Hasil untuk "Fossil man. Human paleontology"

Sara G. Arranz, Souzanna Siarabi, Sharrah McKenzie et al.

The suid assemblages from Europe experienced considerable turnover during the Vallesian (MN9-MN10, early Late Miocene), ultimately leading to a marked decline in diversity during the Turolian. To provide further insight into the timing and paleoecological context of this Vallesian turnover in the suid assemblages, here we revisit the taxonomic composition of the suids from the Late Miocene (9.8 Ma) fossil locality of Can Llobateres 1 (CLL1; Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula), with emphasis on species other than the small tetraconodontine Parachleuastochoerus crusafonti (for which CLL1 is the type locality). Although CLL1 is one of the most thoroughly sampled Vallesian sites from Europe, a recent revision of the faunal list evinced that the occurrence of multiple large mammals is based on fossil remains that were described many decades ago or that have never been published, leading to potentially misleading or, at least, insufficiently substantiated attributions. According to published accounts, three additional suid species are recorded at CLL1, being much scarcer than Pa. crusafonti: the listriodontine Listriodon splendens, the suine Propotamochoerus palaeochoerus, and a large tetraconodontine variously assigned to Versoporcus steinheimensis or ‘Parachleuastochoerus’ valentini. Our revision of the available remains, including unpublished material recovered from the 1980s onward, confirms the presence of the two former species and the assignment of the large tetraconodontine to ‘Pa.’ valentini. On biochronological grounds, the association of these taxa is characteristic of the early Vallesian, with the record of L. splendens representing the last well-dated occurrence of this species. From a paleoenvironmental viewpoint, the suid assemblage from CLL1 is consistent with previous inferences indicating the presence of a densely forested and humid environment with more open habitats nearby.

Thorsten Klößner, João Belo, Zekun Wu et al.

Interfaces for human oversight must effectively support users' situation awareness under time-critical conditions. We explore reinforcement learning (RL)-based UI adaptation to personalize alerting strategies that balance the benefits of highlighting critical events against the cognitive costs of interruptions. To enable learning without real-world deployment, we integrate models of users' gaze behavior to simulate attentional dynamics during monitoring. Using a delivery-drone oversight scenario, we present initial results suggesting that RL-based highlighting can outperform static, rule-based approaches and discuss challenges of intelligent oversight support.

Peipei Zhang, Yunzhi Yao, Zhengkun Hu et al.

A new genus and species of fossil harpactorin (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), Trispongiosus hui Zhang, Yao, & Liu gen. et sp. nov., is described from Miocene Dominican amber, representing the third fossil record of Harpactorinae. The new species is remarkable for exhibiting fossula spongiosa on all three pairs of legs, which is not only the first report in Harpactorinae but also rare within Reduviidae. This structure is considered to be related to the locomotor capabilities of assassin bugs, potentially enhancing their attachment and agility in navigating complex surfaces and vegetation. Furthermore, the present study suggests that fossula spongiosa exhibits remarkable plasticity within Reduviidae by integrating fossil and extant perspective.

ARTAI A. SANTOS, ANTONIO HERNÁNDEZ-ORÚE, ENRIQUE PEÑALVER et al.

We describe Aspidothorax hispanicus sp. nov. from Gzhelian, Pennsylvanian strata of León, Spain, representing the first occurrence of Aspidothoracidae in the Iberian Peninsula. This discovery expands the paleogeographical range of the family, previously known only from the Russian Federation and France. The new insect is preserved in close association with foliar remains of medullosan (Alethopteris zeilleri) and callistophytalean (Pseudomariopteris cordato-ovata) seed ferns whose environmental preferences suggest that the new insect species inhabited humid tropical forests. The fossil leaves bear six types of damage, probably produced by insects, belonging to three functional feeding groups: margin feeding, hole feeding, and piercing and sucking. This diversity of interactions highlights varied feeding strategies, includ ing chewing, piercing and sucking behaviors, evidencing a more complex range of herbivory in the area than previously known. The stylet mouthparts of Megasecoptera make these insects strong candidates for producing the piercing and sucking damage on the associated plants. The presence of dark patches and spots on the fossil wing, probably represents a camouflage strategy against predators, such as Palaeodictyoptera and other active hunters. The dark wing apex might also reflect the presence of sexual dimorphism or courtship behavior. This new assemblage of insects, in addition to plants and plant-insect interactions, contributes to a broader paleoecological understanding of the Carboniferous forests of the La Magdalena Coalfield.

