Regression is a central problem in statistics and machine learning with applications everywhere in science and technology. In probabilistic regression the relationship between a set of features and a real-valued target variable is modelled as a conditional probability distribution. There are cases where this distribution is very complex and not properly captured by simple approximations, such as assuming a normal distribution. This thesis investigates how conditional Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) can be used to properly capture more complex conditional distributions. GANs have seen great success in generating complex high-dimensional data, but less work has been done on their use for regression problems. This thesis presents experiments to better understand how conditional GANs can be used in probabilistic regression. Different versions of GANs are extended to the conditional case and evaluated on synthetic and real datasets. It is shown that conditional GANs can learn to estimate a wide range of different distributions and be competitive with existing probabilistic regression models.

[ES] La interoperabilidad entre los objetos comunicados es el objetivo principal del internet de las cosas (IoT). Algunos esfuerzos para lograrlo han generado diversas propuestas de arquitecturas, sin embargo, aún no se ha llegado a un conceso. Estas arquitecturas difieren en el tipo de estructura, grado de centralización, algoritmo de enrutamiento, métricas de enrutamiento, técnicas de descubrimiento, algoritmos de búsqueda, segmentación, calidad de servicio y seguridad, entre otros. Algunas son mejores que otras, dependiendo del entorno en el que se desempeñan y del tipo de parámetro que se use. Las más populares son las orientadas a eventos o acciones basadas en reglas, las cuales han permitido que IoT ingrese en el mercado y logre una rápida masificación. Sin embargo, su interoperabilidad se basa en alianzas entre fabricantes para lograr su compatibilidad. Esta solución se logra en la nube con una plataforma que unifica a las diferentes marcas aliadas. Esto permite la introducción de estas tecnologías a la vida común de los usuarios pero no resuelve problemas de autonomía ni de interoperabilidad. Además, no incluye a la nueva generación de redes inteligentes basadas en cosas inteligentes. La arquitectura propuesta en esta tesis toma los aspectos más relevantes de las cuatro arquitecturas IoT más aceptadas y las integra en una, separando la capa IoT (comúnmente presente en estas arquitecturas), en tres capas. Además, está pensada para abarcar redes de proximidad (integrando diferentes tecnologías de interconexión IoT) y basar su funcionamiento en inteligencia artificial (AI). Por lo tanto, esta propuesta aumenta la posibilidad de lograr la interoperabilidad esperada y aumenta la funcionalidad de cada objeto en la red enfocada en prestar un servicio al usuario. Aunque el sistema que se propone incluye el procesamiento de una inteligencia artificial, sigue los mismos aspectos técnicos que sus antecesoras, ya que su operación y comunicación continúan basándose en la capa de aplicación y trasporte de la pila de protocolo TCP/IP. Sin embargo, con el fin de aprovechar los protocolos IoT sin modificar su funcionamiento, se crea un protocolo adicional que se encapsula y adapta a su carga útil. Se trata de un protocolo que se encarga de descubrir las características de un objeto (DFSP) divididas en funciones, servicios, capacidades y recursos, y las extrae para centralizarla en el administrador de la red (IoT-Gateway). Con esta información el IoT-Gateway puede tomar decisiones como crear grupos de trabajo autónomos que presten un servicio al usuario y enrutar a los objetos de este grupo que prestan el servicio, además de medir la calidad de la experiencia (QoE) del servicio; también administra el acceso a internet e integra a otras redes IoT, utilizando inteligencia artificial en la nube. Al basarse esta propuesta en un nuevo sistema jerárquico para interconectar objetos de diferente tipo controlados por AI con una gestión centralizada, se reduce la tolerancia a fallos y seguridad, y se mejora el procesamiento de los datos. Los datos son preprocesados en tres niveles dependiendo del tipo de servicio y enviados a través de una interfaz. Sin embargo, si se trata de datos sobre sus características estos no requieren mucho procesamiento, por lo que cada objeto los preprocesa de forma independiente, los estructura y los envía a la administración central. La red IoT basada en esta arquitectura tiene la capacidad de clasificar un objeto nuevo que llegue a la red en un grupo de trabajo sin la intervención del usuario. Además de tener la capacidad de prestar un servicio que requiera un alto procesamiento (por ejemplo, multimedia), y un seguimiento del usuario en otras redes IoT a través de la nube. / [CA] La interoperabilitat entre els objectes comunicats és l'objectiu principal de la internet de les coses (IoT). Alguns esforços per aconseguir-ho han generat diverses propostes d'arquitectures, però, encara no s'arriba a un concens. Aquestes arquitectures difereixen en el tipus