Impatient DNNs - Deep Neural Networks with Dynamic Time Budgets

We propose Impatient Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) which deal with dynamic time budgets during application. They allow for individual budgets given a priori for each test example and for anytime prediction, i.e., a possible interruption at multiple stages during inference while still providing output estimates. Our approach can therefore tackle the computational costs and energy demands of DNNs in an adaptive manner, a property essential for real-time applications. Our Impatient DNNs are based on a new general framework of learning dynamic budget predictors using risk minimization, which can be applied to current DNN architectures by adding early prediction and additional loss layers. A key aspect of our method is that all of the intermediate predictors are learned jointly. In experiments, we evaluate our approach for different budget distributions, architectures, and datasets. Our results show a significant gain in expected accuracy compared to common baselines.Comment: British Machine Vision Conference (BMVC) 201

Solar cell mounting Patent

Fabrication of solar cell banks for attaching solar cells to base members or substrate

Functionalized epitaxial graphene as versatile platform for air quality sensors

The work presented in this thesis focuses on epitaxial graphene on SiC as a platform for air quality sensors. Several approaches have been tested and evaluated to increase the sensitivity, selectivity, speed of response and stability of the sensors. The graphene surfaces have been functionalized, for example, with different metal oxide nanoparticles and nanolayers using hollow-cathode sputtering and pulsed laser deposition. The modified surfaces were investigated to-wards topography, integrity and chemical composition with characterization methods such as atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Interaction energies between several analytes and nanoparticle-graphene-combinations were calculated by density functional theory to find the optimal material for specific target gases, and to verify the usefulness of this approach. The impact of environmental influences such as operating temperature, relative humidity and UV irradiation on sensing properties was investigated as well. To further enhance sensor performances, the first-order time-derivative of the sensor’s resistance was introduced to speed up sensor response and a temperature cycled operation mode was investigated towards selectivity. Applying these methods in laboratory conditions, sensors with a quantitative readout of single ppb benzene and formaldehyde were developed. These results show promise to fill the existing gap of low-cost but highly sensitive and fast gas sensors for air quality monitoring.Financial support by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) through the grants GMT14-0077 and RMA15-024

Finding the Perfect Fit - Paradigmatic Choices for Novice and Experienced Qualitative Researchers

The choice of paradigm that academics face when conducting qualitative research is no easy task. From start to finish, methodological assumptions shape our research journey and our own epistemological outlook, so that our choice of paradigm speaks to us as social inquirers and says a lot about us to our readership. With this in mind, this review explores two recent publications aimed at seducing qualitative researchers to the theoretical paradigms they each advocate. Firstly, I consider Yvonna Lincoln and Egon Guba's (published posthumously)The Constructivist Credo(2013) and secondly Barry Gibson and Jan Hartman'sRediscovering Grounded Theory(2014). For this review, I will do my part to assess the validity and weight of these publications as research manuals. Once the inquirer has identified the “perfect paradigmatic fit” that speaks clearly and loudly to their professional and personal choices, it will be unlikely that they will later drift from this epistemological stance. Hence, finding the right paradigm appears to be a crucial first step into any research journey and a decision that stays with us for a lifetime.Output Type: Book Revie

Consuming Cuba through dance:An embodied ethnography of salsa

My contribution to our ongoing conversations in arts marketing focuses on how cultural outputs can be used to project alluring images for a nation, turning my attention to dance as an inherently embodied artform. I flesh out how our consumption of kinetic cultural expressions, such as dance, shape our understanding of places and people, making them powerful ways of knowing. Specifically, I unpack the embodied consumption of Cuba's primary cultural export – salsa – and argue that through the embodiment of salsa we also embody the nation, incarnating the culture and essence of the island through and with our dancing bodies. Using an embodied ethnography, which included active participation in salsa dancing communities outside of Cuba as well as embodied tourism of salsa with an immersive dance holiday on the island itself, my chapter foregrounds the power of the body when consuming culture and the power of culture when branding nations. Following Wacquant's (2015) carnal sociology, my findings reveal how my skilled, suffering, sentient, sedimented and situated body acts as a site of corporeal knowhow as I embody movement, musicality, and togetherness within this economy of intimacy

Visual Transfer Learning: Informal Introduction and Literature Overview

Transfer learning techniques are important to handle small training sets and to allow for quick generalization even from only a few examples. The following paper is the introduction as well as the literature overview part of my thesis related to the topic of transfer learning for visual recognition problems.Comment: part of my PhD thesi

Social distancing: how we overcome fear of one another to embrace a new normal

First paragraph: For the last few months we have been living in a new and acute state of fear as COVID-19 has threatened and continues to threaten the globe. But living with the virus has also taught us new tricks, pushing us to come up with new ways of how to shop, work, learn, socialise, queue, pray, play, and even how to move and interact with one another.https://theconversation.com/social-distancing-how-we-overcome-fear-of-one-another-to-embrace-a-new-normal-13908