Practical Open-Loop Optimistic Planning

We consider the problem of online planning in a Markov Decision Process when given only access to a generative model, restricted to open-loop policies - i.e. sequences of actions - and under budget constraint. In this setting, the Open-Loop Optimistic Planning (OLOP) algorithm enjoys good theoretical guarantees but is overly conservative in practice, as we show in numerical experiments. We propose a modified version of the algorithm with tighter upper-confidence bounds, KLOLOP, that leads to better practical performances while retaining the sample complexity bound. Finally, we propose an efficient implementation that significantly improves the time complexity of both algorithms

The relationship between religious knowledge and dogmatism in college students

The relationship between general knowledge of world religions and dogmatism was investigated in a group of college students in Tennessee. Knowledge of world religions was assessed with a written survey and the scores were compared to scores on the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale. Dogmatism is a reluctance to accept new ideas outside of one\u27s own belief or disbeliefs. The results supported the hypothesis that individuals with high levels of dogmatism would also have low levels of knowledge about religious traditions other than their own. Additional analysis indicated that people who identify themselves as more spiritual than religious had lower dogmatism scores and higher religious knowledge scores than those identifying themselves as more religious than spiritual. In addition, self-described conservative individuals were more open-minded than selfdescribed liberals. In addition, individuals with high levels of dogmatism tended to be members of the same religious tradition as their parents. There appears to be a correlation between dogmatism and liberal or conservative beliefs

Laparoscopic Use of a Hyaluronic Acid Carboxycellulose Membrane Slurry in Gynecological Oncology

Described in this study is the use of a hyaluronic acid carboxycellulose slurry to prevent adhesions in complex gynecological cases

Polaritons and Pairing Phenomena in Bose--Hubbard Mixtures

Motivated by recent experiments on cold atomic gases in ultra high finesse optical cavities, we consider the problem of a two-band Bose--Hubbard model coupled to quantum light. Photoexcitation promotes carriers between the bands and we study the non-trivial interplay between Mott insulating behavior and superfluidity. The model displays a global U(1) X U(1) symmetry which supports the coexistence of Mott insulating and superfluid phases, and yields a rich phase diagram with multicritical points. This symmetry property is shared by several other problems of current experimental interest, including two-component Bose gases in optical lattices, and the bosonic BEC-BCS crossover problem for atom-molecule mixtures induced by a Feshbach resonance. We corroborate our findings by numerical simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Mineralization of an Axially Aligned Collagenous Matrix: A Morphological Study

Bone can be described as a highly ordered composite of type I collagen integrated with an inorganic mineral phase. In vitro models of bone mineralization using collagenous substrates have been reported in the literature. This study reports an in vitro system of mineralized reconstituted collagen fibers, with aligned fibrillar substructure. The collagen fibers were mineralized in a double diffusion chamber saturated with respect to calcium and phosphate. The morphology and ultrastructure of the mineral precipitate were evaluated as a function of the pH of the incubating media. Brushite crystal was observed at acidic pH. Large rectangular crystals formed at pH 5.15 and appear to associate with the collagen fibers. At neutral and alkaline pHs, hydroxyapatite crystals were observed in association with the collagen fibers . Spherical aggregates of hydroxyapatite crystals were seen at neutral and alkaline pHs, but these structures were reduced in size when formed on collagen at alkaline pH. On close examination these spherical structures were found to be hollow when viewed in cross section. The crystals precipitated within the interior of the collagen fiber at neutral and alkaline pHs were comparable in both size and shape to crystals observed in mineralized turkey tendon and skeletal tissues. These preliminary observations indicate that with further refinement the reconstituted collagen fibers may prove useful in model systems for the study of collagen mediated mineralization in vitro. In addition, mineralization of collagenous matrices may lead to the development of biomaterials for bone repair and replacement

Coherent and Incoherent Dynamic Structure Function of the Free Fermi Gas

A detailed calculation of the coherent and incoherent dynamic structure functions of the free Fermi gas, starting from their expressions in terms of the one- and semi-diagonal two-body density matrices, is derived and discussed. Their behavior and evolution with the momentum transfer is analyzed, and particular attention is devoted to the contributions that both functions present at negative energies. Finally, an analysis of the energy weighted sum rules satisfied by both responses is also performed. Despite of the simplicity of the model, some of the conclusions can be extended to realistic systems.Comment: LaTeX, 3 figure