Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Create'

Mitt arbete blir från en eko filosofisk synvinkel, och den konsthantverkbaserade scenografin som kommer skapas är baserad på vår/min syn på relation mellan naturen och människan. Många har tankar om just detta, det känns angeläget att kunna skapa en miljö där detta finns som en underton och att skapa en subtil miljö där jag jobbar med det taktila arbete, - evighetsarbeten, baserade på mitt eget formspråk. Jag vill utforska minatankar och undersöka hur jag kan betrakta och visa detta från olika vinklar.Ett ställe där natur och av människan skapade objekt samspelar, men där naturenblir styrd av objektens väggar, blommor kan tränga sig igenom kompakta materialsom asfalt och nerbrytningsprocessen är en oändlig del av detta. Med dessa flaskor vill jag visa hur naturen fångas in i ett bestämt element och lever av det som serveras den.

In this paper, I recount my experiences with PTSD and my own initial reluctance to seek treatment. I address similar stigmas associated with sexual assault and PTSD— how they are reinforced by media, and their role in silencing victims. I explore how trauma transforms my academic research and work as a media artist. Finally, I explore how art is a healing process through my partially autobiographical thesis project, “The Things that We Create.” By sharing my journey, I hope to continue the dialogue on structural changes that are necessary to combat stigmas of sexual assault and PTSD (not only exclusive to sexual assault victims), and highlight the art-making process as a fundamental tool in restorative recovery.

This document describes the work for a master’s thesis in Media Technology and Engineering at Link ̈oping University. The work consisted of building a system for defining and creating vignettes for horse racing shows. The vignettes are built up by a montage of video clips which are changed with the seasons, time of day and betting product. The system randomizes the video files and the audio files depending on the season, time of day and current betting product when creating the vignettes. Each vignette will therefore be unique. The work also consisted of implementing the vignette graphics in the software Ventuz.

Internet med dess sociala nätverk som blivit till mediekanaler har kommit att förändra vårt beteende när det gäller hur vi kommunicerar och vad vi kommunicerar. Det senaste skiftet representeras av förskjutningen från datorn till mobilen dit alltmer aktivitet flyttas. Detta skifte beror på den snabba produktutveckling som skett, där mobiltelefonen idag har kommit att innehålla komponenter tidigare isolerade till datorer. Detta har påverkat företagens marknadsföringsstrategier. Rapporten bygger på meningen att använda äldre sådana, applicerade på nya mediekanaler inte är effektivt. Istället behövs nya strategier och metoder, och den interaktiva, sociala delen i hur företag kommunicerar sitt budskap till målgrupper har blivit allt viktigare. Syftet med denna rapport är att undersöka ett nytt verktyg som drar nytta av den mobila trenden när det kommer till social media och människors nya kommunikationsvanor. Produkten som representerar av det nya verktyget här föremål för analys, är Wrapp’s presentkortsapplikation. Vi syftar med analysen fastställa huruvida verktyget hjälper företag att skapa förespråkare av varumärken så kallade brand advocates. Datainsamlingen och analysen av Wrapp som ett varubyggande marknadsföringsverktyg är begränsad till den amerikanska marknaden och två av partnerorganisationernas Facebook kampanjer. Wrapp möjliggör för företag att ge ut gratis och betalda presentkort till Facebook-vänner genom en mobil och webbaserad applikation. I undersökningen har en intervjustudie där respondenterna representeras av Wrapp-anställda genomförts. I denna framgår  spondenternas uppfattningar om i vilken utsträckning Wrapp’s applikation är ett arumärkesbyggande verktyg för företag, som skapar brand advocates. En analys av Wrapp’s kampanjverktyg har också genomförts, för att se om verktyget visar exponentiell tillväxt och en viral spridningscykel vad det gäller antalet skickade presentkort från ett specifikt varumärke. Resultaten från analysen presenteras och paralleller dras mellan de empiriska resultaten och den teori som presenteras i litteraturen, främst gällande brand advocates, social media marketing, viral marketing och Word-of-mouth, WOM. Resultatet från analysen av kampanjverktyget visar att det på den amerikanska marknaden, ännu inte blivit en strategi som leder till en viral spridning och en exponentiell tillväxt i antalet skickade presentkort. Lärdomar från intervjustudien granskas och presenteras med syfte att komplettera resultatet från kampanjverktygsanalysen. Också för att få en bredare förståelse för vad som skapar brand advocacy kring ett varumärke. Till det kompilerade resultatet tillämpar vi en modell som i rapporten antas beskriva hur rand advocates skapas. Genom att göra detta når vi den huvudsakliga slutsatsen, att Wrapp inte nödvändigtvis skapar brand advocates men, möjliggör handlingen av brand advocacy Modellen som sådan skulle kunna vara ett sätt för företag att undersöka huruvida nya sociala medierna skapar brand advocates, genom att undersöka och utvärdera de byggstenar som behövs för att ha en effektiv strategi vad det gäller opinionsbildning kring varumärket eller brand advocates alternativt handlingen av brand advocacy.
The Internet through social online networks and media has come to change our behavior when it comes to how we communicate and what we communicate. The latest shift is that from desktop to mobile, following the product developments happening with mobile phones making them smarter, portable and connected mini computers. This has had an effect on companies marketing strategies. To simply apply older marketing strategies on this new media channel is not sufficient. Instead new strategies and approaches are needed, and the social element needs to be implemented to a larger extent. The purpose with this report is to investigate a new social mobile marketing tool created by the tech start up Wrapp, and to analyse whether or not the tool helps companies create brand advocates. The data collecting and analysis of Wrapp as a brand advocacy tool is limited to the American market and two of the partner brands’ Facebook campaigns  onducted in this setting. Wrapp enables for companies to give out free and paid gift cards to Facebook friends through and mobile and web based application. In the research an interview study where we asked respondents represented by Wrapp employees about their conceptions on brand advocacy and social media marketing was conducted. An analysis of the Wrapp Facebook campaign tool was also done, to see if the tool shows exponential growth and virality in branded gift cards sent. Results are presented and efforts are made to draw parallels between the empirical findings and theory presented in the literature review concerning mainly brand advocates, social media marketing, viral marketing and WOM. The result from the Facebook campaign tool analysis shows, that the Wrapp tool on the merican market is yet to become viral. From the interviews we examine and present results to complement this finding, also to get a broader understanding on what creates brand advocacy. To the compiled results we apply a model assumed to describe how brand advocates are created. By doing this we reach our main conclusion, Wrapp does not based on our analysis create brand advocates, but the act of brand advocacy. The model as such could be a way for companies to investigate whether or not new social media platforms create brand advocates, by examining and evaluating the building blocks necessary to have an efficient brand advocacy strategy.

In this thesis, we describe an approach that won a psychiatric symptom severity prediction challenge. The challenge was to correctly predict the severity of psychiatric symptoms on a 4-point scale. Our winning submission uses a novel stacked machine learning architecture in which (i) a base data ingestion/cleaning step was followed by the (ii) derivation of a base set of features defined using text analytics, after which (iii) association rule learning was used in a novel way to generate new features, followed by a (iv) feature selection step to eliminate irrelevant features, followed by a (v) classifier training algorithm in which a total of 22 classifiers including new classifier variants of AdaBoost and RandomForest were trained on seven different data views, and (vi) finally an ensemble learning step, in which ensembles of best learners were used to improve on the accuracy of individual learners. All of this was tested via standard 10-fold cross-validation on training data provided by the N-GRID challenge organizers, of which the three best ensembles were selected for submission to N-GRID's blind testing. The best of our submitted solutions garnered an overall final score of 0.863 according to the organizer's measure. All 3 of our submissions placed within the top 10 out of the 65 total submissions. The challenge constituted Track 2 of the 2016 Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS) Neuropsychiatric Genome-Scale and RDOC Individualized Domains (N-GRID) Shared Task in Clinical Natural Language Processing.

This paper reviews the process of video production that was used to create the creative portion of the thesis project. During this process, I experienced creative art theory, creative methods, and new technology applications. For the production of the thesis, I used a high definition digital video camera to illustrate the conflict and fusion between the East and West on the level of cultural mythology. The thesis is comprised of five parts and seven subdivisions:PrefaceStatement of the problemReview of influenceDescription of the artworks, including seven subdivisions:Theme of the projectSelection of creative styleElements of art and cinematographyProject OverviewTransposing the concrete into the abstractExhibit understanding of the language of cinemaCreative application of emerging HDV technologyConclusion and exhibition statement.
Department of Art

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 47).
Mavo Create provides the data storage and computation abilities of Mavo through the interface of a WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) editor. Mavo extends HTML, providing attributes that one can use to set up data storage for a web application. This data can be created, amended, and populated into the web application use Mavo attributes. Further, Mavo provides expressions for performing computations on the data and visualizing the results of those computations in the Mavo application. One limitation of Mavo is that a user must know or become familiar with HTML in order to use Mavo. Mavo Create attempts to abstract away the programming part of using Mavo by providing a visual website editor that can be used to create Mavo applications. Mavo Create was built using GrapesJS, a WYSIWYG website template creation application. Mavo Create uses drag-and-drop HTML elements with WYSIWYG editing for styling and for adding Mavo capabilities. After creating the template of a Mavo application in Mavo Create, one can download source code and begin using his application. The goal of Mavo Create is to make the creation of Mavo applications accessible to people who do not know HTML or programming.
by Francesca Rose Cicileo.
M. Eng.

Do you know who Frankenstein is? Probably yes, but I would like to remind you. Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist of the novel, Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus." In the novel, Victor Frankenstein is a young student from Geneva. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/28686

This research study examined how organizations use collaboration to create knowledge. Organizations around the world are moving from being primarily manufacturing based to more knowledge-based entities. Knowledge can provide a unique competitive advantage in a very crowded landscape as organizations compete for the best ways to guide their organizations. Given these current trends it is opportune to examine how organizations develop knowledge. Recently many organizations have come to believe that collaborative practices help to create knowledge. This dissertation research examined this link to see if collaboration helps to create knowledge in organizations.

In order to examine this connection the research question that guided this study was: “How does an organization use collaboration to create knowledge?” The study used an exploratory qualitative interview design since the literature has not yet examined this connection in-depth. A convenience sample of 21 participants were interviewed from different industries. The in-depth interviews were then coded and a thematic analysis approach was used to develop themes.

The research concluded that collaboration and knowledge creation in organizations appear to be largely informal, self-directed, and self-motivated. Surprisingly senior management does not appear to value or measure collaboration. If participants need support, they reach out to others in their trusted network to help them solve problems. Organizations are able to create knowledge, but it seems to occur only if there is individual and mutual gain from the collaboration.

Preexisting team cohesion or mutually identified interests in the collaboration outcomes drove collaboration in an unsupported environment. Very little evidence was found that the participants’ behaviors promoted long-term knowledge discoveries that could be more broadly transferred to others within the organization. This research study opens up possible future research studies that may include a larger stratified study and research to explore technology and its impact on collaboration and knowledge creation. Keywords: create, knowledge, organization, competitive

Mexican Americans constitute one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. Within Mexican American families, women are the primary caretakers and are responsible for managing family health. Many activities of health work fall within the household and domestic spheres. These activities include, providing a clean, safe environment providing nutritious foods, teaching hygienic practices, diagnosing and treating illnesses, and deciding when to seek outside health care. Until recently, household health work was not recognized as a factor in health knowledge and had been excluded from the discourse of health and healing. The purpose of this study was to describe health perceptions and health production among Mexican American women. This research was a descriptive ethnographic study of the health perceptions and health production of a sample of 13 English speaking Mexican American women. Informants participated in three in-depth interviews conducted over a two to four month period. The Household Production of Health was the conceptual model that guided this research and the World Health Organization definition of health was used to frame questions about health perceptions. Data analysis was directed towards identifying themes and sub-themes that were organized into categories that answered the three research questions. The informants integrated physical and mental health into an overarching concept of being healthy. Health included maintenance of the physical body, the mind, and the spirit. The informants identified a variety of health producing and help-seeking activities that were contextualized throughout their lives and were consistent with their health perceptions. In addition to outside employment, the informants took primary responsibility for health creation. Their roles were predominantly domestic in nature and included parenting, providing for health care, and managing and maintaining the household. This research has significance for nursing in three areas: (a) it explicates the importance of routine activities in health maintenance; (b) it provides a framework for community health nurses to analyze the entirety of health activities that occur within the household; and, (c) it suggests the importance of focusing health education on wellness behaviors such as stress reduction and coping strategies.

This exegesis is an account of how an artist can build a sense of place or a sense of belonging to a particular place through their art-making process. Specifically, it examines how collections or taxonomies have assisted me to understand my sense of belonging, as a native of Colombia dislocated to Australia, in the face of an increasingly dislocated and hybridised world. In arguing that collections make manifest the complex emotional connections people forge with the places they inhabit, I first examine the notion of place. Then I discuss how collections can become dwellings for experiences and memories, and how people also ‘dwell’ in their collections. Gaston Bachelard’s Poetics of space offers a framework to reflect on the tensions between the intimacy of a newly developed sense of home, and the hybrid and foreign public places through which one has to go, and in which one has to dwell after geographical dislocation. Examining how contemporary artists who use collections or taxonomies in their work represent ideas of place, and how the concept of place exists through those collections I present my own ‘collection of collectors’ whose works have informed my studio practice. I conclude by reflecting on the bodies of work that I produced over the course of my research project, and analyse how successful they were in conveying ideas of place and the place-making process.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Queensland College of Art
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

