| 1. |
- Awuah, Gabriel Baffour, et al.
(författare)
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Networked (interactive) position : a new view of developing and sustaining competitive advantage
- 2008
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Ingår i: Competitiveness Review. - Bingley : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1059-5422 .- 2051-3143. ; 18:4, s. 333-350
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – In the extant literature a firm's development of its competitive advantage is seen to be the task of the firm alone. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new and a broader approach of how competitive advantage can be developed and maintained in today's highly competitive and dynamic markets. To this end, how a firm handles its relationships with significant actors in its network becomes very decisive for the development of its competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on a network approach, case studies have been used to shed lights on the extent to which the development of competitive advantage of firms affect and are affected by their interaction with some actors in a network of exchange relationships.Findings – An important conclusion of this study is that a firm's highly valued performance, an indication of its strong position or competitive strength, has its roots in its regular and intensive interaction with some significant actors in its network.Research limitations/implications – All firms in this study have demonstrated that competitive advantage can be achieved by building up a strong position through interaction, learning and adaptation with some significant actors in the marketplace. Since the study is based on one setting, extending a similar study to several settings will be very useful.Originality/value – The paper provides insights into how a firm, in the effort to build its competitive advantage, draws on its own capabilities and complementary capabilities of its partners in a network.
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| 2. |
- Ericson, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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A vision-guided mobile robot for precision agriculture
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings of 7th European Conference on Precision Agriculture. - Wageningen : Wageningen Academic Publishers. - 9789086861132 - 9789086866649 ; , s. 623-630
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we have developed a mobile robot which is able to perform crop-scale operations using vision as only sensor. The system consists of a row-following system and a visual odometry system. The row following system captures images from a front looking camera on the robot and the crop rows are extracted using Hough transform. Both distance to the rows and heading angle is provided which both are used to control the steering. The visual odometry system uses two cameras in a stereo setup pointing perpendicular to the ground. This system measures the travelled distance by measuring the ground movement and compensate for height variation. Experiments are performed on an artificial field due to the season. The result shows that the visual odometry have accuracy better than 2.1% of travelled distance.
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| 3. |
- Ericson, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Algorithms for Visual Odometry in Outdoor Field Environment
- 2007
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 13th IASTED International Conference on Robotics and Applications. - Anaheim, Calif. : ACTA Press. - 9780889866850 - 9780889866867 ; , s. 287-292
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper different algorithms for visual odometry are evaluated for navigating an agricultural weeding robot in outdoor field environment. Today there is an encoder wheel that keeps track of the weeding tools position relative the camera, but the system suffers from wheel slippage and errors caused by the uneven terrain. To overcome these difficulties the aim is to replace the encoders with visual odometry using the plant recognition camera. Four different optical flow algorithms are tested on four different surfaces, indoor carpet, outdoor asphalt, grass and soil. The tests are performed on an experimental platform. The result shows that the errors consist mainly of dropouts caused by overriding maximum speed, and of calibration error due to uneven ground. The number of dropouts can be reduced by limiting the maximum speed and detection of missing frames. The calibration problem can be solved using stereo cameras. This gives a height measurement and the calibration will be given by camera mounting. The algorithm using normalized cross-correlation shows the best result concerning number of dropouts, accuracy and calculation time.
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| 4. |
- Ericson, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Stereo Visual Odometry for Mobile Robots on Uneven Terrain
- 2008
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Ingår i: WCECS '08 Proceedings of the Advances in Electrical and Electronics Engineering - IAENG Special Edition of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2008. - Washington : IEEE Computer Society. - 9780769535555 - 9781424435456 ; , s. 150-157
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we present a stereo visual odometry system for mobile robots that is not sensitive to uneven terrain. Two cameras is mounted perpendicular to the ground and height and traveled distance are calculated using normalized cross correlation. A method for evaluating the system is developed, where flower boxes containing representative surfaces are placed in a metal-working lathe. The cameras are mounted on the carriage which can be positioned manually with 0.1 mm accuracy. Images are captured every 10 mm over 700 mm. The tests are performed on eight different surfaces representing real world situations. The resulting error is less than 0.6% of traveled distance on surfaces where the maximum height variation is measured to 96 mm. The variance is measured for eight test runs, total 5.6 m, to 0.040 mm. This accuracy is sufficient for crop-scale agricultural operations.
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| 5. |
- Ericson, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Visual Odometry System for Agricultural Field Robots
- 2008
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2008, WCECS 2008, October 22 - 24, 2008, San Francisco, USA. - Hong Kong : International Association of Engineers. - 9789889867102 ; , s. 619-624
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we present a visual odometry system for agricultural field robots that is not sensitive to uneven terrain. A stereo camera system is mounted perpendicular to the ground and height and traveled distance are calculated using normalized cross correlation. A method for evaluating the system is developed, where flower boxes containing representative surfaces are placed in a metal-working lathe. The cameras are mounted on the carriage which can be positioned manually with 0.1 mm accuracy. Images are captured every 10 mm over 700 mm. The tests are performed on eight different surfaces representing real world situations. The resulting error is less than 0.6% of traveled distance on surfaces where the maximum height variation is measured to 96 mm. The variance is measured for eight test runs, total 5.6 m, to 0.040 mm. This accuracy is sufficient for crop-scale agricultural operations.
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| 6. |
- Haerens, L., et al.
