A review of interactive narrative systems and technologies: a training perspective

As an emerging form of digital entertainment, interactive narrative has attracted great attention of researchers over the past decade. Recently, there is an emerging trend to apply interactive narrative for training and simulation. An interactive narrative system allows players to proactively interact with simulated entities in a virtual world and have the ability to alter the progression of a storyline. In simulation-based training, the use of an interactive narrative system enables the possibility to offer engaging, diverse and personalized narratives or scenarios for different training purposes. This paper provides a review of interactive narrative systems and technologies from a training perspective. Specifically, we first propose a set of key requirements in developing interactive narrative systems for simulation-based training. Then we review nine representative existing systems with respect to their system architectures, features and related mechanisms. To examine their applicability to training, we investigate and compare the reviewed systems based on the functionalities and modules that support the proposed requirements. Furthermore, we discuss some open research issues on future development of interactive narrative technologies for training applications

A van der Waals pn heterojunction with organic/inorganic semiconductors

van der Waals (vdW) heterojunctions formed by two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted tremendous attention due to their excellent electrical/optical properties and device applications. However, current 2D heterojunctions are largely limited to atomic crystals, and hybrid organic/inorganic structures are rarely explored. Here, we fabricate hybrid 2D heterostructures with p-type dioctylbenzothienobenzothiophene (C8-BTBT) and n-type MoS2. We find that few-layer C8-BTBT molecular crystals can be grown on monolayer MoS2 by vdW epitaxy, with pristine interface and controllable thickness down to monolayer. The operation of the C8-BTBT/MoS2 vertical heterojunction devices is highly tunable by bias and gate voltages between three different regimes: interfacial recombination, tunneling and blocking. The pn junction shows diode-like behavior with rectifying ratio up to 105 at the room temperature. Our devices also exhibit photovoltaic responses with power conversion efficiency of 0.31% and photoresponsivity of 22mA/W. With wide material combinations, such hybrid 2D structures will offer possibilities for opto-electronic devices that are not possible from individual constituents.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Cigarette Smoke (CS) and Nicotine Delay Neutrophil Spontaneous Death via Suppressing Production of Diphosphoinositol Pentakisphosphate

Diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate (InsP7), a higher inositol phosphate containing energetic pyrophosphate bonds, is beginning to emerge as a key cellular signaling molecule. However, the various physiological and pathological processes that involve InsP7 are not completely understood. Here we report that cigarette smoke (CS) extract and nicotine reduce InsP7 levels in aging neutrophils. This subsequently leads to suppression of Akt deactivation, a causal mediator of neutrophil spontaneous death, and delayed neutrophil death. The effect of CS extract and nicotine on neutrophil death can be suppressed by either directly inhibiting the PtdIns(3,4,5)P3/Akt pathway, or increasing InsP7 levels via overexpression of InsP6K1, an inositol hexakisphosphate (InsP6) kinase responsible for InsP7 production in neutrophils. Delayed neutrophil death contributes to the pathogenesis of CS-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Therefore, disruption of InsP6K1 augments CS-induced neutrophil accumulation and lung damage. Taken together, these results suggest that CS and nicotine delay neutrophil spontaneous death by suppressing InsP7 production and consequently blocking Akt deactivation in aging neutrophils. Modifying neutrophil death via this pathway provides a strategy and therapeutic target for the treatment of tobacco-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Reflections on Interpretation Training from an Ecological Perspective in the Context of “Internet Plus”

A scientific interpretation training model is the foundation of interpretation teaching. This article examines interpretation training research in the context of “Internet plus” from the perspective of eco-translatology, focusing on the guiding role of ecological translation theory in current interpretation training research, and attempts to construct an ecological interpretation teaching model from four dimensions, namely, “Learning with Purpose”, “Translating with Intent”, “Researching with Impact”, and “Evaluating with Purpose”, according to the unique interdisciplinary nature, multiple dynamics, and sustainability of ecological translatology, in order to achieve the scientific and diversified teaching of interpreting in China. By embracing both virtual and physical environments, interpretation training can adapt to the evolving landscape of the digital age while preserving the essence of effective communication

Artificial Intelligence, Technological Innovation and the Upgrading of China’s Equipment Manufacturing Industry

This article identifies and screens out companies applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) through Enterprise Search, and measures the level of AI empowerment in the industry in terms of the number of companies applying AI as a proportion of the number of companies in the industry as a whole, and based on the panel data of China’s equipment manufacturing industry from 2001-2017, we empirically test the impact effect and mechanism of action of AI empowerment on the upgrading of the equipment manufacturing industry. The research results show that: AI empowerment has a significant positive impact on the upgrading of the equipment manufacturing industry, but there is industry heterogeneity, and AI empowerment has a greater positive impact effect on the upgrading of the high-end equipment manufacturing industry. Technological innovation plays a mediating role in the process of AI empowerment for the upgrading of equipment manufacturing

