CCIL: Continuity-based Data Augmentation for Corrective Imitation Learning

We present a new technique to enhance the robustness of imitation learning methods by generating corrective data to account for compounding errors and disturbances. While existing methods rely on interactive expert labeling, additional offline datasets, or domain-specific invariances, our approach requires minimal additional assumptions beyond access to expert data. The key insight is to leverage local continuity in the environment dynamics to generate corrective labels. Our method first constructs a dynamics model from the expert demonstration, encouraging local Lipschitz continuity in the learned model. In locally continuous regions, this model allows us to generate corrective labels within the neighborhood of the demonstrations but beyond the actual set of states and actions in the dataset. Training on this augmented data enhances the agent's ability to recover from perturbations and deal with compounding errors. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our generated labels through experiments in a variety of robotics domains in simulation that have distinct forms of continuity and discontinuity, including classic control problems, drone flying, navigation with high-dimensional sensor observations, legged locomotion, and tabletop manipulation

Healthcare start-ups are not getting what they need from big pharma

Start-ups are at the forefront of healthcare innovation, developing cutting-edge solutions that address current challenges and pain points in the patient journey. Alex Bedenkov, Ryan Bate, Madeleine Thun, Abhay Kakde, Ankita Deshpande, and Gill Hayes write that partnership with industry can be the catalyst for start‑ups to accelerate their progress in shaping the healthcare ecosystems of tomorrow. But there is room for improvement in how the industry supports and collaborates with innovators

Extraction of the strong coupling with HERA and EIC inclusive data

Sensitivity to the strong coupling $\alpha_S(M^2_Z)$ is investigated using existing Deep Inelastic Scattering data from HERA in combination with projected future measurements from the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) in a next-to-next-to-leading order QCD analysis. A potentially world-leading level of precision is achievable when combining simulated inclusive neutral current EIC data with inclusive charged and neutral current measurements from HERA, with or without the addition of HERA inclusive jet and dijet data. The result can be obtained with substantially less than one year of projected EIC data at the lower end of the EIC centre-of-mass energy range. Some questions remain over the magnitude of uncertainties due to missing higher orders in the theoretical framework.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Extraction of the strong coupling with HERA and EIC inclusive data

Sensitivity to the strong coupling $$\alpha _S(M^2_Z)$$ is investigated using existing Deep Inelastic Scattering data from HERA in combination with projected future measurements from the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) in a next-to-next-to-leading order QCD analysis. A potentially world-leading level of precision is achievable when combining simulated inclusive neutral current EIC data with inclusive charged and neutral current measurements from HERA, with or without the addition of HERA inclusive jet and dijet data. The result can be obtained with substantially less than one year of projected EIC data at the lower end of the EIC centre-of-mass energy range. Some questions remain over the magnitude of uncertainties due to missing higher orders in the theoretical framework

Snowmass 2021 White Paper: Charged lepton flavor violation in the tau sector

Charged lepton flavor violation has long been recognized as unambiguous signature of New Physics. Here we describe the physics capabilities and discovery potential of New Physics models with charged lepton flavor violation in the tau sector as its experimental signature. Current experimental status from the B-Factory experiments BaBar, Belle and Belle II, and future prospects at Super Tau Charm Factory, LHC, EIC and FCC-ee experiments to discover New Physics via charged lepton flavor violation in the tau sector are discussed in detail. Submitted to the Proceedings of the US Community Study on the Future of Particle Physics (Snowmass 2021)Comment: Contribution to Snowmass 202