria are thus a powerful safety assessment tool as it is independent on exterior loading such as airbag, steering wheel hub, or seat belt loading. It was noticed that global injury criteria with very localized impacts such as rim impacts have not been studied and will affect rib fracture risk differently than what has been studied using airbag or seat belt restraints. However, improvements are needed to accurately predict thoracic injury risk at a material level by finding more data for the local injury risk functions. Conclusively, it is clear that Hybrid III has insufficient instrumentation and is in need of upgrades to register chest deflections at multiple rib levels. Furthermore, the following are needed: better understanding of global injury criteria specific for HGV occupant safety evaluation, more data for age-dependent (ribs) and rate-dependent (organs) injury risk functions, a tiebreak contact with tangential sliding for better organ kinematics during impacts, and improving the biofidelity of the material models using data from tissue level experiments. / Förarmiljön i lastbilar gentemot personbilar är annorlunda, i detta kontext med avseende på främst ratt- och förarposition som ökar risken för islag med rattkransen för lastbilsförare. Sådana islag är relativt outforskat jämfört med passiv säkerhet för personbilar inom skadebiomekaniken. Tanken bakom användning av humanmodeller är att komplettera nuvarande krockdockor med biomekanisk information. Dessutom är biofideliteten hos en krockdocka vid rattislag relativt okänt, speciellt vid olika revbensnivåer. Därför är målet med detta examensarbete att undersöka thoraxresponsen hos en lastbilsförare genom att använda THUMS v4.0 och Hybrid III (H3) under rattislag med avseende på revbensnivåer (nivå 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 7-8, och 9-10) och revben, aorta, lever, och mjälte. Enligt författaren verkar användning av lokala riskfunktioner för thoraxskador relativt ostuderat jämfört med den övervägande användningen av globala riskfunktioner som huvudsakligen förutser den mest vanligt förekommande thoraxskadan, nämligen revbensfrakturer. Därför har lokala riskfunktioner skapats för revben och organ, baserat på experimentell data. Uppmätta parametrar var bröstinträngning och kontaktkraft mellan ratt och thorax på global nivå, medan första Green-Lagrange huvudtöjningen användes för att evaluera skaderisken för revben och organ. Materialmodeller för lever och mjälte ommodellerades baserat på experimentell spänning-töjningsdata med Ogdens materialmodell för att ta hänsyn till hyperelasticitet. Töjningshastighetsberoendet inkluderades genom att iterera fram viskoelastiska parametrar. Kontaktmodellering av organ gjordes genom att ändra från glidande kontakt till en låsande kontakt för att minimera orealistisk kontaktseparation under islagsfallen. Resultaten stödjer tidigare studier där H3 visat sig behöva ytterligare givare för att noggrannt kunna registrera bröstinträngning vid olika revbensnivåer bortom dess nuvarande räckvidd, nämligen vid revben 1-2, 7-8, och 9-10. Uppmätt bröstinträngning i THUMS var rimliga för hastighetsfallen men gav inte någon definitiv risk för skada. Faktum är att de globala riskfunktionerna kan överskatta AIS3 risken vid revben 1-2, 7-8, och 9-10. Revbenstöjningarna kunde inte korreleras med bröstinträngningarna. Detta kunde förklaras genom de unika lastfallen som karakteriseras av rena rattislag som främst påverkar sternum och revbensbrosk som i sin tur minimerar deformation av revben. Organtöjningarna indikerar på någon risk för ruptur där mjälten deformerar som mest vid revben 3-4 och 6-7, medan för både levern och aortan sker det vid revben 6-7 och 7-8. Denna studie presenterar ett sätt att komplettera H3 med THUMS inom passiv säkerhet för lastbilsförare med fokus på lokala riskfunktioner för funktionell skadeprediktering dvs. prediktering av skaderisken med hjälp av parametrar som är direkt relaterat till revbensfraktur eller organruptur. Lokala riskfunktioner utgör en kraftfull säkerhetsbedömning som är oberoende av externa lastfall som t.ex. airbag, rattcentrum, eller bälteslast. I denna studie noterades det att de globala riskkriterierna inte har undersökts med väldigt lokala islag som rattislagen utgör och kommer därför att påverka risken för revbensfraktur annorlunda gentemot vad som har studerat, t.ex. airbag eller bältelast. Däremot behövs det mer data för de lokala riskkriterierna för att kunna prediktera thoraxskaderisken med ökad noggrannhet. Avslutningsvis, det är tydligt att Hybrid III har otillräckligt med givare och behöver förbättras för att kunna registrera bröstinträngning vid flera revbensnivåer. Vidare behövs följande: bättre förståelse för globala riskfunktioner anpassat inom passiv säkerhet för lastbilsförare, mer data för åldersberoende (revben) och töjningshastighetsberoende (organ) riskfunktioner, en ”tiebreak” kontakt med tangientiell glidning för bättre organkinematik, och ökad biofidelitet av materialmodeller genom att använda data från vävnadsexperiment.

