BACKGROUND In this study, a multi-parent population of barley cultivars was grown in the field for two consecutive years and then straw saccharification (sugar release by enzymes) was subsequently analysed in the laboratory to identify the cultivars with the highest consistent sugar yield. This experiment was used to assess the benefit of accounting for both the multi-phase and multi-environmen...

Reinforcement learning means learning a policy—a mapping of observations into actions— based on feedback from the environment. The learning can be viewed as browsing a set of policies while evaluating them by trial through interaction with the environment. We present an application of gradient ascent algorithm for reinforcement learning to a complex domain of packet routing in network communica...

Even in the absence of sensory stimulation the brain is spontaneously active. This background "noise" seems to be the dominant cause of the notoriously high trial-to-trial variability of neural recordings. Recent experimental observations have extended our knowledge of trial-to-trial variability and spontaneous activity in several directions: 1. Trial-to-trial variability systematically decreas...

This study compared the effects of hypohydration (HYP) on endurance exercise performance in temperate and cold air environments. On four occasions, six men and two women (age = 24 +/- 6 yr, height = 170 +/- 6 cm, weight = 72.9 +/- 11.1 kg, peak O2 consumption = 48 +/- 9 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)) were exposed to 3 h of passive heat stress (45 degrees C) in the early morning with [euhydration (EUH)] or ...

Improving the Attitudes of Tehrani Preschool Teachers towards the Environment through Teaching N. Moosavi, Ph.D.* M. Sharifiaan Saani, Ph.D.** G. Ghaa’edAmini Haarooni, Ph.D.*** S. Sanaaye’ Goldooz, Ph.D.**** A. Darvishi***** F. Ghamarzaad Shishvaan******   Given the environmental crises, it is necessary to help citizens with the improvement of their attitudes. Attitudes, or predispos...

Most of the developing countries and other underserved segments around the globe are re-inventing the wheel in their efforts to launch eServices -especially in the areas of healthcare, education, economic development, public welfare, and public safety. Due to the unnecessary trial and error, the failure rates in these segments are very high (around 85%). Unfortunately, these segments also lack ...

OBJECTIVE To provide an example of an occupational therapy feasibility study and evaluate the implementation of a randomized controlled pilot and feasibility trial examining the impact of a sensory-adapted dental environment (SADE) to enhance oral care for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHOD Twenty-two children with ASD and 22 typically developing children, ages 6-12 yr, atte...

Understanding physical phenomena is a key component of human intelligence and enables physical interaction with previously unseen environments. In this paper, we study how an artificial agent can autonomously acquire this intuition through interaction with the environment. We created a synthetic block stacking environment with physics simulation in which the agent can learn a policy endto-end t...