A huge effort has been made in the development of image classification systemswith the objective of creating high-quality thematic maps and to establishprecise inventories about land cover use. The peculiarities of Remote SensingImages (RSIs) combined with the traditional image classification challengesmake RSI classification a hard task. Many of the problems are related to therepresentation scale of the data, and to both the size and therepresentativeness of used training set.In this work, we addressed four research issues in order to develop effectivesolutions for interactive classification of remote sensing images.The first research issue concerns the fact that image descriptorsproposed in the literature achieve good results in various applications, butmany of them have never been used in remote sensing classification tasks.We have tested twelve descriptors that encodespectral/color properties and seven texture descriptors. We have also proposeda methodology based on the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) classifier for evaluationof descriptors in classification context. Experiments demonstrate that JointAuto-Correlogram (JAC), Color Bitmap, Invariant Steerable Pyramid Decomposition(SID), and Quantized Compound Change Histogram (QCCH) yield the best results incoffee and pasture recognition tasks.The second research issue refers to the problem of selecting the scaleof segmentation for object-based remote sensing classification. Recentlyproposed methods exploit features extracted from segmented objects to improvehigh-resolution image classification. However, the definition of the scale ofsegmentation is a challenging task. We have proposedtwo multiscale classification approaches based on boosting of weak classifiers.The first approach, Multiscale Classifier (MSC), builds a strongclassifier that combines features extracted from multiple scales ofsegmentation. The other, Hierarchical Multiscale Classifier (HMSC), exploits thehierarchical topology of segmented regions to improve training efficiencywithout accuracy loss when compared to the MSC. Experiments show that it isbetter to use multiple scales than use only one segmentation scale result. Wehave also analyzed and discussed about the correlation among the useddescriptors and the scales of segmentation.The third research issue concerns the selection of training examples and therefinement of classification results through multiscale segmentation. We have proposed an approach forinteractive multiscale classification of remote sensing images.It is an active learning strategy that allows the classification resultrefinement by the user along iterations. Experimentalresults show that the combination of scales produces better results thanisolated scales in a relevance feedback process. Furthermore, the interactivemethod achieves good results with few user interactions. The proposed methodneeds only a small portion of the training set to build classifiers that are asstrong as the ones generated by a supervised method that uses the whole availabletraining set.The fourth research issue refers to the problem of extracting features of ahierarchy of regions for multiscale classification. We have proposed a strategythat exploits the existing relationships among regions in a hierarchy. Thisapproach, called BoW-Propagation, exploits the bag-of-visual-word model topropagate features along multiple scales. We also extend this idea topropagate histogram-based global descriptors, the H-Propagation method. The proposedmethods speed up the feature extraction process and yield good results when compared with globallow-level extraction approaches.

<p>The National Curriculum Statement introduced mathematical literacy officially in 2006. Learners in general perform poorly at mathematics in South Africa but there is strong belief that learners should graduate from schools sufficiently literate to deal with the mathematical issues they will encounter in out-of-school situations. Based on this, this study is an investigation of the contexts, which grades 8 &ndash / 10 learners would prefer to engage with mathematics. The aim of this study was thus to investigate mathematical literacy in relation to learners&rsquo / motivations for the contexts they would prefer to deal with in mathematical literacy. The emphasis of the study is to concentrate on learner&rsquo / s written motivations for mathematical contexts. Data were collected using a questionnaire that deals with contexts for mathematics.</p>

<p>This thesis was based on a larger international comparative study called the ROSE (Relevance of Science Education) project. The study investigated the affective factors pupils perceive might be of relevance for the learning of science and technology using the ROSE survey questionnaire, and was aimed at providing data that might form part of an empirical basis for local adaptation of the science curriculum.</p>