The work presented in this proposal describes an approach to solve an actual problem in the conversational systems area: to enable non-experts to design and develop in which the user can establish a spoken dialogue systems. In most of the systems of this type, the specific information relative to the domain, or the specific information that delimits the specific capacities and limitations of the system is embedded within the source code. Due to this, people who want to modify or change actual systems experiment a great number of difficulties, because they must search and investigate in which parts of the source code this information is represented. Nowadays there are some efforts to solve this problem, some of them on the part of private sector companies, and some others by research centers mainly in universities around the world; the objective is to separate the domain specific information from the application, making the creation of new systems easier for people with few or no programming skills.
(cont.) Our proposal was born, when some years ago, in our research laboratory; we tried to part from an existing conversational system to modify it, first to make it work in Spanish language, then to change the domain of the dialogue. However these efforts did not bear satisfying results because the specific information for the tasks that were carried out was in several different parts of the source code, in different programming languages. The idea of the creation of a conversational system framework where the task specific information could be separated from the source code was born, and this idea was approved in 2003 by a committee conformed by UDLAP researchers and external participants, Dr. Luis Villaseñor from INOEP and Dr. Wayne Ward from the Center for Spoken Language Research of University of Colorado at Boulder. Our proposal consists of the creation of a new module that deals with all the aspects relative to the specific information of every task and instance of a dialogue system.
(cont.) This task specific information is specified in text files with XML format that are loaded first by this module, that scans and analyzes them, looking for errors, validating these archives against its respective document type definition (DTD) file. Next a consistency check is made to make sure that these configuration files keep the consistency with others according to the type of information handled. Once the information and its format is validated, this module instructs the rest of the modules in charge of the dialogue (DM, TTS, NLG, NLP, ASR, etc.) how to carry out all interaction in the dialogue system, where they can find the data which they require. The proposal presents the complete architecture of the system, together with a Graphical User Interface by means of which, a user with few or null programming skills will be able to specify a task describing all the elements a conversational system requires. The main contributions of this work are: The idea of a conversational system module that verifies and manages all the task specific information in a conversational system A GUI to allow non-expert users to create his/her own conversational system guided step by step in a simple web based interface.
(cont.) This work has been published in: "An approach to separate the Task-Specific-Information from the source code in Galaxy Based Conversational Systems" D. Perez, , I. Kirschning, WSEAS Transactions on Communications, Issue 1, Volume 3, January 2004. "TLATOA COMMUNICATOR: A framework to create Task-Independent Conversational Systems" D. Perez, I. Kirschning CISSE 2009 Volume 2: Innovations in Computing Sciences and Software Engineering SCSS, presented on December 16, 2009 (to be published).

The purpose of this research paper is to provide an understanding for organizational factors effect on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the hotel business and then investigate CRM activities effect on loyalty among business travelers. An analysis of 163 questionnaires gathered from hotels in Sweden resulted in two main findings. (1) Organizational factors such as: size, strategy, and maturity of information system affect CRM activities where the development of a customer loyalty strategy affects CRM activities the most. (2) CRM activities as: bonus cards, service customization, free-gifts, and convenient check in/check outs affect loyalty where service customization affects loyalty the most. Hence, different organizational preferences and certain CRM activities are preferable as hotels strive to create loyalty among business travelers.

In recent years the user interfaces of the TV platform have been powered by HTML, but since the platform is starting to support new techniques it might be time to change the focus. HTML is a good choice for interface development because of its high level and platform independence; however, when performance is critical and the requirements are high HTML can impose serious restrictions. WebGL is a technology released in 2011 that brings a low-level graphics API to the web. The API allows for development of advanced 3D graphics and visual effects that were impossible or impractical in the HTML world. The problem is that the hassle of using pure WebGL is in most cases too big to overcome. In this thesis a proof-of-concept was developed to investigate the issues and limitations of WebGL. A conclusion was made that even though the performance was not as good as expected it might still be viable for use in some settings.

This research examined the systems integrator (SI) role which has become a key business model and organising logic impacting products, processes, and the supply network in the aerospace industry. The first portion of the research examined the context of the phenomenon through a sector analysis and literature review. The sector analysis provided background on historical trends and developments in aerospace and focused on forces concentrating and dispersing the supply network. It found that the evolution of the aerospace industry can be best described as a punctuated equilibrium whose chief determinants are value, coordination and integration, and that the SI role may be an enabler in this evolution process. The second section investigated the content of the SI role by mapping its activities and the overall evolution of the SI role in three case companies. A set of core SI activities were found, mainly in the final system assembly, testing, and verification stages of production. However, each of the case companies had a different strategy in leveraging these activities over the rest of their operations. Three main integrator archetypes were found, focusing on the product, process, and supply network respectively. The final section linked the SI activities back to strategy through two dynamic processes: value creation and appropriation. Value creation is determined by coordination intensity, entrepreneurial intensity, scale economies and scope economies. Value appropriation is determined by risk tolerance, market power, resource ownership and resource complementarity. The impact of SI activities on each of these eight factors were discussed.

Background: The relationship between family firms and auditors is not a topic that is very well examined. This is also a relationship that is extraordinary because they have different aims with the relationship. Since the family firms seek for long and close relationships while the auditor needs to maintain their independence. There have also been several scandals in the past between family firms and their auditor where the relationship has become to close. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the auditor’s role in family firms, how value is co-created and what value that is co-created when they interact with each other. Method: To answer the research question the data in this study is collected through semi- structured interviews. The interviews were performed and inspired by previous studies which we developed a framework on to have as a guideline during the interviews. The participants in the study were three family firms and their respective auditor and the participants were located in the same geographical area. Findings: In this study, we have focused on how and what value family firms and auditors co- create when they interact with each other. The study suggests important aspects of the family firm and auditor relation to facilitating the value co-creation process. The aspects that were revealed as important were the relationship, communication, collaborative, trust, and experience from the auditor. The study also investigated which values family firms and auditors co-create, these were smarter planning, increase of effectiveness, exchange of knowledge, expanded networks, and value for society.

Vi lever i ett samhälle där individualismen blomstrar samtidigt som ofrivillig ensamhet är ett växande samhällsproblem som kommit att bli en hälsofråga.Genom urbaniseringen bor vi allt tätare, trots detta visar studier att vi känner oss ensammare i storstäder. Forskning visar även att en av de viktigaste källorna till ett långt liv, är social interaktion i vardagen. Något så enkelt som att säga hej till grannen.Det är ju inte så svårt, eller? Socioekologisk stadsutveckling handlar om hur man i stadsplanering kan fläta samman ekologisk och social hållbarhet. Utifrån kontexten “Grannar bosatta i lägenhet i Stockholm”undersöker jag hur jag genom design, kan bidra till detta arbete genom att ta fram ett förslag som kan appliceras på redan existerande boendeformer/miljöer vi ser idag. Grow Social är kombination av en produkt och tjänst med syfte att ”åka runt” och sprida fröer i lägenhetshus för att uppmuntra grannar till att odla lokalt, men framförallt,att få grannars sociala relationer att växa genom att odla och umgås. Genom Grow Social vill jag visa på att utvecklingen till hållbara boenden kan börja i det lilla.Att vi genom något så litet som ett frö, kan gå mot en framtid där social interaktion fyller en naturlig plats vid utformandet av våra boendemiljöer.

