Solving Large Extensive-Form Games with Strategy Constraints

Extensive-form games are a common model for multiagent interactions with imperfect information. In two-player zero-sum games, the typical solution concept is a Nash equilibrium over the unconstrained strategy set for each player. In many situations, however, we would like to constrain the set of possible strategies. For example, constraints are a natural way to model limited resources, risk mitigation, safety, consistency with past observations of behavior, or other secondary objectives for an agent. In small games, optimal strategies under linear constraints can be found by solving a linear program; however, state-of-the-art algorithms for solving large games cannot handle general constraints. In this work we introduce a generalized form of Counterfactual Regret Minimization that provably finds optimal strategies under any feasible set of convex constraints. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm for finding strategies that mitigate risk in security games, and for opponent modeling in poker games when given only partial observations of private information.Comment: Appeared in AAAI 201

Solving Games with Functional Regret Estimation

We propose a novel online learning method for minimizing regret in large extensive-form games. The approach learns a function approximator online to estimate the regret for choosing a particular action. A no-regret algorithm uses these estimates in place of the true regrets to define a sequence of policies. We prove the approach sound by providing a bound relating the quality of the function approximation and regret of the algorithm. A corollary being that the method is guaranteed to converge to a Nash equilibrium in self-play so long as the regrets are ultimately realizable by the function approximator. Our technique can be understood as a principled generalization of existing work on abstraction in large games; in our work, both the abstraction as well as the equilibrium are learned during self-play. We demonstrate empirically the method achieves higher quality strategies than state-of-the-art abstraction techniques given the same resources.Comment: AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence 201

HIIT and Resistance Training Effects on Learning-related Outcomes in Underserved School Children

Research has demonstrated associations between differing modalities of physical activity (PA) and behavioral and learning outcomes; however, little evidence exists in real world settings. To evaluate the effects of embedding high intensity interval training (HITT) and resistance training (RT) into physical education (PE) curriculum on PA, academic performance, and behavior in youth attending urban schools. Forty boys and 30 girls; ages 8-10 yrs. enrolled in an expanded public school supplemental learning program were assigned into one of three conditions using a pragmatic trial design: standard PE curriculum (n = 23), HITT (n = 25), and RT (n = 22). PA was measured using accelerometers; math achievement scores were conducted at baseline and post-intervention using the Math Knowledge Assessment (MKA); behavior was assessed using the Abbreviated Conners Rating Scale (ACRS) daily. Participation in HITT resulted in 1.86 additional vigorous PA minutes (p=0.04) and 0.76 additional very vigorous PA minutes (P=0.02) per session, but was not associated with increased moderate PA minutes compared to the control group. RT PA outcomes did not differ from regular PE. Participating in HIIT, but not RT, was associated with a 1.82-point improvement in math test scores compared to those in the same grade in the standard PE group (p=0.02). No group assignment was associated with behavioral ratings. Embedding HITT within PE has potential for improving vigorous PA levels and may affect learning outcomes in urban youth. This is consistent with prior studies which show how short bouts of intense exercise can improve cognitive outcomes

Parents\u27 perspectives on the utility of genomic sequencing in the neonatal intensive care unit

BACKGROUND: It is critical to understand the wide-ranging clinical and non-clinical effects of genome sequencing (GS) for parents in the NICU context. We assessed parents\u27 experiences with GS as a first-line diagnostic tool for infants with suspected genetic conditions in the NICU. METHODS: Parents of newborns (N = 62) suspected of having a genetic condition were recruited across five hospitals in the southeast United States as part of the SouthSeq study. Semi-structured interviews (N = 78) were conducted after parents received their child\u27s sequencing result (positive, negative, or variants of unknown significance). Thematic analysis was performed on all interviews. RESULTS: Key themes included that (1) GS in infancy is important for reproductive decision making, preparing for the child\u27s future care, ending the diagnostic odyssey, and sharing results with care providers; (2) the timing of disclosure was acceptable for most parents, although many reported the NICU environment was overwhelming; and (3) parents deny that receiving GS results during infancy exacerbated parent-infant bonding, and reported variable impact on their feelings of guilt. CONCLUSION: Parents reported that GS during the neonatal period was useful because it provided a backbone for their child\u27s care. Parents did not consistently endorse negative impacts like interference with parent-infant bonding

