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The Social Dimension of Strategic Sustainable Development
No full textSustainable development most prominently entered the global political arena in
1987 in a report from the United Nations Commission on Environment and
Development, also known as the Brundtland report. In response to the concept of
sustainable development, a vast array of ideas, concepts, methods and tools to
aid organizations and governments in addressing the socio-ecological problems
has been developed. Though helpful in many contexts, the multitude of such
support also risks creating confusion, not the least since there is no
generally endorsed overriding and operational definition of sustainability.
Thus, there is a growing need for such a definition and for an understanding of
how these ideas, concepts, methods and tools relate to sustainability and to
each other. A framework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) has been
developed over the last 20 years to create such a unifying structure. The aim
of this research is to contribute specifically to the social sustainability
definition of this framework.
The research follows the Design Research Methodology. First, the social
dimension of the FSSD as it stands currently was examined and described as was
the general field of social sustainability. Then, a new approach to the social
side of the FSSD was created.
The studies revealed that the field of social sustainability, in general, is
vastly under-theorized and under-developed, and that a clear framework is
important and desired. They also laid out in which ways specifically the
structure of the FSSD could be used to further develop the social dimension of
strategic planning and innovation, and that currently this aspect of the FSSD
is relatively under-developed. This assessment was followed by a first attempt
at a clearer definition of social sustainability.
Based on these explorations, this research suggests five principles as a
hypothesis to be used as a definition of social sustainability, the key-terms
of which being ’integrity’, ‘influence’, ‘competence’, ‘impartiality’ and
‘meaning’. For validity purposes the results were cross-checked with other
approaches and theories. The validity check shows that similar key-terms have
been found by other researchers.
In conclusion, this research contributes with a hypothesis for a clearer
definition of social sustainability, which is general enough to be applied
irrespective of spatial and temporal constraints, but concrete enough to guide
decision-making. This is a contribution to systems science in the
sustainability field and it is a step to creating an enhanced support for
strategic planning and innovation for sustainability. Further testing and
refinement of this theoretical foundation, and bringing it into practical use,
will be the subject of the continued studies
Adaptive Fingerprint Image Enhancement With Emphasis on Preprocessing of Data
No full textThis article proposes several improvements to an adaptive fingerprint
enhancement method that is based on contextual filtering. The term adaptive
implies that parameters of the method are automatically adjusted based on the
input fingerprint image. Five processing blocks comprise the adaptive
fingerprint enhancement method, where four of these blocks are updated in our
proposed system. Hence, the proposed overall system is novel. The four updated
processing blocks are: 1) preprocessing; 2) global analysis; 3) local analysis;
and 4) matched filtering. In the preprocessing and local analysis blocks, a
nonlinear dynamic range adjustment method is used. In the global analysis and
matched filtering blocks, different forms of order statistical filters are
applied. These processing blocks yield an improved and new adaptive fingerprint
image processing method. The performance of the updated processing blocks is
presented in the evaluation part of this paper. The algorithm is evaluated
toward the NIST developed NBIS software for fingerprint recognition on FVC
databases
Identification of Influential Factors on Android Smartphone-Based Video Quality of Experience
No full textMobile handheld devices have become friends in people’s daily lives. Frequent
usage of available applications, especially video streaming, causes exponential
growth in mobile IP traffic. Service providers and application developers need
to know the tradeoff between the end-to-end (e2e) performance and cost since,
not fully met expectations of customers from those applications cause reduced
usage of services, revenue, and growth in the churn rate. The user-centric
approach, which involves users into the assessment of the performance of a
particular service or application, has become important within the
inter-disciplinary research field Quality of Experience (QoE). The ultimate
goal is to obtain simplified QoE models on particular applications based on the
underlying network-based performance metrics as well as other non-technical
metrics related to the end-user. Android smartphones that use open-source code
and well-documented Application Programming Interfaces (API), facilitate
researchers to do low-level and network-based performance analysis on end-user
mobile devices while considering user feedback.
