Fear Learning for Flexible Decision Making in RoboCup: A Discussion

In this paper, we address the stagnation of RoboCup com- petitions in the fields of contextual perception, real-time adaptation and flexible decision-making, mainly in regards to the Standard Platform League (SPL). We argue that our Situation-Aware FEar Learning (SAFEL) model has the necessary tools to leverage the SPL competition in these fields of research, by allowing robot players to learn the behaviour profile of the opponent team at runtime. Later, players can use this knowledge to predict when an undesirable outcome is imminent, thus having the chance to act towards preventing it. We discuss specific scenarios where SAFEL’s associative learning could help to increase the positive outcomes of a team during a soccer match by means of contextual adaptation

Menstrual Cycle and Facial Preferences Reconsidered

Two previous articles reported that women prefer less feminized male faces during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, supposedly reflecting an evolved mating strategy whereby women choose mates of maximum genetic quality when conception is likely. The current article contends this theory rests on several questionable assumptions about human ancestral mating systems. A new empirical test also was conducted: 853 adults, primarily from North America, evaluated facial attractiveness of photos. The study included more complete evaluation of ovulatory status and a greater number (n = 258) of target women than past research. The results did not suggest any greater preference for masculine faces when fertilization was likely. The article concludes with general comments about evolutionary theorizing and interpersonal relationships

Chloroquine and Its Derivatives Exacerbate B19V-Associated Anemia by Promoting Viral Replication

Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is typically associated with a childhood febrile illness known as erythema infectiosum. The infection usually resolves without consequence in healthy individuals. However, in patients with immunologic and/or hematologic disorders, B19V can cause a significant pathology. The virus infects and kills red cell precursors but anemia rarely supervenes unless there is pre-existing anemia such as in children living in malaria-endemic regions. The link between B19V infection and severe anemia has, however, only been confirmed in certain malaria-endemic countries in parallel with chloroquine (CQ) usage. This raises the possibility that CQ may increase the risk of severe anemia by promoting B19V infection. To test this hypothesis, we examined the direct effect of CQ and other commonly used antimalarial drugs on B19V infection in cultured cell lines. Additionally, we examined the correlation between B19V infection, hemoglobin levels and use of CQ in children from Papua New Guinea hospitalized with severe anemia. The results suggest strongly that CQ and its derivatives aggravate B19V-associated anemia by promoting B19V replication. Hence, careful consideration should be given in choosing the drug partnering artemisinin compounds in combination antimalarial therapy in order to minimize contribution of B19V to severe anemia

The effect of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy on small for gestational age and stillbirth: a population based study

BACKGROUND: Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are leading causes of maternal, fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, studies attempting to quantify the effect of hypertension on adverse perinatal outcomes have been mostly conducted in tertiary centres. This population-based study explored the frequency of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and the associated increase in small for gestational age (SGA) and stillbirth. METHODS: We used information on all pregnant women and births, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, between 1988 and 2000. Pregnancies were excluded if delivery occurred < 20 weeks, if birthweight was < 500 grams, if there was a high-order multiple pregnancy (greater than twin gestation), or a major fetal anomaly. RESULTS: The study population included 135,466 pregnancies. Of these, 7.7% had mild pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), 1.3% had severe PIH, 0.2% had HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets), 0.02% had eclampsia, 0.6% had chronic hypertension, and 0.4% had chronic hypertension with superimposed PIH. Women with any hypertension in pregnancy were 1.6 (95% CI 1.5–1.6) times more likely to have a live birth with SGA and 1.4 (95% CI 1.1–1.8) times more likely to have a stillbirth as compared with normotensive women. Adjusted analyses showed that women with gestational hypertension without proteinuria (mild PIH) and with proteinuria (severe PIH, HELLP, or eclampsia) were more likely to have infants with SGA (RR 1.5, 95% CI 1.4–1.6 and RR 3.2, 95% CI 2.8–3.6, respectively). Women with pre-existing hypertension were also more likely to give birth to an infant with SGA (RR 2.5, 95% CI 2.2–3.0) or to have a stillbirth (RR 3.2, 95% CI 1.9–5.4). CONCLUSIONS: This large, population-based study confirms and quantifies the magnitude of the excess risk of small for gestational age and stillbirth among births to women with hypertensive disease in pregnancy

Peptidergic control in a fruit crop pest: The spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii

Neuropeptides play an important role in the regulation of feeding in insects and offer potential targets for the development of new chemicals to control insect pests. A pest that has attracted much recent attention is the highly invasive Drosophila suzukii, a polyphagous pest that can cause serious economic damage to soft fruits. Previously we showed by mass spectrometry the presence of the neuropeptide myosuppressin (TDVDHVFLRFamide) in the nerve bundle suggesting that this peptide is involved in regulating the function of the crop, which in adult dipteran insects has important roles in the processing of food, the storage of carbohydrates and the movement of food into the midgut for digestion. In the present study antibodies that recognise the C-terminal RFamide epitope of myosuppressin stain axons in the crop nerve bundle and reveal peptidergic fibres covering the surface of the crop. We also show using an in vitro bioassay that the neuropeptide is a potent inhibitor (EC50 of 2.3 nM) of crop contractions and that this inhibition is mimicked by the non-peptide myosuppressin agonist, benzethonium chloride (Bztc). Myosuppressin also inhibited the peristaltic contractions of the adult midgut, but was a much weaker agonist (EC50 = 5.7 μM). The oral administration of Bztc (5 mM) in a sucrose diet to adult female D. suzukii over 4 hours resulted in less feeding and longer exposure to dietary Bztc led to early mortality. We therefore suggest that myosuppressin and its cognate receptors are potential targets for disrupting feeding behaviour of adult D. suzukii

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques