According to the Swedish library law from 2013 it is the duty of the library to prioritize diverse groups. These minorities include people who speak other first languages than Swedish, the Swedish national minorities, children and adolescents and people with disabilities. People with disabilities is the focus of this study. A big difficulty with the formulation in the library law is that there are many kinds of disabilities that all have varying forms. Regarding the language, there exist different terms for this priority group. This study uses semi structured interviews with four public–librarians from different libraries in the Stockholm region. Based on critical theory with Foucaults theory of power (which focuses on structural relations in society) as a core and conceptual history for analysis, we aim to analyze and discuss the collected material. We want to get an idea of how public librarians are working to make the library accessible for everyone and how their everyday language and the words they are using affects how they view the group of people with disabilities. The pattern that accurses based on both the answers from the interviews and scientific studies shows that larger forms of accessibility have to be in the building plan from the start, since it is difficult to do later. Smaller forms of accessibility such as noise dampening fabrics or earmuffs can serve well for many library visitors and that outreaching work and activities for people with disability often is performed by one person in particular in the workforce. Colleagues are perceived as perverse and nervous and seems to think that the group of disabled people are more difficult to handle than other visitors and are scared to do something wrong.     The conclusion is that availability happens in both the physical room and in the personal treatment and that outreaching to people with disabilities is key to make more people come to the library. The term usage is decided more by the single librarian than the work-team, which can result in misunderstandings. Education to get more personnel to be more comfortable in meeting people with different grades of functionality could be important to bring into future librarian education since several of the librarians we have spoken to can look back on their education and see that it was missing this particular question. We believe that more studies about accessibility and disability would bring more perspectives and a more scientific base to develop work towards the group in question would be important to the research-field Library- and Information Science. / Enligt svensk bibliotekslag från år 2013 är det bibliotekens uppgift att prioritera olika grupper. Dessa minoritetsgrupper innefattar de nationella minoritetsspråken, svenska som andraspråk, barn och unga samt personer med funktionsnedsättning. Funktionsnedsatta är den grupp denna uppsats fokuserar på. En stor svårighet med formuleringen i bibliotekslagen är att det finns många olika funktionsnedsättningar som alla har varierande form. Även språkligt finns det olika termer att använda för sagda målgrupp. Studien utgår från semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra bibliotekarier från olika bibliotek inom region Stockholm. Med hjälp av kritisk teori där Foucaults maktteori (som fokuserar på strukturella förhållanden i samhället) är kärnan och med begreppshistoria som analysmetod ämnar vi analysera och diskutera vårt insamlade material. Vi vill få en uppfattning om hur folkbibliotekarier arbetar för att göra biblioteket till en plats som är tillgänglig för alla, samt att se hur deras dagliga språk och vilka ord de använder påverkar hur de ser på målgruppen personer med funktionsnedsättning. Mönster som kommer igen från informanternas svar samt vetenskapliga texter innefattar hur större anpassningar i lokaler bör finnas med från att lokalen byggs då det är svårt att få igenom senare, att mindre åtgärder som ljuddämpande tyger eller hörselkåpor kan hjälpa många besökare, samt att uppsökande verksamhet och aktiviteter för personer med funktionsnedsättning ofta hamnar på en specifik person i personalstyrkan. Kollegor uppfattas motsträviga och nervösa och bilden finns att det skulle vara svårare att bemöta denna grupp än andra och att de är rädda att göra fel.    Slutsatsen av studien visar att tillgänglighet sker både i fysiska rummet och i det personliga bemötandet där uppsökande verksamhet är en nyckel för att få personer med funktionsnedsättningar att komma till biblioteket. Term-användning beslutas mer av den enskilda bibliotekarien än av arbetslagen, vilket kan leda till missförstånd i kommunikationen. Utbildning för att få personal att bli mer bekväma med att möta personer av olika grader av funktionalitet kan vara viktigt att ta in i framtida bibliotekarieutbildningar då flera av informanterna kan se tillbaka på sina utbildningar och sakna det. Vidare studier inom detta område för att lyfta fler perspektiv och ge en mer vetenskaplig grund att utveckla verksamhet mot gruppen i fråga skulle forskningsfältet Bibliotek- och Informationsvetenskap tjäna på.

