L'une des tâches les plus importantes en robotique mobile est la détection d'obstacles pendant les déplacements du robot. Pour résoudre cette tâche, de nombreuses approches ont été proposées; cependant les propositions applicables dans un milieu structuré, dynamique et fortement encombré du fait de la présence humaine, sont limitées. Dans ce cadre, nous présentons dans ces travaux un système visuel reprogrammable dédié à la détection d'obstacles. Le système est composé de plusieurs micro-caméras disposées autour du robot mobile et d'un système reprogrammable. Le nombre de micro-caméras est grand (4 dans la version courante, 8 dans la version finale) et la performance en temps réel requis dans ce contexte, ne peut pas être satisfaite par un processeur standard. Cela rend obligatoire la conception et la mise en oeuvre d'une architecture dédiée pour le traitement des images. Le parallélisme fourni par les FPGAs permet de répondre aux contraintes de performance et de minimiser l'énergie et le coût unitaire du système. L'objectif est de construire et mettre à jour une grille d'occupation robot-centrée lors de la navigation du robot. Cette opération doit être exécutée à 30Hz, afin de réduire la latence entre l'acquisition des images et la détection des obstacles. La détection des zones du sol occupées est faite par l'algorithme de classification AdaBoost en utilisant un vecteur d'attributs. Les attributs utilisés sont la couleur et la texture. Pour la couleur, nous utilisons l'espace de couleur CIE-Lab, car cela permet d'avoir une plus grande immunité au changement de l'éclairage. Les attributs de texture sont obtenues par une méthode adaptée de la technique des histogrammes de sommes et différences. Cette adaptation réduit considérablement les ressources nécessaires pour calculer les attributs de texture, tout en fournissant un modèle riche de chacun des objets présents dans une scène acquise par une des micro-caméras. Chaque pixel dans l'image est classifié pour savoir s'il appartient ou pas au sol, en fonction de ces attributs couleur-texture. Une fois le pixel classé, il est projeté sur le plan du sol pour enrichir la grille d'occupation courante de l'environnement. Plusieurs paramètres de notre approche ont été sélectionnés afin de développer un système avec le meilleur compromis entre les performances et les ressources consommées. Les graphiques de performances de la classification ainsi que les ressources consommées par les architectures implantées sont présentés. Les architectures ont été développées en VHDL avec les outils Altera; des comparaisons sont présentées avec une approche fondée sur des outils de synthèse haut-niveau (Gaut, labview...). Finalement ces architectures ont été portées et évaluées sur un kit Stratix3 connecté à 4 caméras et embarqué sur un robot mobile. / One of the more important tasks to be executed on a mobile robot, concerns thedetection of obstacles during the robot motions. Many methods have been proposed for this function: nevertheless their performances are limited when applied in a structured environment made highly dynamic and cluttered due to humans. This document presents a visual and flexible system for obstacle detection in such an environment. The system is made of several micro-cameras fixed all around the robot body, and of a programmable electronic board. The camera number must be large enough (4 in the current version, 8 in the future one), so that real-time performances mandatory for such a function, cannot be reached from a standard multipurpose processor. It makes compulsory to design and to implement a hardware architecture devoted for image processing. The execution of parallel processes on FPGAs allows to reach real-time performances, while minimizing the required energy and the system cost. The system objective consists in building and updating a robot-centered occupancy grid while the robot is navigating. This function must be executed at 30Hz, in order to minimize the latency between image acquisition and obstacle detection.The detection of occupied ground areas is given by a classification algorithm, using an AdaBoost classifier on characteristic vectors. These vectors are built from color and texture attributes. For the color, the CIE-Lab space has been selected because it allows a better invariance according to the light variations. For the texture, an original method has been proposed adapting the Unser approach based on sum and difference histograms. This approach has been modified in order to reduce significantly the resources required to compute the texture attributes, while providing a fine model for every object detected on a scene acquired by each micro-camera. Each pixel in every image is classified as Ground or Obstacle, with respect to its color and texture attributes. Once a pixel is classified, it is projected on the ground plane in order to update the current occupancy grid built to represent the environment. Many parameters for our approach have been selected in order to develop a system with the better trade-off between performances and consumed resources. Every proposed architecture is evaluated using curves between classification performances and required resources. These architectures have been developed in VHDL using the Altera tool boxes; this classical approach has been compared with a method based on tools providing high level synthesis (Gaut, labview...). Finally all architectures avec been implemented and evaluated on a Stratix3 development kit connected to four cameras, and embedded on a mobile robot.