Substance abuse, mental health, & crime on Indianapolis’ Near Eastside

CRISP partnered with the John Boner Neighborhood Centers to identify core drivers of crime in a study area on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis. The study area has higher incidents of overall, property, and violent crime compared to the rest of the city. This brief explores the association between drug use, mental health disorders, and crime in the CBCR area

Dynamic DNA methylation across diverse human cell lines and tissues

As studies of DNA methylation increase in scope, it has become evident that methylation has a complex relationship with gene expression, plays an important role in defining cell types, and is disrupted in many diseases. We describe large-scale single-base resolution DNA methylation profiling on a diverse collection of 82 human cell lines and tissues using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS). Analysis integrating RNA-seq and ChIP-seq data illuminates the functional role of this dynamic mark. Loci that are hypermethylated across cancer types are enriched for sites bound by NANOG in embryonic stem cells, which supports and expands the model of a stem/progenitor cell signature in cancer. CpGs that are hypomethylated across cancer types are concentrated in megabase-scale domains that occur near the telomeres and centromeres of chromosomes, are depleted of genes, and are enriched for cancer-specific EZH2 binding and H3K27me3 (repressive chromatin). In noncancer samples, there are cell-type specific methylation signatures preserved in primary cell lines and tissues as well as methylation differences induced by cell culture. The relationship between methylation and expression is context-dependent, and we find that CpG-rich enhancers bound by EP300 in the bodies of expressed genes are unmethylated despite the dense gene-body methylation surrounding them. Non-CpG cytosine methylation occurs in human somatic tissue, is particularly prevalent in brain tissue, and is reproducible across many individuals. This study provides an atlas of DNA methylation across diverse and well-characterized samples and enables new discoveries about DNA methylation and its role in gene regulation and disease

Return of non-ACMG recommended incidental genetic findings to pediatric patients: Considerations and opportunities from experiences in genomic sequencing

BACKGROUND: The uptake of exome/genome sequencing has introduced unexpected testing results (incidental findings) that have become a major challenge for both testing laboratories and providers. While the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics has outlined guidelines for laboratory management of clinically actionable secondary findings, debate remains as to whether incidental findings should be returned to patients, especially those representing pediatric populations. METHODS: The Sequencing Analysis and Diagnostic Yield working group in the Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research Consortium has collected a cohort of pediatric patients found to harbor a genomic sequencing-identified non-ACMG-recommended incidental finding. The incidental variants were not thought to be associated with the indication for testing and were disclosed to patients and families. RESULTS: In total, 23 non-ACMG-recommended incidental findings were identified in 21 pediatric patients included in the study. These findings span four different research studies/laboratories and demonstrate differences in incidental finding return rate across study sites. We summarize specific cases to highlight core considerations that surround identification and return of incidental findings (uncertainty of disease onset, disease severity, age of onset, clinical actionability, and personal utility), and suggest that interpretation of incidental findings in pediatric patients can be difficult given evolving phenotypes. Furthermore, return of incidental findings can benefit patients and providers, but do present challenges. CONCLUSIONS: While there may be considerable benefit to return of incidental genetic findings, these findings can be burdensome to providers and present risk to patients. It is important that laboratories conducting genomic testing establish internal guidelines in anticipation of detection. Moreover, cross-laboratory guidelines may aid in reducing the potential for policy heterogeneity across laboratories as it relates to incidental finding detection and return. However, future discussion is required to determine whether cohesive guidelines or policy statements are warranted

