VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Cloud/edge inference for deep neural networks
Keywords: edge computing
early-exits
deep neural networks
optimisation
artificial intelligence
knowledge distillation

In the past decade, deep learning has become one of the most dominant data analytic approaches due to its capability to achieve impressively high accuracies on a variety of key computing tasks. Some of these tasks need intensive computation, especially when image and video data captured from cameras are input to the predictive model. In traditional systems like video surveillance, these tasks are offloaded to the cloud server, which automatically process the collected data by employing deep learning algorithms. This solution has limitations, most importantly high latency and network load, impacting the performance of real-time applications. The alternative solution, which consists in directly embedding deep neural networks (DNN) on the edge device (e.g. camera), is greatly limited by the amount of computation and storage resources. Since then, some research has examined approaches which distribute the inference of machine learning algorithms between the edge and the cloud. However, despite some promising results, several fundamental drawbacks still exist in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and applicability to resource-constrained environments.
The work presented in this thesis tackles these shortcomings by proposing a novel partitioning approach for DNN inference between the edge and the cloud. This is the first work to consider simultaneous optimization of both the memory usage at the edge and the size of the data to be transferred over the wireless link. The experiments were performed on two different network architectures, MobileNetV1 and VGG16. The proposed approach makes it possible to execute part of the network on very constrained devices (e.g., microcontrollers), and under poor network conditions (e.g., LoRa) whilst retaining reasonable accuracies.
The second contribution deals with DNN distribution on a cloud/multi-edge execution platform. By including early-exits and bottlenecks in the neural network, the solution we propose makes it possible to distribute computation according to time and accuracy requirements. In scenarios where the communication with the cloud is very limited (e.g. LoRa), it allows a 80% improvement in average latency compared to a traditional cloud solution.
Finally, we deal with power-constrained devices. We propose an energy consumption estimation and optimization approach for DNNs with multiple early exits in a platform composed of several edge devices and a cloud server. The approach utilizes machine learning combined with dynamic linear programming techniques to estimate the energy consumption of different DNN configurations and identify the optimal configuration that minimizes energy consumption while maintaining the desired accuracy level.
Changing society in international courts: the complicated roles of NGOs
before the European court of human rights
Keywords: European Court of Human Rights
Human Rights NGOs
Law and Society

This thesis examines the role of NGOs before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), drawing on interview data with a variety of stakeholders. It is often assumed that NGOs enhance the function of international courts to solve disputes, process cases efficiently, and foster the development of international law. Above all, NGOs are often said to play a re-distributive role: supporting the comparatively less powerful applicants (typically human rights victims) and thereby advancing social change. Against this backdrop, this thesis makes use of empirical research in an attempt to present a more nuanced picture of the role of NGOs than the above narrative alone may suggest. Taking the ECtHR as a field of research, this thesis explores the gap between the prevailing narratives and the reality of NGOs’ activities before the ECtHR. Deploying the sociological framework suggested by Anthony Giddens, the author focuses on the daily routines of players before the ECtHR, rather than their discourses alone, in an attempt to to understand and reveal hidden social dynamics. The author conducted interviews with a variety of stakeholders, including activists of large NGOs but also activists of smaller NGOs as well as Registry lawyers working at the ECtHR. The empirical data reveals a complicated, interdependent Court-NGO relationship which differs from the expected narrative. The data suggests that Large NGOs, under the pressure from the Court to provide ‘useful’ information and maximise its efficiency, seek an interdependent relationship through third-party interventions, despite the acknowledged unlikelihood of influencing the Court’s jurisprudence, while smaller NGOs lack the resources necessary to build this type of interdependent relationship with the Court and consequentially face a diminished role, to the detriment of the ECtHR’s human rights objectives.
Application of concentrated solution theory and core potential to ion exchange media
Keywords: core-potential theory
diffusion in non-electroneutral regions
diffusion across membrane
concentrated solution theory
thermodynamic factors

