Novel methods of object recognition that form a bridge between today&rsquo / s local feature frameworks and previous decade&rsquo / s strong but deserted geometric invariance field are presented in this dissertation. The rationale behind this effort is to complement the lowered discriminative capacity of local features, by the invariant geometric descriptions. Similar to our predecessors, we first start with constrained cases and then extend the applicability of our methods to more general scenarios. Local features approach, on which our methods are established, is reviewed in three parts / namely, detectors, descriptors and the methods of object recognition that employ them. Next, a novel planar object recognition framework that lifts the requirement for exact appearance-based local feature matching is presented. This method enables matching of groups of features by utilizing both appearance information and group geometric descriptions. An under investigated area, scene logo recognition, is selected for real life application of this method. Finally, we present a novel method for three-dimensional (3D) object recognition, which utilizes well-known local features in a more efficient way without any reliance on partial or global planarity. Geometrically consistent local features, which form the crucial basis for object recognition, are identified using affine 3D geometric invariants. The utilization of 3D geometric invariants replaces the classical 2D affine transform estimation /verification step, and provides the ability to directly verify 3D geometric consistency. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed method in highly cluttered scenes with no prior segmentation or post 3D reconstruction requirements, are presented during the experiments.

There is a rising interest in geospatial object detection due to not only the complexity of manual processing of such huge amount of data provided by high resolution satellite imagery but also for military application needs. A fundamental and yet state-of-the art approach for object detection is based on methods that utilize the global appearance. In such a holistic approach, the information of the object class is aimed to be modeled as a whole in the learning phase. And during the classification, a decision is taken at each window of the test image. In this thesis, two different discriminative methods are investigated for airplane detection from satellite images. In the first method, Haar-like features are used as weak classifiers for the airplane class representation. Then the AdaBoost learning algorithm is used to select the critical visual features that represent the airplanes best. Finally, a cascade of classifiers is constructed in order to speed-up the classifier. In the second method, a computationally efficient appearance-based algorithm for airplane detection is presented. An operator exploiting the edge information via gray level differences between the target and its background is constructed with Haar-like polygon regions using the shape information of the airplane as an invariant. The airplanes matching the operator are supposed to yield higher responses around the centroid of the object. Fast evaluation of the operator is achieved by means of integral image. The proposed algorithm has promising results in terms of accuracy in detecting aircraft type geospatial objects from satellite imagery.

<p>Vi har i en tidigare kurs genomfört en uppgift innehållande bråk, då vi upptäckte att elever hade svårt att lära sig framförallt sammansatta bråk. Vi blev intresserade av att ta reda på hur man skapar förutsättningar för att eleverna ska lära sig bråk, vilket är denna studies syfte. Studien syftar även till att upptäcka vilka aspekter som är kritiska för att lära sig bråk samt ta reda på hur dessa kan varieras i undervisningen vid elevernas lärande av bråk.</p><p>I studien används en learning study som kan ses som en typ av aktionsforskning där lärare forskar i sitt eget klassrum. Inom learning study används variationsteorin som är en guidande princip för att förstå och skapa förutsättningar för lärande. Lektionerna som genomfördes av oss, blivande lärare, vid tre olika tillfällen videofilmades. Dessa filmer transkriberades och analyserades därefter. Ur analysen av det transkriberade materialet, videoupptagningarna och observationsanteckningar från lektionerna samt för- och eftertest formulerades resultatet. I resultatet framkom att elevernas förutsättningar för att lära sig bråk ökade när läraren synliggjorde täljaren och nämnarens betydelse i kontrast till varandra samt genom att skapa ett tydligt mönster av variation och invarians av de kritiska aspekterna i undervisningen.</p> / <p>In a previous course, we completed a task containing fractions, and discovered that pupils had difficulties learning particular composite fractions. We became interested in finding out how the teacher can create conditions for the pupils to learn and understand fractions. This is also the aim of this study The study aims at identifying the critical aspects for learning fractions and how these can be varied in the teaching of fractions.</p><p>In this study we have used a learning study which can be seen as a type of action research where the teachers are researching in their own classrooms. Within learning study, the theory of variation is used as for understanding and creating conditions for learning. The lessons were conducted by us, prospective teachers, on three separate occations, the lessons were video recorded. We transcribed these films and then analyzed them. From an analysis of the transcribed material, video recordings and observation notes from the lessons and pre- and post test we formulated the results. The results showed that conditions for learning fractions increased when the teacher made the role of the numerator and dominator visible by contrasting and by establishing a clear pattern of variation and invariance of the critical features.</p>

