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This article examines the process of applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in Ecuadorian education, with the objective of evaluating its effectiveness and impact on the educational system. Considered an invaluable tool in contemporary education, the DUA seeks to promote equity, accessibility and educational quality, preparing students for the challenges of a diverse and dynamic world. The results show the analysis of 55 selected articles that addressed the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in Ecuadorian educational institutions, with a focus on improving access and participation of all students in the educational process; Gaps were identified in the research, especially regarding the exhaustive evaluation of the impact of DUA on academic performance, pointing out the need for more longitudinal and exhaustive studies in this field. As an important contribution, the importance of considering the various perspectives and contexts was highlighted. sociocultural within the country when implementing the DUA in education. In conclusion, the implementation of the DUA in the Ecuadorian educational system shows flexibility and effectiveness, emphasizing the need to address challenges in teacher training and the inclusion of students with disabilities to maximize its impact and promote a more inclusive education., Este artículo examina el proceso de aplicación del Diseño Universal para el Aprendizaje (DUA) en la educación ecuatoriana, con el objetivo de evaluar su efectividad e impacto en el sistema educativo. Considerado como una herramienta invaluable en la educación contemporánea, el DUA busca promover la equidad, accesibilidad y calidad educativa, preparando a los estudiantes para los desafíos de un mundo diverso y dinámico. Los resultados muestran el análisis de 55 artículos seleccionados que abordaron la implementación del Diseño Universal para el Aprendizaje (DUA) en instituciones educativas ecuatorianas, con un enfoque en la mejora del acceso y la participación de todos los estudiantes en el proceso educativo; se identificaron brechas en la investigación, especialmente en cuanto a la evaluación exhaustiva del impacto del DUA en el rendimiento académico, señalando la necesidad de más estudios longitudinales y exhaustivos en este campo, como aporte importante se destacó la importancia de considerar las diversas perspectivas y contextos socioculturales dentro del país al implementar el DUA en la educación. En conclusión, la implementación del DUA en el sistema educativo ecuatoriano muestra flexibilidad y efectividad, enfatizando la necesidad de abordar desafíos en la formación docente y la inclusión de estudiantes con discapacidades para maximizar su impacto y promover una educación más inclusiva.

Tuc Altaf, Cigdem/0000-0001-9036-5836, Flexible, self-powered, and fast-responsive photoelectrochemical photodetector (PEC-PD) devices are needed in optoelectronic applications. Although the PD devices constructed from heterojunction of zinc oxide (ZnO) and inorganic halide perovskite (CsPbBr3)-type perovskite displayed astonishing performance in the field, the sensitivity of the perovskite layer to environmental conditions restricts the wide application. Herein, we present a study for the preparation of a wide light spectrum (367-499 nm) sensitive PEC-PD devices built from the heterostructure of Mn-doped ZnO nanorod (ZnONR) and CsPbBr3 on both rigid and flexible substrates using ionic conductive polymer electrolyte. The PEC-PD performance parameters of the self-powered PEC-PD device such as responsivity (R), Detectivity (D*), and sensitivity (S%) have been calculated as 95.12 mAW-1, 2.83x1012 Jones and 8.04x106%, respectively. In addition to these parameters, the fast light response for rise/decay time (tau rise/ tau decay) which is an important parameter for PD applications was (10.62 ms/42.9 ms) observed. The resulting PEC-PD device demonstrated durability over 2500 cycles under simulated sunlight and upon 500 bending cycles at different angles., The authors would like to thank TUBITAK 2218-118C551 for financial support., TUBITAK [2218-118C551]

In this article, the design of a compact, wideband, biocompatible, implantable circularly polarized (CP) open-ended slot antenna on the flexible substrate for biomedical applications is presented. The antenna is designed to operate in the industrial, Scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency band of 920 MHz. To attain biocompatibility with human tissue and reduce the antenna profile, a biocompatible coating layer of alumina (Al2O3) is considered all around the implantable CP antenna. Also, the antenna is constructed by utilizing a thin (0.2 mm) dielectric substrate to attain flexibility characteristics. The overall dimensions of the proposed compact antenna with coating is 0.03 lambda(0)x 0.03 lambda(0) x 0.0007 lambda(0), where lambda(0) is the free-space wavelength at 920 MHz frequency. Also, the implant CP antenna provides a high axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 21.87 % covering the 902-928 MHz ISM band. Moreover, a peak gain of -23.35 dBi and co-cross pol discrimination of 22 dB at the bore sight direction is obtained at 920 MHz.

Our urban environment is in constant flux, cities are ever-changing ecosystems that expand, contract, evolve & adapt. However, the way that we have been building our environment has seldom reflected that on the building scale. New neighbourhoods emerge, buildings are torn down and new ones replace them, but in the world that we live today where resources are becoming more scarce and global climate change is upon us, it is time to rethink how we design buildings today with the future in mind. My project’s goal is to design a wood construction system & building, with a focus on enabling mobility, adaptability, reuse, easy assemblage & disassemble, while fostering a sense of permanence so the user feels rooted at home.While concrete has allowed us to push the limits of what we can build, I believe that wood construction R & D has gotten far enough to have similar qualities but store carbon at the same time as being a renewable resource if managed & used responsibly. In my project, I used the method of prefabricating & separating each system on its own layer to allow for longevity, easy replacement & flexibility.

Flexible superhydrophobic surfaces have been attracting more and more attention due to their foldable property. However, the superhydrophobic structure was easily damaged or destroyed owing to their poor interfacial force between substrate and superhydrophobic coating. Herein, fluorinated silica nanoparticles (F-SiO2) were sprayed onto the wet poly(amide–imide) (PAI) surface, which made F-SiO2 easily went into PAI substrate to enhance the durability of superhydrophobic surface. The PAI/F-SiO2 flexible surface exhibited a water contact angle (CA) of beyond 160° and a sliding angle (SA) of as low as 3°, while the tensile strength (34 MPa) was comparable to that of PAI substrate (35.8 MPa). Encouragingly, the superhydrophobicity and hierarchical porous structure of PAI/F-SiO2 surface were maintained even they were folded by 5000 times or underwent sandpaper abrasion test (500 cm of wear on a 1200 grit sandpaper under 50 g load), while the nanocomposites failed the sandpaper abrasion test when F-SiO2 were sprayed onto completely dried PAI surface. More importantly, the CA and SA just slightly decreased when PAI/F-SiO2 surfaces were heated at 300 °C for 24 h due to the unique surface morphology and high thermal stability of PAI, which is one of the highest thermal stabilities for flexible superhydrophobic films. In addition, PAI/F-SiO2 surfaces maintained superhydrophobic after hot water jet impact, acid–base immersing, UV irradiation, and ultrasonic treatment, indicating the fabricated surfaces could be used for practical application especially under harsh conditions. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic surfaces possessed icephobic properties. It should be noted that PAI/F-SiO2 surfaces showed such excellent properties, although their fabricating procedure did not undergo any optimization. This wet spraying method was also used to fabricate flexible superhydrophobic surfaces with other polymers as substrates such as poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), thermoplastic polyurethane (TP

Our urban environment is in constant flux, cities are ever-changing ecosystems that expand, contract, evolve & adapt. However, the way that we have been building our environment has seldom reflected that on the building scale. New neighbourhoods emerge, buildings are torn down and new ones replace them, but in the world that we live today where resources are becoming more scarce and global climate change is upon us, it is time to rethink how we design buildings today with the future in mind. My project’s goal is to design a wood construction system & building, with a focus on enabling mobility, adaptability, reuse, easy assemblage & disassemble, while fostering a sense of permanence so the user feels rooted at home.While concrete has allowed us to push the limits of what we can build, I believe that wood construction R & D has gotten far enough to have similar qualities but store carbon at the same time as being a renewable resource if managed & used responsibly. In my project, I used the method of prefabricating & separating each system on its own layer to allow for longevity, easy replacement & flexibility.

