Physical and conceptual constructions in advanced learning environments

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Hautop Lund ◽  
Patrizia Marti
Keyword(s):  
Interaction Design ◽  
Speech Therapy ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Target System ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Tangible Interfaces ◽  
Atomic Actions ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Interface Devices

I-BLOCKS are an innovative concept of building blocks allowing users to manipulate conceptual structures and compose atomic actions while building physical constructions. They represent an example of enabling technologies for tangible interfaces since they emphasise physicality of interaction through the use of spatial and kinaesthetic knowledge. The technology presented in this paper is integrated in physical building blocks augmented with embedded and invisible microprocessors. Connectivity and behaviour of such structures are defined by the physical connectivity between the blocks. These are general purpose, constructive, tangible user interface devices that can have a variety of applications. Unlike other approaches, I-BLOCKS do not only specify a computation that is performed by the target system but perform at the same time the computation and the associated action/functionality. Manipulating I-BLOCKS do not only mean constructing physical or conceptual structures but also composing atomic actions into complex behaviours. To illustrate this concept, the paper presents different scenarios in which the technology has been applied: storytelling performed through the construction of physical characters exhibiting emotional states, and learning activities for speech therapy in cases of dyslexia and aphasia. The scenarios are presented; discussing both the features of the technology used and the related interaction design issues. The paper concludes by reporting about informal trials that have been conducted with children. It should be noted that, even if both trials represent application scenarios for children, the I-BLOCKS technology is in principle open to different kinds of applications and target users like, for example, games for adults or brainstorming activities.

scholarly journals Biodiversity Literature Repository: Building the customized FAIR repository by using custom metadata

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Ioannidis-Pantopikos ◽  
Donat Agosti
Keyword(s):  
Particle Physics ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Digital Object Identifier ◽  
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ◽  
Local Networks ◽  
Representational State Transfer ◽  
Processing Pipeline ◽  
European Laboratory ◽  
Machine Readable

In the landscape of general-purpose repositories, Zenodo was built at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics' (CERN) data center to facilitate the sharing and preservation of the long tail of research across all disciplines and scientific domains. Given Zenodo’s long tradition of making research artifacts FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable), there are still challenges in applying these principles effectively when serving the needs of specific research domains. Plazi’s biodiversity taxonomic literature processing pipeline liberates data from publications, making it FAIR via extensive metadata, the minting of a DataCite Digital Object Identifier (DOI), a licence and both human- and machine-readable output provided by Zenodo, and accessible via the Biodiversity Literature Repository community at Zenodo. The deposits (e.g., taxonomic treatments, figures) are an example of how local networks of information can be formally linked to explicit resources in a broader context of other platforms like GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility). In the context of biodiversity taxonomic literature data workflows, a general-purpose repository’s traditional submission approach is not enough to preserve rich metadata and to capture highly interlinked objects, such as taxonomic treatments and digital specimens. As a prerequisite to serve these use cases and ensure that the artifacts remain FAIR, Zenodo introduced the concept of custom metadata, which allows enhancing submissions such as figures or taxonomic treatments (see as an example the treatment of Eurygyrus peloponnesius) with custom keywords, based on terms from common biodiversity vocabularies like Darwin Core and Audubon Core and with an explicit link to the respective vocabulary term. The aforementioned pipelines and features are designed to be served first and foremost using public Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interfaces (REST APIs) and open web technologies like webhooks. This approach allows researchers and platforms to integrate existing and new automated workflows into Zenodo and thus empowers research communities to create self-sustained cross-platform ecosystems. The BiCIKL project (Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library) exemplifies how repositories and tools can become building blocks for broader adoption of the FAIR principles. Starting with the above literature processing pipeline, the concepts of and resulting FAIR data, with a focus on the custom metadata used to enhance the deposits, will be explained.