Environment-Centric Safety Requirements forAutonomous Unmanned Systems

Autonomous unmanned systems (AUS) emerge to take place of human operators in harsh or dangerous environments. However, such environments are typically dynamic and uncertain, causing unanticipated accidents when autonomous behaviours are no longer safe. Even though safe autonomy has been considered in the literature, little has been done to address the environmental safety requirements of AUS systematically. In this work, we propose a taxonomy of environment-centric safety requirements for AUS, and analyse the neglected issues to suggest several new research directions towards the vision of environment-centric safe autonomy

Integrated Sensing, Computation, and Communication: System Framework and Performance Optimization

Integrated sensing, computation, and communication (ISCC) has been recently considered as a promising technique for beyond 5G systems. In ISCC systems, the competition for communication and computation resources between sensing tasks for ambient intelligence and computation tasks from mobile devices becomes an increasingly challenging issue. To address it, we first propose an efficient sensing framework with a novel action detection module. It can reduce the overhead of computation resource by detecting whether the sensing target is static. Subsequently, we analyze the sensing performance of the proposed framework and theoretically prove its effectiveness with the help of the sampling theorem. Then, we formulate a sensing accuracy maximization problem while guaranteeing the quality-of-service (QoS) requirements of tasks. To solve it, we propose an optimal resource allocation strategy, in which the minimal resource is allocated to computation tasks, and the rest is devoted to sensing tasks. Besides, a threshold selection policy is derived. Compared with the conventional schemes, the results further demonstrate the necessity of the proposed sensing framework. Finally, a real-world test of action recognition tasks based on USRP B210 is conducted to verify the sensing performance analysis, and extensive experiments demonstrate the performance improvement of our proposal by comparing it with some benchmark schemes

The Influence of a Chinese Traditional Culture Course on Primary Students’ Language Learning

The objectives of this study were: (i) to compare the scores on the test between students who took a Chinese Traditional Culture course (including ancient fairy tales, traditional festivals, and ancient etiquette) and students who did not, (ii) to examine students’ performance on the traditional culture after taking the Chinese Traditional Culture course, and (iii) to investigate students’ satisfaction about the Traditional Culture course and the corresponding Traditional Culture teaching method. For this purpose, we recruited 90 students divided into the two experimental and control groups with 45 students in each group. Additionally, five teachers and five experts were selected as the cases for the qualitative phase. The research instruments were a questionnaire, test, and structured interview. The study had a mixed methods design. We used both descriptive (i.e., percentages, means (M), standard deviation (SD), and inferential statistics (i.e., t-test analysis) to analyze the data. The results indicated (i) students who took the Traditional Culture course had higher scores on the Chinese test than students who did not, (ii) Students’ performance on the traditional culture after implementing the Traditional Culture course was improved, and (3) Students’ satisfaction about the Traditional Culture course and the corresponding traditional culture teaching method was at a good level. The results showed that taking the Traditional Culture course positively affects language learning for primary students; most students are satisfied with the Chinese Traditional Culture course and the corresponding teaching method. The students highlighted the positive impact of cultural activities, such as traditional dance, music, and theater on their language development, so schools should emphasize the importance of Traditional Culture courses and enhance students’ interest in learning traditional culture to improve learning effectiveness

How can survival processing improve memory encoding?

We investigated the psychological mechanism of survival processing advantage from the perspective of false memory in two experiments. Using a DRM paradigm in combination with analysis based on signal detection theory, we were able to separately examine participants' utilization of verbatim representation and gist representation. Specifically, in Experiment 1, participants rated semantically related words in a survival scenario for a survival condition but rated pleasantness of words in the same DRM lists for a non-survival control condition. The results showed that participants demonstrated more gist processing in the survival condition than in the pleasantness condition; however, the degree of item-specific processing in the two encoding conditions did not significantly differ. In Experiment 2, the control task was changed to a category rating task, in which participants were asked to make category ratings of words in the category lists. We found that the survival condition involved more item-specific processing than did the category condition, but we found no significant difference between the two encoding conditions at the level of gist processing. Overall, our study demonstrates that survival processing can simultaneously promote gist and item-specific representations. When the control tasks only promoted either item-specific representation or gist representation, memory advantages of survival processing occurred.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000326813300008&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701BiologySCI(E)PubMedSSCI1ARTICLE111028-10375