From Retrospective to Prospective: Integrated Value Representation in Frontal Cortex for Predictive Choice Behavior

Animals must flexibly estimate the value of their actions to successfully adapt in a changing environment. The brain is thought to estimate action-value from two different sources, namely the action-outcome history (retrospective value) and the knowledge of the environment (prospective value). How these two different estimates of action-value are reconciled to make a choice is not well understood. Here we show that as a mouse learns the state-transition structure of a decision-making task, retrospective and prospective values become jointly encoded in the preparatory activity of neurons in the frontal cortex. Suppressing this preparatory activity in expert mice returned their behavior to a naive state. These results reveal the neural circuit that integrates knowledge about the past and future to support predictive decision-making.

TRADISI PEMBACAAN SURAH AL-MULK DI MAJELIS TA’LIM RAUDHOTUL ILMI PALEMBANG:

This article discusses the implementation of the reading of Surah al-Mulk at the Raudhotul Ilmi Palembang Ta'lim Assembly and the views of the Raudhotul Ilmi Palembang Ta'lim congregation on the reading of Surah al-Mulk as well as an analysis of Max Weber on the recitation of surah al-Mulk at the Raudhotul Ilmi Palembang Ta'lim Assembly. This type of research is a field research (Field Research), the type of data used is qualitative with the study of living hadith. This study uses Max Weber's theory of social action related to four actions, namely, traditional action, affective action, value rationality action and instrumental rationality action. The subjects of this research are caregivers, administrators, ustaz and Jama'ah Majelis Ta'lim Raudhotul Ilmi Palembang. The data collection technique used observation by observing and paying attention to the implementation of the tradition of reading surah al-Mulk at the Raudhotul Ilmi Palembang Ta'lim Assembly. While the interview data, the researchers interviewed twelve Jama'ah as respondents, while the documentation was equipped with books, photos and books related to the research. Meanwhile, data analysis uses descriptions and explanations. This study found that the Jama'ah of the Raudhotul Ilmi Palembang Ta'lim Assembly was enthusiastic about the tradition of reciting surah al-Mulk in the Assembly. The congregation of the assembly is of the view that having the reading of Surah al-Mulk before starting the assembly is a good and good thing as a form of imitating the Prophet Muhammad. The congregation of the assembly supported this activity because of the benefits of reading it as a barrier from the torment of the grave and there were some congregations who routinely read Surah al-Mulk. It can be said that the response of the congregation of the assembly tends to know the values ​​contained in the hadith of reading surah al-Mulk. This shows that the living hadith in the congregation of the assembly was carried out and the Raudhotul Ilmi Palembang Ta'lim Assembly fulfilled Max Weber's theory of social action.

OBTAINING THE EQUATIONS OF MOTION OF A MECHANICAL BODY THROUGH ANALYTICAL METHODS

The aim of this paper is to obtain the equations of motion in n-dimensional space for the case where no external forces act on a mechanical system using analytical methods. One such method is known as Lagrangian Mechanics. Lagrangian Mechanics is founded on the principle of least action which states that the spontaneous change from one configuration to another of a dynamical system has a minimum action value if the law of conservation of energy holds.

CATEGORY OF «EDUCATION» IN PEDAGOGICAL DISCOURSE

The purpose of the article is to reveal the traditional and modern approaches to the interpretation of the concept of “education” as a pedagogical category. Applying theoretical methods of research such as analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, abstraction, comparison, generalization, systematization, classification, various scientists' approaches to the grounding of initial theoretical positions, systematization of views and approaches to the clarification of the leading pedagogical category have been considered. It is proved that there are different approaches to determining the essence of the category of “education” in pedagogy, which determines its ambiguity, versatility and heterogeneity of this phenomenon. For some scholars, it is understood as both influence and purposeful management, and as cultivation, and as an attachment to culture, and as a development of the semantic sphere, and as primary socialization. The most traditional is the idea of education as a process in which the leading role belongs to an adult who performs the functions of a caregiver and children are the objects of this upbringing. The modern view of education is based mainly on the progressive ideas of humanization, child-centrism, and the subject-subjective paradigm of upbringing, which treats it as subject-subjective interaction. Generalization of scientific sources indicates that the diversity of interpretations of the phenomenon of “education” is due to the presence of different methodological approaches, concepts of education, scientists and researchers ideas about the formation of personality, the role and place of the teacher and the pupil in education. Therefore, they as a social phenomenon, activity, system, action, value, process, interaction, interpret this concept. The prospects for further research on this problem of the educational theory are seen in the disclosure of concepts such as “the process of education” and “educational process”.

