With continuous advancement in silicon technology and high feature demands on consumer electronics, the complexity of embedded software has led the software development effort to dominate System-On-Chip (SoC) design. Virtual Prototype (VP) addresses the problem by enabling early software development before hardware arrival. However, VP still poses challenges: 1) Instruction Set Simulator (ISS) degrades simulation time, 2) Development is restricted to embedded processor specific tools and 3) Applications and drivers are dependent on system software completion. In this work, we propose an abstraction framework which: 1) Removes ISS from VP, achieving native host software execution time, 2) Activates rich suites of desktop development tools in host by compiling embedded software in host binary and 3) Allows system software independent application and driver development. With this framework, we successfully demonstrated up to 2000% speed-up in VP run-time over conventional VP and improved software development productivity significantly.

With continuous advancement in silicon technology and high feature demands on consumer electronics, the complexity of embedded software has led the software development effort to dominate System-On-Chip (SoC) design. Virtual Prototype (VP) addresses the problem by enabling early software development before hardware arrival. However, VP still poses challenges: 1) Instruction Set Simulator (ISS) degrades simulation time, 2) Development is restricted to embedded processor specific tools and 3) Applications and drivers are dependent on system software completion. In this work, we propose an abstraction framework which: 1) Removes ISS from VP, achieving native host software execution time, 2) Activates rich suites of desktop development tools in host by compiling embedded software in host binary and 3) Allows system software independent application and driver development. With this framework, we successfully demonstrated up to 2000% speed-up in VP run-time over conventional VP and improved software development productivity significantly.

Nowadays, with the development of electronic and communication technologies, more and more low-cost vehicles such as small, light-weight aircraft are widely applied in all kinds of fields. Ground Station is an essential part of low cost vehicles for the operator to control and monitor the vehicles. In this thesis, Ground Station Display and Flight Management System for Low-Cost Vehicles have been developed.The major objective of this project is to design an intuitive and easy operative Human Machine Interface for displaying and monitoring the flight data and traffic information on ground. Meanwhile, a Graphic User Interface for the Flight Management System has been developed for realizing the waypoints input and flight plan for the vehicles. To fulfill this task, a low-cost hardware and software architecture is presented. Moreover, some COTS tools such as VAPS and MATLAB are applied for the software development because of their Object-Oriented and Rapid Prototype design methods. At the end of project, simulation has been done for the display HMI to test the behaviours of objects and the impacts of display. The trajectory simulation of flight management control panel is also implemented to test the waypoints creation, trajectory generation and smoothing.

This thesis presents a novel design paradigm of mobile robots: the Hybrid Mobile Robot system. It consists of a combination of parallel and serially connected links resulting in a hybrid mechanism that includes a mobile robot platform for locomotion and a manipulator arm for manipulation, both interchangeable functionally. All state-of-the-art mobile robots have a separate manipulator arm module attached on top of the mobile platform. The platform provides mobility and the arm provides manipulation. Unlike them, the new design has the ability to interchangeably provide locomotion and manipulation capability, both simultaneously. This was accomplished by integrating the locomotion platform and the manipulator arm as one entity rather than two separate and attached modules. The manipulator arm can be used as part of the locomotion platform and vice versa. This paradigm significantly enhances functionality. The new mechanical design was analyzed with a virtual prototype that was developed with MSC Adams Software. Simulations were used to study the robot’s enhanced mobility through animations of challenging tasks. Moreover, the simulations were used to select nominal robot parameters that would maximize the arm’s payload capacity, and provide for locomotion over unstructured terrains and obstacles, such as stairs, ditches and ramps. The hybrid mobile robot also includes a new control architecture based on embedded on-board wireless communication network between the robot’s links and modules such as the actuators and sensors. This results in a modular control architecture since no cable connections are used between the actuators and sensors in each of the robot links. This approach increases the functionality of the mobile robot also by providing continuous rotation of each link constituting the robot. The hybrid mobile robot’s novel locomotion and manipulation capabilities were successfully experimented using a complete physical prototype. The experiments provided test results that support the hypothesis on the qualitative and quantitative performance of the mobile robot in terms of its superior mobility, manipulation, dexterity, and ability to perform very challenging tasks. The robot was tested on an obstacle course consisting of various test rigs including man–made and natural obstructions that represent the natural environments the robot is expected to operate on.

