Agents for educational games and simulations

This book consists mainly of revised papers that were presented at the Agents for Educational Games and Simulation (AEGS) workshop held on May 2, 2011, as part of the Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems (AAMAS) conference in Taipei, Taiwan. The 12 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers are organized topical sections on middleware applications, dialogues and learning, adaption and convergence, and agent applications

Biosignals as an Advanced Man-Machine Interface

As is known for centuries, humans exhibit an electrical profile. This profile is altered through various physiological processes, which can be measured through biosignals; e.g., electromyography (EMG) and electrodermal activity (EDA). These biosignals can reveal our emotions and, as such, can serve as an advanced man-machine interface (MMI) for empathic consumer products. However, such an MMI requires the correct classification of biosignals to emotion classes. This paper explores the use of EDA and three facial EMG signals to determine neutral, positive, negative, and mixed emotions, using recordings of 24 people. A range of techniques is tested, which resulted in a generic framework for automated emotion classification with up to 61.31% correct classification of the four emotion classes, without the need of personal profiles. Among various other directives for future research, the results emphasize the need for both personalized biosignal-profiles and the recording of multiple biosignals in parallel

THE EFFECT OF CHATBOTS RESPONSE LATENCY ON USERS’ TRUST

Chatbots are widely used as conversational agents and being designed using anthropomorphic design guidelines. However, response latency (response latency is the time it takes for a chatbot/person to provide a response immediately after receiving a message) as an anthropomorphic design cue in a conversational user interface has not been the subject of many studies. Even though the system's response latency has an undeniable effect on users' satisfaction and performance, the connection between users' trust and chatbots' response time is not addressed. A critical reason that executives are reluctant to implement chatbots for their businesses is the user adoption hesitancy. Customers and users are unwilling to engage with a chatbot because they do not trust chatbot. Therefore, this study used empirical data collected from chatbot users to investigate the effect of chatbots response latency on users’ trust – cognitive and affective trust. The results of this study suggest that dynamically delaying chatbot response increases users’ cognitive trust but has no significant impact on users’ affective trust. General sentiment analysis on chatbot users’ responses to an open-ended question that describes their experiences interacting with chatbots suggests that dynamically delaying chatbot response produces higher positive sentiment and trust sentiment than near-instant chatbot response. Other findings are discussed and some ideas for future research are also presented in this paper

The impact of social virtual presence agents and content-based product recommendation system on on-line customer purchase intention

The appearance of the digital market came as turning point factor, obligating companies to maintain the relationship with consumers by improving and keeping a high technological innovativeness on-line overall experience. The lack of studies on antropomorphization of virtual voice assistances chatbot and the possibilities, yet to be found, on customized product recommendation system variation integration, brought the author to this study. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of using two different chatbot social virtual presences interactions: with a fully pre-recorded computed personification agent versus with a pre-recorded human social virtual agent; and also understand how having a customized content-based product recommendation system can influence the consumers purchase intention at on-line shopping framework. An on-line platform was developed, recreating a possible virtual store interaction, and the core data was treated using a PLS-SEM model. The results indicate that Human Social Virtual Presence Agent, while assisting the shoppers, have a larger model positive effect on Intellectual stimulus and Hedonic Benefits than a computed personification Agent. This might be explained by the fact that computed imagery and sound Agent was perceived with some amount of emotional creepiness by the participants. Also, recommendation system presence is impacting customers purchase intention on a positive way when compared with not using recommendation system. Thus, this study shows how relevant social interactions are for the customers, especially when done by a human, and how recommendation system has an impact on customers purchase intention.Com o aparecimento do mercado "on-line", as empresas que quiseram manter uma relação de qualidade com os seus clientes, tiveram de investir no desenvolvimento de uma experiência de utilizador de qualidade e manter um olhar atento na inovação. A falta de estudos relativos à antropomorfização em "chatbots" virtuais e as possibilidades, ainda por descobrir, do sistema de recomendação de produtos à medida de cada utilizador, trouxeram o autor ao tema deste estudo. O seu objetivo é investigar os efeitos de dois tipos de presença social em "chatbots": uma presença virtual computada versus uma presença virtual humana; e como o sistema de recomendação de produtos à medida de cada utilizador influencia a intenção de compra dos consumidores nas lojas "on-line". Para tal, foi desenvolvida uma plataforma "on-line", recriando uma possível interação em loja virtual. Os dados foram tratados utilizando o modelo PLS-SEM. Os resultados indicam que a presença social virtual feita por um agente humano melhora substancialmente o estímulo intelectual feito pela marca e os seus benefícios hedónicos, quando comparado com um agente virtual computado. Tal resultado pode ser explicado pelo facto dos participantes que interagiram com um agente computado sentirem um maior valor de "creepiness". Considerando que a utilização do sistema de recomendação de produtos tem forte impacto na intenção de comprar do consumidor, este estudo mostra-se relevante ao salientar a importância da presença social nas lojas "on-line", especialmente quando o agente é humano