Paula Akemi Aoyagui, Kelsey Stemmler, Sharon Ferguson et al.

In subjective decision-making, where decisions are based on contextual interpretation, Large Language Models (LLMs) can be integrated to present users with additional rationales to consider. The diversity of these rationales is mediated by the ability to consider the perspectives of different social actors. However, it remains unclear whether and how models differ in the distribution of perspectives they provide. We compare the perspectives taken by humans and different LLMs when assessing subtle sexism scenarios. We show that these perspectives can be classified within a finite set (perpetrator, victim, decision-maker), consistently present in argumentations produced by humans and LLMs, but in different distributions and combinations, demonstrating differences and similarities with human responses, and between models. We argue for the need to systematically evaluate LLMs' perspective-taking to identify the most suitable models for a given decision-making task. We discuss the implications for model evaluation.

Vasanth Reddy Baddam, Behdad Chalaki, Vaishnav Tadiparthi et al.

In social robot navigation, traditional metrics like proxemics and behavior naturalness emphasize human comfort and adherence to social norms but often fail to capture an agent's autonomy and adaptability in dynamic environments. This paper introduces human empowerment, an information-theoretic concept that measures a human's ability to influence their future states and observe those changes, as a complementary metric for evaluating social compliance. This metric reveals how robot navigation policies can indirectly impact human empowerment. We present a framework that integrates human empowerment into the evaluation of social performance in navigation tasks. Through numerical simulations, we demonstrate that human empowerment as a metric not only aligns with intuitive social behavior, but also shows statistically significant differences across various robot navigation policies. These results provide a deeper understanding of how different policies affect social compliance, highlighting the potential of human empowerment as a complementary metric for future research in social navigation.

Kate Letheren, Nicole Robinson

Humans and robots are increasingly working in personal and professional settings. In workplace settings, humans and robots may work together as colleagues, potentially leading to social expectations, or violation thereof. Extant research has primarily sought to understand social interactions and expectations in personal rather than professional settings, and none of these studies have examined negative outcomes arising from violations of social expectations. This paper reports the results of a 2x3 online experiment that used a unique first-person perspective video to immerse participants in a collaborative workplace setting. The results are nuanced and reveal that while robots are expected to act in accordance with social expectations despite human behavior, there are benefits for robots perceived as being the bigger person in the face of human rudeness. Theoretical and practical implications are provided which discuss the import of these findings for the design of social robots.

A. V. Antyufeev, O. Antyufeeva, P. A. Ryumina

The article deals with the problem of actualization and preservation of monuments of material culture of primitive man and the forms of its exposure. An analytical review of the main museums and complexes in Russia and abroad devoted to the history of human development and the form of exhibiting paleontological heritage is given. The provisions of experimental projects on the organization of an open-air archaeological park at the site of the Paleolithic site of Sukhaya Mechetka in Volgograd are revealed. The methods of exhibiting and updating the preserved objects of the prehistoric heritage of primitive man in the space of the city are formulated

Maria Gisela Lefebvre, Diego Alejandro Sampietro, Alejandro Fabian Zucol et al.

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como objetivo la utilización de los fitolitos como proxy para realizar la reconstrucción paleoambiental de la sección media del valle de Santa María (Tucumán - Argentina) durante el Holoceno superior. Además, considerar esto en el contexto paleoambiental regional y global. Para ello, se tomaron muestras de sedimento extraídas en perfiles ubicados en diferentes localidades: Molle Yaco, Yasyamayo y El Pichao. Las asociaciones fitolíticas encontradas muestran la existencia de secciones y subsecciones en las que se divide cada uno de los perfiles. Estas reflejan la presencia de condiciones húmedas y frías desde momentos previos a la era cristiana hasta aproximadamente 1.000 AP cuando las mismas se tornan áridas y cálidas, contemporáneamente a la Anomalía Cálida Medieval, para luego retomar los episodios templados y fríos correlacionables a la Pequeña Edad del Hielo. Las condiciones ambientales actuales están representadas por asociaciones fitolíticas que describen una vegetación árida y semiárida.

