The safety and functionality of engineering systems can be affected adversely by faults or wear in system components. Therefore, methods for detecting such faults/wear and ameliorating their effects to avoid system failure are important. Designing schemes for the detection and diagnosis of faults is becoming increasingly important in engineering due to the complexity of modern industrial systems and growing demands for quality, cost efficiency, reliability, and the safety issue. In safety/mission critical applications, fault detection can be combined with accommodation/reconfiguration (after a fault) to achieve fault tolerance allowing the system to complete or abort its function in a way that is sub-optimal but does achieve the design objective. This thesis discusses research carried-out on the development and validation of a model-based fault detection and isolation (FDI) system for a pneumatically actuated Stewart platform. The Stewart-Gough platform provides six degrees of freedom consisting of three translational and three rotational degrees of freedom (x, y, z, pitch, roll, & yaw). As these platforms can be fast acting (rapid motion) and can handle reasonable loads, they can become dangerous, especially when fault(s) in the platform mechanism, drivetrain or control system occur. Therefore, as a safety critical application it is imperative that fault tolerant schemes are applied in order to provide a safe working environment. The design concept of the FDI scheme for the full Stewart-Gough platform is first designed using a single cylinder set-up. This modular concept is adopted so that a robust fault tolerant control scheme can be designed basically off-line (i.e. not attached to the Stewart Gough platform). This approach is adopted as requirements are easier to understand using a single cylinder set-up. The modular design approach subdivides the whole system into smaller sections (modules) that can be independently created and then used in the complete Stewart-Gough platform. The main contributions of the work are that a pneumatically actuated Stewart-Gough platform has been designed, built, and commissioned. A mathematical model has been developed and has been validated against experimental results. Two control approaches have been designed and compared. A fundamental comparative study of parity equations and Kalman filter observer banks for fault detection in pneumatic actuators has been conducted. The parity equations and Kalman filter approaches have been extended to provide a combined fault detection scheme. The FDI and control schemes have been combined in a modular Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) scheme for a pneumatic cylinder. The resulting FTC scheme has been validated by experimentation and demonstrated on the single cylinder test rig. The FTC scheme has been extended to all 6 cylinders (and including fault management at top level) of Stewart-Gough platform. The FTC scheme has been validated by experimentation and demonstrated on the Stewart-Gough platform test rig.

Bakgrund I svensk hälso- och sjukvård skall prioriteringar utgå från de tre principerna i den etiska plattformen. Habiliteringen i Västra Götaland har utvecklat ett beslutstöd för prioriteringar med utgångspunkt från den nationella modellen för öppna prioriteringar vars syfte är att omsätta den etiska plattformen till praktiken.   Syfte Syftet med förbättringsarbetet var att börja använda beslutsstöd vid val av behandlingsmetoder, och hypotesen var att om beslut tas strukturerat ökar förutsättningarna för en mer likvärdig vård. Studiens syfte var att beskriva medarbetarnas upplevelser av förbättringsarbetet.   Metod I det pågående förbättringsarbetet har Nolans förbättringsmodell använts. Studien genomfördes som en deskriptiv kvalitativ studie och fokusgrupper genomfördes i två omgångar med deltagande team.   Resultat Medarbetarna upplever att arbete utifrån prioriteringsriktlinjer är viktigt men är beroende av beslutsstödet utformning och yttre faktorer. Att prioritera blir enklare om åtgärderna på väntelistan är rangordnade. Det går än inte att utläsa att mer likvärdig vård uppnåtts men när medarbetarna får styra över förbättringsarbetet minskar väntetiden från beslut till behandlingsstart.   Slutsatser Nolans förbättringsmodell fungerar vid införande av beslutsstöd för prioritering. Det återstår att se om beslutsstödet bidrar till en mer likvärdig vård. / Background In Swedish health care priorities shall be based on the principles in the ethics platform. Habilitation Services in Västra Götaland has developed a decision support for priorities on basis of the national model of priorities aimed to translate the ethical platform to practice.   Purpose Improvement work aimed to start using decision support in the selection of treatment. The hypothesis was, if decisions are structured increases the prospects of a more equitable care. The purpose was to describe employees’ experiences of improvement work.   Method The ongoing improvement work have used Nolan's model of improvement. The study was conducted as a descriptive qualitative study with focus groups in two rounds.   Results Employees feel that work on the basis of priority guidelines are important, but are dependent on decision support design and external factors. Prioritizing becomes easier if the waiting list are ranked. It is not yet possible to say that a more equitable care has been achieved but when employees get control over the improvement work the waiting time from decision to treatment reduces.   Conclusions Nolan's model of improvement works at the introduction of decision support for priority. It remains to be seen whether decision support contributes to more equitable care.