Whole-Exome Sequencing in Familial Parkinson Disease

IMPORTANCE: Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease for which susceptibility is linked to genetic and environmental risk factors. OBJECTIVE: To identify genetic variants contributing to disease risk in familial PD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A 2-stage study design that included a discovery cohort of families with PD and a replication cohort of familial probands was used. In the discovery cohort, rare exonic variants that segregated in multiple affected individuals in a family and were predicted to be conserved or damaging were retained. Genes with retained variants were prioritized if expressed in the brain and located within PD-relevant pathways. Genes in which prioritized variants were observed in at least 4 families were selected as candidate genes for replication in the replication cohort. The setting was among individuals with familial PD enrolled from academic movement disorder specialty clinics across the United States. All participants had a family history of PD. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Identification of genes containing rare, likely deleterious, genetic variants in individuals with familial PD using a 2-stage exome sequencing study design. RESULTS: The 93 individuals from 32 families in the discovery cohort (49.5% [46 of 93] female) had a mean (SD) age at onset of 61.8 (10.0) years. The 49 individuals with familial PD in the replication cohort (32.6% [16 of 49] female) had a mean (SD) age at onset of 50.1 (15.7) years. Discovery cohort recruitment dates were 1999 to 2009, and replication cohort recruitment dates were 2003 to 2014. Data analysis dates were 2011 to 2015. Three genes containing a total of 13 rare and potentially damaging variants were prioritized in the discovery cohort. Two of these genes (TNK2 and TNR) also had rare variants that were predicted to be damaging in the replication cohort. All 9 variants identified in the 2 replicated genes in 12 families across the discovery and replication cohorts were confirmed via Sanger sequencing. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: TNK2 and TNR harbored rare, likely deleterious, variants in individuals having familial PD, with similar findings in an independent cohort. To our knowledge, these genes have not been previously associated with PD, although they have been linked to critical neuronal functions. Further studies are required to confirm a potential role for these genes in the pathogenesis of PD

Health, employment and relationships: Correlates of personal wellbeing in young adults with and without a history of childhood language impairment

Objective: We examine the potential associations between self-rated health, employment situation, relationship status and personal wellbeing in young adults with and without a history of language impairment (LI). Methods: A total of 172 24-year-olds from the UK participated. Approximately half (N = 84) had a history of LI. Personal wellbeing was measured using ratings from three questions from the Office for National Statistics regarding life satisfaction, happiness and life being worthwhile. Results: There were similarities between individuals with a history of LI and their age-matched peers in self-rated personal wellbeing. However, regression analyses revealed self-rated health was the most consistent predictor of personal wellbeing for individuals with a history of LI in relation to life satisfaction (21% of variance), happiness (11%) and perceptions that things one does in life are worthwhile (32%). None of the regression analyses were significant for their peers. Conclusions: Similarities on ratings of wellbeing by young adults with and without a history of LI can mask heterogeneity and important differences. Young adults with a history of LI are more vulnerable to the effects of health, employment and relationship status on their wellbeing than their peers

Spatial Variability of Turbulent Fluxes in the Roughness Sublayer of an Even-Aged Pine Forest

The spatial variability of turbulent flow statistics in the roughness sublayer (RSL) of a uniform even-aged 14 m (= h) tall loblolly pine forest was investigated experimentally. Using seven existing walkup towers at this stand, high frequency velocity, temperature, water vapour and carbon dioxide concentrations were measured at 15.5 m above the ground surface from October 6 to 10 in 1997. These seven towers were separated by at least 100m from each other. The objective of this study was to examine whether single tower turbulence statistics measurements represent the flow properties of RSL turbulence above a uniform even-aged managed loblolly pine forest as a best-case scenario for natural forested ecosystems. From the intensive space-time series measurements, it was demonstrated that standard deviations of longitudinal and vertical velocities (σ u , σ w ) and temperature (σ T ) are more planar homogeneous than their vertical flux of momentum (u * 2 ) and sensible heat (H) counterparts. Also, the measured H is more horizontally homogeneous when compared to fluxes of other scalar entities such as CO 2 and water vapour. While the spatial variability in fluxes was significant (>15 %), this unique data set confirmed that single tower measurements represent the ‘canonical’ structure of single-point RSL turbulence statistics, especially flux-variance relationships. Implications to extending the ‘moving-equilibrium’ hypothesis for RSL flows are discussed. The spatial variability in all RSL flow variables was not constant in time and varied strongly with spatially averaged friction velocity u * , especially when u * was small. It is shown that flow properties derived from two-point temporal statistics such as correlation functions are more sensitive to local variability in leaf area density when compared to single point flow statistics. Specifically, that the local relationship between the reciprocal of the vertical velocity integral time scale (I w ) and the arrival frequency of organized structures (ū/h) predicted from a mixing-layer theory exhibited dependence on the local leaf area index. The broader implications of these findings to the measurement and modelling of RSL flows are also discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42512/1/10546_2004_Article_234383.pd