Bakgrund: Studier visar att struktur och relevans i muntlig överrapportering är av stor vikt då detta ökar patientsäkerheten. I nuläget finns ingen allmänt accepterad mall för muntlig överrapportering av patienter i Sverige. En modell för muntlig överrapportering som nu börjat introduceras på svenska sjukhus är SBAR, vilken rekommenderas av Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting. Syfte: Att undersöka akutmottagningssjuksköterskors uppfattningar av muntlig överrapportering från ambulanspersonalen vid larm/prioritet 1, på ett av Stockholms sjukhus. Metod: En empirisk tvärsnittsstudie med enkät som underlag för datainsamlingen utfördes. Studien hade kvantitativ design med deskriptiv ansats. Enkätens frågor utformades utifrån SBAR för akuta situationer. Totalt insamlades 21 enkäter, besvarade av nio olika sjuksköterskor. Resultat: Alla deltagande sjuksköterskor utom en önskade en gemensam mall för överrapportering. Information om allergier, smittorisker, social bakgrund och ADL-förmåga, överrapporterades i mycket begränsad utsträckning. Sjuksköterskorna svarade, i majoriteten av fallen, att de inte saknade något i överrapporteringen. Slutsats: I denna studie finns en önskan om en gemensam mall för  överrapportering mellan ambulanspersonal och akutmottagningspersonal. Till skillnad från tidigare studier visar denna studie att viss information inte tycks vara nödvändig i den akuta situationen. / Background: Previous studies show that the structure and relevance in verbal handover of patients is of great importance with regard to patient safety. There is no generally accepted template for verbal handover of patients in Sweden. A model for verbal handover (SBAR) that is recommended by Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions is now being introduced in Swedish hospitals. Objective: To study the perception of verbal handover of patients from paramedics to emergency department nurses in an emergency hospital in Stockholm. Method: An empirical cross-sectional study with a questionnaire as a basis for data collection. This study had a quantitative design with a descriptive approach. The questionnaire was designed based on SBAR for emergency situations. In total 21 questionnaires from nine nurses were evaluated. Results: All nurses, except one, would appreciate a common template for verbal handover. Information on allergies, contagious risks, social background and ADL-capabilities was rarely reported during handover. The majority of nurses reported that they did not miss any information in the verbal handover. Conclusion: This study shows a need for a common template for verbal handover from ambulance staff to emergency department nurses. Contrary to previous studies there is also a view that some information is unnecessary in the emergency situation.

Percy Barnevik is one example of a renowned leader publishing a book, “Leadership- 200 advice”, on his experiences as a manager. The overall quantity of this so called Guru Literature on the market demonstrate that it exist a great interest in advice from business leaders but further raise a question of soundness of the advice. The aim with the thesis is to generate a picture of how well Guru Theory in general and Percy Barnevik specifically is connected to management research and practice. What constitute evidence is often debated within the management research field and scholars mean that one cannot assume a fact without any evidence created from research. This leads to a discussion about rigor and relevance and how management research should be designed to create a rigorous study, without overshadowing its practical relevance to the operating business. To answer the research question, interviews were executed with complementary questionnaires. In order to create a picture of what kind of anchoring Barnevik’s advice have in management theory a literature review was conducted. It is possible to see that the majority of the practitioners compared to research have a different level of cohesiveness with Barnevik regarding the studied advice. Practitioners, tend to a high level agree with Barnevik although management research stand for a more hesitant approach. Our conclusions are that management researchers should consider Guru Theory to a greater extent rather than discard it. This we believe could generate relevant research contributions to practitioners and add rigor to an unscientific field of theories

This thesis is based on practitioner and action research by the author. A series of iterative case studies identified factors that contributed towards a group of low ability and disaffected pupils being engaged in learning in design and technology. The findings of each case study were analysed and conclusions used to frame the subsequent case study. Findings from these case studies were then used to develop an action research project. Discussion of the relationship between pupils' perceived relevance of an activity and their levels of engagement has appeared on the UK educational agenda, (Ofsted 2005:51-52, Davies et al, 2004:147, Daniels et al 1998:5.5, Denton, 1992), but not with the frequency which might be expected. Initial research at the school found that a group of low ability and disaffected pupils had a very positive perception of the “relevance” of design and technology. In contrast the literature reviewed suggested that pupils in their samples had a low perception of the “relevance” of design and technology. Qualitative methodology was used. This included interviewing teachers and pupils and the development of a semi-structured interview schedule. Analysis of this data was aided by the use of a Likert, (1932) rating scale. A "summated" scale, Trochim, (2006) supported the interpretation of data. Observations were used to record classroom interactions. A Delphi group (Toffler, 1970:462) explored issues emerging during the research and to limit the danger of single observer bias. Pupil understanding of the term “relevance” was explored. The findings identified strategies employed to promote the relevance of the subject. These strategies were developed into an action research project that tested the strategies in three other schools. One school, with a relatively inexperienced teacher, found the strategies had a positive impact on teaching and learning.

The aim of this research, Reading Selection as Information Seeking Behavior: A Case Study with Adolescent Girls, was to explore how the experience of reading fiction affects adolescent girls aged 13 through 15, and how that experience changes based upon four activities: journaling, blogging, a personal interview, and a focus group session. Each participant reflects upon works of her own choosing that she had recently read. The data is evaluated using content analysis with the goal of developing a relational analysis tool to be used and tested with future research projects. The goal of this research is to use the insights of the field of bibliotherapy together with the insights of the adolescent girls to provide a higher, more robust model of successful information behavior. That is, relevance is a matter of impact on life rather than just a match of subject heading. This work provides a thick description of a set of real world relevancy judgments. This may serve to illuminate theories and practices for bringing each individual seeker together with appropriate documents. This research offers a new model for relevant information seeking behavior associated with selecting works of essential instructional fiction, as well as a new definition for terminology to describe the results of the therapeutic literary experience. The data from this study, as well as from previous research, suggest that literature (specifically young adult literature) brings the reader to a better understanding of herself and the world around her.

