This study arose as a result of a number of years spent in the southwestern portion of Virginia working with the people of this mountainous region, teaching their children, and observing their way of life. This experience made it seem desirable to study the factors which tend to favor, as well as those which retard progress toward desirable and worthwhile goals or life; if possible, to point to ways in which such progress might be promoted in this area, especially among rural populations. Thus three counties, Dickenson, Russell, and Wise, were chosen for intensive study, on the hypothesis that they were representative of the counties in the southern tip of Virginia and to some degree, of the entire Appalachian mountain range. / M.S.

The problem in this study was to determine the needs of the people of the Northwest District by a social survey, and then, on the basis of the results of this survey and the exploring of established community programs, to construct a possible program by which these community needs could be partially or completely met.

[pt] Com o avanço recente do uso de aprendizagem profunda supervisionada (supervised deep learning) em aplicações no ramo da visão computacional, a indústria e a comunidade acadêmica vêm evidenciando que uma das principais dificuldades para o sucesso destas aplicações é a falta de datasets com a suficiente quantidade de dados anotados. Nesse sentido aponta-se a necessidade de alavancar grandes quantidades de dados rotulados para que estes modelos inteligentes possam solucionar problemas pertinentes ao seu contexto para atingir os resultados desejados. O uso de técnicas para gerar dados anotados de maneira mais eficiente está sendo cada vez mais explorado, juntamente com técnicas para o apoio à geração dos datasets que servem de insumos para o treinamento dos modelos de inteligência artificial. Este trabalho tem como propósito propor estratégias para otimizar processos de anotação e geração de datasets de segmentação semântica. Dentre as abordagens utilizadas neste trabalho destacamos o Interactive Segmentation e Active Learning. A primeira, tenta melhorar o processo de anotação de dados, tornando-o mais eficiente e eficaz do ponto de vista do anotador ou especialista responsável pela rotulagem dos dados com uso de um modelo de segmentação semântica que tenta imitar as anotações feitas pelo anotador. A segunda, consiste em uma abordagem que permite consolidar um modelo deep learning utilizando um critério inteligente, visando a seleção de dados não anotados mais informativos para o treinamento do modelo a partir de uma função de aquisição que se baseia na estimação de incerteza da rede para realizar a filtragem desses dados. Para aplicar e validar os resultados de ambas as técnicas, o trabalho os incorpora em um caso de uso relacionado em imagens de mamografia para segmentação de estruturas anatômicas. / [en] With the recent advancement of the use of supervised deep learning in applications in the field of computer vision, the industry and the academic community have been showing that one of the main difficulties for the success of these applications is the lack of datasets with a sufficient amount of annotated data. In this sense, there is a need to leverage large amounts of labeled data so that these intelligent models can solve problems relevant to their context to achieve the desired results. The use of techniques to generate annotated data more efficiently is being increasingly explored, together with techniques to support the generation of datasets that serve as inputs for the training of artificial intelligence models. This work aims to propose strategies to optimize annotation processes and generation of semantic segmentation datasets. Among the approaches used in this work, we highlight Interactive Segmentation and Active Learning. The first one tries to improve the data annotation process, making it more efficient and effective from the point of view of the annotator or specialist responsible for labeling the data using a semantic segmentation model that tries to imitate the annotations made by the annotator. The second consists of an approach that allows consolidating a deep learning model using an intelligent criterion, aiming at the selection of more informative unannotated data for training the model from an acquisition function that is based on the uncertainty estimation of the network to filter these data. To apply and validate the results of both techniques, the work incorporates them in a use case in mammography images for segmentation of anatomical structures.

This thesis deals with practical solutions of software for retinal images digital processing. The theoretic part describes human eye and retinal anatomy and also glaucoma disease. It is also focused on description of method for retinal nerve fiber layer enhancement and analysis. These enhancement are then used for designing of automated image processing. One chapter is devoted to detection and analysis of retinal nerve fibers layer. The practical part includes the user manual for application Image Blockz, which was established within this thesis. Further practical part contains the programmer's manual describing the basic structure of the program and its possible extensions.

No description available.