Created in 2005, Etsy.com is an e-commerce site where individuals sell handmade goods whose primary users are women. Examining the experiences of ten women selling handmade items on Etsy and how they use Instagram to interact with each other and to promote their online shops, the research intends to contribute to literature of online communities, feminist, and globalization and modernization theories. Using interviews and observations of participants’ Etsy and social accounts, we gain a deeper understanding of these women’s experiences. The women with children spend more time developing relationships with other Etsy moms than those without children. However, all participants felt that through their crafts, they were creating a more ethical and sustainable marketplace in the global economy. More research should examine online relationship building through real-world activities like crafting and the agency that small-scale businesses have to influence ideas about large-scale manufacturing practices.

This multi-article dissertation focuses on the role of narrative distance in instructional design. Narrative distance is defined <&hyphen>œas the cognitive or emotional space afforded by indirect communication that invites listeners to make sense of content<&hyphen> (Taeger, 2018, p. 6). Whereas fields associated with the arts have long used the indirect nature of story to create powerful experiences, instructional design has not examined how this aspect of narrative might be used in instruction. The first article in this dissertation explores the literature related to narrative distance and how designing for this phenomenon meets many of Wilson and Parrish<'>s (2011) key indicators for transformative learning experiences. This article also suggests six principles for incorporating narrative distance into instructional design. The second article is a qualitative study of six experts from a variety of fields who design narrative distance into their work. Professionals in film, theatre, writing, art, and homiletics were interviewed three times over a period of several months using Fleming, Gaidys, and Robb<'>s (2003) Gadamerian-based hermeneutic approach. The findings from this study discuss further principles and practices for integrating narrative distance into instructional design, especially as it relates to facilitating transformative learning experiences. These principles and practices are organized under four themes: cognitive space, emotional space, invite change, and meaningful content. Further research possibilities related to narrative distance are also briefly mentioned. The third article builds on the findings discussed in article two by offering examples of narrative distance in instruction. In addition, specific design steps are presented to help practitioners create narrative distance in a way that can lead to transformative learning experiences.

There has been a rise in remote and virtual employees over the last 10 years with roughly 20-30 million Americans working remotely at least 1 day each week. This growth in virtual employees increases business and organizations' dependency on technology and on effective strategies to lead virtual teams. Grounded in transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this explanatory case study was to explore strategies e-leaders use in leading virtual teams effectively. The study population comprised a virtual company headquartered in the United States. The data included semistructured interviews with e-leaders with at least 1 year of experience in leading successful virtual teams, an analysis of technological tools, and a review of company documentation. Thematic analysis was conducted on the data collected via tool analysis. Three themes emerged from the analysis: focusing on results-based performance, enabling communications and collaborations through the right technologies, and investing in building and modeling the company's culture. The study's implications for positive social change include the potential to provide similar organizations with effective strategies to train their e-leaders in developing and leading more successful virtual teams. Additionally, using virtual teams can enable firms to lower direct and indirect green gashouse emissions by using fewer resources at worksites and to reduce carbon dioxide through decreased travel.

This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2019
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-195).
The world is becoming increasingly saturated with voice-first technology, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. As this technology becomes more complex, the skill set needed to develop conversational AI applications increases as well. This work bridges the gap, democratizes AI technology, and empowers technology consumers to become technology developers. In this thesis, I develop block-based Alexa Skill programming tools, enabling anyone -- even elementary school students --
to create complex conversational AI applications. During high school workshops, students created Alexa Skills to help others remember forgotten words, learn math concepts, ease recycling, and display Alexa's speech on screen for those hard of hearing. Additionally, I developed a conversational AI curriculum and partnered with MIT's High School Studies Program to provide workshops to the Boston community. We taught students about the capabilities, limitations, and implications of conversational AI, and explored research questions, such as "What do students believe, understand, and think about conversational agents?"; "Can students develop their own conversational AI applications?"; and "What do students envision for the future of conversational AI?" The results from a pre-workshop assessment suggested that despite not understanding how conversational agents worked, students could think of ways for conversational agents to solve problems.
The post-workshop assessment suggested that through the workshops, students learned conversational AI and machine learning concepts; could identify capabilities and limitations of conversational agents; felt proud of their project development; were interested in developing their projects further; and were generally hopeful and excited about the future of conversational AI. Through this research, students learned about the power and limitations of AI, were empowered to solve real-world problems using AI, and developed socially useful conversational AI agent applications.
by Jessica Van Brummelen.
S.M.
S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Our world is filled with creativity; it is a part of everyday life for all humans. All products and artefacts in the public realm and in our private space come from creativity. Some are created to satisfy a certain need in the society and others are created to please the artist creating it. There are thousands of other reasons why we have a need to create. Creativity would not exist without the imagination and both are crucial to humans and the development of society. The imagination is endless; it can take you back and forth in time letting you travel to inexistent places,so that you can create an utopia for yourself. Imagination is crucial in a creative process: without it, the creatvive process would be somehow crippled. Through imagination we are able to see the goal ahead. On one hand working with creativity is frustrating, since it is a constant search for solutions and new ideas. On the other hand it is very rewarding: the moment one finds answers, starts the work and finally comes into a state of flow, creative work suddenly is worth the frustration. The search for flow through challenging tasks is a way to improve the quality of both your artistic life and your life in general, and it is open to anyone who sees the point of the struggle. In this essay I want to research the world of imagination and creativity: what do we use it for and why do we need it, how come it is so necessary? A creative process can be everything from frustration to complete satisfaction, such as a state of ecstatic flow.

The tools for creating realistic fur using a computer have continued to develop sincethe first computer-generated fur was accomplished. Tools for creating fur can befound inside of the software Autodesk Maya. Rendering fur is often a very timeconsuming process and therefore this thesis investigates how the relationship ofrealistic fur versus render time can be improved. When creating fur, there are severalaspects to take into account, for example shadowing, length, color and irregularities.This thesis assesses the question through a case study and includes experimentalresearch which was attempted simultaneously. It valuates the results through asurvey. The qualitative research does not include animated fur, only still images ofcomputer-generated fur. This research will hopefully improve the knowledge and actas a guide for others who are creating fur.

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The growing hostility and division between Islam and "the West" comes at a time when the United States and our allies need more than ever to secure vital national interests in the Middle East, to include energy resources, regional stability, and the suppression of terrorism. Our dilemma is that dispatching troops to the region has only increased hostility and fed the Islamist propaganda mill while confirming in the minds of many Americans and our allied populations that intervention in these regions is a counterproductive waste of blood and treasure. The United States needs to reduce its military footprint but at the same time maintain the ability to back its diplomacy with muscle. At present, our methods of securing our interests in the Middle East are confined to large Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) occupied by rotational units of U.S. Army Combat troops and Marines with little cultural knowledge and an operational focus. These large American forces are supplemented by Security Force Assistance (SFA) programs that are primarily conducted by U.S. Army Special Forces and counter-terrorist strategies focused on covert operations aimed at eliminating High Value Targets (HVTs)-that is, the leadership of Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorist organizations. One partial solution to the problem of underperforming indigenous forces and an over emphasis on HVTs could be to create an American Foreign Legion. The establishment of a permanent force recruited among non-U.S. citizens and led by American officers might offer a flexible tool to allow the U.S. military to secure American interests in the Middle East, while establishing a smaller, more politically acceptable American security footprint. However, the obstacles to the creation of such a force are significant, not the least of which they go against American traditions of a society of equal opportunity, and those of the U.S. military where all soldiers serve on the basis of equality of treatment and status.

