Multimodal machine learning is a subfield of machine learning that aims to relate data from different modalities, such as texts and images. One of the many applications that could be built upon this technique is an image retrieval system that, given a text query, retrieves suitable images from a database. In this thesis, a retrieval system based on canonical correlation is used to suggest images for news articles. Different dense text representations produced by Word2vec and Doc2vec, and image representations produced by pre-trained convolutional neural networks are explored to find out how they affect the suggestions. Which part of an article is best suited as a query to the system is also studied. Also, experiments are carried out to determine if an article's date of publication can be used to improve the suggestions. The results show that Word2vec outperforms Doc2vec in the task, which indicates that the meaning of article texts are not as important as the individual words they consist of. Furthermore, the queries are improved by rewarding words that are particularly significant.

The problem of this study is to determine the cause for the reading difficulties and offer remedial suggestions for the sixth-grade children in the Robert E. Lee School, Denton, Texas.

Denna rapport undersöker och ger förbättringsförslag för att effektivisera ledtiden i Gränges valideringsprocess, med avseende på standarderna ISO 9001:2015 (Internationella standardiseringsorganisationen) och IATF 16949:2016 (Internationell arbetsgrupp för fordonsindustrin). Problemet identifierades som en långsam valideringsprocess, vilket orsakades av flera faktorer, däribland otydliga rutiner, bristande kommunikation, bristande förståelse för standarderna, emotionella faktorer, bristande engagemang från ledningen och avdelningarnas olika mål. Dessa orsaker, som identifierades genom brainstorming och Ishikawadiagram, ledde till förlängd ledtid och ineffektivitet. Som forskningsmetod användes en reviderad Design Research Methodology-metod som fokuserade på att identifiera kritiska problemområden och möjliggöra en djupare förståelse av de komplexa och sammankopplade problemen. Genom workshops och intervjuer har en reviderad valideringsprocess upprättats. Denna process har minskat intressekonflikter mellan avdelningarna och ökat samarbete, vilket vidare kommer att förbättra effektiviteten och lägga grunden till ytterligare förbättringar. Rapportens resultat visar att det finns potential att ytterligare effektivisera ledtiden genom att fortsätta förbättra samarbetet mellan avdelningarna, implementera en ny resurs i form av en SQE, standardisera legeringar och förbättra kommunikationskanalerna. Vidare föreslås att upprätta rutiner för alla aktiviteter, avsätta tid i produktionen för löpande validering, och utbilda personal inom ISO 9001:2016 samt IATF 16949:2016. Det fortsatta arbetet innebär att genomföra en djupgående analys av de föreslagna förbättringarna och utveckla strategier för att övervinna potentiella hinder, vilket i slutändan kan leda till märkbara förbättringar i Gränges valideringsprocess och dess övergripande effektivitet. / This report investigates and provides improvement suggestions to streamline the lead time in Gränges' validation process, with reference to the ISO 9001:2015 and IATF 16949:2016 standards. The problem was identified as a slow validation process caused by several factors, including unclear procedures, lack of communication, insufficient understanding of the standards, emotional factors, lack of management commitment, and differing departmental goals. These causes, identified through brainstorming and Ishikawa diagrams, led to prolonged lead times and inefficiency. A revised Design Research Methodology (DRM) was used as the research method, focusing on identifying critical problem areas and enabling a deeper understanding of the complex and interconnected issues. Through workshops and interviews, a revised validation process was established. This process has reduced conflicts of interest between departments and increased collaboration, which will further improve efficiency and lay the groundwork for additional improvements. The results of the report show there is potential to further streamline the lead time by continuing to improve inter-departmental collaboration, implementing a new resource in the form of an SQE, standardizing alloys, and improving communication channels. It is also suggested to establishing routines for all activities, allocate time in production for ongoing validation, and train staff in ISO 9001:2016 and IATF 16949:2016. Future work involves conducting an in-depth analysis of the proposed improvements and developing strategies to overcome potential obstacles, which ultimately can lead to noticeable improvements in Gränges' validation process and its overall efficiency.

