Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin, 1965. / Extension Repository Collection. Typescript (carbon copy). Includes autobiographical sketch. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-97).

Industrial robots are delivering more and more manipulation services in manufacturing. However, when the task is complex, it is difficult to programme a robot to fulfil all the requirements because even a relatively simple task such as a peg-in-hole insertion contains many uncertainties, e.g. clearance, initial grasping position and insertion path. Humans, on the other hand, can deal with these variations using their vision and haptic feedback. Although humans can adapt to uncertainties easily, most of the time, the skilled based performances that relate to their tacit knowledge cannot be easily articulated. Even though the automation solution may not fully imitate human motion since some of them are not necessary, it would be useful if the skill based performance from a human could be firstly interpreted and modelled, which will then allow it to be transferred to the robot. This thesis aims to reduce robot programming efforts significantly by developing a methodology to capture, model and transfer the manual manufacturing skills from a human demonstrator to the robot. Recently, Learning from Demonstration (LfD) is gaining interest as a framework to transfer skills from human teacher to robot using probability encoding approaches to model observations and state transition uncertainties. In close or actual contact manipulation tasks, it is difficult to reliabley record the state-action examples without interfering with the human senses and activities. Therefore, wearable sensors are investigated as a promising device to record the state-action examples without restricting the human experts during the skilled execution of their tasks. Firstly to track human motions accurately and reliably in a defined 3-dimensional workspace, a hybrid system of Vicon and IMUs is proposed to compensate for the known limitations of the individual system. The data fusion method was able to overcome occlusion and frame flipping problems in the two camera Vicon setup and the drifting problem associated with the IMUs. The results indicated that occlusion and frame flipping problems associated with Vicon can be mitigated by using the IMU measurements. Furthermore, the proposed method improves the Mean Square Error (MSE) tracking accuracy range from 0.8˚ to 6.4˚ compared with the IMU only method. Secondly, to record haptic feedback from a teacher without physically obstructing their interactions with the workpiece, wearable surface electromyography (sEMG) armbands were used as an indirect method to indicate contact feedback during manual manipulations. A muscle-force model using a Time Delayed Neural Network (TDNN) was built to map the sEMG signals to the known contact force. The results indicated that the model was capable of estimating the force from the sEMG armbands in the applications of interest, namely in peg-in-hole and beater winding tasks, with MSE of 2.75N and 0.18N respectively. Finally, given the force estimation and the motion trajectories, a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based approach was utilised as a state recognition method to encode and generalise the spatial and temporal information of the skilled executions. This method would allow a more representative control policy to be derived. A modified Gaussian Mixture Regression (GMR) method was then applied to enable motions reproduction by using the learned state-action policy. To simplify the validation procedure, instead of using the robot, additional demonstrations from the teacher were used to verify the reproduction performance of the policy, by assuming human teacher and robot learner are physical identical systems. The results confirmed the generalisation capability of the HMM model across a number of demonstrations from different subjects; and the reproduced motions from GMR were acceptable in these additional tests. The proposed methodology provides a framework for producing a state-action model from skilled demonstrations that can be translated into robot kinematics and joint states for the robot to execute. The implication to industry is reduced efforts and time in programming the robots for applications where human skilled performances are required to cope robustly with various uncertainties during tasks execution.