Simple electrolytic systems are studied under the framework of Newman's concentrated-solution theory without making an explicit assumption of electroneutrality. To ensure thermodynamic consistency in non-electroneutral systems, Goyal and Monroe's core-potential theory is incorporated.
Three electrolytic solutions are investigated first in this thesis: (1) the binary electrolyte, (2) the three-ion ionic liquid, and (3) the binary salt in two neutral solvents. Corrections to electrochemical-potential differentials (dμ_i) are derived by combining core-potential theory with the Boltzmann distribution, in accordance with Goyal and Monroe's treatment. The new dμ_i's —which satisfy the fundamental Gibbs–Duhem relation universally— can be directly employed to describe systems and situations in which diffusion takes place, regardless of the charge state of the system.
Using the new dμ_i expressions in practice requires knowing the functional forms of concentration-dependent thermodynamic factors. The liquid-junction potential accessed by the concentration-cell experiment is investigated as the main thermodynamic-factor characterisation technique in this thesis. Thus measured liquid-junction potential for the EMC:EC:LiPF6 electrolyte —a commonly used cosolvent electrolyte in conventional lithium-ion batteries— is parameterised as an illustrative example. This exercise reveals that overpotentials arise from solvent polarisation; thus, it is important to distinguish the two solvents in high-fidelity battery models for an accurate description of long-term battery operation.
The theoretical endeavour so far is then extended to a charged membrane submerged in a binary electrolyte, which shares aspects of the three-ion ionic liquid (having two neutral entities with a shared ion) and the binary salt in two neutral solvents (having four species). Corrections to dμ_i's, as well as thermodynamic-factor expressions, are derived. Furthermore, concentration dependences of two Stefan–Maxwell diffusivities associated with the charged membrane end-group are derived for Nafion 117 in aqueous sulfuric acid. This is done by revisiting Verbrugge and Hill's radio-tracing experiment and the ionic-conductivity measurement. The resulting Stefan–Maxwell diffusivities are then utilised to estimate the macroscopic transport properties, illustrating the usefulness of having access to the full suite of concentration-dependent Stefan–Maxwell diffusivities.
Primary productivity of West African tropical forests
Keywords: carbon cycle
primary productivity
tropical forests
African forests
carbon budget

The natural energy on Earth is primarily harnessed through photosynthesis by plants and algae, with a significant portion taking place in tropical forests. The Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) of a forest measures the amount of photosynthate it produces. The field measurement of GPP, which requires extensive fieldwork, has been attempted at Amazonia forests and Southeast Asian forests, but no field measurements have been taken for African forests until now. The thesis presents the first field quantification of GPP in West African forests.
The study also delves into several aspects of GPP, including (1) how plants allocate photosynthate to their own metabolism (autotrophic respiration) versus building plant tissue (biomass production), which is later consumed by other organisms (heterotrophic respiration). (2) Considering that the main environmental variable in West Africa is aridity, how do plant photosynthetic strategies vary from wet to dry sites? (3) The first part of the thesis found that West African forests have higher GPP than Amazonia forests. The study also explores whether global vegetation models, used for climate change projections, can account for this pattern. If not, the thesis seeks to uncover the cause of the deficiency.
Circadian regulation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication
Keywords: host-pathogen interaction
circadian rhythms
HIV-1
viruses
biological clocks

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes significant health problems globally, and despite improvements in therapy there remains no cure. Viral replication is reliant on the host and many physiological processes are influenced by endogenous 24 h oscillations, called circadian rhythms. On a cellular level, circadian transcription factors generate daily oscillations in gene expression. As there is an emerging role for clock components in regulating viral replication, we studied the interplay between the circadian clock and HIV-1.
Using a cellular circadian model system, we demonstrate rhythmic HIV-1 replication, which has a period of ~24 hours and is regulated by the cell-intrinsic clock. Pharmacological modulation of circadian transcription factors altered HIV-1 replication across multiple HIV-1 subtypes, indicating pan-genotypic anti-viral potential. Genetic disruption of the circadian activator BMAL1 reduced HIV-1 replication and blunted rhythmicity in transcription. In contrast, knockdown of the circadian repressor REV-ERB enhanced viral replication. We show binding of clock factors to the viral genome and reveal time differential binding of circadian nuclear receptors REV-ERB and ROR, which compete for binding to a ROR response element in the HIV-1 promoter. We demonstrate circadian regulation of HIV-1 host factors, which will influence rhythmic HIV replication. Moreover, we uncover a role for the circadian machinery in regulating latent HIV-1 infection. Bromodomain proteins and salt inducible kinases are both involved in circadian networks, and our findings indicate that they regulate reactivation from latency.
Our work provides novel insights in the circadian regulation of HIV-1 replication by molecular components of the clock. Circadian modifiers with anti-viral properties could uncover novel drug targets, which may augment existing treatments and will help to inform HIV therapy and management.
Exploring metacognitive confidence in categorisation judgements
Keywords: categorisation
metacognition
decision confidence
decision-making

