Examining the Role of Rebranding in Perceived Image of a Product Line

The main objective for this study was to explore certain organization’s product line rebranding process and its impact on product line’s perceived image. The case company is a global paper, packaging and forest products company, business segment paper board. The audience explored is one of the company’s major customers, merchant in Germany. The research was performed as a descriptive case study with a purpose to provide longitudinal insight into the product line image and its eventual alteration as a result of the case company’s rebranding process. Mainly qualitative methods were used for conducting the research. The data for the empirical part was collected with a web-based survey at two different points of time; before the rebranded products entered the market and after they had been available approximately six months. The results of this study reveal that the case company has performed well in its attempt to improve product line’s brand image through rebranding. It was found that between the two brand image measurements the product brand image seems to have improved in all of the areas which according to theoretical framework of this study contribute to formation of brand image; brand associations, marketing communications and interpersonal relationships, not forgetting the original platform that initiated the change; technical quality modifications. In other words it may be concluded that as technical quality was brought to a new level, also assessments about the brand image improved respectively.

Eye Fundus Image Analysis for Automatic Detection of Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetes is a rapidly increasing worldwide problem which is characterised by defective metabolism of glucose that causes long-term dysfunction and failure of various organs. The most common complication of diabetes is diabetic retinopathy (DR), which is one of the primary causes of blindness and visual impairment in adults. The rapid increase of diabetes pushes the limits of the current DR screening capabilities for which the digital imaging of the eye fundus (retinal imaging), and automatic or semi-automatic image analysis algorithms provide a potential solution. In this work, the use of colour in the detection of diabetic retinopathy is statistically studied using a supervised algorithm based on one-class classification and Gaussian mixture model estimation. The presented algorithm distinguishes a certain diabetic lesion type from all other possible objects in eye fundus images by only estimating the probability density function of that certain lesion type. For the training and ground truth estimation, the algorithm combines manual annotations of several experts for which the best practices were experimentally selected. By assessing the algorithm’s performance while conducting experiments with the colour space selection, both illuminance and colour correction, and background class information, the use of colour in the detection of diabetic retinopathy was quantitatively evaluated. Another contribution of this work is the benchmarking framework for eye fundus image analysis algorithms needed for the development of the automatic DR detection algorithms. The benchmarking framework provides guidelines on how to construct a benchmarking database that comprises true patient images, ground truth, and an evaluation protocol. The evaluation is based on the standard receiver operating characteristics analysis and it follows the medical practice in the decision making providing protocols for image- and pixel-based evaluations. During the work, two public medical image databases with ground truth were published: DIARETDB0 and DIARETDB1. The framework, DR databases and the final algorithm, are made public in the web to set the baseline results for automatic detection of diabetic retinopathy. Although deviating from the general context of the thesis, a simple and effective optic disc localisation method is presented. The optic disc localisation is discussed, since normal eye fundus structures are fundamental in the characterisation of DR.

Dialogue in the crisis of representation : realism and antirealism in the context of the conversation between theologians and quantum physicists in Göttingen 1949-1961

