Energy consumption in buildings is an important matter for thefuture. In order to reach a sustainable future, both new and oldbuildings must become more energy efficient. This thesisinvestigates how the electricity consumption can be reduced inexisting buildings containing laboratories. This project had twomajor goals. The first goal was to find specific actions toimprove the electricity energy efficiency of The ÅngströmLaboratory, Sweden. The Ångström Laboratory is owned andadministered by the public company Akademiska Hus and rented byUppsala University. The second was to propose a procedure of howto make an arbitrary building containing laboratories moreelectricity efficient. The results indicate that a lot of energycan be saved by optimizing the ventilation of the laboratories. Byreplacing the current ventilation fans with more efficient fans,the potential annual savings were calculated to 0.57 GWh whichcorresponds to 4.2 % of the total annual electricity consumption.By reducing the air-flow in the fume hoods outside working hoursthe electricity consumption in the ventilation system can belowered. The potential savings for this were calculated to 0.31GWh (2.3 %). By modifying the ventilation system of the differentcorridors in such a way that laboratories and offices are placedin opposite ends of the corridor, the operation of ventilationfans can be optimized for laboratories and for officesrepectively. The savings for this were calculated to be 0.07 GWhper year (0.5 %). Another identified opportunity for energysavings in the Ångström building is the replacement of currentlighting fixtures with more efficient systems (typically LED basedsystems). This has the potential to save 0.17 GWh per year.

The goal of this project was to write a program to plot populations of white blood cell types in three dimensions and reduce the information from four dimensions to three in order to make it possible to plot. The dimension reduction should be done with as little loss of information as possible. PCA, principal component analysis, was used to perform the dimension reduction. A program for this was written in MATLAB. The program that builds the plot of the populations was written in c# using Visual Studios. The visualization was made in Unity. It was possible to rotate and zoom into the plot to get a better view. The project was given by Boule Medical AB as a part of the development of a new product. Boule Medical AB only had 2D plots and requested a 3D plot in their new product. The program was handed over to Boule Medical AB for future development.

Electrical bioimpedance spectroscopy is one way to study the electrical properties of biological matter. Different applications of electrical bioimpedance measurements have already been used in both research and clinical scenarios i.e. impedance plethysmography, total body water contents, etc. The electrical properties of tissue reflect the electrical characteristics of the constituent elements of the tissue and depend on its structure. Thus study of the electrical properties not only makes it possible to differentiate among tissues but also to determine the tissue condition. During hypoxia/ischemia the cell activates a certain chain of mechanisms of cellular adaptation in response to the insult. A consequence of these response mechanisms is that the biochemical composition of the cellular environment is altered and the cells swell (cellular edema). These alterations affect the electrical properties of tissue and the changes can be observed through measurement of the electrical bioimpedance of the affected tissue. Based on these ideas, this research work studies the effects of hypoxia/ischemia on the brain electrical impedance. The aim is to obtain the fundamental knowledge that may lead to the development of useful clinical tools for cerebral monitoring based on electrical bioimpedance spectroscopy. / QC 20120217 / Brain damage, Detection and localization of cell swelling

Tests have been performed to determine whether electromagnetic shielding of fine wires for electrophysiological sensing is a possible way to reduce the external noise in recording of nervous signals. By shielding the wires with a layer of silver, forming a coaxial cable, a reduction of the received power on the lead of 11.8-33 dBm was shown over the 10 – 10 000 Hz range when the test wire was subject to an electromagnetic field from an injection cable.  When putting the performance on the interval 50-100 Hz aside the same performance was measured to 25-33 dBm lower received power, which can be explained by 50 Hz noise from the electrical grid interfering with the measurements. However, when the shield was not grounded or grounded through a resistor worse performance was shown. The difference in received power between the unshielded and shielded configuration without grounding the shield was close to 0 dBm. Following this, the type of shielding investigated in this project has the potential to substantially shield thin wires from external interference under the condition that sufficient grounding is provided.

Infectious diseases pose a serious threat to global health. Molecular diagnostics provide solutions for effective control and prevention of infections, however suffers from expensive laboratory equipment, and infrastructure to be fully implemented at point of care (POC), especially at low-resource settings. Lab-on-a-chip that aims to integrate complex biochemical analyses into automated systems is promising for POC analysis. A major challenge is the integration of a complete molecular diagnostic assay, generally translating into complex microfluidics, with the requirement of low fabrication cost. This thesis explores the use of flexible electronics, plastic foils and roll-to-roll manufacturing to enable low-cost microfluidic systems, for molecular diagnostic assays especially targeted towards infectious diseases. Many biochemical assays rely on heat; hence a first aspect in this thesis is the integration of a microheater into microfluidics. In a first project a system for SNP-genotyping is presented using solid phase melting curve analysis to discriminate mutations at a single base resolution. Starting with a glass based concept (paper I) which is further developed to a foil based system (paper II), detection of the polymorphism in the neuropeptide Y associated with increased risk of type II diabetes is demonstrated as a proof of principle. Further development and optimization of the microheater concept has enabled roll-to-roll manufacturing compatibility and multiplexing of targets (paper III). A bacterial sub-typing and multiresistance detection in clinical Staphylococcus Aureus samples is demonstrated for applications in infectious diseases diagnostics. Finally, the microheater concept is further developed to enable μPCR (paper IV). Detection of genomic HIV-1 is demonstrated and a portable detection setup based on an LED light source and low cost CMOS camera for detection was developed. A second aspect of this thesis is integration of light sources and optical detection (paper V-VI). A multilayer system integrating an electroluminescent light source, reactive sensor dyes and organic semiconductor transistor for detection is demonstrated. The system could be used for amine detection in gases (paper V). System was made further roll-to-roll compatible. The system uses an external LED light source and a photodetector processed in only one screen printing- and one dispensing step (paper VI). As a proof of principle, absorbance based DNA hybridization was detected. Collectively, roll-to-roll manufacturing compatible “lab on foil” systems have the potential to improve our ability to diagnose at POC especially at resource-limited settings. / <p>QC 20170426</p>

