Hasil untuk "Fossil man. Human paleontology"

Jose P. O’Gorman, Roger B.J. Benson

An historical indeterminate elasmosaurid specimen CAMSM X50356 (CAMSM = Sedgwick Museum) collected during the 19th century is described. The specimen comes from the Cenomanian Cambridge Greensand although the possibility of an Albian–lower Cenomanian age is discussed. CAMSM X50356 is recovered within the Elasmosauridae. Our phylogenetic analysis indicates that elongated cervical centra with absence of the lateral ridge are the basal condition of elasmosaurids. The lateral ridge is present in almost all other elasmosaurids with the exception of some taxa that have secondarily shortened the cervical centra such as the aristonectines and Nakonanectes bradti. The lack of correlation between cervical elongation and the lateral ridge is thus recorded here for the first time as CAMSM X50356 is the only elasmosaurid with cervical centra longer than high but without the lateral ridge.

Sarah Diefenbach, Daniel Ullrich

Conversation with chatbots based on Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT has become one of the major forms of interaction with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in everyday life. What makes this interaction so convenient is that interacting with LLMs feels so natural, and resembles what we know from real, human conversations. At the same time, this seeming similarity is part of one of the ethical challenges of AI design, since it activates many misleading ideas about AI. We discuss similarities and differences between human-AI-conversations and interpersonal conversation and highlight starting points for more ethical design of AI at the front-end.

Yinghao Wang, Cheng Wang

Large language model (LLM) multi-agent coding systems typically fix agent capabilities at design time. We study an alternative setting, earned autonomy, in which a coding agent starts with zero pre-defined functions and incrementally builds a reusable function library through lightweight human feedback on visual output alone. We evaluate this setup in a Blender-based 3D scene generation task requiring both spatial reasoning and programmatic geometric control. Although the agent rediscovered core utility functions comparable to a human reference implementation, it achieved 0% full-scene success under output-only feedback across multiple instruction granularities, where success required satisfying object completeness, ground contact, collision avoidance, and scale plausibility simultaneously. Our analysis identifies a structural observability gap: bugs originate in code logic and execution state, while human evaluation occurs only at the output layer, and the many-to-one mapping from internal states to visible outcomes prevents symptom-level feedback from reliably identifying root causes. This mismatch leads to persistent failure mode oscillation rather than convergence. A diagnostic intervention that injected minimal code-level knowledge restored convergence, strongly supporting the interpretation that the main bottleneck lies in feedback observability rather than programming competence. We formalize this phenomenon as a feedback paradox in domains with deep causal chains between internal code logic and perceptual outcomes, and argue that effective human-agent collaboration in such settings requires intermediate observability beyond output-only evaluation.

Sina F. J. Dupuis, Jordan Bestwick, Dennis M. Hansen et al.

Abstract The sauropodomorph Plateosaurus is one of the best-known dinosaurs from Europe due to the large numbers of articulated skeletons discovered from bonebed horizons in Switzerland and Germany. Plateosaurus exhibits high degrees of developmental plasticity, which makes investigations of specimen life-histories from gross morphology alone difficult. Furthermore, comparatively few specimens have been rigorously examined for possessing any evidence of pathology, i.e., injury or disease, that could provide insight into how these dinosaurs lived. Here, we provide an osteological description of a nearly complete Plateosaurus trossingensis (excavation ID SMF 18.1, collection NMZ 1000001) from the Late Triassic Klettgau Formation from Frick, Switzerland, with an unusual pathology in its right scapula and proximal portion of the right humerus. We also perform histological analyses on two dorsal ribs to investigate the relative ontogenetic stage and life history of the specimen and investigate the morphology and aetiology of its scapula-humerus pathology using Micro-Computed Tomography and comparisons with a previously undescribed Plateosaurus from Frick (SMF 11.4; comprising left and right radii and ulnae) that exhibits pathological tissues. We infer that NMZ 1000001 was an adult of around 23–25 years of age when it died. We estimate a total body length of around 7.7 m, making NMZ 1000001 one of the largest known specimens from Frick and an above average-sized adult for the species overall. The scapula-humerus pathology is characterised by highly rugose surface textures, possible element fusion and extensive remodelling of internal bone structures. We infer the pathology to be a chronic case of osteomyelitis (bone tissue infection). Based on the size and extent of the infected area it is likely one of most advanced cases known from the fossil record. We further document the process of producing an exhibit with a museum-grade life reconstruction based on the pathological fossil.