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<p>The last few decades have witnessed unprecedented growth in multiple areas of electronics spanning low-power sensing, intelligent computing and high-speed wireless connectivity. In the foreseeable future, there would be hundreds of billions of computing devices, sensors, things and people, wherein the technology will become intertwined with our lives through continuous interaction and collaboration between humans and machines. Such human-centric ideas give rise to the concept of internet of bodies (IoB), which calls for novel and energy-efficient techniques for sensing, processing and secure communication for resource-constrained IoB nodes.As we have painfully learnt during the pandemic, point-of-care diagnostics along with continuous sensing and long-term connectivity has become one of the major requirements in the healthcare industry, further emphasizing the need for energy-efficiency and security in the resource-constrained devices around us.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  With this vision in mind, I’ll divide this dissertation into the following chapters. The first part (Chapter 2) will cover time-domain sensing techniques which allow inherent energy-resolution scalability, and will show the fundamental limits of achievable resolution. Implementations will include 1) a radiation sensing system for occupational dosimetry in healthcare and mining applications, which can achieve 12-18 bit resolution with 0.01-1 µJ energy dissipation, and 2) an ADC-less neural signal acquisition system with direct Analog to Time Conversion at 13pJ/Sample. The second part (Chapters 3 and 4) of this dissertation will involve the fundamentals of developing secure energy-efficient electro-quasistatic (EQS) communication techniques for IoB wearables as well as implants, and will demonstrate  2 examples: 1) Adiabatic Switching for breaking the αCV^2f limit of power consumption in capacitive voltage mode human-body communication (HBC), and 2) Bi-Phasic Quasistatic Brain Communication (BP-QBC) for fully wireless data transfer from a sub-6mm^3, 2 µW brain implant. A custom modulation scheme, along with adiabatic communication enables wireline-like energy efficiencies (<5pJ/b) in HBC-based wireless systems, while the BP-QBC node, being fully electrical in nature, demonstrates sub-50pJ/b efficiencies by eliminating DC power consumption, and by avoiding the transduction losses observed in competing technologies, involving optical, ultrasound and magneto-electric modalities. Next in Chapter 5, we will show an implementation of a reconfigurable system that would include 1) a human-body communication transceiver and 2) a traditional wireless (MedRadio) transceiver on the same integrated circuit (IC), and would demonstrate methods to switch between the two modes by detecting the placement of the transmitter and receiver devices (on-body/away from the body). Finally, in Chapter 6, we shall show a technique of augmenting security in resource-constrained devices through authentication using the Analog/RF properties of the transmitter, which are usually discarded as non-idealities in a digital transceiver chain. This method does not require any additional hardware in the transmitter, making it an extremely promising technique to augment security in highly resource-constrained scenarios. Such energy-efficient intelligent sensing and secure communication techniques, when combined with intelligent in-sensor-analytics at the resource-constrained nodes, can potentially pave the way for perpetual, and even batteryless systems for next-generation IoT, IoB and healthcare applications.</p>

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a worldwide public health problem. It is often caused by impacts to the head, which can cause translational and rotational motions. During impacts to the head, the neck serves as one of the boundary conditions for determining its kinematic response. In today’s helmet assessment standards, the dynamics of the neck are not included, and in most standards only translational accelerations are examined within a short time interval around 20- 30 ms. However, to understand the risk of brain injury, it is also important to account for the rotational motions and the influence of the neck on head kinematics.  In this thesis the influence of the neck on head kinematics was investigated by comparing 5 different finite element (FE) models of the human. By using finite element analysis, simulations of four different accident scenarios were conducted. Most models are produced for the automotive industry and are not validated in vertical impacts with forces acting on the head. The accident scenarios included vertical and horizontal impacts to the head with different striking objects. The models included two anthropomorphic test devices (ATD) and three human body models (HBM). Furthermore, an isolated head was also used. The models were equipped with an industrial safety helmet, with and without a low friction layer (LFL). Additionally, the helmet versions were used to investigate how the various FE models predict the difference in rotational kinematics.  