We present solution of steps necessary for binarization and text lines detection contained in printed documents digitized by the camera. We introduce a normalization of non-uniform illumination method for text photographs. We propose input bitmap binarization algorithm based on two-dimensional probability pixel model which also considers its surrounding. We continue with description of robust text lines orientation detector based on optimization of risk function using first order derivatives of image function. In the end we present text lines detection and segmentation algorithm. Final shape of segmented lines is optimized with usage of graph algorithm. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The goal of this study was to find out how TV series from the normalization era written by Jaroslav Dietl showed women and their issues. I focused on the 70's and 80's TV series, whose stories take place at the time when they were made. First, I set ten model situations based on the professional literature. Then I applied them on selected female characters from the chosen series and determined whether these model situations were used (heroine was not displayed stereotypically) or not (heroine was displayed stereotypically). I applied a similar system on ten films from the normalization era to compare the characters with each other, to compare Dietl's TV series with each other and to compare his work with other works. I found out that Jaroslav Dietl fulfilled the stereotypes about women at that time, but only to some extent. Ratio of female characters beyond stereotypes to stereotype characters was 26:34 (rounded 0.76). He also used very often a character of a submisive woman who is usually displayed in her home with her family. Another finding is that Dietl's work offers several distinctive heroines, namely Alžběta Čeňková, Dana Králová (both from TV series Nemocnice na kraji města) and Ivana Pešková (TV series Inženýrská odysea). Nemocnice na kraji města is also the only case which displays more...

My dissertation is dedicated to the problem of media construction of history in the case of the television series Vyprávěj. It concentrates on how much the series' adaptation of historical events and normal life in the era of normalization between 1968 and 1977 fits reality by comparing concrete historical events and key societal activities with their adaptation in the series. The work focuses on three special categories - fundamental historical events of that era, people's normal life and the lives of dissidents, with a final objective of finding out how well the series' adaptation matches the true history of the normalization era. First, I delimit the problem of television series in general and address the concept of seriality on the basis of the professional literature. Then I focus on the media construction of reality and representation history in culture, especially in television series. Because the series Vyprávěj addresses recent history, I also mention collective memory. After that I concentrate only on the series Vyprávěj and the problem of normalization in Czechoslovakia, in which era the story takes place. The second part of the dissertation is dedicated to concrete events of the era - how they really happened according to the professional literature and narration of contemporary...

This thesis focuses on Dr. Miloš Josef Pulec as a personality, and particularly on his relationship to the Old Catholic Church. We will see Pulec first as a newly ordained priest, then suspended, then as a priest of the Prague parish, an influential man behind the Old Catholic Church synod meetings, and finally in the eighties also an episcopal administrator. He played out an important role in the crisis of 1969-72, which in effect led to break-up of the church into an official and an underground one and to several problems which caused the church significant losses in property as well as number of members. Pulec was accused of being closely in contact with the authorities and misusing these contacts to solve conflicts in the church administration. Pulec was not only a clergyman, his works focused on many other fields: he was interested in history, anthropology, pragensia and mycology. His life's legacy is for now mostly seen in a very negative light - the goal of the thesis is not to intentionally change this view, but rather to describe the influence of an individual on an organization, and his reflection in the history.

