Learning to execute or ask clarification questions

Collaborative tasks are ubiquitous activities where a form of communication is required in order to reach a joint goal. Collaborative building is one of such tasks. We wish to develop an intelligent builder agent in a simulated building environment (Minecraft) that can build whatever users wish to build by just talking to the agent. In order to achieve this goal, such agents need to be able to take the initiative by asking clarification questions when further information is needed. Existing works on Minecraft Corpus Dataset only learn to execute instructions neglecting the importance of asking for clarifications. In this paper, we extend the Minecraft Corpus Dataset by annotating all builder utterances into eight types, including clarification questions, and propose a new builder agent model capable of determining when to ask or execute instructions. Experimental results show that our model achieves state-of-the-art performance on the collaborative building task with a substantial improvement. We also define two new tasks, the learning to ask task and the joint learning task. The latter consists of solving both collaborating building and learning to ask tasks jointly

LAMP: a micro-satellite based soft X-ray polarimeter for astrophysics

The Lightweight Asymmetry and Magnetism Probe (LAMP) is a micro-satellite mission concept dedicated for astronomical X-ray polarimetry and is currently under early phase study. It consists of segmented paraboloidal multilayer mirrors with a collecting area of about 1300 cm^2 to reflect and focus 250 eV X-rays, which will be detected by position sensitive detectors at the focal plane. The primary targets of LAMP include the thermal emission from the surface of pulsars and synchrotron emission produced by relativistic jets in blazars. With the expected sensitivity, it will allow us to detect polarization or place a tight upper limit for about 10 pulsars and 20 blazars. In addition to measuring magnetic structures in these objects, LAMP will also enable us to discover bare quark stars if they exist, whose thermal emission is expected to be zero polarized, while the thermal emission from neutron stars is believed to be highly polarized due to plasma polarization and the quantum electrodynamics (QED) effect. Here we present an overview of the mission concept, its science objectives and simulated observational results

Synthesis of 4′,7-Diacetoxyapigenin and Its Apoptotic Induction in Human Hep G2 Cells

In this study, 4′,7-diacetoxyapigenin [4-(7-acetoxy-5-hydroxy-4-oxo-4H-chromen-2-yl) phenyl acetate] was synthesized for the first time. Its chemical structure was identified by UV, ESI-MS, 1H and 13C-NMR. It could inhibit the proliferation of Hep G2 cells in a dose-dependent manner and induce the significant increase of the G0/G1 cell population. After treatment by 4′,7-diacetoxyapigenin, phosphatidylserine of Hep G2 cells could significantly translocate to the surface of the membrane. The increase of an early apoptotic population was observed by both annexin-FITC and PI staining. It was concluded that 4′,7-diacetoxyapigenin not only induced cells to enter into apoptosis, but also affected the progress of the cell cycle

Limits on the Weak Equivalence Principle and Photon Mass with FRB 121102 Subpulses

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are short-duration (~millisecond) radio transients with cosmological origin. The simple sharp features of the FRB signal have been utilized to probe two fundamental laws of physics, namely, testing Einstein\u27s weak equivalence principle and constraining the rest mass of the photon. Recently, Hessels et al. found that after correcting for dispersive delay, some of the bursts in FRB 121102 have complex time–frequency structures that include subpulses with a time–frequency downward drifting property. Using the delay time between subpulses in FRB 121102, here we show that the parameterized post-Newtonian parameter γ is the same for photons with different energies to the level of ... (see full abstract in article)

THE INFERENCE METHOD OF WHEEL LOAD BASED ON THE ACCELERATION OF AXLE HEAD

A new load spectrum measuring method which can instead of the six-component measuring wheel was carried out in this paper. Through analysis the signal time-domain,a linear model between the axle head and the wheel was established. By using real-time signal transformation and mathematical statistics method,the collected load spectrum of vertical wheel load and the vertical acceleration of the axle head,an inference model were analyzed and discussed between the axle head and the wheel.The analysis method was validated by a reality car test. The wheel vertical load and axle head vertical acceleration calibrated was conducted by four pillars road simulation test bed,and the skid pad load spectrum was acquisitioned. Compared with the load spectrum of collected wheel vertical force and inference load spectrum of wheel vertical force,the correctness of model was verified. Finally,the results indicated that this inference method can replace the six-component measuring wheel for road load spectrum acquisition

Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of Cysteine-Rich Receptor-Like Protein Kinase Genes in Tomato and Their Expression Profile in Response to Heat Stress

During plant growth, development and stress adaption, receptor-like protein kinases (RLKs) are essential components in perceiving and integrating extracellular stimuli and transmitting the signals to activate the downstream signaling pathways. Cysteine-rich receptor-like protein kinases (CRKs) are a large subfamily of RLKs and their roles in modulating plant disease resistance are well elucidated. However, the roles of CRKs in plant abiotic stress responses, especially heat stress, are largely unknown. In this study, 35 SlCRK genes were identified in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) based on the multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic relationships. SlCRK genes are tandemly distributed on seven chromosomes and have similar exon–intron organization and common conserved motifs. Various phytohormone responsive, stress responsive cis-regulatory elements and heat shock elements are predicted in the promoter regions of SlCRK genes. Transcriptome analysis of tomato fruits under heat stress revealed that most SlCRK genes were downregulated upon heat treatment. GO enrichment analyses of genes that were co-expressed with SlCRK members have identified various stress responses related and proteasomal protein catabolic process related genes, which may be involved in heat stress signaling. Overall, our results provide valuable information for further research on the roles of SlCRKs in response to abiotic stress, especially heat stress