Measuring and Modeling Physical Intrinsic Motivation

Humans are interactive agents driven to seek out situations with interesting physical dynamics. Here we formalize the functional form of physical intrinsic motivation. We first collect ratings of how interesting humans find a variety of physics scenarios. We then model human interestingness responses by implementing various hypotheses of intrinsic motivation including models that rely on simple scene features to models that depend on forward physics prediction. We find that the single best predictor of human responses is adversarial reward, a model derived from physical prediction loss. We also find that simple scene feature models do not generalize their prediction of human responses across all scenarios. Finally, linearly combining the adversarial model with the number of collisions in a scene leads to the greatest improvement in predictivity of human responses, suggesting humans are driven towards scenarios that result in high information gain and physical activity.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted to CogSci 2023 with full paper publication in the proceeding

a network coding based dtn convergence layer reliable transport mechanism over interplanetary networks

The realization of deep space scientific missions are enabled by the developments in the space technologies. TCP can not provide effective communication service in deep space links because of the long propagation delay and high BERs characteristics. Scientific community propose Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) for resolving the communication problem between earth and other planet. DTN introduces a new layer in the protocol stack called Bundle Layer that is placed between application layer and transport layer. DTN calls the transport protocols that it uses to move data across different networks convergence layers. This study present a novel Network Coding based convergence layer Reliable Trans Port mechanism(NC-RTP) in order to provide effective communication service between DTN peers. This mechanism transmit a coded bundle every M original bundles(M is related to the packet error rate of the communication link). The coded bundle is a random linear combination of previous M original bundles. Using coded bundle and (M-1)original bundles, the receiver could decode and generate a single lost bundle of previous 1\4 original bundles. In this way, NC-RTP could compensate any single lost bundle in (M+1) transmitted bundles(including M original bundles and 1. coded bundle). Our theoretical and simulation performance evaluation results reveal that NC-RTP can enhance transmit reliability and make file transfered faster.The realization of deep space scientific missions are enabled by the developments in the space technologies. TCP can not provide effective communication service in deep space links because of the long propagation delay and high BERs characteristics. Scientific community propose Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) for resolving the communication problem between earth and other planet. DTN introduces a new layer in the protocol stack called Bundle Layer that is placed between application layer and transport layer. DTN calls the transport protocols that it uses to move data across different networks convergence layers. This study present a novel Network Coding based convergence layer Reliable Trans Port mechanism(NC-RTP) in order to provide effective communication service between DTN peers. This mechanism transmit a coded bundle every M original bundles(M is related to the packet error rate of the communication link). The coded bundle is a random linear combination of previous M original bundles. Using coded bundle and (M-1)original bundles, the receiver could decode and generate a single lost bundle of previous 1\4 original bundles. In this way, NC-RTP could compensate any single lost bundle in (M+1) transmitted bundles(including M original bundles and 1. coded bundle). Our theoretical and simulation performance evaluation results reveal that NC-RTP can enhance transmit reliability and make file transfered faster

How do new transit stations affect people's sentiment and activity? A case study based on social media data in Hong Kong

Urban rail development can increase land value, reduce commute time, and increase accessibility, as reported in the literature. However, little is known about the impact of opening urban rail transit stations on people's sentiment, particularly in the context of large metropolises where population density is significantly high. This paper investigates such impact by studying six new transit stations opened in Hong Kong. People's sentiment and activity in station nearby areas are estimated by tweet sentiment and tweet activity. We use the difference-in-difference model to study the impact of opening new transit stations. Tweet sentiment, tweet activity, tweet content, and footprints of people who visit the station-influenced area ‘before and after’ the opening of transit stations are analyzed. The results suggest that, in general, the introduction of transit stations causes a positive change in tweet activity, and the change is statistically significant after six months. Regarding tweet sentiment, new transit stations tend to pose a mixed effect in a short-term, a positive influence on areas with high-density residential places, yet a negative influence on areas with a large proportion of nature reserve areas. These short-term effects, positive or negative, become not significant in the long term (after twelve months). Our analysis also confirmed that the introduction of new transit stations increased accessibility from (to) other parts of the city to(from) the station's nearby area, which was shown by the expanded locations sustaining users visited. These findings indicate that the urban rail transit system in Hong Kong promotes more active neighborhoods yet does not always promotes positive influence on people's sentiment. Further studies are needed to make future urban rail transit systems promoting active and happy neighborhoods. The study is relevant to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in methodologies, data, and findings. The social media analysis method used in this study, including text mining and sentiment analysis, can be easily extended to multiple language analysis for Singapore, Malaysia, as well as other regions in the belt and road plan. The developed tools could contribute to analyzing the influence of cross-country projects on local neighborhoods in the belt and road plan.Aerospace Transport & Operation

Post-ischemic vascular adhesion protein-1 inhibition provides neuroprotection in a rat temporary middle cerebral artery occlusion model

We examined the neuroprotective efficacy associated with post-ischemic vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) blockade in rats subjected to transient (1h) middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). We compared saline-treated control rats to rats treated with a highly-selective VAP-1 inhibitor, LJP-1586 [Z-3-fluoro-2-(4-methoxybenzyl) allylamine hydrochloride]. Initial intraperitoneal LJP-1586 (or saline control) treatments were delayed until 6h or 12h reperfusion. At 72h reperfusion, LJP-1586-treated rats displayed 51% and 33% smaller infarct volumes, relative to their controls, in the 6- and 12h-treatment groups, respectively. However, only in the 6h-treatment group was the infarct volume reduction significant (p<0.05). On the other hand, we observed significantly improved neurologic functions in both 6- and 12h-treatment groups, versus their matched controls (p<0.05). Also, the effect of 6h LJP-1586 treatment on post-ischemic leukocyte trafficking in pial venules overlying the ischemic cortex was evaluated using intravital microscopy. These experiments revealed that: 1) LJP-1586 did not affect intravascular leukocyte (largely neutrophil) adhesion, at least out to 12h reperfusion; and 2) the onset of neutrophil extravasation, which occurred between 6-8h reperfusion in control rats, was prevented by LJP-1586-treatment. In conclusion, in rats subjected to transient MCAo, selective VAP-1 pharmacologic blockade provided neuroprotection, with a prolonged therapeutic window of 6 to 12h reperfusion