A design principle for improved 3D AC electro-osmotic pumps

Three-dimensional (3D) AC electro-osmotic (ACEO) pumps have recently been developed that are much faster and more robust than previous planar designs. The basic idea is to create a ``fluid conveyor belt'' by placing opposing ACEO slip velocities at different heights. Current designs involve electrodes with electroplated steps, whose heights have been optimized in simulations and experiments. Here, we consider changing the boundary conditions--rather than the geometry--and predict that flow rates can be further doubled by fabricating 3D features with non-polarizable materials. This amplifies the fluid conveyor belt by removing opposing flows on the vertical surfaces, and it increases the slip velocities which drive the flow.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review

No-Regret Learning in Extensive-Form Games with Imperfect Recall

Counterfactual Regret Minimization (CFR) is an efficient no-regret learning algorithm for decision problems modeled as extensive games. CFR's regret bounds depend on the requirement of perfect recall: players always remember information that was revealed to them and the order in which it was revealed. In games without perfect recall, however, CFR's guarantees do not apply. In this paper, we present the first regret bound for CFR when applied to a general class of games with imperfect recall. In addition, we show that CFR applied to any abstraction belonging to our general class results in a regret bound not just for the abstract game, but for the full game as well. We verify our theory and show how imperfect recall can be used to trade a small increase in regret for a significant reduction in memory in three domains: die-roll poker, phantom tic-tac-toe, and Bluff.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, expanded version of article to appear in Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth International Conference on Machine Learnin

Variance Reduction in Monte Carlo Counterfactual Regret Minimization (VR-MCCFR) for Extensive Form Games using Baselines

Learning strategies for imperfect information games from samples of interaction is a challenging problem. A common method for this setting, Monte Carlo Counterfactual Regret Minimization (MCCFR), can have slow long-term convergence rates due to high variance. In this paper, we introduce a variance reduction technique (VR-MCCFR) that applies to any sampling variant of MCCFR. Using this technique, per-iteration estimated values and updates are reformulated as a function of sampled values and state-action baselines, similar to their use in policy gradient reinforcement learning. The new formulation allows estimates to be bootstrapped from other estimates within the same episode, propagating the benefits of baselines along the sampled trajectory; the estimates remain unbiased even when bootstrapping from other estimates. Finally, we show that given a perfect baseline, the variance of the value estimates can be reduced to zero. Experimental evaluation shows that VR-MCCFR brings an order of magnitude speedup, while the empirical variance decreases by three orders of magnitude. The decreased variance allows for the first time CFR+ to be used with sampling, increasing the speedup to two orders of magnitude

Fair Mutual Exclusion with Unfair P and V Operations

No Abstract

Achieving CRPD Compliance: Is the Mental Capacity Act of England and Wales compatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability? If not, what next?

In 2014 the Essex Autonomy Project undertook a six month project, funded by the AHRC, to provide technical advice to the UK Ministry of Justice on the question of whether the Mental Capacity Act is compliant with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Over the course of the project, the EAP research team organised a series of public policy roundtables, hosted by the Ministry of Justice, and which brought together leading experts to discuss and debate the issues. A one-day public conference was held at the Institute for Government in July. In September 2014, the EAP research team submitted its findings to the Ministry of Justice

The 4-H Pig Club

April, 1929.Cover title

The Conservative Party in opposition, 1964-1970: The effects of opposition status upon certain major party policy positions

This study is concerned with the effects of Opposition status upon certain policy positions adopted by a major British political party. Initially five interconnected hypotheses about party policy-making in Opposition are extracted from the existing literature. These hypotheses cover such matters as the role of party opinions in policy formation, the maintenance of policy positions, the nature and presentation of policy content, and the implementation of policy once the party returns to power. In the remainder of the thesis the hypotheses are tested in relation to the policy-making activities of the 1964 to 1970 Conservative Opposition in four linked policy areas: national economic planning, prices and incomes policy, regional policy and policy for the structure of industry. The subsequent analysis falls into four parts. In Parts One and Two the context of Conservative Party action during the 1964 to 1970 period is examined. In Part One five roles which have traditionally been attributed to constitutional Oppositions in the United Kingdom are identified, and their relevance to the policy-making activities of the 1964 to 1970 Conservative Opposition is assessed. In Part Two the policy-making process of the 1964 to 1970 Conservative Opposition is analysed. The various, policy channels which had access to the Party's key policy-making centre are outlined and it is shown that, in contrast to periods when the Party was in Government, in Opposition the opportunities available to intra-party policy channels to influence the content of Conservative policy were extended, and, conversely, those available to extra-party channels declined. In addition, the nature of Conservative ideology and the opinions of Conservative partisans are considered. Two ideological tendencies are isolated (a dirigiste, liberal tendency and an etatiate, tory tendency), and it is argued that during the 1964 to 1970 period the balance of opinions amongst Conservative partisans was biased towards the liberal viewpoint. Part Three contains a detailed analysis of the evolution of policy in the four selected areas during (i) the Conservatives' initial period as Government prior to 1964, (ii) their subsequent period as Opposition (1964-1970), and (iii) their period in office once returned to power (1970-1974), Particular attention is given to the influence of Conservative Party opinion upon the fomulation of policy, and the Conservative Opposition's responses to the development of the 1964 to 1970 Labour Government's programme. In addition, the differences between policies formulated by Conservatives as Opposition and those formulated by them as Government are noted. In Part Four the preceding sections are drawn together. The original hypotheses are assessed and reformulated in the light of the evidence presented in Part Three. Three sets of possible explanations of the way policy stances altered and developed during the Conservatives 1964 to 1970 period as Opposition are considered. Initially factors relating to the personalities and beliefs of key policy-makers and the overall pattern of events are evaluated, and, while not denying the validity of these approaches, it is argued that Opposition status also has explanatory force and deserves consideration. Finally, the policy consequences of three features of the party as Opposition (its policy-making structures its policy-making responsibilities and its goals) are analysed, and it is shown that taken together, these features are liable to produce forms of policy-making and types of policy outcomes which are significantly different from those pursued by the party as Government. The study suggests, contrary to a widely held viewpoint, that party policy statements publicised in Opposition do not offer a reliable means of judging or predicting the policy behaviour of a political party when, and if, it returns to power. In addition, the evidence produced in the thesis implies that the apparent failure on the part of recent governing parties to fully implement their electoral programmes is to some extent a product of the institutional and political conditions which characterise British Opposition politics itself. Thus, the conclusion is drawn that the remedy for any lack of continuity between policies publicised in Opposition and policies implemented in Government lies, not only in strengthening Opposition parties vis-a-vis Governments or Ministers vis-a-vis civil servants, but also in the adoption by Opposition groups of more modest policy-making functions than has recently been the case