Playing in or out of character: User role differences in the experience of Interactive Storytelling

Interactive storytelling (IS) is a promising new entertainment technology synthesizing preauthored narrative with dynamic user interaction. Existing IS prototypes employ different modes to involve users in a story, ranging from individual avatar control to comprehensive control over the virtual environment. The current experiment tested whether different player modes (exerting local vs. global influence) yield different user experiences (e.g., senses of immersion vs. control). A within-subject design involved 34 participants playing the cinematic IS drama "Emo Emma

Using Virtual Narratives to Explore Children’s Story Understanding

Interactive Narratives are systems that use automated narrative generation techniques to create multiple story variants which can be shown to an audience, as virtual narratives, using cinematic staging techniques. Previous research in this area has focused on assessment of aspects such as the quality of the automatically generated narratives and their acceptance by the audience. However in our work we deviate from this to explore the use of interactive narratives to support cognitive psychology experiments in story understanding. We hypothesized that the use of virtual narratives would enable narrative comprehension to be studied independently of linguistic phenomena. To assess this we developed a demonstration interactive narrative featuring a virtual environment (Unity3D engine) based on a pre-existing children’s story which allows for the generation of variants of the original story that can be "told" via visualization in the 3D world. In the paper we introduce a narrative generation mechanism that provides control over insertion of cues facilitating story understanding, whilst also ensuring that the plot itself is unaffected. An intuitive user interface allows experimenters to insert and order cues and specific events while the narrative generation techniques ensure these requests are effected in a consistent fashion. We also report the results of a field experiment with children (age 9-10) that demonstrates the potential for the use of virtual narratives in story understanding experiments. Our results demonstrated acceptance of virtual narratives, the usability of the system and the impact of cue insertion on inference and story understanding

Multimodal agent interfaces and system architectures for health and fitness companions

Multimodal conversational spoken dialogues using physical and virtual agents provide a potential interface to motivate and support users in the domain of health and fitness. In this paper we present how such multimodal conversational Companions can be implemented to support their owners in various pervasive and mobile settings. In particular, we focus on different forms of multimodality and system architectures for such interfaces

An Interactive Narrative Platform for Story Understanding Experiments

Interactive Narratives are systems that use automated narrative generation techniques to create multiple story variants which can be shown to an audience, as virtual narratives, using cinematic staging techniques. The focus of previous research has included aspects such as the quality of automatically generated narratives and the way in which audiences respond to them. However in this work we have developed a mechanism for control of interactive narratives that supports their use in experiments to assess story understanding. This is implemented in our demonstration system, which features two parts: an interface that allows high-level specification of criteria for story understanding experiments; and a participant interface in which virtual narratives, conforming to the experimental design, are presented as 3D visualizations. The virtual narrative is based on a pre-existing children’s story, and features a cast of virtual characters

The [Tc(N)(PNP)]2+ metal fragment labeled cholecystokinin-8 (CCK8) peptide for CCK-2 receptors imaging: in vitroand in vivo studies

The radiolabeling of the natural octapeptide CCK8, derivatized with a cysteine residue (Cys-Gly-CCK8), by using the metal fragment [99mTc(N)(PNP3)]2+ (PNP3 = N,N-bis(dimethoxypropylphosphinoethyl)methoxyethylamine) is reported. The [99mTc(N)(NS-Cys-Gly-CCK8)(PNP3)]+ complex was obtained according to two methods (one-step or two-step procedure) that gave the desired compound in high yield. The complex is stable in aqueous solution and in phosphate buffer. In vitro challenge experiments with an excess of cysteine and glutathione indicate that no transchelation reactions occur, confirming the high thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness of this compound. Stability studies carried out in human and mouse serum, as well as in mouse liver homogenates, show that the radiolabeled compound remains intact for prolonged incubation at 37 degrees C. Binding properties give Kd (19.0 +/- 4.6 nmol/l) and Bmax (approximately 10(6) sites/cell) values in A431 cells overexpressing the CCK2-R. In vivo evaluation of the compound shows rapid and specific targeting to CCK2-R, a fourfold higher accumulation compared to nonreceptor expressing tumors

Difference in the expression of IL-9 and IL-17 correlates with different histological pattern of vascular wall injury in giant cell arteritis

OBJECTIVE: GCA is a large- and medium-vessel arteritis characterized by a range of histological patterns of vascular wall injury. The aim of this study was to immunologically characterize the various histological patterns of GCA. METHODS: Thirty-five consecutive patients with biopsy-proven GCA and 15 normal controls were studied. IL-8, IL-9, IL-9R, IL-17, IL-4, TGF-β and thymic stromal lymphopoietin expression was evaluated by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry on artery biopsy specimens. Confocal microscopy was used to characterize the phenotypes of IL-9-producing and IL-9R-expressing cells. Five additional patients who had received prednisone when the temporal artery biopsy was performed were also enrolled to evaluate the effect of glucocorticoids on IL-9 and IL-17 expression. RESULTS: IL-17 overexpression was observed mainly in arteries with transmural inflammation and vasa vasorum vasculitis. IL-9 overexpression and Th9 polarization predominated in arteries with transmural inflammation and small-vessel vasculitis. The tissue expression of both IL-9 and IL-17 was correlated with the intensity of the systemic inflammatory response. IL-4, TGF-β and thymic stromal lymphopoietin, which are involved in the differentiation of Th9 cells, were overexpressed in arteries with transmural inflammation and small-vessel vasculitis. IL-9R was also overexpressed in GCA arteries with transmural inflammation and was accompanied by increased expression of IL-8. CONCLUSION: Herein we provide the first evidence that distinct populations of potentially autoreactive T cells, expressing different cytokines (Th17 vs Th9), characterize patients with particular histological subsets of GCA and may thus contribute to the heterogeneity of tissue lesions observed in these patients

