Vision Algorithms for Ball on Beam and Plate

The ball-and-beam process is one of the most famous control laboratory processes [1]. At the Department of Automatic Control at Lund Institute of Technology a light-weight ballandbeam process has been made portable by implementing the controls on a laptop with a webcam. The main contribution of this master thesis was the testing and implementation of a variety of vision-based algorithms used to localize the beam, the ball on it and calculate the angle of the beam. A soft-real-time controller was also implemented which used the camera sampling period. Identification of gestures was used to set reference points on the beam. For further testing of the algorithms a ball-on-plate process was implemented using an IRB2400 6-axis robot, using hard-real-tim

Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Workplace Relationships

This article aims to explore what working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic means forworkplace relationships. This study is based on semi-structured interviews with Swedish knowledgeworkers. Three approaches are identified as regards how employees maintain their workplacerelationships when working from home: (1) being selective as regards social interactions, (2) beingcompliant and resistant during digital meetings, and (3) having less spontaneity and creativitywhen in the digital space. Further, our findings also point to the prioritization of the individual’sinterests and needs over those of the collective. The study indicates the importance of understanding the dynamics of the workplace relationships when working remotely

Mer eller mindre byråkratisk : En studie av organisationsförändringar inom Kronofogdemyndigheten

Extensive changes in public organizations have been carried through since the end of the 20th century as a way of achieving higher efficiency. Inspiration came from the private sector. The Swedish Enforcement Authority carried through several organizational changes during this time. The authority was during 1997-2006 organized in ten independent authorities subordinated to the National Tax Board. This thesis deals with the organizational changes within the Malmoe authority, which from 2001 organized its personnel in teams in order to increase productivity and improve the work environment. Almost at the same time a new computer system and a new production target were introduced. This thesis focuses on the impacts and consequences of the organizational changes in an authority with large demands on legal rights. In particular it analyzes what the changes meant for the bureaucratic organizational principles as well as for the ‘bureaucratic values’. The empirical material is composed of interviews with the staff, internal documents and observations of various meetings and seminars. The theoretical framework is based on Max Weber’s concept of bureaucracy and on a perspective of organizational change inspired from new institutionalism. It is argued that the Enforcement Authority was both more and less bureaucratic as a result of the organizational changes. In several respects the team organization, the computer system and the production target proved to be compatible with the bureaucratic structure of the Enforcement Authority rather than replacing it. In some ways the changes increased the bureaucracy of the system. For example, the new computer system facilitated a more intensive bureaucratic control of the employees where production rates of each team were able to be monitored and measured on a weekly basis. A priority order meant using stricter rules than those previously relied upon for determining which cases would be treated first thus decreasing the use of discretion by individual employees. In other ways the organization became less bureaucratic. Organizing the staff in teams meant a collective instead of a individual responsibility for the cases and for fulfilling the production target. A collective responsibility, however, also meant that the bureaucratic values were fulfilled to a higher extent as the executing officers were able to control each other. As the members of the teams got greater insight into each others work as a consequence of the new computer system and the team organization they were more inclined to make decisions strictly by the book. This could be seen as a form of self-control promoting a more uniform behavior towards the clients. The maintenance of the bureaucratic organization did not stop the institutionalization process of the team organization. The bureaucratic organization turned out to be firmly institutionalized, but also adaptable both to the sharpened demands for increased efficiency as well as the demands following a re-organization of work into a non-bureaucratic collectively organized team work. In some respects the bureaucratic order even became stronger. Various aspects of Weber’s criterions for the bureaucratic ideal type including bureaucratic values such as legal rights were strengthened. The Enforcement Authority was de-bureaucratized as well as re-bureaucratized through the institutionalization- and re-institutionalization processes

Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Workplace Relationships

This article aims to explore what working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic means for workplace relationships. This study is based on semi-structured interviews with Swedish knowledge workers. Three approaches are identified as regards how employees maintain their workplace relationships when working from home: (1) being selective as regards social interactions, (2) being compliant and resistant during digital meetings, and (3) having less spontaneity and creativity when in the digital space. Further, our findings also point to the prioritization of the individual’s interests and needs over those of the collective. The study indicates the importance of understanding the dynamics of the workplace relationships when working remotely

Utmaningar i välfärdens stuprör : Stöd till integrering för ungdomar med begränsad läs- och skrivkunnighet

Att lära sig svenska är ett av de viktigaste målen för asylsökande ungdomar med begränsade läs- och skrivkunskaper. En effektiv språkutveckling är en förutsättning för en god integration i det svenska samhället. För att kunna stödja dessa ungdomars arbete med att utveckla sina egna resurser, krävs bland annat att lärare, coacher, handläggare, socialsekreterare och andra professioner som arbetar nära ungdomarna, arbetar tillsammans utifrån ett resursperspektiv. Genom ett sådant gemensamt arbetssätt kan de underlätta för ungdomarna att erövra handlingskapacitet och förändra sina livsvillkor. Ett sådant arbetssätt ställer nya krav på samverkan mellan kommunala förvaltningar och olika professioner, liksom på samverkan mellan praktik och forskning.I projektet Integration Unga Analfabeter arbetar forskare tillsammans med praktiker inom skola, socialtjänst och arbetsmarknadsförvaltning i Helsingborgs stad, med att åstadkomma en sådan samverkan. I projektet tar vi fasta på kompletterande teoretiska perspektiv för att ställa ungdomarna och deras resurser i centrum. Vi prövar också metoder för att få professioner att samverka och bedriva utveckling på nya sätt

Yrkesverksammas integrationsarbete med asylsökande ungdomar

Under 2015 anlände ett stort antal ensamkommande barn och ungdomar till Sverige. Många kommuner förväntades under kort tid ordna boende och skolgång för dessa. Inom Helsingborgs stad genomfördes under 2016 ett forskningsprojekt vars syfte var att undersöka och förbättra arbetssätt och förvaltningsövergripande samarbete för att främja integrationsarbetet och skapa förutsättningar för nyanlända ungdomarna att bli aktiva samhällsmedlemmar. Särskilt involverade var skola och HVB-hem, eftersom dessa verksamheter fyller viktiga funktioner i ungdomarnas vardag.Syftet med den här studien är att skapa förståelse för hur de professionellas förhållningssätt till och föreställningar om ungdomarna präglar arbetet i den tidiga integrationsprocessen. Det empiriska materialet består av djupintervjuer med personal från skola och HVB-hem, tre lärare och fyra boendecoacher. Tolkningen av materialet tar sin utgångspunkt i hur de professionella talar om sin relation till och sitt arbete med ungdomarna. I analysen framträder ett mönster av hur föreställningar om etnicitet sätter ramarna för integrationsarbetet. De professionella ger uttryck för handlingar och förhållningssätt som bidrar till såväl att begränsa som att ge utrymme åt ungdomarnas tidigare kunskaper och erfarenheter. På olika sätt läggs förväntningar på ungdomarna att anpassa sig normer om svenskhet. Konsekvenserna av detta är integrationsarbetet uppvisar drag av assimilering