The head kinematics showed considerable disparities between the ATDs and the HBMs. The ATDs mostly showed a stiffer, spring-like behavior with higher translational accelerations and lesser rotational motions. Furthermore, the HBMs showed responses that were assumed to have been in better proximity to biofidelic responses. The incorporation of the LFL led to a reduction in peak resultant rotational velocity (PRV) in most models and accident scenarios. Furthermore, the results were highly influenced by the choice of duration. It was seen that the differences between the models increased over time, as the boundary effects could influence the kinematics to a larger extent. Hence, the neck had more influence on head kinematics at longer time durations.  This thesis contributes to a comparison of different FE models and how various boundary conditions affect the kinematics of the head. The Hybrid III should only be used in cases involving pure flexion-extension. The attachment of the KTH neck to the Hybrid III torso led to large differences in kinematic responses to the other models, and therefore it should not be used in virtual testing. Due to the resemblance between head-only and the HBMs, as well as the short duration in bicycle helmet assessment, the use of only a headform is probably a better approximation as the ATD necks that could be used are not good representations of biofidelity. Before implementing surrogate necks in helmet assessment, more investigations on the influence of the neck on head kinematics are necessary as well as the development of neck models with high biofidelity. / Traumatiska hjärnskador är ett globalt folkhälsoproblem. Traumatiska hjärnskador orsakas ofta av slag mot huvudet, vilket kan orsaka både translations- och rotationsrörelser av hjärnan. Vid slag mot huvudet verkar halsen som ett av randvillkoren som styr kinematiken av huvudet. I dagens hjälmstandarder är halsens dynamik inte inkluderad och i majoriteten av standarder är det endast translationsaccelerationer som undersöks samt inom en kort tidsram, runt 20-30 ms. För att förstå risken för hjärnskador behöver man även beakta rotationsrörelser och då blir halsens inflytande på huvudets kinematik av vikt, liksom att utvärdera kinematiken under en längre tid.  I detta examensarbete studeras halsens inverkan på huvudets kinematik genom att jämföra fem olika finita element (FE) modeller av människan. Genom att använda finita elementmetoden, genomfördes simuleringar av 4 olika olycksscenarior. Olycksscenariorna inkluderade vertikala och horisontella islag med olika objekt. De modeller som användes var två krockdockor och tre humanmodeller samt ett isolerat huvud. De flesta modeller är framtagna för bilindustrin vilket påverkar dess användningsområde genom begränsade valideringar av vertikala slag med krafter som verkar direkt på huvudet. Alla modeller var utrustade med en industrihjälmsmodell, med respektive utan ett lågfriktionslager. Dessutom användes hjälmmodellerna till att undersöka hur de olika FE modellerna förutspådde skillnader i rotationskinematik.  Kinematiken av huvudet visade på signifikanta skillnader mellan krockdockorna och humanmodellerna. Krockdockorna hade generellt ett stelare, fjäderliknande beteende med högre translationsacceleration och mindre rotationsrörelse. Vidare hade humanmodellerna ett beteende som var mer likt den förväntade mänskliga responsen. Användandet av lågfriktionslagret ledde till reduktion i resulterande peak rotationshastighet bland de flesta modeller och olycksscenarior. Resultatet påverkades nämnvärt av valet av tidsintervall. Vid längre tidsintervall var skillnaderna i beteende större mellan modellerna. Därför hade halsen större inverkan på huvudets kinematik vid längre durationer.  Detta examensarbete bidrar till en jämförelse av olika FE modeller och förståelse för hur olika randvillkor påverkar huvudets kinematik. Hybrid III borde endast användas för horisontella islag med enbart flexion-extensions rörelser. Infästningen av KTH halsen till Hybrid III gav stora skillnader i kinematiken jämfört med de andra modellerna, och därför ska den inte användas vid virtuella tester. På grund av de likheter som sågs mellan enbart huvud och humanmodellerna samt på grund av de korta islagen vid cykelhjälmsbedömningar, är troligtvis användandet av ett isolerat huvud en bättre approximation än användandet av de tillgängliga krockdockornas halsar. Innan man använder halsmodeller vid hjälmbedömningar, krävs fler studier på halsens inverkan på kinematiken samt framtagande av halsmodeller med mer människoliknande respons.