Last years, lead time, flexibility, cost, and quality have become significant factors for the manufacturing industry. This also applies to gears, which could be manufactured using hobbing and grinding. Fixing systems are used to precisely center and fully fix gears to reach high quality. These are expensive and not flexible which requires a new one for each gear dimension. This limits the production of prototypes and so new product for the market. Developing a 3D concept for affordable and flexible fixing is the purpose. Through literature research, analyzing the current process, discussions with the company, desk research, and benchmarking, requirements are made for the new concept. Then brainstorming sessions are done to come up with new concepts. The concepts are analyzed, discussed with the company, and combined into two better concepts. Even though the higher flexibility of the other concept, the robustness of the winning concept “CoNut”. The principle is that only a few parts have to be changed instead of the whole system. The concept is further developed in 3D, where design for cost and manufacturing are applied. Finally, test procedures are drafted to validate the concept against therequirements. While some require a prototype, others are already validated by using the 3D model. Ultimately, an affordable and more flexible fixing system is developed as a 3D concept, by using a structural design process, which is likely to meet all the requirements. Since the model is cheaper and easier to change within meeting the other requirements, the purpose is reached.

Los edificios monumentales ilustres o “emi”, son edificios con una enorme carga histórica a sus espaldas que los convierte prácticamente en esculturas. Edificios que nacen como respuesta o demostración del poder de un individuo o un colectivo, que por sus características se convierten en un patrimonio de difícil uso, ya que la delicadeza de sus arquitecturas y la necesidad de preservarlas los aleja de mantener vida en su interior, acercándose peligrosamente a la denominación de los no-lugares. ¿Cómo mantenemos con vida estos edificios una vez pierden su uso original? ¿Existen patrones, conductas, condicionantes o métodos que permitan que edificios monumentales ilustres inicialmente con un propósito determinado se adapten a distintas actividades convirtiéndose en flexibles? Para saberlo se realizará un análisis a través de los usos que se les dan a una selección de palacios reales (en sus salones regentes más ilustres) con el objetivo de poder determinar una lista de condicionantes que hay que tener en cuenta para introducir usos en los EMI., The illustrious and monumental buildings or “EMI”, are buildings with an enormous history within their walls. This makes them something more similar to asculpture rather than a building. These buildings emerge as a consequence or demonstration of somebody’s power. And their characteristics make them a heritage with very difficult use due to the delicateness of their architecture and the need of preserving it. This distances them from keeping them alive. How do we keep these buildings alive once they lose their original purpose? Are there any ways, methods or attitudes that allow these illustrious and monumental buildings initially with a particular purpose, to be flexible and allow a variety of uses and activities inside them? To discover this an investigation will be done using a selection of royal European palaces and their most illustrious rooms with the objective of writing a list of methods or attitudes when introducing new activities into the “EMI”s.

Last years, lead time, flexibility, cost, and quality have become significant factors for the manufacturing industry. This also applies to gears, which could be manufactured using hobbing and grinding. Fixing systems are used to precisely center and fully fix gears to reach high quality. These are expensive and not flexible which requires a new one for each gear dimension. This limits the production of prototypes and so new product for the market. Developing a 3D concept for affordable and flexible fixing is the purpose. Through literature research, analyzing the current process, discussions with the company, desk research, and benchmarking, requirements are made for the new concept. Then brainstorming sessions are done to come up with new concepts. The concepts are analyzed, discussed with the company, and combined into two better concepts. Even though the higher flexibility of the other concept, the robustness of the winning concept “CoNut”. The principle is that only a few parts have to be changed instead of the whole system. The concept is further developed in 3D, where design for cost and manufacturing are applied. Finally, test procedures are drafted to validate the concept against therequirements. While some require a prototype, others are already validated by using the 3D model. Ultimately, an affordable and more flexible fixing system is developed as a 3D concept, by using a structural design process, which is likely to meet all the requirements. Since the model is cheaper and easier to change within meeting the other requirements, the purpose is reached.

The goals of this thesis are the classification and investigation of macroscopic defects observed in the CIGSe absorber-layer after deposition and the investigation of the effect of alkali Post Deposition Treatments (PDTs) on flexible thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) solar cells. The investigation in this thesis aims to identify a strategy to implement PDTs to the absorber deposition process at Sunplugged GmbH, a company in Tirol that produces flexible, CIGSe based thin film solar cells. Sunplugged uses a one-of-a-kind deposition technology to realize a roll-to-roll (R2R) hybrid co-evaporation process (RHCP) for CIGSe absorber deposition. The absorbers produced at Sunplugged show a deviation in thickness ranging from 1.25 - 2.25 µm and in the CGI ([Cu]/([Ga]+[In]) ratio) from 0.78 - 1.08 along the substrate width, while the GGI ([Ga]/([Ga]+[In]) ratio) is homogeneously distributed with a value of 0.21 in the center and 0.22 at the edge of the substrate. Along the substrate length, i.e. in the travelling direction of the substrate during the CIGSe deposition, the parameters show only small deviations compared to the substrate width. Solar cells are only made from the center parts of the absorber with more homogeneous thicknesses and CGI distribution. A steel substrate with a glass-bilayer as an electrical and chemical barrier form the base for the back contact, made of a titanium layer, a sodium-doped molybdenum layer and a pristine molybdenum layer. On the back-contact, the absorber-layer is deposited, followed by a CdS buffer-layer and an intrinsic ZnO window-layer. The devices are completed with a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) front contact. Macroscopic defects in the layered architecture of thin film devices are studied with a light microscope as well as a scanning electron microscope with additional measurement methods, such as EDX (energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy) and EBIC (Electron Beam Induced Current). They are categorized as either peel-off or whisk, Masterarbeit Universität Innsbruck 2023

