ERiSA: building emotionally realistic social game-agents companions

We propose an integrated framework for social and emotional game-agents to enhance their believability and quality of interaction, in particular by allowing an agent to forge social relations and make appropriate use of social signals. The framework is modular including sensing, interpretation, behaviour generation, and game components. We propose a generic formulation of action selection rules based on observed social and emotional signals, the agent’s personality, and the social relation between agent and player. The rules are formulated such that its variables can easily be obtained from real data. We illustrate and evaluate our framework using a simple social game called The Smile Game

Architecture for Affective Social Games

Abstract. The importance of affect in delivering engaging experiences in entertainment and education is well recognized. We introduce the Koko architecture, which describes a service-oriented middleware that reduces the burden of incorporating affect into games and other entertainment applications. Koko provides a representation for affect, thereby enabling developers to concentrate on the functional and creative aspects of their applications. The Koko architecture makes three key contributions: (1) improving developer productivity by creating a reusable and extensible environment; (2) yielding an enhanced user experience by enabling independently developed applications to collaborate and provide a more coherent user experience than currently possible; (3) enabling affective communication in multiplayer and social games.

Comportamento ingestivo de bezerros em pastos de Brachiaria brizantha e Brachiaria decumbens Ingestive behavior of calves on pastures of Brachiaria brizantha and Brachiaria decumbens

Foi conduzido um experimento com o objetivo de avaliar o comportamento de bezerros em pastagens de Brachiaria brizantha e Brachiaria decumbens, no sistema de lotação contínua com taxa de lotação variável. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado, com dois pastos representando os tratamentos, cada um com cinco repetições. O período experimental foi de 30 dias, sendo 20 para adaptação dos animais e 10 para avaliações, que consistiram de três, com duração de 24h cada, em intervalos de cinco dias. Os bezerros pastejaram menos tempo no pasto de Brachiaria brizantha, com tempo de 9,75h, enquanto que o pastejo na Brachiaria decumbens foi de 11,3h. Comportamento diferente foi observado para o tempo de ruminação: 6,8 e 6,4 para os pastos de Brachiaria brizantha e Brachiaria decumbens, respectivamente. O número de bocados por minuto foi menor para a Brachiaria decumbens, 31,15, enquanto que, para a Brachiaria brizantha, os bezerros pastejaram com uma taxa de bocados de 34,91 bocados por minuto. Os bezerros tiveram um ganho de peso médio diário superior no pasto de Brachiaria brizantha (390g dia-1), enquanto que, para a Brachiaria decumbens, o ganho diário foi de 340g dia-1.<br>An experiment was carried out to evaluate the ingestive behavior of calves on Brachiaria brizantha and Brachiaria decumbens pastures, under continuous stocking with variable stocking rate. The experimental design was entirely randomized, with two treatments (two pastures), and five replicates per treatment. The experimental period lasted 30 days, consisting of days 20 for adaptation of animals and 10 for behavioral evaluations that consisted of three periods of 24:00h each, in intervals of five days. The calves spent less time grazing Brachiaria brizantha pasture (9,8h) than they did on the Brachiaria decumbens (11,3h). Different rumination times had been observed, 6,8 and 6,4 h for the animals grazing Brachiaria brizantha and Brachiaria decumbens, respectively. We suggested that the selective behavior of the calves on the Brachiaria decumbens made them to eat good quality grass, thus they spent a similar rumination time to that observed for Brachiaria brizantha. The number of bites per minute was inferior for the Brachiaria decumbens, 31,2h, when compared with Brachiaria brizantha (the mean bite rate was 34,9 bites per minute). The calves had a larger daily gain to Brachiaria brizantha (390g day-1) than they had to Brachiaria decumbens (340g day-1)

Consumo de volumosos, produção e composição físico-química do leite de cabras F1 Boer &#215; Saanen Roughage intake, milk yield and physicochemical composition from F1 Boer &#215; Saanen goats

Avaliaram-se os efeitos do fornecimento de volumosos suplementares sobre o consumo, a produção e a composição físico-química do leite de cabras F1 (Boer &#215;Saanen). Utilizaram-se 18 cabras distribuídas em três baias, recebendo como suplemento, à vontade, silagem de sorgo, silagem de milho ou feno de amoreira com controle diário do consumo de matéria seca. A média diária para produção semanal foi calculada reunindo-se dados leiteiros em três períodos pós-parto: 1 (34 a 40 dias/7 dias); 2 [(64 a 70 dias/7 dias) + (91 a 97 dias)/7 dias)]/2; e 3 (125 a 131 dias/7 dias) e a média pontual diária do período pelas datas de referência dos períodos da média diária para produção semanal, que foi correlacionada à composição de gordura, proteína, lactose e extrato seco total e à contagem de células somáticas. Os dados semanais de acidez e densidade foram agrupados em 37, 81&plusmn;13, 128 e 151&plusmn;10 dias pós-parto. Com modelos mistos, o animal foi computado como aleatório e os efeitos fixos foram três suplementos e três períodos (composição, médias diárias as produções semanal e do período) ou quatro (acidez e densidade). O consumo de feno de amoreira (0,657 kg) superou o de silagem de milho (0,604 kg), que foi superior ao de silagem de sorgo (0,305 kg). No período 2, a composição em extrato etéreo foi menor, em razão do decréscimo de gordura e lactose. No período 3, a composição em proteína e a acidez aumentaram e a densidade foi maior nos períodos 1 (1,0270) e 3 (1,0277). A mamite aumentou a CCS no período 2. Para proteína, o tipo de suplemento não foi significativo, mas houve efeito da interação período pós-parto &#215;suplemento. As demais variáveis não foram influenciadas pelo tipo de suplemento, apenas pelo período pós-parto. O feno de amoreira aumenta o consumo suplementar pelas cabras em relação às silagens de milho e sorgo, mas não melhora as médias de produção e composição do leite. Cabras Boer &#215;Saanen em pastejo e sob suplementação têm bom potencial leiteiro.<br>The effects were assessed of supplying supplementary roughage on intake, milk yield and milk physical and chemical composition in F1 (Boer &#215;Saanen) goats. Eighteen females were placed in three stalls, and received as ad libitum supplement sorghum silage, corn silage and mulberry hay (MHT), with daily control of dry matter intake. The average daily production per week was calculated by gathering the milk data in three post-parturition periods: 1 (34-40 days/7 days); 2 [(64-70 days/7 days) + (91-97 days)/7 days)]/2 and 3 (125-131 days/7 days). Daily spot-average of each period (DSAP) was calculated from the reference dates of average daily production per week, that was correlated with the composition of fat, protein, lactose, total solids composition and the somatic cell count. The weekly data for acidity and density were grouped in 37, 81&plusmn;13, 128 and 151&plusmn;10 days post-parturition. Using mixed models, the animal was computed as random and the fixed effects were three supplements and three periods (composition, average daily production per week and per period) or four (acidity and density). Mulberry hay intake (0.657 kg) was greater than corn silage (0.604 kg) that was greater than sorghum silage (0.305 kg). In period 2, the ether extract composition was smaller because of the decrease in fat and lactose. In period 3, protein and acidity increased and density was great in periods 1 (1.0270) and 3 (1.0277). Mastitis increased SCC in period 2. The type of supplement was not significant for protein, but there was post partum period &#215;supplement effect. The other variables were not influenced by the type of supplement, only by the post-partum period. Mulberry hay increased the supplement intake by the goats compared to corn and sorghum silage, but it did not improve milk yield = means and composition. Grazing Boer &#215;Saanen goats with supplementation have good milk production potential