386 research outputs found
sj-docx-1-taj-10.1177_20406223231163110 – Supplemental material for Bimekizumab for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-taj-10.1177_20406223231163110 for Bimekizumab for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials by Yuqian Wang, Sheng Li, Juan Bai, Xiaoxuan Cai, Shunli Tang, Peiyi Lin, Qingmiao Sun, Jianjun Qiao and Hong Fang in Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease</p
Organic Mulching Increases Microbial Activity in Urban Forest Soil
No full textInteractions between C accumulation, resulting from plant residue mulching, and the accelerated decomposition of litter and soil organic matter due to higher enzyme activities remain poorly understood, particularly in urban forests. Here, the activities of four enzymes associated with carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling after organic mulching were investigated in the rhizosphere and bulk soil of a 15-year-old Ligustrum lucidum urban forest. The enzymatic activities in the rhizosphere were closely correlated to those in bulk soil, however, they were more strongly affected by organic mulching and exhibited faster C and nutrient cycling. Moreover, the activity of urease in the rhizosphere and peroxidase in the bulk soil in autumn, as well as invertase in the rhizosphere in spring, decreased. Microbial C and N were most responsible for the observed increase in invertase activity in spring, during which microorganisms exhibited rapid growth and the highest activities, whereas soil organic C regulated urease activity in winter. Additionally, the activity of dehydrogenase increased by up to 75%; the degree of increase was typically dependent on the mulching amount. Generally, invertase and dehydrogenase activity increased with the abundance of dissolved organic matter and microbial biomass, whereas peroxidase exhibited the opposite trend. Taken together, these findings indicate that organic mulching efficiently increases enzymatic activity, particularly within the rhizosphere, thus accelerating soil C and N cycling. Hence, mulching may represent an effective measure for urban forest management and soil conservation
Turn story to life in 1001 Nights: A Co-Creative Text Adventure Game Using A Story Generation Model
No full textBetween Naïveté and Desire: Analyzing Collective Intimacy in Sun Yu’s Films with a Time-based Annotation Tool
No full textThe collective affords a prominent presence in Sun Yu’s extant silent era films. Along with his dedicated portrayal of athletic bodies and sanguine spirit, family-like communities contribute to his optimistic outlook against a backdrop of national crisis. Sun’s collective tends to envelop romantic plots, bringing individuals to a grander national narrative, while at the same time it is alive with tension between childlike innocence and sexual allure. This paper employs time-based annotation tool to analyze the performance and cinematography that contribute to the representation of a loving community. By annotating scenes of reoccurring gestures and collective intimacy in Wild Rose, Little Toys and Big Road how tension between desire and naïveté often lurks under playful touches and affectionate gazes. It is through such ambiguity and collective interactions that Sun finds room to address serious issues of national salvation and class struggle with cheerfulness and humanistic complexity
Bring game characters to the social space: Developing storytelling community AI agents driven by LLMs
No full textAI agents driven by Large Language Models (LLMs) are now ubiquitous in our daily life, so can they bring characters from games into reality? We address the integration of storytelling and AI agents driven by LLMs to develop engaging and believable fictional characters in community settings. Motivated by the potential of fictional characters to enhance social interactions, we introduce Storytelling Community AI Agents (SCAs) and the concept of story engineering to transform fictional game characters into "live" social entities within player communities. Our story engineering process includes three steps: (1) Character and story creation, defining the SCA's personality and worldview, (2) Presenting Live Stories to the Community, allowing the agent to recount challenges and seek suggestions, and (3) Communication with community members, enabling interaction between the agent and users. We employed the LLM GPT-3 to drive our SCAs, "David" and "Catherine," and evaluated their performance in an online gaming community, "DE (Alias)," on Discord. Our mixed-method analysis, based on questionnaires (N=15) and interviews (N=8) with community members, reveals that storytelling significantly enhances the engagement and believability of AI agents in community settings.