L'alignement stratégique des technologies de l'information (TI) constitue, aujourd' hui, une des préoccupations partagées entre les gestionnaires d'affaires et les gestionnaires en ressources informationnelles. En particulier, les décisions d'aligner les systèmes d'information avec les processus, les buts et les stratégies occupent de plus en plus de place et sont perçues comme prioritaires par les gestionnaires (Campbell et al., 2005). Ce mémoire est une étude exploratoire qui vise à répondre à la question suivante: est-il possible de concevoir un outil d'autodiagnostic pour améliorer les décisions d'alignement stratégique des gestionnaires de l'informatique? La conception de cet outil adopte une perspective de plus en plus utilisée en gestion stratégique, soit une perspective basée sur les capacités organisationnelles. En utilisant les travaux sur les capacités organisationnelles (St-Amant, 2003 et 2006) et d'autres recherches, notamment celles de Luftman (2003) sur l'alignement stratégique des TI, un outil web d'autodiagnostic et d'aide à la décision a été conçu, testé et évalué. Pour concevoir l'outil web selon une perspective d'aide à la décision, quatre domaines de connaissance ont été mobilisés et discutés dans une revue de littérature avant de programmer le site web. Le premier traite de l'autoévaluation et des processus d'autoévaluation. Le deuxième traite du processus d'autoévaluation selon une approche d'aide à la décision. Le troisième définit l'environnement organisationnel pour l'utilisation d'un outil d'autodiagnostic. Et le quatrième approfondit le concept d'alignement stratégique des TI ainsi que des mesures de l'alignement stratégique en TI. On termine cette revue de la littérature par le processus d'autoévaluation qui a servi à concevoir l'outil Web. Le site Web d'autoévaluation de l'alignement stratégique a été testé et validé par quelques experts. Une fois terminé, on a procédé à douze évaluations auprès de gestionnaires des TI, principalement de petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) québécoises. Trois résultats sont particulièrement intéressants. Le processus d'autoévaluation a des effets limités pour ne pas dire nuls. En effet, les gens ne réagissent pas positivement à l'outil par manque de bagage théorique et d'une bonne compréhension des concepts d'alignement stratégique des TI. Il semble qu'il faille prévoir un module de e-learning avant le processus d'autoévaluation afin de bien comprendre le processus et les concepts reliés à l'alignement stratégique. Une fois les écueils de l'apprentissage résolus, les résultats de la recherche montrent que l'effet d'une autoévaluation individuelle suivie par une autre en groupe, mettant en scène l'interaction entre les perceptions des différents évaluateurs, influencent significativement et positivement le diagnostic et la compréhension de la situation actuelle de l'entreprise par rapport à l'alignement stratégique des TI. L'autodiagnostic, en termes de démarche structurée en deux phases et basée sur un modèle valide, à savoir le modèle de Luftman, a un impact positif sur l'apprentissage et le développement des connaissances au sein de l'organisation. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Alignement stratégique, Autodiagnostic, Capacités organisationnelles, Technologies de l’information.