An equilibrium multielectron bubble (MEB) in liquid helium is a fascinating object with a spherical two-dimensional electron gas on its surface. After it was first observed a few decades ago, a plethora of physical properties of MEBs, for example, a tunable surface electron density, have been predicted. In this thesis, we will discuss two new methods to create MEBs in liquid helium. Before the discussion, the way to generate a large number of electrons in a low temperature system will be discussed, including thermionic emission and field emission in helium. In the first new method to make MEBs, we used a dome-shaped cell filled with superfluid helium in which an MEB was created and confined at the dome. The lifetime of the MEB was substantially longer than the previously reported observations of MEBs. In the second method, MEBs were extracted from the vapor sheath around an electrically heated tungsten filament submerged in liquid helium, either by a high electric field (up to 15 kV/cm) or by a sudden increase of a negative pressure in liquid helium. High-speed photography was used to capture the MEB's motion. A method to determine the number of electrons was developed by monitoring the oscillations of the MEBs. Finally, an electromagnetic trap was designed to localize the MEBs created using the second method, which was important for future studies of the properties of MEBs.
Physics

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Biotechnology plays a critical role in treating war injuries, preventing and diagnosing disease, and protecting the force against exposure to harmful agents. While effective in its ability to provide medical intervention, biotechnologys non-medical side reveals opportunity to create a super human soldier who is more effective in combat and equipped to survive the rigors of war. Scientists in the field have proposed ideas on how to neurologically and physically enhance soldiers at the genetic level. These developments may help build soldier resistance to battle fatigue, increase endurance, and enhance intelligence making soldiers more decisive on the battlefield. Creating soldier that are stronger, faster and able to counter unpredictable enemy tactics will increase the militarys ability to adapt to changing battlefield conditions and conduct major operations using a smaller force. This thesis examines performance and cognitive enhancement of the soldier via genetic engineering and its potential ability to arm the military with the capabilities to maintain rapid deployment cycles despite the reduction in force and fight wars using sophisticated techniques in order to reduce casualty rates. Understanding the ends and means of soldier enhancement and the novel ethical issues associated with genetic modification is critical to its future in military application.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
PROGRAMA DE SUPORTE À PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO DE INSTS. DE ENSINO
Esta dissertação se organiza a partir de três ensaios – A Língua como intraduzível, Os Rios que Comunicam e O Futuro do Pretérito – que focalizam questões relevantes na obra do escritor José Luandino Vieira. O objetivo é identificar, em alguns de seus livros, as formas com que a linguagem é trabalhada pelo autor em sua ficção, de modo a criar espaços de utopia política; dos tempos de luta pela independência angolana, na segunda metade do século XX, às primeiras décadas do século XXI. Pretende-se mostrar ainda como sua busca por uma utopia permanece ao longo do tempo, não tendo cessado com o fim da guerra de independência nacional. A busca por justiça e por inclusão social materializam-se como utopias, expressas sobretudo na linguagem adotada pelo escritor. No primeiro capítulo desta dissertação, discuto seu investimento na linguagem, e como isso é radical – no sentido de estar na raiz – de sua literatura e projeto de mundo. No segundo, falo mais amplamente como o rio – que flui e que segue, que some e volta a existir – é tema existente em Guimarães Rosa e Luandino, que seguem uma genealogia de criadores com a língua, mas que têm mais em comum do que ela. No terceiro, aprofundo-me nas questões políticas levantadas por seus textos e nas suas intenções.
This thesis is organized from three essays – Language as untranslatable, Rivers that communicate and Future of the Past – that focus in relevant questions of the writer José Luandino Vieira work. The aim is to identify, in some of his books, how language is used by the author in his fiction, as a tool to create political utopian spaces; beginning during the time of fighting for Angola s independence, in the second half of the twentieth century, till the first decades of the twenty first century. It intends also to show how his search for utopia continues through time, and has not stopped with the end of the national independence war. The search for justice and social inclusion gain life as utopias, expressed above all in the language adopted by the author. In the first chapter of this dissertation, I talk about his investment in language and how is this crucial for his literature and his world Project. In the second, I talk more broadly about how the river – that comes and goes, disappears and reaches back to existence – is a subject presente in both, Guimarães Rosa and Luandino, following a genealogy of language creators, but with more in common than just that. In the third, I talk in-depth about the political issues raised in his texts and his intentions.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2004.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-125).
The goal of visualization is to help human understand, reason, and learn better and quicker. In pursuit of this goal, this thesis presents an architecture for intelligent visualization systems, which supports multiple perspectives in a parallel structure and offers high flexibility in the addition, deletion, and modification of different visualizations. It validates its design through a prototype containing a number of innovative arrangements and options, which effectively improved trial users' understanding.
by Yao Li.
M.Eng.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-91).
High fixed costs and the emergence of globalization have forced traditional domestic automotive mass producers to the brink of bankruptcy. This thesis focuses on the global growth strategy of a Tier 1 automotive supplier and examines causal relationships between that strategy and the system stakeholders who execute and support it. The literature review examines current research to illustrate the benefit of approaching globalization with a process-driven, systems-based mindset. Current literature offers insight into improved financial measures that traditional mass producing firms can employ to streamline decision making and shift the mindset of leaders to engage employees, suppliers, and customers around a long-term systems based operating strategy. The thesis is based upon three core experiences the author had at American Axle to illustrate the importance of systems-based operations innovation. The literature review in conjunction with the internship experience is used to illustrate opportunities for American Axle to improve its operating strategy. The paper highlights traditional approaches currently used inside the company and offers solutions to change employee behavior throughout American Axle's global manufacturing system. The thesis examines behaviors, metrics, and results often seen in an absorption cost environment where there are weak operational controls and non-standard corporate scorecards. Using current research and professional industry experience, I will argue robust operational controls and metrics, aligned with an overarching systems approach that considers the long term implications of today's decisions, are essential components to the viable, long term success of any global enterprise.
Andrew P. Storm.
S.M.
M.B.A.

nuSense is the result of a degree work on master level at Umeå Institute of Design exploring why wearable technology oftentimes tread a rather narrow path, with many different companies releasing essentially the same product with a new shell, and innovation being slow. Through research, interviews and user research, hardware prototyping and testing it became clear that developing for wearable technology is a very complicated task, for many reasons. Being able to build quick exploratory prototypes was nigh impossible if you do not have a grasp of hardware developing platforms and programming. Further, those outside the industry who just want to explore wearable technology lack a platform to do so easily, aside from buying ready-made solutions made to do one single prepackaged thing. Based on this a concept was developed to provide a platform to explore wearable technology, through modular building-blocks and an easy to grasp interface.

Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The "Values in Education" initiative of the Department of Education seems to have become an important facet of the transformation of education agenda in South Africa. My argument in favour of a "Values in Education" initiative to be implemented in schools along the lines of democratic citizenship can be considered as an attempt to contribute to the democratisation of schooling post- 1994. This thesis develops a link between "Values in Education", intersubjectivity and democratic citizenship and argues that "Values in Education" can cultivate democratic citizenship in South African schools. KEYWORDS: Values in education, intersubjectivity, democracy and citizenship.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Departement van Onderwys se 'Waardes in Onderwys" inisiatief blyk om 'n belangrike faset van die Suid-Afrikaanse agenda oor die transformasie van die onderwys te wees. My argument ten gunste van die implementering van 'n "Waardes in Onderwys" inisiatief in skole volgens die gedagtes van demokratiese burgerskap kan beskou word as 'n poging tot die bydrae van die demokratisering van skole na die 1994 onderwysbedeling. In hierdie tesis word die verwantskap tussen "Waardes in Onderwys", intersubjektiwiteit en demokratiese burgerskap ontwikkel en terselfdertyd word daar geargumenteer dat "Waardes in Onderwys" wel demokratiese burgerskap in skole kan bevorder. KERNBEGRIPPE: Waardes in onderwys, intersubjektiwiteit, demokrasie en burgerskap.

Summary Kruthusen Företagsfastigheter AB is a company that rent industrial facilities, mainly to smaller companies and startup companies. Most of their facilities today are already rented which creates the opportunity to expand and build new facilities. The problem is that the building methods and materials commonly used today will require a rent that is unaffordable for these companies. Therefore a new way of creating these facilities is needed to be able to reduce costs, to allow a lower rent.  In the current facilities big costs are connected with companies’ changing facilities which often require reconstruction or similar. Some needs extra bathrooms, other need a kitchen and a few do not need any of it. Therefore, to save a lot of money on reconstruction a common area will be built where there will be a dressing room with showers, WC and a kitchen. There are many different ways to save energy which also reduces costs. Research has been made to see if there are other alternatives to heat the building. District heating is available in the area where the new facility will be built. District heating is considered a sustainable choice and therefore was selected. Heat losses for the new building were calculated to estimate if it is enough to target operational costs to be able to secure a low rent. The result was that a high amount of the heat losses can be reduced but it is not enough to allow affordable rents. The total cost of the building could not be estimated by us. This is the reason why other measures like common areas cannot be proven to lower the rent to the targeted value. If the concept is affordable will be known when the concept is sent to a construction company for cost estimation. The final building will include a common area in the middle connected with the entrance and 10 industrial facilities for renting that will be 8x13 square meters. To make it easier for the customers a parking lot will be built in front of the building. On the back side every company will have an area for their work-related vehicles. Also a spot for containers will be included for extra storage for each renting company.
Sammanfattning Kruthusen Företagsfastigheter AB är ett företag som hyr ut lokaler till främst mindre och nystartade företag. Idag är nästan alla av deras lokaler redan uthyrda vilket möjliggör utbyggnad av nya lokaler. Problemet med detta är att användning av dagens byggnadsmetoder och material kommer ge en väldigt dyr hyra, som dessa små företag inte kan betala. Därför behövs det nya sätt som fokuserar på att få ner kostnader när dessa typer av lokaler ska byggs, för att få en låg hyra. I dagens lokaler tillkommer stora kostnader i ombyggnader eller liknande när företag byter lokaler. Vissa har behov av extra badrum, andra behöver tillgång till kök och några behöver inte tillgång till något. För att undvika de största kostnaderna i samband med detta kommer en gemensam avdelning byggas där det finns omklädningsrum med dusch, toaletter och kök. Det finns många sätt att spara energi på som också minskar kostnader. En undersökning har gjorts för att se om det finns några andra alternativ till uppvärmning av lokalerna. Fjärrvärme är tillgängligt i det valda området för byggnaden, därför valdes detta som värmekälla då det anses vara ett hållbart alternativ. Värmeförluster beräknades för den nya byggnaden för att uppskatta om det är tillräckligt att fokusera på driftkostnader för att erhålla en låg hyra. Resultatet blev att en väldigt hög andel av värmeförlusterna kunde minskas, men det var inte tillräckligt för att ensamt säkerställa en låg hyra. Den totala kostnaden för byggnaden kunde inte uppskattas av oss. Detta är anledningen till att andra åtgärder som gemensamma utrymmen inte kan bevisas vara tillräckligt för att få en låg hyra. Först när ett byggföretag har gjort sin kostnadsuppskattning kommer det visa sig om konceptet är tillräckligt konstandseffektivt. Den slutgiltiga byggnaden kommer bestå av en gemensam avdelning i mitten sammanlänkat med entrén och 10 industrilokaler i storleken 8x13 meter för uthyrning. För att underlätta för kunder finns det en parkering framför byggnaden. På baksidan finns det utrymme för varje företag att ha sina fordon. Det kommer även finnas utrymme för containrar som extra utrymme för företagen.

This thesis attempts to reconcile the ‘two Rwandas’ which dominate contemporary scholarship, and seem on first glance utterly incommensurable: the inspirational developmental donor darling, and the brutal police state ruled by a shadowy ethnic clique. It argues both sides capture something, but fail to give a fair assessment of the mercurial system of political order constructed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) following the Genocide of 1994. This system is a durably strong state with exceptionally high levels of societal penetration capable of delivering order and other public goods, with a ruling party in a hegemonic position with a degree of medium-term stability, despite (and because of) its illiberal repressive character. Such a system is only possible because of the extremely unusual sociology of the RPF itself, forged in the refugee camps of Uganda and the Ugandan Bush War, and the structural constraints on rule within Rwanda. With these resources, the RPF has successfully made the transition from guerilla movement to hegemonic civilian political party, created bureaucratic institutions of government which penetrate to the lowest level, and hugely profitable ‘party-statals’ which co-exist alongside functioning competitive markets. Such successes are not disconnected from the violence, repression, and extra-judicial coercion which remain crucial to the regime. Analyses which think the positive aspects of Rwanda’s current ‘miracle’ can be mimicked without the accompanying domination and autocracy are engaging in wishful thinking. Crucially, given how distinctive the enabling conditions for Rwanda’s current political dispensation are, the extent to which Rwanda can be a policy exemplar or ‘best-practice’ for other African states to follow is in any case seriously overstated.

