1,231 research outputs found
Towards human-compatible autonomous car: A study of non-verbal Turing test in automated driving with affective transition modelling
Autonomous cars are indispensable when humans go further down the hands-free
route. Although existing literature highlights that the acceptance of the
autonomous car will increase if it drives in a human-like manner, sparse
research offers the naturalistic experience from a passenger's seat perspective
to examine the human likeness of current autonomous cars. The present study
tested whether the AI driver could create a human-like ride experience for
passengers based on 69 participants' feedback in a real-road scenario. We
designed a ride experience-based version of the non-verbal Turing test for
automated driving. Participants rode in autonomous cars (driven by either human
or AI drivers) as a passenger and judged whether the driver was human or AI.
The AI driver failed to pass our test because passengers detected the AI driver
above chance. In contrast, when the human driver drove the car, the passengers'
judgement was around chance. We further investigated how human passengers
ascribe humanness in our test. Based on Lewin's field theory, we advanced a
computational model combining signal detection theory with pre-trained language
models to predict passengers' humanness rating behaviour. We employed affective
transition between pre-study baseline emotions and corresponding post-stage
emotions as the signal strength of our model. Results showed that the
passengers' ascription of humanness would increase with the greater affective
transition. Our study suggested an important role of affective transition in
passengers' ascription of humanness, which might become a future direction for
autonomous driving.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 3 table
Trait Mindfulness Is Associated With the Self-Similarity of Heart Rate Variability
Previous studies have linked trait mindfulness with better self-regulation and adaptation. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a good physiological indicator of the capacity for self-regulation and adaptation. The present study explored the relationship between trait mindfulness and HRV from the viewpoint of crosstalking between different HRV parameter pairs, which would reflect the dynamic interactions between each pair of HRV parameters in different processes. We measured the trait mindfulness of seventy-four undergraduate students and recorded nine HRV parameters during the following four consecutive experimental phases: (1) calming phase, (2) mental arithmetic task phase, (3) recovery phase, and (4) mindfulness practice phase. The relationship between trait mindfulness and HRV was explored at the following three levels: (1) the absolute level, i.e., HRV parameters in four different states, (2) the difference-change level, i.e., differences in HRV parameters between different states, and (3) the crosstalking level, i.e., self-similarity of crosstalking HRV parameter pairs. The results supported the following hypothesis: trait mindfulness, as measured by the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), was significantly and positively correlated with the self-similarity of crosstalking HRV parameter pairs but was not significantly correlated with the HRV parameters at the difference-change and absolute levels. These findings indicate that as trait mindfulness increases, the ability to maintain ANS function homeostasis improves.HIGHLIGHTS-Trait mindfulness is associated with better self-regulation and adaptation.-Heart rate variability (HRV) is a good physiological indicator of the capacity for self-regulation and adaptation.-Trait mindfulness is significantly correlated with self-similarity of crosstalking HRV parameter pairs but not with the HRV parameters at the difference-change or absolute levels
An ex vivo culture model of kidney podocyte injury reveals mechanosensitive, synaptopodin-templating, sarcomere-like structures
Chronic kidney diseases are widespread and incurable. The biophysical mechanisms underlying them are unclear, in part because material systems for reconstituting the microenvironment of relevant kidney cells are limited. A critical question is how kidney podocytes (glomerular epithelial cells) regenerate foot processes of the filtration apparatus following injury. Recently identified sarcomere-like structures (SLSs) with periodically spaced myosin IIA and synaptopodin appear in injured podocytes in vivo. We hypothesized that SLSs template synaptopodin in the initial stages of recovery in response to microenvironmental stimuli and tested this hypothesis by developing an ex vivo culture system that allows control of the podocyte microenvironment. Results supported our hypothesis. SLSs in podocytes that migrated from isolated kidney glomeruli presented periodic synaptopodin-positive clusters that nucleated peripheral, foot process-like extensions. SLSs were mechanoresponsive to actomyosin inhibitors and substrate stiffness. Results suggest SLSs as mechanobiological mediators of podocyte recovery and as potential targets for therapeutic intervention
Nipple aspirate fluid - a liquid biopsy for diagnosing breast health
YesPurpose: Nipple secretions are protein-rich and a potential source of breast cancer biomarkers for breast cancer screening. Previous studies of specific proteins have shown limited correlation with clinicopatholigical features. Our aim, in this pilot study, was to investigate the intra- and inter-patient protein composition of nipple secretions and the implications for their use as liquid biopsies.
Experimental design: Matched pairs of NAF (n=15) were characterised for physicochemical properties and SDS PAGE. Four pairs were selected for semi-quantitative proteomic profiling and trypsin-digested peptides analysed using 2D LC Orbitrap Fusion mass spectrometry. The resulting data was subject to bioinformatics analysis and statistical evaluation for functional significance.
Results: A total of 1990 unique proteins were identified many of which are established cancer associated markers. Matched pairs shared the greatest similarity (average Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.94), but significant variations between individuals was observed.
Conclusions: This was the most complete proteomic study of NAF to date providing a valuable source for biomarker discovery. The high level of milk proteins in healthy volunteer samples compared to the cancer patients was associated with galactorrhoea. Using matched pairs increased confidence in patient-specific protein levels but changes relating to cancer stage require investigation of a larger cohort.Proteomics research was supported by Yorkshire Cancer Research projects, BPP047 and B381PA
Exploring RNA structure and dynamics through enhanced sampling simulations
RNA function is intimately related to its structural dynamics. Molecular dynamics simulations are useful for exploring biomolecular flexibility but are severely limited by the accessible timescale. Enhanced sampling methods allow this timescale to be effectively extended in order to probe biologically relevant conformational changes and chemical reactions. Here, we review the role of enhanced sampling techniques in the study of RNA systems. We discuss the challenges and promises associated with the application of these methods to force-field validation, exploration of conformational landscapes and ion/ligand-RNA interactions, as well as catalytic pathways. Important technical aspects of these methods, such as the choice of the biased collective variables and the analysis of multi-replica simulations, are examined in detail. Finally, a perspective on the role of these methods in the characterization of RNA dynamics is provided
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A Search for Dark Higgs Bosons
Recent astrophysical and terrestrial experiments have motivated the proposal
of a dark sector with GeV-scale gauge boson force carriers and new Higgs
bosons. We present a search for a dark Higgs boson using 516 fb-1 of data
collected with the BABAR detector. We do not observe a significant signal and
we set 90% confidence level upper limits on the product of the Standard
Model-dark sector mixing angle and the dark sector coupling constant.Comment: 7 pages, 5 postscript figures, published version with improved plots
for b/w printin
Measurement of the Forward-Backward Asymmetry in the B -> K(*) mu+ mu- Decay and First Observation of the Bs -> phi mu+ mu- Decay
We reconstruct the rare decays , , and in a data sample
corresponding to collected in collisions at
by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider. Using and decays we report the branching ratios. In addition, we report
the measurement of the differential branching ratio and the muon
forward-backward asymmetry in the and decay modes, and the
longitudinal polarization in the decay mode with respect to the squared
dimuon mass. These are consistent with the theoretical prediction from the
standard model, and most recent determinations from other experiments and of
comparable accuracy. We also report the first observation of the {\mathcal{B}}(B^0_s \to
\phi\mu^+\mu^-) = [1.44 \pm 0.33 \pm 0.46] \times 10^{-6}27 \pm 6B^0_s$ decay observed.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS
has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions
at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection
criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined.
For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a
muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the
whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4,
while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The
efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than
90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall
momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The
transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity
for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be
better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions
of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Search for a New Heavy Gauge Boson Wprime with Electron + missing ET Event Signature in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
We present a search for a new heavy charged vector boson decaying
to an electron-neutrino pair in collisions at a center-of-mass
energy of 1.96\unit{TeV}. The data were collected with the CDF II detector
and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.3\unit{fb}^{-1}. No
significant excess above the standard model expectation is observed and we set
upper limits on . Assuming standard
model couplings to fermions and the neutrino from the boson decay to
be light, we exclude a boson with mass less than
1.12\unit{TeV/}c^2 at the 95\unit{%} confidence level.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures Submitted to PR
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