Rapporten behandlar utvecklingen och konstruktionen av ett laparoskopiskt blodkärlsidentifierande instrument. Identifiering sker med hjälp av fotopletysmografi. Fotopletysmografi betyder ungefär "detektion av volymförändrings med hjälp av ljus". Laparoskopi kan översättas med titthålskirurgi. Laparoskopioperationer sker med små runda instrument som förs in i kroppen. Rapporten diskuterar olika probmodeller, det vill säga hur sensorn skall konstrueras för att erhålla en bra mätsignal. Konkurrerande tekniker och framtida applikationer redovisas på flera ställen i rapporten. Vid mätningar på blodmodell studerades och analyserades signalkvaliten. Till slut skall tilläggas att proben fungerade tillfredsställande. Proben kunde detektera pulsationer i blodmodellen.

Inledning: Arbetsmiljön är en viktig aspekt att ta hänsyn till för att undvika skador. Det är allt från ergonomiska skador till sjukdomar som kan förhindras genom att använda sig av rätt teknik och skyddsutrustning. En annan viktig del inom tandteknikeryrket är att laboratorierna måste ta ansvar för sina handlingar, till exempel val av material och materialhantering samt fokus på arbetstagarnas säkerhet. Slutligen för att kunna uppnå ett optimalt resultat krävs det att laboratorierna är kvalitetssäkrade. Syfte: Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka hur tandtekniska arbetsplatser ser ut, utifrån ett arbetsmiljöperspektiv.Material & metod: Intervjuerna genomfördes på tandtekniska laboratorier i Malmö genom att ha semistrukturerade intervjuer. Fem dental laboratorier medverkade i undersökningen, var vid respektive laboratoriechefer och skyddsombud intervjuades.Resultat:Studien påvisade medvetna laboratoriechefer/skyddsombud som hade planer på hur de skulle gå tillväga för att uppnå ett bra resultat med gynnsamma arbetsmiljöförhållande. Fyra av fem respondenter konstaterade att arbetstagarna är medvetna om riskerna som kan uppstå på arbetsplatsen.Slutsats:Slutsatserna som kan dras med beaktande av studiens begränsningar är att:•Intervjuerna visade att respondenterna är medvetna om hur en optimal verksamhet kan uppnås utifrån ett arbetsmiljöperspektiv. Dock tas inte alltid ställning till det på grund av bland annat brist på resurser.•Studien visade att mätningar på ventilation och utsug utförs regelbundet för att säkerställa att allt är under kontroll. / Introduction: The work environment is an important aspect to consider in order to avoid damage. One way to prevent injuries, diseases and poor ergonomics is by using protective equipment that are provided for such things. Another important part of the dental technician profession is that laboratories must take responsibilities for their actions. They need to consider the right use of materials and how to handle them correctly. The laboratory must also focus on the employee’s safety. At last, in order to achieve an optimal result, it is required that laboratories are quality assured.Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate how a dental laboratory looks from a work environment perspectiveMaterial and method: The semi-structed interviews were held in dental laboratories in Malmö. Five dental laboratories participated in the survey in which laboratory manager/safety representative were interviewed.Results: The study showed positive results and awareness among laboratory managers/safety representatives that have knowledge of how to achieve favorable working conditions. Four out of five respondents established that the employees are aware of the risks that may occur in the workplace.Conclusion: Within the scope of the study, the following conclusions can be drawn:• The interviews showed that the respondents are aware of how to achieve an optimal work environment, but they do not always have the resources to do so. • The study showed that measurements of ventilation and suction are performed regularly to ensure that everything is under control.