The purpose of this study was to, through qualitative interviews, create anunderstanding of social workers' experiences of interventions aimed at children whohave witnessed violence between relatives. Understanding should therefore becreated about the implementation of interventions from the perspective of socialworkers'. Therefore, we wanted to create an understanding about what opportunitiesand difficulties social workers experience with the interventions to meet thechildren's needs, as well as which approaches social workers think are important inthe interventions. To find answers to these questions, we interviewed nine socialworkers who currently works or have worked with interventions for children whohave witnessed violence between relatives. In analyses of the interviews, we appliedtheories about discretion and evidence-based practice, along with previous research.From the results, we could see that there are both difficulties and opportunities inthe interventions. Discretion can be used in the interventions to be more flexible andfollow the individual child, while manuals help professionals so that they don´tforget important parts of the intervention. The social workers also expressed thechallenges with knowing how to act in certain situations, and therefore stated theneed for guidance. The result further showed that the interventions createopportunities for children to express their experiences and put to words what theyhave been trough. The social workers though experienced difficulties when thechildren don´t talk in the interventions. The result therefore showed how the socialworkers can use their discretion and professional expertise to handle thesechallenges and facilitate the children’s narrative. This could be done throughworking alongside the manuals and follow the needs of the individual child.Important approaches in the interventions that were expressed by the social workers,were for example the use of tools, relationship building and to relief the children’sfeelings of guilt and shame.