Home Cooking, Food Consumption and Food Production among the Unemployed and Retired Households
No full textUtilizing the 1996 Canadian Food Expenditure survey matched with Canadian Nutrient File, we separate actual food consumption from observed expenditure and test the Permanent Income/Life Cycle Hypothesis on the true consumption data. We find that the lower food expenditure during periods of unemployment or retirement (previously reported in the literature), does not translate into poorer nutrition. Household calorie intake and major nutrient intake seem to be unaffected by changes in employment status. We find evidence that unemployed or retired households substitute food purchased from restaurants for food purchased for at home consumption. Further, with the 1998 Time Use Survey we find that individuals who are not employed devote more time for food preparation. Finally we present limited evidence that unemployed and retired households substitute precooked meals for meals made from primary ingredients.Food Production, Nutrition, Consumption Smoothing
Flame synthesis of tungsten-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles
No full textMetal-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles can be employed in various applications, including dye-sensitized solar cells and gas sensors. Metal-doping is able to enhance the performance of titanium dioxide as photocatalysts by the dispersion of metal ions into the TiO2 matrix. In this work, tungsten-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles are synthesized by a multiple diffusion flames burner using TTIP as the precursor (for titania) and tungsten mesh as the metal source (for doping). This novel method of using a metal mesh as precursor for doping is especially advantageous for low-vapor-pressure precursors and the entire nanoparticle synthesis process to be gas-phase based. The effect of varying the tungsten loading rate is studied for synthesizing doped titanium dioxide with different tungsten amount. The results show that high loading rate of tungsten can trigger homogenous nucleation of WO3 prior to reaching the TTIP precursor loaded region, thereby leaving less tungsten ions to be doped into TiO2, when compared to the relatively lower tungsten loading rate configuration. Heat treatment at 973 K in an Ar atmosphere moves some of the tungsten out of the TiO2 structure, thus making a new WOx-TiO2 solid solution, while tungsten ions are reduced to lower oxidation states. Moreover the annealing process also increases the unit cell volume of W-doped TiO2, making the value closer to that of the un-doped TiO2. XRD, SEM, TEM, and XPS results are to prove the theory presented. UV Vis results show tungsten doping and heat treatment improve the absorbing ability of titanium dioxide in the visible light wavelength range significantly.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Yuqian Zhan
Between Puppet and Actor: Reframing Authorship in this Age of AI Agents
No full textThis chapter examines the conceptual tensions in understanding artificial intelligence (AI) agents’ role in creative processes, particularly focusing on Large Language Models (LLMs). Building upon Schmidt’s 1954 categorization of human-technology relationships and the classical definition of “author,” this chapter proposes to understand AI agency as existing somewhere between that of an inanimate puppet and a performing actor. While AI agents demonstrate a degree of creative autonomy, including the ability to improvise and construct complex narrative content in interactive storytelling, they cannot be considered authors in the classical sense of the term. This chapter thus suggests that AI agents exist in a dynamic state between human-controlled puppets and semi-autonomous actors. This conceptual positioning reflects how AI agents, while they can certainly contribute to creative work, remain bound to human direction. We also argue that existing conceptual frames concerning authorship should evolve and adapt to capture these new relationships
AI Nüshu: An Exploration of Language Emergence in Sisterhood Through the Lens of Computational Linguistics
No full textThis paper presents "AI Nüshu,"an emerging language system inspired by Nüshu (women's scripts), the unique language created and used exclusively by ancient Chinese women who were thought to be illiterate under a patriarchal society. In this interactive installation, two artificial intelligence (AI) agents are trained in the Chinese dictionary and the Nüshu corpus. By continually observing their environment and communicating, these agents collaborate towards creating a standard writing system to encode Chinese. It offers an artistic interpretation of the creation of a non-western script from a computational linguistics perspective, integrating AI technology with Chinese cultural heritage and a feminist viewpoint.</p
Contrasting responses of phosphatase kinetic parameters to nitrogen and phosphorus additions in forest soils
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