[pt] O trabalho apresentou as soluções de equações algébricas polinomiais por radicais e operações elementares nos coeficientes com a pesquisa baseada em livros e artigos; buscou explorar as diversas ideias desenvolvidas nas demonstrações, discussões sobre os casos e os artifícios engenhosos envolvidos, além de algumas demonstrações independentes; foram tratados ainda, os casos especiais onde as raízes estão sujeitas a condições pré estabelecidas e os coeficientes obedecem a uma dada lei; utilizamos a teoria de Abel-Ruffini e as implicações da teoria de Galois para justificar a impossibilidade de solução geral por radicais dos polinômios de grau n maior ou igual a 5 e a resposta a esse impasse com o surgimento de métodos numéricos de aproximação. Essas teorias e os métodos foram tratados em caráter elementar, por necessitarem de outros trabalhos detalhados, o que foge do objetivo desta obra. Sendo assim, vimos algoritmos que nos possibilitam o cálculo, nos casos do primeiro ao quarto graus, das soluções de uma equação algébrica polinomial além de casos especiais e aproximações numéricas. Utilizamos os programas de computação algébrica e geometria: Máxima, Geogebra e Maple para as aproximações, desenhos e gráficos. / [en] The work presented the solutions of polynomial algebraic equations by radicals and elementary operations in the coefficients with research based on books and articles; Sought to explore the various ideas developed in the demonstrations, discussions on the cases and ingenious artifacts involved, as well as some independent demonstrations; Were still treated, the special cases where the roots are subject to pre-established conditions and the coefficients obey a given law; We use Abel-Ruffini s theory and the implications of Galois s theory to justify the impossibility of a general solution by radicals of polynomials of degree greater than or equal 5 and the answer to this impasse with the emergence of numerical approximation methods. These theories and methods were treated in an elementary way, because they require other detailed work, which is beyond the scope of this work. Thus, we have seen algorithms that allow us to calculate, in cases from 1st to 4th degrees, the solutions of a polynomial algebraic equation in addition to special cases and numerical approximations. We use the algebraic computing and geometry programs: Maxima, Geogebra and Maple for approximations, drawings and graphs.

Learning from Demonstration (LfD) has been used in robotics research for the last decades to solve issues pertaining to conventional programming of robots. This framework enables a robot to learn a task simply from a human demonstration. However, it is unfeasible to teach a robot all possible scenarios, which may lead to e.g. the robot getting stuck. In order to solve this, a search is necessary. However, no current work is able to provide a search approach that is both simple and general. This thesis develops and evaluates a new framework based on LfD that combines both of these aspects. A single demonstration of a human search is made and a model of it is learned. From this model a search trajectory is sampled and optimized. Based on that trajectory, a prediction of the encountered environmental forces is made. An impedance controller with feed-forward of the predicted forces is then used to evaluate the algorithm on a Peg-in-Hole task. The final results show that the framework is able to successfully learn and reproduce a search from just one single human demonstration. Ultimately some suggestions are made for further benchmarks and development.

A partir do estudo de eventos de protesto relacionados ao tema do transporte público, tendo as mobilizações de 2013 e seus desdobramentos como objeto empírico central, busca-se analisar como, através de diferentes performances que conformam tais eventos, são produzidas inovações nos repertórios de contestação. Para responder a este problema, foram estudadas as performances desenvolvidas nas manifestações que ocorreram em Porto Alegre nas últimas décadas e que tiveram como principal reivindicação a tarifa do transporte público. A literatura sobre as manifestações no Brasil em 2013 não desenvolve análises mais específicas sobre as inovações nos repertórios e nas performances identificadas. A literatura sobre “repertório” e sobre “performance” traz alguns elementos importantes para a compreensão do processo de inovação, porém tende a não apresentar uma sistematização ou um modelo explicativo para abordar tal processo. A proposta desta pesquisa é, portanto, avançar na formulação de um modelo que sistematize o