Photo-electrochemical surface modification and analysis of dye sensitised solar cells

Photoelectric measurements on a series of ruthenium complexes with 9 different 2,2`;6`,2``-terpyridine ligands modified by different thienyl substitutions on the 4`-position were performed. Three of the ligands were novel. With a 2,2’:6’2’’-terpyridine that has a carboxylic acid group it was possible to attach the complexes to nanocrystalline-TiO2 surfaces. By changing the anchoring ligands and counter ligands it was possible to tune the efficiency of light to electricity conversion. Electroactive polymer films were electrochemically deposited from complexes with two of the novel ligands. The surface bound ruthenium complexes were able to photoelectrochemically polymerise monomers of bis-ethylenedioxythiophene, terthiophene and [Ru(terpy-bisthiophene)]2+ on the TiO2 surface. Some photovoltaic activity was seen using the polymerised bis-EDOT as solid-state hole conductor. A technique to measure the photovoltaic capabilities of dye sensitised TiO2 thin films was developed using a scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM). It was possible to estimate performance on very small areas of TiO2 allowing for fast measurements and screening of arrays with different dyes in the future. The technique was dubbed photo-electrochemical microscope (PECM). Some organic dyes of the imide perylene family were investigated as dyes in DNSC. Some improvements were reached, mainly by changing the attaching group

Delningsekonomi och tillit - Är tillit en förutsättning för delningsekonomin?

Delningsekonomi är ett relativt nytt fenomen som har dykt upp under 2000-talet. Delningsekonomin går ut på att individer delar ägandeskap genom att låna ut i stort sett vad som helst när det gäller olika produkter eller tjänster, till skillnad från när produkter eller tjänster ägdes och utnyttjades av den enskilde. Det finns idag många olika företag inom detta område, där några av de mest välkända är företag som Airbnb, Couchsurfing och HomeAway - som alla inriktar sig på att erbjuda sovplatser i olika former. En förutsättning för att delningsekonomin ska fungera är att man har tillit till sina medmänniskor. Finns inte denna tillit, det vill säga att man inte litar på andra människor, saknas förmodligen också viljan eller tanken om att hyra ut ett rum i den egna lägenheten till eller för den delen hyra ett rum av en främling. HomeAway är ett företag som via sin hemsida låter personer lägga ut rum i eller hela bostäder till uthyrning, dels genom att de som vill hyra ut sina bostäder betalar för att HomeAway ska visa annonserna på hemsidan och dels för att ta betalt per uthyrning av bostaden. I denna uppsats kommer de teorier som finns om tillit redovisas för att på så sätt försöka förklara hur delningsekonomin fungerar utifrån ett tillitsperspektiv, därefter kommer jag med statistisk analys försöka visa på tillitens betydelse för delningsekonomin. Detta genom att undersöka data på tillit till medmänniskor och antalet HomeAway i 78 olika länder

Bias in the Boardroom: Psychological Foundations and Legal Implications of Corporate Cohesion

Brain trauma is known to activate inflammatory cells via various chemokine signals although their interactions remain to be characterized. Mice deficient in Ccl3, Ccr2 or Cxcl10 were compared with wildtype mice after controlled cortical impact injury. Expression of Ccl3 in wildtypes was rapidly upregulated in resident, regularly spaced reactive microglia. Ccl3-deficiency enhanced endothelial expression of platelet selectin and invasion of peripheral inflammatory cells. Appearance of Ccr2 transcripts, encoding the Ccl2 receptor, reflected invasion of lysozyme 2-expressing phagocytes and classical antigen-presenting dendritic cells expressing major histocompatibility complex class II. Ccr2 also directed clustered plasmacytoid dendritic cells positive for the T-cell attracting chemokine Cxcl10. A reduction in Ccr2 and dendritic cells was found in injured wildtype cortex after cyclophosphamide treatment resembling effects of Ccr2-deficiency. The findings demonstrate the feasibility to control inflammation in the injured brain by regulating chemokine-dependent pathways

Feeling controlled or being in control? Apps for self-management among older people with neurological disability

Purpose: The aim of this paper was to describe how people living with a neurological disability such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and stroke reason regarding using apps to facilitate self-management in everyday life.Material and methods: A qualitative research approach with a focus group methodology was used. The sample comprised 16 participants, 11 men and 5 women, with an average age of 64 years (ranging from 51–80 years). Six participants were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, six with Parkinson’s disease and four with stroke. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, which is a method for identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns.Results: The results formed two themes. The first theme “using apps to have control of my health” comprises two subthemes; “monitor and take responsibility for a healthy lifestyle” and “compensate to facilitate everyday life”. The second theme “using the app as a tool and means for communication” also comprised two subthemes; “dare to trust the app” and “feeling safe when sharing information with health care professionals”.Conclusions: The use of apps put increased responsibility on the person and had the possibility to make them more involved in their own care. The use of an app can facilitate a healthy lifestyle and help to monitor disease-specific symptoms. In order to be able to use apps for communication with the health care sector legislation and safety issues need to be considered. Implications for rehabilitation Apps can be used for self-management if they are safe and can be trusted. People with neurological disabilities want to be involved in their healthcare and needs to be addressed by health care professionals. The use of apps grasp over a wide variety of areas this is something that may be considered in health care and something that can be addressed by interdisciplinary approaches. Ordinary health-oriented apps and disease-specific apps were used differently and for different purposes

