Virtual player design using self-learning via competitive coevolutionary algorithms

The Google Artificial Intelligence (AI) Challenge is an international contest the objective of which is to program the AI in a two-player real time strategy (RTS) game. This AI is an autonomous computer program that governs the actions that one of the two players executes during the game according to the state of play. The entries are evaluated via a competition mechanism consisting of two-player rounds where each entry is tested against others. This paper describes the use of competitive coevolutionary (CC) algorithms for the automatic generation of winning game strategies in Planet Wars, the RTS game associated with the 2010 contest. Three different versions of a prime algorithm have been tested. Their common nexus is not only the use of a Hall-of-Fame (HoF) to keep note of the winners of past coevolutions but also the employment of an archive of experienced players, termed the hall-of-celebrities (HoC), that puts pressure on the optimization process and guides the search to increase the strength of the solutions; their differences come from the periodical updating of the HoF on the basis of quality and diversity metrics. The goal is to optimize the AI by means of a self-learning process guided by coevolutionary search and competitive evaluation. An empirical study on the performance of a number of variants of the proposed algorithms is described and a statistical analysis of the results is conducted. In addition to the attainment of competitive bots we also conclude that the incorporation of the HoC inside the primary algorithm helps to reduce the effects of cycling caused by the use of HoF in CC algorithms.This work is partially supported by Spanish MICINN under Project ANYSELF (TIN2011-28627-C04-01),3 by Junta de Andalucía under Project P10-TIC-6083 (DNEMESIS) and by Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Non-L\'evy mobility patterns of Mexican Me'Phaa peasants searching for fuelwood

We measured mobility patterns that describe walking trajectories of individual Me'Phaa peasants searching and collecting fuelwood in the forests of "La Monta\~na de Guerrero" in Mexico. These one-day excursions typically follow a mixed pattern of nearly-constant steps when individuals displace from their homes towards potential collecting sites and a mixed pattern of steps of different lengths when actually searching for fallen wood in the forest. Displacements in the searching phase seem not to be compatible with L\'evy flights described by power-laws with optimal scaling exponents. These findings however can be interpreted in the light of deterministic searching on heavily degraded landscapes where the interaction of the individuals with their scarce environment produces alternative searching strategies than the expected L\'evy flights. These results have important implications for future management and restoration of degraded forests and the improvement of the ecological services they may provide to their inhabitants.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. First version submitted to Human Ecology. The final publication will be available at http://www.springerlink.co

Legal and Ethical Implications of Corporate Social Networks

Corporate social networking sites provide employees and employers with considerable opportunity to share information and become friends. Unfortunately, American laws do not directly address social networking site usage. The National Labor Relations Act, civil rights laws, and various common law doctrines such as employment at-will and defamation provide the pattern for future social networking laws. Ethical considerations such as productivity, security, goodwill, privacy, accuracy, and discipline fairness also affect future laws. Corporate policies on corporate social networking should balance the employer‘s and employee‘s interests. Existing laws and ethical issues associated with social networking should impact social networking policies related to configuration, communication, discipline, and evaluation of policies. Corporate social networking policies should be business-related, ensure user notification of monitoring, maintain adequate records, and provide for reliable, consistent, and impersonal evaluation of monitoring effectiveness

A large-scale study of a poultry trading network in Bangladesh: implications for control and surveillance of avian influenza viruses

Since its first report in 2007, avian influenza (AI) has been endemic in Bangladesh. While live poultry marketing is widespread throughout the country and known to influence AI dissemination and persistence, trading patterns have not been described. The aim of this study is to assess poultry trading practices and features of the poultry trading networks which could promote AI spread, and their potential implications for disease control and surveillance. Data on poultry trading practices was collected from 849 poultry traders during a cross-sectional survey in 138 live bird markets (LBMs) across 17 different districts of Bangladesh. The quantity and origins of traded poultry were assessed for each poultry type in surveyed LBMs. The network of contacts between farms and LBMs resulting from commercial movements of live poultry was constructed to assess its connectivity and to identify the key premises influencing it

CD5 expression promotes IL-10 production through activation of the MAPK/Erk pathway and upregulation of TRPC1 channels in B lymphocytes.

CD5 is constitutively expressed on T cells and a subset of mature normal and leukemic B cells in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Important functional properties are associated with CD5 expression in B cells, including signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 activation, IL-10 production and the promotion of B-lymphocyte survival and transformation. However, the pathway(s) by which CD5 influences the biology of B cells and its dependence on B-cell receptor (BCR) co-signaling remain unknown. In this study, we show that CD5 expression activates a number of important signaling pathways, including Erk1/2, leading to IL-10 production through a novel pathway independent of BCR engagement. This pathway is dependent on extracellular calcium (Ca2+) entry facilitated by upregulation of the transient receptor potential channel 1 (TRPC1) protein. We also show that Erk1/2 activation in a subgroup of CLL patients is associated with TRPC1 overexpression. In this subgroup of CLL patients, small inhibitory RNA (siRNA) for CD5 reduces TRPC1 expression. Furthermore, siRNAs for CD5 or for TRPC1 inhibit IL-10 production. These findings provide new insights into the role of CD5 in B-cell biology in health and disease and could pave the way for new treatment strategies for patients with B-CLL

