This thesis investigates how an autonomous reinforcement learning agent can improve on an approximate solution by augmenting it with a small patch, which overrides the approximate solution at certain states of the problem. In reinforcement learning, many approximate solutions are smaller and easier to produce than ???flat??? solutions that maintain distinct parameters for each fully enumerated state, but the best solution within the constraints of the approximation may fall well short of global optimality. This thesis proposes that the remaining gap to global optimality can be efficiently minimised by learning a small patch over the approximate solution. In order to improve the agent???s behaviour, algorithms are presented for learning the overriding patch. The patch is grown around particular regions of the problem where the approximate solution is found to be deficient. Two heuristic strategies are proposed for concentrating resources to those areas where inaccuracies in the approximate solution are most costly, drawing a compromise between solution quality and storage requirements. Patching also handles problems with continuous state variables, by two alternative methods: Kuhn triangulation over a fixed discretisation and nearest neighbour interpolation with a variable discretisation. As well as improving the agent???s behaviour, patching is also applied to the agent???s model of the environment. Inaccuracies in the agent???s model of the world are detected by statistical testing, using a selective sampling strategy to limit storage requirements for collecting data. The patching algorithms are demonstrated in several problem domains, illustrating the effectiveness of patching under a wide range of conditions. A scenario drawn from a real-time strategy game demonstrates the ability of patching to handle large complex tasks. These contributions combine to form a general framework for patching over approximate solutions in reinforcement learning. Complex problems cannot be solved by brute force alone, and some form of approximation is necessary to handle large problems. However, this does not mean that the limitations of approximate solutions must be accepted without question. Patching demonstrates one way in which an agent can leverage approximation techniques without losing the ability to handle fine yet important details.

In this text I am investigating the relationship between craft, fine art and kitsch/popular culture through the making of a three-dimensional pattern in patchwork technique. I apply the investigation to my working technique by comparing certain examples of fine art pieces with kitsch items. A method that during the process was named Versus Associations. I have connected the art pieces and kitsch items through this method of associations based on their similarities in colors and composition. The aim of the pattern is to mediate color interactions that make up a visual illusion. I want to make the beholders curious of what is happening in the pattern and show that it can affect them physically. / <p>Due to copyright some pictures has been removed. Numbers, representing these pictures, with attached web links can be found in references.</p>

This thesis investigates how an autonomous reinforcement learning agent can improve on an approximate solution by augmenting it with a small patch, which overrides the approximate solution at certain states of the problem. In reinforcement learning, many approximate solutions are smaller and easier to produce than ???flat??? solutions that maintain distinct parameters for each fully enumerated state, but the best solution within the constraints of the approximation may fall well short of global optimality. This thesis proposes that the remaining gap to global optimality can be efficiently minimised by learning a small patch over the approximate solution. In order to improve the agent???s behaviour, algorithms are presented for learning the overriding patch. The patch is grown around particular regions of the problem where the approximate solution is found to be deficient. Two heuristic strategies are proposed for concentrating resources to those areas where inaccuracies in the approximate solution are most costly, drawing a compromise between solution quality and storage requirements. Patching also handles problems with continuous state variables, by two alternative methods: Kuhn triangulation over a fixed discretisation and nearest neighbour interpolation with a variable discretisation. As well as improving the agent???s behaviour, patching is also applied to the agent???s model of the environment. Inaccuracies in the agent???s model of the world are detected by statistical testing, using a selective sampling strategy to limit storage requirements for collecting data. The patching algorithms are demonstrated in several problem domains, illustrating the effectiveness of patching under a wide range of conditions. A scenario drawn from a real-time strategy game demonstrates the ability of patching to handle large complex tasks. These contributions combine to form a general framework for patching over approximate solutions in reinforcement learning. Complex problems cannot be solved by brute force alone, and some form of approximation is necessary to handle large problems. However, this does not mean that the limitations of approximate solutions must be accepted without question. Patching demonstrates one way in which an agent can leverage approximation techniques without losing the ability to handle fine yet important details.