The aim of this study is to analyse the content of the interdisciplinary conversations in Göttingen between 1949 and 1961. The task is to compare models for describing reality presented by quantum physicists and theologians. Descriptions of reality indifferent disciplines are conditioned by the development of the concept of reality in philosophy, physics and theology. Our basic problem is stated in the question: How is it possible for the intramental image to match the external object?Cartesian knowledge presupposes clear and distinct ideas in the mind prior to observation resulting in a true correspondence between the observed object and the cogitative observing subject. The Kantian synthesis between rationalism and empiricism emphasises an extended character of representation. The human mind is not a passive receiver of external information, but is actively construing intramental representations of external reality in the epistemological process. Heidegger's aim was to reach a more primordial mode of understanding reality than what is possible in the Cartesian Subject-Object distinction. In Heidegger's philosophy, ontology as being-in-the-world is prior to knowledge concerning being. Ontology can be grasped only in the totality of being (Dasein), not only as an object of reflection and perception. According to Bohr, quantum mechanics introduces an irreducible loss in representation, which classically understood is a deficiency in knowledge. The conflicting aspects (particle and wave pictures) in our comprehension of physical reality, cannot be completely accommodated into an entire and coherent model of reality. What Bohr rejects is not realism, but the classical Einsteinian version of it. By the use of complementary descriptions, Bohr tries to save a fundamentally realistic position. The fundamental question in Barthian theology is the problem of God as an object of theological discourse. Dialectics is Barth¿s way to express knowledge of God avoiding a speculative theology and a human-centred religious self-consciousness. In Barthian theology, the human capacity for knowledge, independently of revelation, is insufficient to comprehend the being of God. Our knowledge of God is real knowledge in revelation and our words are made to correspond with the divine reality in an analogy of faith. The point of the Bultmannian demythologising programme was to claim the real existence of God beyond our faculties. We cannot simply define God as a human ideal of existence or a focus of values. The theological programme of Bultmann emphasised the notion that we can talk meaningfully of God only insofar as we have existential experience of his intervention. Common to all these twentieth century philosophical, physical and theological positions, is a form of anti-Cartesianism. Consequently, in regard to their epistemology, they can be labelled antirealist. This common insight also made it possible to find a common meeting point between the different disciplines. In this study, the different standpoints from all three areas and the conversations in Göttingen are analysed in the frameworkof realism/antirealism. One of the first tasks in the Göttingen conversations was to analyse the nature of the likeness between the complementary structures inquantum physics introduced by Niels Bohr and the dialectical forms in the Barthian doctrine of God. The reaction against epistemological Cartesianism, metaphysics of substance and deterministic description of reality was the common point of departure for theologians and physicists in the Göttingen discussions. In his complementarity, Bohr anticipated the crossing of traditional epistemic boundaries and the generalisation of epistemological strategies by introducing interpretative procedures across various disciplines.

Quantification of Proteins and Cells: Luminometric Nonspecific Particle-Based Methods

New luminometric particle-based methods were developed to quantify protein and to count cells. The developed methods rely on the interaction of the sample with nano- or microparticles and different principles of detection. In fluorescence quenching, timeresolved luminescence resonance energy transfer (TR-LRET), and two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPX) methods, the sample prevents the adsorption of labeled protein to the particles. Depending on the system, the addition of the analyte increases or decreases the luminescence. In the dissociation method, the adsorbed protein protects the Eu(III) chelate on the surface of the particles from dissociation at a low pH. The experimental setups are user-friendly and rapid and do not require hazardous test compounds and elevated temperatures. The sensitivity of the quantification of protein (from 40 to 500 pg bovine serum albumin in a sample) was 20-500-fold better than in most sensitive commercial methods. The quenching method exhibited low protein-to-protein variability and the dissociation method insensitivity to the assay contaminants commonly found in biological samples. Less than ten eukaryotic cells were detected and quantified with all the developed methods under optimized assay conditions. Furthermore, two applications, the method for detection of the aggregation of protein and the cell viability test, were developed by utilizing the TR-LRET method. The detection of the aggregation of protein was allowed at a more than 10,000 times lower concentration, 30 μg/L, compared to the known methods of UV240 absorbance and dynamic light scattering. The TR-LRET method was combined with a nucleic acid assay with cell-impermeable dye to measure the percentage of dead cells in a single tube test with cell counts below 1000 cells/tube.

A Technique for Digital Color Image Watermarking Using ICA

With the increase of use of digital media the need for the methods of multimedia protection becomes extremely important. The number of the solutions to the problem from encryption to watermarking is large and is growing every year. In this work digital image watermarking is considered, specifically a novel method of digital watermarking of color and spectral images. An overview of existing methods watermarking of color and grayscale images is given in the paper. Methods using independent component analysis (ICA) for detection and the ones using discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and discrete cosine transform (DCT) are considered in more detail. A novel method of watermarking proposed in this paper allows embedding of a color or spectral watermark image into color or spectral image consequently and successful extraction of the watermark out of the resultant watermarked image. A number of experiments have been performed on the quality of extraction depending on the parameters of the embedding procedure. Another set of experiments included the test of the robustness of the algorithm proposed. Three techniques have been chosen for that purpose: median filter, low-pass filter (LPF) and discrete cosine transform (DCT), which are a part of a widely known StirMark - Image Watermarking Robustness Test. The study shows that the proposed watermarking technique is fragile, i.e. watermark is altered by simple image processing operations. Moreover, we have found that the contents of the image to be watermarked do not affect the quality of the extraction. Mixing coefficients, that determine the amount of the key and watermark image in the result, should not exceed 1% of the original. The algorithm proposed has proven to be successful in the task of watermark embedding and extraction.

