Scene understanding is a central field in computer vision that attempts to detect objects in a scene and reason about their spatial, functional and semantic relations. While many works focus on things (objects with a well-defined shape), less attention has been given to stuff classes (amorphous background regions). However, stuff classes are important as they allow to explain many aspects of an image, including the scene type, thing classes likely to be present and physical attributes of all objects in the scene. The goal of this thesis is to restore the balance between stuff and things in scene understanding. In particular, we investigate how the recognition of stuff differs from things and develop methods that are suitable to deal with both. We use stuff to find things and annotate a large-scale dataset to study stuff and things in context. First, we present two methods for semantic segmentation of stuff and things. Most methods require manual class weighting to counter imbalanced class frequency distributions, particularly on datasets with stuff and thing classes. We develop a novel joint calibration technique that takes into account class imbalance, class competition and overlapping regions by calibrating for the pixel-level evaluation criterion. The second method shows how to unify the advantages of region-based approaches (accurately delineated object boundaries) and fully convolutional approaches (end-to-end training). Both are combined in a universal framework that is equally suitable to deal with stuff and things. Second, we propose to help weakly supervised object localization for classes where location annotations are not available, by transferring things and stuff knowledge from a source set with available annotations. This is particularly important if we want to scale scene understanding to real-world applications with thousands of classes, without having to exhaustively annotate millions of images. Finally, we present COCO-Stuff - the largest existing dataset with dense stuff and thing annotations. Existing datasets are much smaller and were made with expensive polygon-based annotation. We use a very efficient stuff annotation protocol to densely annotate 164K images. Using this new dataset, we provide a detailed analysis of the dataset and visualize how stuff and things co-occur spatially in an image. We revisit the question whether stuff or things are easier to detect and which is more important based on visual and linguistic analysis.

This study attempts to explore how schools’ handles and prevents cyber-bullying among pupils. The purpose in this study was to investigate how the school staffs work in secondary schools with grades sixth to ninth. How do the schools discover, prevent and stop cyber-bullying? Do the schools’ have any experiences of cyber-bullying? How do the schools work with anti-bullying concepts – have the new phenomenon cyber-bullying affected and changed the schools´ anti-bullying work in connection with the guidelines and in relation to the "new technology"? This study attempts to examine how this is handled within several secondary schools with three different municipalities. The theoretical starting-points have been an inductive theory which later has resulted in four other theoretical models, Meyrowitz two media-models which are describing social environments and several knowledge theories with a sociology perspective. In this study, the methods have been: conversational interviews with school staff –teachers and counselors. The analysis of the empirical material has been primarily content analysis with categorization of sentences which was mainly guided by empirics. The results shows that the schools does not have much experiences of cyber-bullying, they discovers, prevents and stops the phenomenon with same guidelines like the "regular" bullying. The major obstacle in the study showed a lack of resources, mainly among the teachers, such as time pressure and insufficient education on the subject. There also seems to be a lack of collaboration with agents outside the schools, primarily the social services, because the school does not feel that this type of cooperation works. The study provides several issues and several perspectives as a starting point for further research, such as experiences of cyber-bullying at school among pupils and parents.

In Bleak House , Dickens satirizes contemporary conditions in London in order to diagnose what he sees as social and industrial ills to prescribe a solution to the "Condition-of-England" question. Beginning with a review of the topicality in the novel, I use Dickens's personal letters, the text of Bleak House , and articles from Household Words to explain his contempt with the Great Exhibition, misguided philanthropy, and sanitary conditions, among others. Ultimately, it is his anathema to the Great Exhibition which drives both Dickens's plot and the issues he explores. Dickens's mockery of England is refracted and emphasized through his use of multiple genres. I seek to illuminate how the varieties of genres frame the plot trajectory as well as Dickens's subtle solution to London's problems. Using Michel Foucault's discussion of the discourse of discipline, I explain how Bleak House employs the Gothic novel, the Detective novel, and the Romance novel to influence the reader towards a more ordered and dutiful society. I end with an examination of the objects in the novel, concluding that objects symbolize not only characters' roles, but also their psyches.

