The prevalent visions of ambient intelligence leverage natural interactions between users and available services in a smart space. In recent years, we have seen a huge interest from industry and academia in using handheld devices to interact with things, places and people in the real world. To facilitate such interactions, things are usually annotated with RFID tags or visual markers. These tags or markers are read by a handheld device equipped with an integrated RFID reader or a camera, in order to fetch related information and initiate further actions. Interacting with the Internet of Things (IoT) in a real environment has become increasingly desirable and feasible. This thesis contributes to the domain of physical interactions with IoT; however, we use a spatial-geometric approach instead of RFID or marker based solutions. Using this approach, for example, a user can point his/her handheld device to an annotated thing, from a distance, for the purpose of interaction. The pointing direction and location is determined based on the fusion of the mobile position and of the accelerometer data of the handheld device. To annotate things, their geometric coordinates are specified and related information or services are associated to them. In this thesis, we present a comprehensive and extensible framework to integrate various physical interactions with IoT into multimedia applications. The framework supports the implementations of pointMe, touchMe, and context-aware based interactions with geometrically annotated IoT. We define specific methods and practices that can be incorporated in order to build the interactions. We realize smart home, atlas learning, presentation interaction, smart haptic interaction, and learning based video interaction game prototypes in order to perform experiments and demonstrate the applicability and potential of the proposed geometric based annotation approach. In the analysis of the interaction techniques of the prototypes, we present the advantages and disadvantages of the geometric based annotation of IoT as seen by potential users, in comparison to RFID tags or visual markers based approaches.

A threat is that some of the tree species that are important for the biodiversity are under a lot of pressure because of the high browsing activity. The Swedish forestry agency has now together with the forest industry set an acceptable level of browsing on production forest that 70% must be non-browsed when the stands are 5 meters or higher. To protect the production forest from browsing the landowner can choose from several options, the conventional way is yet to point treat every production plant with a game repellent, but that way isn’t very time saving as to treat with this new method.This study is trying out a new method to treat the whole stand instead of point treating every production plant. The method was to use a petrol mistblower (Stihl SR200) and treat one hectare with 9 litres of water and 1 litre of the game repellent Trico viltskydd. Two inventories were made, one before treatment and one after treatment. In total 200 sample surfaces of 2,82m in radius where collected, 100 of them where control surfaces. Every tree species in the sample surfaces where record and if it was or wasn’t browsed. The result of this study shown that the increase of browsing on all tree species was reduced with the treatment method. The new method shows that it can have positive effects on preserving the bio diversity.

This is the first known study to explore the image retrieval preferences of news photographers and news photo editors in work contexts. Survey participants (n=102) provided opinions regarding 11 photograph searching methods. The quantitative survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while content analysis was used to evaluate the qualitative survey data. In addition, news photographers and news photo editors (n=11) participated in interviews. Data from the interviews were analyzed with phenomenography. The survey data demonstrated that most participants prefer searching by events taking place in the photograph, objects that exist in the photograph, photographer-provided keywords, and relevant metadata, such as the date the picture was taken. They also prefer browsing. Respondents had mixed opinions about searching by emotions elicited in a photograph, as well as the environmental conditions represented in a photograph. Participants' lowest-rated methods included color and light, lines and shapes, and depth, shadow, or perspective. They also expressed little interest in technical information about a photograph, such as shutter speed and aperture. Interview participants' opinions about the search methods reflected the survey respondents' views. They discussed other aspects of news photography as well, including the stories told by the pictures, technical concerns about digital photography, and digital archiving and preservation issues. These stated preferences for keyword searching, browsing, and photographer-provided keywords illustrate a desire for a strong internal locus of control in digital photograph archives. Such methods allow users more control over access to their photographs, while the methods deemed less favorable by survey participants offer less control. Participants believe they can best find their photographs if they can control how they index and search for them. Therefore, it would be useful to design online photograph archives that allow users to control representation and access. Future research possibilities include determining the preferences of other image retrieval system users, performing user studies with moving image information retrieval systems, and uniting content-based and concept-based image retrieval research.