The dissertation investigates the issues of image authentication and tamper localization after general image processing operations – blurring, sharpening, rotation and JPEG compression. The dissertation consists of four parts including Introduction, 4 chapters, Conclusions, References. The introduction reveals the investigated problem, importance of the thesis and the object of research and describes the purpose and tasks of the paper, research methodology, scientific novelty, the practical significance of results examined in the paper and defended statements. The introduction ends in presenting the author’s publications on the subject of the defended dissertation, offering the material of made presentations in conferences and defining the structure of the dissertation. Chapter 1 revises used literature, analyzes competitive methods. The devastating effect of blur/sharpen methods on digital image matrices is shown. General pixel-wise tamper localization methods are completely inefficient after such casual processing. Block-wise methods demonstrate some resistance against blurring/sharpening, but no tamper localization with the resolution of up to one pixel is possible. There is clearly a need for a method, able to locate damaged pixels despite general image processing operations such as blurring or sharpening. Chapter 2 defines theoretical foundation for the proposed method. It is shown that phase of Fourier transform demonstrates invariance against blurring or sharpening... [to full text] / Disertacijoje nagrinėjamos atvaizdų apsaugos – autentiškumo užtikrinimo ir pažeidimų radimo, po bendrųjų vaizdo apdorojimo procedūrų – blukinimo, ryškinimo, pasukimo ar JPEG suspaudimo – problemos. Disertaciją sudaro įvadas, keturi skyriai, rezultatų apibendrinimas, naudotos literatūros ir autoriaus publikacijų disertacijos tema sąrašai. Įvadiniame skyriuje aptariama tiriamoji problema, darbo aktualumas, aprašomas tyrimų objektas, formuluojamas darbo tikslas bei uždaviniai, aprašoma tyrimų metodika, darbo mokslinis naujumas, darbo rezultatų praktinė reikšmė, ginamieji teiginiai. Įvado pabaigoje pristatomos disertacijos tema autoriaus paskelbtos publikacijos ir pranešimai konferencijose bei disertacijos struktūra. Pirmasis skyrius skirtas literatūros apžvalgai. Jame pateikta konkuruojančių metodų apžvalga. Parodomas globalus blukinimo/ryškinimo operacijų poveikis atvaizdo skaitmeninėms matricoms. Išsiaiškinama kodėl pikselių tikslumo metodai nėra atsparūs tokiam poveikiui. Kodėl blokiniai metodai demonstruoja dalinį atsparumą – bet jie nėra pajėgūs surasti vieno pažeisto pikselio. Parodomas aiškus poreikis metodo, tiek galinčio rasti pažeistus pikselius, tiek atsparaus bendroms vaizdo apdorojimo procedūroms, tokioms kaip blukinimas ar aštrinimas. Antrajame skyriuje pateiktas sukurto metodo teorinis pagrindimas. Įrodoma, kad Furjė fazė pasižymi atsparumu blukinimui ir ryškinimui. Tačiau iškyla sekanti problema dėl to, kad Furjė fazėje neįmanoma rasti konkretaus pikselio –... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Inledning: Arbetsintegrerande sociala företag (ASF) fyller många betydelsefulla samhällsfunktioner och deras insatser bidrar till samhällsekonomisk nytta, som dessvärre inte inräknas i det traditionella bokslutet. Det interna bokslutet hos företaget kan visa förlust medan samhället gör en ekonomisk vinst till följd av dess existens. Genom socioekonomiska bokslut kan den samhällsekonomiska nyttan värderas i monetära termer. Syfte: Syftet med vår studie är att genom ett socioekonomiskt bokslut skapa förståelse om hur arbetsintegrerande sociala företag bidrar med samhällsekonomisk nytta samt identifiera vilka externa aktörer som påverkas av dessa, för att slutligen undersöka vilka av de identifierade aktörerna som påverkas minst/mest ekonomiskt av arbetsintegrerande sociala företag. Metod: Denna kvalitativa fallstudie har utförts med en abduktiv forskningsansats. För att upprätta det socioekonomiska bokslutet samt uppfylla studiens syfte har vi genomfört 18 semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer från ett arbetsintegrerande socialt företag. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att arbetsintegrerande sociala företag bidrar med samhällsekonomisk nytta genom minskad kontakt med myndigheter, minskad vårdkonsumtion samt upphörande/minskade bidrag, då människor i utanförskap integreras i arbete. De externa aktörer som identifierades var landsting, kommun, Arbetsförmedlingen samt Försäkringskassan. Den aktör som gynnades mest ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv var landstinget respektive Arbetsförmedlingen som gynnades minst. / Introduction: Work integration social enterprises (WISE) fulfill many important social functions and their efforts contribute to socio-economic benefits, which unfortunately are not included in the traditional final accounts. The internal final accounts of the company can show loss while society makes a financial profit as a result of its existence. The socio-economic benefits can be valued in monetary terms through socio-economic accounts. Purpose: The purpose of our study is to investigate, through a socio-economic account, how WISE contribute with socio-economic benefits and also identify which external actors are affected by them, in order to finally examine which of the identified actors are least/most economically affected by work integration social enterprises.  Method: This qualitative case study has been conducted with an abductive research approach. In order to establish the socio-economic account and to fulfill the purpose of the study, have 18 semi-structured interviews with people from a WISE been conducted. Result: The study’s results show that work integration social enterprises contribute to socio-economic benefits through reduced contact with authorities, reduced healthcare consumption and cessation/reduction of contributions, as peole in exclusion are integrated into work. The identified external actors were county councils, municipalities, the employment service and the Swedish social insurance agency. The actor who benefited the most from an economic perspective was the county council. The employment service benefited the least.

