The ability to learn is essential for robots to function and perform services within a dynamic human environment. Robot programming by demonstration facilitates learning through a human teacher without the need to develop new code for each task that the robot performs. In order for learning to be generalizable, the robot needs to be able to grasp the underlying structure of the task being learned. This requires appropriate knowledge abstraction and representation. The goal of this thesis is to develop a learning by imitation system that abstracts knowledge of human demonstrations of a task and represents the abstracted knowledge in a hierarchical framework. The learning by imitation system is capable of performing both action and object recognition based on video stream data at the lower level of the hierarchy, while the sequence of actions and object states observed is reconstructed at the higher level of the hierarchy in order to form a coherent representation of the task. Furthermore, error recovery capabilities are included in the learning by imitation system to improve robustness to unexpected situations during task execution. The first part of the thesis focuses on motion learning to allow the robot to both recognize the actions for task representation at the higher level of the hierarchy and to perform the actions to imitate the task. In order to efficiently learn actions, the actions are segmented into meaningful atomic units called motion primitives. These motion primitives are then modeled using dynamic movement primitives (DMPs), a dynamical system model that can robustly generate motion trajectories to arbitrary goal positions while maintaining the overall shape of the demonstrated motion trajectory. The DMPs also contain weight parameters that are reflective of the shape of the motion trajectory. These weight parameters are clustered using affinity propagation (AP), an efficient exemplar clustering algorithm, in order to determine groups of similar motion primitives and thus, performing motion recognition. The approach of DMPs combined with APs was experimentally verified on two separate motion data sets for its ability to recognize and generate motion primitives. The second part of the thesis outlines how the task representation is created and used for imitating observed tasks. This includes object and object state recognition using simple computer vision techniques as well as the automatic construction of a Petri net (PN) model to describe an observed task. Tasks are composed of a sequence of actions that have specific pre-conditions, i.e. object states required before the action can be performed, and post-conditions, i.e. object states that result from the action. The PNs inherently encode pre-conditions and post-conditions of a particular event, i.e. action, and can model tasks as a coherent sequence of actions and object states. In addition, PNs are very flexible in modeling a variety of tasks including tasks that involve both sequential and parallel components. The automatic PN creation process has been tested on both a sequential two block stacking task and a three block stacking task involving both sequential and parallel components. The PN provides a meaningful representation of the observed tasks that can be used by a robot to imitate the tasks. Lastly, error recovery capabilities are added to the learning by imitation system in order to allow the robot to readjust the sequence of actions needed during task execution. The error recovery component is able to deal with two types of errors: unexpected, but known situations and unexpected, unknown situations. In the case of unexpected, but known situations, the learning system is able to search through the PN to identify the known situation and the actions needed to complete the task. This ability is useful not only for error recovery from known situations, but also for human robot collaboration, where the human unexpectedly helps to complete part of the task. In the case of situations that are both unexpected and unknown, the robot will prompt the human demonstrator to teach how to recover from the error to a known state. By observing the error recovery procedure and automatically extending the PN with the error recovery information, the situation encountered becomes part of the known situations and the robot is able to autonomously recover from the error in the future. This error recovery approach was tested successfully on errors encountered during the three block stacking task.

Bibliography: leaves 467-472 / xi, 472 leaves : ill., geneal. tables, maps ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, 1986

Thesis (MA (Development Admin.))--University of Stellenbosch, 1975. / A detailed account of the geography, history and demography of the Caprivi was compiled and in addition an investigation of the Fwe kinship structure and social organization and their judicial process was carried out. This study provided a framework within which Fwe law operates.