En aplicaciones de reconocimiento de patrones, los grafos con atributos son en gran medida apropiados. Normalmente, los vértices de los grafos representan partes locales de los objetos i las aristas relaciones entre estas partes locales. No obstante, estas ventajas vienen juntas con un severo inconveniente, la distancia entre dos grafos no puede ser calculada en un tiempo polinómico. Considerando estas características especiales el uso de los prototipos de grafos es necesariamente omnipresente. Las aplicaciones de los prototipos de grafos son extensas, siendo las más habituales clustering, clasificación, reconocimiento de objetos, caracterización de objetos i bases de datos de grafos entre otras. A pesar de la diversidad de aplicaciones de los prototipos de grafos, el objetivo del mismo es equivalente en todas ellas, la representación de un conjunto de grafos. Para construir un prototipo de un grafo todos los elementos del conjunto de enteramiento tienen que ser etiquetados comúnmente. Este etiquetado común consiste en identificar que nodos de que grafos representan el mismo tipo de información en el conjunto de entrenamiento. Una vez este etiquetaje común esta hecho, los atributos locales pueden ser combinados i el prototipo construido. Hasta ahora los algoritmos del estado del arte para calcular este etiquetaje común mancan de efectividad o bases teóricas. En esta tesis, describimos formalmente el problema del etiquetaje global i mostramos una taxonomía de los tipos de algoritmos existentes. Además, proponemos seis nuevos algoritmos para calcular soluciones aproximadas al problema del etiquetaje común. La eficiencia de los algoritmos propuestos es evaluada en diversas bases de datos reales i sintéticas. En la mayoría de experimentos realizados los algoritmos propuestos dan mejores resultados que los existentes en el estado del arte. / In pattern recognition, the use of graphs is, to a great extend, appropriate and advantageous. Usually, vertices of the graph represent local parts of an object while edges represent relations between these local parts. However, its advantages come together with a sever drawback, the distance between two graph cannot be optimally computed in polynomial time. Taking into account this special characteristic the use of graph prototypes becomes ubiquitous. The applicability of graphs prototypes is extensive, being the most common applications clustering, classification, object characterization and graph databases to name some. However, the objective of a graph prototype is equivalent to all applications, the representation of a set of graph. To synthesize a prototype all elements of the set must be mutually labeled. This mutual labeling consists in identifying which nodes of which graphs represent the same information in the training set. Once this mutual labeling is done the set can be characterized and combined to create a graph prototype. We call this initial labeling a common labeling. Up to now, all state of the art algorithms to compute a common labeling lack on either performance or theoretical basis. In this thesis, we formally describe the common labeling problem and we give a clear taxonomy of the types of algorithms. Six new algorithms that rely on different techniques are described to compute a suboptimal solution to the common labeling problem. The performance of the proposed algorithms is evaluated using an artificial and several real datasets. In addition, the algorithms have been evaluated on several real applications. These applications include graph databases and group-wise image registration. In most of the tests and applications evaluated the presented algorithms have showed a great improvement in comparison to state of the art applications.

Ausgehend von den klassischen vier Paradigmen zur Messung individueller Differenzen wird die dominierende variablenzentrierte Forschungsausrichtung in der Differentiellen Psychologie hinterfragt und dafür plädiert, diese um einen personenzentrierten Ansatz zu ergänzen. Die Operationalisierung des personenzentrierten Zugangs erfolgt durch einen Prototypenansatz, der auf dem Fünf-Faktoren-Modell der Persönlichkeit basiert und dessen Potential und Grenzen in dieser Arbeit untersucht wurden. Zuerst wurde die Anzahl der Prototypen untersucht und diese Prototypenlösung anschließend validiert. Die auf Basis von zwei bevölkerungsrepräsentativen Stichproben sowie einer umfangreichen Internetstichprobe durchgeführten Analysen konnten übereinstimmend zeigen, dass anhand der ausgewählten multiplen Entscheidungskriterien eine Fünf-Cluster Lösung anderen Clusterlösungen vorzuziehen ist. Die Replizierbarkeit der Prototypen über unterschiedliche Stichproben verschiedenen Alters, Geschlechts, regionaler Herkunft, Bildungshintergrund, sozioökonomischem Status, Gesundheit (Allgemeinbevölkerung, Patientenstichproben), Erhebungsinstrumente (Selbst- und Fremdbeurteilungsverfahren, Fragebogen, Adjektivlisten, Papier-Bleistift-Verfahren und internetbasiert) und Extraktionsverfahren (Clusteranalyse, Mischverteilungsmodelle) zeigt, dass Persönlichkeitstypen eine Möglichkeit der Klassifikation von Personen nach der Ähnlichkeit ihrer Persönlichkeitsprofile darstellen. In vier Validierungsstudien konnten die Befunde zu emotionalen, kognitiven, verhaltensbezogenen und gesundheitsbezogenen Unterschieden zwischen den Prototypen im Erwachsenenalter repliziert und erweitert werden. Wie im Kindes- und Jugendalter zeigt auch der resiliente Prototyp im Erwachsenenalter die beste psychosoziale Anpassung. Für den über- und unterkontrollierten Prototyp lassen sich die Befunde einer hohen psychischen Belastung ebenfalls ins Erwachsenenalter übertragen. Der zuversichtliche und der reservierte Prototyp nehmen eine mittlere Position im Kontinuum der psychosozialen Anpassung zwischen dem resilienten und dem über- und dem unterkontrollierten Prototyp ein. Weiterhin wurden der variablenzentrierte und der personenzentrierten Ansatz hinsichtlich seiner Prädiktionsleistung verglichen. Anhand von zwei umfangreichen und heterogenen Stichproben konnten konsistente Zusammenhänge zwischen der Zugehörigkeit zu einem Persönlichkeitsprototyp und einer Vielzahl relevanter Straßenverkehrskriterien bestätigt werden. Abschließend wurde das Potential der Prototypen als Moderatoren geprüft. Es konnte demonstriert werden, dass die Prototypen den Zusammenhang zwischen dem CRP-Wert und der täglich verwendeten Dosis Prednisolon zur Behandlung der Symptome einer rheumatoiden Arthritis moderieren.