The Use of Data Explorer as a 3-D Reconstruction Tool for Microscopy Data Sets

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1131-1132
Author(s):  
Jansma P.L ◽  
M.A. Landis ◽  
L.C. Hansen ◽  
N.C. Merchant ◽  
N.J. Vickers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volume Rendering ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Microscopy Data

We are using Data Explorer (DX), a general-purpose, interactive visualization program developed by IBM, to perform three-dimensional reconstructions of neural structures from microscopic or optical sections. We use the program on a Silicon Graphics workstation; it also can run on Sun, IBM RS/6000, and Hewlett Packard workstations. DX comprises modular building blocks that the user assembles into data-flow networks for specific uses. Many modules come with the program, but others, written by users (including ourselves), are continually being added and are available at the DX ftp site, http://www.tc.cornell.edu/DXhttp://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=43210.Initally, our efforts were aimed at developing methods for isosurface- and volume-rendering of structures visible in three-dimensional stacks of optical sections of insect brains gathered on our Bio-Rad MRC-600 laser scanning confocal microscope. We also wanted to be able to merge two 3-D data sets (collected on two different photomultiplier channels) and to display them at various angles of view.

The Track: Technion Robot And Controller Kit

Robotica ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-128
Author(s):  
David Bar-On ◽  
Shaul Gutman ◽  
Amos Israeli
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Hierarchical Model ◽  
General Model ◽  
Robot Control ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Specific Task ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
New Model ◽  
Robot Controller

SUMMARYA modular hierarchical model for controlling robots is presented. This model is targeted mainly for research and development; it enables researchers to concentrate on a certain specific task of robotics, while using existing building blocks for the rest of their applications. The presentation begins by discussing the problems with which researchers and engineers of robotics are faced whenever trying to use existing commercial robots. Based on this discussion we propose a new general model for robot control to be referred as TERM (TEchnion Robotic Model). The viability of the new model is demonstrated by implementing a general purpose robot controller.

scholarly journals The role of self–other distinction in understanding others' mental and emotional states: neurocognitive mechanisms in children and adults

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1686) ◽  
pp. 20150074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaus Steinbeis
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Affective Domains

Social interactions come with the fundamental problem of trying to understand others' mental and affective states while under the overpowering influence of one's own concurrent thoughts and feelings. The ability to distinguish between simultaneous representations of others' current experiences as well as our own is crucial to navigate our complex social environments successfully. The developmental building blocks of this ability and how this is given rise to by functional and structural brain development remains poorly understood. In this review, I outline some of the key findings on the role of self–other distinction in understanding others' mental as well as emotional states in children and adults. I will begin by clarifying the crucial role for self–other distinction in avoiding egocentric attributions of one's own cognitive as well as affective states to others in adults and outline the underlying neural circuitry in overcoming such egocentricity. This will provide the basis for a discussion of the emergence of self–other distinction in early childhood as well as developmental changes therein throughout childhood and into adulthood. I will demonstrate that self–other distinction of cognitive and emotional states is already dissociable early in development. Concomitantly, I will show that processes of self–other distinction in cognitive and affective domains rely on adjacent but distinct neural circuitry each with unique connectivity profiles, presumably related to the nature of the distinction that needs to be made.

scholarly journals A general-purpose protein design framework based on mining sequence-structure relationships in known protein structures

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianfu Zhou ◽  
Alexandra E. Panaitiu ◽  
Gevorg Grigoryan
Keyword(s):  
Protein Design ◽  
Structure Prediction ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Protein Structures ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Data Bank ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Design Framework ◽  
Target Structure ◽  
Sequence Structure

