73 research outputs found
PRM-RL: Long-range Robotic Navigation Tasks by Combining Reinforcement Learning and Sampling-based Planning
We present PRM-RL, a hierarchical method for long-range navigation task
completion that combines sampling based path planning with reinforcement
learning (RL). The RL agents learn short-range, point-to-point navigation
policies that capture robot dynamics and task constraints without knowledge of
the large-scale topology. Next, the sampling-based planners provide roadmaps
which connect robot configurations that can be successfully navigated by the RL
agent. The same RL agents are used to control the robot under the direction of
the planning, enabling long-range navigation. We use the Probabilistic Roadmaps
(PRMs) for the sampling-based planner. The RL agents are constructed using
feature-based and deep neural net policies in continuous state and action
spaces. We evaluate PRM-RL, both in simulation and on-robot, on two navigation
tasks with non-trivial robot dynamics: end-to-end differential drive indoor
navigation in office environments, and aerial cargo delivery in urban
environments with load displacement constraints. Our results show improvement
in task completion over both RL agents on their own and traditional
sampling-based planners. In the indoor navigation task, PRM-RL successfully
completes up to 215 m long trajectories under noisy sensor conditions, and the
aerial cargo delivery completes flights over 1000 m without violating the task
constraints in an environment 63 million times larger than used in training.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
The Iowa Homemaker vol.7, no.4
Table of Contents
The Home Library by Charles H. Brown, page 1
Fashion Forecast for Fall and Winter by Miss Marie Stephens, page 2
The Place of The Child by Lydia Swanson, page 3
Home Economics Research at Iowa State by Dorothy McDaniel and Melba Nisewanger, page 4
Cooking Utensils of Today by Zula Dowler, page 5
Girlsâ 4-H Page by Frances Jones, page 6
Home Economics Training in Choice of Life Mate by Marcia Turner, page 8
Community Laundry of the Des Moines Roadside Settlement House by Margaret Davidson, page 10
Whoâs There and Where by Cleo Fitzsimmons, page 12
Iowa State Home Economics Association Page, page 9
Preparation for Nutrition Research by Melba Nisewanger, page 10
Whoâs There and Where by Cleo Fitzsimmons, page 1
Whole-Sample Mapping of Cancerous and Benign Tissue Properties
Structural and mechanical differences between cancerous and healthy tissue
give rise to variations in macroscopic properties such as visual appearance and
elastic modulus that show promise as signatures for early cancer detection.
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used to measure significant differences
in stiffness between cancerous and healthy cells owing to its high force
sensitivity and spatial resolution, however due to absorption and scattering of
light, it is often challenging to accurately locate where AFM measurements have
been made on a bulk tissue sample. In this paper we describe an image
registration method that localizes AFM elastic stiffness measurements with
high-resolution images of haematoxylin and eosin (H\&E)-stained tissue to
within 1.5 microns. Color RGB images are segmented into three structure types
(lumen, cells and stroma) by a neural network classifier trained on
ground-truth pixel data obtained through k-means clustering in HSV color space.
Using the localized stiffness maps and corresponding structural information, a
whole-sample stiffness map is generated with a region matching and
interpolation algorithm that associates similar structures with measured
stiffness values. We present results showing significant differences in
stiffness between healthy and cancerous liver tissue and discuss potential
applications of this technique.Comment: Accepted at MICCAI201
The 'future' of work? A call for the recognition of continuities in challenges for conceptualising work and its regulation
The three-peat challenge : business as usual, responsible agriculture, and conservation and restoration as management trajectories in global peatlands
FundingThis work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council [grant numbers NE/X015238/1; NE/ V006444/1; NE/V018760/1], the Royal Geographical Society (RBEA 02.21), the Royal Society (RGS\R2\202229), and Growing Health (BB/X010953/1) BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Alveolar macrophage-derived type I interferons orchestrate innate immunity to RSV through recruitment of antiviral monocytes
Type I interferons (IFNs) are important for host defense from viral infections, acting to restrict viral production in infected cells and to promote antiviral immune responses. However, the type I IFN system has also been associated with severe lung inflammatory disease in response to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Which cells produce type I IFNs upon RSV infection and how this directs immune responses to the virus, and potentially results in pathological inflammation, is unclear. Here, we show that alveolar macrophages (AMs) are the major source of type I IFNs upon RSV infection in mice. AMs detect RSV via mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS)âcoupled retinoic acidâinducible gene 1 (RIG-I)âlike receptors (RLRs), and loss of MAVS greatly compromises innate immune restriction of RSV. This is largely attributable to loss of type I IFNâdependent induction of monocyte chemoattractants and subsequent reduced recruitment of inflammatory monocytes (infMo) to the lungs. Notably, the latter have potent antiviral activity and are essential to control infection and lessen disease severity. Thus, infMo recruitment constitutes an important and hitherto underappreciated, cell-extrinsic mechanism of type I IFNâmediated antiviral activity. Dysregulation of this system of host antiviral defense may underlie the development of RSV-induced severe lung inflammation
Associations of familial risk factors with social fears and social phobia: evidence for the continuum hypothesis in social anxiety disorder?
We examined parental psychopathology and family environment in subthreshold and DSM-IV threshold conditions of social anxiety disorder (SAD) in a representative cohort sample of 1,395 adolescents. Offspring and parental psychopathology was assessed using the DIA-X/M-CIDI; recalled parental rearing and family functioning via questionnaire. Diagnostic interviews in parents were supplemented by family history reports from offspring. The cumulative lifetime incidence was 23.07% for symptomatic SAD, and 18.38 and 7.41% for subthreshold and threshold SAD, respectively. The specific parent-to-offspring association for SAD occurred for threshold SAD only. For subthreshold and threshold SAD similar associations were found with other parental anxiety disorders, depression and substance use disorders. Parental rearing behaviour, but not family functioning, was associated with offspring threshold SAD, and although less strong and less consistent, also with subthreshold SAD. Results suggest a continued graded relationship between familial risk factors and offspring SAD. Parental psychopathology and negative parental styles may be used defining high-risk groups to assign individuals with already subthreshold conditions of SAD to early intervention programs
Digital play: a new classification
This paper draws on an ESRC-funded study of play and creativity in
preschool-aged childrenâs use of apps in the UK. The main objectives
of the study were to collect information about access to and use
of apps in the home, establish the most popular apps and identify
the features of those apps that are successful in promoting play
and creativity. A mixed-method approach was used to collect data,
including video filming of children using the most popular apps. In
identifying play types that emerged in the analysis of data, the team
utilised an established taxonomy, which outlines sixteen play types.
This taxonomy was reviewed and adapted to analyse data from the
project relating to digital play. Through this process, an additional type
of play, transgressive play, was identified and added to the taxonomy.
The paper outlines the implications of the revised taxonomy for future
studies of play
Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome
The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers âŒ99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of âŒ1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead
Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science
It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the âSeattle Implementation Research Conferenceâ; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRCâs membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRCâs primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term âEBP championsâ for these groups) â and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleaguesâ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations
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