Background: occupational injuries are common in health care and social welfare professions. Therefore, the municipality of offers all permanent nursing stuff a 20-hour course in staff - assisted transfers. Objective: to investigate the effects of this course in assisted client transfers with respect to self-reported health care professionals approach in moving situations, sick leave, perceived work load and work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the municipal activities, compared with health workers that have not received education during the same time. Method: A Quasi-experimental study with intervention and comparison group of 30 participants in each group. The course was based on the PRECEDE-PROCEED model with focus on 1) predisposing factors, 2) reinforcing and 3) enabling factors as these are considered important for the success when implementing a new work approach. The course was divided into 5 half-days and 20 hours in total. The participants responded to a study specific partly Web-based survey before, immediately after and six months after the education. Repeated measures ANOVA were used for data analyses. Results: The nursing stuff reported no change in working methods; to stimulate the patient's own activity and ability to influence their working load. Health care employees perceived work load in general and linked to transfer situations decreased compared to the comparison group. Number of people with self-reported work-related musculoskeletal disorders decreased and sick-leave increased less in the intervention group after the course. Conclusion: Perceived/self-reported work load related to mobility situations and generally decreased after the movement training. / Bakgrund: Arbetsskador är vanligt förekommande inom vård- och omsorgsyrken. En kommun i Mellansverige utbildar därför all tillsvidareanställd vårdpersonal i en 20 timmars förflyttningsutbildning. Syfte: att undersöka effekterna av en verksamhetsanpassad och kompetensinriktad förflyttningsutbildning inom kommunal verksamhet med avseende på vårdpersonalens självrapporterade arbetssätt i förflyttningssituationer, sjukfrånvaro, upplevd arbetstyngd och arbetsrelaterade besvär, jämfört med vårdpersonal som inte genomgått utbildning under motsvarande tid. Metod: En kvasiexperimentell utvärderingsstudie med intervention- och jämförelsegrupp om 30 deltagare i varje grupp. Utbildningen hade sin grund i modellen PRECEDE-PROCEED med fokus på 1) mottagliggörande faktorer, 2) förstärkande faktorer och 3) möjliggörande faktorer då dessa anses viktiga för att lyckas med implementering av ett nytt arbetssätt. Utbildningen var uppdelad på 5 halvdagar om 20h totalt. Deltagarna fick svara på en studiespecifik delvis webbaserad enkät före, direkt efter och 6 månader efter avslutad utbildning. Repeated measures ANOVA användes för statistisk analys. Resultat: Vårdpersonalen rapporterade ingen förändring i arbetssätt; att stimulera brukarens egen aktivitet och förmåga att påverka sin arbetstyngd. Vårdpersonalens upplevda arbetstyngd generellt och kopplat till förflyttningssituationer minskade jämfört med jämförelsegruppen. Färre personer rapporterade arbetsrelaterade besvär och sjukfrånvaron ökade i mindre omfattning i interventionsgruppen efter utbildning. Slutsats: Arbetsrelaterade besvär och upplevd/självrapporterad arbetstyngd generellt och kopplat till förflyttningssituationer minskade efter genomförd förflyttningsutbildning.