Heinz Furrer

Abstract There is a long history of palaeontological excavations at Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland) and the adjoining Monte Pravello—Monte Orsa (Italy), aimed at finding well-preserved skeletons of Middle Triassic vertebrates. The first fossils were discovered in the mid-Nineteenth Century during mining of black shales (scisti bituminosi) near Besano, Italy, with further finds in the early Twentieth Century through industrial-scale mining. Studies of the material generated international interest and prompted formal palaeontological excavations on both sides of the border. The earliest excavations took place in 1863 and 1878, with the most extensive between 1924 and 1968. Systematic excavations have continued up to the present day, focusing on six distinct fossiliferous horizons: the Besano Formation and the overlying Meride Limestone with the Cava inferiore, Cava superiore, Cassina, Sceltrich and Kalkschieferzone beds. All these have provided material for study and display, with Monte San Giorgio itself recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The workers and organisations involved, locations excavated and material recovered are described herein.

Georgios L. Georgalis, Andrea Villa, Martin Ivanov et al.

Abstract We here describe abundant new fossil material of amphibians and reptiles from different late Neogene localities of northern Greece: the Early Pliocene (MN 14) of Spilia 0, Spilia 1, and Spilia 2; the Early Pliocene (MN 15) of Spilia 3, Spilia 4, Spilia 5, and Vevi; and the Late Miocene or Pliocene of Chalicorrema and Rema Marmara. These new late Neogene herpetofaunas are highly diverse, documenting a considerably rich herpetofauna allowing the identification of at least two salamander, seven frog, two turtle, seven lizard, and eight snake taxa. Salamanders are represented by the salamandrid genera Ommatotriton and Ichthyosaura. Frogs are represented by the bombinatorid Bombina, the discoglossids Latonia cf. ragei and Latonia sp., the pelobatid Pelobates aff. praefuscus and Pelobates sp., the ranids Pelophylax and Rana cf. dalmatina, the hylid Hyla gr. arborea, and the bufonid Bufotes gr. viridis. Turtles are represented by the emydid Emys and an indeterminate geoemydid. Lizards are represented by the scincid Ophiomorus, two lacertids (one of which potentially pertaining to Lacerta), amphisbaenians, agamids, the anguid Pseudopus, and a potential varanid. Snakes are represented by the erycid Eryx, the natricid Natrix aff. rudabanyaensis, a small-sized elapid, an “Oriental viper”, the colubriforms Periergophis and Paraxenophis, as well as two further distinct but still indeterminate morphotypes of colubriforms. For the material from Spilia tentatively referred to Ommatotriton, this is only the third occurrence in the fossil record globally. The new material of Ichthyosaura and Bombina mark the first documentation of these genera in the Greek fossil record. Abundant cranial and postcranial material from Spilia is tentatively referred to Latonia ragei, a taxon previously known from the Early Miocene of Western Europe. The new record of Pelobates represents the oldest documented occurrences of the genus in the Greek fossil record. Interestingly, the Pelobates from Spilia bears much resemblance to an extinct