Although digital media has been exploited to improve digital libraries, social networking sites, and book promotion for adult and child stakeholders, but encouraging children who have the choice to either read from a book or on a screen remains limited worldwide, including Jordan. This interest has meant that data about children¿s reading habits were needed, and the present study was intended as a contribution towards this aim. Interviews were conducted with Jordanian writers, publishers, child specialists, and various children¿s cultural centres. The managers and personnel unanimously showed that Jordanian children are not good readers and that a limited number of books are published for children as there are actual boundaries preventing Jordanian writers from publishing books. In particular, subjecting the typical sorts of children¿s websites ¿ 'Club Penguin', 'PBS Kids', 'A Story before Bed', 'Baraem', 'Storyline Online', and 'Raneen' ¿ to evaluation showed that 'Club Penguin' got the highest rank among the other websites in terms of multimodal features, usability, and language, while 'PBS Kids' got the highest rank regarding interactivity, and 'A Story before Bed' got the highest rank in reading activities. Although it was realised that most children were satisfied with the aspects of usability and ease of use rather than the structure or the aesthetic of the website, and were more attracted to the websites that provide multimodal features such as special characters, narration, gesture, and interactivity. The targeted websites¿ parameters obtained from the survey were used as guidance in the design structure of the KITABAK website, as a virtual reading environment for children¿s reading practices. The evaluation results that were obtained showed that there is a significant correlation towards encouraging children¿s reading habits and reading from printed books accompanying the website; girls showed more interest in reading iv than boys; and there is an obvious willingness for the adaptation of the website as a part of the Jordanian school curriculum. In addition, the KITABAK website was accepted significantly more than 'Club Penguin', mainly because the KITABAK website has facilities, games and reading activities. Also, results showed that children who were subjected to testing the KITABAK website for a one-week period proved to accept the website significantly more than those who were subjected to testing it once. / Applied Science University

This thesis presents novel solutions for the fabrication of functional magnetoresponsive systems, with a focus on the development of magnetic composites as sensors and actuators. Currently, there is a need for multifunctional mechanically flexible materials that can be easily processed into functional devices that respond to a wide range of physical stimuli, including magnetic fields. These characteristics aim for lightweight, and imperceptible systems that help us to interact with technology and with each other without the need for a bulky gadget. Typically, magnetically responsive devices are constructed using materials that do not necessarily possess flexible properties; so magnetosensitive composites with tailored magnetic, conductive, and flexible properties arising from the combination of their constituents were implemented. Here, it is described the use of these composites as printable sensors for magnetic field detection, with a focus on interactivity, safety, and holographic-like applications. A dedicated selection of materials and fabrication methods allowed to obtain stretchable, transparent, or self-healing properties, as well as explore their possibilities for printing them over large-area or even 3D printing. Additionally, it is shown the use of these magnetoresponsive composites as actuators, demonstrating their potential use in magnetic soft robotics by laminating magnetically sensitive devices that give them a sense of motion. Such applications become more technically accessible after the proposition of measurement strategies that remove artifacts in the magnetic signal coming from mechanical deformations. This thesis addressed several of the challenges related to cost, fabrication, and integration in magnetoresponsive composites, and is expected that related research might develop through multifunctional composites that sense more than magnetic fields.

Recent development in electronics for mobile devices has led to the decrease in sizes and cost of autonomous complex embedded systems such as satellites. It is now possible to build a satellite quicker and only for a fraction of previous costs by using Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) components. Yet, there are some obstacles that need to be overcome before a successful small satellite can be designed. Among these are the radiation environment, thermal issues, the overall system complexity and tight schedules. This thesis addresses these issues and proposes an overall approach for designing small satellites’ electronics. This approach can be summarised in 6 recommendations: Keep it simple Use fast hardware iterations Do not use space grade components Use a single string design on the system level (no redundancy) Design with limited trust in the software Use simple, accessible and easy updatable documentation With respect to those recommendations an on board data processing system, the Processing Board, has been designed for the ICEYE-1 satellite. The ICEYE-1 satellite is a fully commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite that will be launched in December 2017. The designed board has been manufactured and verified during airborne test campaigns. / Nya elektronikutvecklingar för mobiltelefoner har lett till en minskning av storlek och kostnader för andra autonoma komplexa inbyggda system som t.ex. satelliter. Så kallade småsatelliter kan numera byggas snabbare och för endast en bråkdel av tidigare kostnader med hjälp av Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) komponenter. Det finns dock vissa hinder som måste övervinnas om man vill designa en pålitligt fungerande småsatellit. Till dessa kan räknas strålningsmiljön, väl fungerande värmeledning, det totala systemets komplexitet samt snäva tidtabeller. Detta examensarbete behandlar dessa frågor och föreslår en övergripande strategi för att designa elektronik för småsatelliter. Detta tillvägagångssätt kan sammanfattas i 6 rekommendationer: Håll det enkelt Implementera snabba hårdvaruiterationer Använd inte rymdklassade komponenter Använd ingen redundans på systemnivå Designa med en begränsad tilltro på mjukvaran Dokumentera på ett enkelt, tillgängligt och lätt uppdateringsbart sätt Dessa rekommendationer har använts till att utveckla ett databehandlingssystem, kallat "Processing Board", till småsatelliten ICEYE-1. ICEYE-1 är en kommersiell Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellit som kommer att skjutas i omloppsbana i december 2017. Databehandlingssystemet i fråga har utvecklats och verifierats i samband med flygplansburna testkampanjer.