processo de inovação nos repertórios de contestação, tendo como objeto as transformações nas manifestações sobre o transporte público em Porto Alegre. Como resultados, a pesquisa apresenta três mecanismos importantes no processo de inovação: adaptação, experimentação interativa (para explicação da emergência das performances) e rotinização (para explicação da incorporação no repertório). A entrada de novos atores no processo de mobilização foi uma característica central em 2013. O mecanismo de adaptação se daria através da trajetória desses atores e de dinâmicas de difusão. O mecanismo de experimentação interativa diz respeito a improvisações não previstas na interação. A rotinização das performances acontece através das noções de eficácia, de identificação, pela importância das organizações e pelo diálogo que estabelecem com o público. Algumas dimensões importantes no processo de inovação, que não foram previstas, apareceram no decorrer da pesquisa: o contexto político institucional, as disputas interpretativas sobre o confronto e os impactos das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs), influenciando o processo de inovação nos repertórios de contestação. / This dissertation draws on previous studies on protest events related to the topic of public transport and particularly on studies that have as their main empirical object the Brazilian mobilizations in 2013 and their aftermath. It seeks to analyze how different performances that took place in such events produced innovations in contentious repertoires. To address this problem, we studied performances developed in demonstrations that took place in Porto Alegre in recent decades and that had as their main object the public transport fare. The literature on demonstrations in Brazil in 2013 does not develop more specific analysis of innovations in repertoires and performances. The literature on "repertoire" and "performance" indicates important elements for understanding the innovation process, but in general does not present a theoretical systematization or an explanatory model to explain this process. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to contribute for the construction of a model that systematizes the innovation process in protest repertoires. For this purpose, we define as our object the transformations in demonstrations focused on public transportation in Porto Alegre. Our results suggest that three important mechanisms affect innovation processes: adaptation, interactive experimentation (for explaining the emergence of performances), and routinization (for explaining the incorporation of repertoires). The arrival of new actors was a central feature in the mobilization process of 2013. The adaptation mechanism took place through the trajectory of these actors and diffusion dynamics. The interactive experimentation mechanism is about the unforeseen improvisations in interactions. The routinization of perfomances is mediated by: the notions of effectiveness and identification; the importance of organizations; and the dialogue established with the public. Some important dimensions of the innovation process, which were not foreseen, were identified during the research: the political and institutional context, the interpretative disputes over confrontation and the impact of Information and Communication Technologies.

A partir do estudo de eventos de protesto relacionados ao tema do transporte público, tendo as mobilizações de 2013 e seus desdobramentos como objeto empírico central, busca-se analisar como, através de diferentes performances que conformam tais eventos, são produzidas inovações nos repertórios de contestação. Para responder a este problema, foram estudadas as performances desenvolvidas nas manifestações que ocorreram em Porto Alegre nas últimas décadas e que tiveram como principal reivindicação a tarifa do transporte público. A literatura sobre as manifestações no Brasil em 2013 não desenvolve análises mais específicas sobre as inovações nos repertórios e nas performances identificadas. A literatura sobre “repertório” e sobre “performance” traz alguns elementos importantes para a compreensão do processo de inovação, porém tende a não apresentar uma sistematização ou um modelo explicativo para abordar tal processo. A proposta desta pesquisa é, portanto, avançar na formulação de um modelo que sistematize o processo de inovação nos repertórios de contestação, tendo como objeto as transformações nas manifestações sobre o transporte público em Porto Alegre. Como resultados, a pesquisa apresenta três mecanismos importantes no processo de inovação: adaptação, experimentação