Traditional Wisdom and Monte Carlo Tree Search Face-to-Face in the Card Game Scopone

We present the design of a competitive artificial intelligence for Scopone, a popular Italian card game. We compare rule-based players using the most established strategies (one for beginners and two for advanced players) against players using Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) and Information Set Monte Carlo Tree Search (ISMCTS) with different reward functions and simulation strategies. MCTS requires complete information about the game state and thus implements a cheating player while ISMCTS can deal with incomplete information and thus implements a fair player. Our results show that, as expected, the cheating MCTS outperforms all the other strategies; ISMCTS is stronger than all the rule-based players implementing well-known and most advanced strategies and it also turns out to be a challenging opponent for human players.Comment: Preprint. Accepted for publication in the IEEE Transaction on Game

A qualitative analysis of tobacco industry documents

학위논문 (석사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 보건대학원 보건학과, 2019. 2. 조성일.Background : Since the opening of the Asian tobacco market, Transnational Tobacco Company(TTC)s had to compete fiercely against the market dominance of national monopolies, while at the same time they needed cooperation from monopolies to cope with issues common to the tobacco industry, such as tobacco control attempts and anti-smoking movements in individual countries.. The Objectives of this study is to examine the strategies adopted by TTCs to make alliance with Asian monopolies, especially KT&G in South Korea, the tobacco industry interference and its effects under the alliance, and to suggest the appropriate directions for setting and implementing regulative policies on tobacco products. Methods : The internal documents of tobacco companies from the Truth Tobacco Documents Library (formerly Legacy Tobacco Documents Library) were analyzed and triangulated by data from other sources, including government documents from National Archives of Korea, materials from online search engines and official online websites of state agencies. Result : From the very beginning of their entry into the Korean market, TTC pursued the establishment and reinforcement of relationship with KT&G, which had been Korean National Monopoly, as a top priority. In 1989, TTCs strategically established National Manufacturer Association (NMA), including KT&G to create a link to the monopoly and to build a foundation for the industry to develop an industry voice. Also, for this purpose, TTCs did not hesitate to support the monopoly with the technical and human resources they had built in developed markets such as the United States. This is not only a way to make a good relationship with monopolies, but it is also a very efficient way of spreading TTCs false and deceptive claims and data, which had already been rejected in developed countries, to the Korean market by encouraging monopolies to "carry the torch. Comprehensive tobacco control efforts, such as the legislation of the National Health Promotion Act in 1994, and the first tobacco lawsuit in Korea in 1999 were used as a good opportunity for TTCs to