3,577 research outputs found
A Computational Interface to Translate Strategic Intent from Unstructured Language in a Low-Data Setting
Many real-world tasks involve a mixed-initiative setup, wherein humans and AI
systems collaboratively perform a task. While significant work has been
conducted towards enabling humans to specify, through language, exactly how an
agent should complete a task (i.e., low-level specification), prior work lacks
on interpreting the high-level strategic intent of the human commanders.
Parsing strategic intent from language will allow autonomous systems to
independently operate according to the user's plan without frequent guidance or
instruction. In this paper, we build a computational interface capable of
translating unstructured language strategies into actionable intent in the form
of goals and constraints. Leveraging a game environment, we collect a dataset
of over 1000 examples, mapping language strategies to the corresponding goals
and constraints, and show that our model, trained on this dataset,
significantly outperforms human interpreters in inferring strategic intent
(i.e., goals and constraints) from language (p < 0.05). Furthermore, we show
that our model (125M parameters) significantly outperforms ChatGPT for this
task (p < 0.05) in a low-data setting.Comment: 19 Pages, 7 figures, 8 page appendi
Evolutionary Tabletop Game Design: A Case Study in the Risk Game
Creating and evaluating games manually is an arduous and laborious task.
Procedural content generation can aid by creating game artifacts, but usually
not an entire game. Evolutionary game design, which combines evolutionary
algorithms with automated playtesting, has been used to create novel board
games with simple equipment; however, the original approach does not include
complex tabletop games with dice, cards, and maps. This work proposes an
extension of the approach for tabletop games, evaluating the process by
generating variants of Risk, a military strategy game where players must
conquer map territories to win. We achieved this using a genetic algorithm to
evolve the chosen parameters, as well as a rules-based agent to test the games
and a variety of quality criteria to evaluate the new variations generated. Our
results show the creation of new variations of the original game with smaller
maps, resulting in shorter matches. Also, the variants produce more balanced
matches, maintaining the usual drama. We also identified limitations in the
process, where, in many cases, where the objective function was correctly
pursued, but the generated games were nearly trivial. This work paves the way
towards promising research regarding the use of evolutionary game design beyond
classic board games.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication at the XXII Braziliam
Simposium on Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames 2023
PyTAG: Challenges and Opportunities for Reinforcement Learning in Tabletop Games
In recent years, Game AI research has made important breakthroughs using Reinforcement Learning (RL). Despite this, RL for modern tabletop games has gained little to no attention, even when they offer a range of unique challenges compared to video games. To bridge this gap, we introduce PyTAG, a Python API for interacting with the Tabletop Games framework (TAG). TAG contains a growing set of more than 20 modern tabletop games, with a common API for AI agents. We present techniques for training RL agents in these games and introduce baseline results after training Proximal Policy Optimisation algorithms on a subset of games. Finally, we discuss the unique challenges complex modern tabletop games provide, now open to RL research through PyTAG
Comprehensive evaluation of stool-based diagnostic methods and benzimidazole resistance markers to assess drug efficacy and detect the emergence of anthelmintic resistance : a Starworms study protocol
Background : To work towards reaching the WHO goal of eliminating soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections as a public health problem, the total number of children receiving anthelmintic drugs has strongly increased over the past few years. However, as drug pressure levels rise, the development of anthelmintic drug resistance (AR) is more and more likely to appear. Currently, any global surveillance system to monitor drug efficacy and the emergence of possible AR is lacking. Consequently, it remains unclear to what extent the efficacy of drugs may have dropped and whether AR is already present. The overall aim of this study is to recommend the best diagnostic methods to monitor drug efficacy and molecular markers to assess the emergence of AR in STH control programs.
Methods : A series of drug efficacy trials will be performed in four STH endemic countries with varying drug pressure (Ethiopia and Brazil: low drug pressure, Lao PDR: moderate drug pressure and Tanzania: high drug pressure). These trials are designed to assess the efficacy of a single oral dose of 400 mg albendazole (ALB) against STH infections in school-aged children (SAC) by microscopic (duplicate Kato-Katz thick smear, Mini-FLOTAC and FECPAK(G2)) and molecular stool-based diagnostic methods (quantitative PCR (qPCR)). Data will be collected on the cost of the materials used, as well as the time required to prepare and examine stool samples for the different diagnostic methods. Following qPCR, DNA samples will also be submitted for pyrosequencing to assess the presence and prevalence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the beta-tubulin gene. These SNPs are known to be linked to AR in animal STHs.
Discussion : The results obtained by these trials will provide robust evidence regarding the cost-efficiency and diagnostic performance of the different stool-based diagnostic methods for the assessment of drug efficacy in control programs. The assessment of associations between the frequency of SNPs in the beta-tubulin gene and the history of drug pressure and drug efficacy will allow the validation of these SNPs as a marker for AR in human STHs
Agroecology
Agroecology was chosen by INRAE as one of its interdisciplinary scientific foresight studies designed to identify research fronts in response to major societal challenges. Eighty researchers drew up an assessment and proposed research avenues for agroecology. This book summarizes their main conclusions. Agroecology, as a scientific discipline that puts ecology back at the centre of agricultural system design, is now well established. Diversification of living organisms in agroecosystems is a broad objective that is intended to make these systems more robust and resilient. Research in genetics and landscape ecology must be mobilized so that agroecology can use mechanisms from the field to landscape scales. Progress is being made in modelling agroecological systems to better understand the many biotic and abiotic interactions, to predict them, and to begin to manage some of them. Diversification of living organisms in agricultural production (species, varieties, crop rotations, etc.) leads to more varied products. The consequences will be significant on the commodity chains, and more precisely on agri-food systems, from production methods to product consumption. These changes are long-term. The agroecological transition, which is adaptive, co-constructed with all actors, is in itself a research subject, and will rely on experimental devices, farms, and ‘Territories of innovation’
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