The image analysis company Izolde was in need of a user friendly graphical user interface (GUI) to use as a modifiable template to be able to meet a variety of requests and demands from their clientele. This paper describes the process of designing such a GUI with respect to theories within human computer interaction and available usability principles and theories.To familiarise and learn about other software on the market a background research was conducted. Wireframes as well as prototypes were created. With the help of recognised usability inspection tools tests were conducted on users with varied degree of computer experience. Test results were the basis for what would be altered and improved in terms of usability on the prototypes. The final result is a flexible user friendly GUI in regards to the criteria outlined by Izolde. / Detta examensarbete beskriver tillvägagångssättet i skapandet av en mall till ett användargränssnitt. Ett användargränssnitt är utseendet på ett program som användaren ser och interagerar med på en datorskärm, skärmen på en telefon eller annan typ av skärm. Användargränssnittet är utseendet av en programvara och det användaren visuellt kan tolka. I klartext tillåter ett användargränssnitt en användare att interagera med hårdvara genom inmatning (användarens påverkan på systemet) och utdata (resultat av användarens påverkan). Grafiska användargränssnitt skiljer sig från de textbaserade avändargränssnitten som tidigare var dominerande. Textbaserade lösningar känns ofta igen i äldre DOS-program och typiskt hos dessa är textinmatning av diverse kommandon och parametrar som leder till påverkan av systemet. Numer är det de grafiska användargränssnitten som dominerar. Fördelen med dessa är att de bygger på igenkänningsmekanismen hos människans tänkande och att de därför tillåter ett mer intuitivt användande av systemet i och med att de är just grafiska. Målet med examensarbetet var att designa en gränssnittsmall åt bildanalysföretaget Izolde. Gränssnittsmallen ska kunna modifieras för att kunna möta Izoldes kunders efterfrågan utifrån den typ av analys de vill kunna genomföra. För att kunna genomföra designprocessen krävdes djupare kunskap i vad användarvänlighet innebär och hur denna skall tillämpas i skapandet av ett grafiskt användargränssnitt. Med hjälp av vedertagna principer och teorier inom användarvänlighet var det möjligt att anta rollen som interaktionsdesigner. Interaktiondesign är en disciplin som definieras som beteendet och interaktionen mellan ett föremål, i detta fall ett grafiskt användargränssnitt, och dess användare. För att säkerställa att designprocessen skulle resultera i ett attraktivt och användarvänligt grafiskt användargränssnitt krävdes även att tester utfördes på användare med olika grad av datorkunskap på de wireframes och prototyper som skapades. En wireframe är en tidig skiss av designen på det slutgiltiga grafiska gränssnittet och kan beskrivas som en enkel ritning på ett papper eller en grov skiss skapat med lämplig programvara av vad designers vision av det slutgiltiga resultatet är. Genom att rita skisser skapar designern sig en god uppfattning om hur det grafiska gränssnittet kommer att presenteras i dess slutgiltiga skick. Dessutom är det mycket enklare och snabbare att göra ändringar på en skiss än i ett avancerat program som kräver mer exakt precision. Prototyper är mer sofistikerade versioner av wireframes och skapas i ett senare skede av designprocessen. Prototyper bär också större likheter med den slutliga produkten än wireframes. Designprocessen resulterade i ett flexibelt användarvänligt grafiskt användargränssnitt vars karaktär är anpassat i avseende på de kriterier som angetts av Izolde. Förhoppningen är att det skapade gränssnittet kommer kunna användas som en förändringsbar mall till ett gränssnitt som kan anpassas efter de kriterier och önskemål som ges av Izoldes kunder.