form a collusive alliance and to strengthen ties with TTCs. As a result, several tobacco control attempts in Korea had been frustrated or delayed. Conclusion : Providing assistance and expertise, TTC formed strategic and collusive alliance with local tobacco company, KT&G to fight against regulatory authorities and anti-tobacco activities in South Korea. This type of alliance involving local monopoly was proven to be effective by combining extensive resource of TTC and the network of local company to interfere with tobacco control measures.연구배경 : 아시아 담배 시장 개방 이후, 다국적 담배 회사들은 국가별 독점 회사들의 시장지배력에 맞서 그들과 치열하게 경쟁하여야 했지만, 동시에 개별 국가의 담배 규제 시도 및 담배 반대 운동과 같은 담배 업계 공통의 문제 상황에 대응하기 위해 독점 회사들의 협력이 필요하였다. 본 연구의 목적은 다국적 담배회사들이 아시아의 독점 회사, 특히 한국의 KT&G와 연대를 형성하기 위해 사용한 전략, 연대하에 이루어진 담배 업계의 금연정책 저해 활동과 그 효과를 밝히고, 이를 통해 담배 규제 정책 수립 및 집행에 필요한 적절한 방향을 제시하고자 하는 것이다. 연구방법 : 본 연구를 위해 Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library(TTID,https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/)의 담배 회사 내부문건을 수집 및 분석하였고, 그 외에 국가기록원의 정부 문서와 온라인 검색포털 사이트, 정부 기관의 공식 온라인 웹사이트에서 수집된 자료 등으로 분석 대상을 다각화하였다. 연구결과 : 연구 결과, 다국적 담배회사들은 한국 시장 진입 초기부터 한국의 국영 담배회사였던 KT&G와의 우호적 관계 형성을 최우선 순위에 두고 이를 위해 노력하였다. 이러한 전략 하에 다국적 담배회사들은 1989년에 한국담배협회를 설립하여 KT&G와의 연결고리를 구축하는 한편 담배 업계가 하나의 목소리를 낼 수 있는 기반을 만드는데 성공하였다. 또한, 다국적 담배회사들은 그들이 미국 등 선진국에서 구축한 기술과 인적 자원을 경쟁사인 KT&G에 적극 지원하였는데, 이는 개별 국가 기반 회사와의 관계를 공고히 하는 수단일 뿐만 아니라 국내 기업을 전면에 내세워 이미 선진국에서 정당성이 부인된 자신들의 기만적인 주장과 자료들을 한국 시장에 확산시키는 매우 효과적인 방법이었다. 다국적 담배회사들은 1994년의 국민건강증진법 입법 등 한국의 여러 담배 규제 시도와 1999년에 제기된 한국 최초의 흡연 피해자 소송과 같은 담배 업계 공통의 위기를 한국시장에서 영업하는 담배 제조사 전체의 결탁 및 연대관계를 형성하고 강화하는 절호의 기회로 활용하였고, 그 결과 한국의 여러 담배 규제 노력은 실패하거나 지연되었다. 결론 : 다국적 담배회사들은 한국의 규제 당국과 금연운동 움직임에 맞서 싸우기 위해 KT&G를 지원하면서 전략적 연대를 형성하였고, 이러한 형태의 담배 업계의 연대는 다국적 담배회사들의 광범위한 자원과 개별 국가 기반 회사의 네트워크를 결합하여 담배 규제를 방해하는 효과적인 수단으로 작용하였다.CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.2 Literature Review 1.3 Objectives CHAPTER 2 METHODS 2.1. Systematic review of Tobacco Industry Documents 2.2. Supplementary Analysis of Documents from outside the Tobacco Industry CHAPTER 3 RESULTS 3.1 Key to Our Success in Asia: Enhancing relationship with monopolies 3.1.1 KT&G Relationship is Top Priority 3.1.2 Provide Assistance and Expertise to KT&G 3.1.3 Educate the Monopoly…the Monopoly Must Carry the Torch 3.2 Making Industry Group : Korea Tobacco Association(KTA) 3.2.1 Establish and Strengthen Local Tobacco Association 3.2.2 Make KTA Serve as an Industry Voice to Anti-Smoking Issues 3.2.3 KTA as a Vehicle to Link TTC with Monopoly 3.3 We Have Mobilized Allies to Fight against Regulatory Threat 3.3.1 Attempt to Introduce an Add-Valorem System to Tobacco Excise Tax (1991-1992) 3.3.2 Legislation of National Health Promotion Law (1994) 3.3.3 Legislative Proposal for the Amendment of National Health Promotion Law by MOHSA (1996) 3.3.4 Amendment of Tobacco Business Law : Abolishment of manufacturing monopoly 3.4 Working Together to Fight this Litigation Threat 3.4.1 Litigation Prevention strategy (PM) 3.4.2 Assist KT&G, Assess the Plaintiffs Strategy, and Develop Counter Argument 3.4.3 Drivers to keep TTC from the "Worst Case": Use KT&G and their Influences CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION REFERENCES ABSTRACT(KOREAN)Maste

