10,256 research outputs found
Probabilistic representations in perception: Are there any, and what would they be?
Nick Shea’s Representation in Cognitive Science commits
him to representations in perceptual processing that are
about probabilities. This commentary concerns how to
adjudicate between this view and an alternative that locates
the probabilities rather in the representational states’
associated “attitudes”. As background and motivation,
evidence for probabilistic representations in perceptual
processing is adduced, and it is shown how, on either
conception, one can address a specific challenge Ned Block
has raised to this evidence
Neural Task Programming: Learning to Generalize Across Hierarchical Tasks
In this work, we propose a novel robot learning framework called Neural Task
Programming (NTP), which bridges the idea of few-shot learning from
demonstration and neural program induction. NTP takes as input a task
specification (e.g., video demonstration of a task) and recursively decomposes
it into finer sub-task specifications. These specifications are fed to a
hierarchical neural program, where bottom-level programs are callable
subroutines that interact with the environment. We validate our method in three
robot manipulation tasks. NTP achieves strong generalization across sequential
tasks that exhibit hierarchal and compositional structures. The experimental
results show that NTP learns to generalize well to- wards unseen tasks with
increasing lengths, variable topologies, and changing objectives.Comment: ICRA 201
Synthetic biology and microdevices : a powerful combination
Recent developments demonstrate that the combination of microbiology with micro-and nanoelectronics is a successful approach to develop new miniaturized sensing devices and other technologies. In the last decade, there has been a shift from the optimization of the abiotic components, for example, the chip, to the improvement of the processing capabilities of cells through genetic engineering. The synthetic biology approach will not only give rise to systems with new functionalities, but will also improve the robustness and speed of their response towards applied signals. To this end, the development of new genetic circuits has to be guided by computational design methods that enable to tune and optimize the circuit response. As the successful design of genetic circuits is highly dependent on the quality and reliability of its composing elements, intense characterization of standard biological parts will be crucial for an efficient rational design process in the development of new genetic circuits. Microengineered devices can thereby offer a new analytical approach for the study of complex biological parts and systems. By summarizing the recent techniques in creating new synthetic circuits and in integrating biology with microdevices, this review aims at emphasizing the power of combining synthetic biology with microfluidics and microelectronics
Shortest, Fastest, and Foremost Broadcast in Dynamic Networks
Highly dynamic networks rarely offer end-to-end connectivity at a given time.
Yet, connectivity in these networks can be established over time and space,
based on temporal analogues of multi-hop paths (also called {\em journeys}).
Attempting to optimize the selection of the journeys in these networks
naturally leads to the study of three cases: shortest (minimum hop), fastest
(minimum duration), and foremost (earliest arrival) journeys. Efficient
centralized algorithms exists to compute all cases, when the full knowledge of
the network evolution is given.
In this paper, we study the {\em distributed} counterparts of these problems,
i.e. shortest, fastest, and foremost broadcast with termination detection
(TDB), with minimal knowledge on the topology.
We show that the feasibility of each of these problems requires distinct
features on the evolution, through identifying three classes of dynamic graphs
wherein the problems become gradually feasible: graphs in which the
re-appearance of edges is {\em recurrent} (class R), {\em bounded-recurrent}
(B), or {\em periodic} (P), together with specific knowledge that are
respectively (the number of nodes), (a bound on the recurrence
time), and (the period). In these classes it is not required that all pairs
of nodes get in contact -- only that the overall {\em footprint} of the graph
is connected over time.
Our results, together with the strict inclusion between , , and ,
implies a feasibility order among the three variants of the problem, i.e.
TDB[foremost] requires weaker assumptions on the topology dynamics than
TDB[shortest], which itself requires less than TDB[fastest]. Reversely, these
differences in feasibility imply that the computational powers of ,
, and also form a strict hierarchy
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Reusability in software engineering
This paper surveys recent work concerning reusability in software engineering. The current directions in software reusability are discussed, and the two major approaches of reusable building blocks and reusable patterns studied. An extensive bibliography, parts of which are annotated, is included
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