This thesis is focused on face detection in static picture. Theoretical part contains color spaces (RGB, HSI, YCbCr), methods for skin detection (explicit, parametric or non-parametric methods), image metric, edge detection, mathematical morphology, methods for classification faces (appearance-based methods, feature invariant approaches, knowledge-based methods, template matching methods). Practical part of this thesis contains concept and practical realization two algorithms for segmentation skin in static image (simple method based on Cr chroma components and statistical method). Practical part contains concept and practical realization two algorithms for classification face (appearance-based method and template matching method) too.

This master’s thesis deals about Knowledge management in a small organization, and identification of knowledge resources and needs and the integration of knowledge management principles into the daily work of the organization. The theoretical part explains the basic terms and assumptions of knowledge management and shows a multidisciplinary overlap of knowledge management. The practical part deals with analysis of current situation of organization, especially in terms of utilization of knowledge resources and their evaluation, and design an appropriate system for managing knowledge in the organization.

Les travaux présentés dans ce mémoire s’inscrivent dans une problématique d’aide à l’élaboration d’offres, en adoptant le point de vue de l’entreprise soumissionnaire lors d’un processus de réponse à appel d’offres. Ces offres peuvent concerner indifféremment des produits, des services ou des systèmes produit-service (PSS). Dans le cadre de nos travaux, nous regroupons cette diversité sous le terme « PvSS ». Nous nous intéressons donc à la problématique suivante : «Comment maîtriser et assister l’élaboration d’offres en réponse à appel d’offres ?». Notre première contribution consiste en un cadre de modélisation et d’exploitation des connaissances. Ce cadre est composé d’un modèle générique de structure d’offre, ainsi que d’un modèle d’exploitation des connaissances. Le modèle générique de structure d’offre permet de modéliser à la fois (1) la solution technique (ce que l’entreprise propose au client) et (2) son processus de réalisation (comment l’entreprise fournit cette solution). Il intègre également les notions de contexte d’élaboration, d’exigences client, d’indicateurs d’évaluation (coût, délai de réalisation, confiance, etc.) et de risques. Ce modèle est formalisé et exploité à l’aide d’une taxonomie, d’un problème de satisfaction de contraintes (CSP) et de raisonnement à partir de cas (CBR). Notre deuxième contribution porte sur la caractérisation d’une méthodologie de déploiement et d’exploitation du cadre proposé. Cette méthodologie, appelée ISIEM, intègre des phases d’adaptation et de déploiement du cadre en entreprise (phases d’Initialisation, Spécialisation et Implémentation), mais également des phases d’utilisation (phases d’Exploitation et Mise à jour). Les travaux présentés dans ce mémoire s’inscrivent dans le cadre du projet ANR OPERA. Nos deux contributions sont illustrées par un cas d’étude provenant de l’une des entreprises partenaires du projet. / The work presented in this thesis deals with assistance in bid elaboration, by adopting the point of view of the bidder during a tendering response process. These bids may concern products, services or product-service systems (PSS). As part of our work, we group this diversity under the term“PvSS”. We are therefore interested in the following problem: “How to master and assist in bid elaboration in response to calls for tenders?”. Our first contribution is a framework for modelling and exploiting knowledge. This framework is composed of a generic model of bid structure, as well as a knowledge exploitation model. The generic model of bid structure allows the modelling of both (1) the technical solution (what the company proposes to the customer) and (2) its realization process (how the company provides this solution to the customer). It also integrates the elaboration context, customer requirements, the evaluation indicators (cost, delivery time, confidence, etc.) and risks. This model is formalized and exploited using a taxonomy, a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) and case-based reasoning (CBR). Our second contribution deals with the characterization of a methodology for deploying and exploiting the proposed framework. This methodology, called ISIEM, includes phases of adaptation and deployment of the framework in enterprise (Initialization, Specialization and Implementation phases), but also phases of use (Exploitation and Maintenance phases). The work presented in this thesis is part of the ANR OPERA project. Our two contributions are illustrated by a case study from one of the project’s partner companies.

