Generating Instructions at Different Levels of Abstraction

When generating technical instructions, it is often convenient to describe complex objects in the world at different levels of abstraction. A novice user might need an object explained piece by piece, while for an expert, talking about the complex object (e.g. a wall or railing) directly may be more succinct and efficient. We show how to generate building instructions at different levels of abstraction in Minecraft. We introduce the use of hierarchical planning to this end, a method from AI planning which can capture the structure of complex objects neatly. A crowdsourcing evaluation shows that the choice of abstraction level matters to users, and that an abstraction strategy which balances low-level and high-level object descriptions compares favorably to ones which don't.Comment: Accepted COLING 2020 long pape

Developing a predator-prey model for the hake and blue whiting spanish fisheries.pdf

The aim of this work is to develop a predator-prey model for two species of commercial importance captured by the Spanish fishing fleet in the National Fishing Ground (ICES areas VIIIc and IXa). In this model, the Southern hake (Merluccius merluccius) represents the predator, and the blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) is the prey. Blue whiting is the hake’s main prey in the study area, and it represents about 40% of the Southern hake diet. Both the predator and prey population dynamics follow the Lotka-Volterra formulation, and population dynamics are assumed as logistic, with two interaction coefficients: α is the effect of a unit change in the prey on the percent growth rate of the predator and β is the attack rate or searching efficiency of the predator. The populations interact randomly in proportion to population density. Logistic predator-prey equations were applied to the Southern hake and blue whiting stocks, including biomass, intrinsic rates of growth, carrying capacity and capture for both species. The goal is to maximize the present value of profit, forming the current value Hamiltonian for the maximization problem. Capture costs and prices of hake and blue whiting and discount rate were introduced at this point. Landings and SSB (Spawning Stock Biomass) data from both stocks over the period 1988-2010 were used for an econometric estimation by means of the Ordinary Least Squares method, to determine the form taken by the predator-prey net growth functions

To shape or to be shaped : engaging stakeholders in fishery management advice

The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of the collaboration between stakeholders and scientists in the construction of a bio-economic model to simulate management strategies for the fisheries in Iberian Atlantic waters. For three years, different stakeholders were involved in a model development study, participating in meetings, surveys and workshops. Participatory modelling involved the definition of objectives and priorities of stakeholders, a qualitative evaluation and validation of the model for use by decision-makers, and an iterative process with the fishing sector to interpret results and introduce new scenarios for numerical simulation. The results showed that the objectives of the participating stakeholders differed. Incorporating objectives into the design of the model and prioritising them was a challenging task. We showed that the parameterization of the model and the analysis of the scenarios results could be improved by the fishers’ input: e.g. ray and skate stocks were explicitly included in the model; and the behaviour of fleet dynamics proved much more complex than assumed in any traditional modelling approach. Overall, this study demonstrated that stakeholder engagement through dialogue and many interactions was beneficial for both, scientists and the fishing industry. The researchers obtained a final refined model and the fishing industry benefited for participating in a process, which enables them to influence decisions that may affect them directly (to shape) whereas non-participatory processes lead to management strategies being imposed on stakeholders (to be shaped)

Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Based Combination Immunotherapy to Boost Antigen-Specific CD8+ T Cell Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Peña-Asensio, J.; Calvo, H.; Torralba, M.; Miquel, J.; Sanz-de-Villalobos, E.; Larrubia, J.-R. Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Based Combination Immunotherapy to Boost Antigen-Specific CD8+ T Cell Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Cancers 2021, 13, 1922.Thirty to fifty percent of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) display an immune class genetic signature. In this type of tumor, HCC-specific CD8 T cells carry out a key role in HCC control. Those potential reactive HCC-specific CD8 T cells recognize either HCC immunogenic neoantigens or aberrantly expressed host’s antigens, but they become progressively exhausted or deleted. These cells express the negative immunoregulatory checkpoint programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) which impairs T cell receptor signaling by blocking the CD28 positive co-stimulatory signal. The pool of CD8 cells sensitive to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 treatment is the PD-1dim memory-like precursor pool that gives rise to the effector subset involved in HCC control. Due to the epigenetic imprints that are transmitted to the next generation, the effect of PD-1 blockade is transient, and repeated treatments lead to tumor resistance. During long-lasting disease, besides the TCR signaling impairment, T cells develop other failures that should be also set-up to increase T cell reactivity. Therefore, several PD-1 blockade-based combinatory therapies are currently under investigation such as adding antiangiogenics, anti-TGFβ1, blockade of other negative immune checkpoints, or increasing HCC antigen presentation. The effect of these combinations on CD8+ T cells is discussed in this review.Instituto de Salud Carlos IIIEuropean Regional Development Fund (ERDF)European UnionGilead Fellowship Programm

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

A Many-analysts Approach to the Relation Between Religiosity and Well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates