Title: Analysis of the Tennis Serve from the perspective of the receiving player Objectives: To determine whether it is possible for the receiving opponent to estimate the direction and type of tennis serve based on the server's toss. Methods: The indirect method was used in the form of video surveillance to meet the objectives. The analyzed group consisted of five professional tennis players, who were exposed to the research model game situation. All five servers were recorded by a high speed camera in the area of the receiving player; radar was used to measure the ball speed. The key point for evaluation was the moment of release of the ball from the server's hand, the highest reached point of the ball and the moment when the ball was hit by the racket. The analyzed results were presented in the form of tables and graphs; from the statistical methods, the arithmetic average was used mainly. Results: This research focused on anticipating the tennis serve from the perspective of the receiving player. Overall, we observed five players, who served first from the right side and then the left side into the dedicated opponent's receiving area marked by lines. We established a research question whether it is possible to estimate the direction and type of serve based on the server's toss. When comparing...

abstract: To ensure system integrity, robots need to proactively avoid any unwanted physical perturbation that may cause damage to the underlying hardware. In this thesis work, we investigate a machine learning approach that allows robots to anticipate impending physical perturbations from perceptual cues. In contrast to other approaches that require knowledge about sources of perturbation to be encoded before deployment, our method is based on experiential learning. Robots learn to associate visual cues with subsequent physical perturbations and contacts. In turn, these extracted visual cues are then used to predict potential future perturbations acting on the robot. To this end, we introduce a novel deep network architecture which combines multiple sub- networks for dealing with robot dynamics and perceptual input from the environment. We present a self-supervised approach for training the system that does not require any labeling of training data. Extensive experiments in a human-robot interaction task show that a robot can learn to predict physical contact by a human interaction partner without any prior information or labeling. Furthermore, the network is able to successfully predict physical contact from either depth stream input or traditional video input or using both modalities as input. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2017

Chaotic dynamics produced by optical delay systems have interesting applications in telecommunications. Optical chaos can be used to transmit secretly, in real-time, a message between an emitter and a receiver. The noise-like appearance of chaos is used to conceal the message, and the synchronization of the receiver with the chaotic emitter is used to decode the message. This work focuses on the study of two crucial topics in the field of chaotic optical communications. The first topic is the synchronization of chaotic external-cavity laser diodes, which are among the most promising chaotic emitters for secure communications. It is shown that, for edge-emitting lasers, two drastically different synchronization regimes are possible. The regimes differ in terms of the delay time in the synchronization and in terms of the robustness of the synchronization with respect to parameter mismatches between the emitter and the receiver. In vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, the two linearly-polarized components of the electric field also exhibit isochronous and anticipating synchronization when the coupling between the lasers is isotropic. When the coupling is polarized, the linearly-polarized component that is parallel to the injected polarization tends to synchronize isochronously with the injected optical field, while the other component tends to be suppressed, but it can also be antisynchronized. The second topic is the analysis of time series produced by optical chaotic emitters subjected to a delayed feedback. First, we verify with experimental data that chaos produced by optical delay systems is highly complex. This high complexity is demonstrated by estimating chaos dimension and entropy from experimental time series and from models of optical delay systems. Second, by analyzing chaotic time series, it is shown that the value of the delay of a single-delay system can always be identified, independently of the type of system used and of its complexity. Unfortunately, an eavesdropper can use this information on the delay value to break the cryptosystem. We propose a new cryptosystem with two delayed feedback loops that increases the difficulty of the delay identification problem.