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Operational development is a frequently used term within organizations nowadays. The term refers to organizations that continuously strive to achieve better results by increasing the efficiency, improve the safety, expanding the customer base etc. This study investigates what is determining if an organization is successful in operational development and what is needed in the organization on order to improve the performance in an efficient way. It also investigates how operational development should be conducted in companies consisting of a parent company and a number of subsidiaries in order to be successful. The main question of the study is whether there are any synergies in common strategies for operational development at subsidiaries or if operational development is more efficient if it is conducted separately. The study also investigates whether subsidiaries can take advantages of each others experiences of operational development by working more closely toghether with it. This is investigated through examining how learning occurs within and between organizations. The study´s aim is also to identify which factors are essential for organizations in order to succeed with development of their operation, according to theories on operational development, different quality systems and a case study at The Company."The Association`s" recommendations on gow operational development should be performed by organizations in the type of business in which The Company operates are also examined. The recommendations are examined in order to identify crucial key factors and organisational attributes for operational development. The project has been executed in cooperation with the Company and its five direct subsidiaries. As a basis for this investigation a number of qualitative interviews, a workshop and a litterature review have been performed. The results of the investigation argue in favour for the existence of synergies in subsidiaries, working in common with operational development. Cooperation may even stimulate the work with operational development in respective subsidiary. One possible strategy to work in common with operational development is to establish an operational development network where the organizations have the opportunity to discuss and exchange experiences. The litterature also shows clearly that there are great opportunities for subsidiaries to learn from each other as long as the willingness to share knowledge is present. The study also indicates that it exist at least eight key factors that affect how successful the work with operational development is in an organization. These key factors are;  management commitment, employee involvement, communication,customer orientation, process orientation, continuous improvements, cultural changes and decisions based on facts. / Verksamhetsutveckling är en vanligt förekommande term inom organisationer nuförtiden. Termen syftar till att organisationer ständigt strävar efter att nå bättre resultat genom att öka effektiviteten, höja säkerheten, utöka kundbasen etc. Den här studien utreder vad som avgaör om en organisation är framgångsrik med verksamhetsutveckling och vad som krävs av organisationen för att förbättra utförandet på ett effektivt sätt. Den utreder även hur verksamhetsutveckling bör bedrivas i företag bestående av ett moderbolag och ett antal dotterbolag för att bli lyckosam. Den huvudsakliga frågan i studien är huruvida det finns några synergier i att ha gemensamma strategier för verksamhetsutveckling mellan bolagen eller om verksamhetsutvecklingen blir effektivare om bolagen arbetar sparat med den. Vidare undersöker studien om dotterbolag kan dra nytta av varandras erfarenheter av verksamhetsutveckling genom att jobba mer gemensamt med det. Detta utreds via en undersökning av hur lärande sker inom och mellan organisationer. Studiens syfte är även att identifiera vilka faktorer som är nödvändiga för att organisation ska lyckas med att utveckla sina verksamheter, enligt teorier om verksamhetsutveckling, olika kvalitetssystem och en fallstudie på The Company. "The Association":s rekommendationer om hur organisationer in the Companys bransch bör bedriva verksamhetutveckling undersöks också. Rekommendationerna granskas för att identifiera viktiga nyckelfaktorer och organisatoriska egenskaper för verksamehtsutveckling. Projektet har utförts i samarbete med The Company och deras fem direkta dotterbolag. Som underlag för studien har ett antal kvalitativa intervjuer, en workshop och en litteraturgenomgång legat. Resultatet av studien talar för att det finns synergier i att dotterbolag jobbar gemensamt med verksamhetsutveckling. Ett samarbete kan till och med stimulera arbetet med verksamhetsutveckling i respektive dotterbolag. En möjlig strategi för att arbeta gemensamt med verksamhetsutveckling är att upprätta ett utvecklingsnätverk där organisationerna får möjlighet att diskutera och utbyta erfarenheter. Litteraturstudien visar även tydligt att det finns stora möjligheter för dotterbolagen att lära av varandra så länge viljan att utbyta kunskaper finns. Studien indikerar också att det finns åtminstone åtta nyckelfaktorer som påverkar hur framgångsrikt arbetet med verksamhetsutveckling är i en organisation. Dessa nyckelfaktorer är engagerat ledarskap, arbetstagarnas delaktighet, kommunikation, kundorientering, processorientering, ständiga förbättringar, kulturella förändringar och faktabaserade beslut.

It is important for the ecological management of wildlife populations in the Czech Republic to know the composition of species in individual habitats. This will allow predictions on the reactions of wildlife based on evolving changes that will occur sooner or later in these habitats due to human activity and natural change of our environment. Camera traps are a powerful tool of the 21st century with which we are able to observe wildlife without major interventions in their lives. With the right experimental design, camera traps allow us to find out details about wildlife life such as their distribution and habitat preferences, population structure, and their behavior. In this work, I used camera traps to determine the species composition of two groups; ungulates and carnivores in different habitats. This thesis analyzes the habitat preferences and hepls to find out to what extent the spatial patterns of occurrence on these two groups are in the monitored habitats over the course of a couple years. Data collection took place from June 2015 to May 2017 in the Central Bohemian Region northeast of Prague. Despite the fact that the area is densely populated and agriculturally exploited, I was able to capture four species of ungulates and nine species of carnivores on a total of 73 camera traps in this...

No description available.

Electrochemical methods have been used to study electron transfer reactions at the interface between an aqueous phase of less than 1 femto liters in volume and a bulk organic phase. The small aqueous phase is formed at the end of a slightly recessed platinum electrode. When a negative potential is applied between the Pt electrode and the aqueous phase, Ru(NH3)63+ in the aqueous phase could be reduced to Ru(NH3)62+. Because the volume of the aqueous phase is very small, the electrochemically formed Ru(NH3)62+ could instantly reach the interface between the aqueous phase and the organic phase which contains 7,7,8,8-Teteracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), and be oxidized to form Ru(NH3)63+ by giving electrons to TCNQ at the interface. Our results showed a positive shift in the E1/2 comparing the reaction undertaken in the recessed cavity and the bulk solution.