AbstractThe ability to routinely design functional proteins, in a targeted manner, would have enormous implications for biomedical research and therapeutic development. Computational protein design (CPD) offers the potential to fulfill this need, and though recent years have brought considerable progress in the field, major limitations remain. Current state-of-the-art approaches to CPD aim to capture the determinants of structure from physical principles. While this has led to many successful designs, it does have strong limitations associated with inaccuracies in physical modeling, such that a robust general solution to CPD has yet to be found. Here we propose a fundamentally novel design framework—one based on identifying and applying patterns of sequence-structure compatibility found in known proteins, rather than approximating them from models of inter-atomic interactions. Specifically, we systematically decompose the target structure to be designed into structural building blocks we call TERMs (tertiary motifs) and use rapid structure search against the Protein Data Bank (PDB) to identify sequence patterns associated with each TERM from known protein structures that contain it. These results are then combined to produce a sequence-level pseudo-energy model that can score any sequence for compatibility with the target structure. This model can then be used to extract the optimal-scoring sequence via combinatorial optimization or otherwise sample the sequence space predicted to be well compatible with folding to the target. Here we carry out extensive computational analyses, showing that our method, which we dub dTERMen (design with TERM energies): 1) produces native-like sequences given native crystallographic or NMR backbones, 2) produces sequence-structure compatibility scores that correlate with thermodynamic stability, and 3) is able to predict experimental success of designed sequences generated with other methods, and 4) designs sequences that are found to fold to the desired target by structure prediction more frequently than sequences designed with an atomistic method. As an experimental validation of dTERMen, we perform a total surface redesign of Red Fluorescent Protein mCherry, marking a total of 64 residues as variable. The single sequence identified as optimal by dTERMen harbors 48 mutations relative to mCherry, but nevertheless folds, is monomeric in solution, exhibits similar stability to chemical denaturation as mCherry, and even preserves the fluorescence property. Our results strongly argue that the PDB is now sufficiently large to enable proteins to be designed by using only examples of structural motifs from unrelated proteins. This is highly significant, given that the structural database will only continue to grow, and signals the possibility of a whole host of novel data-driven CPD methods. Because such methods are likely to have orthogonal strengths relative to existing techniques, they could represent an important step towards removing remaining barriers to robust CPD.

scholarly journals Intuitive Representation of Knowledge in Computable Form

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Vercruysse ◽  
Martin Kuiper
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Minimal Set ◽  
Manual Curation ◽  
Digital Knowledge ◽  
Complex Knowledge ◽  
Structure Knowledge ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
High Level

Scientific progress is increasingly dependent on knowledge in computation-ready forms. In the life sciences, among others, many scientists carefully extract and structure knowledge from the scientific literature. In a process called manual curation, they enter knowledge into spreadsheets, or into databases where it serves their and many others' research. Valuable as these curation efforts are, the range and detail of what can practically be captured and shared remains limited, because of the constraints of current curation tools. Many important contextual aspects of observations described in literature simply do not fit in the form defined by these tools, and thus cannot be captured. Here we present the design of an easy-to-use, general-purpose method and interface, that enables the precise semantic capture of virtually unlimited types of information and details, using only a minimal set of building blocks. Scientists from any discipline can use this to convert any complex knowledge into a form that is easily readable and meaningful for both humans and computers. The method VSM forms a universal and high-level language for encoding ideas, and for interacting with digital knowledge.

Towards Protolanguage

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-111
Author(s):  
Dmitry V. Zaitsev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Language Of Thought ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
General Outline ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Verbal Language ◽  
Theories Of Emotions

In this paper, I attempt to offer a general outline of my views on the origin and evolution of language. I do not pretend in any way to a completely new conception of language evolution. It seems to me that all the most important and productive hypotheses about the origin of language have already been made before, and it is only a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together correctly. As far as I can see it, the evolution of language is directly related to the embedded and embodied emotional types, which served as the basis for the subsequent categorization of perceived objects, and thus laid the ground for the formation of first an internal language (of thought), and then an external verbal language. Consistent with this, the paper is organized as follows. In the Introduction I briefly describe the problem I am facing in this article and outline a plan for solving it. Next section comprises a survey of relevant empirical findings related primarily to the processing and understanding of abstract terms and concepts. In my view, it supports the idea of the close connection of abstract terms proceeding, and thus language comprehension, with emotional states. The third section provides relevant theoretical considerations of the relationship between emotions, cognition, and language. Consistently considering various theories of emotions and concepts of language formation, I pay attention to the connection between affective states and language as a sign system. In the fourth section, my views are presented directly. In so doing, I illustrate my approach with a telling example that shows how, in the course of evolution, embedded and embodied emotional responses and reactions could become the building blocks first for the internal language of thought, and then for the external natural language.