The studies in this dissertation mainly utilize planar antennas for ultra-wideband antenna designs not only on the investigation of antenna performance but also towards exploiting attractive features of ultra-wideband antennas for practical applications, such as WMAN access-point antennas, omnidirectional WiMAX access-point antennas, band-notched UWB (Ultra-wideband, 3.1 ~ 10.6 GHz) antennas, and so on. To begin with, the effects of the ground-plane size and the asymmetrical ground plane on ultra-wideband antennas are studied in Chapter 2. Following up, from the conclusive results, an antenna for WMAN operation in access-point applications and an omnidirectional monopole for USB wireless network card device are proposed and analyzed. Characteristics of ultra-wideband antenna radiation in relation to the antenna's width for obtaining omnidirectional radiation are addressed. In Chapter 3, several ultra-wideband access-point antennas are presented for achieving good omnidirectional radiation in the azimuthal plane across the bandwidth. Furthermore, in Chapter 4, band-notching techniques are applied to ultra-wideband antennas for avoiding the interference between the UWB and the WLAN systems.

The discovery of conducting and semiconducting polymers has opened the possibility to produce integrated circuits entirely of plastic with standard continuous printing techniques. Nowadays several of this polymers are commercial available, however the performances of this materials are strongly affected by their supramolecular order achieved after deposition. In this research, the influence of some standard printing techniques on the electrical performances of conjugated polymers is evidenced in order to realise logic devices with these materials.

A utilização de resíduos industriais na produção de materiais pode mitigar os impactos gerados pelo agente gerador. A utilização na costrução civil de materiais gerados a partir de resíduos, minimizaria também os impactos gerados pela extração de recursos naturais para este setor. Os resíduos industriais utilizados nesta pesquisa são classificados como resíduos perigosos e, sendo a pesquisa sustentada na hipótese de que é possível produzir um material cerâmico para utilização na construção civil a partir de lodo de indústria de placa de circuito impresso, lama vermelha do processamento de bauxita e escória siderúrgica, foram produzidas composições cerâmicas utilizando estes resíduos como matéria prima. Os corpos de prova (CPs) foram confeccionados com 20g em molde de 20x60 mm e com prensa uniaxial de 5 MPa. Os CPs foram sinterizados à temperaturas de 800, 900, 1000, 1050, 1100 e 1150°C durante 6 horas. Foram realizadas análises de umidade, granulometria, densidade, perda ao fogo, FRX, DRX, MEV/EDS, retração linear de queima, absorção de água, resistência à flexão e lixiviação, a fim de caracterizar as matérias primas e o material cerâmico desenvolvido. Os resultados demonstram que houve fusão dos elementos que compõem as matérias primas. A composição que apresentou o melhor resultado alcançou 5,48 MPa de resistência à flexão, 4,57% de retração linear de queima, 2,06 de densidade e 19,94% de absorção de água. O resultado do ensaio de lixiviação aponta que o material cerâmico após a sinterização apresenta traços de Pb, tendo imobilizado apenas parte dos metais pesados analisados presentes na composição dos corpos de prova, o que o classifica como resíduo perigoso. Em comparação com as normas brasileiras, os aspectos de absorção de água e resistência atenderam aos requisitos para uso em blocos cerâmicos para alvenaria estrutural e nas categorias A, B e C de tijolos maciços comuns para alvenaria, respectivamente, no entanto, a imobilização de metais pesados carece de ajustes para que se alcance um material cerâmico inerte. / The use of industrial waste in the production of materials can mitigate the impacts generated by the generating agent. The use in civil construction of materials generated from waste, would also minimize the impacts generated by the extraction of natural resources for this sector. The industrial waste used in this research is classified as hazardous waste and the research is based on the hypothesis that it is possible to produce a ceramic material for use in civil construction from printed circuit board industry sludge, bauxite red processing sludge and steel slag, ceramic compositions using these residues as raw material were produced. The sample were made with 20g in mold 20x60 mm and with uniaxial press 5 MPa. The sample were sintered at temperatures of 800, 900, 1000, 1050, 1100 and 1150°C for 6 hours. Moisture tests were carried out, density, granulometry, loss on ignition, XRF, XRD, SEM/EDS, linear firing shrinkage, water absorption, flexural strength and leaching in order to characterize the materials and the ceramic material developed. The results show that there has been fusion of the components of the raw materials. The composition showed the best result achieved flexural strength 5.48 MPa, 4.57% of linear firing decrease, 2.06 density and 19.94% water absorption. The results of the leaching test indicate that the ceramic material after sintering presents traces of Pb, having immobilized only part of the analyzed heavy metals present in the composition of the test specimens, which classifies it as hazardous waste. In comparison with the Brazilian standards, the water absorption and resistance aspects met the requirements for use in ceramic blocks for structural masonry and in categories A, B and C of solid bricks common for masonry, respectively, however, the immobilization of metals is required to achieve an inert ceramic material.