Alessandro Lania, Ben Pabst, Torsten M. Scheyer

Abstract Non-sauropodan sauropodomorphs represented the most abundant and diverse herbivore component of the Gondwanan continental paleoecosystems during the Late Triassic. Nonetheless, a constantly increasing diversity has been recovered also from Laurasian formations, such as the Klettgau Formation, which is best exposed at the Gruhalde clay pit (Tonwerke Keller AG) in Frick, Canton Aargau, Switzerland. Despite being renowned for mass-accumulation horizons of the plateosaurid Plateosaurus trossingensis, a new fossiliferous layer was recently discovered above the “Plateosaurus bonebeds”, yielding the holotype of the neotheropod Notatesseraeraptor frickensis as well as several partial articulated skeletons of an unknown sauropodomorph. The complete craniomandibular anatomy of an articulated skull, SMF 13.5.37, belonging to a partial skeleton, SMF 13.5, referred to this new latest Norian sauropodomorph from the Klettgau Formation is here presented. Micro-computed tomography scans (µCT) as well as segmentation techniques were employed in order to examine inaccessible craniodental features of the snout of the specimen under study. The osteological investigation and the anatomical comparison with related taxa unveiled a unique mosaic-like combination of plesiomorphic and apomorphic craniomandibular features, implying that the cranial anatomy of SMF 13.5.37 is transitional between non-massopodan plateosaurian and massopodan sauropodomorph morphologies, similarly to the Argentinian Coloradisaurus brevis from the mid-to-late Norian of the Los Colorados Formation. An intermixed craniomandibular condition is also reflected in the phylogenetic results, which resolve SMF 13.5.37 as a basal massopodan, branching out either at the first or third node of Massopoda, representing the first Laurasian non-sauropodiform massopodan. Even though the evolutionary trend towards a complete massopodan-like architecture needs to be further tested with the study of the postcranium, SMF 13.5.37 unequivocally represents the skull of a new massopodan sauropodomorph taxon from Switzerland, shedding light on a more diversified herbivorous dinosaurian paleofauna from the Norian comparable to those of South America and Africa, as it represents the fourth officially recognized non-sauropodan sauropodomorph along with Plateosaurus trossingensis, Gresslyosaurus ingens and Schleitheimia schutzi.

Luis Sebastián Agüero, Daniela Elizabeth Olivera, Marcelo Adrián Martínez et al.

This contribution integrates palynofacies, organic geochemical and sedimentological analyses to characterize the depositional environment and the kerogen properties related to the hydrocarbon source potential of the Vaca Muerta Formation at the Mallín Quemado Norte (MQN) and Puerta Curaco (PC), Neuquén Basin, Argentina. Thirty-five outcrop samples were analyzed for palynofacies and total organic carbon (TOC). At MQN, five palynofacies types and sedimentological evidence suggest deposition mainly in an outer shelf marine environment with a variable continental input. At PC, three palynofacies types and sedimentological observations point to accumulation mainly in an outer ramp marine environment with minimal to moderate terrigenous input. Depositional processes involve an interplay of suspension settling from the water column (marine snow) and buoyant plumes, followed by reworking of the seafloor by bottom currents and sediment gravity flows. Under identical hydrodynamic flow conditions, equidimensional phytoclasts respond better to transport sorting than blade-shaped. The first documentation of high-relief organic spheres (HROS) in this unit points to redox oscillation between sulfidic and ferruginous anoxic microenvironments during early diagenesis. Low HROS percentages and crypto-bioturbated strata suggest that bottom waters were not strictly anoxic. Organic carbon preservation may be partly related to the role of extracellular polymeric substances as an organic matter encapsulator. The kerogen aligns with type III-IV, and TOC values are mainly high (MQN: up to 4.69%; PC: 4.9–10.4%). Although an over-mature state cannot be entirely ruled out (highly dark palynological matter), the poor preservation of the kerogen suggests a negligible hydrocarbon potential.

