Living Lab är en öppen innovationsmiljö där innovationer samproduceras, testas och verifieras av användarna, tillsammans med företag och akademin i en kontext som representerar innovationens tänkta användningsområde. Genom samverkan kan olika värden skapas för företagen. Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka hur Living Lab skapar värde för företag och vilka värden företag kan identifiera ur de användarcentrerade aktiviteterna. Uppsatsen karaktäriseras av en kvalitativ ansats och grundar sig i en explorativ undersökning med djupintervjuer där fyra företag ligger till grund för uppsatsens resultat. Uppsatsen har visat att Living Lab skapat värden för företag genom att de fått mer tilltalande produkter, identifierat nya användarkategorier och samordnat resurser med företag. Living Lab är därmed värdeskapande för företag genom stöd för utvärdering, ny- och vidareutveckling av innovationer. Samverkan mellan användare, företag och akademin öppnar upp för ett kunskapsutbyte vilket skapar värde för företag då kompetensutveckling äger rum och en djupare kunskap om användarna kan erhållas

Data mining is a relatively new field of research that its objective is to acquire knowledge from large amounts of data. In medical and health care areas, due to regulations and due to the availability of computers, a large amount of data is becoming available [27]. On the one hand, practitioners are expected to use all this data in their work but, at the same time, such a large amount of data cannot be processed by humans in a short time to make diagnosis, prognosis and treatment schedules. A major objective of this thesis is to evaluate data mining tools in medical and health care applications to develop a tool that can help make rather accurate decisions. In this thesis, the goal is finding a pattern among patients who got pneumonia by clustering of lab data values which have been recorded every day. By this pattern we can generalize it to the patients who did not have been diagnosed by this disease whose lab values shows the same trend as pneumonia patients does. There are 10 tables which have been extracted from a big data base of a hospital in Jena for my work .In ICU (intensive care unit), COPRA system which is a patient management system has been used. All the tables and data stored in German Language database.

Many applications for the analysis and processing of biological materials require the enrichment of cell subpopulations. Conventional cell sorting systems are large and expensive with complex equipment that necessitates specialized personnel for operation. Employing microfluidics technology for lab-on-a-chip adaptation of these devices provides several benefits: improved transport control, reduced sample volumes, simplicity of operation, portability, greater accessibility, and reduced cost. The designs of microfluidic cell sorting chips vary widely in literature; evaluation and optimization efforts are rarely reported. This study intends to investigate the primary components of the design to understand the effect of various parameters and to improve the performance of the microfluidic chip. Optimized individual elements are incorporated into a proposed cell sorter chip with the ability to dynamically sort target cells from a non-homogeneous solution using electrical driving forces. Numerical and experimental results are used to evaluate the sample focusing element for controlled cell dispensing, the sorting configuration for target cell collection, and the flow elements for reduced pressure effects and prevention of flow blockages. Compact models are adapted to solve the potential field and flow field in the chip and to predict the focused sample stream width. A commercial CFD package is used to perform 2-D simulations of the potential, velocity, and concentration fields. A fluorescence microscopy visualization system is implemented to conduct experiments on several generations of chip designs. The data from sample focusing experiments, performed with fluorescent dye samples, is analyzed using a Gaussian distribution model proposed in this work. A technique for real-time monitoring of fluorescent microspheres in the microfluidic chip enables the use of dynamic cell sorting to emulate fully autonomous operation. The performance values obtained from these experiments are used to characterize the various design configurations. Sample focusing is shown to depend largely on the relative size of the sheath fluid channel and the sample channel, but is virtually independent of the junction shape. Savings in the applied potential can be achieved by utilizing the size dependency. The focusing performance also provides information for optimizing the widths of the channels relative to the cell size. Successful sorting of desired cells is demonstrated for several designs. Key parameters that affect the sorting performance are discussed; a design employing the use of supplemental fluid streams to direct the particle during collection is chosen due to a high sorting evaluation and a low sensitivity to flow anomalies. The necessary reduction of pressure influences to achieve reliable flow conditions is accomplished by introducing channel constrictions to increase the hydrodynamic resistance. Also, prolonged operation is realized by including particle filters in the proposed design to prevent blockages caused by the accumulation of larger particles. A greater understanding of the behaviour of various components is demonstrated and a design is presented that incorporates the elements with the best performance. The capability of the microfluidic chip is summarized based on experimental results of the tested designs and theoretical cell sorting relationships. Adaptation of this chip to a stand-alone, autonomous device can be accomplished by integrating an optical detection system and further miniaturization of the critical components.

Recent advances in microfluidic technologies have enabled integration of the functional units for biological and chemical analysis onto miniaturized chips, called Labon- a-Chip (LOC). However, the effective manipulation and control of colloidal particles suspended in fluids are still challenging tasks due to the lack of clear characterization of particle control mechanisms. The aim of this dissertation is to develop microfluidic techniques and devices for manipulating colloids and biological particles with the utilization of alternating current (AC) electric fields and acoustic waves. The dissertation presents a simple theoretical tool for predicting the motion of colloidal particles in the presence of AC electric field. Dominant electrokinetic forces are explained as a function of the electric field conditions and material properties, and parametric experimental validations of the model are conducted with particles and biological species. Using the theoretical tool as an effective framework for designing electrokinetic systems, a dielectrophoresis (DEP) based microfluidic device for trapping bacterial spores from high conductivity media is developed. With a simple planar electrode having well defined electric field minima that can act as the targetattachment/ detection sites for integration of biosensors, negative DEP trapping of spores on patterned surfaces is successfully demonstrated. A further investigation of DEP colloidal manipulation under the effects of electrothermal flow induced by Joule heating of the applied electric field is conducted. A periodic structure of the electrothermal flow that enhances DEP trapping is numerically simulated and experimentally validated. An acoustic method is investigated for continuous sample concentration in a microscale device. Fast formation of particle streams focused at the pressure nodes is demonstrated by using the long-range forces of the ultrasonic standing waves (USW). High frequency actuation suitable for miniaturization of devices is successfully applied and the device performance and key parameters are explained. Further extension and integration of the technologies presented in this dissertation will enable a chip scale platform for various chemical and biological applications such as drug delivery, chemical analyses, point-of-care clinical diagnosis, biowarfare and biochemical agent detection/screening, and water quality control.