Le but de cette recherche est de décrire et comprendre le fonctionnement du management de la créativité dans des entreprises d’assemblage automobiles en Thaïlande. La question principale qui est posée est «comment peut-on gérer la créativité dans l’entreprise ? ». La stratégie d'étude de cas, a été privilégiée à d’autres modes de recherche qualitative. Les données provenant de sources multiples ont été rassemblées: les documents, les protocoles des entretiens avec des participants de niveau hiérarchique différent dans l’entreprise. Quatre études de cas sont présentées. La créativité dans les entreprises d'assemblage en Thaïlande est basée essentiellement sur le concept de ‘Kaizen’. L'étude démontre que les valeurs culturelles et sociales thaïes ont une influence déterminante sur la créativité du salarié. L'activité de créativité au niveau de l'individu et au niveau du groupe ainsi que les facteurs qui ont une influence sur la gestion de la créativité ont été présentés dans cette étude. / The purpose of this study is to understand and describe the creativity management in the car assembly companies in Thailand. The main research question is how can manage the creativity. The case study strategies, which is one of the strategies in the qualitative research methodology is used. Data were collected from multiple sources: documentary evidence, guided interviews with the participants from different positions. Four case studies are presented in this study. The creativity’s definition in Thai car assembly companies was defined based on the concept of Kaizen. The study demonstrates Thai cultural and social values have some effects on the employee’s creativity. The creativity activity in individual and group level, and the factors that influence on creativity management were presented in this study.

This thesis on the topic "Physiology of Plants in Elementary School Botany" consists of theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part focuses on a didactical analysis of the textbooks currently in use and integration of this topic in the valid curricular documentation. It also includes a research part, in which the possibilities of material visual aids used in science teaching are identified. The practical part makes use of these observations. A interactive CD, which includes worksheets on the main areas of plant physiology, has been created based on these observations. The worksheets are in educational text form, include gap-filling activities, and practical - with appropriate experiments. To these, methodology notes for teacher are supplied. The complete version is on the attached CD. Keywords: plant physiology, textbook didactical analysis, worksheet, experiment suggestions, video-material

Examensarbetet har utförts under 10 veckor i uppdrag av Outokumpu Stainless AB via Uppsala universitet. Outokumpus produktion i Avesta tillverkar rostfritt stål, där en del av det producerade stålet slipas för att få en finare yta och minska defekter. I sliphallen finns 8st slipmaskiner som alla måste servas med nya slipskivor när de gamla är nedslipade. Detta utförs av två robotar som automatiskt ska åka ut i sliphallen och byta ut de gamla slipskivorna. Problematiken ligger i dessa robotar, vars automation endast fungerar fullt ut ett fåtal av gångerna. Examensarbetet gick således ut på att utvärdera dessa robotar samt generera förslag på förbättringsåtgärder. En stor del av arbetet fokuserades på analys av den befintliga skivbytesprocessen. Efter att förståelse erhållits för dagens process utfördes undersökningar i syfte att finna de faktorer som orsakar stopp i automationen samt dess konsekvenser. Till sist genererades lösningsförslag vars syften är att öka andelen automatiska byten. De huvudsakliga orsakerna till stoppen i automationen grundar sig i processens utformning, dess krav på precision och att ett flertal komponenter måste harmoniera för att byten ska fungera automatiskt. Bortsett från processens utformning är smuts, slitage, ej anpassad reglering och bristande rutiner faktorer som sätter stopp för automationen. Konsekvenser av problemet är säkerhetsrisker, frustration, tidsförluster för operatörer och ekonomiska förluster. Den instabila skivbytesprocessen påverkar i dagsläget inte nödvändigtvis ledtider på produkterna, men tvingar operatörer att byta slipskivor för tidigt vilket resulterar i outnyttjade slipskivor. Att öka andel automatiska byten är möjligt men kräver mycket arbete. Rutiner är viktigt, särskilt angående linjering av slipmaskinerna, vilket är en förutsättning för att det ska fungera. Även utbyte av slitna komponenter, optimering av reglertekniken och mindre programändringar är lösningar till en ökad andel automatiska byten. För att minska kostnaden för outnyttjade slipskivor krävs det att processen kan utföras snabbare och utan att påverka produktionen. Om företaget ska implementera en alternativ lösning är det viktigt att denna lösning inte kräver att operatörer behöver befinna sig i sliphallen. Detta grundar sig i säkerhetsrisker och minskad produktionskapacitet. Lösningen bör vara adaptiv för att ej behöva förlita sig på linjerade maskiner eller snäva toleranser. / This thesis in Mechanical engineering has been performed at the stainless steel manufacturer Outokumpu Stainless AB, through Uppsala University. At the company's production site some of the produced steel slabs are