Complexity Characterization in a Probabilistic Approach to Dynamical Systems Through Information Geometry and Inductive Inference

Information geometric techniques and inductive inference methods hold great promise for solving computational problems of interest in classical and quantum physics, especially with regard to complexity characterization of dynamical systems in terms of their probabilistic description on curved statistical manifolds. In this article, we investigate the possibility of describing the macroscopic behavior of complex systems in terms of the underlying statistical structure of their microscopic degrees of freedom by use of statistical inductive inference and information geometry. We review the Maximum Relative Entropy (MrE) formalism and the theoretical structure of the information geometrodynamical approach to chaos (IGAC) on statistical manifolds. Special focus is devoted to the description of the roles played by the sectional curvature, the Jacobi field intensity and the information geometrodynamical entropy (IGE). These quantities serve as powerful information geometric complexity measures of information-constrained dynamics associated with arbitrary chaotic and regular systems defined on the statistical manifold. Finally, the application of such information geometric techniques to several theoretical models are presented.Comment: 29 page

Bronchitis, COPD, and pneumonia after viral endemic of patients with leprosy on Sorok Island in South Korea

Viral respiratory diseases (VRDs) cause lung inflammation and inflammatory cytokine production. We study whether dapsone is responsible for its observed preventive treatment effects of the sustained viral RNA interferon response. Around 2008 and 2012, Korea’s Dementia Management Act stipulated drastic changes in the administration of dementia medication by medical staff. Participants were randomized and we compared leprosy patients with VRDs after prescribing dapsone as a standard treatment from 2005 to 2019. Significance was evaluated based on the dapsone-prescribed (+) subgroup and the dapsone-unprescribed (−) subgroup of the VRD diagnosed (+) and VRD undiagnosed (−) subgroup. We analyzed VRD (+)/(− with dapsone (+)/(−) group and used a T-test, and designed the equation of acetylation with dapsone and acetylcholine (AA) equation. The 6394 VRD participants who received the dapsone intervention compared to the 3255 VRD participants in the control group demonstrated at T2 VRD (+) dapsone (−) (mean (M) = 224.80, SD = 97.50): T3 VRD (−) dapsone (+) (M = 110.87, SD = 103.80), proving that VRD is low when dapsone is taken and high when it is not taken. The t value is 3.10, and the p value is 0.004395 (significant at p < 0.05). After an increase in VRDs peaked in 2009, bronchitis, COPD, and pneumonia surged in 2013. The AA equation was strongly negatively correlated with the prevalence of bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): with bronchitis, r(15) = −0.823189, p = 0.005519, and with COPD, r(15) = −0.8161, p = 0.000207 (significant at p < 0.05). Dapsone treated both bronchitis and COPD. This study provides theoretical clinical data to limit acetylcholine excess during the VRD pandemic for bronchitis, COPD, and pneumonia

The BioMart community portal: an innovative alternative to large, centralized data repositories.

The BioMart Community Portal (www.biomart.org) is a community-driven effort to provide a unified interface to biomedical databases that are distributed worldwide. The portal provides access to numerous database projects supported by 30 scientific organizations. It includes over 800 different biological datasets spanning genomics, proteomics, model organisms, cancer data, ontology information and more. All resources available through the portal are independently administered and funded by their host organizations. The BioMart data federation technology provides a unified interface to all the available data. The latest version of the portal comes with many new databases that have been created by our ever-growing community. It also comes with better support and extensibility for data analysis and visualization tools. A new addition to our toolbox, the enrichment analysis tool is now accessible through graphical and web service interface. The BioMart community portal averages over one million requests per day. Building on this level of service and the wealth of information that has become available, the BioMart Community Portal has introduced a new, more scalable and cheaper alternative to the large data stores maintained by specialized organizations