In the post-genomic era, recognition of the importance of sugars is increasing in biological research. For the precise analysis of their functions, homogeneous materials are required. Chemical synthesis is a powerful tool for preparation of homogeneous oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates. Glycosidases are potent catalysts for this purpose because they realize high stereo- and regio- selectivities under conditions benign to biomolecules without repetitive protection/deprotection procedures. A glycosynthase is an aritificial enzyme which is derived from a glycosidase and is devised for glycosylation reaction. To suppress the mechanistically inherent oligomerization side reaction of this class of biocatalysts, a glycosidase with plastic substrate recognition was engineered to afford the first α-mannosynthase. This novel biocatalyst showed low occurrence of oligomerized products as designed and was applied to prepare a wide range of oligosaccharides. Glycosidases are also valuable tools for glycan engineering of glycoconjugates, which is a pivotal issue in the development of pharmaceutical agents, including immunoglobulin G (IgG)-based drugs. EndoS, an endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase from Streptococcus pyogenes, natively cleaves N-glycans on IgG specifically. When the latent glycosylation activity of this enzyme was applied, the N-glycan remodelling of full-length IgG was successfully achieved for the first time and a highly pure glycoform was obtained using the chemically synthesized oxazoline tetrasaccharide as glycosyl donor. This biocatalytic reaction allows development of a novel type of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in which drug molecules are linked to N-glycans site-specifically. For this purpose, glycans with bioorthogonal reaction handles were synthesized and conjugated to IgG. A model reaction using a dye compound as reaction partner worked successfully and the synthetic method for this newly designed ADC was validated. Glycan trimming of glycoproteins expressed from Pichia pastoris was performed using exoglycosidases to derive homogeneous glycoform. Jack Bean α-mannosidase (JBM) trimmed native N-glycans down to the core trisaccharide structure but some of the glycoforms were discovered to be resistant to the JBM activity. Enzymatic analyses using exoglycosidases suggested that the JBM-resistant factor was likely to be β-mannoside. In summary, this work advanced application of modified glycosidases for preparation of oligosaccharides and also demonstrated biocatalytic utility of glycosidases to produce biologically relevant glycoconjugates with homogeneous glycoforms.

What experiences do college STEM majors report as being factors that encouraged them to pursue a STEM related major? Do experiences and influences in school such as labs, curriculum, and teachers make a difference? How do extracurricular impact a students’ desire to continue on in science after high school? Through this qualitative study I attempted to find some answers to the above questions.

Seven current college STEM majors were interviewed in a semi-structured format. Through the coding of the interview data several themes emerged which included the following: development of students’ interest, experiencing real science, academic inclination, and knowledge of careers in the STEM fields. These reported factors seemed to influence these students in one way or another in choosing to pursue a STEM career. It was found that all but one subject interviewed experienced hands-on science within a career related experience. They cited those experiences as their biggest influencers.

Electrocardiography (ECG or EKG) is the process of recording the electrical activity of the heart over a period of time using electrodes placed on a patient’s body. These electrodes detect the tiny electrical changes on the skin that arise from the heart muscle depolarizing during each heartbeat. [1] It is necessary for the diagnosis and prompt initiation of therapy in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and is the most accurate means of diagnosing conduction disturbances and arrhythmias. [2]ECG is an irreplaceable diagnostic method in clinical practice. It offers great diagnostic value at minimal costs while being a relatively quick, painless and noninvasive process. The quality of the resulting graph is depending on the accurate placement of the electrodes on the patients' body and that the patient lies absolutely still to avoid any muscle contractions which may lead to distortions of the graph.The interpretation of ECGs is a highly complex topic which requires lots of training and experience. Although there has been plenty of research on the topic of automated interpretation and pattern recognition of ECGs by computer algorithms and neural networks, a reliable interpretation of complex ECGs cannot be guaranteed as of today. While the trend seems to favor automated ECG interpretation, a clear prediction when these technologies have saturated the market cannot be given. One reason for this, similar to autonomous vehicles, is the issue of where liability can be found when an incorrect diagnosis leads to harming of a patient. For the foreseeable future we will most likely rely on the skill and experience of humans to interpret ECGs. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocardiography [2] The British Journal of Primary Care Nursing: Taking an ECG: Getting the best possible recording