The rapid growth and evolution of solar panel technology have been driven by continuous advancements in materials science. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of the diverse range of materials employed in modern solar panels, elucidating their roles, properties, and contributions to overall performance. The discussion encompasses both traditional crystalline silicon-based panels and emerging thin-film technologies. A detailed examination of photovoltaic materials, including monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon as well as alternative materials such as cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and emerging perovskite solar cells, is presented. Furthermore, the impact of transparent conductive materials, encapsulation polymers, and antireflective coatings on solar panel efficiency and durability is explored. The review delves into the synergistic interplay between material properties, manufacturing processes, and environmental considerations. Through a comprehensive

Godkänd;2023;Nivå 0;2023-05-09 (hanlid)

The rapid growth and evolution of solar panel technology have been driven by continuous advancements in materials science. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of the diverse range of materials employed in modern solar panels, elucidating their roles, properties, and contributions to overall performance. The discussion encompasses both traditional crystalline silicon-based panels and emerging thin-film technologies. A detailed examination of photovoltaic materials, including monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon as well as alternative materials such as cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and emerging perovskite solar cells, is presented. Furthermore, the impact of transparent conductive materials, encapsulation polymers, and antireflective coatings on solar panel efficiency and durability is explored. The review delves into the synergistic interplay between material properties, manufacturing processes, and environmental considerations. Through a comprehensive

Godkänd;2023;Nivå 0;2023-05-09 (hanlid)

Nowadays, there are many different industrial processes in which people spend several hours performing tedious and repetitive tasks. Furthermore, most of these processes involve the manipulation of dangerous materials or machinery, such as the toy manufacturing, where people handle ovens with high temperatures and make weary physical effort for a long period of time during the process. In this work, it is presented an automatic and innovative collaborative robotic system that is able to deal with the demoulding task during the manufacturing process of toy dolls. The intelligent robotic system is composed by an UR10e robot with a RealSense RGB-D camera integrated which detects the pieces in the mould using a developed vision-based algorithm and extracts them by means of a custom gripper located and the end of the robot. We introduce a pipeline to perform the demoulding task of different plastic pieces relying in the use of this intelligent robotic system. Finally, to validate this approach, the automatic method has been successfully implemented in a real toy factory providing a novel approach in this traditional manufacturing process. The paper describes the robotic system performance using different forces and velocities, obtaining a success rate of more than 90% in the experimental results.

Industrial environments and product manufacturing processes are currently being automated and robotized. Nowadays, it is common to have robots integrated in the automotive industry, robots palletizing in the food industry and robots performing welding tasks in the metal industry. However, there are many traditional and manual sectors out of date with technology, such as the toy manufacturing industry. This work describes a new robotic system able to perform the demoulding task in a toy manufacturing process, which is a tedious labor-intensive and potentially hazardous task for human operators. The system is composed of specialised machinery about the rotational moulding manufacturing process, cameras, actuators, and a collaborative robot. A vision-based algorithm makes this system capable of handling soft plastic pieces which are deformable and flexible during demoulding. The system reduces the stress and potential injuries to human operators, allowing them to perform other tasks wit h higher dexterity requirements or relocate to other sub-tasks of the process where the physical effort is minor.

Work with spintronic functional elements for flexible magnetic field sensors, we was interested in improving their performance, relying on new materials and metrological approaches. We employ novel fabrication technics as an alternating magnetic field activation of self-healing of percolation network [1]. It allows to fabricate printable magnetoresistive sensors revealing an enhancement in sensitivity of more than one and two orders of magnitude, relative to previous reports. Printed electronics are attractive due to their low-cost and large-area processing features, which have been successfully extended to magnetoresistive sensors and devices [2]. This technology was enabled initially, by thin films magnetic field sensors, embedded in a soft and flexible format to constitute magntosensitive electronic skin (e-skins). But now we demonstrate what interactive electronics, based on flexible spin valve switches [3] or printed and stretchable Giant Magnetoresistive Sensors, could act also as a logic elements, namely momentary and permanent (latching) switches. All this printing technology aspects are yet to be developed to comply with requirements to mechanical conformability of on-skin appliances. Due to the fact that the metallic layer is subjected to unsteady mechanical stresses, deposition of the magnetic sensor onto few microns thick non-rigid substrate creates a numerous problems, and the strain sensitivity is the first effect which have to be discussed. The thermoelectric effect is the second effect that also have to be considered in order to minimize thermal errors. These aspects will be discussed more detailed in this contribution. References [1] R. Xu, Nature Communications 13, 6587 (2022) [2] E. S. Oliveros Mata, Applied Physics A 127, 280 (2021) [3] P. Makushko, Adv. Funct. Mater. 31, 2101089 (2021) [4] M. Ha, Adv. Mater. 33, 2005521 (2021)

The rapid growth and evolution of solar panel technology have been driven by continuous advancements in materials science. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of the diverse range of materials employed in modern solar panels, elucidating their roles, properties, and contributions to overall performance. The discussion encompasses both traditional crystalline silicon-based panels and emerging thin-film technologies. A detailed examination of photovoltaic materials, including monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon as well as alternative materials such as cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and emerging perovskite solar cells, is presented. Furthermore, the impact of transparent conductive materials, encapsulation polymers, and antireflective coatings on solar panel efficiency and durability is explored. The review delves into the synergistic interplay between material properties, manufacturing processes, and environmental considerations. Through a comprehensive

The teaching task is themean through which it is possible to implement the strategy of flexible learning for diverse populations accessing public higher education in vulnerable conditions that present difficulties to remain in traditional educational approaches with IT mediation. A flexible didactic action is drawn that integrates information and communication technologies (ICT) to the curriculum, in a process of nested fabric of contents, skills, thoughts and disciplines of the different components or subjects of the basic, professional and elective area: through the interrelations of the mental system deployed by the teaching work at the didactic level with the mediation of the communicative process, oriented to flexible learning with digital presence; as an act of rethinking strategies, modalities and traditional evaluation by a digital method that al-lows overcoming conceptual gaps, space and time limitations, El quehacer docente es el medio a través del cual es posible implementar la estrategia del aprendizaje flexible para las poblaciones diversas que accedan a la educación superior pública en condiciones vulnerables que presentan dificultades para permanecer en los enfoques educativos tradicionales con la mediación TIC. El diseño de una acción didáctica flexible que integra las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) al plan de estudio del currículo, en un proceso de tejido anidado de contenidos, habilidades, pensamientos y disciplinas de los distintos componentes o asignaturas del área básica, profesional y electiva: a través de las interrelaciones del sistema mental desplegado por el quehacer docente a nivel didáctico con mediación del proceso comunicativo, orientado al aprendizaje flexible con la presencia digital; como un acto del repensar las estrategias, modalidades y evaluación tradicional por un método digital que permita superar vacíos conceptuales, limitaciones espacio y tiempo.