Les facteurs de croissance endothéliaux (VEGFs) sont produits par les tumeurs qui sont hypoxiques. Principaux responsables de la néo-vascularisation pathologique, ils régulent le stroma tumoral. Les nouvelles stratégies qui ciblent et inhibent le VEGF ouvrent vers la thérapie anti-cancéreuse moderne. Elles ont pour but de contrôler l’angiogenèse tumorale plutôt que la détruire. Le défi est donc de piéger sélectivement le VEGF produit en excès, dans le microenvironnement tumoral, sous l’effet de l’hypoxie. La thèse présentée dans ce manuscrit est consacrée à la réalisation d’une nouvelle stratégie ciblante par l’intermédiaire de cellules, aussi appelée « Cheval de Troie ». Elle combine dans la même entité, une unité de ciblage et un système de délivrance spécifique d’un gène/molécule thérapeutique. Dans le but d’adresser la thérapie aux cellules cancéreuses sans affecter les cellules saines, un modèle de cellules endothéliales de type précurseur (CEPs) a été utilisé comme cellules ciblantes capables d’atteindre spécifiquement le site tumoral. Les CEPs ont été « armées » pour exprimer un gène thérapeutique chargé d’inhiber le VEGF. La neutralisation a été obtenue par la production d’une forme soluble du récepteur-2 du VEGF (VEGFR2 soluble), agissant comme inhibiteur. Caractéristique des tumeurs solides se développant, l’hypoxie a été choisie pour déclencher/éteindre l’expression et la sécrétion du VEGFR2 soluble, en introduisant, en amont du gène thérapeutique, une séquence régulatrice : HRE. Adressé au site tumoral par les CEPs, le régulateur de l’angiogenèse qu’est la forme soluble du VEGFR2, est exprimé de manière conditionnée et réversible, à l’hypoxie. Ceci ouvre à de nouvelles stratégies de normalisation contrôlée et stable des vaisseaux tumoraux en vue de l’utilisation de thérapies combinées. / Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) are over-expressed upon hypoxia in solid tumors. Major actors directing pathologic neo-vascularisation, they regulate the stromal reaction. Novel strategies that target and inhibit VEGF bring promise to modern anti-cancer therapies. They aim to control rather than destroy tumor angiogenesis. Consequently, the challenge is to selectively trap VEGFs, over-produced upon hypoxia, in the tumor microenvironment. The thesis presented in this manuscript focuses on the design of a novel cell-based targeting strategy, so-called “Trojan Horse”, combining in the same engineered entity, a targeting unit and a specific drug/gene delivery system. Aiming to address the therapy to cancer cells without affecting healthy cells, a model of endothelial precursor cell (EPCs) was used as targeting cell able to reach specifically the tumor site. EPCs were “armed” to express a therapeutic gene to inhibit VEGF. Trapping was attempted based on the production of a soluble form of the VEGF receptor-2 (sVEGFR2) as a candidate inhibitor. Hypoxia, a hallmark of developing solid tumors, was chosen to turn on/off the sVEGFR2 expression and secretion by introducing, upstream of the therapeutic gene, a hypoxia response element (HRE) regulating sequence. Properly addressed by the EPCs to the tumor site, such angiogenesis regulator as the soluble form of VEGFR2 is, was chosen to be expressed in a hypoxia-conditioned and reversible manner. This opens new strategies for a stably controlled normalization of tumor vessels in view of adjuvant design for combined therapies.

This thesis focuses on topic of emigration, more particularly re-emigration, in Czechoslovakia during times of so called "normalization". The main task is to analyze the deposition of returnees by officers of State Security, how they constructed their life stories, how they described their motivation to leave Czechoslovakia and to come back, the circumstances of their life in western countries and the circumstances of their return to Czechoslovakia. This thesis attempts to create a typology of returnees based on their own description of their lives in the depositions, especially in context of their motivation and their departure. Key words returnees, reemigration, Czechoslovakia, normalization, late socialism, State Security

Este estudo investiga a emergência de um novo regime de visibilidade de algumas diferenças sexuais no cinema durante o período de transição para o século vinte e um. A partir das análises fílmicas de Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier, 1996), Minha vida em cor-de-rosa (Ma vie en Rose, Alain Berliner, 1997), e Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005), busca-se compreender as profundas transformações que se deram sob o impacto da crise da AIDS na constituição de um imaginário social sobre as diferenças sexuais e as reconfigurações das formas de dar a ver e de negociar estas diferenças e transformações, também por intermédio do cinema, no período investigado, levando-se em consideração o jogo de forças que se estabeleceu entre discursos hegemônicos e contra-hegemônicos que se desdobraram a partir da apropriação política do cinema por diversos grupos que militavam por direitos civis de homossexuais durante a década de 1990. / This work investigates the emergence of a new regimen of visibility of certain sexual differences portrayed in cinema during the transition to the twenty-first century. Through the filmic analysis of Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier, 1996), My Life in Pink (Ma vie en Rose, Alain Berliner, 1997), and Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005) this research seeks to understand the profound transformations that occurred as a result of the impact of the AIDS crisis both in terms of the construction of a social imaginary of sexual differences as well as the rearrangements of the ways these differences and changes were made visible and were negotiated in this period through film. This analysis takes into consideration the disputes established between hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses which followed the political appropriation of cinematographic media by several gay civil rights groups during the 1990s.