Ce travail traite du problème métaphysique de la composition. Ce problème peut être compris comme un ensemble de questions touchant à l'existence et à la nature des entités complexes et simples. Existe-t-il des entités complexes? Si oui, de quelle nature sont-elles? Comment sont-elles composées? Par quoi sont-elles composées (par des simples ou non)? Nous allons dans un premier temps analyser le paradigme russellien concernant le problème de la composition, à savoir l'atomisme logique. Cette analyse va nous amener à comprendre la façon dont l'outil logique (ici la logique russellienne) peut nous permettre de déterminer une ontologie (l'ontologie des faits) dans laquelle ces différentes questions trouvent des réponses déterminées. Puis nous aborderons le traitement contemporain de cette question qui se base sur la question spéciale de la composition (SCQ) développée par Peter van Inwagen dans Material Beings, et sur l'analyse méréologique. Nous allons alors aborder les différentes théories de la composition et nous allons essayer de justifier l'une d'entre-elles : l'universalisme de la composition. Cette justification nous amènera à développer et justifier une conception des simples (la théorie du Gunk), du temps (le quadridimensionnalisme), et une ontologie de l'étoffe matérielle. Nous achèverons notre travail en essayant de montrer que l'universalisme de la composition prend un sens particulier à l'intérieur des théories du monisme de priorité et du super-substantialisme. / This work deals with the metaphysical problem of composition. This problem can be understood as a set of questions relating to the existence and nature of simple and complex entities. Are there complex entities? What kind are they? How are they made? What are they made of (simples or not)? We will initially analyze the Russellian paradigm for the problem of composition, namely logical atomism. This analysis will lead us to understand how the tool logic (logic Russell here) can help us determine an ontology (ontology of facts) in which these questions are answered. Then we discuss the contemporary treatment of this question wich is based on the special composition question (SCQ) developed by Peter van Inwagen in Material Beings, and the mereological analysis. We then discuss the different theories of composition and we will try to justify one of them: the universalism of composition. This explanation leads us to develop and justify a conception of simples (the gunk theory), time (quadridimensionalism), and a stuff ontology. We will complete our work by trying to show that the universalism of composition makes sense within particular theories : priority monism and supersubstantivalism.

Bakgrund: I Sverige finns det cirka 130 000 – 150 000 personer som lever med en demenssjukdom. Demenssjukdomen påverkar personens kognitiva förmågor som påverkar det vardagliga livet. Sjukdomen leder till att personen får ett större vård- och omsorgsbehov som endast kan tillgodoses på ett särskilt boende med omvårdnadspersonal dygnet runt där sjuksköterskan har en handledande roll. Omvårdnadspersonalens uppgifter innefattar att ge personen med demenssjukdom en personcentrerad vård och ett så aktivt och meningsfullt liv som möjligt.  Syfte: Att beskriva omvårdnadspersonalens erfarenhet av aktiviteter samt deras uppfattning av behovet av aktiviteter för personer med demenssjukdom i särskilt boende.  Metod: Studien är en kvalitativ intervjustudie. Informanterna var de omvårdnadspersonal som arbetat längst på de avdelningar där studien genomfördes. Svaren på frågorna analyserades med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys.  Resultat: Analys av intervjuerna resulterade i fyra kategorier: ”Aktiviteter utifrån behov”, ”Att göra personen delaktig”, ”Individanpassade aktiviteter” och ”Att se till aktivitetsmöjligheterna”. Informanterna beskriver att planering av aktiviteter är viktigt, både kortsiktig och långsiktig men att kunskap kring prioritering är bristfällig.    Slutsats: Vilka aktiviteter som används för personer med demenssjukdom och i vilken utsträckning aktiviteterna blir utförda beror på omvårdnadspersonalens kunskap, intresse, tid, personaltillgänglighet, väder och årstid samt den demenssjukes dagsform. / Background: In Sweden, there are about 130,000 - 150,000 people living with a dementia disease. Dementia affects the person's cognitive abilities that affect everyday life. The disease causes the person to have a greater need for care and care, which can only be accommodated in a special accommodation with nursing staff around the clock where the nurse has a guiding role. The care staff's tasks include giving the person with dementia a person-centered care and as an active and meaningful life as possible. Aim: To describe the nursing staff's experience of activities and their perception of activities  their perception of the activity for people with dementia in special housing.  Methods: The study is a qualitative interview study. The informants were the nursing staff who worked the longest in the municipality's various departments on special housing for people with dementia. The answers to the questions were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Analysis of the interviews resulted in four categories: "Activities based on needs", "Making the person involved", "Individual adapted activities" and "Looking at the opportunities for activities". The informants describe that planning of activities is important, both short-term and long-term, but that knowledge about prioritization is inadequate. Conclusion: What activities are used for people with dementia and to what extent the activities are performed depends on the nursing staff's knowledge, interest, time, staff availability, weather and season and the condition of the person with dementia.

