Assessing the Robustness of Intelligence-Driven Reinforcement Learning

Robustness to noise is of utmost importance in reinforcement learning systems, particularly in military contexts where high stakes and uncertain environments prevail. Noise and uncertainty are inherent features of military operations, arising from factors such as incomplete information, adversarial actions, or unpredictable battlefield conditions. In RL, noise can critically impact decision-making, mission success, and the safety of personnel. Reward machines offer a powerful tool to express complex reward structures in RL tasks, enabling the design of tailored reinforcement signals that align with mission objectives. This paper considers the problem of the robustness of intelligence-driven reinforcement learning based on reward machines. The preliminary results presented suggest the need for further research in evidential reasoning and learning to harden current state-of-the-art reinforcement learning approaches before being mission-critical-ready.Comment: Accepted for publication at IEEE TechDefense 202

pfsearchV3: a code acceleration and heuristic to search PROSITE profiles

Summary: The PROSITE resource provides a rich and well annotated source of signatures in the form of generalized profiles that allow protein domain detection and functional annotation. One of the major limiting factors in the application of PROSITE in genome and metagenome annotation pipelines is the time required to search protein sequence databases for putative matches. We describe an improved and optimized implementation of the PROSITE search tool pfsearch that, combined with a newly developed heuristic, addresses this limitation. On a modern x86_64 hyper-threaded quad-core desktop computer, the new pfsearchV3 is two orders of magnitude faster than the original algorithm. Availability and implementation: Source code and binaries of pfsearchV3 are freely available for download at http://web.expasy.org/pftools/#pfsearchV3, implemented in C and supported on Linux. PROSITE generalized profiles including the heuristic cut-off scores are available at the same address. Contact: [email protected]

Single trial somatosensory evoked potential extraction with ARX filtering for a combined spinal cord intraoperative neuromonitoring technique

BACKGROUND: When spinal cord functional integrity is at risk during surgery, intraoperative neuromonitoring is recommended. Tibial Single Trial Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SEPs) and H-reflex are here used in a combined neuromonitoring method: both signals monitor the spinal cord status, though involving different nervous pathways. However, SEPs express a trial-to-trial variability that is difficult to track because of the intrinsic low signal-to-noise ratio. For this reason single trial techniques are needed to extract SEPs from the background EEG. METHODS: The analysis is performed off line on data recorded in eight scoliosis surgery sessions during which the spinal cord was simultaneously monitored through classical SEPs and H-reflex responses elicited by the same tibial nerve electrical stimulation. The single trial extraction of SEPs from the background EEG is here performed through AutoRegressive filter with eXogenous input (ARX). The electroencephalographic recording can be modeled as the sum of the background EEG, which can be described as an autoregressive process not related to the stimulus, and the evoked potential (EP), which can be viewed as a filtered version of a reference signal related to the stimulus. The choice of the filter optimal orders is based on the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). The reference signal used as exogenous input in the ARX model is a weighted average of the previous SEPs trials with exponential forgetting behavior. RESULTS: The moving average exponentially weighted, used as reference signal for the ARX model, shows a better sensibility than the standard moving average in tracking SEPs fast inter-trial changes. The ability to promptly detect changes allows highlighting relations between waveform changes and surgical maneuvers. It also allows a comparative study with H-reflex trends: in particular, the two signals show different fall and recovery dynamics following stressful conditions for the spinal cord. CONCLUSION: The ARX filter showed good performances in single trial SEP extraction, enhancing the available information concerning the current spinal cord status. Moreover, the comparison between SEPs and H-reflex showed that the two signals are affected by the same surgical maneuvers, even if they monitor the spinal cord through anatomically different pathways

The evolutionary conserved BER1 gene is involved in microtubule stability in yeast

In yeast, microtubules are dynamic filaments necessary for spindle and nucleus positioning, as well as for proper chromosome segregation. We identify a function for the yeast gene BER1 (Benomyl REsistant 1) in microtubule stability. BER1 belongs to an evolutionary conserved gene family whose founding member Sensitivity to Red light Reduced is involved in red-light perception and circadian rhythms in Arabidopsis. Here, we present data showing that the ber1Δ mutant is affected in microtubule stability, particularly in presence of microtubule-depolymerising drugs. The pattern of synthetic lethal interactions obtained with the ber1Δ mutant suggests that Ber1 may function in N-terminal protein acetylation. Our work thus suggests that microtubule stability might be regulated through this post-translational modification on yet-to-be determined protein