How environmental managers perceive and approach the issue of invasive species: the case of Japanese knotweed s.l. (Rhône River, France)

We would like to thank Springer for publishing our article. The final publication is available at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10530-015-0969-1International audienceStudying the perceptions of stakeholders or interested parties is a good way to better understand behaviours and decisions. This is especially true for the management of invasive species such as Japanese knotweed s.l. This plant has spread widely in the Rhône basin, where significant financial resources have been devoted to its management. However, no control technique is recognized as being particularly effective. Many uncertainties remain and many documents have been produced by environmental managers to disseminate current knowledge about the plant and its management. This article aims at characterizing the perceptions that environmental managers have of Japanese knotweed s.l. A discourse analysis was conducted on the printed documentation produced about Japanese knotweed s.l. by environmental managers working along the Rhône River (France). The corpus was both qualitatively and quantitatively analysed. The results indicated a diversity of perceptions depending on the type of environmental managers involved, as well as the geographicalareas and scales on which they acted. Whereas some focused on general knowledge relating to the origins and strategies of colonization, others emphasized the diversity and efficacy of the prospective eradication techniques. There is a real interest in implementing targeted actions to meet local issues. To do so, however, these issues must be better defined. This is a challenging task, as it must involve all types of stakeholders

Single molecule light field microscopy

We introduce single molecule light field microscopy (SMLFM), a new class of three-dimensional (3D) single molecule localization microscopy. By segmenting the back focal plane of a microscope objective with an array of microlenses to generate multiple 2D perspective views, the same single fluorophore can be imaged from different angles. These views, in combination with a bespoke fitting algorithm, enable the 3D positions of single fluorophores to be determined from parallax. SMLFM achieves up to 20 nm localization precision throughout an extended 6 µ m depth of field. The capabilities of SMLFM are showcased by imaging membranes of fixed eukaryotic cells and DNA nanostructures below the optical diffraction limit.</jats:p

Nothing Lasts Forever: Environmental Discourses on the Collapse of Past Societies

The study of the collapse of past societies raises many questions for the theory and practice of archaeology. Interest in collapse extends as well into the natural sciences and environmental and sustainability policy. Despite a range of approaches to collapse, the predominant paradigm is environmental collapse, which I argue obscures recognition of the dynamic role of social processes that lie at the heart of human communities. These environmental discourses, together with confusion over terminology and the concepts of collapse, have created widespread aporia about collapse and resulted in the creation of mixed messages about complex historical and social processes

Molecular Biomechanics: The Molecular Basis of How Forces Regulate Cellular Function

Recent advances have led to the emergence of molecular biomechanics as an essential element of modern biology. These efforts focus on theoretical and experimental studies of the mechanics of proteins and nucleic acids, and the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of stress transmission, mechanosensing and mechanotransduction in living cells. In particular, single-molecule biomechanics studies of proteins and DNA, and mechanochemical coupling in biomolecular motors have demonstrated the critical importance of molecular mechanics as a new frontier in bioengineering and life sciences. To stimulate a more systematic study of the basic issues in molecular biomechanics, and attract a broader range of researchers to enter this emerging field, here we discuss its significance and relevance, describe the important issues to be addressed and the most critical questions to be answered, summarize both experimental and theoretical/computational challenges, and identify some short-term and long-term goals for the field. The needs to train young researchers in molecular biomechanics with a broader knowledge base, and to bridge and integrate molecular, subcellular and cellular level studies of biomechanics are articulated.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant UO1HL80711-05 to GB)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01GM076689-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01AR033236-26)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01GM087677-01A1)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01AI44902)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01AI38282)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant CMMI-0645054)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant CBET-0829205)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant CAREER-0955291

Exercise and bone health across the lifespan

With ageing, bone tissue undergoes significant compositional, architectural and metabolic alterations potentially leading to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is the most prevalent bone disorder, which is characterised by progressive bone weakening and an increased risk of fragility fractures. Although this metabolic disease is conventionally associated with ageing and menopause, the predisposing factors are thought to be established during childhood and adolescence. In light of this, exercise interventions implemented during maturation are likely to be highly beneficial as part of a long-term strategy to maximise peak bone mass and hence delay the onset of age- or menopause-related osteoporosis. This notion is supported by data on exercise interventions implemented during childhood and adolescence, which confirmed that weight-bearing activity, particularly if undertaken during peripubertal development, is capable of generating a significant osteogenic response leading to bone anabolism. Recent work on human ageing and epigenetics suggests that undertaking exercise after the fourth decade of life is still important, given the anti-ageing effect and health benefits provided, potentially occurring via a delay in telomere shortening and modification of DNA methylation patterns associated with ageing. Exercise is among the primary modifiable factors capable of influencing bone health by preserving bone mass and strength, preventing the death of bone cells and anti-ageing action provided