Prior research suggests that industry 4.0 could bring numerous benefits to firms manufacturing operations. Despite industry 4.0’s overwhelming popularity, there is considerable confusion surrounding how to approach a transformation, and additionally how it will affect organizations. Bus manufacturing has seen minor advancements in initiating change towards industry 4.0 due to characteristics with low volumes, high product varieties, high complexity and a large variety of customer adaptations. This thesis intends to give clarity to the opportunities and challenges that industry 4.0 technologies entail for bus manufacturing operations. Furthermore, contribute with a roadmap for how to manage a transformation towards industry 4.0 directed for bus manufacturing. The thesis was conducted studying a case using the process of systematic combining. Qualitative methods were applied to address the research questions, collecting data from ten interviews with operational- and manufacturing managers. Empirical findings indicate that the characteristics of bus manufacturing influence the industry 4.0 technologies that are applicable and suited for implementation. The findings suggest opportunities in terms of increased production efficiency, improved flexibility and reduced takt times with data management and real-time capabilities from adapting data management, cloud technology and sensors. Other opportunities such as virtualization with digital twin and virtual training were also suggested to enable factory simulations and virtual representations of manufacturing stations. Prominent challenges identified were lack of knowledge regarding industry 4.0 technologies, data analytics, how to motivate investments, system integration and using robotics in the bus manufacturing operations. Furthermore, the proposed roadmap for how bus manufacturing can manage a transformation towards industry 4.0 consists of eight steps that include important factors identified from the study such as vision, determination, barriers, responsibility, consistency and working in small steps. This study’s theoretical contribution is providing knowledge about industry 4.0 in the context of bus manufacturing operations. The findings suggest that knowledge is a primary factor for managing a transformation towards industry 4.0, where educating and engaging personnel could facilitate the change work. Further, the results of this study lend support to the argument that approaching industry 4.0 is dependent on the organization and industry. The study also emphasizes that future research should focus on establishing a uniform definition of industry 4.0, and further examine what the costs for a transformation towards industry 4.0 could necessitate for bus manufacturing operations. / Tidigare forskning tyder på att industri 4.0 kan ge många fördelar för företag som bedriver tillverkningsverksamhet. Trots industri 4.0’s överväldigande popularitet finns det betydande förvirring kring hur man närmar sig en transformation, samt hur det kommer att påverka organisationer. Busstillverkningsindustrin har sett en obetydlig utveckling i förändringsarbetet mot industri 4.0 på grund av dess egenskaper med låga volymer, stora variationer, höga komplexitet samt många kundanpassningar. Denna uppsats har för avsikt att klargöra de möjligheter samt utmaningar som teknologier inom industri 4.0 innebär för verksamheten inom busstillverkning, då industri 4.0 anses medföra stora förändringar inom produktionen. Studien bidrar vidare till en färdplan för hur man kan hantera en omvandling mot industri 4.0 inriktad för busstillverkning. Studien genomfördes genom att studera ett fall med tillvägagångssätt enligt “systematic combining”. Kvalitativa metoder tillämpades för att kunna behandla forskningsfrågorna med datainsamling från tio intervjuer med operativa- och produktionschefer. Empirin indikerar att kännetecknen för busstillverkning påverkar vilka teknologier inom industri 4.0 som är tillämpbara och lämpliga för implementering. Analys av empirisk data tyder på möjligheter i form av ökad produktionseffektivitet, flexibilitet samt reducerad takttid genom datahantering och real-tidsfunktioner från användning av artificiell intelligens, molnteknik samt sensorer. Ytterligare möjligheter antyddes inom virtualisering med digitala tvillingar samt virtuell träning för att simulera fabriken och produktionsstationer i virtuella miljöer. Framträdande utmaningar som antyddes var brist på kunskap om teknologierna inom industri 4.0, att analysera stora mängder data, att kunna motivera investeringar, systemintegration samt tillämpningen av robotik i produktionen. Den föreslagna färdplanen för hur busstillverkning kan hantera en omvandling mot industri 4.0 består av åtta steg som inkluderar viktiga faktorer som identifierades från studien såsom vision, beslutsamhet, hinder, ansvarighet, kontinuitet samt att arbeta i små steg. Det teoretiska bidraget från studien är kunskap om industri 4.0 i kontexten för busstillverkning. Resultatet tyder på att kunskap är en primär faktor för att hantera en förändring mot industri 4.0, där informera och engagera personal kan underlätta förändringsarbetet. Resultaten av denna studie ger stöd till argumentet att hur man närmar sig industri 4.0 är beroende av organisationen samt inom vilken industri som verksamheten bedrivs inom. Studien understryker även att framtida forskning bör fokusera på att skapa en enhetlig definition av industri 4.0, samt att vidare undersöka de kostnader som bussproduktion kan kräva vid en förändring mot industri 4.0.