d'estructura, grau de centralització, algoritme d'encaminament, mètriques d'enrutament, tècniques de descobriment, algoritmes de cerca, segmentació, qualitat de servei i seguretat entre d'altres. Algunes són millors que altres depenent de l'entorn en què es desenvolupen i de el tipus de paràmetre que es faci servir. Les més populars són les orientades a esdeveniments o accions basades en regles. Les quals li han permès entrar al mercat i aconseguir una ràpida massificació. No obstant això, la seva interoperabilitat es basa en aliances entre fabricants per aconseguir la seva compatibilitat. Aquesta solució s'aconsegueix en el núvol amb una plataforma que unifica les diferents marques aliades. Això permet la introducció d'aquestes tecnologies a la vida comuna dels usuaris però no resol problemes d'autonomia ni d'interoperabilitat. A més, no inclou a la nova generació de xarxes intel·ligents basades en coses intel·ligents. L'arquitectura proposada en aquesta tesi, pren els aspectes més rellevants de les quatre arquitectures IoT mes acceptades i les integra en una, separant la capa IoT (comunament present en aquestes arquitectures), en tres capes. A més aquesta pensada en abastar xarxes de proximitat (integrant diferents tecnologies d'interconnexió IoT) i basar el seu funcionament en intel·ligència artificial. Per tant, aquesta proposta augmenta la possibilitat d'aconseguir la interoperabilitat esperada i augmenta la funcionalitat de cada objecte a la xarxa enfocada a prestar un servei a l'usuari. Tot i que el sistema que es proposa inclou el processament d'una intel·ligència artificial, segueix els mateixos aspectes tècnics que les seves antecessores, ja que, la seva operació i comunicació se segueix basant en la capa d'aplicació i transport de la pila de protocol TCP / IP. No obstant això, per tal d'aprofitar els protocols IoT sense modificar el seu funcionament es crea un protocol addicional que s'encapsula i s'adapta a la seva càrrega útil. Es tracta d'un protocol que s'encarrega de descobrir les característiques d'un objecte (DFSP) dividides en funcions, serveis, capacitats i recursos, i les extreu per centralitzar-la en l'administrador de la xarxa (IoT-Gateway). Amb aquesta informació l'IoT-Gateway pot prendre decisions com crear grups de treball autònoms que prestin un servei a l'usuari i encaminar als objectes d'aquest grup que presten el servei. A més de mesurar la qualitat de l'experiència (QoE) de el servei. També administra l'accés a internet i integra a altres xarxes Iot, utilitzant intel·ligència artificial en el núvol. A l'basar-se aquesta proposta en un nou sistema jeràrquic per interconnectar objectes de diferent tipus controlats per AI amb una gestió centralitzada, es redueix la tolerància a fallades i seguretat, i es millora el processament de les dades. Les dades són processats en tres nivells depenent de el tipus de servei i enviats a través d'una interfície. No obstant això, si es tracta de dades sobre les seves característiques aquests no requereixen molt processament, de manera que cada objecte els processa de forma independent, els estructura i els envia a l'administració central. La xarxa IoT basada en aquesta arquitectura té la capacitat de classificar un objecte nou que arribi a la xarxa en un grup de treball sense la intervenció de l'usuari. A més de tenir la capacitat de prestar un servei que requereixi un alt processament (per exemple multimèdia), i un seguiment de l'usuari en altres xarxes IoT a través del núvol. / [EN] Interoperability between communicating objects is the main goal of the Internet of Things (IoT). Efforts to achieve this have generated several architectures' proposals; however, no consensus has yet been reached. These architectures differ in structure, degree of centralisation, routing algorithm, routing metrics, discovery techniques, search algorithms, segmentation, quality of service, and security. Some are better than others depending on the environment in which they perform, and the type of parameter used. The most popular are those oriented to events or actions based on rules, which has allowed them to enter the market and achieve rapid massification. However, their interoperability is based on alliances between manufacturers to achieve compatibility. This solution is achieved in the cloud with a dashboard that unifies the different allied brands, allowing the introduction of these technologies into users' everyday lives but does not solve problems of autonomy or interoperability. Moreover, it does not include the new generation of smart grids based on smart things. The architecture proposed in this thesis takes the most relevant aspects of the four most accepted IoT-Architectures and integrates them into one, separating the IoT layer (commonly present in these architectures) into three layers. It is also intended to cover proximity networks (integrating different IoT interconnection technologies) and base its operation on artificial intelligence (AI). Therefore, this proposal increases the possibility of achieving the expected interoperability and increases the functionality of each object in the network focused on providing