Extraction of Pion Transverse Momentum Distributions from Drell-Yan data

We map the distribution of unpolarized quarks inside a unpolarized pion as a function of the quark's transverse momentum, encoded in unpolarized Transverse Momentum Distributions (TMDs). We extract the pion TMDs from available data of unpolarized pion-nucleus Drell-Yan processes, where the cross section is differential in the lepton-pair transverse momentum. In the cross section, pion TMDs are convoluted with nucleon TMDs that we consistently take from our previous studies. We obtain a fairly good agreement with data. We present also predictions for pion-nucleus scattering that is being measured by the COMPASS Collaboration

PeroxiBase: a database with new tools for peroxidase family classification

Peroxidases (EC 1.11.1.x), which are encoded by small or large multigenic families, are involved in several important physiological and developmental processes. They use various peroxides as electron acceptors to catalyse a number of oxidative reactions and are present in almost all living organisms. We have created a peroxidase database (http://peroxibase.isb-sib.ch) that contains all identified peroxidase-encoding sequences (about 6000 sequences in 940 organisms). They are distributed between 11 superfamilies and about 60 subfamilies. All the sequences have been individually annotated and checked. PeroxiBase can be consulted using six major interlink sections ‘Classes', ‘Organisms', ‘Cellular localisations', ‘Inducers', ‘Repressors' and ‘Tissue types'. General documentation on peroxidases and PeroxiBase is accessible in the ‘Documents' section containing ‘Introduction', ‘Class description', ‘Publications' and ‘Links'. In addition to the database, we have developed a tool to classify peroxidases based on the PROSITE profile methodology. To improve their specificity and to prevent overlaps between closely related subfamilies the profiles were built using a new strategy based on the silencing of residues. This new profile construction method and its discriminatory capacity have been tested and validated using the different peroxidase families and subfamilies present in the database. The peroxidase classification tool called PeroxiScan is accessible at the following address: http://peroxibase.isb-sib.ch/peroxiscan.ph

New and continuing developments at PROSITE

PROSITE (http://prosite.expasy.org/) consists of documentation entries describing protein domains, families and functional sites, as well as associated patterns and profiles to identify them. It is complemented by ProRule a collection of rules, which increases the discriminatory power of these profiles and patterns by providing additional information about functionally and/or structurally critical amino acids. PROSITE signatures, together with ProRule, are used for the annotation of domains and features of UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot entries. Here, we describe recent developments that allow users to perform whole-proteome annotation as well as a number of filtering options that can be combined to perform powerful targeted searches for biological discovery. The latest version of PROSITE (release 20.85, of 30 August 2012) contains 1308 patterns, 1039 profiles and 1041 ProRule

The PROSITE database

The PROSITE database consists of a large collection of biologically meaningful signatures that are described as patterns or profiles. Each signature is linked to a documentation that provides useful biological information on the protein family, domain or functional site identified by the signature. The PROSITE database is now complemented by a series of rules that can give more precise information about specific residues. During the last 2 years, the documentation and the ScanProsite web pages were redesigned to add more functionalities. The latest version of PROSITE (release 19.11 of September 27, 2005) contains 1329 patterns and 552 profile entries. Over the past 2 years more than 200 domains have been added, and now 52% of UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot entries (release 48.1 of September 27, 2005) have a cross-reference to a PROSITE entry. The database is accessible at

The medico-legal assessment of asylum seeker victims in Italy

Introduction: Changing patterns of migration hasrequired states andgovernments to respond to the specific medical and legal needs of asylum seekers. Based on medical assessments undertaken at the University Institute of Legal Medicine, the present study aims to describe the cases of asylum applicants who have suffered from physical violence, including torture, and the variables involved. Methods: Over a 10-year period, 225 survivors were examined by clinical forensic professionals from the University Institute of Legal Medicine. Results:85% of asylum applicants came from Africa, 87% were male, and the most common age group was 26-40 years old. 46% of applicants fled their country for political reasons. Blunt force injuries were reported in 45% of cases, the trunk was the most affected area of the body (40%), and applicants presented with an average of two different mechanisms of lesions and an average of four lesions each. Discussion/conclusion:Assessment of physical violence on asylum seekers requires the cooperation of professionals with different skillsets and training