The AI Settlement Generation Challenge in Minecraft : First Year Report

© 2020 Springer-Verlag. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in KI - Künstliche Intelligenz. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13218-020-00635-0.This article outlines what we learned from the first year of the AI Settlement Generation Competition in Minecraft, a competition about producing AI programs that can generate interesting settlements in Minecraft for an unseen map. This challenge seeks to focus research into adaptive and holistic procedural content generation. Generating Minecraft towns and villages given existing maps is a suitable task for this, as it requires the generated content to be adaptive, functional, evocative and aesthetic at the same time. Here, we present the results from the first iteration of the competition. We discuss the evaluation methodology, present the different technical approaches by the competitors, and outline the open problems.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Arabidopsis AAR2, a conserved splicing factor in eukaryotes, acts in microRNA biogenesis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential role in plant growth and development, and as such, their biogenesis is fine-tuned via regulation of the core microprocessor components. Here, we report that Arabidopsis AAR2, a homolog of a U5 snRNP assembly factor in yeast and humans, not only acts in splicing but also promotes miRNA biogenesis. AAR2 interacts with the microprocessor component hyponastic leaves 1 (HYL1) in the cytoplasm, nucleus, and dicing bodies. In aar2 mutants, abundance of nonphosphorylated HYL1, the active form of HYL1, and the number of HYL1-labeled dicing bodies are reduced. Primary miRNA (pri-miRNA) accumulation is compromised despite normal promoter activities of MIR genes in aar2 mutants. RNA decay assays show that the aar2-1 mutation leads to faster degradation of pri-miRNAs in a HYL1-dependent manner, which reveals a previously unknown and negative role of HYL1 in miRNA biogenesis. Taken together, our findings reveal a dual role of AAR2 in miRNA biogenesis and pre-messenger RNA splicing.Fil: Fan, Lusheng. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Gao, Bin. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Xu, Ye. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Flynn, Nora. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Le, Brandon. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: You, Chenjiang. Fudan University; ChinaFil: Li, Shaofang. Fudan University; ChinaFil: Achkar, Natalia Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Manavella, Pablo Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Yang, Zhenbiao. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Chen, Xuemei. University of California; Estados Unido

A Communication Reliability Enhancement Framework for Wireless Sensor Network Using the ZigBee Protocol

This paper presents the framework that enhances the communication reliability of wireless sensor network using the ZigBee protocol. The paper begins with the introduction of common communication problems caused by the broken links between the sensor module and the message relay, or between different message-relays. Extra message handshake mechanisms are added to solve the mentioned problems. Based on the solution to different problems, a general purpose reliability enhancement framework is developed. The framework contains two state machines for both the sensor module and the massage relay. These two state machines can work together with the ZigBee protocol to enhance the network communication reliability. Moreover, the battery lifetime of the sensor module under link loss is considerably increased after the enhancement

Design of the Remote Climate Control System for Cultural Buildings Utilizing ZigBee Technology

A wireless solution of remote climate control for cultural buildings is presented in this paper. The system allows users to use web service to control climate in different cultural buildings, like churches. The wireless sensor networks deployed in churches receive the control commands and manage the indoor climate. The whole system is modularly designed, which makes possible an easy service extension, system reconfiguration and modification. This paper includes the system overview and the software design of each part within the system

Wireless Remote Monitoring System for Cultural Heritage

Existing systems to collect temperature and relative humidity data at cultural heritage buildings require technical knowledge by people who are working with it, which is very seldom that they do have. The systems available today also require manual downloading of the collected data from the sensor to a computer for central storage and for further analysis. In this paper a wireless remote sensor network based on the ZigBee technology together with a simplified data collection system is presented. The system does not require any knowledge by the building administrator after the network is deployed. The wireless sensor device will automatically join available network when the user wants to expand the network. The collected data will be automatically and periodically synchronized to a remote main server via an Internet connection. The data can be used for centralized monitoring and other purpose. The power consumption of the sensor module is also minimized and the battery lifetime is estimated up to 10 years

ZigBee Radio with External Low-Noise Amplifier

This article presents the performance study of a ZigBee module with an external low-noise amplifier, measured in both outdoor and indoor environments. Our previous study has already shown that the indoor campus environment such as walls and floors would reduce the radio link range drastically and the packet error rate increased. In this study, an external low-noise amplifier has been added to a ZigBee module to increase the receiver sensitivity. It is shown that with an external low-noise amplifier the outdoor radio range can reach up to 403 m with a negligible packet error rate compared to 144 m without the low-noise amplifier for point-to-point connection. Thus, by increasing the receiver sensitivity the radio range can be increased without increasing of the radio power output so that the power consumption can still be kept low to obtain long battery lifetime

ZigBee Radio with External Power Amplifier and Low-Noise Amplifier

This paper presents the performance study of a ZigBee module with both an external power amplifier and a low-noise amplifier, measured in outdoor and indoor environments, respectively. Our previous study has already shown that the indoor campus environment such as walls and floors would reduce the radio link range drastically and the packet error rate increased. In this study, both an external power amplifier and a low-noise amplifier have been added to a ZigBee module to increase both the transmitter power and receiver sensitivity. It is shown that with an external power amplifier and a low-noise amplifier the outdoor radio range can reach up to 1600 m with a negligible packet error rate compared to 144 m without any external amplifier for point-to-point radio connection. Thus, by increasing both the transmitter power and receiver sensitivity the radio range can be increased significantly. The power consumption issue with the added amplifiers is studied as well, indicating that the module can still be battery driven with a battery lifetime of about 9 years at a normal sampling rate to the sensor

Metabolomic Insights into the Mechanisms of Ganoderic Acid: Protection against α-Amanitin-Induced Liver Injury

α-Amanitin is a representative toxin found in the Amanita genus of mushrooms, and the consumption of mushrooms containing α-Amanitin can lead to severe liver damage. In this study, we conduct toxicological experiments to validate the protective effects of Ganoderic acid A against α-amanitin-induced liver damage. By establishing animal models with different durations of Ganoderic acid A treatment and conducting a metabolomic analysis of the serum samples, we further confirmed the differences in serum metabolites between the AMA+GA and AMA groups. The analysis of differential serum metabolites after the Ganoderic acid A intervention suggests that Ganoderic acid A may intervene in α-amanitin-induced liver damage by participating in the regulation of retinol metabolism, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, fatty acid biosynthesis, sphingosine biosynthesis, spermidine and spermine biosynthesis, and branched-chain amino acid metabolism. This provides initial insights into the protective intervention mechanisms of GA against α-amanitin-induced liver damage and offers new avenues for the development of therapeutic drugs for α-Amanitin poisoning

Distinct serum steroid profiles between adrenal Cushing syndrome and Cushing disease

BackgroundDifferentiating between adrenal Cushing syndrome (adrenal CS) and Cushing disease (CD) can be challenging if there are equivocal or falsely elevated adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) values. We aim to investigate the diagnostic value of serum steroid profiles in differentiating adrenal CS from CD.MethodA total of 11 serum steroids in adrenal CS (n = 13) and CD (n = 15) were analyzed by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Age- and gender-specific steroid ratios were generated by dividing the actual steroid concentration by the upper limit of the relevant reference range. A principal component analysis (PCA) and an orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were performed.ResultsThe PCA and OPLS-DA analyses showed distinct serum steroid profiles between adrenal CS and CD. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and androstenedione ratios were identified as biomarkers for discrimination by variable importance in projection (VIP) in combination with t-tests. The sensitivity and specificity of DHEA-S ratios <0.40 were 92.31% (95% CI 64.0%–99.8%) and 93.33% (95% CI 68.1%–99.8%), respectively, in identifying adrenal CS. The sensitivity and specificity of DHEA ratios <0.18 were 100% (95% CI 75.3%–100.0%) and 100% (95% CI 78.2%–100.0%), respectively, in identifying adrenal CS.ConclusionOur data support the clinical use of the DHEA-S and DHEA ratios in the differential diagnosis of adrenal CS and CD, especially when falsely elevated ACTH is suspected