Reconnu par les avant-gardes au tournant du XXe siècle pour sa rafraîchissante primitivité, encensé jusqu’aux années 1950, l’art naïf est aujourd’hui tout à fait négligé. Grâce aux expositions rares mais régulières qui lui sont consacrées, seul Henri Rousseau dit le Douanier semble encore susciter quelque intérêt. Mais les peintres révélés à sa suite, autodidactes et d’extraction populaire comme lui et répondant aux noms d’André Bauchant, Camille Bombois, Séraphine Louis, René Rimbert ou Louis Vivin, ne jouissent plus du même succès. Pourtant, leur reconnaissance durant l’entre-deux-guerres prit des dimensions insoupçonnées. «Peintres du Cœur Sacré», «Primitifs Modernes», «Maîtres Populaires de la Réalité» ou encore, outre-Atlantique, artistes folk et self-taught, ceux qui furent définitivement labellisés art naïf à partir de 1950, comptaient parmi les peintres les plus appréciés. Outre le fait de combler un chapitre encore peu investi de l’histoire de l’art et de celle du primitivisme, nous cherchons à comprendre les raisons d’un tel décalage. Notre thèse retrace et analyse ainsi la reconnaissance de l’art naïf, de son émergence avec Henri Rousseau en 1886 à son institutionnalisation par le Musée national d’art moderne français en 1948. A travers l’étude des définitions qui lui furent successivement appliquées, nous constatons que ce type de «primitifs», loin de demeurer associés aux artistes les plus avant-gardistes, fut aussi célébré par une famille artistique conservatrice et réactionnaire qui, tout en les encensant, eut certainement raison de leur postérité. / Revealed by the avant-garde at the turn of the 20th century for its refreshing primitivity, naïve art famous until the 1950’s is today completely neglected. Only Henri Rousseau known as the Douanier still draws attention thanks to the rare exhibitions that are still regularly organized on his work. But the ones who were recognized after his death, the self-taught and low-class people like him such as André Bauchant, CamilleBombois, Séraphine Louis, René Rimbert or Louis Vivin, don't ring a bell any more. However, their recognition during the in-between-wars both in France and in the United States was surprisingly successful. Known as the “Peintres du Coeur Sacré”, the “Modern Primitives”, the “Masters of Popular Paintings” or across the Atlantic as folk or self-taught artists, these painters who were definitively labeled as naïve art painters in France after 1950, were among the most appreciated ones. While completing a chapter of history of art and of the history of primitivism, we focused on trying to understand the reasons of such a shift. This PhD traces and focuses on the recognition of naïve art, from its birth with Henri Rousseau in 1886 to its institutionalization by the Musée national d’art moderne in 1948. By looking closely at the various definitions given to naïve art at different times, we can see that this type of “primitives” remains far from being associated to the most avant-gardist artists and that they were also celebrated by people from a more conservative and reactionary artistic tendency. This might have rushed their disappearance.

No description available.

No description available.

In recent decades there has been a growing scholarly interest in the representation of women in early Christian texts, with the works of Greek and Latin authors being the primary focus. This dissertation makes an important contribution to the existing scholarship by examining the representation of Armenian women in the fifth-century Christian narratives, which have been instrumental in forging the Christian identity and worldview of the Armenian people. The texts that are discussed here were written exclusively by clerics whose way of thinking was considerably influenced by the religious teachings of the Greek and Syriac Church Fathers. However, as far as the representation of women is concerned, the Greek Fathers' largely misogynistic discourse did not have discernible effect on the Armenian authors. On the contrary, the approach developed in early Christian Armenian literature was congruous with the more liberal way of thinking of the Syriac clerics, with a marked tendency towards empowering women ideologically and providing them with prominent roles in the male-centred society. I argue that such a representation of women was primarily prompted by the ideology of the pre-Christian religion of the Armenians. This research discusses the main historical and cultural factors that prompted a positive depiction of women, and highlights the rhetorical and moralising strategies that the authors deployed to construct an "ideal woman". It further explores the representation of women's agency, experience, discourse, and identity. In particular, women's pivotal role in Armenia's conversion to Christianity and female asceticism in fourth-fifth century Armenia are extensively investigated. It is also argued that women's status in the extended family determined the social spaces they could enter and the extent of power they could exercise. It appears that Iranian matrimonial practice, including polygyny and consanguineous marriages, was common among the Armenian elite, whereas the lower classes mainly practised marriage by bride purchase or abduction. Special attention is devoted to the institution of queenship in Arsacid Armenia and the position of the queen within the framework of power relationships. Finally, this study examines the instances of violence towards women during wars and how the female body was exploited to achieve desirable political goals.

