Automatic Mapping of NES Games with Mappy

Game maps are useful for human players, general-game-playing agents, and data-driven procedural content generation. These maps are generally made by hand-assembling manually-created screenshots of game levels. Besides being tedious and error-prone, this approach requires additional effort for each new game and level to be mapped. The results can still be hard for humans or computational systems to make use of, privileging visual appearance over semantic information. We describe a software system, Mappy, that produces a good approximation of a linked map of rooms given a Nintendo Entertainment System game program and a sequence of button inputs exploring its world. In addition to visual maps, Mappy outputs grids of tiles (and how they change over time), positions of non-tile objects, clusters of similar rooms that might in fact be the same room, and a set of links between these rooms. We believe this is a necessary step towards developing larger corpora of high-quality semantically-annotated maps for PCG via machine learning and other applications.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Appearing at Procedural Content Generation Workshop 201

Toxicological Impact of Agricultural Surfactants on Australian Frogs

Surfactants are one of the more ubiquitous contaminants in aquatic systems. Their importance as toxic components of pesticide formulations has, however, been largely overlooked. Amphibians particularly, as inhabitants of shallow, temporary and often lentic aquatic environments may be at risk from exposure to these chemicals when they enter aquatic systems. This thesis presents data on the toxicity of surfactants to amphibians. Several experimental exposures were conducted with embryo-larval, tadpole and adult developmental stages of the Australian species- Crinia insignifera, Helcioporus eyrei, Limnodynastes dorsalis and Litoria moorei and the exotic species- Bufo marinus and Xenopus laevis. Animals were variously exposed to glyphosate formulations that contain a high proportion of nonionic surfactants, or commercial pesticide wetting agents (alcohol alkoxylate and nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) surfactants). Feeding stage tadpoles of C.insignifera, H. eyrei, L. dorsalis and L. moorei were exposed to three commercial glyphosate formulations, glyphosate isopropylamine and glyphosate acid in static-renewal acute toxicity tests. The 48-h LC50 values for Roundup Herbicide (MON 2139) tested against tadpoles of C. insignifera, H. eyrei, L. dorsalis and L. moorei ranged between 8.1 and 32.2 mg/L (2.9 and 11.6 mg/L glyphosate acid equivalent (ae)), while the 48-h LC50 values for Roundup Herbicide tested against adult and newly metamorphosed C. insignifera ranged from 137-144 mg/L (49.4-51.8 mg/L ae).Touchdown Herbicide (4 LC-E) tested against tadpoles of C. insignifera, H. eyrei, L. dorsalis and L. moorei was slightly less toxic than Roundup with 48-h LC50 values ranging between 27.3 and 48.7 mg/L (9.0 and 16.1 mg/L ae). Roundup Biactive (MON 77920) was practically non-toxic to tadpoles of the same four species producing 48-h LC50 values of 911 mg/L (328 mg/L ae) for L. moorei and >1000 mg/L (>360 mg/L ae) for C. insignifera, H. eyrei and L. dorsalis. Glyphosate isopropylamine was practically non-toxic producing no mortality amongst tadpoles of any of the four species over 48 h, at concentrations between 503 and 684 mg/L (343 and 466 mg/L ae). The toxicity of technical grade glyphosate acid (48-h LC50, 81.2-121 mg/L) is likely to be due to acid intolerance. Feeding stage tadpoles of B. marinus, X laevis, C. insignifera, H.eyrei, L. dorsalis and L. moorei were exposed to NPE and alcohol alkoxylate in static renewal acute toxicity tests. All species exhibited non-specific narcosis following exposure to both these surfactants. The 48-h EC50 values for NPE ranged between 1.1 mg/L (mild narcosis) and 12.1 mg/L (full narcosis). The 48-h EC50 values for alcohol alkoxylate ranged between 5.3 mg/L (mild narcosis) and 25.4 mg/L (full narcosis). Xenopus laevis was the most sensitive species tested. The sensitivity of the other five species was size dependent with larger species displaying greater tolerance. Replicate acute toxicity tests with B. marinus exposed to NPE at 30 degrees celsius over 96 hours indicated that the narcotic effects were not particularly time dependant.The mean 24, 48, 72 and 96-h EC50 (mild narcosis) were 3.6, 3.7, 3.5 and 3.5 mg/L respectively. The mean 24, 48, 72, and 96-h EC50 (full narcosis) values were 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 and 4.0 respectively. Acute toxicity tests with B. marinus exposed to NPE at 30 degrees celsius under conditions of low dissolved oxygen (0.8-2.3 mg/L) produced a two to threefold increase in toxicity. The 12-h EC50 values ranged from 1.4 to 2.2 mg/L. The embryotoxicity of NPE was determined in X. laevis, L. adelaidensis and C. insignifera using a Frog Embryo Teratogenesis assay-Xenopus (FETAX). The 96-h LC50, EC50 and MCIG (LOEC) values for X. laevis were 3.9 to 5.4 mg/L, 2.8 to 4.6 mg/L and 1.0 to 3.0 mg/L respectively. The 140-h LC50, ECSO and MCIG values for L. adelaidensis were 9.2 mg/L, 8.8 mg/L and 5.1 to 6.0 ing/L respectively. The 134-h LC50, EC50 and MCIG values for C. insignifera were 6.4 mg/L, 4.5 mg/L and 4.0 mg/L respectively. Teratogenicity indices for the three species ranged between 1.0 and 1.6 indicating either no or low teratogenicity. Xenopus laevis was the more sensitive of the three species and the only species that displayed indisputable terata. The acute toxicity data indicated that the amphibian species tested were of similar sensitivity to fish and some invertebrates. Developmental retardation and oestrogenic effects following exposure to nonylphenol ethoxylate were indicated by sublethal toxicity tests. Crinia insignifera embryos were exposed during early embryogenesis to sublethal concentrations of NPE.Exposure to NPE did not affect either weight nor size (snout-vent length) at metamorphosis. Exposure to 5.0mg/L NPE resulted in a significant delay in the time required to reach metamorphosis. Also, exposure to 3.0 mg/L NPE for the first 6 days of embryonic development or exposure to 5.0 mg/L NPE from day 2 to day 6 resulted in a statistically significant predominance in the female phenotype amongst metamorphosing froglets. Exposure for the first five days to 1.5 ing/L or 3.0 mg/L NPE had no effect on sex ratio. The results indicated that exposure to NPEs has endocrine disruptive effects in this species and that a narrow window of susceptibility exists for the induction of predominantly female phenotype. This study has also followed the degradation of a mixture of NPE oligomers and the concomitant formation of individual oligomers in static die-away tests with and without illumination in freshwater. Over 33 days in darkness there was a progressive and complete loss of long chain oligomers (NPEO(subscript)8-17), transient increases and subsequent loss of short to medium chain oligomers (NPE0(subscript)4-7), and large persistent increases (approximately 1000%) in short chain oligomers (NPE0(subscript)1-3). In the presence of illumination, biodegradation was retarded and heterotrophic bacterial proliferation was inhibited. After 33 days there was complete loss of long chain oligomers (NPE0(subscript)9-17), incomplete loss of medium chain oligomers (NPE0(subscript)6.8) and increases in short chain oligomers (NPE0(subscript)1-5).This thesis discusses the importance of persistent metabolites of NPE degradation as it pertains to the habitat, developmental time frame and ecology of amphibians. Degradation of NPE is likely to occur over a time frame that is longer than that required for complete embryogenesis and metamorphosis of many species of amphibians, and may easily encompass those critical stages of development during which oestrogenic metabolites can affect development