The rapid growth and evolution of solar panel technology have been driven by continuous advancements in materials science. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of the diverse range of materials employed in modern solar panels, elucidating their roles, properties, and contributions to overall performance. The discussion encompasses both traditional crystalline silicon-based panels and emerging thin-film technologies. A detailed examination of photovoltaic materials, including monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon as well as alternative materials such as cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and emerging perovskite solar cells, is presented. Furthermore, the impact of transparent conductive materials, encapsulation polymers, and antireflective coatings on solar panel efficiency and durability is explored. The review delves into the synergistic interplay between material properties, manufacturing processes, and environmental considerations. Through a comprehensive

Work with spintronic functional elements for flexible magnetic field sensors, we was interested in improving their performance, relying on new materials and metrological approaches. We employ novel fabrication technics as an alternating magnetic field activation of self-healing of percolation network [1]. It allows to fabricate printable magnetoresistive sensors revealing an enhancement in sensitivity of more than one and two orders of magnitude, relative to previous reports. Printed electronics are attractive due to their low-cost and large-area processing features, which have been successfully extended to magnetoresistive sensors and devices [2]. This technology was enabled initially, by thin films magnetic field sensors, embedded in a soft and flexible format to constitute magntosensitive electronic skin (e-skins). But now we demonstrate what interactive electronics, based on flexible spin valve switches [3] or printed and stretchable Giant Magnetoresistive Sensors, could act also as a logic elements, namely momentary and permanent (latching) switches. All this printing technology aspects are yet to be developed to comply with requirements to mechanical conformability of on-skin appliances. Due to the fact that the metallic layer is subjected to unsteady mechanical stresses, deposition of the magnetic sensor onto few microns thick non-rigid substrate creates a numerous problems, and the strain sensitivity is the first effect which have to be discussed. The thermoelectric effect is the second effect that also have to be considered in order to minimize thermal errors. These aspects will be discussed more detailed in this contribution. References [1] R. Xu, Nature Communications 13, 6587 (2022) [2] E. S. Oliveros Mata, Applied Physics A 127, 280 (2021) [3] P. Makushko, Adv. Funct. Mater. 31, 2101089 (2021) [4] M. Ha, Adv. Mater. 33, 2005521 (2021)

This paper explores project-based research approach for using knitted textiles as a participating element in a tensegrity structural system. The design of the tensegrity Helix-Tower takes advantage of the emergent elastic properties of knit material and the self-stress, self-stabilizing characteristics of tensegrity structures. The paper outlines the workflow for working with knit materials, including the feedback loop between small studies, digital models, and simulations, and from small to large prototypes. The resulting prototype is a 2.74-meter (9-foot) helix structured tensegrity tower, which is lightweight, deployable, and at a small architectural scale. The assembly process for the final construction is simple and requires no tools. The research is novel in its exploration of using knit membranes in tensegrity structures, resulting in a structure that is ultimately more flexible and responsive to movement than traditional tensegrity structures. The design also provides more interactivity with human bodies and the environment. The paper examines the benefits of knitted membrane, including their heterogeneity and uneven stretching. Which provides softness, flexibility, and more movement to the structure. However, questions remain regarding the potential for other environmental factors such as wind or water. Future work includes exploring the potential and problems of knitted compared to other materials used in tensegrity structures and examining the incorporation of the design into real architectural elements.

This paper explores project-based research approach for using knitted textiles as a participating element in a tensegrity structural system. The design of the tensegrity Helix-Tower takes advantage of the emergent elastic properties of knit material and the self-stress, self-stabilizing characteristics of tensegrity structures. The paper outlines the workflow for working with knit materials, including the feedback loop between small studies, digital models, and simulations, and from small to large prototypes. The resulting prototype is a 2.74-meter (9-foot) helix structured tensegrity tower, which is lightweight, deployable, and at a small architectural scale. The assembly process for the final construction is simple and requires no tools. The research is novel in its exploration of using knit membranes in tensegrity structures, resulting in a structure that is ultimately more flexible and responsive to movement than traditional tensegrity structures. The design also provides more interactivity with human bodies and the environment. The paper examines the benefits of knitted membrane, including their heterogeneity and uneven stretching. Which provides softness, flexibility, and more movement to the structure. However, questions remain regarding the potential for other environmental factors such as wind or water. Future work includes exploring the potential and problems of knitted compared to other materials used in tensegrity structures and examining the incorporation of the design into real architectural elements.

The goals of this thesis are the classification and investigation of macroscopic defects observed in the CIGSe absorber-layer after deposition and the investigation of the effect of alkali Post Deposition Treatments (PDTs) on flexible thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) solar cells. The investigation in this thesis aims to identify a strategy to implement PDTs to the absorber deposition process at Sunplugged GmbH, a company in Tirol that produces flexible, CIGSe based thin film solar cells. Sunplugged uses a one-of-a-kind deposition technology to realize a roll-to-roll (R2R) hybrid co-evaporation process (RHCP) for CIGSe absorber deposition. The absorbers produced at Sunplugged show a deviation in thickness ranging from 1.25 - 2.25 µm and in the CGI ([Cu]/([Ga]+[In]) ratio) from 0.78 - 1.08 along the substrate width, while the GGI ([Ga]/([Ga]+[In]) ratio) is homogeneously distributed with a value of 0.21 in the center and 0.22 at the edge of the substrate. Along the substrate length, i.e. in the travelling direction of the substrate during the CIGSe deposition, the parameters show only small deviations compared to the substrate width. Solar cells are only made from the center parts of the absorber with more homogeneous thicknesses and CGI distribution. A steel substrate with a glass-bilayer as an electrical and chemical barrier form the base for the back contact, made of a titanium layer, a sodium-doped molybdenum layer and a pristine molybdenum layer. On the back-contact, the absorber-layer is deposited, followed by a CdS buffer-layer and an intrinsic ZnO window-layer. The devices are completed with a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) front contact. Macroscopic defects in the layered architecture of thin film devices are studied with a light microscope as well as a scanning electron microscope with additional measurement methods, such as EDX (energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy) and EBIC (Electron Beam Induced Current). They are categorized as either peel-off or whisk, Masterarbeit Universität Innsbruck 2023

[Resumen] En entornos con bajo número de Reynolds (Re), los robots nadadores necesitan realizar movimientos no recíprocos para propulsarse. El método fundamental para lograr este tipo de movimiento es mediante la generación de ondas progresivas (también conocidas como ondas viajeras) que recorren el flagelo del robot desde la cabeza al extremo libre. Este trabajo se centra en una forma sencilla de generar ondas progresivas en condiciones de bajo Re que consiste en la oscilación periódica de un flagelo flexible pasivo. Para las pruebas de propulsión, se presenta un prototipo de robot nadador con actuación única basada en el mecanismo yugo escocés y palanca, que permite convertir el movimiento de rotación de un motor en una oscilación angular que viaja a lo largo del flagelo. Asimismo, se desarrolla en MATLAB un algoritmo basado en imágenes para identificar el movimiento realizado por el robot, es decir, para determinar las características del nadador en la propulsión. Los resultados experimentales demuestran que el robot es capaz de realizar un movimiento no recíproco en condiciones de bajo Re., [Abstract] Within low Reynolds number (Re) environments, swimming robots need to perform non-reciprocal motions to propel themselves. The fundamental method to achieve this type of motion is by generating progressive waves (also known as traveling waves) that travel along the robot flagellum from the head to the free end. This work focuses on a simple way to generate progressive waves under low Re conditions that consists of the periodic oscillation of a passive flexible flagellum. For propulsion testing, a prototype of single-acting swimming robot based on the scotch-yoke-lever mechanism is presented, which allows to convert the rotational motion of a motor into an angular oscillation traveling along the flagellum. Also, an image-based algorithm is developed in MATLAB to identify the motion performed by the robot, i.e., to determine the characteristics of the swimmer in propulsion. Experimental results show that the robot is able to perform a non-reciprocal motion under low Re conditions.