a service to the user. Although the proposed system includes artificial intelligence processing, it follows the same technical aspects as its predecessors since its operation and communication is still based on the application and transport layer of the TCP/IP protocol stack. However, in order to take advantage of IoT-Protocols without modifying their operation, an additional protocol is created that encapsulates and adapts to its payload. This protocol discovers the features of an object (DFSP) divided into functions, services, capabilities, and resources, and extracts them to be centralised in the network manager (IoT-Gateway). With this information, the IoT-Gateway can make decisions such as creating autonomous workgroups that provide a service to the user and routing the objects in this group that provide the service. It also measures the quality of experience (QoE) of the service. Moreover, manages internet access and integrates with other IoT-Networks, using artificial intelligence in the cloud. This proposal is based on a new hierarchical system for interconnecting objects of different types controlled by AI with centralised management, reducing the fault tolerance and security, and improving data processing. Data is preprocessed on three levels depending on the type of service and sent through an interface. However, if it is data about its features, it does not require much processing, so each object preprocesses it independently, structures it and sends it to the central administration. The IoT-Network based on this architecture can classify a new object arriving on the network in a workgroup without user intervention. It also can provide a service that requires high processing (e.g., multimedia), and user tracking in other IoT-Networks through the cloud. / González Ramírez, PL. (2022). Interconnection Architecture of Proximity Smart IoE-Networks with Centralised Management [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/181892 / TESIS

Объектом исследования является тревожность. Предметом исследования стала связь изменений показателей уровня тревожности в результате предтестовой беседы со стратегией прохождения СПФИ. Магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, трех глав, заключения, списка литературы (61 источник) и приложения. Объем магистерской диссертации 99 страница, на которых размещены 16 рисунков и 16 таблиц. Во введении раскрывается актуальность проблемы исследования, разработанность проблематики, ставятся цель и задачи исследования, определяются объект и предмет исследования, формулируются основная и дополнительные гипотезы, указываются методы и эмпирическая база, а также этапы проведения исследования, научная новизна, теоретическая и практическая значимость работы. Первая глава включает в себя обзор иностранной и отечественной литературы по методу специального психофизиологического исследования с применением полиграфа. Представленные разделы посвящены описанию метода СПФИ и роли предтестовой беседы в СПФИ. Выводы по первой главе представляют собой обобщение по изучению теоретического материала. Во второй главе описаны представления о тревожности в психологии и обозначены методы диагностики тревожности в психологии. В выводах по второй главе обобщён материал по данной тематике. Третья глава посвящена эмпирической части исследования. В ней представлено описание организации и методов проведенного исследования и результатов, полученных по всем использованным методикам и методам: специальное психофизиологическое исследование с использованием полиграфа (СПФИ); метафорические ассоциативные карты (МАК); шкала ситуативной тревожности Спилбергера-Ханина; 10-и бальная шкала самооценки тревожности; измерение вегетативных показателей на основе данных тонометра. Также в главе представлен сравнительный анализ Манна Уитни и корреляционный анализ результатов исследования. Выводы по главе 3 включают в себя основные результаты эмпирического исследования. В заключении в обобщенном виде изложены результаты теоретической и эмпирической частей работы, а также выводы по выдвинутым гипотезам и обоснована практическая значимость исследования. / The object of the study is anxiety. The subject of the study was the relationship of changes in anxiety level indicators as a result of a pre-test conversation with the strategy of passing the SPFI. The master's thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, a list of references (61 sources) and an appendix. The volume of the master's thesis is 99 pages, which contain 16 figures and 16 tables. The introduction reveals the relevance of the research problem, the elaboration of the problem, sets the purpose and objectives of the study, defines the object and subject of the study, formulates the main and additional hypotheses, specifies the methods and empirical base, as well as the stages of research, scientific novelty, theoretical and practical significance of the work. The first chapter includes a review of foreign and domestic literature on the method of special psychophysiological research using a polygraph. The presented sections are devoted to the description of the SPFI method and the role of the pre-test