Bilateral Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for Better-than-human Car Following Model

In the coming years and decades, autonomous vehicles (AVs) will become increasingly prevalent, offering new opportunities for safer and more convenient travel and potentially smarter traffic control methods exploiting automation and connectivity. Car following is a prime function in autonomous driving. Car following based on reinforcement learning has received attention in recent years with the goal of learning and achieving performance levels comparable to humans. However, most existing RL methods model car following as a unilateral problem, sensing only the vehicle ahead. Recent literature, however, Wang and Horn [16] has shown that bilateral car following that considers the vehicle ahead and the vehicle behind exhibits better system stability. In this paper we hypothesize that this bilateral car following can be learned using RL, while learning other goals such as efficiency maximisation, jerk minimization, and safety rewards leading to a learned model that outperforms human driving. We propose and introduce a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) framework for car following control by integrating bilateral information into both state and reward function based on the bilateral control model (BCM) for car following control. Furthermore, we use a decentralized multi-agent reinforcement learning framework to generate the corresponding control action for each agent. Our simulation results demonstrate that our learned policy is better than the human driving policy in terms of (a) inter-vehicle headways, (b) average speed, (c) jerk, (d) Time to Collision (TTC) and (e) string stability

Behavior of high strength fiber reinforced concrete beams in shear

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-124).by Dawood Abdulhai Pandor.M.S

Isolated ileocecal valve atresia

Ileocecal valve atresia is a rare variety of gastrointestinal atresia. There have been only 10 cases reported in the literature. In this paper, we report the case of a 4-day-old male preterm, who presented with signs of neonatal intestinal obstruction. Contrast enema showed microcolon with no reflux of the contrast into the terminal ileum. Exploratory laparotomy showed an isolated ileocecal valve atresia. The atretic segment was resected and an ileocolic anastomosis was performed. The histopathological report confirmed the diagnosis of ileocecal valve atresia. The postoperative recovery was uneventful.Keywords: atresia of ileocecal junction, ileocecal valve atresia, intestinal atresia, neonatal intestinal obstructio

A Standard Electrolyzer Test Cell Design for Evaluating Catalysts and Cell Components for Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis

Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis technology is an environmentally friendly method for hydrogen production without carbon dioxide emissions. The development of this technology is hindered by the sluggish rates of the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, demanding the rational design of electrocatalysts for these processes. Although numerous hydrogen and oxygen evolution electrocatalysts are reported in the literature, there is currently no standard set of conditions or cell design under which they can be tested; variance in testing conditions and water electrolyzer components from one study to another therefore hampers a full and coherent comparison of novel electrocatalysts for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis. Herein, a standard water electrolyzer test cell was designed and optimized, such that this test cell can be adopted as a universal benchmark for evaluating novel electrocatalysts (and indeed other cell components) for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis. The performance of this water electrolyzer was evaluated using commercial electrocatalysts, with an optimized cell found to deliver current densities of 1.82 A cm–2 and 2.35 A cm–2 at cell voltages of 2.0 V and at 60 °C using Fumasep FAA-3-50 and Sustainion X37-50 membranes, respectively. Guidance for assembling and operating the water electrolyzer is provided, along with computer-aided design drawings of the electrolyzer and its components to allow others to construct their own identical cells for benchmarking catalysts and other cell components for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis

Evolution of Malware Threats and Techniques: a Review

The rapid development of technology, and its usage, in our everyday lives caused us to depend on many of the aspects it offers. The evolution of the Internet in recent decades has changed human life drastically as accessing knowledge, communication, and social interaction, became readily available. Nowadays, we have become dependent on our PCs and smart devices in accomplishing everyday tasks. People are using these devices to store valuable information. This information became the target of cybercriminals who are constantly creating new ways to gain unauthorized access to it. In the past few decades, cybercrime and the construction of malicious software (malware), have seen a significant rise. In this research, we present a literature review of the historical evolution of malware. We describe the common characteristics and propagation methods for the types of malware in each phase of its evolution. Furthermore, we illustrate the purpose of its creation and the damages it has caused. The purpose of this study is to provide researchers with background about malware and its evolution leading up to present day threats

The Threshold of Admission Glycemia as a Predictor of Adverse Events in Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

Recent studies indicated a high prevalence of hyperglycemia in non-diabetic patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, the threshold of admission glucose (AG) as a predictor of adverse events in ACS is unclear