When working with complex aircraft design it is necessary to be able test configurations easily. At Saab this is done in several ways. When looking at the weapons integration on the Gripen Aircraft, clearance analysis (called feasibility studies at Saab) are created to evaluate if new external stores can be mounted. This is done manually in CATIA by measuring and evaluating the result. To ease the work when performing these repetitive tasks, it is possible to take advantage of Knowledge Based Engineering, KBE. This thesis revolves around implementing KBE in the process. The approach is to create a configurator that can handle the different external stores and perform the required tasks. The end result is a configurator with a Graphical User Interface, GUI, in which the user gets help with the feasibility study and which requires light manual input from the user. The configurator performs the study and produces a Word report for the user to examine. The resulting time saving is around 75 to 80 percent from the original process. The conclusion is that the configurator can facilitate the feasibility studies at Saab by reducing the time and lower the threshold for the user. Even though the process is not fully automated, the configurator is judged to perform at a satisfying degree.

Action planning has been used in the field of robotics for solving long-running tasks. In the robot architectures field, it is also known as the deliberative layer. However, there is still a gap between the symbolic representation on the one hand and the low-level control and sensor representation on the other. In addition, the definition of a planning problem for a complex, real-world robot is not trivial. The planning process could become intractable as its search spaces become large. As the defined planning problem determines the complexity and the computationability for solving the problem, it should contain only relevant states. In this work, a novel approach which amalgamates Description Logic (DL) reasoning with Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) planning is introduced. The planning domain description as well as fundamental HTN planning concepts are represented in DL and can therefore be subject to DL reasoning; from these representations, concise planning problems are generated for HTN planning. The method is presented through an example in the robot navigation domain. In addition, a case study of the RoboCup@Home domain is given. As proof of concept, a well-known planning problem that often serves as a benchmark, namely that of the blocks-world, is modeled and solved using this approach. An analysis of the performance of the approach has been conducted and the results show that this approach yields significantly smaller planning problem descriptions than those generated by current representations in HTN planning.

Face à l’explosion démographique des pays à faible revenu en Afrique sub-saharienne, l’agriculture joue un rôle primordial pour garantir la sécurité alimentaire. Le secteur agricole est de plus la principale source d'emploi dans cette région. Les femmes constituent la principale main-d'œuvre agricole de ces pays. En raison de leur rôle clé dans le secteur agricole, les agricultrices sont prioritaires dans les interventions politiques. Par ailleurs, dans ces pays, le conseil agricole et le partage des connaissances sont nécessaires pour s’adapter à de nouvelles contraintes. Depuis quelques années, les technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) ont permis le développement de nouveaux outils visant à améliorer la portée et l’efficacité du conseil. Les gouvernements de ces pays sont cependant confrontés à des critiques concernant l'impact de ces outils, qui peuvent également contribuer à une fracture numérique touchant plus particulièrement les femmes qui travaillent dans les exploitations agricoles familiales.La thèse de doctorat analyse comment les outils TIC tiennent compte des rapports de genre, et de la situation des femmes qui travaillent sur l’exploitation agricole familiale. La thèse est fondée sur le cas du Kenya. Elle est focalisée sur le développement des plateformes de connaissances, un instrument TIC utilisé par le Gouvernement kenyan pour atteindre les objectifs de politiques publiques. Ce pays est emblématique car il fait l'hypothèse que les plateformes peuvent être inclusives des agricultrices.Pour cette recherche, le travail s'appuie sur trois approches d’économie institutionnelle : l’économie féministe, la théorie de la régulation, et l'économie des services. Il présente un cadre méthodologique et conceptuel, développé pour analyser l'intégration des rapports de genre dans les plateformes aux échelles macro, méso et micro.Les résultats montrent que les rapports de genre sont présentés associés à un objectif d'équité pour le Gouvernement Kenyan. L'analyse confirme que les plateformes sont considérées comme de nouveaux outils d'inclusion du système de vulgarisation du gouvernement. La typologie de plateformes développée dans ce travail montre cependant que ces instruments peuvent être une source d'inégalité. Il s'agit en particulier de l'inégalité d'accès pour les agricultrices et de services standardisés qui ne correspondent pas aux attentes de ces femmes. La conjugaison de différentes approches économiques institutionnelles a permis d'analyser comment les évolutions institutionnelles affectent l'inclusion des objectifs d’égalité des sexes dans l’intervention publique et dans le fonctionnement effectif des plateformes. Les résultats présentent des leviers d’action pouvant être pris en considération par les politiques et les concepteurs des plateformes, pour une tenir compte des rapports de genre dans ce système de vulgarisation agricole et éviter d’engendrer de nouvelles discrimination. L'analyse révèle l'importance de disposer d'un espace d'intervention publique et de coordination dans ce nouveau système de conseil agricole basé sur les TICs. / Low-income sub-Saharan African countries are confronted with demographic explosion since the last 60 years. Consequently, agriculture plays a key role in ensuring food security. The agricultural sector is also the main source of employment in this region. Women are the major contributing labour force in agriculture in these sub-Saharan African countries. Connected to their key role in the agricultural sector, women farmers are prioritised in policy intervention. Moreover, agricultural extension services are necessary to adapt to different constraints in these countries. Transfer of knowledge is also required to guarantee farm yields and consequently improve small-scale farmers’ livelihoods. Lately, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have enabled the development of new tools, aimed at improving the scope and the effectiveness of advisory services. Policy makers in sub-Saharan African countries are nonetheless confronted with critical questions regarding the impact of these tools, which can also contribute to a ‘digital gender gap’. These issues particularly concern women farmers.This PhD research analyses how ICT tools take into account gender relations, and the situation of women farmers. The thesis is based on the case of Kenya. The dissertation particularly focuses on the development of knowledge-based platforms in agriculture, an ICT policy instrument used by the Kenyan Government to achieve public policy objectives. This country is emblematic because it believes in the assumption that platforms can be inclusive of women farmers’. To answer to this research question, the work is based on three different institutional economic research approaches: feminist economics, the French regulation theory, and economics of services. A conceptual and methodological framework is presented to analyse the inclusion of gender equality in knowledge-based platforms at macro-, meso-, and micro- level.The results provide evidence that gender equality objectives is a fundamental guiding principle to the Government of Kenya. The analysis show that platforms are considered as new tools of inclusiveness in farm advisory services innovation. Observations from a developed platform typology framework show however that platforms can be source of gender inequality. It especially concerns women farmers unequal access to these instruments and the standardised services that they offer. This is essentially related to the institutional nature of the platform. Indeed, as it turns out, a high number of these instruments are based upon complex partnerships, and financed by multi-national corporations and/or foundations from the agrifood industry based in the Northern hemisphere. Combining institutional economic approaches allowed to bring out critical points of inclusion to be considered by policy makers and platform developers. Disregarding these specificities may make these platforms into new vectors of exclusion. Recognising and taking into account the conditions for inclusion can bring to light powerful levers for improving the efficiency of platforms.