The rising interest in autonomous systems has emphasized the significance of effective path and motion planning, particularly in coordinating multiple Unmanned Areal Vehicles (UAVs) in missions. An important research field is the problem of Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF), in which the objective is to find collision-free paths for multiple agents simultaneously. Various algorithms, categorized into optimal, bounded sub-optimal, and unbounded sub-optimal solvers, have been investigated in order to address MAPF problems. However, recent attention has shifted towards MAPF with kinematic constraints, particularly focusing on nonholonomic agents like cars and fixed-wing UAVs. These nonholonomic agents, distinguished by their motion constraints, require specialized methods for trajectory planning.  To investigate the potential of MAPF with nonholonomic agents, two MAPF algorithms have been implemented, incorporating the kinematic constraints of a fixed-wing UAV. The first algorithm is a UAV-like Conflict-Based Search (CBS) algorithm, belonging to the optimal MAPF solver class, and is based on a Car-like CBS algorithm. The second algorithm is a Prioritized Planner, belonging to the search-based MAPF solver class. Both algorithms utilize a common single-agent search algorithm, the Spatiotemporal Hybrid A* (SHA*), which has been enhanced to incorporate a kinematic bicycle model. This enhancement allows for a greater variety of motions, creates feasible paths for fixed-wing UAVs, and enables control over acceleration and steering rates. A comparison of the two MAPF algorithms was conducted for three different map instances. Furthermore, the use of weighted heuristics, resampling and distance-based priority have been implemented and simulated with the Prioritized Planner. Additionally, two methods of simultaneous arrival have been implemented using the UAV-like CBS, where agents have a fixed time of arrival and a variable time of arrival. The results from the simulations confirm the trade-offs between both MAPF algorithms concerning solution quality, success rate and runtime. The UAV-like CBS is capable of finding solutions of higher quality, while the Prioritized Planner is faster at finding solutions and more efficient for an increasing number of agents. However, the performance of the two algorithms varied significantly, depending on the scenario. The thesis concludes that both algorithms can be utilized for MAPF with nonholonomic fixed-wing UAVs, and that the UAV-like CBS is the best choice for a lower amount of agents, while the Prioritized Planner is preferable for a higher amount of agents. The priority of the agents has been shown to be important, and by allowing resampling, the success rate of the Prioritized Planner can be increased significantly. Additionally, simultaneous arrival at the goal position can be achieved optimally for the UAV-like CBS by solving the problem backwards.

L’émergence de nouvelles applications et de nouveaux services (tels que les applications multimédias, la voix-sur-IP, la télévision-sur-IP, la vidéo-sur-demande, etc.) et le besoin croissant de mobilité des utilisateurs entrainent une demande de bande passante de plus en plus croissante et une difficulté dans sa gestion dans les réseaux cellulaires sans fil (WCNs), causant une dégradation de la qualité de service. Ainsi, dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à la gestion des ressources, plus précisément à la bande passante, dans les WCNs. Dans une première partie de la thèse, nous nous concentrons sur la prédiction de la mobilité des utilisateurs des WCNs. Dans ce contexte, nous proposons un modèle de prédiction de la mobilité, relativement précis qui permet de prédire la destination finale ou intermédiaire et, par la suite, les chemins des utilisateurs mobiles vers leur destination prédite. Ce modèle se base sur : (a) les habitudes de l’utilisateur en terme de déplacements (filtrées selon le type de jour et le moment de la journée) ; (b) le déplacement courant de l’utilisateur ; (c) la connaissance de l’utilisateur ; (d) la direction vers une destination estimée ; et (e) la structure spatiale de la zone de déplacement. Les résultats de simulation montrent que ce modèle donne une précision largement meilleure aux approches existantes. Dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, nous nous intéressons au contrôle d’admission et à la gestion de la bande passante dans les WCNs. En effet, nous proposons une approche de gestion de la bande passante comprenant : (1) une approche d’estimation du temps de transfert intercellulaire prenant en compte la densité de la zone de déplacement en terme d’utilisateurs, les caractéristiques de mobilité des utilisateurs et les feux tricolores ; (2) une approche d’estimation