Minds for robots.

In the 1950s and 60s, popular culture was entranced by robots. There was Robby in Forbidden Planet, Gort in The day the Earth stood still and many others. This fascination has continued to the present day, only the names have changed, now we have Commander Data of Startrek and the NS-5 of I Robot. Yet despite the interest and the obvious advantages of having intelligent machines to do dirty, boring or dangerous jobs, we are little nearer to creating a similar technology in the real world. This article outlines a new route towards such intelligence in machines - Incremental Evolution

ACCERT: Auckland's cancer cachexia evaluating resistance training study

Background: Cancer Cachexia (CC) is a common problem seen in many advanced malignancies including Non- Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). In CC there is a significant loss of adipose tissue and skeletal muscle mass. Muscle wasting is the main cause of impaired function, leading to respiratory complications and fatigue. The optimal treatment for CC is the complete removal of the tumour; unfortunately with advanced NSCLC this is unachievable. The next best options are to increase nutritional intake to counteract weight loss, address the anorexia, inflammation, and metabolic alterations i.e. loss of body fat and the skeletal muscle wasting. This requires the need to utilise a multi-targeted approach to decrease the inflammation and to stimulate the skeletal anabolic pathways with the use of progressive resistance training (PRT). PRT has shown acceptability and benefits in other cancer populations. This study aims to identify a novel multi-targeted treatment regimen that will alleviate and/or stabilise CC weight loss. Methods: This is a randomised, open-label study to investigate whether 2 sessions each week of PRT followed by essential amino acids (EAA's) high in leucine, when administered in addition to Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) and a Cox-2 inhibitor is acceptable to NSCLC cachectic patients for a period of 20 weeks (primary endpoint). Secondary endpoints include Lean Body Mass, MRI thigh skeletal muscle values, QoL and Fatigue questionnaires, serum pro-inflammatory cytokine profiles, and hand and leg strength. Safety data will also be collected. Outcome measures to power a future study will be determined from the trend in difference between the two groups. 21 patients are planned to be randomised in a 1:2 ratio Arm A EPA and Cox-2 inhibitor vs. Arm B EPA, Cox-2 inhibitor, PRT followed by EAA's. All patients are offered to continue with the study medications and/or PRT sessions on compassionate use. Main inclusion criteria include: histological proven NSCLC patients who have at least 5% weight loss and fulfil the following cachectic definition (Evans Clin Nut 2008 27). A guest patient was enrolled in May 2012, followed by study participants in June 201

Evolution and devolved action: towards the evolution of systems.

The Artificial Neural Networks group at the Robert Gordon University has, over the last six years, built up considerable knowledge and practical experience in Evolutionary Artificial Neural Networks. This experience started with the PhD project by C MacLeod [1] and continued with the work of D McMinn [2] which is due for submission in June 2001. These are being followed up by the work of research students A B Reddipogu and N F Capanni. Initial work concentrated on Neural Networks that could grow to fulfil their function. C MacLeod, in his thesis on this topic, proposed a model of a robotic control system to be used as a vehicle for further research. This model formed the basis of D McMinns project. The robotic control system [2, 3, 4] has a defined modular structure that enables the researcher to create networks for particular tasks and so allow the robot to function. McMinn has used this structure successfully as a basis to develop Evolutionary ANNs implementing Central Pattern Generators and Reflexes for robot locomotion. It has become apparent, over the course of these projects, that a network that can evolve into a modular structure without the need for designed partitioning would be the next step forward for the groups research. This should allow the network to develop naturally and in an open-ended way without the need to artificially constrain it. Such an approach needs an evolutionary algorithm that can automatically and naturally evolve a system: that is, a modular network rather than a fully interconnected homogenous structure. No acceptable Genetic or Evolutionary Techniques are currently available to do this. The group therefore needed to look to nature and discover the reasons why natural systems allowed such modularity to evolve and how it might be exploited in the course of future work. It was felt that this work would be a culmination of the groups research to date, both furthering the work on robotic control systems and also including ideas from previous practical work, by MacLeod and McMinn, in terms of Evolutionary Networks and Incremental Evolution (Embryological Algorithms) [1]. This is because such a network will need to evolve and to grow from a simple to complex structure. The research and ideas that lay the foundations for this work are contained in this report. The report also considers two related aspects (neural learning and neural function), but as explained above, it is the layout topology or wiring which is felt to be the most important topic. After all, complex systems may be built up from simple elements, such as transistors or gates (or indeed, at the most basic level, atoms), providing that they are interconnected in the correct manner. Therefore, to summarise: We are concerned with discovering an evolutionary method capable of evolving systems. To establish a method capable of this, we must look again at the action of biological evolution and compare it with current artificial evolutionary methods