S’inscrivant dans une approche par le contenu de l’expérience, cette recherche vise à évaluer le niveau d’influence du vécu du consommateur à l’intérieur du lieu de vente dans la réalisation d’achats impulsifs suscitant un besoin de réexpérience. L’objectif ultime de cette démarche est d’identifier les techniques susceptibles d’être adoptées par les managers des points de vente en vue de concilier rentabilité immédiate (i.e. fréquence des achats impulsifs) et rentabilité future (i.e. intention de revenir dans ce même magasin). La thèse s’emploie à tenté d’ouvrir la boite noire du vécu du consommateur à l’intérieur du lieu de vente et à proposer une conceptualisation dynamique de l’expérience d’achat impulsif en croisant différentes voies méthodologiques, qualitatives et quantitatives. A partir d‘une vaste investigation auprès des clients des magasins d’habillement et accessoires du centre commercial Géant Casino à Tunis, nous avons réussi à prouver que le contenu de l’expérience vécue par le consommateur à l’intérieur du lieu de vente est un construit de second ordre composé de trois dimensions: le plaisir, l’éveil-sensoriel et l’immersion. Ce construit global est explicatif de la formation d‘une attitude positive par rapport aux produits du magasin, de la naissance d’impulsions d’achat, de l’atténuation du regret anticipé d’achat et de l’accentuation du regret anticipé de non achat (mécanismes de la négociation intérieure) et donc de la réalisation d’achats impulsifs. Il influence également le besoin le réexpérience du consommateur éprouvé à l’instant de l’expérience et 15 jours. Le contenu de l’expérience vécue par le consommateur à l’intérieur du lieu de vente pourrait, ainsi, être considéré comme un outil de contrôle performant du niveau d’interactivité des consommateurs avec les contextes expérientiels mis en place par les enseignes, un moyen de fidélisation de ses clients et un levier d’action permettant de renforcer leur avantage concurrentiel commercial. / As part of an approach by the content of experience, this research aims to assess the level of the influence of the consumer‘s experience inside the place of sale in the realization of an impulse buy-inducing need to reexperience. The ultimate goal of this approach is to identify techniques that could be adopted by managers of retail outlets in view of balancing immediate profitability (ie frequency of impulse buying) and future profitability (ie intention to return to the same store). The thesis seeks to attempt to open the black box of the consumer experience inside the point of sale and offer a dynamic conceptualization of impulsive buying experience by combining different methodological ways, quantitative and qualitative ones. From an extensive investigation from consumers of clothing and accessories stores in the “Géant Casino” shopping mall in Tunis, we succeeded in proving that the content of the consumer’s experience inside the place of sale is a subsidiary construction of three dimensions: pleasure, sensory-awakening and immersion. This global construct explains the formation of a positive attitude towards the store products, the appearance of impulses of purchase, the mitigation of the anticipated regret of buying and the accentuation of the anticipated regret of not buying (internal mechanisms of negotiation) and therefore the realization of impulse buying. This construct also affects the need of reexperience that the consumer felt at the time of the experiment and also after 15 days. The latter could thus be seen as a powerful tool for monitoring the level of interactivity with the consumer experiential contexts set up by brand stores, a way to customer loyalty and an instrument of strategic action for strengthening their competitive commercial’s advantage.

During the spring of 2020, COVID-19 rapidly started to spread within Sweden, causing a crisis that affected the entire society, and in particular, the health care sector. What makes the COVID-19 pandemic a unique crisis is that it did not appear as a complete surprise when it reached Sweden. Partly because pandemics are expected to happen and therefore anticipated, partly because reports of COVID-19 and its effects were available before the disease caused a crisis in Sweden. This makes the phase before the crisis, known as the pre-crisis phase, quite long. For this study, it is argued that the pre-crisis phase encompasses actions taken before COVID-19 was known, predominantly in the form of the development of pandemic preparedness plans, as well as the actions taken when COVID-19 was known before it reached Sweden. However, due to the decentralisation of the Swedish political system, the twenty-one regions being responsible for the health care sector, and the uneven geographical transmission of the virus, the pre-crisis phase most likely differed across the country. In this study, it is the pre-crisis phase of Region Östergötland which has been examined and evaluated as a part of the Center for Disaster Medicine and Traumatology’s general evaluation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Östergötland. The study has aimed to answer the research questions related to how the pre-crisis phase was conducted, and how three different theories can contribute to the understanding of the pre-crisis phase. The theories used were Conflicting Objectives Perspective, High Reliability Organisation, and Resilience Engineering. To answer the research questions, semi-structured interviews with eight employees of Region Östergötland involved in the pre-crisis phase were conducted. The interviews were analysed using the thematic analysis approach. The thematic analysis showed that the pre-crisis phase was mainly characterised by organisational changes within the regular organisational structures, different challenges predominately related to acquiring personal protective equipment, a lack of information from the national agencies, and a slight underestimation. These themes were used to answer the first research question. To answer the second research question, the aforementioned theories were applied to the themes. This application showed that there are aspects of the three theories that can contribute to the understanding of the pre-crisis phase. These aspects can also be used during future pre-crisis phases. Furthermore, based on the contributions of the three theories and the thematic analysis, a new model was developed which can be used to describe the different phases of the pre-crisis phase. The application of the theories and the new model resulted in general guidelines highlighting the important processes during a pre-crisis phase, including the processes of monitoring, anticipating, planning, and preparing.

