A First Step toward the Automatic Understanding of Social Touch for Naturalistic Human–Robot Interaction

Social robots should be able to automatically understand and respond to human touch. The meaning of touch does not only depend on the form of touch but also on the context in which the touch takes place. To gain more insight into the factors that are relevant to interpret the meaning of touch within a social context we elicited touch behaviors by letting participants interact with a robot pet companion in the context of different affective scenarios. In a contextualized lab setting, participants (n = 31) acted as if they were coming home in different emotional states (i.e., stressed, depressed, relaxed, and excited) without being given specific instructions on the kinds of behaviors that they should display. Based on video footage of the interactions and interviews we explored the use of touch behaviors, the expressed social messages, and the expected robot pet responses. Results show that emotional state influenced the social messages that were communicated to the robot pet as well as the expected responses. Furthermore, it was found that multimodal cues were used to communicate with the robot pet, that is, participants often talked to the robot pet while touching it and making eye contact. Additionally, the findings of this study indicate that the categorization of touch behaviors into discrete touch gesture categories based on dictionary definitions is not a suitable approach to capture the complex nature of touch behaviors in less controlled settings. These findings can inform the design of a behavioral model for robot pet companions and future directions to interpret touch behaviors in less controlled settings are discussed

Isomer shift and magnetic moment of the long-lived 1/2+^{+} isomer in 3079^{79}_{30}Zn49_{49}: signature of shape coexistence near 78^{78}Ni

Collinear laser spectroscopy has been performed on the $^{79}_{30}$Zn$_{49}$ isotope at ISOLDE-CERN. The existence of a long-lived isomer with a few hundred milliseconds half-life was confirmed, and the nuclear spins and moments of the ground and isomeric states in $^{79}$Zn as well as the isomer shift were measured. From the observed hyperfine structures, spins $I = 9/2$ and $I = 1/2$ are firmly assigned to the ground and isomeric states. The magnetic moment $\mu$ ($^{79}$Zn) = $-$1.1866(10) $\mu_{\rm{N}}$, confirms the spin-parity $9/2^{+}$ with a $\nu g_{9/2}^{-1}$ shell-model configuration, in excellent agreement with the prediction from large scale shell-model theories. The magnetic moment $\mu$ ($^{79m}$Zn) = $-$1.0180(12) $\mu_{\rm{N}}$ supports a positive parity for the isomer, with a wave function dominated by a 2h-1p neutron excitation across the $N = 50$ shell gap. The large isomer shift reveals an increase of the intruder isomer mean square charge radius with respect to that of the ground state: $\delta \langle r^{2}_{c}\rangle^{79,79m}$ = +0.204(6) fm$^{2}$, providing first evidence of shape coexistence.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, Accepeted by Phys. Rev. Lett. (2016

Decay-assisted collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy: Application to neutron-deficient francium

This paper reports on the hyperfine-structure and radioactive-decay studies of the neutron-deficient francium isotopes $^{202-206}$Fr performed with the Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) experiment at the ISOLDE facility, CERN. The high resolution innate to collinear laser spectroscopy is combined with the high efficiency of ion detection to provide a highly-sensitive technique to probe the hyperfine structure of exotic isotopes. The technique of decay-assisted laser spectroscopy is presented, whereby the isomeric ion beam is deflected to a decay spectroscopy station for alpha-decay tagging of the hyperfine components. Here, we present the first hyperfine-structure measurements of the neutron-deficient francium isotopes $^{202-206}$Fr, in addition to the identification of the low-lying states of $^{202,204}$Fr performed at the CRIS experiment.Comment: Accepted for publication with Physical Review

Laser spectroscopy of francium isotopes at the borders of the region of reflection asymmetry

The magnetic dipole moments and changes in mean-square charge radii of the neutron-rich $^{218m,219,229,231}\text{Fr}$ isotopes were measured with the newly-installed Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) beam line at ISOLDE, CERN, probing the $7s~^{2}S_{1/2}$ to $8p~^{2}P_{3/2}$ atomic transition. The $\delta\langle r^{2}\rangle^{A,221}$ values for $^{218m,219}\text{Fr}$ and $^{229,231}\text{Fr}$ follow the observed increasing slope of the charge radii beyond $N~=~126$. The charge radii odd-even staggering in this neutron-rich region is discussed, showing that $^{220}\text{Fr}$ has a weakly inverted odd-even staggering while $^{228}\text{Fr}$ has normal staggering. This suggests that both isotopes reside at the borders of a region of inverted staggering, which has been associated with reflection-asymmetric shapes. The $g(^{219}\text{Fr}) = +0.69(1)$ value supports a $\pi 1h_{9/2}$ shell model configuration for the ground state. The $g(^{229,231}\text{Fr})$ values support the tentative $I^{\pi}(^{229,231}\text{Fr}) = (1/2^{+})$ spin, and point to a $\pi s_{1/2}^{-1}$ intruder ground state configuration.Comment: Accepted for publication with Physical Review

New <i>Methyloceanibacter</i> diversity from North Sea sediments includes methanotroph containing solely the soluble methane monooxygenase