Vibration and Noise Exposure during Pre-Commercial Thinning Operations: What Are the Ergonomic Benefits of the Latest Generation Professional-Grade Battery-Powered Chainsaws?

In order to compare the vibration and noise exposure of STIHL’s battery-powered MSA 220 C and the combustion driven MS 201 C, a professional operator was monitored during a pre-commercial thinning operation in a twenty-year-old hardwood stand. The vibration levels were measured with a tri-axial accelerometer on the front and rear handle of both the chainsaws, and assigned to five different work elements using a video documentation. Additionally, noise levels were recorded in one-minute intervals, with a dosemeter worn by the operator. The results show that battery-powered chainsaws, when compared to combustion-driven chainsaws, can reduce the daily vibration exposure by more than 45% and the noise dose by about 78.4%, during pre-commercial thinning tasks. Replacing combustion-driven chainsaws with battery-powered ones is therefore generally recommended, to reduce occupational health risks for operators, in this respect. However, the daily vibration exposure of about 2.42 m/s2, caused by the battery-powered chainsaw on the front handle, is still very close to the daily exposure action value set by the EU directives for health and safety requirements. The daily noise exposure of 89.18 dB(A) even exceeds the upper exposure action value. Consequently, a further reduction in the vibration exposure during work is desirable. With respect to noise exposure, additional measures must be implemented for conformity with the current safety standards, making the use of hearing protectors mandatory for electric chainsaws, too.

Energy Management of Hybrid UAV Based on Reinforcement Learning

In order to solve the flight time problem of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), this paper proposes a set of energy management strategies based on reinforcement learning for hybrid agricultural UAV. The battery is used to optimize the working point of internal combustion engines to the greatest extent while solving the high power demand issues of UAV and the response problem of internal combustion engines. Firstly, the decision-making oriented hybrid model and UAV dynamic model are established. Owing to the characteristics of the energy management strategy (EMS) based on reinforcement learning (RL), which is an intelligent optimization algorithm that has emerged in recent years, the complex theoretical formula derivation is avoided in the modeling process. In terms of the EMS, a double Q learning algorithm with strong convergence is adopted. The algorithm separates the state action value function database used in derivation decisions and the state action value function-updated database brought by the decision, so as to avoid delay and shock within the convergence process caused by maximum deviation. After the improvement, the off-line training is carried out with a large number of flight data generated in the past. The simulation results demonstrate that the improved algorithm can show better performance with less learning cost than before by virtue of the search function strategy proposed in this paper. In the state space, time-based and residual fuel-based selection are carried out successively, and the convergence rate and application effect are compared and analyzed. The results show that the learning algorithm has stronger robustness and convergence speed due to the appropriate selection of state space under different types of operating cycles. After 120,000 cycles of training, the fuel economy of the improved algorithm in this paper can reach more than 90% of that of the optimal solution, and can perform stably in actual flight.

ME-MCTS: Online Generalization by Combining Multiple Value Estimators

This paper addresses the challenge of online generalization in tree search. We propose Multiple Estimator Monte Carlo Tree Search (ME-MCTS), with a two-fold contribution: first, we introduce a formalization of online generalization that can represent existing techniques such as "history heuristics", "RAVE", or "OMA" -- contextual action value estimators or abstractors that generalize across specific contexts. Second, we incorporate recent advances in estimator averaging that enable guiding search by combining the online action value estimates of any number of such abstractors or similar types of action value estimators. Unlike previous work, which usually proposed a single abstractor for either the selection or the rollout phase of MCTS simulations, our approach focuses on the combination of multiple estimators and applies them to all move choices in MCTS simulations. As the MCTS tree itself is just another value estimator -- unbiased, but without abstraction -- this blurs the traditional distinction between action choices inside and outside of the MCTS tree. Experiments with three abstractors in four board games show significant improvements of ME-MCTS over MCTS using only a single abstractor, both for MCTS with random rollouts as well as for MCTS with static evaluation functions. While we used deterministic, fully observable games, ME-MCTS naturally extends to more challenging settings.