The aim of work is conversion of a photographed Braille into ordinary text. On the beginning, there are described Braille specification and principles. In the next part are mentioned types of sensors for taking photos. The main part describes phases of image processing and their implementation in C++. At the end, there are listed possibilities of future development.

abstract: When consumers find that something critically out of the ordinary has occurred, they direct attention to evaluate such a critical incident more closely. The results of this evaluation may put consumers on a switching path or it might lead them to engage in unfavorable behaviors from the perspective of the organization, such as engaging in negative word-or-mouth online. The negative consequences of some product (goods or services) failures go beyond simple product attribute defects, leading customers to terminate the relationship with the organization. This dissertation, which is composed of three essays, investigates how consumers engage in negative word-of-mouth on social media channels in response to their various product failures and explores an important relationship event of betrayal, which can be triggered by certain product failures. It investigates how betrayal is perceived by customers and influences a range of their behaviors across business-to-consumer and business-to-business contexts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2019

This bachelor thesis focuses on literary depictions of personal experiences of living as non-British in the UK following the referendum on leaving the European Union in 2016. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze what Brexit as a phenomena does with individuals’ views of themselves and the society in which they live. The thesis rests upon a hypothesis that Brexit will affect both subjective notions of one's identity and ideas about the individual's role in a social community. However, the question remains how this can be expressed in literary form? In order to answer this question, two autobiographical books written in Italian are reviewed. These are La Mia Brexit by the comedian Francesco De Carlo and Brexit Blues by the journalist Marco Varvello. As mentioned, the focus is on analyzing the relationship between Brexit and the main characters' ideas about identity and social community. An attempt is also made to interpret the texts using the narrative concept of Turning points, with the aim of studying whether Brexit can be likened to this in the two books. The main conclusion of the thesis revolves around the concept of uncertainty, in which Brexit as a phenomenon mainly contributes to various uncertainties in the characters' views on identity and community. It is also noted that Brexit can be likened to narrative turning point, but that the characters in the books are uncertain what this turning point means.

Vi undersökte i denna uppsats substansmissbrukares erfarenhet av vändpunkter. Bakgrunden till detta är att vi ville se om specifika vändpunkter kunde användas i preventionsbyggande syfte för att förhindra att individer hamnar i ett missbruk. Detta gjorde vi genom en kvalitativ undersökning med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Vårt urval bestod av fem individer som alla hade haft ett substansmissbruk men som lyckats upprätthålla en drogfrihet under olika långa perioder fram till idag. Intervjuerna genomfördes digitalt via Teams på grund av den pågående pandemin. Vi delar upp empirin från intervjuerna utifrån fyra ämnesområden. Dessa är Vägen in i missbruk, Det aktiva missbruket, Vändpunkter och vägen ut ur missbruket samt Upprätthållandet av drogfriheten. I resultatet framkom det att vändpunkter är betydelsefullt, men att det är individuellt hur stor påverkan som vändpunkterna har på individerna. Det finns alltså ingen specifik vändpunkt som gör att en individ upprätthåller sin drogfrihet eller som kan förebygga början på ett missbruk. Vändpunkterna startar dock ett förändringsarbete hos individen och med hjälp av resurser i samhället kan en rehabilitering påbörjas.

Projectile points/ knives (PPKs) are categorized by morphology, also called typology, and associated with cultural periods. A total of 64 PPKs in collections in the Archaeology Lab at East Tennessee State University were curated as untyped and without provenience. They were allegedly collected from ground surveys in Upper East Tennessee, but without archaeological context research had not been prioritized. The importance of such research lies in the fact that few publications exist on the region of Upper East Tennessee and many reference books on lithic typology portray PPKs through illustrations of the ideal morphology of each type. The challenge herein is that the lithic technologies excavated by archaeologists are typically used, worn, broken, or abandoned. A comparative collection of projectile points found in the field from the region of Upper East Tennessee is a valuable research resource. The 64 PPKs yielded 25 typologies that are, indeed, published from Upper East Tennessee and show variability from resharpening, wear, and other means. The comparative collection is curated at the East Tennessee State University Archaeology Lab at Valley Brook.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka deltagarnas självbeskrivna vändpunkter som möjliggjort upphörandet från kriminalitet och droger, samt vilka faktorer som beskrivits som centrala i upprätthållandet av den nya livsstilen. Studien har baserats på sex intervjuer med personer som tidigare levt ett kriminellt liv. Vändpunkterna har beskrivits som en individuell kombination av en romantisk relation till en partner, brutna sociala band till viktiga närstående (exempelvis barn eller föräldrar), upplevd skadlig hälsopåverkan, anhopning av konsekvenser, personlig mognad och en nyfunnen gudstro. Upprätthållandet har beskrivits som framgångsrikt genom att deltagarna kontinuerligt utvärderat sin situation och arbetat på att bibehålla sin nya identitet. Detta har bland annat möjliggjorts genom att underhålla nya, sunda relationer; att ha en stimulerande arbetssituation; samt att vara goda förebilder, föräldrar och partners. Alla i gruppen lever idag i tolvstegsprogrammet, vilket de är övertygade om bidrar till en bestående förändring och en kontinuerlig personlig utveckling. / The purpose of this study has been to examine the participants’ self-described turning points that has enabled desistance from criminality and drugs, together with what factors described as central in the persistence of their new lifestyle. The study was based on interviews with six former offenders. The turning points were described as a unique combination of a romantic relationship to a partner, broken social bonds to important relatives, perceived adverse health effects, accumulation of consequences, personal maturity, and a newfound faith in God. The persistence were described as successful by continuously evaluating their situation and working to maintain their new identity. This was done by maintaining new, healthy relationships; a stimulating work situation; and being good role models, parents and partners. Everyone in the group is currently living with the twelve step program, since they believe it contributes to a lasting change and a continuous personal development.

