Architecture

About: Architecture is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 25849 publications have been published within this topic receiving 225266 citations.

Integrating Plot, Character and Natural Language Processing in the Interactive Drama Façade

Abstract: Facade is an artificial intelligence-based art/research experiment in electronic narrative - an attempt to move beyond traditional branching or hy- per-linked narrative to create a fully-realized, one-act interactive drama. We are completing a three year collaboration to engineer a novel architecture that inte- grates emotional, interactive character behavior, drama-managed plot and shal- low natural language processing. In this architecture, authors can organize hierarchies of reactive behaviors and natural-language discourse contexts into entities called story beats, achieving rich, robust local interaction; a drama manager globally sequences beats chosen from a large pool in order to make story tension rise and fall to match an Aristotelian arc. Within this architecture we are building a dramatically interesting, real-time 3D virtual world inhabited by computer-controlled characters, in which the user experiences a theatrical drama from a first-person perspective. Facade will be publicly released as a free download in 2003.

Manual of Leaf Architecture

Abstract: As with taxonomy itself, the utility of plant structural studies has always benefited from the development of organized nomenclature and descriptive protocols. The glossary compiled in the 1930s by the Committee of Nomenclature of the International Association of Wood Anatomists greatly stimulated research in that field by providing comparable descriptions across a growing literature. When Hickey’s (1973) original, well-illustrated paper on leaf architecture appeared in the American Journal of Botany , many morphologists, and especially paleobotanists, were quick to see the value of this new tool. Based on terminology originally conceived by Von Ettingshausen (1861) , Hickey (1979) expanded and illustrated the unfamiliar terms using examples taken from a large cleared leaf collection that he developed. Hickey and Wolfe (1975) superimposed the scheme on general dicot classification, thereby clearly demonstrating its potential in evolutionary studies. In 1999, the Manual of Leaf Architecture was published by six authors who formed the Leaf Architecture Working Group ( Ash et al. 1999 ). The glossary and scheme were expanded and included many characters that occur in net-veined monocot leaves. The volume now under review is the most comprehensive yet. The layout, in 8 1/2” x 11” format, allows clear presentation of the illustrated terminology, which includes drawings, diagrams and cleared leaf photographs. The concise introduction gives the history of leaf architecture studies, and the reference list includes numerous applied examples from the literature covering extant as well as fossil plants. The authors note that much remains to be learned regarding monocot leaves and the system is not yet complete for that group. The terminology is organized around three general categories: leaf characters, vein characters, and tooth characters. Far more than a glossary, the terms are organized and outlined according to a suggested descriptive sequence. Appendix A summarizes it in outline form. Appendix B gives a sample worksheet from which one can score or describe leaf features. If any doubts remain regarding the system’s applicability, the appendix follows with an excellent tutorial. Eighteen finished, diverse examples include whole leaf macro photographs, plus magnified views of teeth and fine venation patterns. On each facing page is a finished worksheet and final text description. Appendix C includes voucher data for most of the more than 350 cleared leaf photographs, keyed by figure number. However, a few figures lack these data. Appendix D gives a suggested procedure for clearing leaves and the authors list references that describe other techniques. I would note that for many species, much data can be recorded from a fresh or dried leaf using a dissection microscope and strong substage illumination. I have long held that the large majority of angiosperm genera and numerous species can be distinguished by their leaf characters, and lament the fact that this scheme, now available for 36 yr, has been so little integrated into taxonomic descriptions. Leaves, the first line of plant survival, are present for much longer periods than reproductive organs and deserve to be carefully characterized. With this superb tool at hand there is no longer any excuse.