1,874 research outputs found
Irina Albăstroiu, Calcedonia Enache, Andrei Cepoi, Adrian Istrate and Teodora Liliana Andrei
No full textIoT (Internet of Things) is a concept that defines a world in which all objects are connected
to each other via the Internet. The ability of smart devices to connect, communicate and
transfer data has enabled the innovation and development of various solutions for industry,
business organizations and final consumers. In this article, we have chosen to discuss the
solutions related to smart homes.
Thus, our paper presents, in the first part, the conceptual delimitations regarding IoT, areas
of application, and characteristics of the solutions dedicated to smart homes, showing that
adoption of IoT-based smart home solutions has been too little addressed in the literature.
Most of the work in the field insists on the technical aspects and only subsidiarily deals with
the issues regarding the level of understanding of the IoT smart home concept by potential or
actual users and the degree of adoption and use of these solutions. In order to cover these
gaps identified in the literature, we presented, in the second part of the paper, the
methodology and results of an exploratory research, conducted on a sample of 471 persons,
which allowed us to identify the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents (users
of IoT solutions), level of understanding the IoT concept, degree of the adoption and, also,
the associated benefits and challenges, from the perspective of the Romanian users. We also
developed a binary logistic regression model, for in-depth analysis of the results and for
correlating the findings of our research with those of other studie
2′β-Fluoro-Tricyclo Nucleic Acids (2′F-tc-ANA): Thermal Duplex Stability, Structural Studies, and RNase H Activation
No full textWe describe the synthesis, thermal stability, structural and RNase H activation properties of 2′β-fluoro-tricyclo nucleic acids (2′F-tc-ANA). Three 2′F-tc-ANA nucleosides (T, 5MeC and A) were synthesized starting from a previously described fluorinated tricyclo sugar intermediate. NMR analysis and quantum mechanical calculations indicate that 2′F-tc-ANA nucleosides prefer sugar conformations in the East and South regions of the pseudorotational cycle. UV-melting experiments revealed that non-consecutive insertions of 2′F-tc-ANA units in DNA reduce the affinity to DNA and RNA complements. However, an oligonucleotide with five contiguous 2′F-tc-ANA-T insertions exhibits increased affinity to complementary RNA. Moreover, a fully modified 10-mer 2′F-tc-ANA oligonucleotide paired to both DNA (+1.6 °C/mod) and RNA (+2.5 °C/mod) with significantly higher affinity compared to corresponding unmodified DNA, and similar affinity compared to corresponding tc-DNA. In addition, CD spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the conformation of the 2′F-tc-ANA/RNA duplex is similar to that of a DNA/RNA duplex. Moreover, in some sequence contexts, 2′F-tc-ANA promotes RNase H-mediated cleavage of a complementary RNA strand. Taken together, 2′F-tc-ANA represents a nucleic acid analogue that offers the advantage of high RNA affinity while maintaining the ability to activate RNase H, and can be considered a prospective candidate for gene silencing applications
Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning using Centralized Critics in Collaborative Environments
No full textAgents trained through single-agent reinforcement learning methods such as self-play can provide a good level of performance in multi-agent settings and even in fully cooperative environments. However, most of the time, training multiple agents together using single-agent self-play yields poor results as each agent tries to learn how to perform their task while their teammates are also learning. Thus, training models to reach an optimal behaviour in such situations becomes a challenging, if not impossible issue to overcome. One possible solution to deal with this problem is to facilitate a centralized training process in which the policies of all agents are evaluated by a centralized critic that has access to the observations and actions of all the agents in the environment. By using this approach, the environment becomes stationary and the agents learn in a similar way to using a single-agent algorithm in settings where only one agent needs to be trained. In this paper, we test whether by using a multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm with centralized critics, as opposed to single-agent ones, we would obtain an agent that generalizes better to new partners in a collaborative environment such as Overcooked, where coordination is critical for good performance. The results display a similar performance between the two algorithms when evaluated through self-play and slightly better or worse results when paired with the human model, representing a mediocre agent, depending on the map. Thus, the multi-agent, centralized critics algorithm used in this study did not train agents that generalize better to new partners. However, the training metrics clearly indicate that the centralized critics method makes the agents learn and converge twice as fast as its single-agent version.https://github.com/andrei-07/rp-overcooked-centralized-critics Link to GitHub repositoryCSE3000 Research ProjectComputer Science and Engineerin
Andrei Tarkovsky:
No full textThe author studies the originality of the film language of Andrei Tarkovsky, one of the great filmmakers of the twentieth century. For this purpose he considers the symbolic, poetic, technical and mystical elements of Tarkovsky’s seven films. Beyond the standard critics, he builds an unitary language for the interpretation of a work reputedly tight.El autor estudia la originalidad del lenguaje cinematográfico de Andrei Tarkovsky, uno de los grandes directores de cine del siglo XX. Para este propósito considera los aspectos simbólicos, poéticos, técnicos y místicos de sus siete películas. Desecha el formato de ficha crítica y construye un lenguaje unitario para la interpretación de una obra reputada como hermética