An instrument is being developed at the Department of Biomedical Engineering; Research and Development (MT-FoU), at the University Hospital of Umeå with the aim to detect prostate cancer ex vivo. Using a combination of tactile resonance technology and Raman spectroscopy the instrument is intended to be used in the operating room during radical prostatectomy to identify positive surgical margins. The hypothesis was that the length of the piezoelectric element used in the tactile resonance sensor affects the sensor's sensitivity and reproducibility when measuring the stiffness of soft tissue, and that there might be an optimal impression depth to measure at. The specific aim of this study was to evaluate two piezoelectric elements, of different lengths, by the sensitivity and reproducibility of the measurements they performed. Measurements were performed on five silicone samples of different stiffness, during a 2 mm impression. The standard deviation of the stiffness parameters, the R2 of the linear regression used to determine the stiffness parameter, and the depth at the which the most linear relationship between impression force and frequency shift was found were studied using linear mixed-effects models to identify any significant differences between the elements. The long element had a significantly higher R2 of 0.98 compared to 0.93 for the short element, and a higher measurement depth of 0.47 mm compared to 0.37 mm for the short element. No difference between the elements were found on accuracy as measured by standard deviation of the stiffness parameter. It was concluded that this was not enough to claim that one element was better than the other. / Ett instrument utvecklas på avdelningen för Medicinsk teknik, forskning och utveckling, vid Norrlands universitetssjukhus med målet att detektera prostatacancer ex vivo. Instrumentet kombinerar taktil resonansteknologi med Ramanspektroskopi och är tänkt att användas i operationssalen under radikal prostatektomi för att identifiera positiv kirurgisk marginal. Hypotesen var att längden av det piezoleketriska element som används i den taktila resonanssensorn påverkar sensorns känslighet och reproducerbarhet vid mätning av styvhet av mjukvävnad, och att det kan finnas ett optimalt intryckningsdjup att mäta på. Målet med denna studie var att utvärdera två piezoelektriska element, av olika längd, utifrån känsligheten och reproducerbarheten av mätningarna de utförde. Mätningarna gjordes på fem silikonsprover av olika styvhet, under 2 mm intryckning. Standardavvikelsen av styvhetsparametern, R2 av den linjära regression som användes för att bestämma styvhetsparametern, samt det intryckningsdjup på vilket det mest linjära förhållandet mellan intryckningskraft och frekvensskift hittades, studerade med så kallade linear mixed-effects modeller för att identifiera signifikanta skillnader mellan elementen. Det långa elementet hade ett signifikant högre R2 på 0.98 jämfört med det korta elementets 0.93, och ett högre mätdjup på 0.47 mm jämfört med det korta elementets 0.37 mm. Ingen skillnad mellan elementens standardavvikelser av styvhetsparametern hittades. Slutsatsen drogs att resultatet inte var nog för att påstå att det ena elementet är bättre än det andra.

This work is a comparison of a well-established and a novel, "green" and efficient technique to separate peptides of pharmaceutical interest. An attempt is made to derive the chromatographic retention behaviour from these techniques to a number of property descriptors derived from the linear sequence of amino acids. A set of therapeutic peptides were carefully chosen to be experimentally evaluated using in silico-based descriptor calculations. A principle component analysis was performed to assess the distribution of calculated descriptors for including peptides with variable properties. A diluent optimization study was also included to find the optimal diluent for peptides with minimal diluent effects and peak splitting phenomena. The results showed that the solvents tert-butanol and methanol performed best between 20-30 and 50 volumetric percent water as additive in SFC and HPLC, respectively. These diluents were then used for the peptides within the set to evaluate the retention and selectivity in HPLC and SFC. SFC performed well in terms of resolving power. Inparticular, SFC was able to separate Leuprolide and Triptorelin while HPLC was not. A comparison was also made in between the two stationary phases CN and XT, where a global selectivity was shown to be higher for CN. This work does also assess a novel method for determining solubility of analytes in supercritical fluid. The method was evaluated using the pharmaceutical compounds caffeine and aspirin and then used to determine solubility of Leu-Enkephalin in 20% (v/v%) methanol. The solubility of caffeine was determined to be 0.45 mg ml-1 in pure SF-CO2 under 140 bar pressure and 3.9 mg ml-1 for aspirin in 2.4% methanol. Both values correlated well with measurements from four acknowledged papers within this field. Leu-Enkephalin was found to have a solubility of 1.90 mg ml-1 using a solvent corresponding to the initial phase condition of the gradient used for peptide analysis in SFC. Further experimental work is required before the method can be implemented as a useful tool in preparative chromatography, however the results presented here show the compatibility of assessing biomolecules in both pure SF-CO2 and mixed with modifier. The possibility to determine solubility with additional modifier infers an important step of including and evaluating these compounds creating a solid support to subsequent large scale separation.

In this master thesis methods for increasing temporal resolution when reconstructing radially sampled MRI data have been developed and evaluated. This has been done in two steps; first the order in which data is sampled in k-space has been optimized, and second; temporal filters have been developed in order to utilize the high sampling density in central regions of k-space as a result of the polar sampling geometry to increase temporal resolution while maintaining image quality.By properly designing the temporal filters the temporal resolution is increased by a factor 3–20 depending on other variables such as imageresolution and the size of the time varying areas in the image. The results are obtained from simulated raw data and subsequent reconstruction. The next step should be to acquire and reconstruct raw data to confirm the results. / This Master thesis work were performed at Dept. Radiation Physis, Linköping University, but examined at Dept. Radiation Physics, Umeå University