Measures of Underlying Inflation

Various measures of underlying inflation are used at the Reserve Bank. These measures are useful in assessing current inflation pressures in the economy as well as the outlook for future movements in the consumer price index.consumer price inflation; underlying inflation; trimmed-mean inflation

The influence of barefoot and shod running on Triceps-surae muscle strain characteristics

The aim of the current investigation was to determine the effects of barefoot and shod running on the kinematics of the Triceps-Surae muscle group. Twelve male participants ran at 4.0 m.s-1 (± 5%) in both barefoot and shod conditions. Kinematics were measured using an eight-camera motion analysis system. Muscle kinematics from the lateral Gastrocnemius, medial Gastrocnemius and Soleus were obtained using musculoskeletal modelling software (Opensim v3.2). The results showed that muscle strain for the lateral Gastrocnemius (barefoot = 1.10 & shod = 0.33 %), medial Gastrocnemius (barefoot = 1.07 & shod = 0.32 %) and Soleus (barefoot = 3.43 & shod = 2.18 %) were significantly larger for the barefoot condition. Given the proposed association between the extent of muscle strain and the etiology of chronic muscle strain pathologies, the current investigation shows that running barefoot may place runners at greater risk from Triceps-Surae strain injuries

The Way Ahead In Qualitative Computing

Specialized computer programs for Qualitative Research in social sciences have greatly changed ways of doing QR, the reliability and comprehensiveness of results, the ability to inspect and challenge a researcher’s working, and the relationship with quantitative methods in social research. This article explores these claims in the context of N6 (NUD*IST) and NVivo, the two programs designed by the authors; and considers possible future developments in the field

Modelling Agent Policies with Interpretable Imitation Learning

As we deploy autonomous agents in safety-critical domains, it becomes important to develop an understanding of their internal mechanisms and representations. We outline an approach to imitation learning for reverse-engineering black box agent policies in MDP environments, yielding simplified, interpretable models in the form of decision trees. As part of this process, we explicitly model and learn agents' latent state representations by selecting from a large space of candidate features constructed from the Markov state. We present initial promising results from an implementation in a multi-agent traffic environment.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; under review for the 1st TAILOR Workshop, due to take place 29-30 August 2020 in Santiago de Compostel

Summarising and Comparing Agent Dynamics with Contrastive Spatiotemporal Abstraction

We introduce a data-driven, model-agnostic technique for generating a human-interpretable summary of the salient points of contrast within an evolving dynamical system, such as the learning process of a control agent. It involves the aggregation of transition data along both spatial and temporal dimensions according to an information-theoretic divergence measure. A practical algorithm is outlined for continuous state spaces, and deployed to summarise the learning histories of deep reinforcement learning agents with the aid of graphical and textual communication methods. We expect our method to be complementary to existing techniques in the realm of agent interpretability

Learning Interpretable Models of Aircraft Handling Behaviour by Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback

We propose a method to capture the handling abilities of fast jet pilots in a software model via reinforcement learning (RL) from human preference feedback. We use pairwise preferences over simulated flight trajectories to learn an interpretable rule-based model called a reward tree, which enables the automated scoring of trajectories alongside an explanatory rationale. We train an RL agent to execute high-quality handling behaviour by using the reward tree as the objective, and thereby generate data for iterative preference collection and further refinement of both tree and agent. Experiments with synthetic preferences show reward trees to be competitive with uninterpretable neural network reward models on quantitative and qualitative evaluations

Important Issues in Implementing Global networks

Global communication networks are used by multinational companies for instant access to information and communications. Many advantages can be obtained from implementing a global network; however, many challenges exist in designing and implementing a network that encompasses different countries. This article presents some key issues for the design and implementation of a global network

Oramics: Precedents, Technology and Influence: Daphne Oram (1925-2003)

Since the recent re-emergence of the work of British composer and inventor Daphne Oram, and the purchase of her Oramics Machine by the Science Museum, and their subsequent Oramics to Electronica exhibition, there has been much enthusiastic comment and re-appraisal of her work since she faded into obscurity from the late seventies onwards. Some of her recordings have been (re)released and she is now regularly written and blogged about, yet still, relatively little is known about her in terms of real detail with regard to her research and innovational achievements. Drawing heavily on the Daphne Oram archive at Goldsmiths, and the Oramics Machine in the collection of the Science Museum, this research is an attempt to define and contextualise Oram's achievements with the Oramics Machine and her subsequent attempts to miniaturise and commercialise the concept with Mini Oramics. It is an investigation as to why her ambitious and holistic approach to electronic music production did not make a bigger impact, at a time when the palette of the electronic musician was rapidly expanding, and anyone with good ideas, technical prowess and financial backing might have succeeded, before the eventual domination and homogenisation of the synthesiser/sequencer market by the major electronics corporations of Japan; before the era of the home studio. Central to this research is the construction of a version of Mini Oramics, an existing design (of Oram’s with a considerable input from John Emmett, Norman Gaythorpe and others), which, had it been developed further and brought to market, would have become Oram's commercial and educational product. The newly constructed Mini Oramics has been experimented with and evaluated by musicians and composers. This practice-based research will inform the other strands of the research and will feed into arguments about the artistic, technical, and commercial feasibility of the Oramics Machine at what became a pivotal moment for Electronic Music and Music Technology

Rapid Optical Fluctuations in the Black Hole Binary, V4641 Sgr

We report on unprecedented short-term variations detected in the optical flux from the black hole binary system, V4641 Sgr. Amplitudes of the optical fluctuations were larger at longer time scales, and surprisingly reached ~60% around a period of ~10 min. The power spectra of fluctuations are characterized by a power law. It is the first case in black hole binaries that the optical emission was revealed to show short-term and large-amplitude variations given by such a power spectrum. The optical emission from black hole binaries is generally dominated by the emission from the outer portion of an accretion disc. The rapid optical fluctuations however indicate that the emission from an inner accretion region significantly contributes to the optical flux. In this case, cyclo-synchrotron emission associated with various scales of magnetic flares is the most promising mechanism for the violently variable optical emission.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Commensal observing with the Allen Telescope array: software command and control

The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is a Large-Number-Small-Diameter radio telescope array currently with 42 individual antennas and 5 independent back-end science systems (2 imaging FX correlators and 3 time domain beam formers) located at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO). The goal of the ATA is to run multiple back-ends simultaneously, supporting multiple science projects commensally. The primary software control systems are based on a combination of Java, JRuby and Ruby on Rails. The primary control API is simplified to provide easy integration with new back-end systems while the lower layers of the software stack are handled by a master observing system. Scheduling observations for the ATA is based on finding a union between the science needs of multiple projects and automatically determining an efficient path to operating the various sub-components to meet those needs. When completed, the ATA is expected to be a world-class radio telescope, combining dedicated SETI projects with numerous radio astronomy science projects.Comment: SPIE Conference Proceedings, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy, Nicole M. Radziwill; Alan Bridger, Editors, 77400Z, Vol 774