Submitted by Marcelo Andrade Silva (marcelo.andradesilva@ufpe.br) on 2015-03-06T17:28:45Z No. of bitstreams: 2 tese.final-ernani.martins.dos.santos.pdf: 3304995 bytes, checksum: 53ba0b88589ed4ae3e56e28528afbda6 (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-06T17:28:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 tese.final-ernani.martins.dos.santos.pdf: 3304995 bytes, checksum: 53ba0b88589ed4ae3e56e28528afbda6 (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Patchwork é uma atividade que envolve a costura de retalhos de tecidos em um trabalho de grande design. A produção desse design é geralmente baseada em padrões de repetição, construídos com diferentes formas coloridas. Estas formas são cuidadosamente medidas e cortadas, com cortes retos, gerando a visualização de figuras geométricas básicas. Na montagem deste trabalho é comum, no discurso das artesãs e aprendizes do ofício, dentro do atelier de patchwork, o uso de palavras e expressões que permeiam a linguagem de sentidos matemáticos, que é utilizada no contexto escolar e acadêmico. Diante disso, buscamos uma descrição e um entendimento acerca da confecção de blocos e/ou peças desse artesanato, em uma comunidade situada na cidade de Recife. Nesse processo, foi analisado como o entendimento sobre a montagem dos padrões de repetição é engendrado para as aprendizes, a partir do discurso das artesãs, focando-se nas questões ligadas à produção de sentido. Assim, discutimos a existência de significados específicos para as palavras e expressões utilizadas por elas no contexto do atelier, e que estão presentes na linguagem de sentidos matemáticos utilizada fora desse contexto; e se esses significados sofrem influência de como o trabalho é feito. As discussões teóricas da presente pesquisa tiveram aporte da perspectiva pragmática da linguagem, sustentada pela ideia de jogos de linguagem proposta por Wittgenstein, em sua obra denominada Investigações Filosóficas. Os jogos de linguagem nos remetem aos repertórios de partilha, uma das bases da noção de comunidades de prática, cujo ponto de partida é a análise da aprendizagem como prática social, que são outros focos do nosso olhar teórico. A elaboração metodológica baseou-se na pesquisa de cunho etnográfico e os dados foram construídos com suporte da análise interacional e videográfica, que destaca o papel da linguagem e de outros recursos semióticos para a efetivação da ação humana. Os achados apontam que os entendimentos empregados para determinar comprimentos e estabelecer formas, na confecção do patchwork, estão ligados a contextos específicos e são de natureza diferente dos empregados no uso destes conhecimentos, no trabalho com a matemática na escola, na academia. Por isso, os significados de termos matemáticos podem diferir radicalmente em função dos contextos em que estão sendo usados, indo de encontro à ideia, comumente difundida, de uma linguagem matemática única, aplicada a qualquer contexto. Sendo o conhecimento matemático um produto cultural, produzido por diferentes formas de vida, ele pode ser significado como um conjunto de jogos de linguagem. Palavras-

Review of Patchwork Nation.Jefferson Institute. 2011.

Ma réflexion est basée sur les nouveaux problèmes des vêtements dans une société post-moderne notamment en utilisant les notions du collage, d'assemblage, du patchwork, du montage, de la récupération, du recyclage et du métissage des genres, des époques, des cultures, des styles, des matières, des couleurs, des formes dans la mode vestimentaire. L'objet de ma recherche est axé sur l'assemblage de la nouvelle esthétique des modes d'assemblage cousus et non cousus et l'étude des bouleversements esthétiques générés par l'intégration de l'art du patchwork et du collage sur la voie vestimentaire à partir de mixage des matériaux empruntés de la vie courante. Il s'agirait d'investir les fonctionnements d'une esthétique de reconstruction et de déconstruction dans les œuvres collagistes et voir la nouvelle identité de la Haute Couture métissée qui a bouleversé les rapports traditionnels entre le créateur, l'œuvre, les techniques et le coupé cousu. / My thinking is based on emerging clothes in a post-modem society using the concepts of collage, assemblage, patchwork, installation, recovery, recycling and mixing of genres, eras, cultures, styles, materials, colors, shapes in fashion clothing. The purpose of my research is focused on the assembly of the new aesthetic modes of assembly and not stitched sewn and study of aesthetic upheavals generated by the integration of the art of patchwork and collage on track dress from mixing of materials borrowed from everyday life. It would invest the workings of an aesthetic reconstruction and deconstruction in collage works and see the new identity of the Haute Couture mixed that changed the traditional relationship between the creator, the work, techniques and cut and sewn.

The research question for this thesis arose from the author's desire to find ways to integrate into her sense of Self her personal experience as woman and mother and to be empowered by that. She sought a source of empowerment that affirmed the life honouring, spiritual and ecological values that were being highlighted by the mothering experience. The connection is deepened further by the recognition of a time when these values were incorporated into the earliest of human creation stories, from watching the creative cycles of the seasons, and the bodies of women in the gestating creation cycles. The body which forms the presentation of this thesis is in two media, text and the visual arts. It is expressed and interpreted in three parts: through the texts of the book, 'The wheel of the year : seasons of the soul in quilts' and the research document, and through the visual medium of artquilts in exhibition which symbolise the Old European and Celtic seasonal celebration. The process for construction of this research has been to piece together the fabrics of two women's research groups' life experiences, and the author's own personal reflections on her life and theirs, through the creative process of mothering, patchwork quilting and participating in seasonal ritual / Master of Social Ecology (Hons)

