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2018/19 eLife Ambassadors progra

Developing an Effective and Efficient Real Time Strategy Agent for Use as a Computer Generated Force

Computer Generated Forces (CGF) are used to represent units or individuals in military training and constructive simulation. The use of CGF significantly reduces the time and money required for effective training. For CGF to be effective, they must behave as a human would in the same environment. Real Time Strategy (RTS) games place players in control of a large force whose goal is to defeat the opponent. The military setting of RTS games makes them an excellent platform for the development and testing of CGF. While there has been significant research in RTS agent development, most of the developed agents are only able to exhibit good tactical behavior, lacking the ability to develop and execute overall strategies. By analyzing prior games played by an opposing agent, an RTS agent can determine the opponent\u27s strengths and weaknesses and develop a strategy which neutralizes the strengths and capitalizes on the weaknesses. It can then execute this strategy in an RTS game. This research develops such an RTS agent called the Killer Bee Artificial Intelligence (KBAI). KBAI builds a classifier for an opposing RTS agent which allows it to predict game outcomes. It then takes this classifier, uses it to generate an effective counter-strategy, and executes the tactics required for the strategy. KBAI is both effective and efficient against four high-quality scripted agents: it wins 100% of the time, and it wins quickly. When compared to native artificial intelligence, KBAI has superior performance. It exhibits strategic behavior, as well as the tactics required to execute a developed strategy

Carbon stock increase during post-agricultural succession in central France: no change of the superficial soil stock and high variability within forest stages

Forest development following agricultural abandonment concerns extensive areas including the Massif Central region of France where this study was undertaken. This land-use and land-cover change is expected to have effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services, including an increase of carbon sequestration—a major concern in the face of climate change. Nevertheless, uncertainties about carbon stock changes during successions are remaining, especially as to the total stock and the contribution of the different carbon pools. Our work contributes to this field by studying carbon stocks in multiple plots of different successional stages. We measured and estimated carbon stocks in aboveground and belowground vegetation, deadwood, litter and superficial soil, and surveyed plant communities and plot conditions (slope, aspect, soil characteristics). The average total carbon stock increased along the succession from 70.60 at stage 0 to 314.19 tC ha−1 at stage 5. However, the total carbon stocks at the young forest stage (abandoned for 74 years maximum) and the older forest stage (forested for at least 74 years) were not significantly different, and probably reflected strong local heterogeneity in the older forest stage. An increase of the carbon stock was found in all pools, except the soil pool that did not vary significantly between the successional stages. The aboveground carbon stock was found strongly related to the woody species cover, especially the macrophanerophyte cover. This case study supports the view that the succession dynamics of former agricultural plots participates in carbon sequestration, sometimes with great local variations

Improving transparency and scientific rigor in academic publishing.

Progress in basic and clinical research is slowed when researchers fail to provide a complete and accurate report of how a study was designed, executed, and the results analyzed. Publishing rigorous scientific research involves a full description of the methods, materials, procedures, and outcomes. Investigators may fail to provide a complete description of how their study was designed and executed because they may not know how to accurately report the information or the mechanisms are not in place to facilitate transparent reporting. Here, we provide an overview of how authors can write manuscripts in a transparent and thorough manner. We introduce a set of reporting criteria that can be used for publishing, including recommendations on reporting the experimental design and statistical approaches. We also discuss how to accurately visualize the results and provide recommendations for peer reviewers to enhance rigor and transparency. Incorporating transparency practices into research manuscripts will significantly improve the reproducibility of the results by independent laboratories

Entwicklungsbedingtheit der Religiosität (III)

Die Periode der Präpubertät, Pubertät und Adoleszenz ist manchmal als »Schonzeit« verstanden; besonders negativ sind die Pubertätsjahre als »Flegeljahre« beurteilt. Es handelt sich doch um eine höchst positive Blütezeit im dreifachen Sinn: das Aufblühen des Körpers (Sexus), des Herzens (Eros) und des Geistes (Intelligenz). Das Mädchen öffnet sich holistisch von oben wie eine Blume, der Junge wächst wie ein Baum von unten Zweige nacheinander treibend. Sie helfen sich einander. Deshalb wäre eine vollständig durchgeführte Trennung der Geschlechter unpädagogisch, was nicht eine fast Kohabitation, und zwar ohne Erwachsenen, erfordert. In Familien wirkte immer eine vorteilhafte Koedukation. Das Hauptanliegen der Jungen ist ihre Emanzipation. Erziehung muß allmählich Selbsterziehung werden. Die Jungen ertragen einfach nicht mehr eine autoritative Leitung. Wenn in dieser Periode sich keine persönliche religiöse und moralische Uberzeugung entwickelt hätte, würde die ganze Erziehung in Frage gestellt. Es ist viel besser abzuwarten, bis die Jungen ihre Probleme gelöst haben, als nur eine äußerliche Praxis zu erfordern