Regenerating a Symmetry in Asymmetric Dark Matter

Asymmetric dark matter theories generically allow for mass terms that lead to particle-antiparticle mixing. Over the age of the Universe, dark matter can thus oscillate from a purely asymmetric configuration into a symmetric mix of particles and antiparticles, allowing for pair-annihilation processes. Additionally, requiring efficient depletion of the primordial thermal (symmetric) component generically entails large annihilation rates. We show that unless some symmetry completely forbids dark matter particle-antiparticle mixing, asymmetric dark matter is effectively ruled out for a large range of masses, for almost any oscillation time-scale shorter than the age of the Universe.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Technical Note: Comparison of storage strategies of sea surface microlayer samples

The sea surface microlayer (SML) is an important biogeochemical system whose physico-chemical analysis often necessitates some degree of sample storage. However, many SML components degrade with time so the development of optimal storage protocols is paramount. We here briefly review some commonly used treatment and storage protocols. Using freshwater and saline SML samples from a river estuary, we investigated temporal changes in surfactant activity (SA) and the absorbance and fluorescence of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) over four weeks, following selected sample treatment and storage protocols. Some variability in the effectiveness of individual protocols most likely reflects sample provenance. None of the various protocols examined performed any better than dark storage at 4 °C without pre-treatment. We therefore recommend storing samples refrigerated in the dark

The Stakeholder Experience of a large scale final year undergraduate social community research project

