Using First Order Inductive Learning as an Alternative to a Simulator in a Game Artificial Intelligence

Currently many game artificial intelligences attempt to determine their next moves by using a simulator to predict the effect of actions in the world. However, writing such a simulator is time-consuming, and the simulator must be changed substantially whenever a detail in the game design is modified. As such, this research project set out to determine if a version of the first order inductive learning algorithm could be used to learn rules that could then be used in place of a simulator. By eliminating the need to write a simulator for each game by hand, the entire Darmok 2 project could more easily adapt to additional real-time strategy games. Over time, Darmok 2 would also be able to provide better competition for human players by training the artificial intelligences to play against the style of a specific player. Most importantly, Darmok 2 might also be able to create a general solution for creating game artificial intelligences, which could save game development companies a substantial amount of money, time, and effort.Ram, Ashwin - Faculty Mentor ; Ontañón, Santi - Committee Member/Second Reade

Windage measurements in a rotor stator cavity with rotor mounted protrusions and bolts

This paper reports an experimental investigation of the windage associated with enclosed rotor-stator systems with superposed throughflow, as commonly found in gas turbine engines. The term windage is often used to describe the viscous heating that arises from the interaction of surfaces and fluids in rotating disc systems. Since the presence of circumferentially discreet geometric features strongly alters the magnitude of Windage measured, the physical mechanisms collectively referred to as windage in this paper are separately described as part of the discussion of results. Tests have been carried out to measure windage directly in the form of shaft torque and also rotor surface temperature. Non-dimensional flow parameters are used to expand the relevance of the data obtained, which encompasses the ranges 0.17 x 107 ≤ Reφ ≤ 1.68 x 107and 0.24 x 105 ≤ Cw ≤ 1.06 x 105 which corresponds to 0.058 ≤ λT ≤ 0.631. Data has been obtained for smooth disc geometry and also with rotor mounted protrusions of N = 3, 9 and 18; D = 10 mm, 13 mm and 16 mm diameter; H = 11 mm, high, hexagonal bolt shaped protrusions. Bi-hexagonal (twelve sided) bolts of D = 13 mm effective diameter, and height, H = 11mm, were also tested with conditions closely matched to the 13 mm hexagonal bolts. Finally, tests with 10 mm diameter, 6 mm deep, pockets were also carried out. Over the range of conditions and geometries tested, increasing the number of bolts increases the moment coefficient and windage heating. At low values of turbulent flow parameter, λT, which correspond to rotational speeds between 8000 and 10000 rev/min, increasing the diameter of the bolts shows a clear trend for both increased windage torque and average disc temperature rise. For these conditions, there also appears to be a clear reduction in windage and temperature rise with the bi-hexagonal shaped bolts compared to the equivalent diameter hexagonal bolt form. Variation in the moment coefficient with the number and diameter of bolts is attributed to variations in form drag between the different configurations. The introduction of the recesses onto the disc has very little effect on either windage heating or moment coefficient; this is attributed to the component of windage mechanism in operation and also the relatively small size in comparison to the protrusions studied here. This work contributes to the understanding of windage in gas turbines by introducing new low uncertainty data obtained at engine representative conditions and as such is of benefit to those involved with the design of internal air systems and disc fixture

Using Community Organizing Best Practices to Redesign the DART Organizers\u27 Institute

This Training-of-Trainers Course-Linked Capstone project explores three approaches to community organizing from three different scholar-practitioners. It begins with the father of grassroots organizing, Saul Alinsky’s, neighborhood-based and congregation-based approach. Alinsky’s approach is followed by Alicia Garza’s approach; Garza is the founder of the international Black Lives Matter movement. It ends with author and organizer adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy approach. This paper will synthesize all three approaches, ultimately identifying four recommended approaches to community organizing: power, motivation, emotion, and centering impacted voices. The four recommended approaches will be used to evaluate the new organizer training (Organizers’ Institute) for the Direct Action and Research Training (DART) Network, and then to redesign the initial week of the Organizers’ Institute

The Burqa Ban: Legal Precursors for Denmark, American Experiences and Experiments, and Philosophical and Critical Examinations

As the title of the article suggests, “The Burqa Ban”: Legal Precursors for Denmark, American Experiences and Experiments, and Philosophical and Critical Examinations, the authors embark on a factually investigative as well as a reflective response. More precisely, they use The 2018 Danish “Burqa Ban”: Joining a European Trend and Sending a National Message (published as a concurrent but separate article in this issue of INTERNATIONAL STUDIES JOURNAL) as a platform for further analysis and discussion of different perspectives. These include case-law at the international level while focusing attention on recent rulings and judicial reasoning by the ECtHR and the ECJ; critical thought-experiments in religion, morality, human rights, and the democratic public space; a contextualized account of burqa-wearing interventions by federal and state governments and, moreover, various courts in the United States; and philosophical commentary and, in some instances, criticism of the Danish and/or European (French, etc.) approach. The different contributions have different aims. The section on case-law at the international level reports on those central judgments that, in effect, helped to pave the path for the Kingdom of Denmark’s burqa ban. Concerning the concurring judges at the ECtHR, the opinions served to uphold a preexisting ban and to grant a wide margin of appreciation to the national authorities, thereby limiting the Court’s own review. As regards to the ECJ, the legality of company rules that contain a policy of neutrality for the workplace was examined, with a similar outcome. The authors who discuss religion, morality, human rights and the democratic public space are endeavoring to, respectively, appeal to ethics as a testing stone for law and to both challenge and address several forms of “expressivist worry” in connection with face veils. In doing so, the authors ask a number of thought-provoking questions that hopefully will inspire public policymakers to careful analysis. While the section that is devoted to American perspectives highlights a comprehensive survey of political and legal responses to, in particular, full-face veils like the burqa, the relevant author also incorporates public perceptions and, in the course of examining these, draws a parallel to “the fate” of the hoodie. The constitutionality of burqa-wearing in America, so it also appears, is partially an open question, but differentiating between religious, political, or personal reasons is a de jure premise. Given that the Danish legislators who drafted law L 219 to ban burqa-wearing in public places rely on a reference to political Islam, they relegate religious and personal reasons to the private domain, thereby also adopting secularism as a premise. This is explored in the last author response of the article, more precisely, in an account of the underlying materialism that, in turn, is applied to Muslim women. If policymakers and legislators engaged in Thinking Things Through exercises, they could, as a minimum, avoid law-making strategies that are not in the spirit of the theory they themselves invoke, albeit tacitly. While the aim of, as it were, arresting culturally self-contradicting legislators is unique for the section in question, all the authors who contribute to the joint research project have one end-goal in common, namely to inform about important perspectives while at the same time opening up for parameters for (more) fruitful, constructive and (if need be) critical debate in the future. With this in mind, four recommendations are presented by the research director for the project. Legally, politically, socially and culturally, conflict-resolution should not translate the relationship between rulers and the ruled into a separation ideology, an instance of controllers versus the controlled. All things being equal, that is the objective limit for a democratic society

Over-expressing the C3 photosynthesis cycle enzyme Sedoheptulose-1-7 Bisphosphatase improves photosynthetic carbon gain and yield under fully open air CO2fumigation (FACE)

Abstract Background Biochemical models predict that photosynthesis in C3 plants is most frequently limited by the slower of two processes, the maximum capacity of the enzyme Rubisco to carboxylate RuBP (Vc,max), or the regeneration of RuBP via electron transport (J). At current atmospheric [CO2] levels Rubisco is not saturated; consequently, elevating [CO2] increases the velocity of carboxylation and inhibits the competing oxygenation reaction which is also catalyzed by Rubisco. In the future, leaf photosynthesis (A) should be increasingly limited by RuBP regeneration, as [CO2] is predicted to exceed 550 ppm by 2050. The C3 cycle enzyme sedoheptulose-1,7 bisphosphatase (SBPase, EC 3.1.3.17) has been shown to exert strong metabolic control over RuBP regeneration at light saturation. Results We tested the hypothesis that tobacco transformed to overexpressing SBPase will exhibit greater stimulation of A than wild type (WT) tobacco when grown under field conditions at elevated [CO2] (585 ppm) under fully open air fumigation. Growth under elevated [CO2] stimulated instantaneous A and the diurnal photosynthetic integral (A') more in transformants than WT. There was evidence of photosynthetic acclimation to elevated [CO2] via downregulation of Vc,max in both WT and transformants. Nevertheless, greater carbon assimilation and electron transport rates (J and Jmax) for transformants led to greater yield increases than WT at elevated [CO2] compared to ambient grown plants. Conclusion These results provide proof of concept that increasing content and activity of a single photosynthesis enzyme can enhance carbon assimilation and yield of C3 crops grown at [CO2] expected by the middle of the 21st century. </jats:sec

Optimizing the phosphorus cycle in the sugar beet production process by phytase supplement