Ce travail propose une méthode de conception des mécanismes basée sur une décomposition hiérarchique des tâches de synthèse. Parmi les tâches identifiées, nous nous intéressons à celle qui effectue le choix et le dimensionnement optimal des " Dispositifs Technologiques assurant les liaisons mécaniques ". Ces DTLM sont des features de haut niveau qui possèdent tous les attributs nécessaires à un traitement indépendant. La recomposition du système peut cependant révéler des conflits entre les liaisons. La synthèse d'ensemble est exprimée sous la forme d'un problème d'optimisation hiérarchique pour lequel nous proposons plusieurs méthodes de résolution dont une méthode d'optimisation collaborative. Nous présentons un outil d'assistance qui, couplé à un logiciel de CAO commercial, nous a permis de valider les concepts. Des exemples illustrent notre propos

<p>I dag kan man oftast läsa om olika säkerhetshot och risker en datoranvändare måste tänka på för att inte ge någon utomstående möjlighet att komma åt känslig och/eller privat information. Här talas det om nya virus och nya typer av trojaner som sprids som epidemier över Internet, och i bland handlar det om ett spionprogram som följer med en nedladdad fil. Det är svårt att hålla reda på alla typer av skadlig kod som nämns fast med ökad förståelse ökar också chanserna för att klara sig från smitta. Det har visat sig att utvecklingen av skadlig kod är lika stark som den inom kommersiella mjukvaror. Från persondatorns uppkomst i början av 80-talet och fram till i dag, har utveckling skett i alla områden av den skadliga kod det handlar om strategi, syfte och framförallt ren kodkomplexitet.</p><p>Dagens ledande leverantör av operativsystem och webbläsare, Microsoft, lovar allt mer sofistikerade säkerhetslösningar varje gång en ny version av ett program släpps. Framförallt nämndes det i samband med lanseringen av Windows Vista att säkerheten var det som stod högst på listan.</p><p>Vi har tillsammans med WM-data i Stockholm tagit fram en programvara för fjärradministration av Windows. Huvudmålet var att med hjälp av våra baskunskaper i programmering skapa ett program för Windows XP och Windows Vista där en rad funktioner skulle kunna fjärrstyras utan att en användare vid den drabbade datorn upptäckte intrånget.</p><p>I denna rapport beskrivs utvecklingen av programvaran och de tester som gjorts på de båda operativsystemen. Vidare delas begreppet ”skadlig kod” upp i kategorierna virus, maskar, trojaner samt rootkits och förklaras mer ingående tillsammans med en historisk bild över hur utvecklingen av skadlig kod har sett ut.</p> / <p>In media today, you often read about different security threats and risks that one has to be aware of. Many things must be taken into consideration in order to maintain your integrity and information secrecy. It might be new virus outbreak, a new trojan or some kind of spy ware that undetected finds the way to your computer. It’s hard to keep track of all terms and types of malicious code, and with greater understanding, the risk of infection decreases. The development when it comes to malicious code is as strong as the one in commercial software development. From the 80’s until present day, every area in the development of malicious code has evolved, from strategy and purpose to the pure complexity of the code.</p><p>Microsoft, the worlds leading supplier of operating systems and web browsers, ensure us with every new release, that measures has been taken in order to enhance the security features. As the new operating system Windows Vista was released, spokesmen said that the security was now the highest priority.</p><p>We have, together with WM-data in Stockholm, developed software for remote administration of Windows. The objectives where by using our limited programming skills only, to come up with a program for Windows XP and Windows Vista, where a number of functions could be remotely executed without alerting a user at the infected computer.</p><p>This report describes the development of the software together with test results of execution on both operating systems. Further on, the report discusses different types of malicious code, such as viruses, worms, Trojans and root kits, together with a historical study of the development of malicious code.</p>

