Zahra Abbasi

Reinforcement Distribution in a Team of Cooperative Q-learning Agents

In a Q-learning multi-agent group, agents cooperate each other to perform their assigned task during their learning for increasing the team performance. If the role of each agent clearly specified -which is a very hard task for a supervisor agent- the team will learn more efficiently. Indeed, in this case each agent reinforced according to its real effect on the team performance. Assuming an identical role for all agents is the most prevalent technique of current researchers to escape the modeling complexities. But we believe this is not the optimum method for reinforcement distribution. The main goal of this research is to find an indirect evaluation method which evaluates the role of each agent in the team and distributes the reinforcement signal accordingly. The expertness of each agent is used as a criterion to estimate the effect of each agentpsilas action on the team performance. Random and equal reinforcement signal distribution methods are also used in order to evaluate expertness-based reinforcement sharing. In addition, a new test bed, called EPIDEM, is developed to evaluate the proposed methods. The results show the distribution of the reinforcement signals based on the proposed method improves the team learning speed.

Study of enzymatic degradation and water absorption of composites carboxymethyl cellulose and poly (ϵ-caprolactone) containing SiO2nanoparticle by cellulase

This study investigates the effect of Poly (ϵ-Caprolactone (PCL) and Nano-SiO2content within the Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) blends on the rate and extent of carboxymethyl cellulose enzymatic hydrolysis using the enzyme cellulase. The results reveal that blends with Nano-SiO2content at 5 wt% exhibit a significantly reduced rate and extent of CMC hydrolysis. This may be attributed to interactions between CMC and SiO2that prevent further enzymatic attack on the remaining CMC phases within the blend. The total solids that remained after 2880 min were 44.8 wt.% (CMC: PCL); 62.7 wt.% (CMC: PCL: 1% Nano-SiO2); 69.8 wt.% (CMC: PCL: 3% Nano-SiO2); 73.1 wt.% (CMC: PCL: 5% Nano-SiO2). Enzymatic degradation behaviour of CMC: PCL: Nano-SiO2was based on the determinations of water resistance, weight loss and the reducing sugars. The degraded residues have been examined by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and UV–Vis spectroscopy.

Insecure Attachment and Subclinical Depression, Anxiety, and Stress: A Three-Dimensional Model of Personality Self-Regulation As a Mediator

Abstract Although the effects of insecure attachment on vulnerability, incidence, and developing mental disorders have been confirmed by many studies, the mechanism of this effect is still unknown. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate the mediating and moderating role of the three-dimensional model of personality self-regulation in the relationship between insecure attachment and subclinical depression, anxiety, and stress. Four hundred Iranian students at Shiraz University were recruited and completed the following scales: the Revised Adult Attachment, Depression Anxiety Stress, Integrative Self-Knowledge, Mindful Attention Awareness, Self-Control, and Self-Compassion. Results showed that there was a moderate correlation among all the variables under study in the expected directions. Multiple mediating models analyses indicated that regarding the relationship between insecure attachment and depression, the components of integrative self-knowledge, self-control, and self-compassion functioned as mediators. However, regarding the relationship between insecure attachment and anxiety and stress, the components of integrative self-knowledge, mindfulness, and self-compassion relatively functioned as mediators. Further, our results showed that only mindfulness and self-compassion were identified as moderators in the relationship between insecure attachment and depression. It is concluded that insecure attachment may cause psychological damage due to deficiency in the components of the three-dimensional model of personality self-regulation, and that mindfulness and self-compassion may play a protective role in the relationship between insecure attachment and depression.