Implantable optical fibers have been widely used for optical neuromodulation in deep brain regions. Polymer fiber-based neural devices have natural advantages over silica fibers since their high flexibility would lead to a less inflammatory response in chronic in vivo experiments. Using three kinds of polymer materials: polycarbonate (PC), polysulfone (PSU), and fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), we present multifunctional soft polymer fiber (POF)-based brain implants with an ultra-high numerical aperture (UHNA) and integrated microfluidic channels (MCs) for wide illumination and drug delivery, respectively. The flexibility of the proposed fiber devices has been found to be 100-fold reduced compared to their commercially available counterparts. Biofluids delivery can be controllably achieved over a wide range of injection rates spanning from 10 nL/min to 1000 nL/min by the structured MCs in the fiber cladding. The illumination area of the UHNA POFs in brain phantom has been increased significantly compared with the commercially available silica fibers. A fluorescent light recording experiment has been conducted to demonstrate the proposed UHNA POFs can be used as optical waveguides in fiber photometry. The limited illumination angle of the optical fiber imposed by current technology has been enlarged by the proposed UHNA POFs and we anticipate our work to pave the way toward more efficient multifunctional neural probes for neuroscience.

Real-time kidney function monitoring is possible with a wearable urea sensor, which continuously detects urea concentration in body fluid. Wearable devices require the urea sensor's sensitivity and versatility. Scalable device fabrication requires a simple and fast fabrication routine. In enzyme-based urea sensors, urease is too big compared to urea, causing steric hindrance and low sensitivity. Urease is temperature-sensitive and has severe storage conditions, making it unsuitable for wearable devices. Here, we fabricate a novel type of urea sensor using laser-induced forward transfer printing. This sensor is fabricated by laser-induced forward transfer to deposit sensing elements containing nickel and uses N afion to pack sensing elements, realizing high sensitivity towards urea detection. Also, this sensor can achieve good flexibility due to the carbon cloth substrate and can be rapidly fabricated on a large scale with laser printing. This work will generate newfound insight into printed flexible electrodes for wearable urea detection applications. © 2023 IEEE.

El disseny i la configuració dels habitatges són temes cada vegada més interessants. Tenint en compte que cadascú habita un espai d’una manera íntima i personal, és important reconèixer que hi ha d’haver una reflexió d’estudi envers el lloc on passem gran part del temps i on realitzem i desenvolupem gran part de les activitats quotidianes. Situant-nos en un context de noves transformacions socials, la flexibilitat s’ha convertit en una eina clau pel disseny i la construcció que s’adapta a les necessitats momentànies. Aquesta tipologia permet una major versatilitat i aprofitament dels espais i és fonamental comprendre que no es tracta de canviar l’habitatge, sinó de millorar-lo i reajustar-lo en cada etapa. Tot i això, és important fer una mirada crítica per valorar si realment és efectiva i si compleix amb les expectatives de les persones. En aquest treball, s’aborda la flexibilitat com a mecanisme per al disseny dels habitatges i es valora la seva efectivitat en l’actualitat juntament amb les noves transformacions socials influents. S’explorarà l’evolució de les residències a Barcelona al llarg del temps i s’analitzaran diferents estratègies dutes a terme en diversos casos d’estudi., El diseño y configuración de las viviendas son temas cada vez más interesantes. Teniendo en cuenta que cada uno habita un espacio de una manera íntima y personal, es importante reconocer que debe haber una reflexión de estudio hacia el lugar donde pasamos gran parte del tiempo y donde realizamos y desarrollamos gran parte de las actividades cotidianas . Situándonos en un contexto de nuevas transformaciones sociales, la flexibilidad se ha convertido en una herramienta clave para el diseño y construcción que se adapta a las necesidades momentáneas. Esta tipología permite una mayor versatilidad y aprovechamiento de los espacios y es fundamental comprender que no se trata de cambiar la vivienda, sino de mejorarla y reajustarla en cada etapa. Sin embargo, es importante echar una mirada crítica para valorar si realmente es efectiva y si cumple con las expectativas de las personas. En este trabajo, se aborda la flexibilidad como mecanismo para el diseño de las viviendas y se valora su efectividad en la actualidad junto a las nuevas transformaciones sociales influyentes. Se explorará la evolución de las residencias en Barcelona a lo largo del tiempo y se analizarán diferentes estrategias llevadas a cabo en varios casos de estudio., The design and configuration of homes are an increasingly interesting topics. Considering that everyone inhabits a space in an intimate and personal way, it is important to recognize that there must be a study reflection on the place where we spend a large part of our time and where we carry out and develop a large part of our daily activities. Placing ourselves in a context of new social transformations, flexibility has become a vital tool for designing and constructing new residences adapted to the needs of each moment. This typology allows greater versatility and use of spaces, and it is essential to understand that it is not a question of changing the home but of improving it and readjusting it at each stage. However, it is important to critically assess whether it is effective and meets people’s expectations. In this work, flexibility is addressed as a mechanism for the design of homes, and its effectiveness is assessed in the present, together with the new influential social transformations. The evolution of residences in Barcelona over time will be explored, and different strategies carried out in several case studies will be analyzed.