A CT-scan of lungs has become ubiquitous as a thoracic diagnostic tool. Thus, using CT-scan images in developing predictive models for tumor types and survival time of patients afflicted with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) would provide a novel approach to non-invasive tumor analysis. It can provide an alternative to histopathological techniques such as needle biopsy. Two major tumor analysis problems were addressed in course of this study, tumor type classification and survival time prediction. CT-scan images of 109 patients with NSCLC were used in this study. The first involved classifying tumor types into two major classes of non-small cell lung tumors, Adenocarcinoma and Squamous-cell Carcinoma, each constituting 30% of all lung tumors. In a first of its kind investigation, a large group of 2D and 3D image features, which were hypothesized to be useful, are evaluated for effectiveness in classifying the tumors. Classifiers including decision trees and support vector machines (SVM) were used along with feature selection techniques (wrappers and relief-F) to build models for tumor classification. Results show that over the large feature space for both 2D and 3D features it is possible to predict tumor classes with over 63% accuracy, showing new features may be of help. The accuracy achieved using 2D and 3D features is similar, with 3D easier to use. The tumor classification study was then extended by introducing the Bronchioalveolar Carcinoma (BAC) tumor type. Following up on the hypothesis that Bronchioalveolar Carcinoma is substantially different from other NSCLC tumor types, a two-class problem was created, where an attempt was made to differentiate BAC from the other two tumor types. To make a three-class problem a two-class problem, misclassification amongst Adenocarcinoma and Squamous-cell Carcinoma were ignored. Using the same prediction models as the previous study and just 3D image features, tumor classes were predicted with around 77% accuracy. The final study involved predicting two year survival time in patients suffering from NSCLC. Using a subset of the image features and a handful of clinical features, predictive models were developed to predict two year survival time in 95 NSCLC patients. A support vector machine classifier, naive Bayes classifier and decision tree classifier were used to develop the predictive models. Using the Area Under the Curve (AUC) as a performance metric, different models were developed and analyzed for their effectiveness in predicting survival time. A novel feature selection method to group features based on a correlation measure has been proposed in this work along with feature space reduction using principal component analysis. The parameters for the support vector machine were tuned using grid search. A model based on a combination of image and clinical features, achieved the best performance with an AUC of 0.69, using dimensionality reduction by means of principal component analysis along with grid search to tune the parameters of the SVM classifier. The study showed the effectiveness of a predominantly image feature space in predicting survival time. A comparison of the performance of the models from different classifiers also indicate SVMs consistently outperformed or matched the other two classifiers for this data.

Tourist texts provides information to a wide variety of readers. The main functions of these texts is typically to be both informative and persuasive. When translating a tourist text, the translator should not only maintain these two functions in the target text, but is also faced with the challenge of adapting the text to the premises of the target culture.      The aim of this study is to identify the characteristics of the cultural aspects related to history and religion, as well as the stylistic features in the tourist text Los Caminos del Norte a Santiago. The techniques used in the translation of these aspects from the original spanish cultural context to the new swedish target culture are also studied, more specificly which ones of these translation techniques are the most frecuently used and why.      A cualitative as well as a cuantitative analysis of our translation has been carried out, which indicates that the translation techniques most commonly used regarding the translation of the cultural aspects related to history and religion was amplification and modulation. These were used, for example, in order to compensate for the lack of previous knowledge of the Spanish culture amongst the target text readers. Regarding the adaptation of the style to the target context, modulation and especially generalization was the most commonly used translation techniques. This is due to the intention of making the text less formal and poetic so as to better adjust to the target culture and its textual conventions.

According to Duxbury and Higgins 57% of full time employees reported high levels of stress. Stress is impacting the productivity, health and well-being of individuals, and the bottom line of employers. A growing body of evidence suggests exposure to nature, nature-based features, and biophilic design may offer a solution to reducing stress in the office workplace. This thesis brings together a comprehensive body of information drawn from the neurosciences and environmental psychology, including attention restoration theory (ART), psycho-evolutionary theory, Kellert’s biophilic design elements, and seven case studies, to propose key nature-based interior design strategies for stress reduction in office knowledge workers. Providing direct and indirect exposure to nature appears to have the strongest impact on mitigating the stress response. The importance of the integrated design process (IDP), post-occupancy evaluation (POE), and barriers to incorporating biophilia centred design practices are addressed and process strategies proposed. / October 2015

