A Pilot Study with a Novel Setup for Collaborative Play of the Humanoid Robot KASPAR with children with autism

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.This article describes a pilot study in which a novel experimental setup, involving an autonomous humanoid robot, KASPAR, participating in a collaborative, dyadic video game, was implemented and tested with children with autism, all of whom had impairments in playing socially and communicating with others. The children alternated between playing the collaborative video game with a neurotypical adult and playing the same game with the humanoid robot, being exposed to each condition twice. The equipment and experimental setup were designed to observe whether the children would engage in more collaborative behaviours while playing the video game and interacting with the adult than performing the same activities with the humanoid robot. The article describes the development of the experimental setup and its first evaluation in a small-scale exploratory pilot study. The purpose of the study was to gain experience with the operational limits of the robot as well as the dyadic video game, to determine what changes should be made to the systems, and to gain experience with analyzing the data from this study in order to conduct a more extensive evaluation in the future. Based on our observations of the childrens’ experiences in playing the cooperative game, we determined that while the children enjoyed both playing the game and interacting with the robot, the game should be made simpler to play as well as more explicitly collaborative in its mechanics. Also, the robot should be more explicit in its speech as well as more structured in its interactions. Results show that the children found the activity to be more entertaining, appeared more engaged in playing, and displayed better collaborative behaviours with their partners (For the purposes of this article, ‘partner’ refers to the human/robotic agent which interacts with the children with autism. We are not using the term’s other meanings that refer to specific relationships or emotional involvement between two individuals.) in the second sessions of playing with human adults than during their first sessions. One way of explaining these findings is that the children’s intermediary play session with the humanoid robot impacted their subsequent play session with the human adult. However, another longer and more thorough study would have to be conducted in order to better re-interpret these findings. Furthermore, although the children with autism were more interested in and entertained by the robotic partner, the children showed more examples of collaborative play and cooperation while playing with the human adult.Peer reviewe

Multimodal Detection of Engagement in Groups of Children Using Rank Learning

In collaborative play, children exhibit different levels of engagement. Some children are engaged with other children while some play alone. In this study, we investigated multimodal detection of individual levels of engagement using a ranking method and non-verbal features: turn-taking and body movement. Firstly, we automatically extracted turn-taking and body movement features in naturalistic and challenging settings. Secondly, we used an ordinal annotation scheme and employed a ranking method considering the great heterogeneity and temporal dynamics of engagement that exist in interactions. We showed that levels of engagement can be characterised by relative levels between children. In particular, a ranking method, Ranking SVM, outperformed a conventional method, SVM classification. While either turn-taking or body movement features alone did not achieve promising results, combining the two features yielded significant error reduction, showing their complementary power

Planning and installing sustainable onsite wastewater systems

Covering technical principles and practical applications, this comprehensive resource explains how to design and construct sound and sustainable decentralized wastewater systems of varying sizes and in differing geophysical conditions. Planning and Installing Sustainable Onsite Wastewater Systems covers state-of-the-art techniques, materials, and industry practices, and provides detailed explanations for why certain approaches result in more sustainable projects. A rational approach is presented for assessing assimilative capabilities of soils, and selecting methods of wastewater treatment and dispersal that make optimal use of natural treatment processes and site conditions

It Pays To Protect Stored Grain (Revised 1954)

This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

ASTAXANTHIN DOES NOT IMPACT MARKERS OF MUSCLE DAMAGE OR INFLAMMATION FOLLOWING AN MUSCLE DAMAGE PROTOCOL

Gaven A. Barker1, Andrea Bryant1, Alyssa L. Parten1, Corey Grozier1, Matthew McAllister2, Hunter S. Waldman1. 1University of North Alabama, Florence, AL. 2Teaxs State, San Marcos, TX. It is well documented that exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) decreases exercise performance via elevated inflammation and subjective discomfort. Due to its potent antioxidative properties, astaxanthin (AX) may serve as a potential dietary supplement strategy for mitigating delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and enhancing recovery and performance. This study aimed to investigate the effects of AX on markers of muscle damage, inflammation, DOMS, and anaerobic performance and substrate metabolism. Thirteen resistance trained men (mean±SD, age, 23.4±2.1 years) completed a double-blind, counterbalanced and crossover design with a 1-week washout period between two, 4-week supplementation periods at 12 mg/day-1 of AX or placebo. Following each supplementation period, subjects completed two trials, with trial one including a graded exercise test (GXT) and a 30-second Wingate, and trial two including an EIMD protocol followed by collection of fasting blood samples (pre-post) to measure creatine kinase (CK), advanced oxidative protein products, c-reactive protein, interleukin-6, insulin, and cortisol. AX supplementation had no statistical effects on markers of substrate metabolism during the GXT, Wingate variables, or markers of muscle damage, inflammation, or DOMS when compared to placebo (all p\u3e0.05). However, 4-weeks of AX supplementation did significantly lower oxygen consumption during the final stage of the GXT (12%, p=0.02), as well as lowered systolic blood pressure (~7%, p=0.04), and significantly lowered baseline insulin values (~24%, p=0.05) when compared to placebo. Collectively, these data suggest that 4-weeks of AX supplementation at 12 mg/day-1 did not impact markers of muscle damage, inflammation, or DOMS following an EIMD protocol in a resistance-trained male cohort