En aquest projecte s’analitza l’impacte dels estàndards de la domesticitat tradicional japonesa en la domesticitat contemporània. L’estudi comença proporcionant una descripció detallada de les principals característiques i conceptes clau de l’arquitectura domèstica tradicional japonesa, com per exemple: versatilitat i flexibilitat d’espais, caracter multifuncional de les estances, geometria reguladora que influeix en el disseny de l’edifici, una estructura clara i ordenada per organitzar els espais, bellesa en la senzillesa, austeritat dels interiors, forta relació entre l’interior i l’exterior, presència de mecanismes per regular la visibilitat/il·luminació/ventilació, articulació de l’habitatge al voltant d’un jardí interior... Aquests, s’exemplifiquen mitjançant l’ús de petits esquemes conceptuals d’un cas d’estudi tradicional (Nara-machi Nigiwai No Ie) i posteriorment, s’apliquen a cinc casos d’estudi contemporanis (N house, Nine square grid house, Outside In, Miyamoto house i Court house). Mitjançant l’anàlisi d’aquests exemples moderns, la recerca pretén posar de manifest la forma en què els estàndards de la domesticitat tradicional continuen influenciant i modelant els espais de vida contemporanis. A través d’una exploració exhaustiva de l’arquitectura domèstica tradicional japonesa, aquest estudi posa de relleu la importància perdurable de les normes i valors culturals en la configuració dels espais domèstics. Comparant i contrastant l’estudi de cas tradicional amb els exemples contemporanis, la recerca descobreix en quina mesura aquests estàndards tradicionals encara són presents en la domesticitat actual. Els resultats d’aquest estudi contribueixen a una comprensió més profunda dels factors culturals i socials que impacten en els entorns de vida contemporanis. Investigant la influència dels estàndards de la domesticitat tradicional japonesa, aquesta recerca no només enriqueix el coneixement acadèmic, sinó que també destaca la importància de reconèixer i ap

In this Final Thesis Report, an antenna system that operates in the Sub-6 GHz spectrum for future 5G New Radio (5G NR) applications has been proposed. After studying the latest technologies in mobile communication and the application of these technologies in vehicles, a design of a flexible antenna capable of being integrated in the rear-view mirror of a car is developed to introduce this Next Generation to the automotive sector. The antenna design is developed using an EM simulator so that the results can be as close as possible to a real measurement. Later, the final prototype of the antenna is manufactured and its characteristics are evaluated in terms of VSWR, efficiency and gain, among other specifications collected in a final datasheet. By comparing the results of the measurements with the simulations, it is concluded that the project?s antenna has a smooth working in 5G applications., En el siguiente documento de Trabajo de Fin de Grado, se propone una antena que trabaja en las bandas 5G Sub-6 del espectro frecuencial para aplicarla en futuros sistemas de 5G New Radio (NR). Tras el estudio realizado sobre las últimas tecnologías en mobile communication y sobre la aplicación de estas tecnologías en los coches, el diseño consiste en una antena flexible que puede ser instalada en el retrovisor de un vehículo para introducir esta nueva era al sector automovilístico. El diseño de la antena es desarrollado a través de un software que permite realizar simulaciones electromagnéticas de manera que los resultados extraídos puedan ser lo mayor parecidos a una medida real. Más tarde, se manufactura el prototipo final de la antena y se evalúa sus características en términos de ROE, eficiencia y ganancia, entre otras especificaciones recogidas en el manual final. Comparados los resultados de las medidas con las simulaciones, se concluye que la antena de este proyecto sí puede ser usada en aplicaciones 5G., En aqeust treball, es proposa una antena que treballa a les bandes 5G Sub-6 de l'espectre freqüencial per aplicar-la en futurs sistemes de 5G New Radio (NR). Després de l'estudi realitzat sobre les últimes tecnologies en comunicacions mòbils i sobre l'aplicació d'aquestes tecnologies als automòbils, el disseny consisteix en una antena flexible que pot ser instal·lada al retrovisor d'un vehicle per introduir aquesta nova generació al sector automobilístic. El disseny de l'antena és desenvolupat a través d'un simulador electromagnètic de manera que els resultats extrets puguin ser el més semblants possibles a una mesura real. Més tard, es manufactura el prototip final de l'antena i se n'avalua les característiques en termes de ROE, eficiència i guany, entre altres especificacions recollides al manual final. Comparats els resultats de les mesures amb les simulacions, es conclou que l'antena d'aquest projecte sí es pot fer servir en aplicacions 5G.

Recent developments in organic neuromorphic devices and biohybrid interfaces are promising examples that show potential to improve implantable devices toward organic adaptive brain-machine interfaces. However, fully integrated neuromorphic arrays still require relatively complex circuitry that includes multiple access devices to ensure synaptic weight stability and prevent sneak paths. Here, it is shown that polydopamine (PDA), the byproduct of dopamine autoxidation, promotes proton conductivity and can serve as a solid-state electrolyte. Slow kinetics and high energy barriers of the PDA solid electrolyte prevent loss of conductance state for the device with a three-terminal configuration without an access device, while partial dedoping of the conductive polymer channel by PDA simultaneously increases its stability in ambient environments. Fabricating the neuromorphic device on a flexible poly(styrene-block-isobutylene-block-styrene) substrate and the inherent biocompatibility of PDA demonstrates its potential toward more sophisticated implantable neuromorphic circuits for advanced neuroprosthetics.

Photoluminescence-type color filters (PLCFs) are supposed to offer vivid colors and higher power efficiency for modern displays by removing absorption losses of the conventional color filters (CFs). Inkjet printing (IJP) is a versatile and low-cost method to pattern color converters. But uniformity of the patterns is a big concern. Poor photoluminescence stability is also problematic, especially for the perovskite nanoparticles (PNPs) and quantum color converters. Herein, a porous polymer film (PF) is deployed as a template for IJP. The capillary effect of sub-micron pores in the PF modifies the rheological process of ink spreading that eliminates the coffee-ring effect and simultaneously provides photoluminescence (PL) stability. A high-quality green PNP, and red quantum rod (QR) based CF array onto the PF is successfully printed. A liquid crystal display (LCD) deploying this full-color PF CFs is demonstrated. Color gamut of the device could reach 96.9% of BT2020. The PF CFs show good PL stability for more than 218 days. Furthermore, the fabricated PF CFs possess great flexibility, and any chromaticity and brightness change after 10 000 times of folding were not observed. Thus, the proposed CF using the PF is highly suitable for flexible display and photonics components. © 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH

Photoluminescence-type color filters (PLCFs) are supposed to offer vivid colors and higher power efficiency for modern displays by removing absorption losses of the conventional color filters (CFs). Inkjet printing (IJP) is a versatile and low-cost method to pattern color converters. But uniformity of the patterns is a big concern. Poor photoluminescence stability is also problematic, especially for the perovskite nanoparticles (PNPs) and quantum color converters. Herein, a porous polymer film (PF) is deployed as a template for IJP. The capillary effect of sub-micron pores in the PF modifies the rheological process of ink spreading that eliminates the coffee-ring effect and simultaneously provides photoluminescence (PL) stability. A high-quality green PNP, and red quantum rod (QR) based CF array onto the PF is successfully printed. A liquid crystal display (LCD) deploying this full-color PF CFs is demonstrated. Color gamut of the device could reach 96.9% of BT2020. The PF CFs show good PL stability for more than 218 days. Furthermore, the fabricated PF CFs possess great flexibility, and any chromaticity and brightness change after 10 000 times of folding were not observed. Thus, the proposed CF using the PF is highly suitable for flexible display and photonics components. © 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH

Achieving high-stability, long span-life, and fast sodiation reaction kinetics in sodium ion battery (SIB) can significantly promote its practical application. Here, we use freeze-drying and carbonization to prepare a flexible N-doped silk wadding-derived carbon/SnOx@reduced graphene oxide (N-SWC/SnOx@rGO) film as an ultra-stable anode for a half/full SIB. A superior capacity of 572.2 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and long span-life over 1000 cycles are obtained in the N-SWC/SnOx@rGO film anodes. Moreover, a super-stable capacity of 245.7 mA h g−1 can be secured in the assembled SIB full cell, outperforming the current studies. After the detailed structural and performance characterization, we attribute these superior capacities to the following unique structural characteristics: 1) SnOx nanoparticles (<100 nm) are attached to the surface of SWC to provide more active sites for Na+; 2) rGO and SWC form a double-layer conductive system, which can tremendously promote the transmission efficiency of electrons in N-SWC/SnOx@rGO film, thereby greatly accelerating the reaction kinetics of SIB; 3) the N-SWC/SnOx@rGO film contains a conductive network with voids, which can increase the contact area between electrolyte solution and SnOx and in turn effectively shorten the transmission path of Na+. This work provides a new perspective for the preparation of ultra-stable flexible SIB anodes.