[pt] O objetivo da dissertação é avaliar os impactos econômicos das normas em empresas selecionadas de diversos setores e países, no contexto de um projeto internacional da ISO. Esse projeto foi concluído em 2011 e teve por objetivo desenvolver estudos de caso para avaliar os impactos econômicos das normas em 11 empresas de setores industriais distintos, em 10 países. No Brasil, a ABNT coordenou o estudo de caso referente à empresa Festo Brasil, que contou com a participação da pesquisadora na equipe do projeto, através de uma parceria com a PUC-Rio. Quanto aos fins, a pesquisa pode ser considerada aplicada e descritiva. Quanto aos meios de investigação, a metodologia compreende pesquisa bibliográfica e documental; pesquisa de campo, com entrevistas semiestruturadas para o caso da empresa Festo Brasil; descrição do estudo de casos múltiplos, com análise comparada dos indicadores gerados. Destacam-se como resultados: (i) quadro comparativo dos resultados dos estudos de casos internacionais e demonstração, pelo estudo de caso brasileiro, da aplicabilidade e efetividade da metodologia baseada no conceito de cadeia de valor; (ii) funções das respectivas cadeias de valor identificadas como relevantes para a avaliação do impacto econômico gerado pela adoção de normas; e (iii) conjunto de indicadores operacionais que deverão ser usados pelas empresas, visando maximizar o valor gerado pelas normas. / [en] The objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate the economic benefits of standards in selected companies from different sectors and countries, within the context of an international project carried out by ISO. This project was concluded in 2011 and aimed to develop 11 case studies in 10 countries in order to assess the economic benefits of standards in selected industrial sectors. In Brazil, the selected company was Festo Brasil and the researcher integrated the project team coordinated by ABNT, through a partnership with PUC-Rio. This research can be considered descriptive and applied and the methodology encompasses bibliographical and documental research, field research by mean of semi-structured interviews for the case of Festo Brasil; description of a multiple case study with comparative analysis of indicators and metrics. The main results can be summarized as follows: (i) a comparative framework for analyzing the results of multiple case studies at international level, and demonstration of applicability and effectiveness of the methodology based on concept of value chain through Festo Brasil s case study; (ii) functions of the respective value chains that are relevant for assessing economic benefits generated by the adoption of standards, and (iii) a set of operational indicators to be used by industrial companies to maximize the value generated by the standards adoption.

The Sweden democrats has for a long time been labelled as a racist party in swedish media. Due to the problems related to the members of the party in the 90s, where members were subject to criminal actions and racist scandals, the media had focus on the racist actions and labelled the party as a racist party therefore. How does the discourse present itself today? The purpose is to make a comparative study between the year 2014 and 2018/2019 and to research if the discourse surrounding the sweden democrats has changed during this time. Relevance for the study is how we discover, categorize and give the discourses names that helps us and also the reader to understand the process about how the media picture Sweden democrats. Our method is a comparative critical discourse analysis that we are going to use on articles published in the two largest newspapers in sweden, Aftonbladet and Expressen. We will locate the surrounding discourses from 2014 at first and then locate what kind of discourses is surrounding the party in 2018/2019. The main discourse from 2014 is the racist discourse, it´s present in nearly every article we analyse. With the racist discourse, the big difference is that the discourse is changing. When we look upon 2018/2019, new discourses take place, the new discourses we locate it’s the right populism-, scandal- and normalization discourse, the rasism discourse is still present but not so extensive as during 2014. During 2014 the racism discourse depends on the scandal discourse, this changes significant, the scandal discourse is no longer in 2018/2019 dependent on the racism discourse, but it acutally transforms into its own discourse. The focus on racism is almost gone and new scandals take place instead. In combination with the normalization discourse we can se that there has been a change, actually a big change in the media discourse surrounding the Sweden democrats.

