The thesis focuses on model-based approximation methods for reinforcement
learning with large scale applications such as combinatorial optimization problems.
First, the thesis proposes two new model-based methods to stablize the
value–function approximation for reinforcement learning. The first one is the
BFBP algorithm, a batch-like reinforcement learning process which iterates between...
Software maintenance accounts for a large portion of the software development cost, particularly the process of updating programs either to adapt for requirement change or to enhance design or efficiency. Currently, program updates are generally performed manually by programmers using text editors. This is an unreliable
method because syntax and...
Accessing information on the Web has become ingrained into our daily lives, and we seek information from many different sources, including conference and journal publications, personal web pages, and others. Increasingly, web-based information retrieval systems such as web-based search engines, library on-line catalog systems, and subscription-based federated search systems are...
Image feature detection and matching are two critical processes for many computer vision tasks. Currently, intensity-based local interest region detectors and local feature-based matching methods are used widely in computer vision applications. But in some applications, such as biological object recognition tasks, within-class changes in pose, lighting, color, and texture...
End users develop more software than any other group of programmers, using software authoring devices such as e-mail filtering editors, by-demonstration macro builders, and spreadsheet environments. Despite this, there has been only a little research on finding ways to help these programmers with the dependability of the software they create....
We consider the problem of tactical assault planning in real-time strategy games where a team of friendly agents must launch an assault on an enemy. This problem offers many challenges including a highly dynamic and uncertain environment, multiple agents, durative actions, numeric attributes, and different optimization objectives. While the dynamics...
Automated recognition of object categories in images is a critical step for many real-world computer vision applications. Interest region detectors and region descriptors have been widely employed to tackle the variability of objects in pose, scale, lighting, texture, color, and so on. Different types of object recognition problems usually require...
Knowledge workers are struggling in the information flood. There is a growing interest in intelligent desktop environments that help knowledge workers organize their daily life. Intelligent desktop environments allow the desktop user to define a set of “activities” that characterize the user’s desktop work. These environments then attempt to identify...
Recently, the concept of performance based design has become popular for many types of structures, including port facilities under seismic loading. For the case of pile-supported wharves, the level of performance is generally estimated using the displacement capacity of the structure. Therefore, understanding soil-pile interaction is one of the most...