taxon, Pelobates aff. praefuscus, which is otherwise known from the Late Miocene of the Caucasus, and not to the extant species that currently inhabits the area. The identification of Pelophylax and Rana adds to the rather poor Neogene record of ranids from Greece. Particularly for the case of Rana cf. dalmatina from Spilia 4, this corresponds to the only documented occurrence of this extant taxon in the Greek fossil record. Similarly, the identification of Hyla gr. arborea in Spilia 1, Spilia 3, and Spilia 4, marks only the third documented occurrence of this genus in the Greek fossil record. The Bufotes material from Spilia 1, Spilia 3, and Spilia 4 represents the first documented fossil occurrence of the extant Bufotes viridis complex in Greece. The material of Emys gr. orbicularis from Vevi marks the only known pre-Quaternary record of the genus in Greece and one of the only few Neogene members of the genus known from Europe. The scincid Ophiomorus is identified in Spilia 4, known from several cranial and postcranial remains, well outside the extant range of the genus. Practically, the Spilia Ophiomorus is only the fourth known fossil occurrence of this extant genus globally and also represents one of its oldest known occurrences. Material from Spilia 1 and Spilia 3 is tentatively referred to cf. Lacerta sp., and this would mark the first known occurrence of this emblematic extant genus in the Greek fossil record, denoting the presence of the genus since at least the Early Pliocene. The new amphisbaenian specimens from Spilia 4 add to the recently described single vertebra from the same locality, and represent the youngest occurrence of amphisbaenians from continental Eastern Europe. The new agamid material from Vevi and Chalicorrema add substantially to the record of this group, which was in Greece so far known exclusively from the latest Miocene/earliest Pliocene of Maramena. A similarly important addition is the record of Pseudopus from Spilia 4, as this genus had been known in the Greek fossil record only from a very few localities. The potential varanid from Spilia represents one of the few Pliocene occurrences of this group in Europe. We identify Natrix aff. rudabanyaensis among the material from Spilia 0, Spilia 4, and Vevi, adding to the previously known record of this taxon from Maramena, however, its precise species level assignment should await a revision of Neogene European Natrix spp. The find of a small elapid from Spilia 4 represents the youngest occurrence of a coral snake from Europe, extending their statigraphic range up to the Early Pliocene (MN 14). Periergophis and Paraxenophis, two bizarre snakes, so far exclusively known from their type locality in Maramena, could be also present here, even if tentatively identified. Most notably, the new material from these localities comprises forms that are now extinct (e.g., Periergophis and Paraxenophis) or extirpated from Europe (e.g., Latonia, Varanidae, Elapidae) but at the same time also loudly attests the emergence of the extant genera that dominate the extant herpetofaunas of Greece (Ichthyosaura, Bombina, Pelobates, Pelophylax, Rana, Hyla, Bufotes, Emys, Ophiomorus, Lacerta, Pseudopus, Eryx, and Natrix), for some of which their fossil record is documented here for the first time in the area.