The discovery of conducting and semiconducting polymers has opened the possibility to produce integrated circuits entirely of plastic with standard continuous printing techniques. Nowadays several of this polymers are commercial available, however the performances of this materials are strongly affected by their supramolecular order achieved after deposition. In this research, the influence of some standard printing techniques on the electrical performances of conjugated polymers is evidenced in order to realise logic devices with these materials.

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is damage detection strategy for aerospace, civiland mechanical infrastructure. This project tries to show that Lamb waves, that are being generated and sensed with piezoelectric transducers, can be used for damage detection in a SHM system. For these piezoelectric transducers to work, filtering and amplification circuits needs to be connected to them. This report include the design,simulation, assembly and testing of these circuits. Due to lack of time, it was not possible to generate and sense actual Lamb waves. The result of the thesis is thatsimulations and tests show that it is possible to generate and sense Lamb waves for damage detection in a SHM system / Structural health monitoring (SHM) är en skadedetekteringsstrategi för flyg-,civil- och mekanisk infrastruktur. Detta projekt försöker visa att Lambvågor, som genereras och avkänns med piezoelektriska givare, kan användas för skadedetektering i ett SHM-system. För att dessa piezoelektriska givare ska fungera krävs att filtrerings- och förstärkningskretsar är anslutna till dem. Denna rapport inkluderar design, simulering, montering och testning av dessa kretsar. På grund av tidsbrist var det inte möjligt att generera eller avkänna Lambvågor. Resultatet av examensarbetet är att simuleringar och tester visar att det är möjligt att generera och avkänna Lambvågor för skadedetektering i ett SHM-system.

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a simple Direct Ink Writing (DIW) method for fabricating intrinsically stretchable microsupercapacitors as ef- fective on-chip energy storage devices for the emerging stretchable electron- ics. Using the printing method for fabricating intrinsically stretchable elec- tronic components remains a novel approach. In this thesis, interdigitated structures of intrinsically stretchable electrodes were printed on a stretchable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) substrate using a formulated ink based on Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):Polystyrene Sulfonate. Formulated elec- trolytes based on Poly(4-styrene Sulfonic Acid) and Phosphoric Acid were applied to the electrodes to complete the fabrication of microsupercapacitors. Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Galvanostatic Charge-Discharge (GCD) and Elec- trochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) were used to characterize the per- formance of the devices. The stretchability of the electrodes was also mea- sured. Results from CV-measurements revealed a maximum capacitance of740 µF cm−2 at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1. GCD-measurements showed a capaci- tance of 952 µF cm−2 for the same device and an equivalent series resistance of approximately 7 kΩ. The printed electrodes exhibited a stretchability of 80%. The results show the feasibility of fabricating intrinsically stretchable energystorage devices using commercially available materials and a simple 3D print- ing technique. This method could be used as a high-throughput and low-cost method for stretchable electronics applications. / Syftet med detta arbete är att utveckla en simpel Direct Ink Writing (DIW) metod för framställning av intrinsiskt sträckbara mikrosuperkondensatorer som effektiva on-chip energilagrinsenheter i kommande sträckbar elektronik. Användandet av DIW för att tillverka intrinsiskt sträckbara elektroniska kom- ponenter är ett nytt tillvägagångssätt. I detta arbete trycktes interdigiterade strukturer av intrinsiskt sträckbara elektroder på ett sträckbart termoplastiskt polyuretan (TPU) substrat genom att använda ett formulerat bläck baserat på Poly(3,4-etylendioxitiofen):Polystyren Sulfonat (PEDOT:PSS). Formuler- ade elektrolyter baserade på Poly(4-styrensulfonsyra) och Fosforsyra applicer- ades på elektroderna för att färdigställa tillverkningen av mikrosuperkonden- satorer. Cyklisk Voltammetri (CV), Galvanostatisk uppladdning-urladdning (eng. GCD) och Elektrokemisk Impedansspektroskopi (EIS) användes för att karaktärisera enheternas prestanda. Bläckets sträckbarhet uppmättes också. Resultaten från CV-mätningar visade att den maximala kapacitansen var 742µF cm−2 vid skanningsfrekvensen 5 mV s−1. Kapacitansen från GCD-mätningar var 952 µF cm−2 för samma enhet och den ekvivalenta serieresistansen var cirka 7 kΩ. Sträckbarheten som de tryckta elektroderna uppvisade var 80%. . Re- sultaten påvisar möjligheten att kunna framställa intrinsiskt sträckbara en-ergilagringsenheter genom att använda kommersiellt tillgängliga material och en simpel metod för friformsframställning. Denna metod skulle kunna använ- das för att framställa sträckbara elektroniska komponenter till låg kostnad och med hög produktionstakt.