Objective: In 2014 The School of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham needed to deliver individual research methods supervision by a small number of academic staff to a large number of final year students. There are limited opportunities for students to gain patient facing experience on this course. The learning initiative was designed to meet these needs. Design: Dissertation students were offered a unique opportunity to participate in a large scale community pharmacy research project. Eighty-two students collected standardised data from patients across 36 pharmacies in the Greater Nottingham area. Local data collection supervision was provided by the local community pharmacists at the data collection sites. Academic supervision was provided to students using a hub and spoke model with ‘hub’ supervision provided by two members of staff offering broad methodological support to the cohort. This was further supported by local supervisors providing individualised ‘spoke’ support to students. Students were able to examine and report on their local results. The data generated overall provides a mass dataset for further examination by academics. An independent evaluation of stakeholder experience was undertaken. Assessment: Students were assessed by a poster presentation and written report summarising one segment of local analysis. Conclusion: Academics saw the hub and spoke model of supervision as innovative and a positive and efficient use of their time. All participating stakeholders feel that students benefit from the timely development of their transferable skills for their professional career; skills cited as requirements for pharmacy education by the GPhC (2011)

Small neutrino masses due to R-symmetry breaking for a small cosmological constant

We describe a class of supersymmetric models in which neutrinos are kept light by an R-symmetry. In supergravity, R-symmetry must be broken to allow for a small cosmological constant after supersymmetry breaking. In the class of models described here, this R-symmetry breaking results in the generation of Dirac neutrino masses, connecting the tuning of the cosmological constant to the puzzle of neutrino masses. Surprisingly, under the assumption of low-scale supersymmetry breaking and superpartner masses close to a TeV, these masses are independent of the fundamental supersymmetry-breaking scale, and accommodate the correct magnitude. This offers a novel explanation for the vastly different scales of neutrino and charged fermion masses. These models require that R-symmetric supersymmetry exists at the TeV scale, and predict that neutrino masses are purely Dirac, implying the absence of neutrino-less double beta-decay. Interesting collider signals can arise due to charged scalars which decay leptonically, with branching ratios determined by the neutrino mixing matrix.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. v2 matches published versio

Anti-Hawking Phenomena around a Rotating BTZ Black Hole

In both flat and curved spacetimes, there are weak and strong versions of the anti-Unruh/anti-Hawking effects, in which the KMS field temperature is anti-correlated with the response of a detector and its inferred temperature. We investigate for the first time the effects on the weak and strong anti-Hawking effects for an Unruh-DeWitt detector orbiting a BTZ black hole in the co-rotating frame. We find that rotation can significantly amplify the strength of the weak anti-Hawking effect, whereas it can either amplify or reduce the strength of the strong anti-Hawking effect depending on boundary conditions. For the strong anti-Hawking effect, we find a non-monotonic relationship between the angular momentum and detector temperature for each boundary condition. In addition, we note that the weak anti-Hawking effect is independent of a changing AdS length, while a longer AdS length increases the temperature range of the strong anti-Hawking effect.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Business improvement tools and techniques: a comparison across sectors and industries

The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness, usage, perceived effectiveness and potential future use of improvement tools and techniques via two sets of comparisons: between public and private sector organisations, and between manufacturers and service organisations. The need for the study was driven by the current lack of understanding of the extent of improvement tools and techniques adoption on a global scale. A questionnaire survey of 453 respondents from over 20 countries was conducted and the quantitative data were analysed through use of the IBM SPSS software package. The study’s findings indicated that there are no significant differences between both sets of organisations for the majority of improvement tools and techniques. However, this study has shown that public sector organisations are more likely to adopt some improvement tools and techniques in comparison to their private sector counterparts. Similarly, service organisations are also more likely to adopt some improvement tools and techniques than their manufacturing counterparts. These results contradict the conventional perception that improvement tools and techniques are used more often by the private sector and manufacturing organisations

Reducing Smoking Among Distracted Individuals: A Preliminary Investigation

INTRODUCTION: According to the attentional myopia model, salient cues that serve to inhibit behavior can be especially effective under conditions of limited attention. A small field study tested the implications of this model for smoking reduction. METHODS: Twenty-three undergraduate smokers were exposed to a prominent health warning for 2 5-day experimental phases, with phase order counterbalanced across participants. During one phase, participants simply viewed the warning at regular intervals. During the other phase, participants viewed the warning for the same duration but also simultaneously performed a distracting cognitive load task. RESULTS: Participants in the phase that combined a health warning with cognitive load reported smoking significantly fewer cigarettes and taking significantly fewer puffs of smoke as compared to a baseline comparison phase-a reduction in smoking not observed in the absence of cognitive load. CONCLUSIONS: Sources of attentional distraction may heighten the impact of salient smoking warnings, resulting in significant reductions in smoking