Ruben Janssens, Jens De Bock, Sofie Labat et al.

Detecting miscommunication in human-robot interaction is a critical function for maintaining user engagement and trust. While humans effortlessly detect communication errors in conversations through both verbal and non-verbal cues, robots face significant challenges in interpreting non-verbal feedback, despite advances in computer vision for recognizing affective expressions. This research evaluates the effectiveness of machine learning models in detecting miscommunications in robot dialogue. Using a multi-modal dataset of 240 human-robot conversations, where four distinct types of conversational failures were systematically introduced, we assess the performance of state-of-the-art computer vision models. After each conversational turn, users provided feedback on whether they perceived an error, enabling an analysis of the models' ability to accurately detect robot mistakes. Despite using state-of-the-art models, the performance barely exceeds random chance in identifying miscommunication, while on a dataset with more expressive emotional content, they successfully identified confused states. To explore the underlying cause, we asked human raters to do the same. They could also only identify around half of the induced miscommunications, similarly to our model. These results uncover a fundamental limitation in identifying robot miscommunications in dialogue: even when users perceive the induced miscommunication as such, they often do not communicate this to their robotic conversation partner. This knowledge can shape expectations of the performance of computer vision models and can help researchers to design better human-robot conversations by deliberately eliciting feedback where needed.

Uri Menkes, Assaf Hallak, Ofra Amir

Consider a setting where a pre-trained agent is operating in an environment and a human operator can decide to temporarily terminate its operation and take-over for some duration of time. These kind of scenarios are common in human-machine interactions, for example in autonomous driving, factory automation and healthcare. In these settings, we typically observe a trade-off between two extreme cases -- if no take-overs are allowed, then the agent might employ a sub-optimal, possibly dangerous policy. Alternatively, if there are too many take-overs, then the human has no confidence in the agent, greatly limiting its usefulness. In this paper, we formalize this setup and propose an explainability scheme to help optimize the number of human interventions.

Ardian Selmonaj, Giacomo Del Rio, Adrian Schneider et al.

We present a system that enables real-time interaction between human users and agents trained to control fighter jets in simulated 3D air combat scenarios. The agents are trained in a dedicated environment using Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning. A communication link is developed to allow seamless deployment of trained agents into VR-Forces, a widely used defense simulation tool for realistic tactical scenarios. This integration allows mixed simulations where human-controlled entities engage with intelligent agents exhibiting distinct combat behaviors. Our interaction model creates new opportunities for human-agent teaming, immersive training, and the exploration of innovative tactics in defense contexts.

KONGRAILATPAM MILANKUMAR SHARMA, MARTIN EZCURRA, RAGHAVENDRA PRASAD TIWARI et al.

The Panchet Formation of northeastern India preserves an Induan (earliest Triassic) vertebrate assemblage with only one valid archosauromorph species, the proterosuchid Samsarasuchus pamelae. Two other archosauromorph species have been named for this unit: “Ankistrodon indicus” and “Teratosaurus(?) bengalensis”. “Ankistrodon indicus”, based on a fragment of maxilla with two partial teeth, is indistinguishable from other proterosuchid species and is considered a nomen dubium. “Teratosaurus(?) bengalensis” is represented by an isolated, almost complete tooth that was distinguished from “Ankistrodon indicus” in the presence of mesial denticles. “Teratosaurus(?) bengalensis” is also indistinguishable from other valid proterosuchid species and considered likely a nomen dubium. However, it remains unresolved if “Teratosaurus(?) bengalensis” represents a second Panchet archosauromorph species different from Samsarasuchus pamelae and “Ankistrodon indicus” because the presence of mesial denticles cannot be determined in these species due to their incompleteness. Here we describe two new Panchet Proterosuchidae specimens collected from the same locality as the holotypes of the three above-mentioned species. These new specimens are maxillary fragments and one of them has almost complete teeth with mesial denticles on the apical portion of the crowns, as in “Teratosaurus(?) bengalensis.” The rest of their morphology is congruent with that of Samsarasuchus pamelae and “Ankistrodon indicus.” As a result, the specimens reported here expand our anatomical knowledge of the Panchet archosauriform assemblage and indicate that there is no current evidence for the presence of more than one valid archosauromorph species in the Panchet Formation.