going through hot grinding in order to get the required surface finish, depending on the customer's demand on quality. There are 8 grinding machines in the grinding station, each of those needs to be provided with new abrasives when the old ones get to worn out. Two robots are installed to execute the abrasives change operation automatically, where each robot maintains 4 grinding machines, two coarse and two fine. This changing process is currently working fully automatically around one percent of the times which constitutes a problem. The thesis is about evaluation and improvement suggestions of this process, where the proportion of succeeded automatically replaced abrasives is in focus. A big part of the work has been based on analysing the existing process in purpose of understanding it fully. After enough knowledge about the process was achieved, investigations about the deficiencies of the process were conducted. Finally improvement suggestions were generated. The main cause of the automation failure is based on the process design and its precision requirements. The environment is tough and the forces are big which affects the process negatively. In addition there are a several components that need to harmonize in order for the abrasives replacement to work properly. Aside from the design of the process other critical factors are dust, component wear, deficient adapted regulation and lacking of alignment routines. Consequences of the failed automatically abrasive replaces are reduced safety, frustration among operators, time loss and economical losses. When the automation stops, the operators have to manually correct the errors alongside the grinding machines in the grinding area. The unstable processes does not necessarily affect the value-adding lead time but forces operators to change the abrasives too early which results in losses in form of non-fully utilized abrasives. Increasing the proportion of automatically fulfilled replaced abrasives is possible but requires much work. Routines are important, especially with alignment of the grinding machines which is a prerequisite for the process to succeed. Replacing of wear damaged components, optimizing the regulation and smaller programming changes are also solutions that contribute to an increasing proportion. To minimize the cost of unutilized abrasives the process is required to perform faster and without interfering with the production.   If the company wants to implement a different solution in form of an investment it is important that the solution does not require operators to be inside the grinding area. This is based on safety issues, also the risk of interrupting the production and creating a bottleneck, which can be crucial under more demanding periods. The solution should be a faster, more adaptive system and should not have to rely on alignment and narrow tolerances.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-09-24T15:31:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Letícia Saltiél Webber_.pdf: 2312766 bytes, checksum: fce9a826a78e0df02fc42136d807f22f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-24T15:31:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Letícia Saltiél Webber_.pdf: 2312766 bytes, checksum: fce9a826a78e0df02fc42136d807f22f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-07 / Nenhuma / O desenvolvimento municipal depende de fatores que afetam a capacidade de gerar emprego e renda, de aumentar suas receitas e de realizar investimentos. Esse problema envolve várias forças sociais como o governo, as entidades que promovem o conhecimento, os empresários e a sociedade. Com a intenção de modificar o ambiente no qual se vive e auxiliar o município de Osório/RS a encontrar alternativas para amenizar os problemas locais, idealizou-se a implementação de um parque tecnológico na cidade. O município carece de um norteamento para a implantação do parque tecnológico, dessa forma, para a efetivação dessa iniciativa, apresenta-se o objetivo dessa dissertação, que é propor um roteiro indicando quais as diretrizes necessárias para a criação de um parque tecnológico para o município de Osório e a forma de sensibilização dos atores da tríplice hélice e da sociedade. A proposta contempla um roteiro de procedimentos que devem ser executadas para viabilizar a implementação do parque, inspirado no modelo de governança da tríplice hélice. O cumprimento dos objetivos foi possível através da pesquisa documental com abordagem exploratória qualitativa, que permitiu o acesso e análises de dados; da pesquisa-ação, que promoveu a interação dos atores envolvidos; e teve o direcionamento dos passos para a criação do roteiro conforme a Design Science Research com as sugestões dos Experts. Essa movimentação pôde ser registrada num Caderno de Campo. Com a pesquisa, foi possível observar que o município apresenta um desenvolvimento regular motivado principalmente pela falta de investimentos e que necessita aumentar o emprego e a renda, que diminuíram em função da diminuição da capacidade produtiva e do envelhecimento da população. Ainda que, a implantação do parque tecnológico estruturante voltado para tecnologia, com governança nos moldes da tríplice hélice, auxiliaria no desenvolvimento local, consoante as sugestões dos Experts. Assim, o roteiro proposto para a criação do parque tecnológico já logrou êxito visto que