Röjningsinstruktioner och virkesinköpare anser att rönn, asp, sälg/salix och ek (RASE) ska sparas i ungskogsröjningar för att det ska finnas annat foder åt skogslevande vilt än produktionsskog. Dessutom är ett vanligt råd till skogsägare av virkesköparna att satsa på foderskapande åtgärder för att avleda hjortdjuren. Undersökningen av ungskogsröjning visar dock att teori och praktik inte går ihop, där få stammar av RASE sparas och det är troligare att björk sparas. Enstaka RASE kan sparas i lucka där de inte kan konkurrera med en huvudstam av det planterade trädslaget. En alternativ skogsskötsel, som Öster Malma-modellen, ser blandskog som en mer ekonomiskt stabilt skogsbestånd och det bidrar samtidigt med mer lövskog än traditionell skötsel som sköter bestånd utifrån monokulturer. Forskning har även visat att foderkonkurrens mellan hjortdjuren kan göra att älg betar mer tall än bärris. En kunskapsbaserad viltförvaltning som omfamnar fler arter än en skulle kunna vara en del av lösningen.

De plus en plus d’environnements en ligne dédiés à la diffusion du savoir intègrent la vidéo dans leurs corpus multimédia. Par rapport au texte ou à l’image statique ou animée, la vidéo a encore peu fait l’objet d’études scientifiques en psychologie et ergonomie cognitive. La recherche de vidéo s’inscrit dans le contexte de la recherche d’information. Le cadre théorique de cette thèse est celui de l’Information Foraging (Pirolli & Card, 1999) qui conçoit la recherche d’information dans un environnement stochastique, fondée sur une fouille construite à partir de l’information intermédiaire de l’environnement. L’objectif principal de la thèse repose sur l’apport de connaissances sur les usagers, avec pour hypothèse initiale, la coexistence d’une diversité de buts de recherche de vidéos dont une meilleure connaissance permettrait de contribuer à l’amélioration de l’environnement. Une étude exploratoire utilisant une approche multi-méthodologique a été effectuée sur une plateforme audiovisuelle dont le corpus est ancré dans l’enseignement supérieur et la recherche et un musée virtuel dédié à l’histoire de la justice des crimes et des peines qui dispose d’un corpus multimédia. Les résultats montrent que les difficultés liées à la publication et aux conditions de mise en ligne des vidéos impactent directement la recherche de l’usager et qu’il s’avère pertinent de distinguer le média du document audiovisuel. La caractéristique commune aux deux dispositifs étudiés repose sur une fréquentation majoritaire représentée par des usagers cherchant à se cultiver qui questionne directement l’intérêt et l’usage de la vidéo en tant que véhicule de connaissances pour des buts spécifiques. / More and more online environments dedicated to the dissemination of academic knowledge are integrating videos into their multimedia corpus. Compared to static or animated text or graphics, video usability has not yet been the object of scientific studies in psychology and cognitive ergonomics. Video search is part of the information seeking process. The theoretical framework of this dissertation is the Information Foraging theory (Pirolli & Card, 1999), which describes information seeking in a stochastic environment, based on a search built on intermediary information. Our main goal is to provide knowledge about users, with the initial hypothesis that a variety of video-seeking goals can coexist among users. This knowledge can help improve the usability of online environments.An exploratory study using a multi-methodological approach was carried out on the usability of an audiovisual online platform for higher education and research and on a multimedia virtual museum dedicated to the history of crime justice and punishments. The results show that: (a) the difficulties related to online video publishing directly impact video search on the user side, (b) it is relevant to distinguish the video as a media from the audiovisual document. The characteristic common to both platforms is that a majority of users use the platform as a way to educate themselves, which directly questions the interest and use of video as a vehicle of knowledge acquisition for specific purposes.