Phosphate stewardship and ultimately recycling is one of the great challenges of humankind. Depleting phosphorus (P) resources demand new strategies for an efficient use of this essential nutrient. Therefore, especially phosphorus cycles in agriculture have to be closed. Against this backdrop we propose a new value chain to recover phosphate from plant waste material in sugar production. The approach is based on naturally occurring enzymes that free the phosphate bound in an organic form (mainly phytate in sugar beet slices). Thereby, the currently implemented value chain of phosphate rock mining, production of phosphoric acid, chemical synthesis of polyphosphates, and after use phosphate disposal into waste water, rivers and finally into the ocean will be extended and in the long run disrupted. In sugar production processes this could be achieved by supplementing thermally resistant phytases to leach the phosphate bound as phytate form sugar beet slices. With this procedure the P concentration in sugar beet slices and the export of phosphorous with fodder to areas with high animal density and in consequence P-excess in fields will be reduced. Instead, isolated phosphorus will be transferred into spent lime and subsequently back to the sugar beet fields. The BioSC collaboration project PhytaPhoS assesses and evaluates the potential of P recovery employing phytase, its feasibility and economic approaches from lab scale to field application. Phytases are extremely highly active phosphatases (\u3e1000 U/mg), mobilizing inorganic phosphate from plant based phytate, which is a natural plant phosphate reservoir [1]. Aim in the project is improving specific activity and thermal resistance of a selected phytase by directed evolution [2,3,4] and optimizing the phytase production by employing a signal peptide library from Bacillus subtilis [5]. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Pancreatic Mass with an Unusual Pathology: A Case Report

Intra-abdominal abscesses formation in patients with no preceding symptoms is rare. Infection of the pancreas occurs in 5–9% of patients with acute pancreatitis, more commonly as a complication of necrotising or severe pancreatitis. We have reported a case of a 64-year-old almost entirely asymptomatic man who underwent a Whipple's procedure following extensive investigation of a pancreatic mass. The pathology and histology showed no evidence of malignancy, and instead a true pancreatic abscess, centred around an impacted cholesterol calculus in the distal CBD. Of suspicious pancreatic masses that are resected, chronic choledocholithiasis is the aetiology in less than 5% of nonmalignant or “false positives.” This report describes such a case

Genetic and spectrally distinct in vivo imaging: embryonic stem cells and mice with widespread expression of a monomeric red fluorescent protein

BACKGROUND: DsRed the red fluorescent protein (RFP) isolated from Discosoma sp. coral holds much promise as a genetically and spectrally distinct alternative to green fluorescent protein (GFP) for application in mice. Widespread use of DsRed has been hampered by several issues resulting in the inability to establish and maintain lines of red fluorescent protein expressing embryonic stem cells and mice. This has been attributed to the non-viability, or toxicity, of the protein, probably as a result of its obligate tetramerization. A mutagenesis approach directing the stepwise evolution of DsRed has produced mRFP1, the first true monomer. mRFP1 currently represents an attractive autofluorescent reporter for use in heterologous systems. RESULTS: We have used embryonic stem cell-mediated transgenesis to evaluate mRFP1 in embryonic stem cells and mice. We find that mRFP1 exhibits the most spatially homogenous expression when compared to the native (tetrameric) and variant dimeric forms of DsRed. High levels of mRFP1 expression do not affect cell morphology, developmental potential or viability and fertility of animals. High levels of widespread mRFP1 expression are maintained in a constitutive manner in embryonic stem cells in culture and in transgenic animals. We have used various optical imaging modalities to visualize mRFP1 expressing cells in culture, in embryos and adult mice. Moreover co-visualization of red, green and cyan fluorescent cells within a sample is easily achieved without the need for specialized methodologies, such as spectral deconvolution or linear unmixing. CONCLUSION: Fluorescent proteins with excitation and/or emission profiles in the red part of the visible spectrum represent distinct partners, or longer wavelength substitutes for GFP. Not only do DsRed-based RFPs provide a genetically and spectrally distinct addition to the available repertoire of autoflorescent proteins, but by virtue of their spectral properties they permit deeper tissue imaging. Our work in generating CAG::mRFP1 transgenic ES cells and mice demonstrates the developmental neutrality of mRFP1 in an organismal context. It paves the way for the use of DsRed-based monomeric RFPs in transgenic and gene targeted approaches which often necessitate spatially and/or temporally restricted reporter expression. Moreover animals of the CAG::mRFP1 transgenic strain serve as a source of RFP tagged tissue for the derivation of cell lines and explant, transplant and embryo chimera experiments