Multifunctional graphene woven fabrics

Tailoring and assembling graphene into functional macrostructures with well-defined configuration are key for many promising applications. We report on a graphene-based woven fabric (GWF) prepared by interlacing two sets of graphene micron-ribbons where the ribbons pass each other essentially at right angles. By using a woven copper mesh as the template, the GWF grown from chemical vapour deposition retains the network configuration of the copper mesh. Embedded into polymer matrices, it has significant flexibility and strength gains compared with CVD grown graphene films. The GWFs display both good dimensional stability in both the warp and the weft directions and the combination of film transparency and conductivity could be optimized by tuning the ribbon packing density. The GWF creates a platform to integrate a large variety of applications, e.g., composites, strain sensors and solar cells, by taking advantages of the special structure and properties of graphene

IMPROVING KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

The ability to create, utilise, transfer and protect knowledge is a source for sustaining competitive advantage. The augmented attention that has been given to knowledge has also lead to an increased organisational focus on strategies and organisational designs that help create new sources of knowledge and ideas. Furthermore, as project organisations aim at accomplishing long-term business strategies through short-term operational projects, the discussion about the importance and meaning of knowledge in projects has become of interest. There are also indications that there is no natural knowledge transfer within a project, and it can be difficult to ensure a transfer of knowledge after the completion of a project. With this in mind, the purpose of this Master Thesis is to create an understanding for how knowledge is transferred within and between projects and how it can be improved. The purpose is to create this understanding from relevant theories and a studied project, and to make recommendations on how to improve knowledge transfer. We have studied an innovation project at Tetra Pak, and the main findings are that the project members rely heavily on direct personal interaction for transferring knowledge. IT and databases are not used to their full potential. Furthermore, the project lacks a strategy for knowledge transfer. As a result, the main recommendation is to determine a knowledge management strategy, preferably one that focuses on transferring tacit knowledge. By determining a strategy, it will become easier to pinpoint areas of improvement. Besides the given recommendations, a more general conclusion is provided, which is in line with the recommendations, though not Tetra Pak specific

Assistive Devices in Everyday Life for Very Old People - Use, Non-use and Opportunities for Use

The overarching aim of this thesis was to contribute to the existing knowledge on the use of assistive devices in everyday life, by adding the perspective of very old single living people in a European context, namely Latvia and Sweden. The aim was to investigate the socio-demographics and environmental and health aspects that impact on device use in the two national contexts. A further aim was to explore the prerequisites for use according to different aspects of the physical and institutional environment. The thesis builds on four studies in which a variety of study designs have been employed. The data derived partly from a European project on home and health – the ENABLE-AGE Project – and additional data were collected for two of the studies. Quantitative data from the Latvian and Swedish sub-samples of the ENABLE-AGE Survey Study comprising well-established instruments and study-specific questionnaires designed to capture objective and subjective aspects of home and health were used (Study I, II, IV), and additional qualitative interview data were collected through semi-structured interviews in Latvia (Study III) and Sweden (Study II, III). Study I: In a Swedish subsample no differences were seen between users and non-users of assistive devices according to socio-demographic or environmental variables at baseline or follow-up. The significant differences seen were related to aspects of health. The number of users increased over the study period and barriers in the outdoor environment turned out to predict use of mobility devices. Study II: In a Swedish subsample of three very old men using mobility devices, it was shown that the social and physical environment impacted on device use. Well-designed devices facilitated device use, while poor street conditions, crowded public transports and bad weather hampered mobility device use. Study III: Both differences and similarities were shown between Latvia and Sweden regarding the organisation and operationalization of the national service delivery systems for assistive technology. The utilisation of professional competences and national financial circumstances affected very old people’s opportunities to be provided with assistive devices. Study IV: In Latvian and Swedish subsamples, national differences were seen in number and type of reported leisure activities outside the home. Differences were also seen for the number of activities reported between users and non-users of mobility devices in relation to their self-rated physical mobility. Conclusion: The use of assistive devices increases with age and supports very old people in everyday life activities, even though there are differences between Latvia and Sweden. In order to ensure equal opportunities for activity and participation for very old people across Europe, it is important to understand what lies behind personal and environmental prerequisites for the use of assistive devices within as well as between countries

Automatisk identifiering av virus med hjälp av transmissionselektronmikroskopi : bildsegmentering och texturanalys

Viruses and their morphology have been detected and studied with electron microscopy (EM) since the end of the 1930s. The technique has been vital for the discovery of new viruses and in establishing the virus taxonomy. Today, electron microscopy is an important technique in clinical diagnostics. It both serves as a routine diagnostic technique as well as an essential tool for detecting infectious agents in new and unusual disease outbreaks. The technique does not depend on virus specific targets and can therefore detect any virus present in the sample. New or reemerging viruses can be detected in EM images while being unrecognizable by molecular methods. One problem with diagnostic EM is its high dependency on experts performing the analysis. Another problematic circumstance is that the EM facilities capable of handling the most dangerous pathogens are few, and decreasing in number. This thesis addresses these shortcomings with diagnostic EM by proposing image analysis methods mimicking the actions of an expert operating the microscope. The methods cover strategies for automatic image acquisition, segmentation of possible virus particles, as well as methods for extracting characteristic properties from the particles enabling virus identification. One discriminative property of viruses is their surface morphology or texture in the EM images. Describing texture in digital images is an important part of this thesis. Viruses show up in an arbitrary orientation in the TEM images, making rotation invariant texture description important. Rotation invariance and noise robustness are evaluated for several texture descriptors in the thesis. Three new texture datasets are introduced to facilitate these evaluations. Invariant features and generalization performance in texture recognition are also addressed in a more general context. The work presented in this thesis has been part of the project Panvirshield, aiming for an automatic diagnostic system for viral pathogens using EM. The work is also part of the miniTEM project where a new desktop low-voltage electron microscope is developed with the aspiration to become an easy to use system reaching high levels of automation for clinical tissue sections, viruses and other nano-sized particles