Η παρούσα εργασία θέτει ως βασικό ζητούμενο διερεύνησης τη μελέτη και την αποτίμηση της αφηγηματικής ικανότητας, όπως και τη χαρτογράφηση της εξέλιξής της κατά τη προσχολική (4-6) και πρωτοσχολική ηλικία (6-9). Επίσης, αναζητά το ενδεχόμενο η αφηγηματική ικανότητα των παιδιών να επηρεάζεται από κοινωνικομορφωτικούς παράγοντες. Η ερευνητική διαδικασία έλαβε χώρα το 2013 και στη διάρκειά της το δείγμα των συμμετεχόντων (εξήντα τέσσερις στο σύνολο) χωρίστηκε στις τέσσερις ηλικιακές ομάδες (προνήπια, νήπια, Α΄ και Γ΄ τάξης), οι οποίες αποτελούνται από δεκαέξι παιδιά (μισά αγόρια και μισά κορίτσια). Επίσης η διαμόρφωση των ομάδων των ομάδων εξυπηρετεί και τη μελέτη της επιρροής των κοινωνικομορφωτικών παραγόντων. Η ερευνητική διαδικασία πραγματοποιήθηκε σε δύο φάσεις. Στην πρώτη φάση όλοι οι συμμετέχοντες και των τεσσάρων ηλικιακών ομάδων διηγήθηκαν μια ιστορία. Στη δεύτερη φάση οι συμμετέχοντες νηπιακής ηλικίας και της Γ΄ τάξης του Δημοτικού αναδιηγήθηκαν μια ιστορία, αφού πρώτα είχαν παρακολουθήσει την ανάγνωσή της. Τα αφηγηματικά κείμενα των συμμετεχόντων ηχογραφήθηκαν και στη συνέχεια αναλύθηκαν με βάση τη μέθοδο της «Πυραμίδας των ιστοριών» (Curenton & Lucas, 2007). Η ανάλυση των εγγράμματων γλωσσικών στοιχείων και της λεξιλογικής ποικιλίας των αφηγήσεων των παιδιών παρουσιάζει την εξέλιξη στη χρήση του εκτενή λόγου από τους συμμετέχοντες, καθιστώντας τις αφηγήσεις τους γλωσσικά πολύπλοκες και σαφείς. Επίσης η ανάλυση των αφηγηματικών δεδομένων των συμμετεχόντων και των δύο φάσεων παρουσιάζει την εξέλιξη της αφηγηματικής τους ικανότητας, η οποία ακολουθεί στο μεγαλύτερο μέρος του δείγματος την ηλικιακή ωρίμανσή τους, όπως συμβαίνει και στην εξέλιξη της χρήσης του εκτενή λόγου. Συμπερασματικά, η παρούσα μελέτη παρουσιάζει μια ενθαρρυντική εικόνα για τους συμμετέχοντες της τάξης του νηπιαγωγείου και μια πολλά υποσχόμενη αναπτυξιακή πορεία για τα προνήπια του δείγματος. Όμως, τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας αναφορικά με την αφηγηματική ικανότητα των παιδιών που συμμετείχαν στην έρευνα της Α΄ τάξης του Δημοτικού εμφανίζουν μια μεταβατική εικόνα, η οποία χρήζει περαιτέρω διερεύνησης. Τέλος, τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας δείχνουν ότι οι αφηγήσεις των συμμετεχόντων της Γ΄ τάξης του Δημοτικού είναι σε μεγαλύτερο βαθμό γλωσσικά πολύπλοκες και σαφείς και αφηγηματικά καλά δομημένες, έναντι των μικρότερων ηλικιών. / The research which was carried out set as its fundamental objective the study and the assessment of narrative skill as well as the determination of its development during preschool(4-6) and first school (6-9) age. As sample of the research sixteen children were selected (eight boys and eight girls) for each of the four age-related groups: preschoolers, infants, A΄ and C΄ class of primary school. Based on discoveries of previous researches we wanted, also to examine the possibility that the narrating skill of children is affected by social-educational factors. For the investigation of this potential, half of the children from each age-related team belong to “social category 1”, that is to say both of their parents have a degree in tertiary education and the other half belong to “social category 2”, the parents of which are secondary or first degree education graduates. During the inquiring process all participants of all four age-related groups watched the silent movie of animated cartoons “The ugly duckling” and afterwards they told the story, which was recorded. Then, in a second phase of the research, the team of infants and of C’ class of primary school, were called to watch the narration of the book “All together in a blue couch” and afterwards to retell the story based on the pictures of the book, without the words of the writer. The retelling was recorded. The analysis of narrating data of children of both phases presents the development of narrating skill, which follows, in the bigger part of the sample, their age-related maturity. Simultaneously, however, it is also the development in the use of extended discourse by the participants, which renders their narrations linguistically complicated, explicit and narratively good structured. But the results of the research reveal also two extra elements that cause our reflection. First is the likely influence of social-educational factor mainly in the story structure and less in the language structure of the narrations of A΄ class of primary school students. The second is the declining tendency of the linguistic and narrating structure of the narrations of A΄ class primary school students. In conclusion, the present research supports that possibly the children of infant age, of the present research seem to present higher narrating skills than the A΄ class students and use it in their narrating texts, more extended than that of the A΄ class students. Finally, the evolutionary course of narrating skill is also confirmed by the narrations of the C΄ class of primary school participants, as well as the bigger and more frequent use of extended speech by children of this age.

