In this paper, we propose a novel and fast method to localize and track needles during image-guided interventions. Our proposed method is comprised of framework of needle detection and tracking in highly noisy ultrasound images via level set and PDE (partial differential equation) based methods. Major advantages of the method are: (1) efficiency, the entire numerical procedure can be finished i...

The wireless mesh networksare considered as one of the vital elements in today’s converged networks,providing high bandwidth and connectivity over large geographical areas. Mesh routers equipped with multiple radios can significantly overcome the capacity problem and increase the aggregate throughput of the network where single radio nodessuffer from performancedegradation. Moreover, the market...

A recent study demonstrated that a single 50-min supplemental session that targeted the behavioral economic mechanisms of substance-free reinforcement and delayed reward discounting (Substance-Free Activity Session: SFAS) enhanced the efficacy of a standard alcohol brief motivational intervention (BMI) for college drinkers. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a randomized controlled...

A softmax operator applied to a set of values acts somewhat like the maximization function and somewhat like an average. In sequential decision making, softmax is often used in settings where it is necessary to maximize utility but also to hedge against problems that arise from putting all of one’s weight behind a single maximum utility decision. The Boltzmann softmax operator is the most commo...

Gradient-following algorithms are deployed for efficient adaptation of exploration parameters in temporal-difference learning with discrete action spaces. Global and local variants are evaluated in discrete and continuous state spaces. The global variant is memory efficient in terms of requiring exploratory data only for starting states. In contrast, the local variant requires exploratory data ...

RoboCup simulated soccer presents many challenges to reinforcement learning methods, including a large state space, hidden and uncertain state, multiple agents, and long and variable delays in the e ects of actions. We describe our application of episodic SMDP Sarsa( ) with linear tile-coding function approximation and variable to learning higher-level decisions in a keepaway subtask of RoboCup...

DEGAN ZHANG†, YANAN ZHU‡, SI LIU, XIAODAN ZHANG AND JINJIE SONG Key Laboratory of Computer Vision and System Ministry of Education, Tianjin Tianjin Key Lab of Intelligent Computing and Novel Software Technology Tianjin University of Technology Tianjin, 300384 P.R. China School of Electrical and Information Engineering The University of Sydney Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia Institute of Scientific ...