Communiquer efficacement nécessite de produire une multitude d’inférences pragmatiques. Celles-ci reposent sur la capacité à prendre en compte un grand nombre d’indices, tels que le contexte ou l’état mental et physique du locuteur. Dans le cas du langage oral, l’interlocuteur s’appuie également sur les indices prosodiques. Ainsi, une prosodie enthousiaste associée à l’énoncé « Excellent. » aidera un interlocuteur à inférer que le locuteur est content tandis qu’une intonation plate le conduira au contraire à penser qu’il était ironique. Ces situations peuvent être particulièrement délicates pour les patients atteints d’un Trouble du Spectre Autistique (TSA) qui éprouvent des difficultés pour reconnaître et interpréter les états mentaux d’autrui. Nous prédisons donc que l’interprétation des indices prosodiques est délicate dans les TSA. Cependant, tous les aspects de l’interprétation prosodique ne requièrent pas d’attribuer des états mentaux. Par exemple, la distinction entre « PREsent » et « preSENT » (en anglais) est basée sur une simple connaissance du lexique, indépendante des pensées du locuteur. Dans ce travail, j’explore différents aspects de la prosodie afin de déterminer si les personnes avec un TSA sont spécifiquement atteintes dans leur capacité à comprendre les signaux prosodiques reposant sur la compréhension des intentions du locuteur. Je présente une série de travaux traitant de la prosodie grammaticale (Article 1), de la transmission accidentelle d’informations (Article 2), de l’accent contrastif (Articles 3 et 4), et de l’identification des états mentaux du locuteur (Article 5). Les résultats présentés dans ces travaux me conduisent ensuite à discuter des questions plus générales concernant la Théorie de l’Esprit (Article 6) et à proposer une explication alternative des déficits sociaux observés dans les TSA (Article 7). / Efficient communication requires a great deal of pragmatic inferencing. This is rooted in the ability to take into account a variety of cues, such as the context and the speaker’s mental or emotional states. Crucially, in spoken language, hearers can also rely on prosodic cues. For instance, if someone utters “That was brilliant”, using an enthusiastic prosody, this will help the hearer to decipher that the speaker is happy. In contrast, if the speaker’s comment is uttered in a deadpan tone of voice, she will be thought to be ironical. These situations can be especially challenging for people with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Indeed, these individuals have well-known difficulties in recognising and interpreting others’ mental states. This leads to the prediction that interpreting prosodic cues should be problematic in ASDs. However, not all aspects of prosodic interpretation involve mental states attribution. For instance, differentiating “PREsent” from “preSENT” merely requires one to be aware of the fact that these words stand for different things, without needing to attribute any particular thoughts to the speaker. In this work, I explore the various components of prosody and assess whether people with an ASD are specifically impaired in interpreting prosodic cues that rely on the understanding of the speaker’s intentions. I present a series of papers focusing on grammatical prosody (Paper 1), accidental information transmission (Paper 2), contrastive stress (Papers 3 and 4), and identification of the speaker’s attitude and emotional state (Paper 5). The results presented in these papers then lead me to address more general questions concerning Theory of Mind (Paper 6) and to discuss the possible origins of the social impairments found in ASDs (Paper 7).

A memory aid, that used brief (33ms) presentations of previously learned information (target words), was assessed on its ability to reinforce memory for target words while the subject was performing an interference task. The interference task required subjects to learn new words and thus interfered with their memory of the target words. The brief presentation (momentary memory priming) was hypothesized to refresh the subjects' memory of the target words. 143 subjects, in a within subject design, were given a 33ms presentation of the target memory words during the interference task in a treatment condition and a blank 33ms presentation in the control condition. The primary dependent measure, memory loss over the interference trial, was not significantly different between the two conditions. The memory prime did not appear to hinder the subjects' performance on the interference task. This paper describes the experiment and the results along with suggestions for future research.

Title: Field tests relevancy (equipollence) of endurance predisposition of professional footballers. Made by: Bc. Martin Paroulek Supervisor: Prof. Ing. Václav Bunc, Csc. Aims: Contribute to solve problems with defining the level of endurance predisposition of professional footballers. Methods: 10 professional footballers were tested. Their average age was 19,1±0,9 years, average weight was 69,2±2,5 kg and average height was 178±4,2 cm. Data was obtained from three functional load tests. Data was processed by means of correlative analysis. Assumed level of equipollence among load tests was defined 0,7. Results: We haven't found significant relation betweeen measured figures of VO2max laboratory load test and measured figures of field 2 km run test. We even haven't found significant relation between measured figures of VO2max laboratory load test and measured figures of field endurance 20 m shuttle run test. As we can see from the results, field tests cannot be considered as adequate compensation of laboratory tests. More research is needed at this field of survey to be able to confirm it or adjust it. We are aware of limits of our survey and its value of notice, for example number of probands etc. It was confirmed that 2 km run test has higher level of equipollence (0,41) in laboratory load test...