Construction Plan Image Service for Mobile Devices

The forthcoming media revolution of exchanging paper documents to digital media in construction engineering requires new tools to be developed. The basis of this bachelor’s thesis was to explore the preliminary possibilities of exporting imagery from a Building Information Modelling –software to a mobile phone on a construction yard. This was done by producing a Web Service which uses the design software’s Application Programming Interface to interact with a structures model in order to produce the requested imagery. While mobile phones were found lacking as client devices, because of limited processing power and small displays, the implementation showed that the Tekla Structures API can be used to automatically produce various types of imagery. Web Services can be used to transfer this data to the client. Before further development the needs of the contractor, benefits for the building master and inspector and the full potential of the BIM-software need to be mapped out with surveys.

Shapes and sizes : body image, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in relation to gender and gender identity

Syftet med denna avhandling var att empiriskt undersöka kroppsbild, kroppsmissnöje och ätstörningssymptom hos vuxna i relation till kön och könsidentitet. Även sexuell kroppsbild studerades. Data samlades in via en populationsbaserad frågeformulärsstudie (11,468 deltagare) samt en intervjustudie med 20 transpersoner. Kvinnor rapporterade mer kroppsmissnöje och ätstörningssymptom än män. Till exempel uppgav mer än hälften av kvinnorna och en tredjedel av männen att de uppfattade sig som mindre attraktiva än de önskade att de var. Mer än hälften av kvinnorna och en tredjedel av männen uppgav sig banta, och självframkallade kräkningar rapporterades av var tionde kvinna och var hundrade man. Könsidentitetskonflikt var associerat med högre nivåer av kroppsnöje och ätstörningssymptom. Majoriteten av de intervjuade transpersonerna rapporterade omfattande missnöje med sina kroppar, särskilt gällande sexuell kroppsbild, samt ätstörningssymptom. Könskorrigering uppgavs i huvudsak lindra kroppsmissnöje och ätstörningssymptom. Vårdpersonal bör vara medveten om att kroppsmissnöje och ätstörningssymptom berör både vuxna kvinnor och män. Missnöje med de sexuella delarna av kroppen förefaller vara relativt vanligt bland vuxna och bör inte förbises. Vårdpersonal som arbetar med transpersoner bör vara medvetna om hur djupt och omfattande dessa personers kroppsmissnöje kan vara, samt uppmärksamma en eventuellt förhöjd risk för ätstörningssymptom. Det är även värt att notera att könskorrigering kan lindra kroppsmissnöje och ätstörningssymptom hos transpersoner.

Design and characterization of large area position sensitive radiation detectors

Planar, large area, position sensitive silicon detectors are widely utilized in high energy physics research and in medical, computed tomography (CT). This thesis describes author's research work relating to development of such detector components. The key motivation and objective for the research work has been the development of novel, position sensitive detectors improving the performance of the instruments they are intended for. Silicon strip detectors are the key components of barrel-shaped tracking instruments which are typically the innermost structures of high energy physics experimental stations. Particle colliders such as the former LEP collider or present LHC produce particle collisions and the silicon strip detector based trackers locate the trajectories of particles emanating from such collisions. Medical CT has become a regular part of everyday medical care in all developed countries. CT scanning enables x-ray imaging of all parts of the human body with an outstanding structural resolution and contrast. Brain, chest and abdomen slice images with a resolution of 0.5 mm are possible and latest CT machines are able to image whole human heart between heart beats. The two application areas are presented shortly and the radiation detection properties of planar silicon detectors are discussed. Fabrication methods and preamplifier electronics of the planar detectors are presented. Designs of the developed, large area silicon detectors are presented and measurement results of the key operating parameters are discussed. Static and dynamic performance of the developed silicon strip detectors are shown to be very satisfactory for experimental physics applications. Results relating to the developed, novel CT detector chips are found to be very promising for further development and all key performance goals are met.