várias etapas propostas já foram realizadas. / The municipal development depends on factors that affect the ability to generate jobs and income, to increase their revenue and undertake investments. This problem involves various social forces as the Government, entities that promote knowledge, entrepreneurs and the society. With the intent to modify the environment in which one lives and assist the municipality of Osório/RS to find alternatives to alleviate local problems, idealized implementation of a technological park in the city. The city lacks a providing guidance for the implementation of the technology park, in this way, for the implementation of this initiative, the goal of this dissertation is to propose a roadmap indicating what the guidelines required for the creation of a park technology for the city of Osório and the form of awareness of the triple helix and actors of society. The proposal includes a script for procedures that must be performed to enable implementation of the Park, inspired by the model of governance of the triple helix. The achievement of the goals was possible through documentary research with exploratory qualitative approach, which allowed the access and analysis of data; the action research, which promoted the interaction of actors involved; and had the direction of the steps to the creation of the script as a Design Science Research with suggestions from Experts. This movement could be recorded in a field Notebook. With the survey, it was possible to observe that the municipality presents a regular development motivated principally by lack of investment and that it needs to increase employment and income, which decreased due to the decrease in production capacity and the aging of the population. Although the deployment of structuring technology-oriented technology park, with governance along the lines of the triple helix, would assist in local development, according to the suggestions of Experts. Thus, the proposed roadmap for the creation of the technological park has already achieved success since several steps have already been made proposals.

Selon l’UNESCO (2006), la démarche d’éducation inclusive consiste à chercher comment transformer les systèmes éducatifs et autres cadres d’apprentissage pour les adapter à la diversité des apprenants. Prendre en compte une telle diversité implique également de se préoccuper de la diversité des enseignants qui accompagnent les élèves. Il est dès lors nécessaire de prendre en considération leurs habitudes, leur identité et considérer que, face à toute modification de leur milieu, la question de la réflexivité comme celles des tensions existentielles ne peuvent être négligées. Dans le cadre de ce travail, nous avons proposé à 35 enseignants volontaires une formation en Process Communication leur permettant de découvrir les caractéristiques-clés de chaque type de personnalité ainsi que les canaux de communication à privilégier pour établir des relations constructives et efficaces. Au terme de cette formation et d’un accompagnement ultérieur des enseignants, nous avons mesuré l’impact de notre approche sur leurs représentations pédagogiques et l’intérêt d’une telle dynamique sur une transformation éventuelle du cadre éducatif. Il ressort de cette recherche qu’une telle formation semble faire évoluer les pratiques sur les plans relationnel et communicationnel mais que les changements au niveau pédagogique en sont encore à leurs balbutiements. Quant à l’impact au niveau du cadre éducatif, nous ne pouvons rien observer tant le manque de stabilité des équipes pédagogiques est flagrant. Nous sommes toutefois convaincu qu’il est possible de tendre vers les objectifs envisagés si un travail en co-construction avec les enseignants se poursuivait au-delà de cette recherche. A cette fin, des propositions ont été suggérées au terme de notre étude. / According to UNESCO (2006), the approach of inclusive education is about transforming educational systems and learning environments to adapt them to learner diversity. To take this diversity into account also means considering the diversity of the teachers who follow these pupils. It is thus necessary to take their habits and identity into account, and to understand that, when confronted to changes in their environment, reflexivity and existential tensions cannot be dismissed. Within the framework of this study, we offered a Process Communication training to 35 voluntary teachers to introduce them to the key features of each personality type and the preferred communication channels to build constructive and efficient relationships. After this training and after subsequent assistance to the teachers, we measured the impact of our approach on their educational representations and the relevance of such a process on the potential transformation of the learning environment. What emerges of this study is that such a training seems to bring about some change in relationship and communication practices but changes at educational level are only beginning. Concerning the impact on the learning environment, we can’t draw any conclusion given the fact that educational teams are far from stable. However, we are convinced that the considered purposes are achievable if the « coconstruction » work with teachers continues beyond this study. In this respect, we have formulated suggestions at the end of our study.