Increased expression of interleukin-22 in patients with giant cell arteritis

GCA is characterized by arterial remodelling driven by inflammation. IL-22 is an attractive cytokine which acts at the crosstalk between immune and stromal cells. We hypothesized that IL-22 might be induced in GCA and might be involved in disease pathogenesis

Ectopic expression of CXCL13, BAFF, APRIL and LT-ß is associated with artery tertiary lymphoid organs in giant cell arteritis

Objectives To investigate whether artery tertiary lymphoid organs (ATLOs) are present in giant cell arteritis (GCA) and that their formation is associated with the ectopic expression of constitutive lymphoid tissue-homing chemokines. Methods Reverse transcriptase PCR, immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence analysis were used to determine the presence of ectopic ATLOs in GCA and the expression of chemokines/chemokine receptors and cytokines involved in lymphoneogenesis in the temporal artery samples obtained from 50 patients with GCA and 30 controls. The presence of lymphatic conduits, of follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) precursors and lymphoid tissue inducer cells was also investigated. Finally, expression of CXCL13, B cell activating factor (BAFF), a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) and CCL21 by isolated myofibroblasts was evaluated before and after stimulation with Toll-like receptors (TLRs) agonists and cytokines. Results ATLOs were observed in the media layer of 60% of patients with GCA in close proximity to high endothelial venules and independently by the age of patients and the presence of atherosclerosis. ATLO formation was also accompanied by the expression of CXCL13, BAFF, a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL), lymphotoxin (LT)-ß, interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-7, the presence of FDC precursors and of lymphoid conduits. Stimulation of myofibroblasts with TLR agonists and cytokines resulted in the upregulation of BAFF and CXCL13. Conclusions ATLOs occur in the inflamed arteries of patients with GCA possibly representing the immune sites where immune responses towards unknown arterial wall-derived antigens may be organised

U and Th content in the Central Apennines continental crust: a contribution to the determination of the geo-neutrinos flux at LNGS

The regional contribution to the geo-neutrino signal at Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) was determined based on a detailed geological, geochemical and geophysical study of the region. U and Th abundances of more than 50 samples representative of the main lithotypes belonging to the Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary cover were analyzed. Sedimentary rocks were grouped into four main "Reservoirs" based on similar paleogeographic conditions and mineralogy. Basement rocks do not outcrop in the area. Thus U and Th in the Upper and Lower Crust of Valsugana and Ivrea-Verbano areas were analyzed. Based on geological and geophysical properties, relative abundances of the various reservoirs were calculated and used to obtain the weighted U and Th abundances for each of the three geological layers (Sedimentary Cover, Upper and Lower Crust). Using the available seismic profile as well as the stratigraphic records from a number of exploration wells, a 3D modelling was developed over an area of 2^{\circ}x2^{\circ} down to the Moho depth, for a total volume of about 1.2x10^6 km^3. This model allowed us to determine the volume of the various geological layers and eventually integrate the Th and U contents of the whole crust beneath LNGS. On this base the local contribution to the geo-neutrino flux (S) was calculated and added to the contribution given by the rest of the world, yielding a Refined Reference Model prediction for the geo-neutrino signal in the Borexino detector at LNGS: S(U) = (28.7 \pm 3.9) TNU and S(Th) = (7.5 \pm 1.0) TNU. An excess over the total flux of about 4 TNU was previously obtained by Mantovani et al. (2004) who calculated, based on general worldwide assumptions, a signal of 40.5 TNU. The considerable thickness of the sedimentary rocks, almost predominantly represented by U- and Th- poor carbonatic rocks in the area near LNGS, is responsible for this difference.Comment: 45 pages, 5 figures, 12 tables; accepted for publication in GC

Aneuploidy in human eggs: contributions of the meiotic spindle

Human eggs frequently contain an incorrect number of chromosomes, a condition termed aneuploidy. Aneuploidy affects ∼10–25% of eggs in women in their early 30s, and more than 50% of eggs from women over 40. Most aneuploid eggs cannot develop to term upon fertilization, making aneuploidy in eggs a leading cause of miscarriages and infertility. The cellular origins of aneuploidy in human eggs are incompletely understood. Aneuploidy arises from chromosome segregation errors during the two meiotic divisions of the oocyte, the progenitor cell of the egg. Chromosome segregation is driven by a microtubule spindle, which captures and separates the paired chromosomes during meiosis I, and sister chromatids during meiosis II. Recent studies reveal that defects in the organization of the acentrosomal meiotic spindle contribute to human egg aneuploidy. The microtubules of the human oocyte spindle are very frequently incorrectly attached to meiotic kinetochores, the multi-protein complexes on chromosomes to which microtubules bind. Multiple features of human oocyte spindles favour incorrect attachments. These include spindle instability and many age-related changes in chromosome and kinetochore architecture. Here, we review how the unusual spindle assembly mechanism in human oocytes contributes to the remarkably high levels of aneuploidy in young human eggs, and how age-related changes in chromosome and kinetochore architecture cause aneuploidy levels to rise even higher as women approach their forties