Yousra Shleibik, Elijah Alabi, Christopher Reardon

Robots are now increasingly integrated into various real world applications and domains. In these new domains, robots are mostly employed to improve, in some ways, the work done by humans. So, the need for effective Human-Robot Teaming (HRT) capabilities grows. These capabilities usually involve the dynamic collaboration between humans and robots at different levels of involvement, leveraging the strengths of both to efficiently navigate complex situations. Crucial to this collaboration is the ability of robotic systems to adjust their level of autonomy to match the needs of the task and the human team members. This paper introduces a system designed to control attention using HRT through the use of ground robots and augmented reality (AR) technology. Traditional methods of controlling attention, such as pointing, touch, and voice commands, sometimes fall short in precision and subtlety. Our system overcomes these limitations by employing AR headsets to display virtual visual markers. These markers act as dynamic cues to attract and shift human attention seamlessly, irrespective of the robot's physical location.

Sujan Sarker, Haley N. Green, Mohammad Samin Yasar et al.

Collaborative robots are increasingly deployed alongside humans in factories, hospitals, schools, and other domains to enhance teamwork and efficiency. Systems that seamlessly integrate humans and robots into cohesive teams for coordinated and efficient task execution are needed, enabling studies on how robot collaboration policies affect team performance and teammates' perceived fairness, trust, and safety. Such a system can also be utilized to study the impact of a robot's normative behavior on team collaboration. Additionally, it allows for investigation into how the legibility and predictability of robot actions affect human-robot teamwork and perceived safety and trust. Existing systems are limited, typically involving one human and one robot, and thus require more insight into broader team dynamics. Many rely on games or virtual simulations, neglecting the impact of a robot's physical presence. Most tasks are turn-based, hindering simultaneous execution and affecting efficiency. This paper introduces CoHRT (Collaboration System for Human-Robot Teamwork), which facilitates multi-human-robot teamwork through seamless collaboration, coordination, and communication. CoHRT utilizes a server-client-based architecture, a vision-based system to track task environments, and a simple interface for team action coordination. It allows for the design of tasks considering the human teammates' physical and mental workload and varied skill labels across the team members. We used CoHRT to design a collaborative block manipulation and jigsaw puzzle-solving task in a team of one Franka Emika Panda robot and two humans. The system enables recording multi-modal collaboration data to develop adaptive collaboration policies for robots. To further utilize CoHRT, we outline potential research directions in diverse human-robot collaborative tasks.

O. Paine, D. J. Daegling

Despite substantial additions to the paleontological record and unanticipated improvements in analytical techniques since the Journal of Human Evolution was first published, consensus on the diet of early hominin species remains elusive. For instance, the notable advances in the analyses of hominin dental microwear and stable isotopes have provided a plethora of data that have in some instances clouded what was once ostensibly a clear picture of dietary differentiation between and within hominin taxa. In the present study, we explore the reasons why the retrodiction of diet in human evolution has proven vexing over the last half century from the perspective of both ecological and functional-mechanical models. Such models continue to be indispensable for paleobiological reconstructions, but they often contain rigid or unstated assumptions about how primary paleontological data, such as fossils and their geological and taphonomic contexts, allow unambiguous insight into the evolutionary processes that produced them. In theoretical discussions of paleobiology, it has long been recognized that a mapping function of morphology to adaptation is not one-to-one, in the sense that a particular trait cannot necessarily be attributed to a specific selective pressure and/or behavior. This article explores how the intrinsic variability within biological systems has often been underappreciated in paleoanthropological research. For instance, to claim that derived anatomical traits represent adaptations related to stereotypical behaviors largely ignores the importance of biological roles (i.e., how anatomical traits function in the environment), a concept that depends on behavioral flexibility for its potency. Similarly, in the paleoecological context, the underrepresentation of variability within the 'edible landscapes' our hominin ancestors occupied has inhibited an adequate appreciation of early hominin dietary flexibility. Incorporating the reality of variation at organismal and ecological scales makes the practice of paleobiological reconstruction more challenging, but in return, allows for a better appreciation of the evolutionary possibilities that were open to early hominins.

Daniel Edgardo Udrizar Sauthier, Daniela de Tommaso, Pablo Teta

Se da a conocer la conformación de los ensambles de micromamíferos no voladores para cinco secuencias paleontológicas del Holoceno ubicadas en la cuenca del río Chubut. Con la información obtenida se propone una hipótesis ambiental para los últimos miles de años en Patagonia central. Se realizaron 13 dataciones radiocarbónicas con métodos convencionales. Entre las cinco secuencias se contabilizaron 12.644 individuos (MNI). En conjunto, se registraron al menos 18 taxones de micromamíferos. El estudio de los yacimientos nos permitió inferir que desde los 5,5 ka hasta los 4,0 ka se encontraban en la región ambientes de estepa patagónica. A partir de los 4,0 ka, especialmente en el valle inferior del río Chubut, empieza a notarse la influencia del Monte, alternando condiciones frías y húmedas con más cálidas y secas como las actuales. Los micromamíferos sugieren la existencia de dos tendencias principales durante los últimos 5,0 ka. Para buena parte del segmento temporal, se mantiene la estructura taxonómica (cuantitativa y cualitativa) con cambios sutiles en las abundancias de algunas especies. Hacia los últimos 0,15 ka se hace evidente una modificación más profunda de los ensambles, signada tanto por desapariciones locales como por incrementos o decrementos marcados de algunas especies. Las evidencias disponibles indican a las actividades antrópicas como las principales responsables de estos cambios.