面對日益競爭的產業環境，企業一般容易落入提供自身認為最佳商品的思考窠臼中，事實上面對市場的檢驗除了須對於自身能力及優勢有一定的掌握外，所提供的服務及商品是否真能協助顧客解決問題、提升獲益將是關鍵，而價值主張便是企業確認與顧客需求一致的核心要素。 另外，隨著科技汰換演化，經營模式也隨之持續推陳出新，而若論二十世紀以來最為企業所熟知並採用者非平台模式莫屬。透過不同的使用者於平台上活動，以迅速、廣泛地資訊交換傳遞為特色，並媒介各方使用者所擁有的資源，企業除了免除負擔提供商品服務的任務，更能藉由網路病毒式的傳播短期內快速吸引顧客加入，故成為許多企業思考轉型時使用的經營模式。 綜上，平台策略並非保證成功的萬靈丹，當企業紛紛轉為平台經營的同時對自身核心的價值主張，即其對顧客的承諾事項、所凸顯企業與眾不同之處的掌握度如何？便是本文的研究重點。本文將以來自不同產業別的平台企業為研究對象，進行經營模式及價值主張內涵等兩部分的檢視，並將分析的結果與該個案後續經營的階段性成果進行對比。

台灣近幾年吹起一股 O2O（Online to Offline）創業的風潮，O2O 為聯結「線上顧客」及「線下商店」的商務模式，本質上為一平台商業模式，但目前學界仍缺乏由平台角度來探討 O2O 新創公司的研究。本文採個案研究法，以「EZTABLE」作為研究個案，探討台灣 O2O 新創公司於發展歷程的平台策略，以及如何透過平台模式創造價值。經研究發現O2O新創公司之平台策略隨發展階段動態調整，透過線上支付促使金流內化以獲利，並會尋求外部夥伴合作以完善功能或拓展市場；O2O 新創公司主要透過降低搜尋成本、消彌資訊不對稱和提升服務交換效率與品質創造價值，且價值創造仰賴完整 O2O 循環。最後根據研究結果提出理論與實務上的意涵及建議。

This study examines how the taboo subject of suicide is communicated, perceived and experienced on the largest Swedish online discussion platform Flashback Forum. The aim is to describe and analyze how the subject is constructed and reconstructed in 2.484 suicide specific discussion posts initiated by suicidal individuals on the forum. The empirical material is based on 25 threads active during a one-year period. The sample was categorized by using an analytical tool designed by Malin Wreder (2007) based on concepts from Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. Two conflicting approaches to suicide were identified. The suicide tolerant discourse views suicide as an accepted way out of prolonged suffering. The other suicide critical discourse has an opposing view. Within these discourses four key concepts (suicide, freedom, responsibility and future) was identified as nodal points. Frank’s theory of illness narratives was used to place the stories of the discussion participants within a larger theoretical framework. One conclusion is that the cultural preferred idea about suicide as a temporary curable condition is challenged by the suicide tolerant discourse. For a suicidal individual suffering can be experienced as eternal hence a reception with one-sided focus on restitution may hinder rather than help.