No description available.

En la presente investigación se realiza un estudio acerca de los factores in-store en relación a la intención de compra en tiendas de maquillaje en retails, pues no hay estudios realizados en el Perú que comprenda este tema a pesar que el sector está en continuo crecimiento en el mercado y donde el 50% de las compras de cosméticos se realizan en tiendas por departamento. Para determinar el grado de relación de los factores in-store y la intención de compra, la metodología utilizada fue un estudio de tipo regresión lineal múltiple y con un enfoque mixto. Para el desarrollo del estudio se realizó una investigación cualitativa, contando con dos mini groups y entrevistas al público primario y tres entrevistas a profundidad a expertos del tema. Además, se llevó a cabo una investigación cuantitativa de carácter concluyente, a través de 230 encuestas. A partir de ello, con la información obtenida y procesada permitió obtener data relevante acerca del comportamiento del público objetivo y obtener conclusiones acerca de la relación de las variables y la intención de compra. Finalmente, se pudo comprobar que los factores de mayor relación con la intención de compra para el público objetivo de acuerdo al modelo estudiado son la ambientación de la tienda, el pricing y la promoción. Y en caso de los factores menos relevantes quedaron la asistencia del personal de ventas y el atractivo de la tienda. Por ello, se recomienda poner mayores esfuerzos en las variables que se encuentran mayor valoradas por el público objetivo primario. / In the present investigation, a study is carried out on the in-store factors in relation to the purchase intention in makeup stores in retails, since there are no studies carried out in Peru that understand this topic despite the fact that the sector is in continuous growth in the market and where 50% of cosmetic purchases are made in department stores. To determine the degree of relations between in-store factors and purchase intention, the methodology used was a multiple linear regression study with a mixed approach. For the development of the study, a qualitative investigation was carried out, with two mini groups and interviews with the primary public and three in-depth interviews with experts on the subject. In addition, a conclusive quantitative investigation was carried out through 230 surveys. From this, with the information obtained and processed, it was possible to obtain relevant data about the behavior of the target audience and to draw conclusions about the relationship of the variables and the purchase intention. Finally, it was possible to verify that the factors with the highest relation to the purchase intention for the target audience according to the studied model are the store setting, pricing and promotion. And in the case of the least relevant factors, the attendance of sales personnel and the attractiveness of the store remained. Therefore, it is recommended to put greater efforts on the variables that are most valued by the primary target audience. / Tesis

The idea of approximating a distribution is a prominent problem in statistics. This dissertation explores the theory of principal points and principal curves as approximation methods to a distribution. Principal points of a distribution have been initially introduced by Flury (1990) who tackled the problem of optimal grouping in multivariate data. In essence, principal points are the theoretical counterparts of cluster means obtained by the k-means algorithm. Principal curves defined by Hastie (1984), are smooth one-dimensional curves that pass through the middle of a p-dimensional data set, providing a nonlinear summary of the data. In this dissertation, details on the usefulness of principal points and principal curves are reviewed. The application of principal points and principal curves are then extended beyond its original purpose to well-known computational methods like Support Vector Machines in machine learning.

The spider mite predator Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot and the thrips predator Amblyseius cucumeris (Oudemans) are both commercially mass-reared for use as biological control agents for greenhouse pests. The ability to stockpile these mites in cold storage would greatly facilitate economical mass-production and distribution. In addition, these two species provide an opportunity for comparative studies of cold hardiness because P. persimilis originated in subtropical Mediterranean type climates and is thought to be incapable of entering diapause whereas A. cucumeris is widespread in temperate zones where adult females enter a reproductive diapause for overwintering. Temperature/mortality curves confirmed that both species are freezing intolerant in the traditional sense that supercooling points (SCPs), at which freezing of body fluids occurs, represent absolute lower lethal temperatures. Both species were capable of moderate supercooling, into the range of-20°C to -30°C, and both showed a trend of increasing SCP temperatures during development from egg to adult that suggested an inverse relationship between supercooling capacity and body size within species. The only exception to this trend was adult female A. cucumeris, which may be significant because this is the only life stage that is capable of diapause or survival of temperate winters. On the other hand, diapause induction and low temperature acclimation had little or no effect on supercooling capacity, and survival of nonacclimated mites at subzero temperatures above their SCPs was limited to very short periods of exposure, suggesting that the SCP represents a physical property of the mites rather than an adaptation for survival of exposure to subzero temperatures. Cold-storage survival of both species was optimum at 7.5°C, was greatly enhanced when a source of moisture was provided, and was enhanced even further when food was provided even though the mites were held at temperatures below their theoretical temperature threshold for development. Under these conditions, survival of P. persimilis was 80% after six weeks whereas that of A. cucumeris was only 35% after the same period of time. Furthermore, longevity and fecundity of P. persimilis after eight weeks of cold storage were comparable to mites taken directly from rearing cultures whereas oviposition by A. cucumeris after six weeks of cold storage was low and irregular compared to previously reported values. Temperature data from areas where P. persimilis survives outdoors indicate that this species is capable of surviving prolonged exposure to temperatures below 10°C and occasional exposure to subzero temperatures, and apparently does so without diapausing. On the other hand, A. cucumeris may be capable of surviving prolonged exposures to subzero temperatures, but only as diapausing adult females. The results of the current studies are consistent with these ideas and further suggest that nondiapausing A. cucumeris are less cold hardy than P. persimilis. / Graduate