There are a vast number of research and studies undertaken within the domain of user-centered design concerning the design process of an artifact, but still there are questions being raised of the relatively new and successful field of mobile design. During recent years mobile technology have surpassed the standardized thoughts of how to prototype and evaluate such a ubiquitous device. The paper addresses this predicament by discussing aspects of fidelity differences in an early design process of a mobile design. The example being presented refers to a design study of an iPhone-application, where two different types of prototypes were created and user tested, a low-fidelity paper prototype and a mixed-fidelity interactive prototype. The paper sets focus on the various differences between these fidelities closely related to the case. It also reflects on how mobile design approaches can mature during the early stages of a design process.

Plans do not serve the particular circumstances of a given situation, but rather serve as abstract descriptions of some future activities. The relationship between plans, which are abstract, and actions, which are concrete, is referred to as the relationship between plans and situated actions. This relationship can be formulated in the following questions: 1) How do individuals conceive of future activities? 2) How does an individual who is acting upon a plan adjust when facing contingencies? The relationship between plans and situated actions has remained a source of intense academic discussions (e.g., Bardram, 1997; Bardram & Hensen, 2010; Leudar & Costall, 1996; Ng, 2002; Schmidt, 1997; Suchman, 1987). Despite the ample research on the relationship between plans and situated actions, a review of the literature indicates that the problem has not been adequately addressed (Randall et al., 2007; Suchman 2003), which has compelled this researcher to create a theoretical model that integrates the disparate nature of plans and line of actions. Drawing on research on cognition and categorization theory, this thesis proposes a theoretical framework that conceptualizes the relationship between plans and situated actions in terms of activity categories. Specifically, the theoretical framework draws on the prototype and basic-level category theories of categorization, both of which were developed primarily by Rosch (1978), as well as the field theory developed by Lewin (1936). Categorization theories are used to address plans’ abstractness as they capture typifications of human experience. Field theory is used to address the concreteness of action as it captures dynamic properties of the situation in the here and now. The basic premise of the theoretical framework is that individuals conceive (have a knowledge) of plans and their attributes as future activity categories with a range of possibilities. These possibilities are structurally graded, ranging from highly typical to atypical. Plans are believed to be formed based on what is typical for the activity. The theoretical framework argues that an association exists between an individual’s knowledge of typical adjustment relevant to the activity and actual adjustment the individual makes while performing the activity. With this in mind, the theoretical framework considers the actor’s perspective to be central to the investigation. Based on the theoretical framework, several hypotheses are formularized and tested. An in-depth case study conducted in a ready-mix concrete company was used to examine aspects of the theoretical framework empirically. The results of the case study provide a wide range of independent evidence supporting the framework. In addition, an experimental methodology was developed for quantitative testing in the laboratory aspects of the theoretical framework not attainable in the case study. Theoretical and practical implications of the proposed framework and empirical findings are examined. Future research directions are discussed.