청년기 건강행태에 따른 중년기 심뇌혈관질환 위험 : Korean Life Course Health Study를 이용하여

학위논문(박사)--서울대학교 대학원 :보건대학원 보건학과(보건학전공),2020. 2. 조성일.그 동안 생애과정 연구는 출생, 소아, 청소년, 그리고 본격적으로 만성질환이 발생하는 중장년 층의 건강에 대한 것이 많았으나, 청년기를 포함한 연구는 상대적으로 적었다. 연구가 부족했던 이유 중 하나는 청년기가 인간의 생애에서 가장 건강한 시기이고, 각종 만성질환 발생에 대한 위험 인식이 낮은 시기이기 때문이다. 그러나 청년기 건강의 중요성은 다음과 같은 두 가지 맥락에서 의미가 있을 것으로 보인다. 첫째, 생애과정 관점(Life-course perspective)에서 유년기, 청소년기의 early life의 건강 상태가 중장년기의 건강에 영향을 준다는 선행 연구들은 이미 많이 보고되었다. 그러나 평균 기대 수명의 증가로 인해, 유년기나 청소년기를 early life로 바라보던 시각을 보다 확장하여 20대 청년의 건강이 중장년기는 물론 노년기 의 건강에 영향을 줄 수 있는지에 대한 근거가 부족하다. 이를 위해 청년들의 대표적인 불건강 행태인 흡연과 비만이 중장년기의 건강에 미치는 영향을 추적하는 전향적 코호트 연구가 필요하다. 둘째, 보건의료비 지출 측면에서도 청년기의 건강은 중요한 의미를 가진다. 한국사회가 고령화되면서 많은 보건의료 비용을 지출하는 노인 인구가 증가하기 때문에 중장년기 이전 시기인 청년기의 건강관리는 미래 보건의료 비용 지출을 절감하는데 중요한 의미를 가질 것이다. 이 연구는 생애과정 중 청년기의 흡연과 비만이 중년기의 심뇌혈관질환 발생에 미치는 영향을 다음 세가지면에서 전향적 추적연구를 통해 알아보았다. 첫 번째 연구는 1992년과 1994년 공무원 사립학교 교직원 의료보험조합에서 제공한 일반건강검진을 받은 20-29세 307,041명을 생애과정 건강연구 (Life course health study) 대상자로 설정하였다. 이들 대상자중 남자142,461명에 대하여 baseline 흡연력과 1993년부터 2015년까지 발생한 심뇌혈관질환과의 관련성을 분석하였다. 이때 baseline에서 측정된 혈청 총 콜레스테롤이 흡연력과 심뇌혈관질환과의 관련성에 effect modifier로 작용하였는지를 알아보았다. 연구 결과 20대 청년의 baseline콜레스테롤 수준과 관계없이 흡연은 중년의 허혈성 심질환과 뇌졸중 발생을 유의하게 증가시켰다. 두 번째 연구는 청년들의 대표적인 불건강 습관인 담배 사용의 패턴을 10년간 반복 측정했을 때 어떠한 형태의 그룹으로 형성되는지를 확인하였다. 그리고 이 그룹에 따라 10여 년간 추적한 심뇌혈관질환 위험이 어떻게 달라지는지를 보고자 하였다. 즉, 1992년부터 2004년까지 7회에 걸쳐 일반 건강검진에 참여하여 흡연 행태 설문을 수행한 20-29세 남성 60,709명을 분석하였으며 1992년 최초 흡연 상태는 비흡연, 과거흡연, 현재흡연 (1-9개비, 10-19개비, 20개비 이상)으로 분류했다. Group Based Trajectory Model (GBTM)을 이용하여 최초 흡연상태 이후 흡연 행태 변화에 따라 5개군으로 분류하였다. Baseline 흡연력만 고려한 모델에 비해, 흡연력의 변화를 trajectory group에 따라 고려하고 중간시점에서 측정한 mediator까지 고려한 모델이 심뇌혈관질환 위험에 있어 가장 좋은 설명력을 보였으며, trajectory에 의해 분류된 5개의 그룹 중 'Very highly steady'군에서 대부분의 심뇌혈관질환의 위험이 유의하게 높았다. 세 번째 연구는 생애과정 건강연구 대상자에 대하여 baseline체질량 지수 (Body Mass Index, BMI)와 심뇌혈관질환 발생과의 관련성을 분석하였다. 즉, 1992-1994년에 측정한 체질량 지수가 2002-2004년에 측정한 혈압, 콜레스테롤, 공복혈당 증가를 통해 2005-2016년에 심뇌혈관질환 발생 위험에 미치는 직, 간접적 영향을 분석하였다. 분석 결과 청년들의 높은 체질량 지수가 10년 후의 혈압, 콜레스테롤, 공복혈당을 유의하게 증가시켰고, 이는 곧 중년의 심뇌혈관질환 발생 위험을 높였다. 이때 청년들의 체질량 지수가 중년의 심혈관질환 위험에 미치는 영향은 간접효과보다는 직접효과가 더 큰 것으로 나타났다. 각 연구를 통해 청년시절의 대표적 불건강 행태 중 하나인 흡연력은 추적 기간 동안 다양한 형태로 변화했음을 확인했으며, 향후 연구에서 longitudinal data를 이용한 흡연의 effect를 분석 시, 흡연력의 변화에 대한 고려가 필요할 것으로 보였다. 또한 청년시절의 비만은 10년 후에 측정된 대사증후군 요소를 거쳐 가는 간접 영향이 20대시절 비만에 의해 직접 가는 영향보다 적었다. 청년의 높은 흡연율과 체질량지수는 중년의 심뇌혈관질환 발생과 직접적으로 관련 있었다. 이 연구는 생애과정적 관점에서 청년기는 중년기 건강의 early life로서 근거를 제시하였다. 그러므로 중장년기의 건강을 위해서 청년기의 적극적인 생활습관 관리가 필요하다는 점을 시사한다는 점에서 보건학적으로 의미하는 바가 크다고 할 수 있다.Life course research has focused on birth, pediatric, adolescent, middle-aged, and elderly people. However, there are few studies on the health of young adults. One of the reasons for the lack of research is that young people are at the healthiest time in human life with a low risk for developing various chronic diseases. However, the importance of health in the younger age, which was relatively less interested, is increasing. The importance of healthy young people is significant in the following two contexts. First, many studies in life course perspective has revealed that the health of early life in childhood and adolescence influences the health of the elderly. However, due to the increase in life expectancy, there is a lack of rationale as to whether the health of young adults in their twenties can affect their middle-aged or later health by expanding the perspective of childhood or adolescence as an early life. Prospective cohort studies that follow-up the effects of these behaviors on middle-aged health are needed. Second, the health of the youth also has important implications in terms of healthcare spending. As a result of the rapid aging of Korea, the number of elderly people who spend a lot of healthcare costs increases. Therefore, healthcare of young adults before middle-age will have a significant impact on reducing future healthcare expenditure in Korea. Given the fact that smoking and obesity is the most popular un-healthy factors in young adults, prospective cohort studies examining the effect of smoking and obesity in young adults on cardiovascular diseases in middle-age are needed. The first study was a life course health study that investigated 307,041 participants aged 20-29 who received general health examinations provided by National Health Insurance Corporation for civil servants and private school teachers. Of these, 142,461 men were included in our analysis to investigate whether blood cholesterol at baseline act as an effect modifier in the association between baseline smoking status and cardiovascular diseases occurred during 1993 and 2015. The results of this study showed that smoking in young adults increased the risk of ischemic heart disease, and stroke, regardless of their cholesterol