This dissertation investigates the effects of instruction on the acquisition of pragmatic competence in the classroom setting, and specifically in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. In particular, we examine the effects of instruction on learners' pragmatic development of a specific speech act, that of suggestions, with the goal of expanding the range of learning targets addressed in pragmatic interventional studies (Kasper and Rose, 2002). Apart from dealing with instructional effects, we also take into account the need to investigate various types of instruction in order to ascertain their effectiveness (Kasper and Rose, 2002). In this way, we analyse two different treatments (i.e. explicit and implicit) that have been operationalised on the basis of the principles underlying the paradigms of Focus on FormS and Focus on Form (Long, 1991, 1996, 1998; Doughty and Williams, 1998; Long and Robinson, 1998; Doughty, 2001). The aim of comparing both teaching approaches is to determine whether the two treatments are equally effective in developing learners' pragmatic competence regarding their production, awareness and confidence when judging the appropriateness of suggestions in different situations. Additionally, we are also concerned with issues related to research methodology and, bearing in mind findings from studies that observed task effects between oral and written production tasks (Houck and Gass, 1996; Sasaki, 1998; Safont, 2001), we have compared our learners' performance when making suggestions in two different tasks: an oral production task (i.e. phone messages) and a written production task (i.e. email).The results of the investigation indicate that, in comparison to the control group, both the explicit and implicit groups improved their pragmatic competence regarding their production, awareness and confidence when judging the appropriateness of suggestions in different situations. Moreover, comparing the explicit and implicit groups' performance in the post-test no statistical differences were observed between the two instructional treatments, which illustrates the effects of both explicit and implicit instruction to develop learners' pragmatic competence in the EFL classroom. The findings also show that the production task in which learners are engaged influences their use of suggestions, since there were task effects between the two production tasks employed in our study (i.e. phone messages and emails). In conclusion, the results obtained in this dissertation expand the scope of enquiry in the field of interlanguage pragmatics as well as outline practical pedagogical implications and open several lines of investigation to be examined in future research.

The aim of the thesis was to analyze the level of motivation and stimulation in a choosen company, it's effect on the current management, and proposals for measures leading to the desired condition. The research was conducted at the company CVP Gavanika s. r. o., whose major activity involves electroplating. The company has operated on the Czech market since 1992. The assessment of this condition was primarily based on the information resulting from a questionnaire survey. Uncontrolled interviews with the executives of the company served as another source of information. The survey was conducted in all branches of the company including it's headquarters. At this point two grades of employees were addressed: the average employees and the management. The obtained data were processed according to appropriate methods. Following the ordination and analysis of the data, the description, comparation and overall assessment of the effect of motivation and stimulation on the current management was done. The final part of the thesis features a synthesis of the obtained information and provides practical suggestions leading to a desired state within this field. The management team of the company was advised on how to make improvements in the following issues: praising and appreciation, stress management, participation of employees to the decision-making process, education, awareness, comunication, use of feedback, relations, equality at the workplace, and strengthening the corporate culture.