The Optical Building Blocks of Eyes

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Cronin ◽  
Sönke Johnsen ◽  
N. Justin Marshall ◽  
Eric J. Warrant
Keyword(s):  
Building Blocks ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Relative Distribution ◽  
Surrounding World ◽  
Visual Systems ◽  
Visual Tasks

This chapter analyzes the optical building blocks of eyes. Irrespective of their optical specializations, all eyes have one thing in common: they collect and absorb light arriving from different places in the environment, thus giving animals information about the relative distribution of light and dark in the surrounding world, including the contrasts and positions of objects. This information is used to support a variety of visual tasks, such as identifying and avoiding predators, detecting and pursuing prey or conspecifics, and orientating and navigating within the habitat. Although some animals use their eyes to perform more or less all of these tasks, others do not. All visual systems evolved within one of two main categories, being either general purpose or special purpose.

DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED INSTRUMENTATION FOR STATIC AND PULSED FIELDS

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (20n22) ◽  
pp. 3398-3398
Author(s):  
A. MIGLIORI ◽  
F. F. BALAKIREV ◽  
J. B. BETTS ◽  
G. S. BOEBINGER ◽  
C. H. MIELKE ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
High Field ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Minimum Sensitivity ◽  
Pulsed Magnets ◽  
Power Limits ◽  
Lock In ◽  
Pulsed Fields ◽  
New Instruments

The DC and pulsed magnets now available at the NHMFL provide routine access to high magnetic fields in cryogenic environments (down to even dilution refrigerator levels), that are world-record unique. This uniqueness comes with a price that reflects constraints of the magnets and the low temperatures, including limited volume and time at peak magnetic field, cryogenic power limits on electronics, and, particularly for pulsed magnets, increased noise. In effect, the instrumentation constraints are similar for NHMFL superconducting, resistive and pulsed magnets. An NHMFL experimentalist therefore has a simple goal: acquisition of all the information produced by a measurement in the shortest time permitted by information theory, with minimum sensitivity to noise and interference. To assist with this, we propose here to eliminate commercial general-purpose lock-in amplifiers, preamplifiers and digitizers and replace them with commercial-quality custom building blocks optimized for NHMFL measurements, that are faster, quieter, more versatile, and cheaper. We will use these new instruments to support users by improving present measurements as well as adding new capabilities, including specific heat for materials that suffer adiabatic effects in pulsed fields, and thermal conductivity in both dc and pulsed magnets based on 3rd harmonic methods. We will use these techniques to measures the thermal conductivity of high Tc superconductors at high field in the normal state, and to test the Weideman-Franz relationship between electronic thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity in the extreme high-field limit.

scholarly journals Accelerating BLAS and LAPACK via Efficient Floating Point Architecture Design

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 1750006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhad Merchant ◽  
Anupam Chattopadhyay ◽  
Soumyendu Raha ◽  
S. K. Nandy ◽  
Ranjani Narayan
Keyword(s):  
Linear Algebra ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Graphics Processing Unit ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Performance Tuning ◽  
Floating Point ◽  
Processing Unit ◽  
Field Programmable ◽  
The Impact

Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS) and Linear Algebra Package (LAPACK) form basic building blocks for several High Performance Computing (HPC) applications and hence dictate performance of the HPC applications. Performance in such tuned packages is attained through tuning of several algorithmic and architectural parameters such as number of parallel operations in the Directed Acyclic Graph of the BLAS/LAPACK routines, sizes of the memories in the memory hierarchy of the underlying platform, bandwidth of the memory, and structure of the compute resources in the underlying platform. In this paper, we closely investigate the impact of the Floating Point Unit (FPU) micro-architecture for performance tuning of BLAS and LAPACK. We present theoretical analysis for pipeline depth of different floating point operations like multiplier, adder, square root, and divider followed by characterization of BLAS and LAPACK to determine several parameters required in the theoretical framework for deciding optimum pipeline depth of the floating operations. A simple design of a Processing Element (PE) is presented and shown that the PE outperforms the most recent custom realizations of BLAS and LAPACK by 1.1X to 1.5X in GFlops/W, and 1.9X to 2.1X in Gflops/mm2. Compared to multicore, General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit (GPGPU), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and ClearSpeed CSX700, performance improvement of 1.8-80x is reported in PE.

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