Simulation of emotions of agents in virtual environments using neural networks

A distributed architecture for a system simulating the emotional state of an agent acting in a virtual environment is presented. The system is an implementation of an event appraisal model of emotional behaviour and uses neural networks to learn how the emotional state should be influenced by the occurrence of environmental and internal\ud stimuli. A part of the modular system is domain-independent. The system can easily be adapted for handling different events that influence the emotional state. A first\ud prototype and a testbed for this architecture are presented

The Application of the Geiger-Müller Ion Counter to the Study of the Space Distribution of X-ray Photoelectrons

The photographic plate in the apparatus for the magnetic analysis of x-ray photoelectrons has been replaced by a Geiger-Müller ion counter and the magnetic spectrum of the photoelectrons ejected from a thin film of gold by primary x-ray from molybdenum has been studied. Very great resolving power is obtained and considerable precision in determining the exact position of the lines (i.e. the energies of the photoelectrons). The numbers of LIII electrons of gold ejected by the Kα1 x-ray of molybdenum have been plotted as a function of the angle of ejection and compared with the theoretical longitudinal distribution predicted by Schur

The Direction of Ejection of X-Ray Electrons

No conclusive evidence that the direction in which photo-electrons are ejected by X-rays depends in any way upon the nature of the atom from which the ejection takes place has as yet been brought forward. Auger, using the C. T. R. Wilson cloud expansion-chamber method, showed that the most probable direction of ejection in a gas is a function of the frequency of the incident X-rays, but the variations which he found in this most probable direction with the nature of the gas used (oxygen or nitrogen, argon, krypton, xenon) were probably less than the experimental error, particularly as heterogeneous X-rays were used and the frequency of the X-rays which were most effective in ejecting electrons may have varied from gas to gas. Loughridge concluded that the most probable direction of ejection was the same for water-vapor, air and argon, but the absorption energies of even the K-shells of all these atoms is so small that at best only a small effect would be expected in these cases. Bothe using the point-discharge ion-counter made observations on air and on gases the molecules of which contained I, Br and Cl atoms. His results show small variations with the nature of the gas, but again as heterogeneous X-rays were used and his maxima were not sharp the variations were probably less than the experimental accuracy

Een navigatie-agent in virtual reality

We geven een korte beschrijving van ons werk gericht op het ontwerpen van een navigatie-agent voor een virtuele werled die met natuurlijke taal aangesproken kan worden. Het project is gestart als afstudeerwerk van de tweede auteur. Dit artikel beschrijft voornamelijk zijn werk. Het werk wordt op dit moment voortgezet binnen een nationaal project op het gebied van toegankelijkheid van webpagina’s en binnen een aantal kleinere, deels ook door afstudeerders uitgevoerde, deelprojecten. De navigatieagent is onderdeel van een agent-raamwerk waarbinnen gecommuniceerd kan worden met andere agents. De navigatietaak bestaat uit het gidsen van bezoekers in de omgeving en het beantwoorden van vragen over deze omgeving (een theatergebouw). Bezoekers worden uitgenodigd het gebouw te exploreren, rond te kijken, vragen te stellen en kunnen al doende advies krijgen van de navigatie-agent. Een plattegrond is aan de omgeving toegevoegd, zodat bezoekers kunnen refereren aan lokaties en objecten op deze kaart, zowel in natuurlijke taal als door aanwijzen en klikken met een muis. Daardoor is sprake van een multi-modaal systeem met cross-modale referentiemogelijkheden

Learning emotions in virtual environments

A modular hybrid neural network architecture, called SHAME, for emotion learning is introduced. The system learns from annotated data how the emotional state is generated and changes due to internal and external stimuli. Part of the modular architecture is domain independent and part must be\ud adapted to the domain under consideration.\ud The generation and learning of emotions is based on the event appraisal model.\ud The architecture is implemented in a prototype consisting of agents trying to survive in a virtual world. An evaluation of this prototype shows that the architecture is capable of\ud generating natural emotions and furthermore that training of the neural network modules in the architecture is computationally feasible.\ud Keywords: hybrid neural systems, emotions, learning, agents

Chronic Diseases among Older Cancer Survivors

Objective. To compare the occurrence of pre-existing and subsequent comorbidity among older cancer patients (≥60 years) with older non-cancer patients. Material and Methods. Each cancer patient (n=3835, mean age 72) was matched with four non-cancer patients in terms of age, sex, and practice. The occurrence of chronic diseases was assessed cross-sectionally (lifetime prevalence at time of diagnosis) and longitudinally (incidence after diagnosis) for all cancer patients and for breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer patients separately. Cancer and non-cancer patients were compared using logistic and Cox regression analysis. Results. The occurrence of the most common pre-existing and incident chronic diseases was largely similar in cancer and non-cancer patients, except for pre-existing COPD (OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.06–1.37) and subsequent venous thrombosis in the first two years after cancer diagnosis (HR 4.20, 95% CI 2.74–6.44), which were significantly more frequent (P<0.01) among older cancer compared to non-cancer patients. Conclusion. The frequency of multimorbidity in older cancer patients is high. However, apart from COPD and venous thrombosis, the incidence of chronic diseases in older cancer patients is similar compared to non-cancer patients of the same age, sex, and practice

Cytogenetic findings in mouse multiple myeloma and Waldenström's macroglobulinemia

Multiple myeloma (MM) and Waldenström's macroglobulinemia-like lymphoma (MW) appear spontaneously in C57BL/KaLwRij mice at a frequency of 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively. They can readily be propagated by intravenous transfer of mainly bone marrow or spleen cells into syngeneic recipients. Previous studies demonstrated that these mouse malignant monoclonal gammopathies (MMG) show clinical and biologic features that closely resemble those of the corresponding human diseases and thus could be used as experimental models. We report on cytogenetic analysis of two mouse MW and five MM in vivo cell lines of the 5TMM series propagated in syngeneic mice. These studies demonstrated clonal abnormalities in all cell lines, hyperdiploid karyotype in both MW and one MM lines, and hypotriploidy, hypertriploidy, or hypotetraploidy in the other lines. Structural abnormalities of chromosome 15 were observed in all MM lines. In the five MM lines, frequent rearrangements were also found for chromosome numbers 1, 2, 5, and 12. A single chromosomal abnormality, as found in induced mouse plasmacytomas and resembling Burkitt lymphoma, was not found in mouse MM and MW. It was concluded that spontaneously originating C57BL MM of the 5T series is a better model for human MM than pristane-induced BALB/c or NZB plasmacytoma