[ES] La población mundial en países desarrollados está envejeciendo y con ello existe un aumento de enfermedades en gran medida causadas por la edad. Las nuevas tecnologías médicas pueden ayudar a detectar, diagnosticar y tratar estas enfermedades y con ello ahorrar dinero, tiempo y recursos de los sistemas sanitarios. Las tecnologías inalámbricas implantables han abierto un nuevo panorama para la próxima generación de tecnologías médicas. Frecuencias como la Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) de 3.1 a 10.6 GHz están siendo consideradas para la nueva generación de dispositivos inalámbricos para dentro del cuerpo humano. Las características como el reducido tamaño de las antenas, la baja potencia de transmisión y la alta velocidad de datos son las más buscadas en este tipo de dispositivos. El problema surge porque el cuerpo humano depende de la frecuencia de modo que a mayores frecuencias, mayores son las pérdidas por propagación. Conociendo el canal de transmisión se puede solventar el problema de las altas pérdidas. Esta tesis tiene como objetivo caracterizar el canal de radio frecuencia (RF) para la nueva generación de dispositivos médicos implantables. Para caracterizar el canal se han empleado tres diferentes metodologías: simulaciones numéricas, medidas en phantom y experimentos en animales vivos. Las medidas en phantom fueron realizadas en un nuevo sistema de medidas expresamente disen¿ados para medidas de dentro a fuera del cuerpo humano en la banda de frecuencias UWB. Además, se utilizó un novedoso recipiente con dos capas de phantom imitando la zona gastrointestinal del cuerpo. Estos phantoms fueron creados para este tipo de medidas y son extremadamente precisos a las frecuencias UWB. Para los experimentos en animales se utilizaron cerdos y se intentó reproducir en ellos las medidas previamente realizadas en phantom. Las simulaciones software se realizaron con la intención de replicar ambas metodologías. Una vez realizados los experimentos se realizó un extensivo estudio del canal en dominio frecuencial y temporal. Mas en detalle, se compararon las antenas usadas en la recepción y transmisión, el efecto de la grasa en el canal, la formas del recipiente contenedor de phantom y las componentesmulticamino. Como resultado se ha propuesto un modelo de propagación del canal para la banda baja de las frecuencias UWB (3.1 -5.1 GHz) para la zona gastrointestinal del cuerpo humano. Este modelo de propagación ha sido validado utilizando las tres metodologías previamente descritas y comparada con otros estudios existentes en literatura. Finalmente, se midió el canal de propagación para una determinada aplicación a bajas frecuencias con señales UWB. También se realizaron medidas del canal de propagación en la zona cardíaca del cuerpo humano desde un punto de vista de seguridad de datos. Los resultados obtenidos en esta tesis confirman los beneficios que tendría la utilización de frecuencias UWB para las futuras generaciones de dispositivos médicos implantables. / [CA] La població mundial a països desenvolupats està envellint-se i enfrontant-se a un augment d'infermetats principalment causades per la edat. Les noves tecnologies mèdiques poden ajudar a detectar, diagnosticar i tractar aquestes malalties, estalviant diners, temps i recursos sanitaris. Els dispositius implantables sense fils han generat un nou panorama per a les noves generacions de dispositius mèdics. Les freqüències com la banda de UWB estan sent considerades per a les futures tecnologies implantables. La reduïda grandària de les antenes, la baixa potència de transmissió i les altes velocitats de dades son característiques buscades per als dispositius implantables. Per contra, els éssers humans depenen de la freqüència en el sentit que a majors freqüències, majors les pèrdues per propagació quan el senyal travessa el cos humà d'interior a exterior. Per solventar aquestes pèrdues el canal de propagació s'ha d'entendre i conèixer de la millor manera possible. Aquesta tesi doctoral te com a objectiu caracteritzar el canal de radio freqüència (RF) per a la nova generació de dispositius mèdics implantables. S'han emprat tres metodologies diferents per a realitzar aquesta caracterització: simulacions software, mesures amb fantomes i experiments amb animals vius. Els experiments amb fantomes es van realitzar a un sistema de mesures dissenyat expressament per a les transmissions de dins a fora del cos humà a les freqüències UWB. També es van utilitzar un contenidor per als fantomes de dues capes, imitant l'area gastrointestinal dels humans. Per als experiments a animals es van emprar porcs, replicant els experiments al laboratori en fantomes de la forma més semblant possible. Les simulacions software foren dissenyades per a