Leonardo Kerber

Abstract Here I reviewed the Pleistocene caviomorphs collected by Santiago Roth (collection from Catalog No. 5) and housed at the paleontological collection of the Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich, Zurich (Switzerland). The fossils were found in Pleistocene strata from Buenos Aires and Santa Fé provinces (Argentina) during the late nineteenth century. The material includes craniomandibular remains assigned to Lagostomus maximus (Chinchilloidea: Chinchillidae), craniomandibular and postcranial (thoracic and sacral vertebra, left scapula, left femur, and right tibia) bones identified as Dolichotis sp. (Cavioidea: Caviidae), and a fragmented hemimandible and isolated tooth of Myocastor sp. (Octodontoidea: Echimyidae). Other rodent specimens from this collection (Ctenomys sp. and Cavia sp.) are possibly sub-recent materials.

Florencia Paula Bamonte, María Alejandra Marcos, Marcos Emanuel Echeverría et al.

In this research, we reconstruct the paleoenvironmental conditions from a sedimentary record of a wetland (mallín) located in the Patagonian steppe near to the Subantarctic forest on the northeastern shore of the San Martín Lake basin (SW Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina). The Mallín Ñire (49° 00’ 23.5” S; 72° 13’ 34.5” W) presents a basal age of 10,200 cal. years BP and its pollen content, carbon isotopes, and stratigraphy were analyzed. The relationship with modern pollen assemblages from surface sediment samples allows us to interpret changes in the fossil record. Between 10,200 and 9,000 cal. years BP, we can infer a grass-shrub steppe with dwarf-shrubs under arid conditions and between 9,000 and 6,500 cal. years BP, a grass steppe dominated under an increase of moisture availability. Conditions became drier until 4,000 cal. years BP; later, a grass-shrub steppe developed, which suggests an environmental transition like the modern ones. The last 1,400 cal. years BP present high paleoenvironmental variability. The integration with other sequences allowed us to interpret the regional changes during the Holocene related to moisture availability by precipitation changes related to the westerly variations.

Zhuoyue Lyu

What if a clock could do more than tell time - what if it could look around? This project explores the conceptualization, design, and construction of a timepiece with visual perception capabilities, featuring three types of human-time interactions. Informal observations during a demonstration highlight its unique user experiences. https://www.zhuoyuelyu.com/clook

Kin Man Lee, Arjun Krishna, Zulfiqar Zaidi et al.

As high-speed, agile robots become more commonplace, these robots will have the potential to better aid and collaborate with humans. However, due to the increased agility and functionality of these robots, close collaboration with humans can create safety concerns that alter team dynamics and degrade task performance. In this work, we aim to enable the deployment of safe and trustworthy agile robots that operate in proximity with humans. We do so by 1) Proposing a novel human-robot doubles table tennis scenario to serve as a testbed for studying agile, proximate human-robot collaboration and 2) Conducting a user-study to understand how attributes of the robot (e.g., robot competency or capacity to communicate) impact team dynamics, perceived safety, and perceived trust, and how these latent factors affect human-robot collaboration (HRC) performance. We find that robot competency significantly increases perceived trust ($p<.001$), extending skill-to-trust assessments in prior studies to agile, proximate HRC. Furthermore, interestingly, we find that when the robot vocalizes its intention to perform a task, it results in a significant decrease in team performance ($p=.037$) and perceived safety of the system ($p=.009$).

Song Gao

This paper examines the recent advances and applications of AI in human geography especially the use of machine (deep) learning, including place representation and modeling, spatial analysis and predictive mapping, and urban planning and design. AI technologies have enabled deeper insights into complex human-environment interactions, contributing to more effective scientific exploration, understanding of social dynamics, and spatial decision-making. Furthermore, human geography offers crucial contributions to AI, particularly in context-aware model development, human-centered design, biases and ethical considerations, and data privacy. The synergy beween AI and human geography is essential for addressing global challenges like disaster resilience, poverty, and equitable resource access. This interdisciplinary collaboration between AI and geography will help advance the development of GeoAI and promise a better and sustainable world for all.