This thesis explores metacognitive decision confidence in category judgements. It aims to investigate how different types of information affect our confidence in the choices we make about category membership.
Over three experimental chapters, this thesis explores the interplay between the properties and structure of category spaces and subsequent confidence reports. Chapter 1 takes a computational model-based approach to contrast normative Bayesian and heuristic rule-based characterisations of confidence, with ambiguous results. The second experimental chapter, therefore, takes a more direct approach, using an experimental manipulation of category variance to directly contrast the predictions of different models of confidence. The third experimental chapter extends this approach to consider more complex category structures that involve multiple dimensions and differing logical structures to the categories.
In this way, over the course of this thesis, decision-making and decision confidence are investigated in multiple behavioural tasks with different parameters, decision boundaries, and distribution properties. Collectively this research seeks to better understand how information about categories is used or represented by decision-makers, and, in turn, where the cognitive computations of decision confidence may derive from and in what contexts.
Through this combination of behavioural analyses and computational modelling exercises, the sensitivity of confidence to the properties and structure of category distributions and bounds is evidenced. The tension between heuristic and normative Bayesian models of decision confidence is explored and the results suggest that the relationship between confidence and heuristic distance-to-bound models is complex -- with the simplicity of the original theory missing out on the rich signal about the category distribution representations that is conveyed in these data. The theoretical, practical, and methodological implications are discussed.
The social criticism of T.S. Eliot: Conservative, Classicist, Catholic, and European
 
Keywords: Classicist
Conservative
Intellectual history
public moralists
christian social thought
Catholic
European
T.S. Eliot
Social Criticism
anglican moralists
Public intellectual

This DPhil Thesis provides the first systematic and academic study of T.S. Eliot’s social criticism since the publication ofRoger Kojecký’s 1972 landmark study, T.S. Eliot’s Social Criticism. It provides a comprehensive portrait of T.S. Eliot as a social critic, connecting the political, social, cultural, and religious strains of his thought, while accurately placing him as a thinker within his political, social, cultural, and religious contexts. It challenges many of the prevailing scholarly representations of his work: namely the over- identification of his social criticism with his later or ‘mature’ works (such as The Idea of a Christianity Society and Notes Towards the Definition ofCulture) and the misidentification of them as the direct product of his participation in The Moot discussion group. By contrast, this thesis relocates the primary nexus of Eliot’s social criticism within the influential period of his Criterion editorship, and constructs alternative classifications, chronologies, and genealogies regarding his content and influences. This thesis also disproves many of the false claims and insinuations made about his work, such as its supposedly anti-Semitic and anti-democratic tendencies. What emerges from our comprehensive review is a social criticism animated and dominated by Catholic social thought, conservative anti-statism (tied to a tory respect for ‘Church and state’), classicist-inspired moral and literary standards, and a Eurocentric concern for the cultural and political inheritance of Christendom. To that end the thesis is divided into three chapters with the first providing a biographical study of Eliot as a social critic; the second examining the content of his social criticism during the Criterion period; and the last clarifying the relationship between his later works and The Moot discussion group.
How can swimming teacher/educator competencies be developed?
Keywords: MLT 2018
MLT

This research proposed to explore the professional development of swimming teachers. This inquiry aimed to evaluate the implementation of an international Continuing Professional Development (CPD) pilot programme to train and equip swimming teachers in obtaining higher qualifications. The curriculum was designed for the teachers to work with the swimmers. There was a focus on using an integrated curriculum method for the delivery of conducting sessions and improving the quality of swimming teaching.
Literature on sports coaching and swimming teaching points to low standards, owing to little CPD training being considered and conducted beyond initial training. One proposed solution was to conduct professional development and enable recipients to apply their learning to the workplace. Further relevant teaching and pedagogical research provided further insights, suggesting that the current training curriculum does not fully explore and extend a teacher's knowledge and skills in general pedagogical education practice. The current intervention focuses on the teacher's knowledge development and the practical application of pedagogy, mentoring, and reflection skills. The collaboration involved swimming teachers and CPD educators collaborating to shape the new CPD curriculum. The curriculum consisted of six modules over eight weeks, utilising a blended learning approach.
The research heavily utilised qualitative methods, including observation of learners’ teaching skills and semi-structured interviews with learners about their experience within the programme. Other forms of evidence, such as online learning activities included social media conversations and the learner’s planning, assessment, and evaluation activities were also utilised to triangulate the analysis.
Findings indicated that improving teacher practices relied on strengthening teachers’ efficacy. The CPD curriculum necessitated a flexible, personalised approach adapted to the work setting. Candidate teachers required time to consolidate their learning between sessions. Further implications included the quality of candidate assessments for unit requirements. The quality of swimming teaching was also found to be variable, including the teaching, learning, and assessment processes, enabling the pilot programme. Further implications for educators involve the training approach and qualification delivery.
Essays in behavioural finance
Keywords: expectations
contrast effect