Marcelo Adrián Martínez, María Virginia Bianchinotti, María Elina Cornou

Spores, conidiophores, and hyphae of fossil fungi recovered from nine outcropping siltstone and shale samples belonging to the Troncoso, Salto del Macho, and Río Foyel formations in the El Foyel Group at the Río Foyel Section, are described and illustrated. Representatives of 16 genera were recognized. Among the 26 species described, one is proposed as a new species, Inapertisporites lacrimaformis. Amerospores are the most abundant type of spores recovered. Based on the palynostratigraphical analysis of the non-pollinic (fungal) remains, a Paleogene age for the El Foyel Group is suggested. Of the three formations, Troncoso shows the highest abundance and diversity of fungal remains, which is believed to be representative of a period of optimal climatic conditions characterized as warm temperate and humid, probably related to the Middle Eocene Climate Optimum (MECO). Based on the paleoeological preferences of the specimens recovered from the El Foyel Group, a riparian or lacustrine environment in a woodland setting is inferred.

Robert Weis, Dominique Delsate, Christian Klug et al.

Abstract A re-examination of the early Toarcian fish fossils preserved in public paleontological collections in Luxembourg revealed 70 specimens of large Toarcian pachycormid fish with an excellent three-dimensional preservation within calcareous nodules. Six of them are associated with octobrachian coleoid gladii in their oesophagus or stomach, an association not previously described from Luxembourg. The pachycormids are ascribed to Pachycormus macropterus (Blainville, 1818) and Saurostomus esocinus Agassiz, 1843 while the octobrachian gladii are ascribed to Teudopsis bollensis Voltz, 1836, Teudopsis sp. indet. and Loligosepiidae indet. The position and orientation of the gladii provide direct evidence of these fishes feeding on coleoids and thus a teuthophagous diet, rather than an accidental joint burial. Together with evidence from coeval deposits in Germany, these findings suggest that teuthophagy was a widespread feeding strategy at the base of the clade that contains the suspension-feeding pachycormid giants of the Jurassic–Cretaceous.

Horacio Parent, Enrique Ramos-Agustino

The family Simoceratidae Spath, 1925, lumps various formsbelonging to lineages with different roots and is clearlyparaphyletic. One of its genera is Lytogyroceras Spath, 1924,which stands apart from the typical forms of the familybearing strong ribbing and tubercles. The sexual dimorphismof Lytogyroceras was supposed to be based only onadult size differences. Here we describe a recently collectedlappeted microconch of Lytogyroceras subbeticum (Olóriz,1978) from the Ponti Zone of Carchelejo (southern Spain).This microconch shows that the sexual dimorphism in thegenus Lytogyroceras is not only characterized by differentadult size of the sexes as formerly assumed, but also by differentadult peristome morphology.

Yue Li, Koen V Hindriks, Florian Kunneman

In this paper, we study how well human speech can automatically be filtered when this overlaps with the voice and fan noise of a social robot, Pepper. We ultimately aim for an HRI scenario where the microphone can remain open when the robot is speaking, enabling a more natural turn-taking scheme where the human can interrupt the robot. To respond appropriately, the robot would need to understand what the interlocutor said in the overlapping part of the speech, which can be accomplished by target speech extraction (TSE). To investigate how well TSE can be accomplished in the context of the popular social robot Pepper, we set out to manufacture a datase composed of a mixture of recorded speech of Pepper itself, its fan noise (which is close to the microphones), and human speech as recorded by the Pepper microphone, in a room with low reverberation and high reverberation. Comparing a signal processing approach, with and without post-filtering, and a convolutional recurrent neural network (CRNN) approach to a state-of-the-art speaker identification-based TSE model, we found that the signal processing approach without post-filtering yielded the best performance in terms of Word Error Rate on the overlapping speech signals with low reverberation, while the CRNN approach is more robust for reverberation. These results show that estimating the human voice in overlapping speech with a robot is possible in real-life application, provided that the room reverberation is low and the human speech has a high volume or high pitch.