imitar les experiments amb fantomes i animals. Després dels experiments el canal de propagació es va investigar exhaustivament des del domini freqüèncial i temporal. S'ha observat com les antenes en transmissió i recepció afecten al senyal, la influència de la grassa, la forma del contenidor de fantoma i les possibles contribucions multicamí. Finalment es proposa un nou model de propagació per a les baixes freqüències UWB (3.1 a 5.1 GHz) per a la zona GI del cos humà. El model es va validar utilitzant les tres metodologies abans esmentades i també foren comparades amb model ja existents a la literature. Finalment des d'un punt de vista aplicat, el canal es va avaluar per al senyal UWB a baixes freqüències (60 MHz). A més a més, per a la nova generació de marcapassos sense fil es va investigar el canal des d'un punt de vista de seguretat de dades. Els resultats obtinguts a aquesta tesi confirmen els avantatges d'emprar la banda de freqüències UWB per a la nova generació de dispositius médics implantables. / [EN] The current global population in developed countries is becoming older and facing an increase in diseases mainly caused by age. New medical technologies can help to detect, diagnose and treat illness, saving money, time, and resources of physicians. Wireless in-body devices opened a new scenario for the next generation of medical devices. Frequencies like the Ultra Wide-band (UWB) frequency band (3.1 - 10.6 GHz) are being considered for the next generation of in-body wireless devices. The small size of the antennas, the low power transmission, and the higher data rate are desirable characteristics for in-body devices. However, the human body is frequency ependent, which means higher losses of the radio frequency (RF) signal from in- to out-side the body as the frequency increases. To overcome this, the propagation channel has to be understood and known as much possible to process the signal accordingly. This dissertation aims to characterize the (RF) channel for the future of in-body medical devices. Three different methodologies have been used to characterize the channel: numerical simulations, phantom measurements, and living animals experiments. The phantom measurements were performed in a novel testbed designed for the purpose of in-body measurements at the UWB frequency band. Moreover, multi-layer high accurate phantoms mimicking the gastrointesintal (GI) area were employed. The animal experiments were conducted in living pigs, replicating in the fairest way as possible the phantom measurement campaigns. Lastly, the software simulations were designed to replicate the experimental measurements. An in-depth and detail analysis of the channel was performed in both, frequency and time domain. Concretely, the performance of the receiving and transmitting antennas, the effect of the fat, the shape of the phantom container, and the multipath components were evaluated. Finally, a novel path loss model was obtained for the low UWB frequency band (3.1 - 5.1 GHz) at GI scenarios. The model was validated using the three methodologies and compared with previous models in literature. Finally, from a practical case point of view, the channel was also evaluated for UWB signals at lower frequencies (60 MHz) for the GI area. In addition, for the next generation of leadless pacemakers the security link between the heart and an external device was also evaluated. The results obtained in this dissertation reaffirm the benefits of using the UWB frequency band for the next generation of wireless in-body medical devices. / Pérez Simbor, S. (2019). In-body to On-body Experimental UWB Channel Characterization for the Human Gastrointestinal Area [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/133034

This thesis features a qualitative analysis of eight Korean media products — both fiction and nonfiction. For many years, South Korea (hereafter also called Korea) has been called the "world's plastic surgery capital" by many publications, such as Business Insider and The New Yorker. Although Business Insider considers the United States the "vainest country in the world," the numbers of cosmetic surgeries, percentage wise, per person in Korea still outnumber those in the United States, with 20 procedures per 1,000 persons. In this thesis, I argue by using the cultivation theory that Korean television, such as K-Dramas, talk shows and films, which celebrate transformations and feature makeovers and thus normalize cosmetic surgery, create a fantastic space for viewers where the viewers are compelled to act on a media-generated desire to undergo cosmetic surgery in the belief that doing so will also transform or better their lives in the same way it does for the characters in these Korean television productions.