Human Factors in Agile Software Development

Through our four years experiments on students' Scrum based agile software development (ASD) process, we have gained deep understanding into the human factors of agile methodology. We designed an agile project management tool - the HASE collaboration development platform to support more than 400 students self-organized into 80 teams to practice ASD. In this thesis, Based on our experiments, simulations and analysis, we contributed a series of solutions and insights in this researches, including 1) a Goal Net based method to enhance goal and requirement management for ASD process, 2) a novel Simple Multi-Agent Real-Time (SMART) approach to enhance intelligent task allocation for ASD process, 3) a Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) based method to enhance emotion and morale management for ASD process, 4) the first large scale in-depth empirical insights on human factors in ASD process which have not yet been well studied by existing research, and 5) the first to identify ASD process as a human-computation system that exploit human efforts to perform tasks that computers are not good at solving. On the other hand, computers can assist human decision making in the ASD process.Comment: Book Draf

The holistic phase model of early adult crisis

The objective of the current study was to explore the structural, temporal and experiential manifestations of crisis episodes in early adulthood, using a holistic-systemic theoretical framework. Based on an analysis of 50 interviews with individuals about a crisis episode between the ages of 25 and 35, a holistic model was developed. The model comprises four phases: (1) Locked-in, (2) Separation/Time-out, (3) Exploration and (4) Rebuilding, which in turn have characteristic features at four levels—person-in-environment, identity, motivation and affect-cognition. A crisis starts out with a commitment at work or home that has been made but is no longer desired, and this is followed by an emotionally volatile period of change as that commitment is terminated. The positive trajectory of crisis involves movement through an exploratory period towards active rebuilding of a new commitment, but ‘fast-forward’ and ‘relapse’ loops can interrupt Phases 3 and 4 and make a positive resolution of the episode less likely. The model shows conceptual links with life stage theories of emerging adulthood and early adulthood, and it extends current understandings of the transitional developmental challenges that young adults encounter

The cognitive-affective-conative model of destination image: a confirmatory analysis

Destination image influences tourist behaviour before, during and after travel, as it is an important instrument which contributes to tourists’ loyalty. Although Gartner (1993) advocates that the cognitive, affective and conative dimensions of destination image are hierarchically interrelated, there is no empirical evidence to support the complete model. This study aims to test the hierarchical nature of the relationship between the dimensions of destination image. The results of structural equation modelling confirm Gartner’s theoretical model, validating the theory that the influence of the cognitive component on the conative dimension is higher when mediated by the affective component, raising managerial implications

Robots, Cyborgs, and Humans. A Model of Consumer Behavior in Services: A Study in the Healthcare Services Sector

