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Latest Academic Works

Detection of food freshness and pesticides through chemical interaction of liquids or gases with surfaces

Author(s): Edoardo Donà (Author), Aleksandra Lobnik (Supervisor), Uroš Cvelbar (Co-Supervisor)

Year: 2025

Type: Doctoral dissertation

Food, water, and sleep form the foundation of human needs, all of which are indispensable. However, unlike sleep, food and water have historically been beyond direct human control. Since ancient times, hunter-gatherers have migrated in search of these essential resources. The advent of agriculture marked a turning point, allowing humans …

Synthesis and investigation of organofluorosilicate and organofluorogermanate species

Author(s): Jan Gnidovec (Author), Gašper Tavčar (Supervisor)

Year: 2025

Type: Doctoral dissertation

Fluorine, though abundant on Earth, is not readily available in a form suitable for organic synthesis. While fluoride salts like fluorite exist, they have limited reactivity due to solubility properties. Converting fluorite to hydrofluoric acid (HF) or fluorine gas (F2) increases reactivity but introduces significant safety concerns due to the …

Diagnosis and prognosis of solid oxide cell systems: a statistical approach

Author(s): Luka Žnidarič (Author), Đani Juričić (Supervisor)

Year: 2024

Type: Doctoral dissertation

Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier in the emerging green energy landscape. It is environmentally friendly, transportable, and storable. The Solid Oxide Cell (SOC) system is a complex technology that enables the bidirectional conversion of hydrogen to energy. The label SOC entails solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems, which produce …

In vitro-detected early events to unravel late-onset neurodegeneration

Author(s): Aleksandar Sebastijanović (Author), Janez Štrancar (Supervisor), Iztok Urbančič (Co-Supervisor)

Year: 2024

Type: Doctoral dissertation

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia, ranking as the 7th deadliest world’s disease. Over 99% of cases are triggered by unknown environmental factors. Despite decades of research, the exact cause remains elusive, and effective treatments are yet to emerge. Recent epidemiological evidence strongly links cognitive decline …

Contact-free physiological monitoring of cardiorespiratory states using radar and optical sensors

Author(s): Gašper Slapničar (Author), Mitja Luštrek (Supervisor), Wenjin Wang (Co-Supervisor)

Year: 2024

Type: Doctoral dissertation

Omnipresence of sensor-equipped devices spurred rapid development of e-health and mhealth applications in the past decades. Despite their wide-spread adoption in the form of wearables, such devices are ultimately not a universal or ideal solution for regular health monitoring due to their reliance on battery, requiring skin contact and general …

Hypoxia in aquatic sports

Author(s): Joshua T. Royal (Author), Igor B. Mekjavić (Supervisor), Adam McDonnell (Co-Supervisor), Jernej Kapus (Co-Supervisor)

Year: 2024

Type: Doctoral dissertation

The present thesis considers the premise that breath-holding in aquatic sports, primarily swimming, in order to enhance performance, can potentially cause adaptation to tissue hypoxia. To investigate this theory, a series of studies needed to be performed: I. Analysis of variability in individuals’ responses to hypoxia, to evaluate the range …

The effect of spaceflight associated factors on the eye

Author(s): Igor B. Mekjavić (Author), Tinkara Mlinar (Author), Polona Jaki Mekjavić (Co-Supervisor)

Year: 2023

Type: Doctoral dissertation

The unexplained aetiology of Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS) jeopardises all planned future missions to the Moon and Mars. Various intrinsic and extrinsic potential risk factors have been proposed to contribute to its manifestation. Specifically, the present thesis compared the effect of static exercise (simulating the exercise performed by astronauts …

Discrete aluminium compounds – towards a soluble aluminium trifluoride

Author(s): Evelin Gruden (Author), Gašper Tavčar (Supervisor)

Year: 2022

Type: Doctoral dissertation

In the past, the search for soluble aluminium trifluoride (AlF3) led to the discovery of organoaluminium compounds (AlR3) and organoaluminium fluorides. However, suitable methods for the introduction of fluorine into AlR3 are still scarce, making the discrete AlF3 and organoaluminium fluoride compounds rare. Our investigation of the reactivity of cyclic …

Electrochemically synthesised polyaniline for gas and aqueous detection of ammonia

Author(s): Anja Korent (Author), Kristina Žužek (Supervisor)

Year: 2022

Type: Doctoral dissertation

An everyday awareness of the presence of harmful chemicals around us has led to the development of a way to report overexposure through the reactions of these compounds with specifically prepared materials - sensory elements. In this doctoral dissertation we focused on the electrochemical synthesis (electropolymerization) of conductive polymer polyaniline …

Investigating the early molecular events following exposure of lung cells to nanoparticles using advanced optical microscopies

Author(s): Hana Kokot (Author), Janez Štrancar (Supervisor)

Year: 2022

Type: Doctoral dissertation

The potential toxicity of nanoparticles in our environment and consumer products is currently determined by costly and timely animal-based testing, which limits the rate of nanoparticle testing, causing a desperate need for alternative testing strategies. A promising alternative – mechanism-based prediction – employs a set of high-throughput cell-based tests that …