Diffusion Tensor MRI can be used to depict the anisotropy of tissue. Translation of this technique to moving objects such as the beating heart has recently become feasible, but remains a challenging task, often leading to high noise levels and limited accuracy. Ultimately, knowledge of the 3D fibre architecture of the myocardium invivo should allow for a better understanding of the cardiac function both in healthy and pathological situations. The main goal of the work presented in this thesis is to overcome the difficulties that such technology presents, by introducing a combination of image processing and analysis approaches. In particular, the characteristic ellipsoidal shape of the left ventricular chamber is used to introduce a shape-based prolate spheroidal coordinate frame that allows for comprehensive, robust and dedicated analysis of diffusion tensor data within the myocardial wall. It is shown that the description of this information is more compact in this coordinate frame. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the acquisition limitations can be overcome by introducing an approximation scheme based on this coordinate frame. These techniques are tested on ex-vivo datasets to assess their fidelity and sensitivity. Finally, these techniques are applied in-vivo on a group of healthy volunteers, where 2D DTI slices of the LV were acquired at end diastole and end systole, using cardiac dedicated diffusion MR acquisition. Results demonstrate the advantages of using curvilinear coordinates both for the analysis and the approximation of cardiac DTI information. Resulting in-vivo fibre architectures were found to agree with previously reported studies on ex-vivo specimens. The outcome of this work can open the door for clinical applications and cardiac electrophysiology modelling, and improve the understanding of the left ventricular structure and dynamics.

Research report on the reliability of results of Lithuanian forest inventories is given in the thesis. Aim of research – to estimate the reliability of the results of National forest inventory, Stand-wise forest inventory and forest inventory before cutting. Object of research – spruce and birch stands of Lithuanian forests. Methods of research – sampling, verification of statistical hypotheses and comparison of averages. Results of research – the reliability analysis of the results of National forest inventory shows, that calculated differences are statistically inconsequential. The reliability analysis of the results of Stand-wise forest inventory shows, that Stand-wise forest inventory results has allowed errors, except the height. The estimation of the reliability of results of forest inventory before cutting demonstrates that the errors are too high and the inequality of total volume of stands is -11,1 %.

In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 2015, and the longstanding advocacy of Indigenous peoples, there is a national movement within Canada to better support Indigenous students in post-secondary institutions. Research that is strength-based, Indigenous-led, and community-focused recognizes the wealth of existing Indigenous knowledge, practices and programs across Canada. This includes the variety of interventions which are being employed to Indigenize and decolonize post-secondary institutions, such as the On-Campus Friendship Centre at Grande Prairie Regional College. The On-Campus Friendship Centre, which is an Indigenous-based support program for all students, has been running for nearly two decades. Nationally, there are 125 Friendship Centres, yet the On-Campus Friendship Centre is the only one that is directly situated within a post-secondary institution. Through the guidance of my Métis Sash Research Framework, which I created to reconcile Indigenous and qualitative methodologies, I have engaged in research that explores the role of the On-Campus Friendship Centre in the experiences of Indigenous students at Grande Prairie Regional College. From my findings, I discuss the role of the On-Campus Friendship Centre and address prominent challenges within the program. I also highlight wise-practices for improving Indigenous-based support within post-secondary institutions across Canada. / Graduate / 2019-08-31