interativa (para explicação da emergência das performances) e rotinização (para explicação da incorporação no repertório). A entrada de novos atores no processo de mobilização foi uma característica central em 2013. O mecanismo de adaptação se daria através da trajetória desses atores e de dinâmicas de difusão. O mecanismo de experimentação interativa diz respeito a improvisações não previstas na interação. A rotinização das performances acontece através das noções de eficácia, de identificação, pela importância das organizações e pelo diálogo que estabelecem com o público. Algumas dimensões importantes no processo de inovação, que não foram previstas, apareceram no decorrer da pesquisa: o contexto político institucional, as disputas interpretativas sobre o confronto e os impactos das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs), influenciando o processo de inovação nos repertórios de contestação. / This dissertation draws on previous studies on protest events related to the topic of public transport and particularly on studies that have as their main empirical object the Brazilian mobilizations in 2013 and their aftermath. It seeks to analyze how different performances that took place in such events produced innovations in contentious repertoires. To address this problem, we studied performances developed in demonstrations that took place in Porto Alegre in recent decades and that had as their main object the public transport fare. The literature on demonstrations in Brazil in 2013 does not develop more specific analysis of innovations in repertoires and performances. The literature on "repertoire" and "performance" indicates important elements for understanding the innovation process, but in general does not present a theoretical systematization or an explanatory model to explain this process. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to contribute for the construction of a model that systematizes the innovation process in protest repertoires. For this purpose, we define as our object the transformations in demonstrations focused on public transportation in Porto Alegre. Our results suggest that three important mechanisms affect innovation processes: adaptation, interactive experimentation (for explaining the emergence of performances), and routinization (for explaining the incorporation of repertoires). The arrival of new actors was a central feature in the mobilization process of 2013. The adaptation mechanism took place through the trajectory of these actors and diffusion dynamics. The interactive experimentation mechanism is about the unforeseen improvisations in interactions. The routinization of perfomances is mediated by: the notions of effectiveness and identification; the importance of organizations; and the dialogue established with the public. Some important dimensions of the innovation process, which were not foreseen, were identified during the research: the political and institutional context, the interpretative disputes over confrontation and the impact of Information and Communication Technologies.

O presente trabalho trata da importÃncia de se utilizar o MÃtodo de InduÃÃo MatemÃtica em demonstraÃÃes no Ensino BÃsico da MatemÃtica, pois, atualmente, percebe-se que essa tÃcnica de prova à raramente abordada nesse nÃvel de ensino. Para isso, percorremos um caminho que vai desde a importÃncia das demonstraÃÃes, seguido de uma seÃÃo na qual procuramos mostrar a diferenÃa entre induÃÃo e induÃÃo matemÃtica, passando pela definiÃÃo e explicaÃÃo desse mÃtodo. Mostramos tambÃm, as equivalÃncias entre as diversas formas do PrincÃpio da InduÃÃo e o PrincÃpio da Boa OrdenaÃÃo. ConcluÃmos com a resoluÃÃo de vÃrios exemplos, seguidos da sugestÃo de alguns problemas que visam facilitar o entendimento e a aplicaÃÃo do MÃtodo de InduÃÃo MatemÃtica no Ensino MÃdio. / This dissertation deals with the importance of using Mathematical Induction Method demonstrations in Basic Mathematics Teaching, because, currently, it is clear that this proof technique is rarely approached at that level of education. For this, we pursue a path that goes from the importance of the demonstrations, followed by a section in which we show the difference between induction and mathematical induction, including the definition and explanation of this method. We also show the equivalence between different forms of the Induction Principle and the Well Ordering Principle. We conclude with the resolution of some examples, followed by suggestions of some problems to facilitate the understanding and application of mathematics Induction Method in High School.