I denna studie har polisers utsatthet i form av hot och våld undersökts. Studien baseras på kvalitativ metod och sju kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med poliser som både aktivt arbetar i yttre tjänst samt med poliser som har arbetat i yttre tjänst. Syftet med studien var att skapa djupare förståelse för polisers upplevelser av utsatthet i form av hot och våld i arbetet. För att uppfylla syftet formulerades tre frågeställningar: ”Vilken typ av hot och våld utsätts polispersonal i yttre tjänst för?”, ”Hur upplever polispersonal i yttre tjänst sin utsatthet för hot och våld?” och ”Vilka konsekvenser får utsattheten för hot och våld för polispersonal i yttre tjänst?”. Insamlad empiri från intervjuerna har analyserats utifrån studiens teoretiska ramverk som utgörs av tidigare forskning som undersökt vilka faktorer som innebär risker för poliser att utsättas för hot och våld, normalisering av hot och våld samt teori om krav, kontroll och socialt stöd i arbetet. Studiens resultat visar att definitionen av hot och våld grundar sig i polisernas subjektiva uppfattning av begreppet. Samtliga poliser vittnar om händelser där de varit utsatta för hot, våld eller både och i tjänsten. Det finns olika grader av våld, där våld som uppstår vid tumult i samband med ingripanden anses vara en lägre grad av våld och våldsamma handlingar som görs med uppsåt anses som allvarligare typer av våld. När det gäller hot upplevs det vara beroende av vem som uttalar hotet, huruvida hotet är riktat mot poliserna personligen eller mot deras familj eller anhöriga som främst avgör om det anses som allvarligt eller inte. Poliserna tenderar att normalisera och tona ner hotfulla och aggressiva handlingar baserat på uppfattningen att det till viss del ingår i rollen som polis att utsättas för hot och våld. Däremot anser inte poliserna att det är okej att utsättas för hot och våld i tjänsten oavsett omständigheter. Vidare visar resultatet att det finns krav på prestation i form av att ingripa vid situationer där det finns risk för att utsättas för hot och våld och att poliserna upplever sig ha en hög grad av kontroll i arbetet. Utsattheten för hot och våld i tjänsten hanteras genom att det finns ett bra socialt stöd på arbetet. / In this study, police vulnerability to threats and violence has been examined. The study is based on qualitative method and seven qualitative semi-structured interviews have been conducted with police officers who actively work as police officers in the external service as well as with police officers who have worked in external service. The aim of the study was to create a deeper understanding of police officers’ experiences of vulnerability to threats and violence at work. To fulfill the purpose, three issues were formulated: “What kind of threat and violence are police officers exposed to in the external service?”, “How do police officers in external service experience their vulnerability to threats and violence?” and “What are the consequences of the vulnerability to threat and violence for police officers in external service?”. The collected empirical data has been analyzed based on the study's theoretical framework consisted in previous research which examined which factors entail risks for police officers to be exposed to threats and violence, normalization of threats and violence as well as theory of demand, control and social support at work. The results of the study show that the definition of threat and violence is based on the police officer’s subjective perception of the concept. All police officers testify of events where they were exposed to threats, violence or both at work. There are different types of threat and varying degrees of violence, where violence that arises during commotion in interventions is seen as a lower degree of violence and violent acts made with intent were considered as more serious types of violence. Regarding threats, it was perceived to be dependent on who pronounces the threat, whether the threat is directed against them personally or their family who primarily determine whether it is considered serious or not. The police officers tend to normalize and to tone down threatening and aggressive actions based on the perception that it is to some extent included in the role of working as a police officer to be exposed to threats and violence. However, the police officers do not consider it being okay to be subjected to threats and violence at work regardless of the circumstances. Furthermore, the results show that there are demands for performance to intervene in situations where there is a risk of being exposed to threats and violence and that the police officers feel that they have a high degree of control in the work. The vulnerability to threats and violence at work is handled by good social support at work.