No description available.

Bakgrund: Ett företags värde ligger i dess tillgångar. I tillgångarna ingår immateriella tillgångar som saknar fysisk existens men är trots det viktiga för ett företag. En del av de immateriella tillgångarna är humankapitalet. Humankapitalet redovisas inte som en tillgång i ekonomiska rapporter, vilket ger en vilseledande bild där de anställda inte ses som en investering för ett företag, utan snarare som en kostnad. Syfte: Att förklara ett samband mellan humankapital och lönsamhet. Sambandet undersöktes genom att studera tre företag inom revisions- och redovisningsbranschen. Målet var att redovisa sambandet mellan humankapital och lönsamhet för att understryka vikten av humankapitalet i kunskapsföretag. Studien ämnade vidare att i förlängningen kunna bidra till betydelsen av fortsatt forskning kring redovisning av humankapitalet i ekonomiska termer. Metod: För att nå målet att besvara studiens syfte har kvantitativ metod använts. Detta har gjorts genom en enkätundersökning samt analys av företags årsredovisningar. Slutsats: Studiens resultat påvisade ett negativt samband mellan humankapital och lönsamhet, vilket innebär att företagens lönsamhet minskar om företaget besitter ett högt humankapital. De anställdas hälsa kan ses som en dimension av humankapitalet som har stor inverkan på ett företags lönsamhet. Arbetsgivare och rekryterare kan därför skapa sig fördelar om de tar hänsyn till faktorn och anställer individer med god fysisk och psykisk hälsa. Det är viktigt för arbetsgivare att kontinuerligt inventera sitt humankapital. Arbetsgivare bör sträva efter att förstå humankapitalet som helhet för att höja nivån för varje enskild anställd. Studiens resultat visade att en jämnare spridning av humankapitalet genererar bättre lönsamhet. Sammanfattningsvis visar studien tydliga indikationer på ett samband mellan parametrarna humankapital och lönsamhet inom revisions- och redovisningsbranschen. Den visar också att det inte går att förstå ett företags verkliga värde enbart genom att analysera de ekonomiska rapporterna, eftersom stor del av värdet ligger i de immateriella tillgångarna som inte är en del av de ekonomiska rapporterna. / Background: A company’s values lies in its assets. The assets include a company’s intangible assets, which lacks physical existence but is despite that an important asset. The human capital is a part of the intangible assets. Human capital is not accounted for in the financial reports, which gives a fragmented picture of the financial wellbeing when the employees are not seen as an investment, but rather as an expense. Purpose: The purpose was to explain the correlation between human capital and profitability. The relationship was investigated by studying three companies in the auditing- and accounting business. The aim was to find a correlation between human capital and profitability in order to emphasize the importance of human capital in knowledge-based companies. The project further intended in the long term to contribute to the continued research of the accounting of human capital in financial terms. Method: In order to attain the objective of this study, a quantitative method was used. The empirical material was collected through a survey and an analysis of financial statements. Conclusions: The results of the project showed a negative correlation between human capital and profitability, which means that company's profitability decreases if the company has a high level of human capital. The health of the employees can be seen as a dimension of the human capital that has a major impact on a company's profitability. Employers and recruiters can therefore create benefits for its company if they hire individuals with good physical and mental health. It is important for employers to continuously review their human capital. Employers should strive to understand the whole human capital in order to raise the level of each individual employee. The results of the project showed that a more even distribution of human capital generates better profitability. In summary, the project shows indications of a correlation between the human capital and profitability in the auditing- and accounting business. It also shows that it’s hard to understand the true value of a company simply by analyzing the financial statements, since a large part of the value lies in the intangible assets that are not part of the financial statements.

