Optimistic Planning for Markov Decision Processes

International audienceThe reinforcement learning community has recently intensified its interest in online planning methods, due to their relative independence on the state space size. However, tight near-optimality guarantees are not yet available for the general case of stochastic Markov decision processes and closed-loop, state-dependent planning policies. We therefore consider an algorithm related to AO* that optimistically explores a tree representation of the space of closed-loop policies, and we analyze the near-optimality of the action it returns after n tree node expansions. While this optimistic planning requires a finite number of actions and possible next states for each transition, its asymptotic performance does not depend directly on these numbers, but only on the subset of nodes that significantly impact near-optimal policies. We characterize this set by introducing a novel measure of problem complexity, called the near-optimality exponent. Specializing the exponent and performance bound for some interesting classes of MDPs illustrates the algorithm works better when there are fewer near-optimal policies and less uniform transition probabilities

Conserved natural IgM antibodies mediate innate and adaptive immunity against the opportunistic fungus Pneumocystis murina

Natural IgM antibodies in diverse species recognize conserved carbohydrates in fungal cell walls and influence early host defense against Pneumocystis in mice

Structural versus Electrical Functionalization of Oligo(phenyleneethynylene) Diamine Molecular Junctions

We explore both experimentally and theoretically the conductance and packing of molecular junctions based on oligo(phenyleneethynylene) (OPE) diamine wires, when a series of functional groups are incorporated into the wires. Using the scanning tunnelling microscopy break-junction (STM BJ) technique, we study these compounds in two environments (air and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene) and explore different starting molecular concentrations. We show that the electrical conductance of the molecular junctions exhibits variations among different compounds, which are significant at standard concentrations but become unimportant when working at a low enough concentration. This shows that the main effect of the functional groups is to affect the packing of the molecular wires, rather than to modify their electrical properties. Our theoretical calculations consistently predict no significant changes in the conductance of the wires due to the electronic structure of the functional groups, although their ability to hinder ring rotations within the OPE backbone can lead to higher conductances at higher packing densities

Interaction among apoptosis-associated sequence variants and joint effects on aggressive prostate cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Molecular and epidemiological evidence demonstrate that altered gene expression and single nucleotide polymorphisms in the apoptotic pathway are linked to many cancers. Yet, few studies emphasize the interaction of variant apoptotic genes and their joint modifying effects on prostate cancer (PCA) outcomes. An exhaustive assessment of all the possible two-, three- and four-way gene-gene interactions is computationally burdensome. This statistical conundrum stems from the prohibitive amount of data needed to account for multiple hypothesis testing.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To address this issue, we systematically prioritized and evaluated individual effects and complex interactions among 172 apoptotic SNPs in relation to PCA risk and aggressive disease (i.e., Gleason score ≥ 7 and tumor stages III/IV). Single and joint modifying effects on PCA outcomes among European-American men were analyzed using statistical epistasis networks coupled with multi-factor dimensionality reduction (SEN-guided MDR). The case-control study design included 1,175 incident PCA cases and 1,111 controls from the prostate, lung, colo-rectal, and ovarian (PLCO) cancer screening trial. Moreover, a subset analysis of PCA cases consisted of 688 aggressive and 488 non-aggressive PCA cases. SNP profiles were obtained using the NCI Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) data portal. Main effects were assessed using logistic regression (LR) models. Prior to modeling interactions, SEN was used to pre-process our genetic data. SEN used network science to reduce our analysis from > 36 million to < 13,000 SNP interactions. Interactions were visualized, evaluated, and validated using entropy-based MDR. All parametric and non-parametric models were adjusted for age, family history of PCA, and multiple hypothesis testing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Following LR modeling, eleven and thirteen sequence variants were associated with PCA risk and aggressive disease, respectively. However, none of these markers remained significant after we adjusted for multiple comparisons. Nevertheless, we detected a modest synergistic interaction between <it>AKT3 rs2125230-PRKCQ rs571715 </it>and disease aggressiveness using SEN-guided MDR (p = 0.011).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In summary, entropy-based SEN-guided MDR facilitated the logical prioritization and evaluation of apoptotic SNPs in relation to aggressive PCA. The suggestive interaction between <it>AKT3-PRKCQ </it>and aggressive PCA requires further validation using independent observational studies.</p

Globalization and the role of the global corporation

A great deal of controversy exists these days concerning the role of the global corporations with very little agreement. Many charges and claims are made, often unsubstantiated and contradictory. The situation is complex due to the many different issues and points of view. This paper identifies some of the problems, issues, and perspectives and then suggests that the key question concerns the net effect of the global corporation. Unfortunately, the answer to that question still depends on a person's point of view. Therefore, it is concluded that it would be a mistake to simplify any discussion of the role of the global corporation and that we need a generally accepted set of guidelines for ethical behavior of the global corporation. This background is then used to introduce the other papers in this special issue of the Journal of International Management.Global corporations Net affect Globalization