conversation in the SPFI. The conclusions of the first chapter are a generalization of the study of theoretical material. The second chapter describes the concepts of anxiety in psychology and identifies methods for diagnosing anxiety in psychology. The conclusions of the second chapter summarize the material on this topic. The third chapter is devoted to the empirical part of the study. It describes the organization and methods of the study and the results obtained by all the methods and methods used: a special psychophysiological study using a polygraph (SPFI); metaphorical associative maps (MAC); the Spielberger-Khanin situational anxiety scale; a 10-point scale of self-assessment of anxiety; measurement of vegetative indicators based on tonometer data. The chapter also presents a comparative analysis of Mann Whitney and a correlation analysis of the results of the study. The conclusions of Chapter 3 include the main results of an empirical study. In conclusion, the results of the theoretical and empirical parts of the work are summarized, as well as conclusions on the hypotheses put forward and the practical significance of the study is substantiated.

This thesis proposes a novel approach to extracting pose information from image sequences. Current state of the art techniques focus exclusively on the image space occupied by the body for pose and action recognition. The method proposed here, however, focuses on the negative spaces: the areas surrounding the individual. This has resulted in the colour-coded negative space approach, an image preprocessing step that circumvents the need for complicated model fitting or template matching methods. The approach can be described as follows: negative spaces surrounding the human silhouette are extracted using horizontal and vertical scanning processes. These negative space areas are more numerous, and undergo more radical changes in shape than the single area occupied by the figure of the person performing an action. The colour-coded negative space representation is formed using the four binary images produced by the scanning processes. Features are then extracted from the colour-coded images. These are based on the percentage of area occupied by distinct coloured regions as well as the bounding box proportions. Pose clusters are identified using feedback from an independent action set. Subsequent images are classified using a simple Euclidean distance measure. An image sequence is thus temporally segmented into its corresponding pose representations. Action recognition simply becomes the detection of a temporally ordered sequence of poses that characterises the action. The method is purely vision-based, utilising monocular images with no need for body markers or special clothing. Two datasets were constructed using several actors performing different poses and actions. Some of these actions included actors waving their arms, sitting down or kicking a leg. These actions were recorded against a monochrome background to simplify the segmentation of the actors from the background. The actions were then recorded on DV cam and digitised into a data base. The silhouette images from these actions were isolated and placed in a frame or bounding box. The next step was to highlight the negative spaces using a directional scanning method. This scanning method colour-codes the negative spaces of each action. What became immediately apparent is that very distinctive colour patterns formed for different actions. To emphasise the action, different colours were allocated to negative spaces surrounding the image. For example, the space between the legs of an actor standing in a T - pose with legs apart would be allocated yellow, while the space below the arms were allocated different shades of green. The space surrounding the head would be different shades of purple. During an action when the actor moves one leg up in a kicking fashion, the yellow colour would increase. Inversely, when the actor closes his legs and puts them together, the yellow colour filling the negative space would decrease substantially. What also became apparent is that these coloured negative spaces are interdependent and that they influence each other during the course of an action. For example, when an actor lifts one of his legs, increasing the yellow-coded negative space, the green space between that leg and the arm decreases. This interrelationship between colours hold true for all poses and actions as presented in this thesis. In terms of pose recognition, it is significant that these colour coded negative spaces and the way the change during an action or a movement are substantial and instantly recognisable. Compare for example, looking at someone lifting an arm as opposed to seeing a vast negative space changing shape. In a controlled research environment, several actors were instructed to perform a number of different actions. After colour coding the negative spaces, it became apparent that every action can be recognised by a unique colour coded pattern. The challenge is to ascribe a numerical presentation, a mathematical quotation, to extract the essence of what is so visually apparent. The essence of pose recognition and it's measurability lies in the relationship between the colours in these negative spaces and how they impact on each other during a pose or an action. The simplest way of measuring this relationship is by calculating the percentage of each colour present during an action. These calculated percentages become the basis of pose and action recognition. By plotting these percentages on a graph confirms that the essence of these different actions and poses can in fact been captured and recognised. Despite variations in these traces caused by time differences, personal appearance and mannerisms, what emerged is a clear recognisable pattern that can be married to an action or different parts of an action. 