Background: “Scale-ups”, characterised by their high growth and significant contribution to economic development, receive increasing attention in today's economies. They are often young and innovative SMEs that grow rapidly across international borders. “Scale-ups” achieve growth and improved performance through an accelerated organisational development process, which is based on their knowledge resources. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore and theorise what constitutes a scaling capability. Specifically, we will study knowledge acquisition and integration in SMEs that scale across international markets. Method: This study has an abductive research approach that considers the current theories on scaling and the knowledge-based view on strategic management and international business. To this end, we completed a multiple-case study of 4 innovative and internationalising scale-ups to accomplish our purpose. Conclusion: The study contributes with a view of scaling as a “scaling capability” that captures how innovative scale-ups manage the internal organisation of experiential knowledge. We develop frameworks that give a generalised understanding of how scale-ups in this particular context acquire and integrate knowledge resources during episodes of growth and improved performance. These frameworks show how scale-ups start their scaling journey with a full acquisition of specialised resources in technical, business and internationalisation knowledge, which they integrate through providing direction and organisational routines to organisational members. We address the importance of having different knowledge capital in symmetry to increase the common knowledge, and we suggest that the scaling capability enables a scale-up to adapt for their changing organisational needs, which is why we liken scaling to developing organisational capability. / Contexto: Las "scale-ups", caracterizadas por su elevado crecimiento y su importante contribución al desarrollo económico, reciben cada vez más atención en las economías de hoy. Suelen ser PYMES jóvenes e innovadoras que crecen rápidamente más allá de las fronteras internacionales. Las scale-ups logran crecer y mejorar su rendimiento mediante un proceso acelerado de desarrollo organizativo, basado en sus recursos de conocimiento. Propósito: El propósito de este estudio es explorar y teorizar lo que constituya una capacidad de escalamiento empresarial. En concreto, estudiaremos la adquisición e integración de conocimientos en las PYME que escalan por los mercados internacionales. Método: Este estudio tiene un enfoque de investigación abductiva que considera las teorías actuales sobre el concepto de escalamiento empresarial, o "scaling", y la teoría de la gestión estratégica y los negocios internacionales basada en el conocimiento. Para lograr nuestro propósito, realizamos un estudio de casos múltiples de cuatro scale-ups innovadoras que se internacionalizan. Conclusiones: El estudio contribuye con un enfoque del escalamiento como "capacidad de escalamiento" que capta cómo las scale-ups innovadoras gestionan la organización interna del conocimiento experiencial. Desarrollamos modelos que ofrecen una comprensión generalizada de cómo las scale-ups en este contexto adquieren e integran recursos de conocimiento durante los episodios de crecimiento y mejora del rendimiento. Los modelos muestran cómo las scale-ups inician su proceso de crecimiento con una adquisición completa de recursos especializados en conocimientos técnicos, empresariales y de internacionalización, que integran proporcionando dirección y rutinas organizativas a los miembros de la organización. Abordamos la importancia de contar con diferentes capitales de conocimiento en simetría para aumentar el conocimiento común, y sugerimos que la capacidad de escalamiento permite a una scale-up adaptarse a sus necesidades organizativas cambiantes, razón por la cual vemos el escalamiento como el desarrollo de la capacidad organizativa.