An Emotion Model for Video Game AI

Modeling human behavior in computer simulations and games is a subject which draws considerable attention. Despite the increased realism of graphics in games, poor modeling of non-player characters AI often leads to a shallow and unfulfilling game experience. Recently there has been increased focus on more sophisticated AI routines which have been used in both academic and commercial games. Emotion, however, is often ignored despite being an essential element of human behavior especially under stressful conditions. Research into the use of emotion in agent-based systems seems more concerned with how to convey the emotions of agents to the human player, or how to elicit an emotional response from the human player. Only recently has there been research on modeling emotions in combat simulators. This thesis will describe an emotional model suitable for most computer games which was adapted from the DETT model and significantly expanded\u2

A Model of Human Categorization and Similarity Based Upon Category Theory

Categorization and the judgement of similarity are fundamental in cognition. We propose that these and other activities are based upon an underlying structure of knowledge, or concept representation, in the brain. Further, we propose that this structure can be represented mathematically in a declarative form via category theory, the mathematical theory of structure. We test the resulting mathematical model in an experiment in which human subjects provide judgements of similarity for pairs of line drawings using a numerical scale to represent degrees of similarity. The resulting numerical similarities are compared with those derived from the category-theoretic model by comparing diagrams. The diagrams represent distributed concept structures underlying the line drawings. To compare with a more conventional analysis technique, we also compare the human judgements with those provided by a two-dimensional feature space model equipped with a distance metric for the line drawings. The results are equally favorable for both models. Because of this and the putative explanatory power of the category-theoretic model, we propose that this model is worthy of further exploration as a mathematical model for cognitive science

Episodic Memory via Spans and Cospans: A Hierarchy of Spatiotemporal Colimits

We introduce a category-theoretic account of episodic memory as an outgrowth of an existing mathematical theory of the semantics of neural networks. We propose that neu- ral systems which can be said to have episodic memory represent sequences of events and their associated information within a hierarchy of concepts, represented in their neu- ral networks. In the categorical model presented here, the hierarchy is based upon col- imits. Colimits “put everything together” mathematically, and appear throughout many categories. The event-sequence colimits can be visualized as assemblies of categorical structures known as spans and cospans. A string of cospans formalizes a hierarchy of overlapping episode segments, with the segments increasing in length by adding a next event as an episode progresses. The concept category can be mapped into a category that expresses the structure and activity of a neural architecture. An episodic sequence is for- malized as a string of cospans of its overlapping episodic segments. This kind of neural structure supports the tracing of its event sequence in either the forward or reverse direc- tion during recall, but it also does much more: It allows a holistic access to an episode or entire segments of the episode, it maintains the continuity of that information which is preserved between successive events, and, finally, the cospan cells serve as explicit repre- sentatives of the temporal order of events, making a sequence available not only for recall but also for direct access to subsequences of greatest interest. We end with a preliminary sketch of the application of this episodic memory model to understanding the interaction of the hippocampus with other structures of the mammalian medial temporal lobe

Report of the Committee on Research Enhancement & Transformational Research Collaboration; executive summary

The University of New Mexico\u27s Office of Research created a committee to study the potential to stimulate cross- and trans-disciplinary research through a planned strategic initiative. This was seen as an important campus research value to capitalize on the emerging grant opportunities provided by data intensive cyber-enabled research and to solve environmental and other global challenges through joint humanities and science approaches

Quantification of HTLV-I proviral load in experimentally infected rabbits

BACKGROUND: Levels of proviral load in HTLV-1 infected patients correlate with clinical outcome and are reasonably prognostic. Adaptation of proviral load measurement techniques is examined here for use in an experimental rabbit model of HTLV-1 infection. Initial efforts sought to correlate proviral load with route and dose of inoculation and with clinical outcome in this model. These methods contribute to our continuing goal of using the model to test treatments that alleviate virus infection. RESULTS: A real-time PCR assay was used to measure proviral load in blood and tissue samples from a series of rabbits infected using HTLV-1 inocula prepared as either cell-free virus particles, infected cells or blood, or by naked DNA injection. Proviral loads from asymptomatically infected rabbits showed levels corresponding to those reported for human patients with clinically silent HTLV-1 infections. Proviral load was comparably increased in 50% of experimentally infected rabbits that developed either spontaneous benign or malignant tumors while infected. Similarly elevated provirus was found in organs of rabbits with experimentally induced acute leukemia/lymphoma-like disease. Levels of provirus in organs taken at necropsy varied widely suggesting that reservoirs of infections exist in non-lymphoid organs not traditionally thought to be targets for HTLV-1. CONCLUSION: Proviral load measurement is a valuable enhancement to the rabbit model for HTLV-1 infection providing a metric to monitor clinical status of the infected animals as well as a means for the testing of treatment to combat infection. In some cases proviral load in blood did not reflect organ proviral levels, revealing a limitation of this method for monitoring health status of HTLV-1 infected individuals

Participatory Epidemiology of Endemic Diseases in West African Cattle – Ethnoveterinary and Bioveterinary Knowledge in Fulani Disease Control

Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria lack adequate access to good quality veterinary services and often resort to treating their animals themselves. There are several negative aspects to this, including poor treatment outcomes, misuse of veterinary drugs and subsequent resistance, and further barriers to good relations between pastoralists and veterinary services. A participatory epidemiology survey was undertaken in Fulani communities, to examine their ability to diagnose and treat bovine diseases. Qualitative participatory epidemiology techniques including semi-structured interviews, ranking and participant and non-participant observations were used for data collection. Quantitative analysis to match Fulani disease descriptions to veterinary diseases was done by hierarchical clustering and multi-dimensional scaling. A concurrent parasitological survey for soil-transmitted parasites, trypanosomiasis and tick-borne diseases was undertaken to validate results.Fulani pastoralists displayed high levels of ethnoveterinary knowledge and good clinical diagnostic abilities. Diseases considered important by pastoralists included: hanta (CBPP); sammore (trypanosomiasis); boro (foot and mouth disease), gortowel (liver fluke), dauda (parasitic gastro-enteritis with bloody diarrhoea) and susa (parasitic gastro-enteritis). The parasitology survey supported the participatory epidemiology results but also showed a high prevalence of tick-borne diseases that were not mentioned by pastoralists in this study. The use of “hanta” to describe CBPP is important as the accepted translation is liver-fluke (hanta is the Hausa word for liver). Gortowel and dauda, two previously undescribed Fulfulde disease names have now been matched to liver fluke and PGE with bloody diarrhoea. Fulani showed low levels of bovine veterinary knowledge with mostly incorrect veterinary drugs chosen for treatment. Levels of ethno- and bio-veterinary knowledge and their application within pastoralist livestock healthcare practices are discussed. Keywords: Fulani, Pastoralist, Cattle, Participatory epidemiology, Participatory diagnosis, Ethnoveterinary knowledg