Scheduling and Power Control for Wireless Multicast Systems via Deep Reinforcement Learning

Multicasting in wireless systems is a natural way to exploit the redundancy in user requests in a content centric network. Power control and optimal scheduling can significantly improve the wireless multicast network’s performance under fading. However, the model-based approaches for power control and scheduling studied earlier are not scalable to large state spaces or changing system dynamics. In this paper, we use deep reinforcement learning, where we use function approximation of the Q-function via a deep neural network to obtain a power control policy that matches the optimal policy for a small network. We show that power control policy can be learned for reasonably large systems via this approach. Further, we use multi-timescale stochastic optimization to maintain the average power constraint. We demonstrate that a slight modification of the learning algorithm allows tracking of time varying system statistics. Finally, we extend the multi-time scale approach to simultaneously learn the optimal queuing strategy along with power control. We demonstrate the scalability, tracking and cross-layer optimization capabilities of our algorithms via simulations. The proposed multi-time scale approach can be used in general large state-space dynamical systems with multiple objectives and constraints, and may be of independent interest.

Relational Pedagogy in a New Zealand Secondary School Drama Classroom

<p>Aspects of relational pedagogy were examined in a Year 13 Drama classroom in a large state secondary school over a week of lessons. The teacher and six students who volunteered to take part in the research were observed then interviewed about the nature of relationships in the classroom that week, and in general. The teacher and students in the class related to each other in a positive and constructive manner as they worked together on developing a piece of drama. The students reflected on the importance of their relationship with their teacher and their peers as part of their learning. These findings suggest the nature of how Drama is taught promotes the development of relationships in a classroom. This development impacts positively on their understanding of themselves and others, and their learning in and of Drama.</p>

Relational Pedagogy in a New Zealand Secondary School Drama Classroom

<p>Aspects of relational pedagogy were examined in a Year 13 Drama classroom in a large state secondary school over a week of lessons. The teacher and six students who volunteered to take part in the research were observed then interviewed about the nature of relationships in the classroom that week, and in general. The teacher and students in the class related to each other in a positive and constructive manner as they worked together on developing a piece of drama. The students reflected on the importance of their relationship with their teacher and their peers as part of their learning. These findings suggest the nature of how Drama is taught promotes the development of relationships in a classroom. This development impacts positively on their understanding of themselves and others, and their learning in and of Drama.</p>

Research on the Influence of Interest Rate Liberalization on Commercial Banks’ Profitability in China

In order to explore the influence of interest rate liberalization on profitability, an empirical analysis is carried out with the panel data of commercial banks in China from 2009 to 2019. Then, the heterogeneity of the impact is studied among different banks. The results show that, first, interest rate liberalization and commercial banks’ profitability have an inverted U-shaped relationship, whereby interest rate liberalization would increase the profitability of banks in the early stage but would reduce the profitability after reaching a peak inflection point at the later stage. Secondly, the impact varies among different banks, being more significant in urban commercial banks and large state-owned banks.

Impact of Stratified Interventions in University Reopenings

More than 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. are scheduled to start a new semester in August or September, 2021. Many colleges require Covid-19 vaccination, as well as some combination of face coverings or diagnostic testing, while others do not (in some cases due to governance structure). Large state universities may especially have limitations and are not requiring vaccination, testing, or indoor face coverings, nor offering hybrid classes (to promote physical distancing). Group living quarters or classrooms with densely packed students are among the riskiest settings for infectious disease spread.

Solar Pumps and Water-Energy Nexus in Gujarat, India: First Assessment of the World’s Largest Pilot on Grid-connected Solar Irrigation Pumps

The epicentre of Gujarat’s perverse nexus between electricity subsidy and groundwater depletion lies in its legacy of 485,000 unmetered tubewell owners who have fiercely resisted metering for 20 years. These comprise 40 percent of Gujarat’s irrigation connections but account for 49 percent of agricultural load, 71 percent of energy use in groundwater abstraction and 90 percent of farm power subsidies. Suryashakti Kisan Yojana (SKY), a large, state-wide pilot project which solarised and net-metered 4215 tubewells and began paying farmers for evacuating surplus solar energy, has been enthusiastically embraced by unmetered and metered farmers alike. SKY promises politically acceptable resolution of a wicked energy-water conundrum that afflicts much of India and west Asia. Mainstreaming SKY can significantly reduce groundwater overdraft, GHG emissions and subsidy burden. It will increase farm incomes while radically improving energy-water accounting and management. Gujarat government should invest in compulsory, free-of-cost solarisation of tubewells. We show that doing so is profitable for government and beneficial for farmers, climate and environment.