de la bande passante disponible à l’avance dans les cellules prenant en compte les exigences en bande passante et la durée de vie des sessions en cours ; et (3) une approche de réservation passive de bande passante dans les cellules qui seront visitées pour les sessions en cours et de contrôle d’admission des demandes de nouvelles sessions prenant en compte la mobilité des utilisateurs et le comportement des cellules. Les résultats de simulation indiquent que cette approche réduit largement les ruptures abruptes de sessions en cours, offre un taux de refus de nouvelles demandes de connexion acceptable et un taux élevé d’utilisation de la bande passante. Dans la troisième partie de la thèse, nous nous penchons sur la principale limite de la première et deuxième parties de la thèse, à savoir l’évolutivité (selon le nombre d’utilisateurs) et proposons une plateforme qui intègre des modèles de prédiction de mobilité avec des modèles de prédiction de la bande passante disponible. En effet, dans les deux parties précédentes de la thèse, les prédictions de la mobilité sont effectuées pour chaque utilisateur. Ainsi, pour rendre notre proposition de plateforme évolutive, nous proposons des modèles de prédiction de mobilité par groupe d’utilisateurs en nous basant sur : (a) les profils des utilisateurs (c’est-à-dire leur préférence en termes de caractéristiques de route) ; (b) l’état du trafic routier et le comportement des utilisateurs ; et (c) la structure spatiale de la zone de déplacement. Les résultats de simulation montrent que la plateforme proposée améliore la performance du réseau comparée aux plateformes existantes qui proposent des modèles de prédiction de la mobilité par groupe d’utilisateurs pour la réservation de bande passante. / The emergence of new applications and services (e.g., multimedia applications, voice over IP and IPTV) and the growing need for mobility of users cause more and more growth of bandwidth demand and a difficulty of its management in Wireless Cellular Networks (WCNs). In this thesis, we are interested in resources management, specifically the bandwidth, in WCNs. In the first part of the thesis, we study the user mobility prediction that is one of key to guarantee efficient management of available bandwidth. In this context, we propose a relatively accurate mobility prediction model that allows predicting final or intermediate destinations and subsequently mobility paths of mobile users to reach these predicted destinations. This model takes into account (a) user’s habits in terms of movements (filtered according to the type of day and the time of the day); (b) user's current movement; (c) user’s contextual knowledge; (d) direction from current location to estimated destination; and (e) spatial conceptual maps. Simulation results show that the proposed model provides good accuracy compared to existing models in the literature. In the second part of the thesis, we focus on call admission control and bandwidth management in WCNs. Indeed, we propose an efficient bandwidth utilization scheme that consists of three schemes: (1) handoff time estimation scheme that considers navigation zone density in term of users, users’ mobility characteristics and traffic light scheduling; (2) available bandwidth estimation scheme that estimates bandwidth available in the cells that considers required bandwidth and lifetime of ongoing sessions; and (3) passive bandwidth reservation scheme that passively reserves bandwidth in cells expected to be visited by ongoing sessions and call admission control scheme for new call requests that considers the behavior of an individual user and the behavior of cells. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme reduces considerably the handoff call dropping rate while maintaining acceptable new call blocking rate and provides high bandwidth utilization rate. In the third part of the thesis, we focus on the main limitation of the first and second part of the thesis which is the scalability (with the number of users) and propose a framework, together with schemes, that integrates mobility prediction models with bandwidth availability prediction models. Indeed, in the two first contributions of the thesis, mobility prediction schemes process individual user requests. Thus, to make the proposed framework scalable, we propose group-based mobility prediction schemes that predict mobility for a group of users (not only for a single user) based on users’ profiles (i.e., their preference in terms of road characteristics), state of road traffic and users behaviors on roads and spatial conceptual maps. Simulation results show that the proposed framework improves the network performance compared to existing schemes which propose aggregate mobility prediction bandwidth reservation models.

