Fuzzy Transfer Learning

The use of machine learning to predict output from data, using a model, is a well studied area. There are, however, a number of real-world applications that require a model to be produced but have little or no data available of the specific environment. These situations are prominent in Intelligent Environments (IEs). The sparsity of the data can be a result of the physical nature of the implementation, such as sensors placed into disaster recovery scenarios, or where the focus of the data acquisition is on very defined user groups, in the case of disabled individuals. Standard machine learning approaches focus on a need for training data to come from the same domain. The restrictions of the physical nature of these environments can severely reduce data acquisition making it extremely costly, or in certain situations, impossible. This impedes the ability of these approaches to model the environments. It is this problem, in the area of IEs, that this thesis is focussed. To address complex and uncertain environments, humans have learnt to use previously acquired information to reason and understand their surroundings. Knowledge from different but related domains can be used to aid the ability to learn. For example, the ability to ride a road bicycle can help when acquiring the more sophisticated skills of mountain biking. This humanistic approach to learning can be used to tackle real-world problems where a-priori labelled training data is either difficult or not possible to gain. The transferral of knowledge from a related, but differing context can allow for the reuse and repurpose of known information. In this thesis, a novel composition of methods are brought together that are broadly based on a humanist approach to learning. Two concepts, Transfer Learning (TL) and Fuzzy Logic (FL) are combined in a framework, Fuzzy Transfer Learning (FuzzyTL), to address the problem of learning tasks that have no prior direct contextual knowledge. Through the use of a FL based learning method, uncertainty that is evident in dynamic environments is represented. By combining labelled data from a contextually related source task, and little or no unlabelled data from a target task, the framework is shown to be able to accomplish predictive tasks using models learned from contextually different data. The framework incorporates an additional novel five stage online adaptation process. By adapting the underlying fuzzy structure through the use of previous labelled knowledge and new unlabelled information, an increase in predictive performance is shown. The framework outlined is applied to two differing real-world IEs to demonstrate its ability to predict in uncertain and dynamic environments. Through a series of experiments, it is shown that the framework is capable of predicting output using differing contextual data

Anchoring digital maps as rough guides : a practice-orientated digital sociology of map use

This thesis provides a theoretical contribution towards understanding how, and to what extent, people’s engagements with digital maps feature in the constitution of their social practices. Existing theory tends not to focus on people as active interpreters that engage with digital maps across a variety of contexts, or on the influence of their map use on wider sets of social practices. Addressing this, the thesis draws on practice theory, media studies, and internet studies to develop a conceptual framework, applying it to empirical findings to address three research questions: (1) How do people engage with digital maps; (2) How do people engage with the web-based affordances of digital maps, such as those for collaboration, sharing, and end-user amendment/generation of content; and (3) What influence does people’s engagement with digital maps have on the way they perform wider sets of social practices? The research provides insights from three contexts, each operating at a different temporal scale: home choice covers longer-term processes of selecting and viewing properties before buying or renting; countryside leisure-walking covers mid-term processes of route-planning and assessment; University orientation covers shorter-term processes of navigation and gaining orientation around campus. Those insights are gathered through: a scoping survey (N=260) to identify relevant contexts; 32 semi-structured interviews to initiate data analysis; and 3 focus groups to gather participant feedback (member validation) on the emerging analysis. The approach to data analysis borrows heavily from constructivist grounded theory (albeit sensitised by practice theory ontology) to generate seven concepts. Together, the concepts constitute a practicetheory oriented digital sociology of map use. Overall, this thesis argues that digital maps are engaged with as mundane technologies that partially anchor people’s senses of place and security (physical and ontological), their performance of practices and social positions, and more broadly, the movement and distribution of bodies in space

Technological innovation and change in the university

It is by now common knowledge that one of the aspects upon which the survival of the University depends is how it will make the best possible use of the new technologies (e-learning). Despite the acceptance of this principle, difficulties arise when one attempts to proceed from the mere declaration to actually planning activities and putting them into effect. This research, the result of collaboration between teachers and researchers of the Educational Science and Engineering Faculties of the University of Florence, focuses on certain theoretical concepts and reference apparatus, bringing international literature to bear on the specific case of Italy. [english version]It is by now common knowledge that one of the aspects upon which the survival of the University depends is how it will make the best possible use of the new technologies (e-learning). Despite the acceptance of this principle, difficulties arise when one attempts to proceed from the mere declaration to actually planning activities and putting them into effect. This research, the result of collaboration between teachers and researchers of the Educational Science and Engineering Faculties of the University of Florence, focuses on certain theoretical concepts and reference apparatus, bringing international literature to bear on the specific case of Italy. [english version