Syftet med studien var tudelat. Syftet var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare upplever situationer där socialtjänsten konstaterat att en familj är i behov av insatser, men både samtycke från vårdnadshavare och skäl att tillämpa 2 § LVU saknas. Syftet var också att undersöka hur socialsekreterare arbetar för att motivera vårdnadshavare i dessa situationer. För att besvara vårt syfte använde vi oss av en kvalitativ metod med intervjuer. Vi intervjuade sex socialsekreterare med erfarenhet av arbete med barnavårdsutredningar. Det insamlade materialet analyserades med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys och tolkades med Lipskys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater samt Revstedts teori om motivationsrelationen. Resultatet visade att socialsekreterare upplever att deras handlingsutrymme är begränsat i glappet mellan frivillighet och tvång. Resultatet visade även att motivationsarbetet med vårdnadshavare är avgörande för att färre barn ska hamna i glappet samt att de önskar ett mellantvång som gör det möjligt för dem att under längre tid träffa och motivera vårdnadshavare att ta emot insats. Av studien framkom det även att socialsekreterarna anser att relationsskapande är en viktig del i motivationsarbetet. / The purpose of the studies was two-sided. The aim was to investigate how social workers experience situations where social services have determined that a family is in need of interventions, while there is no reason to apply 2 § LVU. The aim was also to investigate how social workers work to motivate guardians in these situations. To answer our purpose we used a qualitative method with the help of interviews. We interviewed six social workers with experience of working with child welfare investigations. The collected material was analyzed with a qualitative content analysis and interpreted with Lipsky's theory of street level bureaucrats and Revstedt's theory of the motivational relationship. The results showed that social workers feel that their room of action is limited in the gap between voluntary and constraint. The results showed that social workers feel that their room of action is limited in the gap between voluntary and constraint. The results also showed that the motivational work with guardians is crucial for fewer children to end up in the gap and that they wish for an intermediate constraint that makes it possible for a longer period of time and motivate guardians to receive support. The study also revealed that the social workers believe that relationship building is an important part of the motivational work.

No description available.

This thesis will investigate the relationship between lighting and perception of safety through a case study. The main focus of this study is outdoor lighting with consideration of gender equality and perception of safety. Although street lighting is generally recognized as the most important environmental features that influences subjective perception of safety after dark, there is still lack of knowledge regarding the needed quality of light for this purpose and how it may influence perceived safety. Literature review indicates that effect of light on perceived safety works through two different mechanisms: natural surveillance and social integration. The main focus of this thesis is on natural surveillance. Indeed, light by increasing visibility in interaction with presence of people, enhance possibilities of natural surveillance. Based on literature review, a tool has been developed to have a more specific examination of visibility.Besides, the women’s safety audit (WSA) diagnostic tool is used as a qualitative data collection tool to identify unsafe spots in the chosen area by 10 local female participants. The chosen area is a residential area in Eskilstuna city, called Årby neighbourhood. All the participants were asked to determine unsafe spots from their perspective in the chosen area during an exploratory night walk. In the next step, the identified unsafe spots are analysed by means of the developed tool in terms of visibility.The result of this thesis supports the previous findings regarding the relationship between visibility and safety perception. Results show that urban settings with low level of prospect (obstructed view), high level of entrapment (escape difficulty), high level of concealment (lots of hiding spots), lack of illuminated visual spatial boundaries (sky plane, vertical plane and ground plane), low level of facial recognition and obstacle detection, low level of illumination of path, high level of glare and varied lighting distribution are judged as the most unsafe by women. In addition, the study revealed that illuminated ground plane has the minimum impact on sense of safety in comparison with other safety-related environmental factors. Consequently, this study highlighted that standards and guidelines, which are related to ground plane, are not very beneficial for improving perception of safety.