Vienas didžiausių iššūkių viešajame sektoriuje yra nuolatinis, sistemingas tarnautojų mokymasis, kvalifikacijos tobulinimas. Šioje srityje viešojo administravimo institucijoms, skaitant ir savivaldybes keliami vis didesni reikalavimai, nes nuolatinis savivaldybės tarnautojų mokymasis, jų profesionalumas įtakoja savivaldybės veiklos efektyvumą, administravimo kokybę bei visuomenės pasitikėjimą vietos savivaldos įstaigų veikla. Šiame darbe tarnautojų mokymo ir kvalifikacijos tobulinimo klausimai nagrinėjami vienos organizacijos, t.y. Švenčionių rajono savivaldybės lygyje. Analizuojant duomenis išskiriami pagrindiniai trūkumai, susiję su savivaldybės tarnautojų mokymu, kvalifikacijos tobulinimu ir pasiūlytos jų šalinimo priemonės. / The growing nowadays expectations and new requirements for public administration always stimulate workers to train and to improve their qualification. In this work there was chosen to analyze the features of the improvement of the training and qualification of the staff of the municipality of Shvenchionis district. In the theoretical part of the work there is given the conception of the training and the improvement of the qualification of the workers of Lithuanian municipalities. There are allocated theoretical aspects of qualification, professionalism and competence, there is presented the standard of studying organization. There are shortly discussed the features of the improvement of the training and qualification of the staff of Lithuanian municipalities, development and legal regulation. There is also allocated the importance of the planning of public institutions’ work and human resources. In the empirical part of the work there are analyzed and given the results of the research fulfilled in the municipality of Shvenchionis district “The features of the improvement of the training and qualification of the staff of the municipality of Shvenchionis district”. There are summarized the main problems connected with the training and improvement of the qualification of municipality stuff and offered the means of their removal. 98 percents of respondents proved one of the hypothesis of the work: „Permanent training of municipality workers, their professionalism influence... [to full text]

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The problem which spurred this thesis has three components. First, there are entities which we may call stuff – alluded to by uncountable nouns; these entities seem to have a duality for behaving like both (i) an object or a discrete middle size substance – which are supposed to be non-repetitive and independent, and as well as (ii) a concept or a universal – which are repetitive but dependent (on some independent substances). Second, a dichotomy persists between the two aspects of the duality: what is non-repeatable cannot be repeatable and, conversely what is repeatable cannot be non-repeatable. Third, there is a background of how we conventionally do logic, and our present trend of doing – or rather, doing away with – metaphysics. The thesis then came up with four chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the question – how can, or how do we deal with stuff predication following the conventional guidelines? – where by stuff predication I mean any predication involving stuff. I also tried there to find out some clues from Frege’s works. Chapter 2 dives into some related issues pertaining to language, grammar and the notion of constitution. Chapter 3 examines critically two types of theories or views (one of them has been recently championed by Michael Dummett and P.F. Strawson; the other by David Armstrong) arguing how repetitive entities differ from the non-repetitive ones. My counter argument is that those arguments are either fallacious or not even complete. Chapter 4 takes an Aristotelian perspective following the lead of E.J. Lowe. The thesis has a pessimistic tone at the end: the conventional method is quite inadequate as it misses some subtleties pertaining to stuff, nor could Lowe’s Aristotle take us too far. Nevertheless, one cannot – I hope – miss some deeper insights glimpsing into this work. Particularly, Chapter 3 opens up some new venues to think about: our thoughts about our own arguments and proofs may need some revamping.

Men are bombarded with contradictory masculine imagery in the media. The perfect man must be aggressive but not violent, sensitive but not emotional, healthy, active and smart without being an idealist, overachiever or too bookish. Heterocentric male focused lifestyle magazines rival women’s magazines in number and availability. Some men look to these images as a tool by which to gauge their masculinity and learn their social role performance. This inquiry includes a content analysis of four major men's lifestyle magazines over a 12-month period in which four new masculinities: certitude, irony, new sexism and double voicing were critiqued. Elements of costume, nonverbal expressions and activity level in the photographs of men and women were examined. The findings indicate that Maxim and Stuff were deluged with displays of certitude of gender roles, irony, "new sexism" and double voicing. Playboy had a high level of gender certitude, marginal levels of new sexism and irony and low levels of double voicing. Lastly, GQ had relatively high levels of gender certitude but it had very low levels of the other masculinities.