Researchers analyze images in areas such as geology, bat cardiovascular systems and art studies to verify their observations. Some images are hard to study as their details are not vivid; hence there is a need to enhance these images to facilitate their study while preserving their contents. This study is aimed at assisting the researchers in the Cardiovascular Systems Dynamic Laboratory at Texas A&M University by evaluating the importance of Image Enhancement (IE) for improving visibility of features. For this study the images were collected and manipulated using various IE techniques and were shown to the novice researchers who were asked to perform three different tasks. These tasks were representative of the research work conducted in the lab. The techniques that were selected aimed at reducing the problems that are usually associated with data obtained from microscopic feeds. A customized application was developed to expedite and automate the study. The results indicated that the researchers did not immmensely benefit from the improved visualization for easy tasks. However, their performance improved for tasks that required more practice and skill. Our approach contributes towards designing an effective training program for novice researchers in the lab. Moreover, it is promising for similar research in different fields of study.

In humanoid robotics, there is a long pursuit of making bipeds capable of walking in highly unstructured and roughly sensed environments. Within this goal, our objective is to develop a compliant bipedal humanoid robot, based on McKibben pneumatic actuators that can move in these terrains as well as quickly adapt to unpredicted variations on the contact state. We present here the first part of our work, focusing on the design, construction and control of a pneumatic robotic joint capable of achieving the control performance necessary for responding compliantly and accurately to contact transitions while delivering high forces needed to handle the physical challenges associated with rough terrains. In particular, we address our progress in the mechanical and embedded electronic design, actuator modeling, and compliant control strategies for a robotic joint based on fluidic pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs). The proposed robotic joint has been validated experimentally, exploring various aspects of its performance as well as its shortcomings, but overall demonstrating the potential benefits of using pneumatic muscles. / text

Στη παρούσα εργασία περιγράφεται η σχεδίαση και η υλοποίηση μιας θέσεως εργασίας (workstation) ενός εργαστηρίου DSPs από απόσταση που θα εξειδικεύεται στην επεξεργασία εικόνας. / This master thesis describes the design and implementation of a Workstation of a DSPs Remote Lab, specialized in image processing.

Πραγματοποιήθηκε έρευνα σχετικά με την αξιολόγηση της ευχρηστίας εκπαιδευτικού λογισμικού, καθώς και της ευχρηστίας ιστότοπου εκπαιδευτικού ιδρύματος βασισμένη σε μεθόδους παρατήρησης χρηστών. Σε πρώτη φάση έγινε η εγκατάσταση του εργαστηρίου αξιολόγηση ποιότητας. σε δεύτερη φάση έγιναν εργαστηριακά πειράματα με αντικείμενο την αξιολόγηση της ευχρηστίας του ανανεωμένου ιστότοπου του ΕΑΠ και της ευχρηστίας λογισμικού φυσικής που χρησιμοποιείται για εκπαίδευση από απόσταση. / A research referring to usability of educational software and web site o HOU based on users observation methods was contacted. First face laboratory installation-s/w installation and second face the experiment performance.

Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) biological assays have the potential to fundamentally reform healthcare. The move away from centralized facilities to Point-of-Care (POC) testing of biological assays would improve the speed and accuracy of these, thereby improving patient care. Before LOC can be realized, a number of challenges must be addressed: the need for expert users must be abstracted away; the manufacturing cost of $5 per test threshold must be met; and the supporting infrastructure must be integrated down to an easily portable size. These challenges can be addressed with the deposition of microfluidics on CMOS chips. By designing application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) much of the automation and the supporting infrastructure needed to run these assays can be integrated into the chip. Additionally, CMOS fabrication is some of the most optimized manufacturing in industry today. One of the central challenges with LOC on ASIC is the signal acquisition from the microfluidics into the CMOS. Optical sensing of fluorescence is one form of sensing used for LOC assays. Despite a large literature, there has not been a strong demonstration of monolithic LOC fluorescence detection (FD) for low concentration samples. This work explores the limit-of-detection (LOD) for LOC FD through analysis of the signal and noise of a proposed acquisition channel. The proposed signal acquisition channel consists of an on chip photodiode and integrator based amplification circuits. A hand analysis of the signal propagation through the channel and the noise sources introduced by the circuitry, is performed. This analysis is used to establish relationships between different circuit parameters and the LOD of a hypothetical LOC device. The hand analysis is verified through simulation and the acquisition channel is implemented in: (i) the Austrian Microsystems 350nm CMOS process, (ii) discrete components. Testing of the CMOS chip revealed several issues not identified in extracted simulation; however, the discrete integrator demonstrated many of the trends predicted by the hand analysis and simulations and achieved a LOD of 7.2$\mu M$. This analysis provides insight into the engineering trade-offs required to improve the LOD, to enable more wide spread application of LOC FD.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-81).