L’émergence de nouvelles applications et de nouveaux services (tels que les applications multimédias, la voix-sur-IP, la télévision-sur-IP, la vidéo-sur-demande, etc.) et le besoin croissant de mobilité des utilisateurs entrainent une demande de bande passante de plus en plus croissante et une difficulté dans sa gestion dans les réseaux cellulaires sans fil (WCNs), causant une dégradation de la qualité de service. Ainsi, dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à la gestion des ressources, plus précisément à la bande passante, dans les WCNs. Dans une première partie de la thèse, nous nous concentrons sur la prédiction de la mobilité des utilisateurs des WCNs. Dans ce contexte, nous proposons un modèle de prédiction de la mobilité, relativement précis qui permet de prédire la destination finale ou intermédiaire et, par la suite, les chemins des utilisateurs mobiles vers leur destination prédite. Ce modèle se base sur : (a) les habitudes de l’utilisateur en terme de déplacements (filtrées selon le type de jour et le moment de la journée) ; (b) le déplacement courant de l’utilisateur ; (c) la connaissance de l’utilisateur ; (d) la direction vers une destination estimée ; et (e) la structure spatiale de la zone de déplacement. Les résultats de simulation montrent que ce modèle donne une précision largement meilleure aux approches existantes. Dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, nous nous intéressons au contrôle d’admission et à la gestion de la bande passante dans les WCNs. En effet, nous proposons une approche de gestion de la bande passante comprenant : (1) une approche d’estimation du temps de transfert intercellulaire prenant en compte la densité de la zone de déplacement en terme d’utilisateurs, les caractéristiques de mobilité des utilisateurs et les feux tricolores ; (2) une approche d’estimation de la bande passante disponible à l’avance dans les cellules prenant en compte les exigences en bande passante et la durée de vie des sessions en cours ; et (3) une approche de réservation passive de bande passante dans les cellules qui seront visitées pour les sessions en cours et de contrôle d’admission des demandes de nouvelles sessions prenant en compte la mobilité des utilisateurs et le comportement des cellules. Les résultats de simulation indiquent que cette approche réduit largement les ruptures abruptes de sessions en cours, offre un taux de refus de nouvelles demandes de connexion acceptable et un taux élevé d’utilisation de la bande passante. Dans la troisième partie de la thèse, nous nous penchons sur la principale limite de la première et deuxième parties de la thèse, à savoir l’évolutivité (selon le nombre d’utilisateurs) et proposons une plateforme qui intègre des modèles de prédiction de mobilité avec des modèles de prédiction de la bande passante disponible. En effet, dans les deux parties précédentes de la thèse, les prédictions de la mobilité sont effectuées pour chaque utilisateur. Ainsi, pour rendre notre proposition de plateforme évolutive, nous proposons des modèles de prédiction de mobilité par groupe d’utilisateurs en nous basant sur : (a) les profils des utilisateurs (c’est-à-dire leur préférence en termes de caractéristiques de route) ; (b) l’état du trafic routier et le comportement des utilisateurs ; et (c) la structure spatiale de la zone de déplacement. Les résultats de simulation montrent que la plateforme proposée améliore la performance du réseau comparée aux plateformes existantes qui proposent des modèles de prédiction de la mobilité par groupe d’utilisateurs pour la réservation de bande passante. / The emergence of new applications and services (e.g., multimedia applications, voice over IP and IPTV) and the growing need for mobility of users cause more and more growth of bandwidth demand and a difficulty of its management in Wireless Cellular Networks (WCNs). In this thesis, we are interested in resources management, specifically the bandwidth, in WCNs. In the first part of the thesis, we study the user mobility prediction that is one of key to guarantee efficient management of available bandwidth. In this context, we propose a relatively accurate mobility prediction model that allows predicting final or intermediate destinations and subsequently mobility paths of mobile users to reach these predicted destinations. This model takes into account (a) user’s habits in terms of movements (filtered according to the type of day and the time of the day); (b) user's current movement; (c) user’s contextual knowledge; (d) direction from current location to estimated destination; and (e) spatial conceptual maps. Simulation results show that the proposed model provides good accuracy compared to existing models in the literature. In the second part of the thesis, we focus on call admission control and bandwidth management in WCNs. Indeed, we propose an efficient bandwidth utilization scheme that consists of three schemes: (1) handoff time estimation scheme that considers navigation zone density in term of users, users’ mobility characteristics and traffic light scheduling; (2) available bandwidth estimation scheme that estimates bandwidth available in the cells that considers required bandwidth and lifetime of ongoing sessions; and (3) passive bandwidth reservation scheme that passively reserves bandwidth in cells expected to be visited by ongoing sessions and call admission control scheme for new call requests that considers the behavior of an individual user and the behavior of cells. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme reduces considerably the handoff call dropping rate while maintaining acceptable new call blocking rate and provides high bandwidth utilization rate. In the third part of the thesis, we focus on the main limitation of the first and second part of the thesis which is the scalability (with the number of users) and propose a framework, together with schemes, that integrates mobility prediction models with bandwidth availability prediction models. Indeed, in the two first contributions of the thesis, mobility prediction schemes process individual user requests. Thus, to make the proposed framework scalable, we propose group-based mobility prediction schemes that predict mobility for a group of users (not only for a single user) based on users’ profiles (i.e., their preference in terms of road characteristics), state of road traffic and users behaviors on roads and spatial conceptual maps. Simulation results show that the proposed framework improves the network performance compared to existing schemes which propose aggregate mobility prediction bandwidth reservation models.