M. Sánchez‐Villagra, Mariano Bond, Marcelo A. Reguero et al.

Las exploraciones de Roth, las colecciones resultantes muchas ahora ubicadas en La Plata, Zúrich, Ginebra y Copenhague, y sus importantes aportes en temas geológicos -especialmente estratigráficos- y paleontológicos, son un caso paradigmático para la historia global de la paleontología y para la historia de la migración suiza en América Latina. Su trabajo exploratorio incluyó el descubrimiento de una megafauna diversa de la región pampeana, de sitios y estratos en la Patagonia de importancia paleontológica, y el reconocimiento de un grupo de mamíferos ungulados endémicos, Notoungulata. El descubrimiento de Roth de un esqueleto humano asociado a un caparazón de gliptodonte es uno de los primeros informes de la coexistencia del hombre y la fauna extinta del Cuaternario sudamericano. Roth se convirtió en un académico de renombre en el Museo de La Plata, que fue una institución científica líder en la formación de la nación argentina, particularmente en la expansión de la frontera patagónica. También mantuvo fuertes lazos con su Suiza natal, donde al final de su vida adulta obtuvo una formación formal y trató de atraer a otros ciudadanos suizos para trabajar en ciencias naturales en Argentina. Su biografía arroja luz sobre las circunstancias de su acervo científico y su trayectoria en los intersticios entre la ciencia amateur y la profesional, la modernidad y el imperialismo a principios del siglo XX. Roth’s explorations, the resulting collections many now allocated in La Plata, Zurich, Geneva and Copenhagen, and his significant contributions in geological—especially stratigraphic—and paleontological topics, are a paradigmatic case for the global history of paleontology and for the Swiss migration history in Latin America. His work included the discovery of a diverse megafauna from the Pampean region, of sites and strata in Patagonia of paleontological significance, and the recognition of a group of endemic ungulate mammals, Notoungulata. Roth’s discovery of a human skeleton associated with a glyptodont carapace is one of the first reports of the coexistence of humans with the extinct fauna of the South American Quaternary. Roth became a renowned scholar at the Museo de La Plata, which was a leading scientific institution in the nation-making of Argentina, particularly in the expansion of the Patagonian frontier. He also kept strong ties with his native Switzerland, where late in his adult life he obtained some formal training and tried to attract other Swiss nationals to work in natural sciences in Argentina. His biography sheds light about the circumstances of his scientific collection and career in the interstices between amateur and professional science, modernity and imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century.

Mohammad Tahaei, Marios Constantinides, Daniele Quercia et al.

In recent years, the CHI community has seen significant growth in research on Human-Centered Responsible Artificial Intelligence. While different research communities may use different terminology to discuss similar topics, all of this work is ultimately aimed at developing AI that benefits humanity while being grounded in human rights and ethics, and reducing the potential harms of AI. In this special interest group, we aim to bring together researchers from academia and industry interested in these topics to map current and future research trends to advance this important area of research by fostering collaboration and sharing ideas.

Anubrata Das, Houjiang Liu, Venelin Kovatchev et al.

Misinformation threatens modern society by promoting distrust in science, changing narratives in public health, heightening social polarization, and disrupting democratic elections and financial markets, among a myriad of other societal harms. To address this, a growing cadre of professional fact-checkers and journalists provide high-quality investigations into purported facts. However, these largely manual efforts have struggled to match the enormous scale of the problem. In response, a growing body of Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies have been proposed for more scalable fact-checking. Despite tremendous growth in such research, however, practical adoption of NLP technologies for fact-checking still remains in its infancy today. In this work, we review the capabilities and limitations of the current NLP technologies for fact-checking. Our particular focus is to further chart the design space for how these technologies can be harnessed and refined in order to better meet the needs of human fact-checkers. To do so, we review key aspects of NLP-based fact-checking: task formulation, dataset construction, modeling, and human-centered strategies, such as explainable models and human-in-the-loop approaches. Next, we review the efficacy of applying NLP-based fact-checking tools to assist human fact-checkers. We recommend that future research include collaboration with fact-checker stakeholders early on in NLP research, as well as incorporation of human-centered design practices in model development, in order to further guide technology development for human use and practical adoption. Finally, we advocate for more research on benchmark development supporting extrinsic evaluation of human-centered fact-checking technologies.