This study endeavors to set Christian writing about Islam from the period of the Islamic expansion in the broader context of Christian theological development in Late Antiquity. To this end, this study traces elements of continuity in Christian thought from the Christological debates of the fifth and sixth century, particularly from the Council of Chalcedon in 451and the resulting emergence of the communities of Chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonian Monophysites as the dominant strands of Christianity in the Near East at the rise of Islam. In order to understand how Christians began to integrate the Islamic expansion into their thinking, this study focuses particularly on Christian writings about Islam and the descriptions of Muslims in Christian writings from the rise of lslam, through the seventh and early eighth centuries, up to the Abbasid revolution in 750. It also considers the contemporary descriptions of Christians in the Qur'an, in order to illustrate that these descriptions have both a different starting point and a different focus, suggesting that both Christian discussions about Muslims and Muslim discussions about Christians were internal discussions, taking place within each tradition, and do not represent true inter-religious dialogue. In this way, this study attempts to illustrate how the rise of lslam, the emergence of the caliphate and the resulting separation of the Near Eastern churches from the Christian hierarchy in Rome and Constantinople influenced Christian identity in the Near East. The writings of the seventh century, and the Christian identity they preserve, emerge as a hybrid, integrating elements of the competing, pre-Islamic concerns of doctrinal purity versus church unity, but also attempting to address, in a variety of ways, the initial fear over Muslim victory and the eventual acceptance of Muslim rule as the new status quo in the Near East.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo comparar a teologia do evangelho de Marcos com a neopentecostal. Enquanto a teologia marcana é interpretada como antitriunfalista, conduzindo as comunidades a perceberem o Cristo da cruz, o movimento neopentecostal faz o caminho oposto. Sua ênfase é o caminho triunfalista/sem cruz. Num primeiro momento, será abordado o ambiente das primeiras comunidades cristãs, que surgiram após a paixão, morte e ressurreição de Jesus. Posteriormente, serão apresentadas algumas considerações sobre a intenção do evangelista Marcos ao escrever seu evangelho. Por fim, será tratado ainda o tipo de enfoque bíblico-doutrinário do movimento neopentecostal. Já os principais resultados da pesquisa foram: a) incompatibilidade entre a ideologia neopentecostal com a abordagem teológica do evangelho de Marcos; e b) a perspectiva/ideologia triunfalista não é inerente apenas ao movimento neopentecostal. Já na época em que Marcos escreveu seu evangelho, a comunidade para quem ele destina sua obra também adotou essa postura triunfante sobre a figura de Jesus. / This dissertation compares the theology of the Gospel of Mark with that of the neopentecostal movement. While Markan theology is interpreted as antitriumphalist, leading faith communities to recognize the Christ of the cross, the neopentecostal movement takes the opposite path. Its emphasis is on triumph, the way without the cross. I begin by considering the environment of the first Christian communities that arose after Jesus passion, death, and resurrection. I then present several reflections on the intention of the evangelist Mark when he wrote his Gospel. Finally, I deal with the particular biblico-doctrinal focus of the neopentecostal movement. The main findings of this research were: a) there is a fundamental incompatibility between the neopentecostal ideology and the theological approach of the Gospel of Mark; and b) the triumphalist perspective/ideology is not inherent only to the neopentecostal movement. Even at the time when Mark was writing his Gospel, the faith community for which he intended his work had also adopted a triumphalist view of the figure of Jesus.

This dissertation explores the impact of Bushman images, and the writings of Lucy Lloyd and Wilhelm Bleek (working with the Breakwater Bushmen) on three art works of Pippa Skotnes. They are The Return III (1988), For //Kunn (1993) and Heaven’s Things (1999). It is argued that Bushman imagery, being the result of shamanic trance activities is characterised by imagery, which mammals universally share. The use of the same imagery by the Surrealists in the twentieth century arises not from an intimate interaction with the spirit realm/dream world but from the European longing for an altered reality. Skotnes appropriates Bushman imagery in her prints, narrating the tragic fate of the Bushman. She laments the loss of the transcendental relationship between Man and the Universe. The exploitation, adoption and marketing of Bushman imagery by the tourist industry marks the distinction between her respectful treatment and the materialism of South Africans. / Visual Arts / M.A. (Visual Arts)