Offline reinforcement learning (RL) is a compelling framework for learningoptimal policies from past experiences without additional interaction with theenvironment. Nevertheless, offline RL inevitably faces the problem ofdistributional shifts, where the states and actions encountered during policyexecution may not be in the training dataset distribution. A common solutioninvolves incorporating conservatism into the policy or the value function tosafeguard against uncertainties and unknowns. In this work, we focus onachieving the same objectives of conservatism but from a different perspective.We propose COmpositional COnservatism with Anchor-seeking (COCOA) for offlineRL, an approach that pursues conservatism in a compositional manner on top ofthe transductive reparameterization (Netanyahu et al., 2023), which decomposesthe input variable (the state in our case) into an anchor and its differencefrom the original input. Our COCOA seeks both in-distribution anchors anddifferences by utilizing the learned reverse dynamics model, encouragingconservatism in the compositional input space for the policy or value function.Such compositional conservatism is independent of and agnostic to the prevalentbehavioral conservatism in offline RL. We apply COCOA to four state-of-the-artoffline RL algorithms and evaluate them on the D4RL benchmark, where COCOAgenerally improves the performance of each algorithm. The code is available athttps://github.com/runamu/compositional-conservatism.
This paper deals with objects that serve as props in political speeches, and examines their role as carriers of symbolic meaning that is constructed during a performance enacted in a political space. It focuses on the use of such objects as rhetorical arguments in three speeches by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: “the bomb speech,” “the drone-wreckage speech” and the “binder speech.” In each of these political speeches, the initial introduction of the object serves as a declarative act of coronation. This declaration imbues the object with symbolic meaning that relates to reality on several levels: it can serve as a visual metaphor, as a metonym, as a concrete illustration of an abstract concept, or an exhibit or evidence that a certain event took place. The relations between the prop and the spoken text and its rhetoric are discussed in order to trace the unique properties of the multimodal array of arguments that the “crowned” object constructs. The unique characteristics of the objects serve to echo and accentuate the identity and worldview of the speaker, but may also give rise to meanings that undermine the speaker’s intention.
The strategy led by Prime Minister Netanyahu during his 12-year rule (2009–21) was not just a military-security strategy but a grand-strategy of national security. Effectively adopting Mapai’s ‘practical Zionism’ strategy rather than Jabotinsky’s ‘political Zionism’, Netanyahu effectively became the last of the ‘Mapainiks’ who knew how to establish and develop a state, and fortify its power and position, by virtue of action and by strengthening the ‘Iron Wall’.
Abstract The year 2022 marked the year of yet another parliamentary election, the fifth in three years, resulting, after just one and a half years, in the return of Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister and the formation of a right‐wing government. All along 2022, the centre‐left coalition government was struggling to hold its narrow majority in the Knesset , and in June, it had lost its majority completely, having only 59 members. This forced the Prime Minister, Bennet, together with Lapid, the alternate Prime Minister, to call for a new election, which was held on 1 November. The results of the election were decisive and an all‐right‐wing coalition was formed with a majority of 64 seats in the Knesset . The coalition members included the leading party, Likud, along with the orthodox religious parties and the ultra‐right‐wing religious parties. On the left wing, two of the parties, Meretz and Balad , did not pass the electoral threshold.
Objectives Data on the association between Bell's palsy (BP) and pregnancy is scarce and there is an ongoing debate regarding the association of BP and pregnancy. Main Outcome Measures We aimed to investigate the prevalence of BP among pregnant patients and determine the frequency of pregnant women in BP cohorts and vice versa, assess which term of the pregnancy and peripartum bears a higher risk for BP occurrence, and determine the prevalence of maternal comorbidities associated with BP during pregnancy. Design Meta analysis. Settings Screening standard articles and extracting data from Ovid MEDLINE (1960–2021), Embase (1960–2021), and Web of Science (1960–2021). All study types were included except for case reports. Measures Data were pooled by means of both fixed and random‐effects models. Results The search strategy identified 147 records. Twenty‐five of the studies that met our inclusion criteria described 809 pregnant patients with BP in a total of 11,813 BP patients and they were included in the meta‐analysis. The incidence of BP among the pregnant patients was 0.05%; The incidence of pregnant patients among all BP patients was 6.62%. Most of the BP occurrences were during the third trimester (68.82%). The pooled incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus; hypertension; pre‐eclampsia/eclampsia and fetal complications among the pregnant patients with BP was 6.3%, 13.97%, 9.54%, and 6.74%, respectively. Conclusions This meta‐analysis revealed a low incidence of BP during pregnancy. A Higher proportion occurred during the third trimester. The association of BP and pregnancy warrants further exploration.