Automating Fictional Ideation using ConceptNet

The invention of fictional ideas (ideation) is often a cen- tral process in producing artefacts such as poems, music and paint- ings in a creative way. Automated fictional ideation should, there- fore, be of much interest in the study of Computational Creativity, but only a few approaches have been explored. We describe here the preliminary results of a new method for automated generation and evaluation of fictional ideas which uses ConceptNet, a semantic net- work. We evaluate the results obtained through a small study that involves participants scoring ideas via an online survey. We believe this approach constitutes a firm basis on which a more sophisticated model for automated creative ideation can be built

What If A Fish Got Drunk? Exploring the Plausibility of Machine-Generated Fictions

Abstract Within the WHIM project, we study fictional ideation: processes for automatically inventing, assessing and presenting fictional ideas. Here we examine the foundational notion of the plausibility of fictional ideas, by performing an empirical study to surface the factors that affect judgements of plausibility. Our long term aim is to formalise a computational method which captures some intuitive notions of plausibility and can predict how certain types of people will assess the plausibility of certain types of fictional ideas. This paper constitutes a first firm step towards this aim

What If A Fish Got Drunk? Exploring the Plausibility of Machine-Generated Fictions

Within the WHIM project, we study fictional ideation: processes for automatically inventing, assessing and presenting fictional ideas. Here we examine the foundational notion of the plausibility of fictional ideas, by performing an empirical study to surface the factors that affect judgements of plausibility. Our long term aim is to formalise a computational method which captures some intuitive notions of plausibility and can predict how certain types of people will assess the plausibility of certain types of fictional ideas. This paper constitutes a first firm step towards this aim

Baseline Methods for Automated Fictional Ideation

The invention of fictional ideas (ideation) is often a central process in the creative production of artefacts such as poems, music and paintings, but has barely been studied in the Computational Creativity community. We present here three baseline approaches for automated fictional ideation, using methods which invert and alter facts from the ConceptNet and ReVerb databases, and perform bisociative discovery. For each method, we present a curation analysis, by calculating the proportion of ideas which pass a typicality evaluation. We further evaluate one ideation approach through a crowd- sourcing experiment in which participants were asked to rank ideas. The results from this study, and the baseline methods and methodologies presented here, constitute a firm basis on which to build more sophisticated models for automated ideation with evaluative capacity

Issues of collaboration, representation, meaning and emotions: Utilising participant-led visual diaries to capture the everyday lives of people in mid to later life

In recent years there has been an increasing use of visual methods in ageing research. There are, however, limited reflections and critical explorations of the implications of using visual methods in research with people in mid to later life. This paper examines key methodological complexities when researching the daily lives of people as they grow older and the possibilities and limitations of using participant-generated visual diaries. The paper will draw on our experiences of an empirical study, which included a sample of 62 women and men aged 50 years and over with different daily routines. Participant-led photography was drawn upon as a means to create visual diaries, followed by in-depth, photo-elicitation interviews. The paper will critically reflect on the use of visual methods for researching the daily lives of people in mid to later life, as well as suggesting some wider tensions within visual methods that warrant attention. First, we explore the extent to which photography facilitates a ‘collaborative’ research process; second, complexities around capturing the ‘everydayness’ of daily routines are explored; third, the representation and presentation of ‘self’ by participants within their images and interview narratives is examined; and, finally, we highlight particular emotional considerations in visualising daily life

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Latent Tuberculosis Infection Moderately Influence Innate Lymphoid Cell Immune Responses in Uganda

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major risk factor for the acquisition of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) and development of active tuberculosis (ATB), although the immunological basis for this susceptibility remains poorly characterised. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) immune responses to TB infection in T2DM comorbidity is anticipated to be reduced. We compared ILC responses (frequency and cytokine production) among adult patients with LTBI and T2DM to patients (13) with LTBI only (14), T2DM only (10) and healthy controls (11). Methods: Using flow cytometry, ILC phenotypes were categorised based on (Lin-CD127+CD161+) markers into three types: ILC1 (Lin-CD127+CD161+CRTH2-CD117-); ILC2 (Lin-CD127+CD161+CRTH2+) and ILC3 (Lin-CD127+CD161+CRTH2-NKp44+/-CD117+). ILC responses were determined using cytokine production by measuring percentage expression of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) for ILC1, interleukin (IL)-13 for ILC2, and IL-22 for ILC3. Glycaemic control among T2DM patients was measured using glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels. Data were analysed using FlowJo version 10.7.1, and GraphPad Prism version 8.3. Results: Compared to healthy controls, patients with LTBI and T2DM had reduced frequencies of ILC2 and ILC3 respectively (median (IQR): 0.01 (0.005-0.04) and 0.002 (IQR; 0.002-0.007) and not ILC1 (0.04 (0.02-0.09) as expected. They also had increased production of IFN-γ [median (IQR): 17.1 (5.6-24.9)], but decreased production of IL-13 [19.6 (12.3-35.1)]. We however found that patients with T2DM had lower ILC cytokine responses in general but more marked for IL-22 production (median (IQR): IFN-γ 9.3 (4.8-22.6); IL-13 22.2 (14.7-39.7); IL-22 0.7 (IQR; 0.1-2.1) p-value 0.02), which highlights the immune suppression status of T2DM. We also found that poor glycaemic control altered ILC immune responses. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that LTBI and T2DM, and T2DM were associated with slight alterations of ILC immune responses. Poor T2DM control also slightly altered these ILC immune responses. Further studies are required to assess if these responses recover after treatment of either TB or T2DM