The airline industry is a complex industry. It has geographically spread employees, safety threats, partnerships with regional firms and other airlines, changing government regulations, sustainability, and flight shaming (Deloitte, 2016). Next to these complexities, the airline industry is very competitive and commoditized. The commoditization results in customers often making price-driven choices and the high competition makes it hard for airlines to differentiate. This graduation project focussed on how customers make choices during the travel journey. This process starts from the moment customers decide they want to travel up until the moment just before they purchase the airline tickets. This project will focus on how to influence the way customers make choices by designing to improve their overall experience. The final design is a new type of flexible search engine, which fits the needs of the customers of today, creating a better online experience and triggering customers to make experience-driven choices. Customers are flexible and that is why they are looking for a more flexible way of searching. With the Explore search engine they will be able to search in a flexible way. With the final design customers will be stimulated to choose the airline and its vacation experiences and offers, by stimulating affective forecasting., Strategic Product Design

The Industry 4.0 revolution relies heavily on data to generate value, innovation, new services, and optimize current processes [1]. Technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, digital twins, and much more depend directly on data to bring value and innovation to both discrete manufacturing and process industries. The origin of data may vary from sensor data to financial statements and even strictly confidential user or business data. In data-driven ecosystems, collaboration between different actors is often needed to provide services such as analytics, logistics, predictive maintenance, process improvement, and more. Data therefore cannot be considered a corporate internal asset only. Hence, data needs to be shared among organizations in a data-driven ecosystem for it to be used as a strategic resource for creating desired values, innovations, or process improvements [2]. When sharing business critical and sensitive data, the access to the data needs to be accurately controlled to prevent leakage to authorized users and organizations. Access control is a mechanism to control actions of users over objects, e.g., to read, write, and delete files, accessing data, writing over registers, and so on. This thesis studies one of the latest access control mechanisms in Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) for industrial data sharing. ABAC emerges as an evolution of the commonly industry-wide used Role-based Access Control. ABAC presents the idea of attributes to create access policies, rather than manually assigned roles or ownerships, enabling for expressive fine-granular access control policies. Furthermore, this thesis presents approaches to implement ABAC into industrial IoT data sharing applications, with special focus on the manageability and granularity of the attributes and policies. The thesis also studies the implications of outsourced data storage on third party cloud servers over access control for data sharing and explores how to integrate, Arrowhead Tools

The Mobile CubeSat Command and Control (MC3) ground station network provides communications infrastructure for small satellites developed by U.S. government organizations, contractors, and educational institutions. As the network has matured, so too have the cybersecurity requirements that govern its operations. By implementing tight configuration constraints on software, hardware, and networking, ground stations are unable to utilize the equipment outside standard operations. This poses a particular problem for educational institutions that routinely involve such equipment in their curricula for hands-on instruction and research. This research effort focuses on design, implementation, and testing of a parallel ground station to MC3 that allows educational institutions the freedom to innovate and perform research. The parallel station will share the MC3 antenna, the most valuable component of the ground station, but provide a separate rack of equipment that functions as a separate ground station. This research applies directly to those institutions that are currently members of the MC3 system. Currently, the Naval Postgraduate School, the United States Coast Guard Academy, and the United States Naval Academy have expressed interest in a parallel ground station. The resulting approach benefits these educational institutions by removing barriers of development and increasing instructional impact in the ever-competitive worldwide aerospace industry., Ensign, United States Navy, Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.

The rigidity of traditional solid-state surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate hampers their application in the curved structure for nonplanar surface test and in-situ detection. Traditionally, the flexible Raman substrates are often prepared by transferring printing of patterned nanoparticles on the flexible materials such as polymer, paper, etc. However, the replicate patterns are often produced by high-cost instruments. In this study, a low-cost and flexible SERS substrate is prepared by using a microcontact printing technology to transfer three-phase-assembled nanoparticles on a polydimethylsiloxane film, which can stabilize the assembled nanoparticles. Combining with the endonuclease Nt.BbvCI assisted amplification method, a SERS biosensor is constructed for microRNA 21 (miRNA 21) assay. This platform presents a wide dynamic range (100 fM ∼1 nM), achieving a fabulous sensitivity with limit of detection of 11.96 fM for miRNA 21. Furthermore, after being bent 90° for 50 times, the Raman intensity of the flexible substrate shows a negligible change. This versatile flexible substrate exhibits considerable potential for SERS analysis, which also opens a new avenue for preparing flexible devices.

Objective: Optical fiber devices constitute significant tools for the modulation and interrogation of neuronal circuitry in the mid and deep brain regions. The illuminated brain area during neuromodulation has a direct impact on the spatio-temporal properties of the brain activity and depends solely on the material and geometrical characteristics of the optical fibers. In the present work, we developed two different flexible polymer optical fibers (POFs) with integrated microfluidic channels (MFCs) and an ultra-high numerical aperture (UHNA) for enlarging the illumination angle to achieve efficient neuromodulation. Approach: Three distinct thermoplastic polymers: polysulfone (PSU), polycarbonate (PC), and fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) were used to fabricate two step-index UHNA POF neural devices using a scalable thermal drawing process. The POFs were characterized in terms of their illumination map as well as their fluid delivery capability in phantom and adult rat brain slices. Main results: A 100-fold reduced bending stiffness of the proposed fiber devices compared to their commercially available counterparts has been found. The integrated MFCs can controllably deliver dye (trypan blue) on-demand over a wide range of injection rates spanning from 10 nL/min to 1000 nL/min. Compared with commercial silica fibers, the proposed UHNA POFs exhibited an increased illumination area by 17% and 21% under 470 and 650 nm wavelength, respectively. In addition, a fluorescent light recording experiment has been conducted to demonstrate the ability of our UHNA POFs to be used as optical waveguides in fiber photometry. Significance: Our results overcome the current technological limitations of fiber implants that have limited illumination area and we suggest that soft neural fiber devices can be developed using different custom designs for illumination, collection, and photometry applications. We anticipate our work to pave the way towards the dev