L’anotació manual d’imatges per desenvolupar sistemes basats en visió per computador ha estat un dels punts més problemàtics des que s’utilitza aprenentatge automàtic per a això. Aquesta tesi es centra en aprofitar les dades sintètiques per alleujar el cost de les anotacions manuals en tres tasques de percepció relacionades amb l’assistència a la conducció i la conducció autònoma. En tot moment assumim l’ús de xarxes neuronals convolucionals per al desenvolupament dels nostres models profunds de percepció. La primera tasca planteja el reconeixement de senyals de trànsit, un problema de classificació d’imatges. Assumim que el nombre de classes de senyals de trànsit a reconèixer s’ha d’incrementar sense haver pogut anotar noves imatges amb què realitzar el corresponent reentrenament. Demostrem que aprofitant les dades sintètiques de les noves classes i transformant-les amb una xarxa adversària-generativa (GAN, de les seves sigles en anglès) entrenada amb les classes conegudes (sense usar mostres de les noves classes), és possible reentrenar la xarxa neuronal per classificar tots els senyals en una proporció ~1/4 entre classes noves i conegudes. La segona tasca consisteix en la detecció de vehicles i vianants (objectes) en imatges. En aquest cas, assumim la recepció d’un conjunt d’imatges sense anotar. L’objectiu és anotar automàticament aquestes imatges perquè així es puguin utilitzar posteriorment en l’entrenament del detector d’objectes que desitgem. Per assolir aquest objectiu, vam partir de dades sintètiques anotades i proposem un mètode d’aprenentatge semi-supervisat basat en la idea del co-aprenentatge. A més, utilitzem una GAN per reduir la distància entre els dominis sintètic i real abans d’aplicar el co-aprenentatge. Els nostres resultats quantitatius mostren que el procediment desenvolupat permet anotar el conjunt d’imatges d’entrada amb la precisió suficient per entrenar detectors d’objectes de forma efectiva; és a dir, tan precisos com si les imatges s’haguessin anotat manualment. A la tercera tasca deixem enrere l’espai 2D de les imatges, i ens centrem en processar núvols de punts 3D provinents de sensors LiDAR. El nostre objectiu inicial era desenvolupar un detector d’objectes 3D (vehicles, vianants, ciclistes) entrenat en núvols de punts sintètics estil LiDAR. En el cas de les imatges es podia esperar el problema de canvi de domini degut a les diferències visuals entre les imatges sintètiques i reals. Però, a priori, no esperàvem el mateix en treballar amb núvols de punts LiDAR, ja que es tracta d’informació geomètrica provinent del mostreig actiu del món, sense que l’aparença visual influeixi. No obstant això, a la pràctica, hem vist que també apareixen els problemes d’adaptació de domini. Factors com els paràmetres de mostreig del LiDAR, la configuració dels sensors a bord del vehicle autònom, i l’anotació manual dels objectes 3D, indueixen diferències de domini. A la tesi demostrem aquesta observació mitjançant un exhaustiu conjunt d’experiments amb diferents bases de dades públiques i detectors 3D disponibles. Per tant, en relació amb la tercera tasca, el treball s’ha centrat finalment en el disseny d’una GAN capaç de transformar núvols de punts 3D per portar-los d’un domini a un altre, un tema relativament inexplorat.Finalment, cal esmentar que tots els conjunts de dades sintètiques usats en aquestes tres tasques han estat dissenyats i generats en el context d’aquesta tesi doctoral i es faran públics. En general, considerem que aquesta tesi presenta un avanç en el foment de la utilització de dades sintètiques per al desenvolupament de models profunds de percepció, essencials en el camp de la conducció autònoma.
La anotación manual de imágenes para desarrollar sistemas basados en visión por computador ha sido uno de los puntos más problemáticos desde que se utiliza aprendizaje automático para ello. Esta tesis se centra en aprovechar los datos sintéticos para aliviar el coste de las anotaciones manuales en tres tareas de percepción relacionadas con la asistencia a la conducción y la conducción autónoma. En todo momento asumimos el uso de redes neuronales convolucionales para el desarrollo de nuestros modelos profundos de percepción. La primera tarea plantea el reconocimiento de señales de tráfico, un problema de clasificación de imágenes. Asumimos que el número de clases de señales de tráfico a reconocer se debe incrementar sin haber podido anotar nuevas imágenes con las que realizar el correspondiente reentrenamiento. Demostramos que aprovechando los datos sintéticos de las nuevas clases y transformándolas con una red adversaria-generativa (GAN, de sus siglas en inglés) entrenada con las clases conocidas (sin usar muestras de las nuevas clases), es posible reentrenar la red neuronal para clasificar todas las señales en una proporción de ~1/4 entre clases nuevas y conocidas. La segunda tarea consiste en la detección de vehículos y peatones (objetos) en imágenes. En este caso, asumimos la recepción de un conjunto de imágenes sin anotar. El objetivo es anotar automáticamente esas imágenes para que así se puedan utilizar posteriormente en el entrenamiento del detector de objetos que deseemos. Para alcanzar este objetivo, partimos de datos sintéticos anotados y proponemos un método de aprendizaje semi-supervisado basado en la idea del co-aprendizaje. Además, utilizamos una GAN para reducir la distancia entre los dominios sintético y real antes de aplicar el co-aprendizaje. Nuestros resultados cuantitativos muestran que el procedimiento desarrollado permite anotar el conjunto de imágenes de entrada con la precisión suficiente para entrenar detectores de objetos de forma efectiva; es decir, tan precisos como si las imágenes se hubiesen anotado manualmente. En la tercera tarea dejamos atrás el espacio 2D de las imágenes, y nos centramos en procesar nubes de puntos 3D provenientes de sensores LiDAR. Nuestro objetivo inicial era desarrollar un detector de objetos 3D (vehículos, peatones, ciclistas) entrenado en nubes de puntos sintéticos estilo LiDAR. En el caso de las imágenes cabía esperar el problema de cambio de dominio debido a las diferencias visuales entre las imágenes sintéticas y reales. Pero, a priori, no esperábamos lo mismo al trabajar con nubes de puntos LiDAR, ya que se trata de información geométrica proveniente del muestreo activo del mundo, sin que la apariencia visual influya. Sin embargo, en la práctica, hemos visto que también aparecen los problemas de adaptación de dominio. Factores como los parámetros de muestreo del LiDAR, la configuración de los sensores a bordo del vehículo autónomo, y la anotación manual de los objetos 3D, inducen diferencias de dominio. En la tesis demostramos esta observación mediante un exhaustivo conjunto de experimentos con diferentes bases de datos públicas y detectores 3D disponibles. Por tanto, en relación a la tercera tarea, el trabajo se ha centrado finalmente en el diseño de una GAN capaz de transformar nubes de puntos 3D para llevarlas de un dominio a otro, un tema relativamente inexplorado. Finalmente, cabe mencionar que todos los conjuntos de datos sintéticos usados en estas tres tareas han sido diseñados y generados en el contexto de esta tesis doctoral y se harán públicos. En general, consideramos que esta tesis presenta un avance en el fomento de la utilización de datos sintéticos para el desarrollo de modelos profundos de percepción, esenciales en el campo de la conducción autónoma.
Manually annotating images to develop vision models has been a major bottleneck since computer vision and machine learning started to walk together. This thesis focuses on leveraging synthetic data to alleviate manual annotation for three perception tasks related to driving assistance and autonomous driving. In all cases, we assume the use of deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to develop our perception models. The first task addresses traffic sign recognition (TSR), a kind of multi-class classification problem. We assume that the number of sign classes to be recognized must be suddenly increased without having annotated samples to perform the corresponding TSR CNN re-training. We show that leveraging synthetic samples of such new classes and transforming them by a generative adversarial network (GAN) trained on the known classes (i.e., without using samples from the new classes), it is possible to re-train the TSR CNN to properly classify all the signs for a ~1/4 ratio of new/known sign classes. The second task addresses on-board 2D object detection, focusing on vehicles and pedestrians. In this case, we assume that we receive a set of images without the annotations required to train an object detector, i.e., without object bounding boxes. Therefore, our goal is to self-annotate these images so that they can later be used to train the desired object detector. In order to reach this goal, we leverage from synthetic data and propose a semi-supervised learning approach based on the co-training idea. In fact, we use a GAN to reduce the synth-to-real domain shift before applying co-training. Our quantitative results show that co-training and GAN-based image-to-image translation complement each other up to allow the training of object detectors without manual annotation, and still almost reaching the upper-bound performances of the detectors trained from human annotations. While in previous tasks we focus on vision-based perception, the third task we address focuses on LiDAR pointclouds. Our initial goal was to develop a 3D object detector trained on synthetic LiDAR-style pointclouds. While for images we may expect synth/real-to-real domain shift due to differences in their appearance (e.g. when source and target images come from different camera sensors), we did not expect so for LiDAR pointclouds since these active sensors factor out appearance and provide sampled shapes. However, in practice, we have seen that it can be domain shift even among real-world LiDAR pointclouds. Factors such as the sampling parameters of the LiDARs, the sensor suite configuration on-board the ego-vehicle, and the human annotation of 3D bounding boxes, do induce a domain shift. We show it through comprehensive experiments with different publicly available datasets and 3D detectors. This redirected our goal towards the design of a GAN for pointcloud-to-pointcloud translation, a relatively unexplored topic. Finally, it is worth to mention that all the synthetic datasets used for these three tasks, have been designed and generated in the context of this PhD work and will be publicly released. Overall, we think this PhD presents several steps forward to encourage leveraging synthetic data for developing deep perception models in the field of driving assistance and autonomous driving.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Programa de Doctorat en Informàtica

Includes bibliographical references.
Currently, there is a growing need for mobile Business Intelligence (BI) in the business world as the nature of work is changing and employees are more mobile than ever before. Mobile BI promises portability and pervasive access to BI, making it a topic high on many directors’ agendas; however the tangible and intangible benefits of mobile BI are still not well understood. Coupled with this, BI practitioners’ are sceptical about the real business value of delivering BI reports to mobile devices and how this undertaking can bring about organizational changes in the long run. As the field of mobile BI is still in its infancy, there is a lack of research which addresses the business value of mobile BI. The existing studies in this research area have been focused on adoption and implementation strategies. This study therefore attempts to address the gap by investigating how mobile BI can be utilised to enhance organizational performance and also contribute towards strategic business value. In light of this, an extensive literature review was conducted which revealed that mobile BI usage can result in benefits, such as improved employee performance management, organizational agility and customer satisfaction. A conceptual model was developed based on the literature and this model acted as the framework for investigating the research problem.