9 research outputs found

    Negotiating Asylum

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    How is access to asylum and other forms of extraterritorial protection regulated in the European Union? Is the EU acquis in these areas in conformity with international law? Which tools does international law offer to solve collisions between both? And, finally, is law capable of bridging the foundational oppositions embedded in migration and asylum issues? This work combines the potential of legal formalism with an analytical framework drawing on political theory. It analyses the argumentative strategies used by international lawyers, and developed them further, exploiting the interpretative methodology of international law as well as elaborate discrimination arguments. The author concludes that deflecting protection seekers by means of visa requirements may constitute a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights, and that the prescriptions of international law oblige Member States to apply the Dublin Convention and the Spanish Protocol in a manner emptying it of its main control functions. The author also shows that burden-sharing remains the pivotal element in the normative dynamics behind the EU acquis, and explains why the European Court of Human Rights must be regarded as the only transnational forum for the legitimate negotiation of asylum in Europe

    Advances in Reinforcement Learning

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    Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a very dynamic area in terms of theory and application. This book brings together many different aspects of the current research on several fields associated to RL which has been growing rapidly, producing a wide variety of learning algorithms for different applications. Based on 24 Chapters, it covers a very broad variety of topics in RL and their application in autonomous systems. A set of chapters in this book provide a general overview of RL while other chapters focus mostly on the applications of RL paradigms: Game Theory, Multi-Agent Theory, Robotic, Networking Technologies, Vehicular Navigation, Medicine and Industrial Logistic

    3D object retrieval and segmentation: various approaches including 2D poisson histograms and 3D electrical charge distributions.

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    Nowadays 3D models play an important role in many applications: viz. games, cultural heritage, medical imaging etc. Due to the fast growth in the number of available 3D models, understanding, searching and retrieving such models have become interesting fields within computer vision. In order to search and retrieve 3D models, we present two different approaches: one is based on solving the Poisson Equation over 2D silhouettes of the models. This method uses 60 different silhouettes, which are automatically extracted from different viewangles. Solving the Poisson equation for each silhouette assigns a number to each pixel as its signature. Accumulating these signatures generates a final histogram-based descriptor for each silhouette, which we call a SilPH (Silhouette Poisson Histogram). For the second approach, we propose two new robust shape descriptors based on the distribution of charge density on the surface of a 3D model. The Finite Element Method is used to calculate the charge density on each triangular face of each model as a local feature. Then we utilize the Bag-of-Features and concentric sphere frameworks to perform global matching using these local features. In addition to examining the retrieval accuracy of the descriptors in comparison to the state-of-the-art approaches, the retrieval speeds as well as robustness to noise and deformation on different datasets are investigated. On the other hand, to understand new complex models, we have also utilized distribution of electrical charge for proposing a system to decompose models into meaningful parts. Our robust, efficient and fully-automatic segmentation approach is able to specify the segments attached to the main part of a model as well as locating the boundary parts of the segments. The segmentation ability of the proposed system is examined on the standard datasets and its timing and accuracy are compared with the existing state-of-the-art approaches

    Case based design of knitwear

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    In the developed world we are surrounded by man-made objects, but most people give little thought to the complex processes needed for their design. The design of hand knitting is complex because much of the domain knowledge is tacit. The objective of this thesis is to devise a methodology to help designers to work within design constraints, whilst facilitating creativity. A hybrid solution including computer aided design (CAD) and case based reasoning (CBR) is proposed. The CAD system creates designs using domain-specific rules and these designs are employed for initial seeding of the case base and the management of constraints. CBR reuses the designer's previous experience. The key aspects in the CBR system are measuring the similarity of cases and adapting past solutions to the current problem. Similarity is measured by asking the user to rank the importance of features; the ranks are then used to calculate weights for an algorithm which compares the specifications of designs. A novel adaptation operator called rule difference replay (RDR) is created. When the specifications to a new design is presented, the CAD program uses it to construct a design constituting an approximate solution. The most similar design from the case-base is then retrieved and RDR replays the changes previously made to the retrieved design on the new solution. A measure of solution similarity that can validate subjective success scores is created. Specification similarity can be used as a guide whether to invoke CBR, in a hybrid CAD-CBR system. If the newly resulted design is suffciently similar to a previous design, then CBR is invoked; otherwise CAD is used. The application of RDR to knitwear design has demonstrated the flexibility to overcome deficiencies in rules that try to automate creativity, and has the potential to be applied to other domains such as interior design.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

    Joshua Sylvester's translation of Du Bartas' Les semaines and the development of English poetic diction

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    This dissertation first sets out to place Du Bartas' Les Semaines in its religious and epic setting, and argues that the poem's mission is to exist as poetry and as religious instruction at the same time. From this and its philosophical backdrop emerges a poetry that emphasises equation, or fusion, over comparison. Antique-type similes are therefore summarily examined and connected with the "primary" sensibilities of Homer. The proper fusive style and language of Sylvester's translation are then considered. Its style is found to be conscious to a degree, relying especially on repetitional devices of catechistic value, such as anaphora and symploce; on devices of oxymoronic and paradoxical metamorphosis, such as agnominatio; and on devices of epigrammatic summary, such as chiasmus. The language of Sylvester's Du Bartas is then examined closely in two domains, those of its scientific and natural description. The two are not wholly separable. It is found that Sylvester's language, as Du Bartas, must be interpreted at more than its literal level; that three levels of interpretation along the lines of three levels of allegory are implicit. This is so in respect the italicised language so prominent in Divine Weeks, discussed in Chapter 5, and in respect of the adjectival and verbal language discussed in Chapter 7. One way of designating the organising principle lying behind these language hieroglyphs is as emblem book turned purely into words. This is insensitive to the poetic third level of Operation, which seeks to do more than teach, which seeks to inspire. This dissertation relates Sylvester's language to two traditions of English poetry, as different one from the other as noun is from adjective: the metaphysical school and the Augustan period. It argues that metaphysical poetry is enthralled with Du Bartas' conceits in Sylvester's translation, is influenced by them, and takes them up. These conceits are nonetheless often one-word, substantive, and hieroglyphic. Augustan poetry on the other hand takes up a Sylvestrian diction, often unaware of its implications, because it deems this language the true language of poetry. The rather dramatic place given to Divine Weeks in the development of English poetic diction is dealt with at a statistical level in an excursus on Sylvester's word and language formulations

    Case based design of knitwear

    Get PDF
    In the developed world we are surrounded by man-made objects, but most people give little thought to the complex processes needed for their design. The design of hand knitting is complex because much of the domain knowledge is tacit. The objective of this thesis is to devise a methodology to help designers to work within design constraints, whilst facilitating creativity. A hybrid solution including computer aided design (CAD) and case based reasoning (CBR) is proposed. The CAD system creates designs using domain-specific rules and these designs are employed for initial seeding of the case base and the management of constraints. CBR reuses the designer's previous experience. The key aspects in the CBR system are measuring the similarity of cases and adapting past solutions to the current problem. Similarity is measured by asking the user to rank the importance of features; the ranks are then used to calculate weights for an algorithm which compares the specifications of designs. A novel adaptation operator called rule difference replay (RDR) is created. When the specifications to a new design is presented, the CAD program uses it to construct a design constituting an approximate solution. The most similar design from the case-base is then retrieved and RDR replays the changes previously made to the retrieved design on the new solution. A measure of solution similarity that can validate subjective success scores is created. Specification similarity can be used as a guide whether to invoke CBR, in a hybrid CAD-CBR system. If the newly resulted design is suffciently similar to a previous design, then CBR is invoked; otherwise CAD is used. The application of RDR to knitwear design has demonstrated the flexibility to overcome deficiencies in rules that try to automate creativity, and has the potential to be applied to other domains such as interior design

    Negotiating Asylum

    Get PDF
    How is access to asylum and other forms of extraterritorial protection regulated in the European Union? Is the EU acquis in these areas in conformity with international law? Which tools does international law offer to solve collisions between both? And, finally, is law capable of bridging the foundational oppositions embedded in migration and asylum issues? This work combines the potential of legal formalism with an analytical framework drawing on political theory. It analyses the argumentative strategies used by international lawyers, and developed them further, exploiting the interpretative methodology of international law as well as elaborate discrimination arguments. The author concludes that deflecting protection seekers by means of visa requirements may constitute a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights, and that the prescriptions of international law oblige Member States to apply the Dublin Convention and the Spanish Protocol in a manner emptying it of its main control functions. The author also shows that burden-sharing remains the pivotal element in the normative dynamics behind the EU acquis, and explains why the European Court of Human Rights must be regarded as the only transnational forum for the legitimate negotiation of asylum in Europe

    Fourth NASA Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies

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    This report contains copies of all those technical papers received in time for publication just prior to the Fourth Goddard Conference on Mass Storage and Technologies, held March 28-30, 1995, at the University of Maryland, University College Conference Center, in College Park, Maryland. This series of conferences continues to serve as a unique medium for the exchange of information on topics relating to the ingestion and management of substantial amounts of data and the attendant problems involved. This year's discussion topics include new storage technology, stability of recorded media, performance studies, storage system solutions, the National Information infrastructure (Infobahn), the future for storage technology, and lessons learned from various projects. There also will be an update on the IEEE Mass Storage System Reference Model Version 5, on which the final vote was taken in July 1994
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