The Stroop revisited: a meta-analysis of interference control in AD/HD

Background: An inhibition deficit, including poor interference control, has been implicated as one of the core deficits in AD/HD. Interference control is clinically measured by the Stroop Colour-Word Task. The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the strength of an interference deficit in AD/HD as measured by the Stroop Colour-Word Task and to assess the role of moderating variables that could explain the results. These moderating variables included: methods of calculating the interference score, comorbid reading and psychiatric disorders, AD/HD-subtypes, gender, age, intellectual functioning, medication, and sample size. Methods: Seventeen independent studies were located including 1395 children, adolescents, and young adults, in the age range of 6-27 years. A meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effect sizes for the scores on the word and the colour card as well as the interference score. Results: Children with AD/HD performed more poorly on all three dependent variables. The effect sizes for word reading (d = .49) and colour naming (d = .58) were larger and more homogeneous than the effect size for the interference score (d = .35). The method used to calculate the interference score strongly influenced the findings for this measure. When interference control was calculated as the difference between the score on the colour card minus the score on the colour-word card, no differences were found between AD/HD groups and normal control groups. Discussion: The Stroop Colour-Word Task, in standard form, does not provide strong evidence for a deficit in interference control in AD/HD. However, the Stroop Colour-Word Task may not be a valid measure of interference control in AD/HD and alternative methodologies may be needed to test this aspect of the inhibitory deficit model in AD/HD. © Association for Child Psychology Psychiatry, 2004

Subduction controls of Hf and Nd isotopes in lavas of the Aleutian island arc

The Hf and Nd isotopic compositions of 71 Quaternary lavas collected from locations along the full length of the Aleutian island arc are used to constrain the sources of Aleutian magmas and to provide insight into the geochemical behavior of Nd and Hf and related elements in the Aleutian subduction-magmatic system. Isotopic compositions of Aleutian lavas fall approximately at the center of, and form a trend parallel to, the terrestrial Hf-Nd isotopic array with {var_epsilon}{sub Hf} of +12.0 to +15.5 and {var_epsilon}{sub Nd} of +6.5 to +10.5. Basalts, andesites, and dacites within volcanic centers or in nearby volcanoes generally all have similar isotopic compositions, indicating that there is little measurable effect of crustal or other lithospheric assimilation within the volcanic plumbing systems of Aleutian volcanoes. Hafnium isotopic compositions have a clear pattern of along-arc increase that is continuous from the eastern-most locations near Cold Bay to Piip Seamount in the western-most part of the arc. This pattern is interpreted to reflect a westward decrease in the subducted sediment component present in Aleutian lavas, reflecting progressively lower rates of subduction westward as well as decreasing availability of trench sediment. Binary bulk mixing models (sediment + peridotite) demonstrate that 1-2% of the Hf in Aleutian lavas is derived from subducted sediment, indicating that Hf is mobilized out of the subducted sediment with an efficiency that is similar to that of Sr, Pb and Nd. Low published solubility for Hf and Nd in aqueous subduction fluids lead us to conclude that these elements are mobilized out of the subducted component and transferred to the mantle wedge as bulk sediment or as a silicate melt. Neodymium isotopes also generally increase from east to west, but the pattern is absent in the eastern third of the arc, where the sediment flux is high and increases from east to west, due to the presence of abundant terrigenous sediment in the trench east of the Amlia Fracture Zone, which is being subducting beneath the arc at Seguam Island. Mixing trends between mantle wedge and sediment end members become flatter in Hf-Nd isotope space at locations further west along the arc, indicating that the sediment end member in the west has either higher Nd/Hf or is more radiogenic in Hf compared to Nd. This pattern is interpreted to reflect an increase in pelagic clay relative to the terrigenous subducted sedimentary component westward along the arc. Results of this study imply that Hf does not behave as a conservative element in the Aleutian subduction system, as has been proposed for some other arcs