This thesis studies the role of contrast effects and biased expectations in financial decisionmaking and financial markets. The first study explores the role of skewness preferences in dynamic decision-making at the hands of salience theory. Previous research suggests that otherwise risk-averse people are willing to take risks if the outcome distribution is positively skewed. Salience theory can explain this by assuming that states with high contrasts between the outcomes attract attention and their probability is overestimated. Skewness preferences are particularly important in dynamic setups because these allow agents to endogenously create skewness through the choice of their stopping strategy. I extend salience theory to a dynamic setup and show that it predicts that agents will take gambles if the expected value is not too negative. Moreover, if they gamble they choose stopping strategies that yield positively skewed outcome distributions. These predictions differ both from expected utility theory and other behavioural models. I test the predictions experimentally and find broad support.
In the second study, I examine whether the earnings forecasts of analysts after a firm announces its earnings depend on the earnings surprises of companies that announced shortly before the firm. Evidence from a plethora of domains suggests that the interpretation of information depends on how it compares to contrasting information. Thus, the earnings of a given firm might look worse the better other firms perform. I find that positive earnings surprises of other firms make analysts revise their forecast of a firm’s earnings upwards but, at the same time, make their forecast more pessimistic relative to the true earnings. This result is in line with a positive news channel in combination with a contrast effect channel of the other firms’ earnings surprise on the analysts’ forecasts.
In the third study, I develop a method to test if a given return predictor reflects mispricing rather than risk. Asset pricing research has uncovered hundreds of characteristics that can predict the cross-section of returns, but the nature of many of these remains elusive. If a predictor is linked to returns through risk, it should be unrelated to changes in the market’s expectations about firm profits. Alternatively, return predictably can be explained by biased expectations. If a return predictor captures this form of mispricing, it should predict changes in expectations in addition to returns. I use the earnings forecasts of professional analysts as a proxy to the market’s expectations and test for 173 return predictors if they can also predict forecast revisions. I find that around 40% of predictors can do so and, thus, reflect mispricing.
Conformal field theory and numerical techniques in the fractional quantum hall effect
Keywords: conformal field theory
topological phases of matter
fractional quantum hall effect

This thesis presents the development of Conformal Field Theory (CFT) methods to analyse the topological properties of fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) wave functions, and numerical techniques to find accurate FQHE trial ground state wave functions.
In Chapter 2, we argue that the real-space entanglement spectra (RSES) of generic chiral FQHE ground states have a scaling property, discussed in previous works, where the RSES is given as the spectrum of an operator that is an integral of local operators along the real-space cut that can be expanded in negative powers of the real-space cut length. This is directly tested for the bosonic Composite Fermion (CF) wave functions on the sphere at filling fraction 2/3.
In Chapter 3, it is shown that all chiral Parton-type FQHE ground and edge state trial wave functions, in the planar geometry, can be expressed as CFT correlation functions. A field-theoretic generalisation of Laughlin’s plasma analogy, known as the generalised screening hypothesis, is then formulated for these states, where the implications for inner products of edge state trial wave functions are discussed. These implications of generalised screening are then numerically tested in two specific cases.
In Chapter 4, a method for the energy minimisation of paired CF trial wave functions is discussed, with the goal of producing accurate ground state trial wave functions for electrons, with Coulomb interactions, at filling fraction 5/2. The resulting energetics are then presented for the optimised paired CF versions of the Pfaffian, anti-Pfaffian and particle-hole (PH) symmetric Pfaffian topological orders and are compared to their zero-parameter trial wave function counterparts. It is found that the effective CF pairing in the Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian wave functions is well approximated by a weak-pairing BCS-type description, and certain pathologies are found for the PH-Pfaffian wave functions.