História e Documentário no Cinema de Andrei Tarkóvski
No full textIn the article, the author discuses the Cinematic history and documentary of Andrei Tarkóvski
6’-Fluoro[4.3.0]bicyclo nucleic acid: synthesis, biophysical properties and molecular dynamics simulations
No full textHere we report on the synthesis, biophysical properties and molecular modeling of oligonucleotides containing unsaturated 6’-fluoro[4.3.0]bicyclo nucleotides (6’F-bc4,3-DNA). Two 6’F-bc4,3 phosphoramidite building blocks (T and C) were synthesized starting from a previously described [3.3.0]bicyclic sugar. The conversion of this sugar to a gem-difluorinated tricyclic intermediate via difluorocarbene addition followed either by a NIS-mediated or Vorbrüggen nucleosidation yielded in both cases the β-tricyclic nucleoside as major anomer. Subsequent desilylation and cyclopropane ring opening of these tricyclic intermediates afforded the unsaturated 6’F-bc4,3 nucleosides. The successful incorporation of the corresponding phosphoramidite building blocks into oligonucleotides was achieved with tert-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidation agent. Thermal melting experiments of the modified duplexes disclosed a destabilizing effect versus DNA and RNA complements, but with a lesser degree of destabilization versus complementary DNA (ΔTm/mod = −1.5 to −3.7 °C). Molecular dynamics simulation on the nucleoside and oligonucleotide level revealed the preference of the C1’-exo/C2’-endo alignment of the furanose ring. Moreover, the simulation of duplexes with complementary RNA disclosed a DNA/RNA-type duplex structure suggesting that this modification might be a substrate for RNase H
NMR solution structure of tricyclo-DNA containing duplexes: insight into enhanced thermal stability and nuclease resistance
No full textTc-DNA is a conformationally constrained oligonucleotide analogue which shows significant increase in thermal stability when hybridized with RNA, DNA or tc-DNA. Remarkably, recent studies revealed that tc-DNA antisense oligonucleotides (AO) hold great promise for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy. To date, no high-resolution structural data is available for fully modified tc-DNA duplexes and little is known about the origins of their enhanced thermal stability. Here, we report the structures of a fully modified tc-DNA oligonucleotide paired with either complementary RNA, DNA or tc-DNA. All three investigated duplexes maintain a right-handed helical structure with Watson-Crick base pairing and overall geometry intermediate between A- and B-type, but closer to A-type structures. All sugars of the tc-DNA and RNA residues adopt a North conformation whereas the DNA deoxyribose are found in a South-East-North conformation equilibrium. The conformation of the tc-DNA strand in the three determined structures is nearly identical and despite the different nature and local geometry of the complementary strand, the overall structures of the examined duplexes are very similar suggesting that the tc-DNA strand dominates the duplex structure
Andrei Tarkovsky:: devolver a la naturaleza sus enigmas
No full textThe author studies the originality of the film language of Andrei Tarkovsky, one of the great filmmakers of the twentieth century. For this purpose he considers the symbolic, poetic, technical and mystical elements of Tarkovsky’s seven films. Beyond the standard critics, he builds an unitary language for the interpretation of a work reputedly tight.El autor estudia la originalidad del lenguaje cinematográfico de Andrei Tarkovsky, uno de los grandes directores de cine del siglo XX. Para este propósito considera los aspectos simbólicos, poéticos, técnicos y místicos de sus siete películas. Desecha el formato de ficha crítica y construye un lenguaje unitario para la interpretación de una obra reputada como hermética
Fotografia ca apropiere și distanțare la Andrei Codrescu / Photography as distance and nearness to Andrei Codrescu
No full textThe present study is part of a PhD thesis titled “Space in Andrei Codrescu’s prose – between reality and imaginary”, analysing the religious space, the virtual space, the photo studio, the American space and the library, as reflected in the above mentioned writer’s prose. The chapter dedicated to the photo studio depicts the manner in which the professional environment of the writer’s parents and close relatives influence the perception of the Self and of the Other, passing from the hypostasis of photographed subject to that of photographer “withtheeyes”, starting from the postmodern statement: “I am a camera”. Our study presents the travel literature of the author, “Ay, Cuba!” and “Prof pe drum” (Road Scholar), the last one also an autobiographical volume, illustrated by photos as a completion of the text. We also discuss the transformation of Road Scholar into a documentary, well received by the critics. The second part of our study presents the text written by Andrei Codrescu for several photobooks, as Walker Evans’ “Cuba” and “Signs”, David Graham’s “Land of the free: What makes Americans different” and others. If, in thefirst part of the study, Andrei Codrescu needs the production of a photo camera to deepen the understanding of the words, we discover him in the second part as a verbalising agent helping the rounding and the guiding of a Weltanschauung for other viewers, the public of the images from the photo books
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