Este estudo objetivou investigar a influência da estrutura de propriedade sobre a informatividade dos lucros contábeis divulgados pelas empresas negociadas no mercado acionário brasileiro. Foi considerada como informatividade a intensidade da relação entre o lucro contábil e o retorno das ações, mensurada pelo coeficiente angular da reta estimada entre essas duas variáveis. A pesquisa teve como foco a influência específica de duas características da estrutura de propriedade: a concentração dos votos e a divergência entre os direitos das ações (voto versus fluxo de caixa) sobre a informatividade dos lucros contábeis. Tendo em vista a realidade do mercado brasileiro, a pesquisa considerou a adoção das práticas diferenciadas de governança corporativa como mecanismo redutor da influência da concentração de votos e da divergência entre direitos sobre a informatividade dos lucros contábeis. Adicionalmente, a pesquisa abordou a diferença da informatividade entre o lucro contábil e o dividendo, provocada pela divergência entre os direitos das ações (voto versus fluxo de caixa). A importância deste estudo, no ambiente brasileiro, encontra-se no fato de o mercado brasileiro, diferente dos mercados desenvolvidos, ser caracterizado por uma forte concentração dos votos nas mãos de poucos acionistas e pelo desvio entre os direitos de voto e fluxo de caixa por intermédio da emissão de ações preferenciais. A relação entre a informatividade dos lucros contábeis e a concentração de votos e a divergência entre direitos foi fundamentada pelo efeito entrincheiramento e pelo efeito alinhamento. A metodologia adotada foi baseada na utilizada nos estudos de Fan e Wong (2002) e Francis et. al. (2005) desenvolvidos, respectivamente, no mercado do sudoeste asiático e no mercado americano. Utilizou-se a definição do maior acionista controlador. A amostra utilizada na pesquisa foi formada pelas empresas não-financeiras listadas na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo (Bovespa) durante o período de 2000 a 2006. Como a amostra de trabalho selecionada apresenta características de um painel desbalanceado, os modelos adotados foram estimados em três abordagens: Pooled, Efeitos Fixos e Efeitos Aleatórios. Os resultados encontrados indicam que a concentração dos votos exerce uma influência negativa sobre a informatividade dos lucros contábeis. Quanto à divergência entre direitos, a influência negativa foi confirmada parcialmente. Diferente do resultado esperado, a divergência entre direitos exerce influência positiva sobre a informatividade dos lucros contábeis. Quando a divergência entre direitos passa a ser observada em conjunto com o excesso de votos, verifica-se a sua influência negativa sobre a informatividade dos lucros contábeis. Essa evidência sugere que a divergência entre os direitos passa a influenciar negativamente a informatividade somente quando o maior acionista controlador possui a maioria (>50%) dos votos. O maior impacto negativo sobre a informatividade dos lucros contábeis foi observado quando ocorre a combinação da concentração de votos com a divergência entre direitos. Sobre a adoção de práticas diferenciadas de governança corporativa, não foi confirmado o seu papel como elemento redutor da influência da concentração de votos e da divergência entre direitos sobre a informatividade dos lucros contábeis. Em relação à comparação da informatividade dos lucros contábeis e dos dividendos, foram levantadas as seguintes evidências: (i) quando condicionadas a divergência entre direitos, foi observada a diferença estatística entre as informatividades dos lucros contábeis e a dos dividendos, e (ii) ao contrário do esperado, sob a influência da divergência entre direitos, a informatividade dos lucros contábeis aumenta e à dos dividendos diminui. / This present study consists on examining the effects of the ownership structure over the informativeness of the accounting earnings which are disclosed by traded companies in the Brazilian stock market. Informativeness is about measuring how intense is the relation between accounting earnings and stock prices considering the angular coefficient of the probable straight line between these two variables. The research focus on the specific influence of two ownership structure´s characteristics: the concentration of the vote rights and the divergence between the rights of the shares (vote versus cash flow) on the accounting earnings informativeness. Analyzing the Brazilian market, this study considerate the use of the different practices of corporative governance to reduce the influence of the concentration of vote rights and the divergence between rights on the accounting earnings informativeness. It also approaches the difference of the informativeness between accounting earnings and dividends, caused by the divergence between the rights of the shares (vote versus cash flow). The relevance of this study, in the Brazilian reality, meets in the fact that the Brazilian market, different from other developed markets, is the typical concentration of the vote rights at the hands of a few shareholders, plus the deviation between the rights to vote and cash flow through emission of preferential shares. The relation between the informativeness of the accounting earnings and the concentration of votes and the divergence among rights was based on the entrenchment and the alignment effects. Its methodology was based on the studies made by Fan and Wong (2002) and Francis et. al. (2005) in Asian southwestern market and the American market. The definition of the largest ultimate owner was used. The sample used in the research was formed by the no-financial companies listed in the São Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa) during the years of 2000 the 2006. There were three approaches: pooled, fixed effect and random effect. The results show that the concentration of the vote rights has a negative influence on the accounting earnings informativeness. Concerning the divergence between rights, the negative influence was confirmed partially. However, as an unexpected result, the divergence between rights has positive influence on the accounting earnings informativeness. When the divergence between rights is taken into consideration within the excess of votes, it becomes clear its negative influence over the accounting earnings informativeness. This evidence suggests that the divergence among rights can influence negatively the informativeness only when the largest ultimate owner has the majority (>50%) of the vote rights. The most negative impact on the accounting earnings informativeness was observed when the combination of the concentration of votes with the divergence between rights occurs. Concerning the different practices of corporative governance as the reducing element of the influence of the concentration of votes and the divergence between rights over the accounting earnings informativeness, it was not confirmed. At last, comparing informativeness of accounting earnings and dividends, evidences emerged: (i) when the divergence for rights were conditioned, there was a difference in statistics between informativeness of accounting earnings and dividends, and (ii) whereas, unexpectedally, under the influence of the divergence within rights, accounting earnings informativeness increased and informativeness dividends decreased.