In this thesis, the influential factors for Android smartphone-based QoE are
studied. The relation between the quantified user-perceived QoE metric, i.e.,
Mean Opinion Score (MOS), and the artifacts in real-time video streaming such
as blockiness and jerkiness caused by network-level metrics, e.g., Packet Delay
Variation (PDV), Maximal Burst Size (MBS), and video bit rate are identified.
Challenges in assessing the user-perceived QoE of video with the focus on
memory effects are discussed. The relation between the objective metric of user
reaction time and the user-perceived QoE is presented. Furthermore, different
methods to assess end-user-perceived QoE such as Day Reconstruction Method
(DRM), Experience Sampling Method (ESM), and preliminary online survey are
described. Further influential factors, e.g., context, user routines, user
lifestyle, and Quality of Service (QoS) metrics such as Round Trip Time (RTT)
and Server Response Time (SRT), are studied. The thesis is concluded with
preliminary findings that relate the instantaneous total power consumption to
the jerkiness of a real-time video stream with evidences such as stalling
events
Loneliness Among Older People: Results from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care – Blekinge
No full textAbstract: Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and predictors of
loneliness in older people (aged 78+) over a sixyear period.
Method: The sample (n=828) was drawn from the Swedish National Study on Aging
and Care and the respondents were
followed up at three and six years. Data were collected by means of structural
interviews with supplementary
questionnaires.
Results: Half of the respondents reported that they felt lonely sometimes or
more often. Women, widows/-ers living alone
were more prone to report loneliness. Both independent associated factors and
predictors were identified showing that
loneliness is associated with and predicted by both physical and psychosocial
outcomes.
Discussion: Loneliness is common among older people and seems to be a steady
state affected mainly by psychological
and psychosocial factors such as personality, satisfaction with life, risk of
depression, lack of friends and loss of spouse.
Psychosocial interventions targeting emotional loneliness and social isolation
are suggested
Potential fields in maritime anomaly detection
No full textThis paper presents a novel approach for pattern extraction and anomaly
detection in mari- time vessel traffic, based on the theory of potential
fields. Potential fields are used to rep- resent and model normal, i.e.
correct, behaviour in maritime transportation, observed in historical vessel
tracks. The recorded paths of each maritime vessel generate potentials based on
metrics such as geographical location, course, velocity, and type of vessel,
resulting in a potential-based model of maritime traffic patterns.
A prototype system STRAND, developed for this study, computes and displays
distinctive traffic patterns as potential fields on a geographic representation
of the sea. The system builds a model of normal behaviour, by collating and
smoothing historical vessel tracks. The resulting visual presentation exposes
distinct patterns of normal behaviour inherent in the recorded maritime traffic
data. Based on the created model of normality, the system can then perform
anomaly detection on current real-world maritime traffic data. Anomalies are
detected as conflicts between vessels potential in live data, and the local
history-based potential field. The resulting detection performance is tested on
AIS maritime tracking data from the Baltic region, and varies depending on the
type of potential.
The potential field based approach contributes to maritime situational
awareness and enables automatic detection. The results show that anomalous
behaviours in maritime traffic can be detected using this method, with varying
performance, necessitating further study
Another possibility to focus moving targets by normalized relative speed in UWB SAR
No full textThe paper presents another possibility to focus moving targets using normalized
relative speed (NRS). Similar to the currently used focusing approach, the
focusing approach proposed in this paper aims at the ultrawideband and
ultrawidebeam synthetic aperture radar systems (UWB SAR) like CARABAS-II. The
proposal is shown to overcome the shortcomings of the original focusing
approach and can be extended to more complicated cases, for example bistatic
SAR
Analytics for Product Planning: In-depth Interview Study with SaaS Product Managers
No full textSaaS cloud computing, in contrast to packaged products, enables permanent
contact between users of a software product and the product-owning company.