La present tesi es basa en una investigació que proposa un ús futurista de l'robot i el cyborg com cirurgians oculars. El model desenvolupat investiga la intenció de l'consumidor per elegir cada cirurgià (és a dir: cirurgià robot, cirurgià cyborg o cirurgià humà). Les dades es van analitzar utilitzant la tècnica PLS-SEM. Els resultats de la investigació mostren que l'expectativa d'esforç, l'expectativa de rendiment, el risc percebut i la influència social van mostrar un impacte significatiu en la intenció d'utilitzar els serveis de l'robot cirurgià. Els resultats de el model per al cyborg cirurgià van confirmar l'impacte significatiu de l'expectativa d'esforç, l'excitació, l'expectativa de rendiment i la influència social en la intenció d'utilitzar els seus serveis. L'expectativa d'esforç i la influència social van confirmar un impacte significatiu en la intenció d'utilitzar els serveis de l'cirurgià humà. Els resultats mostren que en els tres models les variables influència social i expectativa d'esforç afecten significativament a la intenció d'utilitzar aquests serveis de cirurgia i que amb diferent intensitat entre els models per expectativa de esforç-. L'impacte de la influència social dóna una idea general sobre la naturalesa de el sector de la salut a Jordània, on una part de la societat presta més atenció a les recomanacions dels altres a l'elegir els seus cirurgians. A més, l'impacte de l'expectativa d'esforç contribueix a les expectatives per la simplicitat de l'servei dels pacients, en termes d'ús i interacció amb els cirurgians proposats. L'anàlisi multigrup va confirmar que les variables dels models estan afectant de la mateixa manera a l'comparar la intenció d'usar cyborgs i humans, i a l'comparar cyborgs i robots. No obstant això, sí que hi ha diferències significatives a l'comparar l'elecció entre robots i humans en l'impacte de l'expectativa d'esforç per utilitzar els serveis de cirurgia. D'altra banda, els participants van mostrar la seva preferència pel cirurgià humà sobre els cirurgians cyborg i robot, respectivament. Com a resultat, l'acceptació de les tecnologies de robot i cyborg per part de la societat podria donar una idea sobre la lluita esperada en el futur entre el desenvolupament de robots i la millora de les capacitats humanes.La presente tesis se basa en una investigación que propone un uso futurista del robot y el cyborg como cirujanos oculares. El modelo desarrollado investiga la intención del consumidor para elegir a cada cirujano (es decir: cirujano robot, cirujano cyborg o cirujano humano). Los datos se analizaron utilizando la técnica PLS-SEM. Los resultados de la investigación muestran que la expectativa de esfuerzo, la expectativa de rendimiento, el riesgo percibido y la influencia social mostraron un impacto significativo en la intención de utilizar los servicios del robot cirujano. Los resultados del modelo para el cyborg cirujano confirmaron el impacto significativo de la expectativa de esfuerzo, la excitación, la expectativa de rendimiento y la influencia social en la intención de usar sus servicios. La expectativa de esfuerzo y la influencia social confirmaron un impacto significativo en la intención de utilizar los servicios del cirujano humano. Los resultados muestran que en los tres modelos las variables influencia social y expectativa de esfuerzo afectan significativamente a la intención de usar esos servicios de cirugía –aunque con distinta intensidad entre los modelos para expectativa de esfuerzo-. El impacto de la influencia social da una idea general sobre la naturaleza del sector de la salud en Jordania, donde una parte de la sociedad presta más atención a las recomendaciones de los demás al elegir a sus cirujanos. Además, el impacto de la expectativa de esfuerzo contribuye a las expectativas por la simplicidad del servicio de los pacientes, en términos de uso e interacción con los cirujanos propuestos. El análisis multigrupo confirmó que las variables de los modelos están afectando de la misma manera al comparar la intención de usar cyborgs y humanos, y al comparar cyborgs y robots. Sin embargo, sí que existen diferencias significativas al comparar la elección entre robots y humanos en el impacto de la expectativa de esfuerzo para utilizar los servicios de cirugía. Por otro lado, los participantes mostraron su preferencia por el cirujano humano sobre los cirujanos cyborg y robot, respectivamente. Como resultado, la aceptación de las tecnologías de robot y cyborg por parte de la sociedad podría dar una idea sobre la lucha esperada en el futuro entre el desarrollo de robots y la mejora de las capacidades humanThe research proposes a futuristic use of robot and cyborg as surgeons in an eye surgery. Thereafter, the developed model has been applied to investigate the intention to use each surgeon (i.e. robot surgeon, cyborg surgeon, and human surgeon). The data was analyzed using the PLS-SEM technique. According to the research results, effort expectancy, performance expectancy, perceived risk, and social influence showed a significant impact on intention to use robot services. However, the results of the cyborg service model confirmed the significant impact of effort expectancy, arousal, performance expectancy, and social influence on the intention to use cyborg services. Furthermore, effort expectancy and social influence confirmed their significant impact on the intention to use human services. The results of the three models showed that the variables social influence and effort expectancy significantly affected the intention to use these surgical services, with a different intensity between the models for effort expectancy. The social influence impact gives a general idea about the nature of the healthcare sector in Jordan, where a part of society gives more attention to the recommendation from others while choosing their surgeons. Also, the effort expectancy impact contributes to patients' expectations of simplicity, in terms of use and interaction with the proposed surgeons. The multigroup analysis confirmed that the models' variables are affecting the intention to use cyborg and human service, and cyborg and robots in the same way. However, the differences were confirmed between robot and human cyborgs in terms of the impact of effort expectancy on the intention to use these services. On the other side, the participants showed their preference of the human surgeon over the cyborg and robot surgeons, respectively. As a result, the acceptance of the robot and cyborg technologies by a part of the society could give an idea about the expected struggle in the future among developing robots and enhancing human capabilities