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Flera markägare upplever att deras tallungskogar blir nedbetade av älgen. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka och utvärdera om betesskador och betestryck i tallungskog var högre, i områden med liten andel risväxter. Studien var en pilotstudie där förhoppningen att ett verktyg på sikt, skulle kunna tas fram för inventering av fodermängd i fältskikt.  Någon signifikant relation mellan inventerade variabler och variationen av betesskador kunde inte förklaras i studien, troligtvis p.g.a. för liten datamängd. Signifikanta skillnader mellan fastigheter återfanns för två variabler - tallstammar och täckningsgrad. De fyra sätten att mäta risväxter visade sig vara starkt korrelerade med varandra.  Genom denna studie kan en potentiell vägledning ges gällande metoder som gör det lättare för markägaren att själv inventera andelen viltfoder i form av risväxter på fastigheten.

Denna studie har jämfört betesskadorna i sådda och planterade tallbestånd över en tvåårsperiod. Totalt inventerades sex olika bestånd, varav tre sådda och tre planterade, enligt samma metod som ÄBIN. Resultatet visar en trend mot mindre andel skador i de sådda bestånden men endast en signifikant skillnad i år tvås mätningar för andelen gamla skador och andelen obetade stammar. Skadenivåerna för ÄFO 5 Kinda i Östergötlands län är också enligt ÄBIN betydligt högre än vad studiens resultat visar.

Årligen förlorar det svenska skogsbruket 1,25 miljarder kronor till följd avviltbetesskador. Betesskadorna orsakar även försämrad kvalitet på virket ochminskad tillväxt. Konflikten mellan jägare, skogsägare och skogsbolagen ärkopplad till deras olika intressen och värderingar. Syftet med studien var att undersöka skillnaden i toleransnivå gällandebetesskador på tall och gran, ur perspektivet skogsägande jägare och icke-jägare iKalmar län. Studien syftade också till att undersöka om skogsägare gör något föratt minska andelen betesskador på sina fastigheter. Studien genomfördes som en enkätundersökning där empiriska data samlades in.Urvalet i studien kännetecknas av privata skogsägare i Kalmar län som varmedlemmar i Södra Skogsägarna när studien genomfördes. Slutsats i studien bekräftar att skogsägande jägare har en högre toleransnivå motbetesskador. Vidare slutsats visar att båda grupperna gör något för att minskabetesskador.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are a common and important game species throughout much of the central Appalachian region. The central Appalachian region encompasses a wide variety of habitat conditions and spatial habitat arrangements that may influence deer populations and management as well as deer impacts to ecosystems. Locally to regionally, deer populations have had an increasingly negative effect on forest biodiversity and a growing influence on forest succession. In Virginia, the combination of these factors has prompted establishment of deer population management goals and policies designed to support conservation of biodiversity, forest regeneration, and continued hunting opportunities. However, limited information is available to inform broad-scale assessment of herbivory impacts. Likewise, lack of understanding about the spatial variability of herbivory across and among landscapes impedes consistent application of ecological measures under differing management scenarios and landscape conditions. I evaluated deer herbivory intensity, the predictability of browsing rates, and the relationships and possible interactions between deer body mass and potential food sources, winter severity, and deer population density in the central Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. My results provide support for the inclusion of spatial factors to help partition variation of deer herbivory to allow for improved precision and accuracy in the design of field herbivory impact assessment methods and improve their application across various landscape contexts. Also, effective broad-scale herbivory impact assessment should include spatially-balanced vegetation monitoring that accounts for regional differences in deer forage preference. Agriculture and other non-forest habitats may provide resources that result in larger deer body mass either directly through food items or indirectly through alteration of the remaining forest habitat such as through increased edge. This suggests that available food sources and habitat are related to deer physiological parameters in the central Appalachian region and vary across landscapes. Likewise, these factors can change or can be affected through management across time. As a result, spatial approaches for monitoring and analysis are required for effective management and understanding of deer populations and herbivory impacts to biodiversity. / Ph. D.