Many usability features designed in software applications are not procedurally intuitive for software users. A good example of software usability involves tabular sorting in a spreadsheet. Single-column sorting, activated with a mouse click to a column header or toolbar button, often produces rearranged listings that reduce cognitive organization beyond the sorted column. Multi-column sorting, generated through menu-driven processes, provides derived organization, however, locating feature options through menu-based systems can be confusing. A means to overcome this confusion is prioritized selection of database arrays issued to columnar displays for the purpose of intact transposition of data. This is a unique process designed as a user-centric tabular multi-column sorting interface. Designed within this experimental software application is a "trickle down" logic perceived as a navigation rule. The design offers logic associated with decision choices as used to pursue a software solution. The solution in this instance is a compiled resultant of separate and distinct columnar data sorting. The design was initially implemented in a software application housing thousands of examination scores. Observations of the design concept's effectiveness in practice led to further investigation through this master's thesis. To validate the research design, research participants were introduced to an example of traditional database sort/selection with practice examples. These users were also provided sorting exercises to reinforce the discussed concepts--both experimental and traditional. Finally, a survey questionnaire allowed them to provide feedback about the different task methods for sorting as well as the experience of using these dissimilar methods. The hypothesis was not validated through the research survey. Consideration of observations of the design in a production environment for four years, however, provided impetus to suggest further research of the design concept.

A comercialização de produtos florestais não madeireiros (PFNMs) popularizou-se como atividade promotora do desenvolvimento socioeconômico de comunidades florestais com baixo impacto ambiental. Há evidências, contudo, de que a exploração possa produzir efeitos ecológicos e socioeconômicos negativos, sugerindo que é necessário monitorar tais iniciativas. A comercialização frequentemente ocorre em áreas remotas e em contextos de pobreza, como é o caso de muitas daquelas da Amazônia brasileira. Desta forma, é necessário que o monitoramento restrinja-se a avaliar os efeitos evidenciados como mais comuns em estudos anteriores. Este estudo revisa e sintetiza as evidências científicas dos efeitos da exploração de PFNMs sobre parâmetros ecológicos e socioeconômicos e, a partir daí, indica aqueles mais relevantes ao monitoramento. O estudo também levanta até que ponto o monitoramento é implementado no contexto da Amazônia brasileira e avalia quais os parâmetros importantes e viáveis de monitoramento neste caso específico. Para isso, foram realizadas revisões sistemáticas da literatura e a consulta a profissionais da área através do método Delphi. Os resultados indicam que efeitos ecológicos negativos são frequentes, principalmente quando se coletam folhas ou cascas. Alterações em órgãos ou processos fisiológicos e a taxa de sobrevivência dos espécimes explorados são parâmetros que devem ser monitorados, em particular quando se coletam frutos e partes vegetativas. Para todos os tipos de PFNMs, o tamanho e a estrutura populacional são parâmetros prioritários ao monitoramento. A riqueza de espécies da comunidade explorada merece atenção, principalmente quando se coletam frutos. Para os aspectos socioeconômicos, efeitos positivos foram mais frequentes que negativos. A contribuição da renda monetária obtida com o comércio na renda total, a regularidade de ingresso desta renda e o papel dos PFNMs como recursos de salvaguarda são parâmetros do capital financeiro prioritários ao monitoramento. Para o capital social, o empoderamento feminino, a coesão de grupo e o acesso aos benefícios gerados pela comercialização devem ser monitorados. Na Amazônia brasileira são poucas as iniciativas de implementação do monitoramento da comercialização de PFNMs. Embora este seja considerado importante, existem dificuldades que derivam principalmente da falta de apoio institucional, políticas de incentivo e de recursos financeiros. Os profissionais participantes do Delphi consideram que os parâmetros ecológicos mais importantes a monitorar neste contexto são o tamanho e a estrutura populacional do recurso explorado, o aumento da taxa de mortalidade, a quantidade total de recurso extraída e a técnica de coleta utilizada. Para os parâmetros econômicos, aspectos do mercado, como o preço pago ao coletor, a demanda e a qualidade do produto, bem como a renda monetária obtida pelos indivíduos são os parâmetros considerados mais importantes. Por fim, para os aspectos sociais, os efeitos na cultura, na qualidade de vida e na organização interna da comunidade foram priorizados. Os profissionais indicam que é viável estabelecer o monitoramento dos parâmetros levantados. / Amazon, non-timber forest products, ecological effects, socioeconomic effects, monitoring.