Introduction: A computer-based classification system is proposed for the characterization of cervical intervertebral disc degeneration from saggital magnetic resonance images. Materials and methods: Cervical intervertebral discs from saggital magnetic resonance images where assessed by an experienced orthopaedist as normal or degenerated (narrowed) employing Matsumoto’s classification scheme. The digital images where enhanced and the intervertebral discs which comprised the regions of interest were segmented. First and second order statistics textural features extracted from thirty-four discs (16 normal and 16 degenerated) were used in order to design and test the classification system. In addition textural features were calculated employing Laws TEM images. The existence of statistically significant differences between the textural features values that were generated from normal and degenerated discs was verified employing the Student’s paired t-test. A subset with the most discriminating features (p<0.01) was selected and the Exhaustive Search and Leave-One-Out methods were used to find the best features combination and validate the classification accuracy of the system. The proposed system used the Least Squares Minimum Distance Classifier in combination with four textural features with comprised the best features combination in order to classify the discs as normal or degenerated. Results: The overall classification accuracy was 93.8% misdiagnosing 2 discs. In addition the system’s sensitivity in detecting a narrow disc was 93.8% and its specificity was also 93.8%. Conclusion: Further investigation and the use of a larger sample for validation could make the proposed system a trustworthy and useful tool to the physicians for the evaluation of degenerative disc disease in the cervical spine. / Σκοπός: Η στένωση των μεσοσπονδύλιων δίσκων της αυχενικής μοίρας, ως κύρια έκφραση εκφυλιστικής νόσου, είναι μια από τις σημαντικότερες αιτίες πρόκλησης πόνου στην περιοχή του αυχένα. Στην κλινική πράξη η αξιολόγηση της στένωσης γίνεται μέσω μέτρησης του μεσοσπονδύλιου διαστήματος, σε διάφορες απεικονίσεις της αυχενικής μοίρας του ασθενούς. Στην παρούσα εργασία προτείνεται μια υπολογιστική μέθοδος ανάλυσης εικόνας, για την αυτοματοποιημένη εκτίμηση της στένωσης από εικόνες μαγνητικής τομογραφίας. Υλικό και Μέθοδος: Μελετήθηκαν 34 μεσοσπονδύλιοι δίσκοι από οβελιαίες τομές μαγνητικής τομογραφίας της αυχενικής μοίρας, οι οποίες ελήφθησαν με χρήση Τ2 ακολουθίας. Η στένωση των μεσοσπονδύλιων δίσκων αξιολογήθηκε από έμπειρο ορθοπαιδικό βάσει της κλίμακας Matsumoto. Οι δίσκοι χωρίστηκαν σε δύο κατηγορίες: (α) 16 φυσιολογικοί και (β) 16 δίσκοι που παρουσίαζαν στένωση. Με χρήση διαδραστικού περιβάλλοντος επεξεργασίας εικάνας καθορίστηκε το περίγραμμα των μεσοσπονδύλιων δίσκων οι οποίοι αποτελούν τις προς ανάλυση περιοχές ενδιαφέροντος (Π.Ε.). Σε κάθε Π.Ε. εφαρμόστηκαν αλγόριθμοι εξαγωγής χαρακτηριστικών υφής. Συγκεκριμένα υπολογίστικαν χαρακτηριστικά υφής από στατιστικά πρώτης και δεύτερης τάξης καθώς και χαρακτηριστικά από τα μέτρα ενέργειας υφλης κατλα Laws. Τα παραπάνω χαρακτηριστικά, ποσοτικοποιούν διαγνωστικές πληροφορίες της έντασης του σήματος της Π.Ε. και συσχετίζονται με τη βιοχημική σύσταση των απεικονιζόμενων δομών. Τα εξαχθέντα χαρακτηριστικά υφής αξιοποιήθηκαν για τη σχεδίαση του ταξινομητή ελάχιστης απόστασης ελαχίστων τετραγώνων, ο οποίος χρησιμοποιήθηκε για το διαχωρισμό μεταξύ φυσιολογικών δίσκων και δίσκων που παρουσίαζαν στένωση (εκφυλισμένων). Αποτελέσματα: Η ακρίβεια της ταξινόμησης φυσιολογικών και εκφυλισμένων μεσοσπονδύλιων δίσκων ανήλθε σε 93.8%. Η ευαισθησία καθώς και η ειδικότητα της μεθόδου, σε ότι αφορά την ανίχνευση εκφυλισμένων δίσκων, είναι επίσης 93.8%. Συμπέρασμα: Με δεδομένο το μικρό μέγεθος του δείγματος που χρησιμοποιήθηκε για το σχεδιασμό της μεθόδου, απαιτούνται περετέρω εργασίες πιστοποίησης της ακρίβειας ταξινόμησης, προκειμένου η μέθοδος αυτή να αξιοποιηθεί από ακτινολόγους και ορθοπαιδικους, ως βοηθητικό διαγνωστικό εργαλείο.