<p>I detta arbete är syftet att ta reda på hur arbete med lappteknik i grundskolan kan genomföras. Textillärare har tillfrågats om hur de arbetar med lappteknik ute i grundskolan och varför de gör på det sättet. Sedan har undersökts vad det finns för positiva och negativa yttringar med att arbeta med lappteknik och om lärarna arbetar med en progression i lappteknik och hur den ser ut i sådana fall. Arbetet syftar även till att ta reda på om eleverna behöver några förkunskaper och vilka i sådana fall. I uppsatsen bearbetas också inlärning och instruktioner i skolan och med anledning av detta har lärare tillfrågats om vad de anser är väsentligt när ett självstudiematerial i lappteknik ska tillverkas samt om det finns bra instruktionsmaterial att tillgå i lappteknik. Till uppsatsen har litteraturstudie valts för att ta reda på fakta om lappteknik och inlärning. </p><p>En kvalitativ intervju har valts för att undersöka hur man som lärare kan lägga upp arbetet med lappteknik i grundskolan. Textilslöjdslärare som arbetar i grundskolan har intervjuats. Resultatet visar att det finns flera sätt att arbeta på med lappteknik i skolan. Varje lärare bestämmer hur mycket de vill ha med av en teknik och därför är det personliga intresset en avgörande faktor. När det gäller instruktioner verkar de flesta av lärarna vara överens om att de ska innehålla både text och bild samt att texten ska vara lättläst.</p>

I detta arbete är syftet att ta reda på hur arbete med lappteknik i grundskolan kan genomföras. Textillärare har tillfrågats om hur de arbetar med lappteknik ute i grundskolan och varför de gör på det sättet. Sedan har undersökts vad det finns för positiva och negativa yttringar med att arbeta med lappteknik och om lärarna arbetar med en progression i lappteknik och hur den ser ut i sådana fall. Arbetet syftar även till att ta reda på om eleverna behöver några förkunskaper och vilka i sådana fall. I uppsatsen bearbetas också inlärning och instruktioner i skolan och med anledning av detta har lärare tillfrågats om vad de anser är väsentligt när ett självstudiematerial i lappteknik ska tillverkas samt om det finns bra instruktionsmaterial att tillgå i lappteknik. Till uppsatsen har litteraturstudie valts för att ta reda på fakta om lappteknik och inlärning. En kvalitativ intervju har valts för att undersöka hur man som lärare kan lägga upp arbetet med lappteknik i grundskolan. Textilslöjdslärare som arbetar i grundskolan har intervjuats. Resultatet visar att det finns flera sätt att arbeta på med lappteknik i skolan. Varje lärare bestämmer hur mycket de vill ha med av en teknik och därför är det personliga intresset en avgörande faktor. När det gäller instruktioner verkar de flesta av lärarna vara överens om att de ska innehålla både text och bild samt att texten ska vara lättläst.

Cette thèse est motivée par les problèmes de constructions de surfaces algébriques réelles. Nous nous intéressons plus particulièrement au problème de construire des surfaces algébriques réelles avec un grand nombre d'anses. Ce problème est relié à la conjecture de Viro, dont un contre exemple a été construit pour la première fois par I. Itenberg en 1993. L'outil fondamental de nos constructions est le patchwork de Viro, qui peut également s'interpréter par la géométrie tropicale. En utilisant la géométrie tropicale, et plus particulièrement les modifications tropicales, nous donnons une nouvelle construction d'une famille de courbes algébriques réelles planes avec un nombre asymptotiquement maximal d'ovals pairs. Cette famille avait été construite initialement en 2006 par E. Brugallé. En utilisant la méthode générale du patchwork, nous donnons ensuite une construction d'une sextique réelle avec 45 anses, améliorant ainsi un résultat de 2001 de F. Bihan. Enfin, nous nous penchons sur l'étude des surfaces algébriques réelles dans P1xP1xP1 et nous construisons notamment une famille de surfaces algébriques réelles de tridegré (2k,2l,2) dans P1xP1xP1 avec un premier nombre de Betti asymptotiquement maximal. Cette construction utilise une généralisation de la méthode du patchwork de Viro faite par E. Shustin en 1998. / In this thesis, we focus on constructions of real algebraic surfaces. The main problem we focus on is to construct real algebraic surfaces with a big number of handles. This problem is related to Viro's conjecture. A couterexample to Viro's conjecture was constructed at the first time by I. Itenberg in 1993. The fundamental tool to our constructions is Viro's patchworking. Viro's patchworking can be reformulated in terms of tropical geometry. Using tropical geometry, and more precisely tropical modifications, we give a new construction of a family of real algebraic plane curves with asymptotically a maximal number of even ovals. This family was first constructed in 2006 by E. Brugallé. Using Viro's patchworking, we construct a real sextic with 45 handles, improving a result of F. Bihan obtained in 2001. At least, we focus on the study of real algebraic surfaces in P1xP1xP1. More precisely, we construct a family of real algebraic surfaces of tridegree (2k,2l,2) in P1xP1xP1 with asymptotically a maximal first Betti number. This construction uses a more general version of Viro's patchworking due to E. Shustin in 1998.