When planning the development and evolution of a software product, a product
manager depends on reliable information about feature attractiveness. So far,
planning decisions were based on stakeholder opinion and the customer's
willingness to buy. Whether or not a feature actually is used was out of
consideration. Analytics that measure the interaction between users and the
SaaS gives product managers unprecedented access to information about product
usage. To understand whether and how SaaS analytics can be used for product
planning decision, we performed 17 in-depth interviews with experienced
managers of SaaS products and analyzed the results analyzed with a mixed-method
strategy. The empirical results characterize the relevance of a broad range of
analytics for product planning decisions, and the strengths and limitations of
an analytics-based product planning approach
Characteristics and performance of new firms and spinoffs in Sweden
No full textWe analyse the rate of formation, the characteristics, and the performance of
different types of new firms in Sweden over a decade. Comparisons with Denmark,
Brazil, and the United States suggest that the environment for new firm
formation in Sweden is not markedly different than elsewhere. In line with
previous studies, spin-offs of incumbents perform better than other types of
new firms, particularly if their parent firm continues to operate. A novel
finding is that the larger the size of their parent, the greater is the rate of
employment growth of spin-offs. This contrasts sharply with findings for firms
with a single owner
Making Plans - Telling Stories: Planning in Karlskrona/Sweden 1980 - 2010
No full textThe aim of this thesis is to understand how a repertoire of municipal planning
narratives evolved and how these were used as a means to explain, legitimise
and produce change in a city that went through a process of urban
transformation. The focus is set on the role of narratives in municipal plans
as a mental preparation for change. In order to reach this aim, a framework for
narrative analysis is developed that shall facilitate a critical reading of
such municipal planning documents as comprehensive plans. This shall help to
understand among other things how place and community are constructed. This
framework is used to interpret four documents of the municipality of
Karlskrona, one introductory guide for new inhabitants from 1980, and three
consecutive comprehensive plans, adopted in 1991, 2002 and 2010.
In short, the narrative analysis consists of four different ways of reading
each respective document. First, more or less coherent narratives are
identified in the texts. Second, they are analysed with respect to their
literary and rhetoric form, in a way that is inspired by historian and literary
theorist Hayden White. A third reading places the documents’ narratives into
their historical context. Finally, they are classified as certain narratives of
place identity on the basis of a typology developed by sociologist Manuel
Castells. He states that identities can be constructed with help of narratives
that legitimise the existing societal structures, that stand in opposition to
these structures, or that create a new identity out of available resources.
Based on these readings, I find that the four documents use very different
literary and rhetorical forms and that they construct the place’s identity in
ways clearly distinct from each other. They express various moral and political
perspectives and convey clearly distinct social norms regarding the role of
inhabitants and the municipality. Over the decades, there has been a clear
shift of expressed values from those that support a leading role of the (local)
state in fostering local development to those that highlight the importance of
market actors and market forces. A similar change has occurred from the
pronunciation of state responsibility for the inhabitant’s well-being to a
greater focus on individual responsibility. This confirms the notion that
municipal planning is increasingly influenced by ideas of neoliberal
development. It could also be observed that storytelling and a purposeful
narrative construction of place identity have become more prominent as
instruments of planning. Planning narratives were clearly used to explain and
legitimise shifts or persistence in municipal policymaking. Due to this it can
be concluded that in the eyes of local policy makers, the municipality seems to
have gone through a complete process of urban transformation from being in a
state of decline to one of stabilised growth
Making social interactions accessible in online social networks
No full textOnline Social Networks (OSNs) have changed the way people use the internet.
Over the past few years these platforms have helped societies to organize riots
and revolutions such as the Arab Spring or the Occupying Movements. One key
fact in particular is how such events and organizations spread through out the
world with social interactions, though, not much research has been focused on
how to efficiently access such data and furthermore, make it available to
researchers. While everyone in the field of OSN research are using tools to
crawl this type of networks our approach differs significantly from the other
tools out there since we are getting all interactions related to every single
post. In this paper we show means of developing an efficient crawler that is
able to capture all social interactions on public communities on OSNs such as
Facebook