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Surface Electromyography (SEMG) systems are utilized throughout the medical industry to study abnormal electrical activity of the human muscle. Historically, SEMG systems employ surface (skin) mounted sensors that transmit electrical muscle data to a computer base via an umbilical cord. A typical SEMG analysis may exercise multiple sensors, each representing a unique data channel, positioned about the patient's body. Data transmission cables are linked between the surface mounted sensor nodes and a backpack worn by the patient. As the number of sensors increases, the patient's freedom of mobility decreases due to the lengthy data cables linked between the surface sensors and the backpack. An N-channel wireless SEMG system has been developed based on the ZigBee wireless standard. The system includes N-channels, each consisting of a wireless ZigBee transmitting modem, an 8-bit microcontroller, a low-pass filter and a pre-amplifier. All channels stream data to a central computer via a wireless receiving modem attached directly to the computer. The data is displayed to the user through graphical development software called LabView. The wireless surface electromyography(WSEMG) system successfully transmits reliable electrical muscle data fiom the patient to a computer base. The development of a WSEMG system offers an attractivealternative to implementing wired surface electromyography testing by facilitating thefreedom of patient mobility not bound by data transmission cables.

I Am Error is a platform study of the Nintendo Family Computer (or Famicom), a videogame console first released in Japan in July 1983 and later exported to the rest of the world as the Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES). The book investigates the underlying computational architecture of the console and its effects on the creative works (e.g. videogames) produced for the platform. I Am Error advances the concept of platform as a shifting configuration of hardware and software that extends even beyond its ‘native’ material construction. The book provides a deep technical understanding of how the platform was programmed and engineered, from code to silicon, including the design decisions that shaped both the expressive capabilities of the machine and the perception of videogames in general. The book also considers the platform beyond the console proper, including cartridges, controllers, peripherals, packaging, marketing, licensing, and play environments. Likewise, it analyzes the NES’s extension and afterlife in emulation and hacking, birthing new genres of creative expression such as ROM hacks and tool-assisted speed runs. I Am Error considers videogames and their platforms to be important objects of cultural expression, alongside cinema, dance, painting, theater and other media. It joins the discussion taking place in similar burgeoning disciplines—code studies, game studies, computational theory—that engage digital media with critical rigor and descriptive depth. But platform studies is not simply a technical discussion—it also keeps a keen eye on the cultural, social, and economic forces that influence videogames. No platform exists in a vacuum: circuits, code, and console alike are shaped by the currents of history, politics, economics, and culture—just as those currents are shaped in kind.

Title: Multi-platform environment for mobile-game development Author: Ivan Vacula Department: Department of Software Engineering Supervisor: RNDr. David Bednárek, Ph.D. Supervisor's e-mail address: bednarek@ksi.mff.cuni.cz Abstract: Smart mobile devices are getting more and more popular these days. But there comes a problem with their expansion as well. Mobile operating systems differ from each other, as do mobile devices themselves, so development across multiple platforms is not simple. Situation is even worse when it comes to games. These need to use limited resources of a mobile device as much as possible, taking into account quick response to user actions, graphical execution et cetera. The first goal of this thesis is to compare existing solutions for multi-platform mobile game development. The second goal is to design a new system. This system must ensure targeting of multiple platforms during mobile game development. Included in this thesis is implementation of the system on two vastly different operating systems as well as implementation of a demonstration game. Keywords: multi-platform, mobile, smartphone, game, development

Modern science has seen the rise in prominence of group research projects and other many-person endeavours, in what has been called "Big Science". Computational linguistics is no exception to that, and especially the devel- opment of large linguistic resources is a task best suited for collaborative approaches. In this document, the design and implementation of an environment for doing computational linguistics online is described. The environment is a software tool, with which development of formal grammars and other types of computational linguistic resources can be performed in a collaborative way. The application supports HPSG as an example paradigm of this kind of work. 1