Marine methylotrophs play a key role in the global carbon cycle by metabolizing reduced one-carbon compounds that are found in high concentrations in marine environments. Genome, physiology and diversity studies have been greatly facilitated by the numerous model organisms brought into culture. However, the availability of marine representatives remains poor. Here, we report the isolation of four novel species from North Sea sediment enrichments closely related to the Alphaproteobacterium Methyloceanibacter caenitepidi. Each of the newly isolated Methyloceanibacter species exhibited a clear genome sequence divergence which was reflected in physiological differences. Notably one strain R-67174 was capable of oxidizing methane as sole source of carbon and energy using solely a soluble methane monooxygenase and represents the first marine Alphaproteobacterial methanotroph brought into culture. Differences in maximum cell density of >1.5 orders of magnitude were observed. Furthermore, three strains were capable of producing nitrous oxide from nitrate. Together, these findings highlight the metabolic and physiologic variability within closely related Methyloceanibacter species and provide a new understanding of the physiological basis of marine methylotrophy

Modeling a social brain for interactive agents: integrating mirroring and mentalizing

Kahl S, Kopp S. Modeling a social brain for interactive agents: integrating mirroring and mentalizing. In: Brinkman WP, Broekens J, Heylen DKJ, eds. Intelligent Virtual Agents. Springer; 2015: 77-86

Miniaturized extinction culturing is the preferred strategy for rapid isolation of fast-growing methane-oxidizing bacteria

Methane‐oxidizing bacteria (MOB) have a large potential as a microbial sink for the greenhouse gas methane as well as for biotechnological purposes. However, their application in biotechnology has so far been hampered, in part due to the relative slow growth rate of the available strains. To enable the availability of novel strains, this study compares the isolation of MOB by conventional dilution plating with miniaturized extinction culturing, both performed after an initial enrichment step. The extinction approach rendered 22 MOB isolates from four environmental samples, while no MOB could be isolated by plating. In most cases, extinction culturing immediately yielded MOB monocultures making laborious purification redundant. Both type I (Methylomonas spp.) and type II (Methylosinus sp.) MOB were isolated. The isolated methanotrophic diversity represented at least 11 different strains and several novel species based on 16S rRNA gene sequence dissimilarity. These strains possessed the particulate (100%) and soluble (64%) methane monooxygenase gene. Also, 73% of the strains could be linked to a highly active fast‐growing mixed MOB community. In conclusion, miniaturized extinction culturing was more efficient in rapidly isolating numerous MOB requiring little effort and fewer materials, compared with the more widely applied plating procedure. This miniaturized approach allowed straightforward isolation and could be very useful for subsequent screening of desired characteristics, in view of their future biotechnological potential

An Interaction Game Framework for the Investigation of Human–Agent Cooperation

Kulms P, Mattar N, Kopp S. An Interaction Game Framework for the Investigation of Human–Agent Cooperation. In: Brinkman WP, Broekens J, Heylen DKJ, eds. Intelligent Virtual Agents. Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Vol. 9238. Springer; 2015: 399-402.Success in human-agent interaction will to a large extent depend on the ability of the system to cooperate with humans over repeated tasks. It is not yet clear how cooperation between humans and virtual agents evolves and is interlinked with the attribution of qualities like trustworthiness or competence between the cooperation partners. To explore these questions, we present a new interaction game framework that is centered around a collaborative puzzle game and goes beyond commonly adopted scenarios like the Prisoner’s dilemma. First results are presented at the conference

Scanning European Needs and Expectations Related to Livestock Biosecurity Training by Using the World Café Method

The European Union Animal Health Law (2016/429) emphasizes disease prevention, underpinned by livestock biosecurity, surveillance, and traceability, as key aspects to minimize the risk of animal diseases. An important element of biosecurity is the training of key actors involved in implementing it. However, their needs and expectations regarding this training are poorly known. Under the COST action BETTER (CA20103), a World Café was organized to identify the needs and expectations of biosecurity training for farmers, veterinary practitioners, veterinary students, and other actors. A total of 78 participants distributed in four groups participated in the World Café. Needs and expectations were identified and ranked in decreasing order of importance. For farmers, the most important aspects were training focusing on practical aspects, the planning of training sessions in the day to accommodate workload, the need to prepare multiple reminders of upcoming training, and the short duration of events. For veterinary practitioners, it was considered that a mixed approach, including a theoretical and a practical part where people are invited to create a biosecurity plan and a follow-up report, were the most important features of training. For veterinary students, creating a good knowledge of the main principles of biosecurity was found as an essential element of training. Regarding other actors, gaining an understanding in the spread of pathogens and the repercussions on the cost of animal products that diseases might have (consumers), training on good/best practices of cleaning and disinfection and the development of clear protocols (transporters), and a mixture of formal and informal training and training on communication skills (other actors) were considered important. The World Café was a useful method to have a first identification, discussion, and differentiation on livestock biosecurity training needs and expectations of the key actors, although additional follow-up research involving more participants from more diverse countries with different coverage of cultures and education would be beneficial. These needs and expectations are relevant and should be considered when designing new training courses