7 Actors might lift their left leg, some slightly higher than others, some slower than others and these variations in terms of colour percentages would be recorded as a trace, but there would be very specific stages during the action where the traces would correspond, making the action recognisable.In conclusion, using negative space as a tool in human pose and tracking recognition presents an exiting research avenue because it is influenced less by variations such as difference in personal appearance and changes in the angle of observation. This approach is also simplistic and does not rely on complicated models and templates

Training a Support Vector Machine (SVM) requires the solution of a very large quadratic programming (QP) optimization problem. Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) is a decomposition-based algorithm which breaks this large QP problem into a series of smallest possible QP problems. However, it still costs O(n2) computation time. In our SVM implementation, we can do training with huge data sets in a distributed manner (by breaking the dataset into chunks, then using Message Passing Interface (MPI) to distribute each chunk to a different machine and processing SVM training within each chunk). In addition, we moved the kernel calculation part in SVM classification to a graphics processing unit (GPU) which has zero scheduling overhead to create concurrent threads. In this thesis, we will take advantage of this GPU architecture to improve the classification performance of SVM.

Cereal rye (CR), the most common and effective nitrogen (N) scavenging cover crop option in the Midwest, is often utilized in cropping systems to reduce nitrate loss for environmental benefits. To increase environmental efficiency in Midwest corn cropping systems, we must increase the overall adoption of CR. However, due to the yield reduction potential (6%) for corn planted after CR termination, CR is primarily recommended before soybean. To increase CR adoption, we must develop adaptive fertilizer management practices that achieve competitive grain yields relative to cropping systems where CR is not adopted. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to determine (1) the effect of CR and starter nitrogen rate on corn growth and nitrogen content. (2) the optimum starter nitrogen rate to achieve agronomic optimum corn yield following CR. (3) the impact of phosphorus (P) at starter on plant growth, nitrogen content, and yield with the inclusion of CR. For our study, five starter N rates were applied in a 5x5 cm band to both CR and non-CR plots, concentrations ranged from 0-84 kg N ha^-1in 28 kg N ha^-1 intervals. Total N applied was the same for each treatment, relative to its location, and was split between starter N at planting and sidedress applied at growth stage V6 relatively. Although CR termination took place at least two weeks before planting, CR decreased corn grain yield at one of three locations by an average of 8%, nitrogen recovery efficiency (NRE) by 27%, and R6 total N content by 23%, relative to the conventional control (non-CR 0N), when no starter N was applied. At one of three locations, starter N rates of 56 kg N ha^-1, 56 kg N ha^-1plus 17 kg P ha^-1, and 84 kg N ha^-1 increased corn grain yield, in CR plots, and 56 kg N ha^-1 plus 17 kg P ha^-1 increased corn grain yield in non-CR plots. Phosphorus increased corn grain N content at growth stage R6 in one of three locations and did not impact corn grain yield at all locations. We conclude that the inclusion of starter N at planting has the potential to increase agronomic productivity in CR corn cropping systems in soil environments with a high capacity to mineralize soil N. However, further research is required to refine our starter N results to find an optimum starter N rate to apply before planting corn following CR.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

thermal manikin, thermophysiological model, thermal comfort, climatic chamber, clothing thermal resistence

birefringance, degreeofpolarization, polarization, Stokesvectors, Poincarésphere, state of polarization, optical power, sensoric fibre, polarization-maintaining fiber, polaroid, poalrimeter

Hexapod, ROS, Gazebo, Simulation, C++, Python, Node, Service, Publisher, Subscriber, Topic, URDF, SDF, AX-12+, USB2Dynamixel, CM-530, King Spider, Robotis, Navigation