Some experiments with giving a computer program the ability to learn to play a simple game by asking advice of a human teacher

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.A model of learning in a simple game playing context is simulated with the aim of gaining insight into a pattern learning process rather than the subtleties of the particular game. The simulation consists of a model of a learning player able to ask help of a (human) teacher when unable to make its own decisions on the basis of previously learned knowledge. An opponent is provided by either a human player or another example of a simulated player. To begin with, the learning player is new to the game and asks many questions of its teacher. As its playing experience increases, so it relies less on external advice, making more of its own decisions based on advice given in similar game situations encountered previously. The system can be set up to allow fully automated trials between simulated players with varying learning experience in order to compare their performance. The difficulty of conveying to the learning model the intention of the teacher's advice, even in the context of a simple game, highlights more general problems in Artificial Intelligence. The problem is a fundamental difference in the mechanisms of human and computer activity. Having done this work it is possible to conclude that the world of a computer, and the natural world, impose such different constraints that they encourage the development of very different mechanisms.Science Research Counci

Poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) antimalaria conjugates of membrane-disruptive peptides

The concepts of polymer–peptide conjugation and self-assembly were applied to antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in the development of a targeted antimalaria drug delivery construct. This study describes the synthesis of α-acetal, ω-xanthate heterotelechelic poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-mediated polymerization, followed by postpolymerization deprotection to yield α-aldehyde, ω-thiol heterotelechelic PVP. A specific targeting peptide, GSRSKGT, for Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes was used to sparsely decorate the α-chain ends via reductive amination while cyclic decapeptides from the tyrocidine group were conjugated to the ω-chain end via thiol–ene Michael addition. The resultant constructs were self-assembled into micellar nanoaggregates whose sizes and morphologies were determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The in vitro activity and selectivity of the conjugates were evaluated against intraerythrocytic P. falciparum parasites.© 2020 American Chemical Societyhttp://pubs.acs.org/journal/bomaf62021-11-06hj2021BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

[En]gendering the norms of customary inheritance in Botswana and South Africa

The article responds to the article by Weinberg in this issue. She traces the trajectory of court hearings concerning the contested inheritance of land in Botswana, which, after several prior judgements eventually resulted in a positive outcome for the woman litigants. I acknowledge the author’s key argument, which concerns the impact of power relations on the construction of customary law and the reproduction of knowledge in the courts. Certain versions of “custom” were promoted and others stilled to the disadvantage of women. I argue that the normative patterns of landholding are indeed gendered, but do not result in a binary structure of men and women. “Gender” should be disaggregated to take into account a range of status criteria within and across the categories of male and female in order to understand the differential impact of social relations on the outcomes of property struggles. The normative lines of property transmission frequently follow a logic of “family property” that allows for qualifying women to rights of property. Family property has vastly different social and legal consequences to private, individualised property rights. The corollary is that it is misleading to speak of the processes of succession to rights of access to, and control of customary property in terms of one-to-one “inheritance” of land. The concept of “living law” inadequately reflects these social dynamics.IBS