(författare)
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Developing the IDEFICS community-based intervention program to enhance eating behaviors in 2-to 8-year-old children : findings from focus groups with children and parents
- 2009
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Ingår i: Health Education Research. - Cary, NC : Oxford University Press. - 0268-1153 .- 1465-3648. ; 24:3, s. 381-393
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- One purpose of 'identification and prevention of dietary- and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants' (IDEFICS) is to implement a standardized community-based multi-component healthy eating intervention for younger children in eight different countries. The present study describes important influencing factors for dietary behaviors among children aged 2-8 years old in order to determine the best approaches for developing the dietary components of the standardized intervention. Twenty focus groups with children (74 boys, 81 girls) and 36 focus groups with 189 parents (28 men, 161 women) were conducted. Only in two countries, children mentioned receiving nutrition education at school. Rules at home and at school ranged from not allowing the consumption of unhealthy products to allowing everything. The same diversity was found for availability of (un)healthy products at home and school. Parents mentioned personal (lack of time, financial constraints, preferences), socio-environmental (family, peer influences), institutional (school policies) and physical-environmental (availability of unhealthy products, price, season) barriers for healthy eating. This focus group research provided valuable information to guide the first phase in the IDEFICS intervention development. There was a large variability in findings within countries. Interventions should be tailored at the personal and environmental level to increase the likelihood of behavioral change.
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| 7. |
- Hedenberg, Klas, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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A Trinocular Stereo System for Detection of Thin Horizontal Structures
- 2008
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Ingår i: Advances in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. - Los Alamitos : IEEE Computer Society. - 9780769535555 - 9781424435456 ; , s. 211-218
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many vision-based approaches for obstacle detection often state that vertical thin structure is of importance, e.g. poles and trees. However, there are also problem in detecting thin horizontal structures. In an industrial case there are horizontal objects, e.g. cables and fork lifts, and slanting objects, e.g. ladders, that also has to be detected. This paper focuses on the problem to detect thin horizontal structures. We introduce a test apparatus for testing thin objects as a complement for the test pieces for human safety described in the European standard EN 1525 safety of industrial trucks - driverless trucks and their systems. The system uses three cameras, situated as a horizontal pair and a vertical pair, which makes it possible to also detect thin horizontal structures. A sparse disparity map based on edges and a dense disparity map is used to identify problems with a trinocular system. Both methods use the sum of absolute difference to compute the disparity maps. Tests show that the proposed trinocular system detects all objects at the test apparatus. If a sparse or dense method is used is not critical. Further work will implement the algorithm in real time and verify it on a final system in many types of scenery.
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| 8. |
- Hedenberg, Klas, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Obstacle Detection For Thin Horizontal Structures
- 2008
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Ingår i: World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science. - Hong Kong : International Association of Engineers. - 9789889867102 ; , s. 689-693
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many vision-based approaches for obstacle detection often state that vertical thin structure is of importance, e.g. poles and trees. However, there are also problem in detecting thin horizontal structures. In an industrial case there are horizontal objects, e.g. cables and fork lifts, and slanting objects, e.g. ladders, that also has to be detected. This paper focuses on the problem to detect thin horizontal structures. The system uses three cameras, situated as a horizontal pair and a vertical pair, which makes it possible to also detect thin horizontal structures. A comparison between a sparse disparity map based on edges and a dense disparity map with a column and row filter is made. Both methods use the Sum of Absolute Difference to compute the disparity maps. Special interest has been in scenes with thin horizontal objects. Tests show that the sparse dense method based on the Canny edge detector works better for the environments we have tested.
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| 9. |
- Nilsson, Pernilla, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Distribuerad case-metodik i ingenjörsutbildningen
- 2009
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Ingår i: Den 2:a Utvecklingskonferensen för Sveriges ingenjörsutbildningar. - Lund : Lunds Tekniska Högskola, Genombrottet. ; , s. 71-73, s. 71-73
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper is based on a project in which an academic developer worked as a critical friend for a group of engineering in order to stimulate their collaboration and their reflection on their own teaching and learning as a way of developing their scholarship of teaching. The project was built on collaboration between three different universities, Halmstad, Örebro and Skövde and reports on how teachers, as well as the students collaborative learning experiences.
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| 10. |
- Wennström, Berith, et al.
(författare)
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Use of perioperative dialogues with children undergoing day surgery.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of advanced nursing. - Oxford : Wiley. - 1365-2648 .- 0309-2402. ; 62:1, s. 96-106
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AIM: This paper is a report of a study to explore what it means for children to attend hospital for day surgery. BACKGROUND: Hospitalization is a major stressor for children. Fear of separation, unfamiliar routines, anaesthetic/operation expectations/experiences and pain and needles are sources of children's negative reactions. METHOD: A grounded theory study was carried out during 2005-2006 with 15 boys and five girls (aged 6-9 years) scheduled for elective day surgery. Data were collected using tape-recorded interviews that included a perioperative dialogue, participant observations and pre- and postoperative drawings. FINDINGS: A conceptual model was generated on the basis of the core category 'enduring inflicted hospital distress', showing that the main problem for children having day surgery is that they are forced into an unpredictable and distressful situation. Pre-operatively, the children do not know what to expect, as described in the category 'facing an unknown reality'. Additional categories show that they perceive a 'breaking away from daily routines' and that they are 'trying to gain control' over the situation. During the perioperative period, the categories 'losing control' and 'co-operating despite fear and pain' are present and intertwined. Post-operatively, the categories 'breathing a sigh of relief' and 'regaining normality in life' emerged. CONCLUSION: The perioperative dialogue used in our study, if translated into clinical practice, might therefore minimize distress and prepare children for the 'unknown' stressor that hospital care often presents. Further research is needed to compare anxiety and stress levels in children undergoing day surgery involving the perioperative dialogue and those having 'traditional' anaesthetic care.
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