427 research outputs found
Macro action selection with deep reinforcement learning in StarCraft
StarCraft (SC) is one of the most popular and successful Real Time Strategy
(RTS) games. In recent years, SC is also widely accepted as a challenging
testbed for AI research because of its enormous state space, partially observed
information, multi-agent collaboration, and so on. With the help of annual
AIIDE and CIG competitions, a growing number of SC bots are proposed and
continuously improved. However, a large gap remains between the top-level bot
and the professional human player. One vital reason is that current SC bots
mainly rely on predefined rules to select macro actions during their games.
These rules are not scalable and efficient enough to cope with the enormous yet
partially observed state space in the game. In this paper, we propose a deep
reinforcement learning (DRL) framework to improve the selection of macro
actions. Our framework is based on the combination of the Ape-X DQN and the
Long-Short-Term-Memory (LSTM). We use this framework to build our bot, named as
LastOrder. Our evaluation, based on training against all bots from the AIIDE
2017 StarCraft AI competition set, shows that LastOrder achieves an 83% winning
rate, outperforming 26 bots in total 28 entrants
Edge Video Analytics: A Survey on Applications, Systems and Enabling Techniques
Video, as a key driver in the global explosion of digital information, can
create tremendous benefits for human society. Governments and enterprises are
deploying innumerable cameras for a variety of applications, e.g., law
enforcement, emergency management, traffic control, and security surveillance,
all facilitated by video analytics (VA). This trend is spurred by the rapid
advancement of deep learning (DL), which enables more precise models for object
classification, detection, and tracking. Meanwhile, with the proliferation of
Internet-connected devices, massive amounts of data are generated daily,
overwhelming the cloud. Edge computing, an emerging paradigm that moves
workloads and services from the network core to the network edge, has been
widely recognized as a promising solution. The resulting new intersection, edge
video analytics (EVA), begins to attract widespread attention. Nevertheless,
only a few loosely-related surveys exist on this topic. The basic concepts of
EVA (e.g., definition, architectures) were not fully elucidated due to the
rapid development of this domain. To fill these gaps, we provide a
comprehensive survey of the recent efforts on EVA. In this paper, we first
review the fundamentals of edge computing, followed by an overview of VA. The
EVA system and its enabling techniques are discussed next. In addition, we
introduce prevalent frameworks and datasets to aid future researchers in the
development of EVA systems. Finally, we discuss existing challenges and foresee
future research directions. We believe this survey will help readers comprehend
the relationship between VA and edge computing, and spark new ideas on EVA.Comment: 31 pages, 13 figure
Mechanical Characterizations of Oxidizing Steel Slag Soil and Application
In this paper, the mechanical properties and engineering applicationof electric furnace (EAF) slag mixed soil are investigated.The samples of steel slag are taken from a steel manufacturingcompany in Huangshi, a city of China. The mixed soilwas firstly prepared by mixing the steel slag and clay mixturein different proportions. The optimal moisture content for mixingthe soil is investigated from the experiment through directshear test. Based on three axial compression tests, the optimumsteel slag ratio is determined. Finally, the mechanical propertiesof steel slag mixed soil are tested in a practical engineeringproblem through a numerical simulation. The steel slag mixedsoil is used to replace the original soil of the embankment andcompared with that of the original one. The comparison studyshows that the method proposed in this paper is simple andeffective. Moreover, from the practical problem analysis, theoptimal utilization of electric furnace slag can be achieved
Macro action selection with deep reinforcement learning in StarCraft
StarCraft (SC) is one of the most popular and successful Real Time Strategy
(RTS) games. In recent years, SC is also considered as a testbed for AI
research, due to its enormous state space, hidden information, multi-agent
collaboration and so on. Thanks to the annual AIIDE and CIG competitions, a
growing number of bots are proposed and being continuously improved. However, a
big gap still remains between the top bot and the professional human players.
One vital reason is that current bots mainly rely on predefined rules to
perform macro actions. These rules are not scalable and efficient enough to
cope with the large but partially observed macro state space in SC. In this
paper, we propose a DRL based framework to do macro action selection. Our
framework combines the reinforcement learning approach Ape-X DQN with
Long-Short-Term-Memory (LSTM) to improve the macro action selection in bot. We
evaluate our bot, named as LastOrder, on the AIIDE 2017 StarCraft AI
competition bots set. Our bot achieves overall 83% win-rate, outperforming 26
bots in total 28 entrants
Virtual k -Space Modulation Optical Microscopy
We report a novel superresolution microscopy approach for imaging fluorescence samples. The reported approach, termed virtual k-space modulation optical microscopy (VIKMOM), is able to improve the lateral resolution by a factor of 2, reduce the background level, improve the optical sectioning effect and correct for unknown optical aberrations. In the acquisition process of VIKMOM, we used a scanning confocal microscope setup with a 2D detector array to capture sample information at each scanned x-y position. In the recovery process of VIKMOM, we first modulated the captured data by virtual k-space coding and then employed a ptychography-inspired procedure to recover the sample information and correct for unknown optical aberrations. We demonstrated the performance of the reported approach by imaging fluorescent beads, fixed bovine pulmonary artery endothelial (BPAE) cells, and living human astrocytes (HA). As the VIKMOM approach is fully compatible with conventional confocal microscope setups, it may provide a turn-key solution for imaging biological samples with ∼100  nm lateral resolution, in two or three dimensions, with improved optical sectioning capabilities and aberration correcting.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (9P41EB015871-26A1)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (1R01HL121386-01A1
dRecQ4 Is Required for DNA Synthesis and Essential for Cell Proliferation in Drosophila
Background: The family of RecQ DNA helicases plays an important role in the maintenance of genomic integrity. Mutations in three of the five known RecQ family members in humans, BLM, WRN and RecQ4, lead to disorders that are characterized by predisposition to cancer and premature aging. Methodology/Principal Findings: To address the in vivo functions of Drosophila RecQ4 (dRecQ4), we generated mutant alleles of dRecQ4 using the targeted gene knock-out technique. Our data show that dRecQ4 mutants are homozygous lethal with defects in DNA replication, cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. Two sets of experiments suggest that dRecQ4 also plays a role in DNA double strand break repair. First, mutant animals exhibit sensitivity to gamma irradiation. Second, the efficiency of DsRed reconstitution via single strand annealing repair is significantly reduced in the dRecQ4 mutant animals. Rescue experiments further show that both the N-terminal domain and the helicase domain are essential to dRecQ4 function in vivo. The N-terminal domain is sufficient for the DNA repair function of dRecQ4. Conclusions/Significance: Together, our results show that dRecQ4 is an essential gene that plays an important role in no
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