Low profile, conformal antennas have considerable advantages for Aerospace and Military platforms where conventional antenna system add weight and drag. Direct Write (DW) technology has been earmarked as a potential method for fabricating low profile antennas directly onto structural components. This thesis determines the key design rules and requirements for DW fabrication of planar antennas. From this, three key areas were investigated: the characterisation of DW ink materials for functionality and durability in harsh environments, localised processing of DW inks and the optimisation of DW conductive ink material properties for antenna fabrication. This study mainly focused on established DW technologies such as micro-nozzle and inkjet printing due to their ability to print on conformal surfaces. From initial characterisation studies it was found that silver based micro-nozzle PTF inks had greater adhesion then silver nano-particle inkjet inks but had lower conductivity (2% bulk conductivity of silver as opposed to 8% bulk conductivity). At higher curing temperatures (>300??C) inkjet inks were able to achieve conductivities of 33% bulk conductivity of silver. However, these temperatures were not suitable for processing on temperature sensitive surfaces such as carbon fibre. Durability tests showed that silver PTF inks were able to withstand standard aerospace environments apart from Skydrol immersion. It was found that DW inks should achieve a minimum conductivity of 30% bulk silver to reduce antenna and transmission line losses. Using a localised electroplating process (known as brush plating) it was shown that a copper layer could be deposited onto silver inkjet inks and thermoplastic PTF inks with a copper layer exhibiting a bulk conductivity of 66% bulk copper and 57% bulk copper respectively. This was an improvement on previous electroless plating techniques which reported bulk copper conductivities of 50% whilst also enabling DW inks to be plated without the need for a chemical bath. One of the limitations of many DW ink materials is they require curing or sintering before they become functional. Conventional heat treatment is performed using an oven which is not suitable when processing DW materials onto large structural component. Previous literature has investigated laser curing as means of overcoming this problem. However, lasers are monochromatic and can therefore be inefficient when curing materials that have absorption bands that differ from the laser wavelength. To investigate this, a laser diode system was compared to a broadband spot curing system. In the curing trials it was found that silver inks could be cured with much lower energy density (by a factor of 10) using the broadband white light source. Spectroscopy also revealed that broadband curing could be more advantageous when curing DW dielectric ink materials as these inks absorb at multiple wavelengths but have low heat conductivity. Themodynamical modelling of the curing process with the broadband heat source was also performed. Using this model it was shown that the parameters required to cure the ink with the broadband heat source only caused heat penetration by a few hundred micro-metres into the top surface of the substrate at very short exposure times (~1s). This suggested that this curing method could be used to process the DW inks on temperature sensitive materials without causing any significant damage. Using a combination of the developments made in this thesis the RF properties of the DW inks were measured after broadband curing and copper plating. It was found that the copper plated DW ink tracks gave an equivalent transmission line loss to a copper etched line. To test this further a number of GPS patch antennas were fabricated out of the DW ink materials. Again the copper plated antenna gave similar properties to the copper etched antenna. To demonstrate the printing capabilities of the micro-nozzle system a mock wireless telecommunications antenna was fabricated on to a GRP UAV wing. In this demonstrator a dielectric and conductive antenna pattern was fabricated on to the leading edge of the wing component using a combination of convection curing and laser curing (using an 808nm diode laser).