Dans un contexte économique instable, résultant notamment de la mondialisation des échanges, de la financiarisationde l’économie et de l’accélération des mutations technologiques, caractérisé de surcroît par l’apathie endémique de lacroissance économique française, la prospérité et la survie des entreprises dépendent de leur capacité à s’adapter enpermanence aux évolutions du marché pour pouvoir sauvegarder leur compétitivité, assurer leur développement etfaire face à une concurrence toujours plus vive. Si les restructurations sont indispensables pour assurer la pérennité desentreprises dont dépendent le maintien de l’emploi, le dynamisme du marché du travail et la création de richesse, ellesmettent fréquemment en péril les intérêts des salariés. Nombre d’entre elles menacent ainsi leur emploi et partant leursécurité économique et matérielle, mais également leurs droits collectifs qu’il s’agisse des avantages issus de leurstatut collectif ou de leur droit à participer à la détermination de leurs conditions de travail et à la gestion del’entreprise via leurs représentants, dont le mandat peut être affecté par une restructuration. Si ces opérations mettenten péril les intérêts des salariés et génèrent un coût social largement assumé par la collectivité nationale, le droit, enparticulier le droit social, ne peut remettre en cause les projets de restructuration. Ces décisions et leur mise en oeuvrerelèvent en effet de la liberté d’entreprendre des dirigeants de l’entreprise à laquelle le droit social ne saurait porteratteinte en s’immisçant dans leurs choix économiques et stratégiques. L’objet de cette étude est donc d’exposercomment, en dépit de son incapacité à influer sur les décisions de restructurations, le droit social tente d’en limiter lecoût social, en préservant au mieux les intérêts des salariés. / In an unsettled economic climate, the result in particular of globalisation of trade, the financialisation of the economyand accelerating technological change, further marked by the endemic apathy of French economic growth, theprosperity and survival of companies depend on their capacity to adapt constantly to market trends in order tosafeguard their competitiveness, to ensure their development and to stand up to ever increasingly harsh competition.Whilst restructuring is essential to ensure the long-term survival of companies, on which maintaining jobs, a dynamiclabour market and the creation of wealth all depend, it frequently endangers the interests of employees. Manyrestructuring operations thus threaten their employment and consequently their economic and material security, butalso their collective rights when it comes to advantages resulting from their collective status or their right to participatein determining their working conditions and in the management of the company through their representatives, whosemandate may be impacted by a restructuring operation. While such operations endanger the interests of employees andgenerate a social cost borne to a large extent by the national community, law, and in particular social law, cannotchallenge restructuring projects. Such decisions and their implementation fall within the purview of the freedom to actenjoyed by corporate managers that social law cannot in any way impede by interfering in their economic and strategicchoices. The purpose of this study is therefore to show how social law, despite its inability to influence restructuringdecisions, seeks to limit the social cost by preserving as best as possible the interests of employees.