Microstructural and environmental effects on the mechanical properties of porous particle-polymer composites

Papper kan anses vara ett av de mest använda materialen i det dagliga livet. Tidskrifter, tidningar, böcker och diverse förpackningar är några exempel på pappersbaserade produkter. Papperets egenskaper måste anpassas till användningsändamålet. En tidskrift kräver t.ex. hög ljushet, opacitet och en slät yta hos papperet, medan dessa egenskaper är mindre viktiga för en dagstidning. Allt tryckpapper behöver vissa mekaniska egenskaper för att tåla vidarebearbetning såsom kalandrering, tryckning och vikning. Man kan bestryka papper för att förbättra dess optiska egenskaper och tryckbarhetsegenskaper. Vid bestrykning appliceras en dispersion av mineralpigment och polymerbindemedel som ett tunt lager på papperets yta. Bestrykningsskiktet kan ses som ett komplext, poröst kompositmaterial som även bidrar till papperets mekaniska egenskaper och dess processerbarhet i diverse konverteringsoperationer. Kravet på framställning av förmånligt papper med tillräckliga styrkeegenskaper ställer allt högre krav på optimeringen av pappersbestrykningsskiktets egenskaper och produktionskostnader. Målet med detta arbete var att förstå sambandet mellan pigmentbestrykningsskiktets mikrostruktur och dess makroskopiska, mekaniska egenskaper. Resultaten visar att adhesionen i gränsytan mellan pigment och bindemedel är kritisk för bestrykningsskiktets förmåga att bära mekanisk belastning. Polära vätskor är vanliga i tryckfärger och kan, eftersom de påverkar syra/bas-interaktionerna mellan pigment och latexbindemedel, försvaga denna adhesion. Resultaten tyder på att ytstyrkan hos bestruket papper kan höjas genom användning av bifunktionella dispergeringsmedel för mineralpigment. Detta medför inbesparingar i pappersproduktionen eftersom mängden bindemedel, den dyraste komponenten i bestrykningsskiktet, kan minskas.

Real-time Image-based RGB-D Camera Motion Tracking and Environment Mapping

In this work, image based estimation methods, also known as direct methods, are studied which avoid feature extraction and matching completely. Cost functions use raw pixels as measurements and the goal is to produce precise 3D pose and structure estimates. The cost functions presented minimize the sensor error, because measurements are not transformed or modified. In photometric camera pose estimation, 3D rotation and translation parameters are estimated by minimizing a sequence of image based cost functions, which are non-linear due to perspective projection and lens distortion. In image based structure refinement, on the other hand, 3D structure is refined using a number of additional views and an image based cost metric. Image based estimation methods are particularly useful in conditions where the Lambertian assumption holds, and the 3D points have constant color despite viewing angle. The goal is to improve image based estimation methods, and to produce computationally efficient methods which can be accomodated into real-time applications. The developed image-based 3D pose and structure estimation methods are finally demonstrated in practise in indoor 3D reconstruction use, and in a live augmented reality application.

Effect of additives, precursors and process conditions on particle morphology

The objective of the thesis was to develop methods to manufacture and control calcium carbonate crystal nucleation and growth in precipitation process. The work consists of experimental part and literature part that addresses theory of nucleation, crystallization and precipitation. In the experimental part calcium carbonate was precipitated using carbonization reaction. Precipitation was carried out in presence of known morphology controlling agents (anionic polymers and sodium silicate) and by using different operation conditions. Formed material was characterized using SEM images, and its thermal stability was assessed. This work demonstrates that carbon dioxide feeding rate and concentrations of calcium hydroxide and additives can be used to control size, shape and amount of precipitating calcium carbonate.

Brand attitudes influence on city brand image, and their impact on behavioral intention

The main objective of this Master’s Thesis was to examine the perceived city brand image of tourists and residents. It was aimed to accomplish by examining first the contribution of city attributes and marketing communications on forming brand attitudes, and then discover how the brand attitudes influence on city brand image. The impact of brand attitudes and city brand image on behavioral intention was also reviewed. The empirical part of the thesis was conducted with a quantitative method through online-based survey. The sample (n = 492) consisted of tourists and residents of the case city. The data was analyzed with statistical analyses by SPSS program. Brand attitudes, based on the main attributes, were calculated through multi-attribute attitude model. The results confirmed exposure to marketing communications has direct and positive influence on brand attitudes, especially the offline marketing communications. The findings revealed brand attitudes impact directly on city brand image perception. Brand attitudes and brand image dimensions had direct impact on tourists and residents’ behavioral intention. The findings provide important information for the city marketers. They increase marketers understanding on how target population perceives the city brand image and how it impacts on their future behavior. This thesis reveals the perception of current city brand image and gives guidance on what to emphasize in city branding to increase city’s attractiveness in conjunction with its economic development. Furthermore, the created framework can be utilized also in the future researches.