In this paper we develop a theoretical analysis of the performance of sampling-based fitted value iteration (FVI) to solve infinite state-space, discounted-reward Markovian decision processes (MDPs) under the assumption that a generative model of the environment is available. Our main results come in the form of finite-time bounds on the performance of two versions of sampling-based FVI. The co...

Raytracing metaballs is a problem that has numerous applications in the rendering of dynamic soft objects such as fluids. However, current techniques are either limited in the visual effects that they can render or their performance drops as the number of metaballs and their density increase. We present a new acceleration structure based on BVH and kd-tree for efficient raytracing of a large nu...

Fitted Q-Iteration (FQI) is a popular approximate value iteration (AVI) approach that makes effective use of off-policy data. FQI uses a 1-step return value update which does not exploit the sequential nature of trajectory data. Complex returns (weighted averages of the n-step returns) use trajectory data more effectively, but have not been used in an AVI context because of off-policy bias. In ...

In the present paper, a numerical prediction of the wind flow in a neutrally-stratified atmosphere over real hilly terrain is presented. For the solutions of the NavierStokes equations which are the governing equations of a microscale atmospheric flow, a numerical model based on the finite-volume formulation in a boundary-fitted coordinate system and the SIMPLEC pressure-correction algorithm is...

This paper is part of an effort to examine the application of discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods to the numerical modeling of the general circulation of the ocean. One step performed here is to develop an integral weak formulation of the lateral pressure forcing that is suitable for usage with a DG method and with a generalized vertical coordinate that includes level, terrain-fitted, isopycnic...

As a continuation of our efforts to develop efficient and accurate interpolating moving least-squares (IMLS) methods for generating potential energy surfaces, we carry out classical trajectories and compute kinetics properties on higher degree IMLS surfaces. In this study, we have investigated the choice of coordinate system, the range of points (i.e., the cutoff radius) used in fitting, and st...

Based on the recent theoretical development for formation control of multiple fully actuated agents with an elliptical shape in Do (2011), this paper develops distributed controllers that force a group of N underactuated ships with limited communication ranges to perform a desired formation, and guarantee no collisions between any ships in the group. The ships are first fitted to elliptical dis...

It has been commonly recognized that residual dipolar coupling data provide a measure of quality for protein structures. To quantify this observation, a database of 100 single-domain proteins has been compiled where each protein was represented by two independently solved structures. Backbone 1H-15N dipolar couplings were simulated for the target structures and then fitted to the model structur...

The least squares fitting minimizes the squares sum of error-ofifit in predefined measures. By the geometric fitting, the error distances are defined with the shortest distances from the given points to the geometric feature to be fitted. For the geometric fitting of ellipse, a robust algorithm is proposed. This is based on the coordinate description of the corresponding point on the ellipse fo...