S. Figueiredo, P. P. Cunha, I. S. Carvalho

The Gruta da Furninha is a cave-site in Lower Jurassic limestones, of mainly marine genesis located at ~850 m SE of the Carvoeiro Cape, on the southern coast of the Peniche peninsula (central western mainland Portugal). The entrance gallery, situated in the middle of the cliff, is at ~15 m of altitude. This cave contained a rich and diverse fossiliferous set of Late Pleistocene vertebrates, distributed in several stratigraphic levels, currently housed at the Geological Museum of LNEG (Lisbon). The cave had a record of primitive human occupations documented by 106 Middle to Late Paleolithic artefacts, found in the lower lithostratigraphic unit (Pleistocene). It had also another human occupation in an upper unit (Neolithic, Holocene), where were found human skeleton elements and artefacts. This study focuses on two teeth previously identified as crocodile, housed in collections of the Geological Museum in the assemblages of the Furninha Cave and on a set of five bones, housed at Centro Português de Geo-História e Pré-História (CPGP) collected in a marine terrace in the Furninha cliff. The occurrence of crocodile remains in the Upper Pleistocene of Portugal is not consistent with the fossil record of this period or with the environmental conditions associated with the fully marine paleoenvironments around Furninha Cave. A more detailed analysis of these teeth and their stratigraphic location, now supports that they are cetacean teeth with ~80 ka, which is consistent with the fossil association, depositional environments and climate conditions of the Late Pleistocene in mainland Portugal. To add to these two teeth, in 2017 in sedimentary field work in the marine terraces on the cliffs of the Gruta da Furninha, at the level of 4 to 7 m, found five bones remains, which could be carpal bones of marine mammals.

Max Schemmer, Patrick Hemmer, Niklas Kühl et al.

Many important decisions in daily life are made with the help of advisors, e.g., decisions about medical treatments or financial investments. Whereas in the past, advice has often been received from human experts, friends, or family, advisors based on artificial intelligence (AI) have become more and more present nowadays. Typically, the advice generated by AI is judged by a human and either deemed reliable or rejected. However, recent work has shown that AI advice is not always beneficial, as humans have shown to be unable to ignore incorrect AI advice, essentially representing an over-reliance on AI. Therefore, the aspired goal should be to enable humans not to rely on AI advice blindly but rather to distinguish its quality and act upon it to make better decisions. Specifically, that means that humans should rely on the AI in the presence of correct advice and self-rely when confronted with incorrect advice, i.e., establish appropriate reliance (AR) on AI advice on a case-by-case basis. Current research lacks a metric for AR. This prevents a rigorous evaluation of factors impacting AR and hinders further development of human-AI decision-making. Therefore, based on the literature, we derive a measurement concept of AR. We propose to view AR as a two-dimensional construct that measures the ability to discriminate advice quality and behave accordingly. In this article, we derive the measurement concept, illustrate its application and outline potential future research.

Riku Arakawa, Hiromu Yakura

Recent organizations have started to adopt AI-based decision support tools to optimize human resource development practices, while facing various challenges of using AIs in highly contextual and sensitive domains. We present our case study that aims to help professional assessors make decisions in human assessment, in which they conduct interviews with assessees and evaluate their suitability for certain job roles. Our workshop with two industrial assessors elucidated troubles they face (i.e., maintaining stable and non-subjective observation of assessees' behaviors) and derived requirements of AI systems (i.e., extracting their nonverbal cues from interview videos in an interpretable manner). In response, we employed an unsupervised anomaly detection algorithm using multimodal behavioral features such as facial keypoints, body and head pose, and gaze. The algorithm extracts outlier scenes from the video based on behavioral features as well as informing which feature contributes to the outlierness. We first evaluated how the assessors would perceive the extracted cues and discovered that the algorithm is useful in suggesting scenes to which assessors would pay attention, thanks to its interpretability. Then, we developed an interface prototype incorporating the algorithm and had six assessors use it for their actual assessment. Their comments revealed the effectiveness of introducing unsupervised anomaly detection to enhance their feeling of confidence and objectivity of the assessment along with potential use scenarios of such AI-based systems in human assessment. Our approach, which builds on top of the idea of separating observation and interpretation in human-AI collaboration, will facilitate human decision making in highly contextual domains, such as human assessment, while keeping their trust in the system.