levels at baseline. The second study examined the patterns of tobacco use patterns during 10 years, and confirmed what kind of group they formed. I wanted to see how the risk varies. From 1992 to 2004, 60,709 men aged 20-29 years who participated in a screening survey were analyzed. The first smoking status in 1992 was non-smoking, ex- smoking, current smoking (1-9 cig. per day, 10-19 cig. per day, 20 cig. per day or more). The group based trajectory model (GBTM) was classified into five groups according to the change of smoking status after the first smoking status. Compared to baseline smoking-only models, the model considering the change of smoking status according to the trajectory group and mediator measured at the intermediate period showed the best explanation for the risk of cerebrovascular disease. The risk of most cardiovascular diseases was significantly higher in 'Very high steady' group. The third study investigated the association between baseline body mass index (BMI) of the young adults and the risk of cardiovascular disease. In other words, the study aimed to show how BMI levels measured in 1992-1994 influenced the risk of cardiovascular disease occurred in 2005-2016 through the elevation of blood pressure, cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose measured after 10 years (2002-2004). We found that high BMI of young adults significantly increased blood pressure, cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose after 10 years, which also increased the risk of cardiovascular disease in their middle-age. Moreover, the effect of BMI of young adults on cardiovascular disease in middle-age was more direct rather than indirect. Each study confirmed that the smoking habit, one of the high prevalent unhealthy behaviors during youth, has changed in various forms over the past decades, and future studies will need to consider changes in smoking status when analyzing the effect of smoking cessation using longitudinal data. The high smoking rate and BMI of adolescents were directly related to the occurrence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk. This study suggests that young adult is an early life of middle-aged health from a life-course perspective. Therefore, it can be said that healthcare is meaningful because it suggests that aggressive lifestyle management of youth is needed for mid-aged health.Chapter I. Overall introduction: Significance of young adult health in human life course. 1 1.1. Life course approach 2 1.2. Needs of ecological understanding on young adults health 5 1.3. Methodologies approaches to reflect the changes in exposure in longitudinal data 12 1.3.1 Time dependent analysis 14 1.3.2 Group Based Trajectory Analysis (GBTM) 15 1.3.3 Mediation analysis 17 1.4. Study framework and main objectives 22 Chapter II. Smoking and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk in young men: The Korean life course health study 24 2.1. Introduction 25 2.2. Materials and methods 27 2.3. Results 34 2.4. Discussion 53 Chapter III. Trajectory of smoking and incidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease among Korean young adult men 57 3.1. Introduction 58 3.2 Methods 59 3.3 Results 62 3.4 Discussion 76 Chapter IV. Mediators of the Effect of Body Mass Index on Stroke and Heart Disease Risk: Decomposing Direct and Indirect Effects 80 4.1. Introduction 81 4.2. Methods 83 4.3. Results 89 4.3.1 Comparison between classic approach and counterfactual approach 89 4.3.2. Mediation analysis using classic approach: using three different mediators and various outcomes. 97 4.4. Discussion 112 Chapter V. Overall discussion: Synthesis of results, comments on young adult health using life course approach and methodology review 117 5.1. Synthesis of the results 118 5.2. Implications on public health 119 5.3. Discussion for Methodology review: Epidemiological approaches for assessing repeated measurements 128 References 133 Appendix 1-1. STROBE Statement—Checklist of items that should be included in reports of cohort studies: Korean Life Course Health Study 158 국문 초록 171Docto

Game Artificial Intelligence: Challenges for the Scientific Community

This paper discusses some of the most interesting challenges to which the games research community members may face in the área of the application of arti cial or computational intelligence techniques to the design and creation of video games. The paper focuses on three lines that certainly will in uence signi cantly the industry of game development in the near future, speci cally on the automatic generation of content, the a ective computing applied to video games and the generation of behaviors that manage the decisions of entities not controlled by the human player.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech