2,786 research outputs found
Analysis and Optimization of Deep Counterfactual Value Networks
Recently a strong poker-playing algorithm called DeepStack was published,
which is able to find an approximate Nash equilibrium during gameplay by using
heuristic values of future states predicted by deep neural networks. This paper
analyzes new ways of encoding the inputs and outputs of DeepStack's deep
counterfactual value networks based on traditional abstraction techniques, as
well as an unabstracted encoding, which was able to increase the network's
accuracy.Comment: Long version of publication appearing at KI 2018: The 41st German
Conference on Artificial Intelligence
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00111-7_26). Corrected typo in titl
Phase Diagrams For The Blue Phases Of Highly Chiral Liquid Crystals
Polarizing microscopy and optical-activity measurements are used to determine the phase diagram for the blue phases of chiral-racemic mixtures of terephthaloyloxy-bis-4-(2\u27-methylbutyl) benzoate. Contrary to an earlier report, it is the second blue phase (BP II) rather than the first blue phase (BP 1) that is not stable relative to the other blue phases at high chirality. With this development, all phase diagrams for the blue phases reported to date have the same topology. Using similar data for two other highly chiral systems, it is found that a simple scaling of the temperature and chiral-fraction axes produces phase diagrams in quantitative agreement with the present results. Thus, in spite of differences in molecular structure, the number of chiral centers, and phase-transition temperatures, these three systems possess remarkably similar phase diagrams and lend evidence for a universal phase diagram for the blue phases
Agreement between methods of measurement with multiple observations per individual
Limits of agreement provide a straightforward and intuitive approach to agreement between different methods for measuring the same quantity. When pairs of observations using the two methods are independent, i.e., on different subjects, the calculations are very simple and straightforward. Some authors collect repeated data, either as repeated pairs of measurements on the same subject, whose true value of the measured quantity may be changing, or more than one measurement by one or both methods of an unchanging underlying quantity. In this paper we describe methods for analysing such clustered observations, both when the underlying quantity is assumed to be changing and when it is not
Property Tax Cap Policy in Indiana and Implications for Public School Funding Equity
The purpose of this research was to examine funding losses experienced by preschool to grade 12 (Pâ12) public school districts in Indiana, U.S., from an equity standpoint after the implementation of statewide property tax caps. All Indiana public school districts (N = 292) rely on property taxes as a major source of revenue, but districts experienced widely varying losses after the tax reform. Analyses across an array of district characteristics revealed significant relationships between differential funding losses and demographic indicators, including total student enrollment and the percentages of certain minoritized students. Implications for policy and practice include the integration of findings with essential research on funding equity in public education and attention on leadership toward reducing funding disparities
The Emergence of Norms via Contextual Agreements in Open Societies
This paper explores the emergence of norms in agents' societies when agents
play multiple -even incompatible- roles in their social contexts
simultaneously, and have limited interaction ranges. Specifically, this article
proposes two reinforcement learning methods for agents to compute agreements on
strategies for using common resources to perform joint tasks. The computation
of norms by considering agents' playing multiple roles in their social contexts
has not been studied before. To make the problem even more realistic for open
societies, we do not assume that agents share knowledge on their common
resources. So, they have to compute semantic agreements towards performing
their joint actions. %The paper reports on an empirical study of whether and
how efficiently societies of agents converge to norms, exploring the proposed
social learning processes w.r.t. different society sizes, and the ways agents
are connected. The results reported are very encouraging, regarding the speed
of the learning process as well as the convergence rate, even in quite complex
settings
Carbon Isotope Compositions of Terrestrial C3 Plants as Indicators of (Paleo)Ecology and (Paleo)Climate
A broad compilation of modern carbon isotope compositions in all C3 plant types shows a monotonic increase in ÎŽ13C with decreasing mean annual precipitation (MAP) that differs from previous models. Corrections for temperature, altitude, or latitude are smaller than previously estimated. As corrected for altitude, latitude, and the ÎŽ13C of atmospheric CO2, these data permit refined interpretation of MAP, paleodiet, and paleoecology of ecosystems dominated by C3 plants, either prior to 7â8 million years ago (Ma), or more recently at mid- to high latitudes. Twenty-nine published paleontological studies suggest preservational or scientific bias toward dry ecosystems, although wet ecosystems are also represented. Unambiguous isotopic evidence for C4 plants is lacking prior to 7â8 Ma, and hominid ecosystems at 4.4 Ma show no isotopic evidence for dense forests. Consideration of global plant biomass indicates that average ÎŽ13C of C3 plants is commonly overestimated by approximately 2â°
The other side of the story - maternal perceptions of safety advice and information: a qualitative approach
Background: A qualitative study of maternal perceptions of home safety advice. The aim was to gain an understanding of maternal perceptions of and possible barriers to the implementation of home safety advice.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 37 mothers with a child aged less than 5 years of age; 16 were mothers living in an area of socio-economic disadvantage (with a high rate of childhood unintentional injury), 21 were mothers living in an area of relative affluence (with a low rate of childhood unintentional injury). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
Results: Although some mothers living in both areas found talking to a health professional about child home safety was helpful, mothers in both areas tended to find talking to other mothers as being more helpful and they preferred this to talking to a professional. Barriers to obtaining safety advice from professionals exist for mothers living in both areas. Mothers living in the advantaged area describe âfeeling sillyâ and that they should âknow it alreadyâ when talking to professionals. Mothers living in the disadvantaged area are less likely to access home safety advice due to fear of being perceived as an incompetent mother and the fear of social service involvement.
Conclusions: Mothers find home safety advice from other parents more useful and prefer this to advice from professionals. This suggests greater use could be made of appropriately trained parents to deliver safety advice and education. Fear and mistrust can limit access to child safety advice in parents living in disadvantaged areas and this may be a potential explanation for differential unintentional injury rates as those who need the advice and support most may be least likely to access it. Further research should explore how professionals can build trust, gain parentsâ confidence and provide child safety advice and education that is targeted appropriately to parents living circumstances and their child safety needs
Is there a correlation between infection control performance and other hospital quality measures?
Quality measures are increasingly reported by hospitals to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), yet there may be tradeoffs in performance between infection control (IC) and other quality measures. Hospitals that performed best on IC measures did not perform well on most CMS nonâIC quality measures
Ablation debris control by means of closed thick film filtered water immersion
The performance of laser ablation generated debris control by means of open immersion techniques have been shown to be limited by flow surface ripple effects on the beam and the action of ablation plume pressure loss by splashing of the immersion fluid. To eradicate these issues a closed technique has been developed which ensured a controlled geometry for both the optical interfaces of the flowing liquid film. This had the action of preventing splashing, ensuring repeatable machining conditions and allowed for control of liquid flow velocity. To investigate the performance benefits of this closed immersion technique bisphenol A polycarbonate samples have been machined using filtered water at a number of flow velocities. The results demonstrate the efficacy of the closed immersion technique: a 93% decrease in debris is produced when machining under closed filtered water immersion; the average debris particle size becomes larger, with an equal proportion of small and medium sized debris being produced when laser machining under closed flowing filtered water immersion; large debris is shown to be displaced further by a given flow velocity than smaller debris, showing that the action of flow turbulence in the duct has more impact on smaller debris. Low flow velocities were found to be less effective at controlling the positional trend of deposition of laser ablation generated debris than high flow velocities; but, use of excessive flow velocities resulted in turbulence motivated deposition. This work is of interest to the laser micromachining community and may aide in the manufacture of 2.5D laser etched patterns covering large area wafers and could be applied to a range of wavelengths and laser types
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