A ciência (episteme) é entendida por Aristóteles como um conhecimento demonstrativo, isto é, um tipo de saber que pode ser expressado por um discurso (logos) dedutivo fundado em premissas necessárias. No entanto, a demonstrabilidade que caracteriza a ciência não se atribui a seus princípios. Segundo Aristóteles, seria impossível demonstrar absolutamente tudo, pois assim se cairia em uma demonstração infinita e, portanto, tampouco haveria demonstração. Os primeiros princípios das ciências são apreendidos pela inteligência (noûs), a partir de resultados alcançados por indução (epagogé), que é a passagem de particulares a universais. Começando por uma análise dos aspectos formais da ciência, esta tese investiga os diversos sentidos e traços dos processos indutivos, procurando mostrar como eles e outros instrumentos do pensamento podem propiciar conhecimentos seguros que garantam a necessidade do conhecimento científico e de suas demonstrações. / Science (episteme) is understood by Aristotle as a demonstrative knowledge, i.e. a kind of knowledge that can be expressed by a deductive discourse (logos) based on necessary premisses. However, the demonstrability that characterizes science does not apply to its principles. According to Aristotle, it would be impossible to demonstrate everything, since thus we would fall into an infinite demonstration and, therefore, there would be no demonstration at all. First principles of science are grasped by intelligence (noûs), based upon the results achieved by induction (epagogé), which is the proceeding from particulars up to universals. Starting with an analysis of the formal aspects of science, this thesis investigates the various senses and aspects of inductive processes, trying to show how they and other instruments of thought can provide a safe knowledge that ensures the necessity of scientific knowledge and its demonstrations.

Our goal is to introduce a novel method for representing, generalising, and comparing gaits; particularly, walking gait. Human walking gaits are a result of complex, interdependent factors that include variations resulting from embodiments, environment and tasks, making techniques that use average template frameworks suboptimal for systematic analysis or corrective interventions. The proposed work aims to devise methodologies for being able to represent gaits and gait transitions such that optimal policies that eliminate the inter-personal variations from tasks and embodiment may be recovered. Our approach is built upon (i) work in the domain of null-space policy recovery and (ii) previous work in generalisation for point-to-point movements. The problem is formalised using a walking phase model, and the null-space learning method is used to generalise a consistent policy from multiple observations with rich variations. Once recovered, the underlying policies (mapped to different gait phases) can serve as reference guideline to quantify and identify pathological gaits while being robust against interpersonal and task variations. To validate our methods, we have demonstrated robustness of our method with simulated sagittal 2-link gait data with multiple ground truth constraints and policies. Pathological gait identification was then tested on real-world human gait data with induced gait abnormality, with the proposed method showing significant robustness to variations in speed and embodiment compared to template based methods. Future work will extend this to kinetic features and higher degree-of-freedom.