Organic Solar Cells (OSCs) have reached the highest efficiencies using lab-scale device manufacturing on active areas far below 0.1 cm2. The most used fabrication technique is spin-coating, which has poor potential for upscaling and substantial material waste. This tends to widen the so-called “lab-to-fab gap”, which is one of the most important challenges to make OSCs competitive. Other techniques such as blade or slot-die coating are much more suitable for roll-to-roll manufacturing, which is one of the advantages the technology presents due to the huge potential for fast and low-cost fabrication of flexible OSCs. However, only a few studies report solar cells using these fabrication techniques, especially applied on a roll-platform. Additionally, for environmentally friendly large area OSCs, inks based on non-hazardous solvent systems are needed. In this work, slot-die coating has been chosen to coat a PM6:Y6 active layer, using o-xylene, a more environmentally friendly alternative than halogenated solvents, and without additives. The optimal coating process is defined through fine-tuning of the coating parameters, such as the drying temperature and solution concentration. Moreover, ternary devices with PCBM, and fully printed devices are also fabricated. Power conversion efficiencies of 6.3% and 7.2% are achieved for binary PM6:Y6 and ternary PM6:Y6:PCBM devices measured with an aperture area of ∼0.4 cm2 (total device area ∼0.8 cm2).

Objective. Optical fiber devices constitute significant tools for the modulation and interrogation of neuronal circuitry in the mid and deep brain regions. The illuminated brain area during neuromodulation has a direct impact on the spatio-temporal properties of the brain activity and depends solely on the material and geometrical characteristics of the optical fibers. In the present work, we developed two different flexible polymer optical fibers (POFs) with integrated microfluidic channels (MFCs) and an ultra-high numerical aperture (UHNA) for enlarging the illumination angle to achieve efficient neuromodulation. Approach. Three distinct thermoplastic polymers: polysulfone, polycarbonate, and fluorinated ethylene propylene were used to fabricate two step-index UHNA POF neural devices using a scalable thermal drawing process. The POFs were characterized in terms of their illumination map as well as their fluid delivery capability in phantom and adult rat brain slices. Main results. A 100-fold reduced bending stiffness of the proposed fiber devices compared to their commercially available counterparts has been found. The integrated MFCs can controllably deliver dye (trypan blue) on-demand over a wide range of injection rates spanning from 10 nl min-1 to 1000 nl min-1. Compared with commercial silica fibers, the proposed UHNA POFs exhibited an increased illumination area by 17% and 21% under 470 and 650 nm wavelength, respectively. In addition, a fluorescent light recording experiment has been conducted to demonstrate the ability of our UHNA POFs to be used as optical waveguides in fiber photometry. Significance. Our results overcome the current technological limitations of fiber implants that have limited illumination area and we suggest that soft neural fiber devices can be developed using different custom designs for illumination, collection, and photometry applications. We anticipate our work to pave the way towards the development of next-generation functiona

The study is situated in a school built specifically with the idea offlexible design in the learning environment providing variation ofrooms and furniture combined with access to a range of digitaltools to enhance students’ 21st century skills. The aim of thisstudy is to investigate how such flexible resources are used andexperienced by teachers in practice. The findings demonstratethat teaching in such spatial wholeness requires includingflexibility in the planning process and approaching studentdriven choices in a meta-structure for students to participateand learn. Teaching Dollar Street required extensive collectiveplanning to uphold the shared design throughout the spaces,activities, and resources.

The Industry 4.0 revolution relies heavily on data to generate value, innovation, new services, and optimize current processes [1]. Technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, digital twins, and much more depend directly on data to bring value and innovation to both discrete manufacturing and process industries. The origin of data may vary from sensor data to financial statements and even strictly confidential user or business data. In data-driven ecosystems, collaboration between different actors is often needed to provide services such as analytics, logistics, predictive maintenance, process improvement, and more. Data therefore cannot be considered a corporate internal asset only. Hence, data needs to be shared among organizations in a data-driven ecosystem for it to be used as a strategic resource for creating desired values, innovations, or process improvements [2]. When sharing business critical and sensitive data, the access to the data needs to be accurately controlled to prevent leakage to authorized users and organizations. Access control is a mechanism to control actions of users over objects, e.g., to read, write, and delete files, accessing data, writing over registers, and so on. This thesis studies one of the latest access control mechanisms in Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) for industrial data sharing. ABAC emerges as an evolution of the commonly industry-wide used Role-based Access Control. ABAC presents the idea of attributes to create access policies, rather than manually assigned roles or ownerships, enabling for expressive fine-granular access control policies. Furthermore, this thesis presents approaches to implement ABAC into industrial IoT data sharing applications, with special focus on the manageability and granularity of the attributes and policies. The thesis also studies the implications of outsourced data storage on third party cloud servers over access control for data sharing and explores how to integrate, Arrowhead Tools

Real-life graph datasets extracted from Web are inevitably full of incompleteness, conflicts, and redundancies, so graph data cleaning shows its necessity. Although rules like data dependencies have been widely studied in relational data repairing, very few works exist to repair the graph data. In this paper, we introduce a repairing semantic for graphs, called Graph-Repairing Rules (GRRs). This semantic can capture the incompleteness, conflicts, and redundancies in the graphs and indicate how to correct these errors. However, this graph repairing semantic can only repair the graphs strictly isomorphic to the rule patterns, which decreases the utility of rules. To overcome this shortcoming, we further propose a flexible rule-based graph repairing semantic. We study three fundamental problems associated with both GRRs and -GRRs, implication, consistency and termination, which show whether a given set of rules make sense. Repairing the graph data using GRRs or -GRRs involves a problem of finding isomorphic subgraphs of the graph data, which is NP-complete. To efficiently circumvent the complex calculation of subgraph isomorphism, we design a decomposition-and-join strategy to solve this problem. For -GRRs, we further develop an index-based method. Extensive experiments on real datasets show that our two graph repairing semantic and corresponding repairing algorithms can effectively and efficiently repair real-life graph data. IEEE

Flexible and stretchable humidity sensors for wearable purposes have become increasingly important in health care and physiological signal monitoring. However, to the authors' knowledge, there is no report on flexible and stretchable paper-based humidity sensors that are low-cost, easily fabricated, and environmentally friendly. In this work, for the first time, we propose a stretchable, textile compatible paper-based origami humidity sensor (POHS). The POHS can achieve good stretchability by integrating origami folding structures with a paper substrate, in which an airlaid paper acts as both a sensing material and a sensor substrate. This sensor has high sensitivity, good response, and recovery properties with excellent stability during deformation. This sensor has proved to be capable of dynamically monitoring the breathing rate after 300 folding and unfolding cycles. The flexible and stretchable nature of our POHS ensures that it is compatible for textile attachment and its utility for wearable applications, including respiration rate monitoring and diaper wetting detection. The facile fabrication process and convenient disposal method of the POHS proposed in this study provide feasible solutions for the development of low-cost wearable humidity sensors.