60,549 research outputs found
Improving spatial-simultaneous working memory in Down syndrome: effect of a training program led by parents instead of an expert
Recent studies have suggested that the visuospatial component of working memory (WM) is selectively impaired in individuals with Down syndrome (DS), the deficit relating specifically to the spatial-simultaneous component, which is involved when stimuli are presented simultaneously. The present study aimed to analyze the effects of a computer-based program for training the spatial-simultaneous component of WM in terms of: specific effects (on spatial-simultaneous WM tasks); near and far transfer effects (on spatial-sequential and visuospatial abilities, and everyday memory tasks); and maintenance effects (1 month after the training). A comparison was drawn between the results obtained when the training was led by parents at home as opposed to an expert in psychology. Thirty-nine children and adolescents with DS were allocated to one of two groups: the training was administered by an expert in one, and by appropriately instructed parents in the other. The training was administered individually twice a week for a month, in eight sessions lasting approximately 30 min each. Our participants' performance improved after the training, and these results were maintained a month later in both groups. Overall, our findings suggest that spatial-simultaneous WM performance can be improved, obtaining specific and transfer gains; above all, it seems that, with adequate support, parents could effectively administer a WM training to their child
Simplification Methods for Sum-of-Squares Programs
A sum-of-squares is a polynomial that can be expressed as a sum of squares of
other polynomials. Determining if a sum-of-squares decomposition exists for a
given polynomial is equivalent to a linear matrix inequality feasibility
problem. The computation required to solve the feasibility problem depends on
the number of monomials used in the decomposition. The Newton polytope is a
method to prune unnecessary monomials from the decomposition. This method
requires the construction of a convex hull and this can be time consuming for
polynomials with many terms. This paper presents a new algorithm for removing
monomials based on a simple property of positive semidefinite matrices. It
returns a set of monomials that is never larger than the set returned by the
Newton polytope method and, for some polynomials, is a strictly smaller set.
Moreover, the algorithm takes significantly less computation than the convex
hull construction. This algorithm is then extended to a more general
simplification method for sum-of-squares programming.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Neural Lyapunov Control
We propose new methods for learning control policies and neural network
Lyapunov functions for nonlinear control problems, with provable guarantee of
stability. The framework consists of a learner that attempts to find the
control and Lyapunov functions, and a falsifier that finds counterexamples to
quickly guide the learner towards solutions. The procedure terminates when no
counterexample is found by the falsifier, in which case the controlled
nonlinear system is provably stable. The approach significantly simplifies the
process of Lyapunov control design, provides end-to-end correctness guarantee,
and can obtain much larger regions of attraction than existing methods such as
LQR and SOS/SDP. We show experiments on how the new methods obtain high-quality
solutions for challenging control problems.Comment: NeurIPS 201
Improving Efficiency and Scalability of Sum of Squares Optimization: Recent Advances and Limitations
It is well-known that any sum of squares (SOS) program can be cast as a
semidefinite program (SDP) of a particular structure and that therein lies the
computational bottleneck for SOS programs, as the SDPs generated by this
procedure are large and costly to solve when the polynomials involved in the
SOS programs have a large number of variables and degree. In this paper, we
review SOS optimization techniques and present two new methods for improving
their computational efficiency. The first method leverages the sparsity of the
underlying SDP to obtain computational speed-ups. Further improvements can be
obtained if the coefficients of the polynomials that describe the problem have
a particular sparsity pattern, called chordal sparsity. The second method
bypasses semidefinite programming altogether and relies instead on solving a
sequence of more tractable convex programs, namely linear and second order cone
programs. This opens up the question as to how well one can approximate the
cone of SOS polynomials by second order representable cones. In the last part
of the paper, we present some recent negative results related to this question.Comment: Tutorial for CDC 201
Domain Decomposition for Stochastic Optimal Control
This work proposes a method for solving linear stochastic optimal control
(SOC) problems using sum of squares and semidefinite programming. Previous work
had used polynomial optimization to approximate the value function, requiring a
high polynomial degree to capture local phenomena. To improve the scalability
of the method to problems of interest, a domain decomposition scheme is
presented. By using local approximations, lower degree polynomials become
sufficient, and both local and global properties of the value function are
captured. The domain of the problem is split into a non-overlapping partition,
with added constraints ensuring continuity. The Alternating Direction
Method of Multipliers (ADMM) is used to optimize over each domain in parallel
and ensure convergence on the boundaries of the partitions. This results in
improved conditioning of the problem and allows for much larger and more
complex problems to be addressed with improved performance.Comment: 8 pages. Accepted to CDC 201
- …