Death and organization: Heidegger’s thought on death and life in organizations

Mortality has not been given the attention it deserves within organization studies. Even when it has been considered, it is not usually in terms of its implications for own lives and ethical choices. In particular, Heidegger’s writing on death has been almost entirely ignored both in writing on death and writing on organizational ethics, despite his insights into how our mortality and the ethics of existence are linked. In this paper, we seek to address this omission by arguing that a consideration of death may yield important insights about the ethics of organizational life. Most important of these is that a Heideggerian approach to death brings us up against fundamental ethical questions such as what our lives are for, how they should be lived and how we relate to others. Heideggerarian thought also reconnects ethics and politics, as it is closely concerned with how we can collectively make institutions that support our life projects rather than thwart or diminish them

Automated Fictional Ideation via Knowledge Base Manipulation

The invention of fictional ideas (ideation) is often a central process in the creative production of artefacts such as poems, music and paintings, but has barely been studied in the computational creativity community. We present here a general approach to automated fictional ideation that works by manipulating facts specified in knowledge bases. More specifically, we specify a number of constructions which, by altering and combining facts from a knowledge base, result in the generation of fictions. Moreover, we present an instantiation of these constructions through the use of ConceptNet, a database of common sense knowledge. In order to evaluate the success of these constructions, we present a curation analysis that calculates the proportion of ideas which pass a typicality judgement. We further evaluate the output of this approach through a crowd-sourcing experiment in which participants were asked to rank ideas. We found a positive correlation between the participant’s rankings and a chaining inference technique that automatically assesses the value of the fictions generated through our approach. We believe that these results show that this approach constitutes a firm basis for automated fictional ideation with evaluative capacity

Are mental health staff getting better at asking about abuse andneglect?

This study ascertained the extent to which abuse and neglect are identified and recorded by mental health services. A comprehensive audit of 250 randomly selected files from four community mental health centres in Auckland, New Zealand was conducted, using similar methodology to that of a 1997 audit in the same city so as to permit comparisons. Significant increases, compared to the 1997 audit, were found in the rates of child sexual and physical abuse, and adulthood sexual assault (but not adulthood physical assault) identified in the files. Identification of physical and emotional neglect, however, was poor. Male service users were asked less often than females; and male staff enquired less often than female staff. People with a diagnosis indicative of psychosis, such as ‘schizophrenia’, tended to be asked less often and had significantly lower rates of abuse/neglect identified. Despite the overall improvement, mental health services are still missing significant amounts of childhood and adulthood adversities, especially neglect. All services need clear policies that all service users be asked about both abuse and neglect, whatever their gender or diagnosis, and that staff receive training that address the barriers to asking and to responding therapeutically to disclosures

A Switch from a Gradient to a Threshold Mode in the Regulation of a Transcriptional Cascade Promotes Robust Execution of Meiosis in Budding Yeast

Tight regulation of developmental pathways is of critical importance to all organisms, and is achieved by a transcriptional cascade ensuring the coordinated expression of sets of genes. We aimed to explore whether a strong signal is required to enter and complete a developmental pathway, by using meiosis in budding yeast as a model. We demonstrate that meiosis in budding yeast is insensitive to drastic changes in the levels of its consecutive positive regulators (Ime1, Ime2, and Ndt80). Entry into DNA replication is not correlated with the time of transcription of the early genes that regulate this event. Entry into nuclear division is directly regulated by the time of transcription of the middle genes, as premature transcription of their activator NDT80, leads to a premature entry into the first meiotic division, and loss of coordination between DNA replication and nuclear division. We demonstrate that Cdk1/Cln3 functions as a negative regulator of Ime2, and that ectopic expression of Cln3 delays entry into nuclear division as well as NDT80 transcription. Because Ime2 functions as a positive regulator for premeiotic DNA replication and NDT80 transcription, as well as a negative regulator of Cdk/Cln, we suggest that a double negative feedback loop between Ime2 and Cdk1/Cln3 promotes a bistable switch from the cell cycle to meiosis. Moreover, our results suggest a regulatory mode switch that ensures robust meiosis as the transcription of the early meiosis-specific genes responds in a graded mode to Ime1 levels, whereas that of the middle and late genes as well as initiation of DNA replication, are regulated in a threshold mode