Lenalidomide in combination with dexamethasone at first relapse in comparison with its use as later salvage therapy in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma

This subset analysis of data from two phase III studies in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM) evaluated the benefit of initiating lenalidomide plus dexamethasone at first relapse. Multivariate analysis showed that fewer prior therapies, along with β2-microglobulin (≤2.5 mg/L), predicted a better time to progression (TTP; study end-point) with lenalidomide plus dexamethasone treatment. Patients with one prior therapy showed a significant improvement in benefit after first relapse compared with those who received two or more therapies. Patients with one prior therapy had significantly prolonged median TTP (17.1 vs. 10.6 months; P=0.026) and progression-free survival (14.1 vs. 9.5 months, P=0.047) compared with patients treated in later lines. Overall response rates were higher (66.9% vs. 56.8%, P=0.06), and the complete response plus very good partial response rate was significantly higher in first relapse (39.8% vs. 27.7%, P=0.025). Importantly, overall survival was significantly prolonged for patients treated with lenalidomide plus dexamethasone with one prior therapy, compared with patients treated later in salvage (median of 42.0 vs. 35.8 months, P=0.041), with no differences in toxicity, dose reductions, or discontinuations despite longer treatment. Therefore, lenalidomide plus dexamethasone is both effective and tolerable for second-line MM therapy and the data suggest that the greatest benefit occurs with earlier use

Height Systems and Vertical Datums: a Review in the Australian Context

This paper reviews (without equations) the various definitions of height systems and vertical geodetic datum surfaces, together with their practical realisation for users in Australia. Excluding geopotential numbers, a height system is a one-dimensional coordinate system used to express the metric distance (height) of a point from some reference surface. Its definition varies according to the reference surface chosen and the path along which the height is measured. A vertical geodetic datum is the practical realisation of a height system and its reference surface for users, nominally tied to mean sea level. In Australia, the normal-orthometric height system is used, which is embedded in the Australian Height Datum (AHD). The AHD was realised by the adjustment of ~195,000 km of spirit-levelling observations fixed to limited-term observations of mean sea level at multiple tide-gauges. The paper ends by giving some explanation of the problems with the AHD and of the differences between the AHD and the national geoid model, pointing out that it is preferable to recompute the AHD

All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients with initial LIGO

We present the results of a search for long-duration gravitational wave transients in two sets of data collected by the LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston detectors between November 5, 2005 and September 30, 2007, and July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010, with a total observational time of 283.0 days and 132.9 days, respectively. The search targets gravitational wave transients of duration 10-500 s in a frequency band of 40-1000 Hz, with minimal assumptions about the signal waveform, polarization, source direction, or time of occurrence. All candidate triggers were consistent with the expected background; as a result we set 90% confidence upper limits on the rate of long-duration gravitational wave transients for different types of gravitational wave signals. For signals from black hole accretion disk instabilities, we set upper limits on the source rate density between 3.4×10-5 and 9.4×10-4 Mpc-3 yr-1 at 90% confidence. These are the first results from an all-sky search for unmodeled long-duration transient gravitational waves. © 2016 American Physical Society