A comercialização de produtos florestais não madeireiros (PFNMs) popularizou-se como atividade promotora do desenvolvimento socioeconômico de comunidades florestais com baixo impacto ambiental. Há evidências, contudo, de que a exploração possa produzir efeitos ecológicos e socioeconômicos negativos, sugerindo que é necessário monitorar tais iniciativas. A comercialização frequentemente ocorre em áreas remotas e em contextos de pobreza, como é o caso de muitas daquelas da Amazônia brasileira. Desta forma, é necessário que o monitoramento restrinja-se a avaliar os efeitos evidenciados como mais comuns em estudos anteriores. Este estudo revisa e sintetiza as evidências científicas dos efeitos da exploração de PFNMs sobre parâmetros ecológicos e socioeconômicos e, a partir daí, indica aqueles mais relevantes ao monitoramento. O estudo também levanta até que ponto o monitoramento é implementado no contexto da Amazônia brasileira e avalia quais os parâmetros importantes e viáveis de monitoramento neste caso específico. Para isso, foram realizadas revisões sistemáticas da literatura e a consulta a profissionais da área através do método Delphi. Os resultados indicam que efeitos ecológicos negativos são frequentes, principalmente quando se coletam folhas ou cascas. Alterações em órgãos ou processos fisiológicos e a taxa de sobrevivência dos espécimes explorados são parâmetros que devem ser monitorados, em particular quando se coletam frutos e partes vegetativas. Para todos os tipos de PFNMs, o tamanho e a estrutura populacional são parâmetros prioritários ao monitoramento. A riqueza de espécies da comunidade explorada merece atenção, principalmente quando se coletam frutos. Para os aspectos socioeconômicos, efeitos positivos foram mais frequentes que negativos. A contribuição da renda monetária obtida com o comércio na renda total, a regularidade de ingresso desta renda e o papel dos PFNMs como recursos de salvaguarda são parâmetros do capital financeiro prioritários ao monitoramento. Para o capital social, o empoderamento feminino, a coesão de grupo e o acesso aos benefícios gerados pela comercialização devem ser monitorados. Na Amazônia brasileira são poucas as iniciativas de implementação do monitoramento da comercialização de PFNMs. Embora este seja considerado importante, existem dificuldades que derivam principalmente da falta de apoio institucional, políticas de incentivo e de recursos financeiros. Os profissionais participantes do Delphi consideram que os parâmetros ecológicos mais importantes a monitorar neste contexto são o tamanho e a estrutura populacional do recurso explorado, o aumento da taxa de mortalidade, a quantidade total de recurso extraída e a técnica de coleta utilizada. Para os parâmetros econômicos, aspectos do mercado, como o preço pago ao coletor, a demanda e a qualidade do produto, bem como a renda monetária obtida pelos indivíduos são os parâmetros considerados mais importantes. Por fim, para os aspectos sociais, os efeitos na cultura, na qualidade de vida e na organização interna da comunidade foram priorizados. Os profissionais indicam que é viável estabelecer o monitoramento dos parâmetros levantados. / Amazon, non-timber forest products, ecological effects, socioeconomic effects, monitoring.