SAPIEN: Affective Virtual Agents Powered by Large Language Models

In this demo paper, we introduce SAPIEN, a platform for high-fidelity virtual agents driven by large language models that can hold open domain conversations with users in 13 different languages, and display emotions through facial expressions and voice. The platform allows users to customize their virtual agent's personality, background, and conversation premise, thus providing a rich, immersive interaction experience. Furthermore, after the virtual meeting, the user can choose to get the conversation analyzed and receive actionable feedback on their communication skills. This paper illustrates an overview of the platform and discusses the various application domains of this technology, ranging from entertainment to mental health, communication training, language learning, education, healthcare, and beyond. Additionally, we consider the ethical implications of such realistic virtual agent representations and the potential challenges in ensuring responsible use

Situating Science in Global History: Local Exchanges and Networks of Circulation

In response to increasing academic interest, Cambridge University Press launched a new journal in 2006, entitled the Journal of Global History. To inaugurate the endeavour, the editors asked economic historian Patrick O'Brien to write an introductory essay to serve as a prolegomenon for this newly invigorated field of study. O'Brien began by noting that it is no mere coincidence that interest in global history should be growing, given the global challenges entailed in current-day economic, political and environmental issues. From this perspective, we might take “global history” to refer both to the field's geographical reach and its attempts to relate a global range of seemingly diverse phenomena. Both understandings require us to stretch beyond the narrow specialisms in which we were trained and invite increasing willingness to collaborate. Along these lines, O'Brien applauded those historians who have reached outside their own discipline to draw on the insights and methods of the natural sciences, as well as natural scientists whose work is shedding new light on historical development.</jats:p

SOCIALIZATION, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) face the unknown as they negotiate their multiple roles and identities within the graduate school and classroom setting as teachers, students, and researchers. The purpose of this study is to identify the role that institutionalized socialization, social support, and behavioral observation and modeling play for GTAs as they navigate their way through the organizational socialization process. Interviews with twenty two current and former graduate teaching assistants from a Communication department at a large, southeastern university (GSU) were conducted and analyzed. Findings indicate that institutionalized socialization, which exists at both the graduate school and departmental level, serves to both reduce and create uncertainty and anxiety for GTAs based on messages communicated and also serves the purpose of relationship formation. In examining the social support aspect, findings indicate that the socialization process is facilitated for GTAs through House‘s (1981) four categories of emotional, instrumental, informational, and appraisal support. Finally, behavioral observation aids in the socialization process for GTAs. Observation is used by GTAs to obtain information about teaching behaviors, specifically what they should and should not do in the GSU classroom. Observation also highlighted both positive and negative aspects of the departmental culture and helped GTAs to understand how things work in the department. Implications, limitations, ideas for what can be done to improve the process for GTAs, and areas for future research are also discussed

Public Service Values and Chatbots in the Public Sector: Reconciling Designer efforts and User Expectations

Chatbots are deployed across a wide range of public services, frequently to manage the increased volumes of online service requests. The appropriateness of many chatbot initiatives is often challenged. One reason for this is these initiatives are largely driven by agency centric goals, often neglecting the expectations of other public stakeholders. A public service value perspective – founded on the notion of public value – offers an avenue to represent the views of other public stakeholder groups. We examine the public service values of two key stakeholder groups – designers and users and discuss how they can be reconciled

Forty-seventh annual report town of Sugar Hill, New Hampshire year ending December 31, 2008.

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire

December 2020 School of Graduate Studies Newsletter

Associate Dean\u27s Message Ph.D. In Aviation News Dissertation Defenses MSA News MSOSM News MSUS News Alumni News Equality Matters Scholarly Activity Happy Holidays!https://commons.erau.edu/db-sgs-newletter/1017/thumbnail.jp

Examining twitter engagement in newspaper sports beat reporters' live-game coverage

Newspaper sports beat reporters have experienced challenges to their workflow as social media, such as Twitter, has emerged as an essential tool in the reporting of livegame events. The purpose of this study is to assess the ways newspaper sports beat reporters meet consumers' needs for information during these live events. Using retweets and likes as measures of engagement, this study found that sports information consumers are more responsive to newspaper sports beat reporters' Twitter content during live-game coverage when it includes analysis, opinion, entertainment, and visual content. This study suggests that newspaper sports beat reporters should capitalize on their exclusivity and insider access to create Twitter content beyond mere play-by-play results that are typically available to those following the game through more traditional means such as television, radio, or in person. These strategies could distinguish newspaper sports beat reporters in an increasingly crowded sports media landscape

Something to Say: Success Principles for Afterschool Arts Programs From Urban Youth and Other Experts

Engagement in the arts can help youth in myriad ways: as a vehicle for self expression, acquiring skills, and developing focus and teamwork. Unfortunately, with the develine of arts education in public schools, few urban, low-income young people have high-quality engaging art experiences at school. Alternatives outside of school, such as private lessons or arts camps, are typically limited to children of families with the resources and savvy to get access to them. What narrow arts experiences low-income youth have are often dull arts and crafts projects where they are instructed to follow a prototype, rather than create something from their own imagination. Consequently, many urban, low-income youth grow up without even a cursory understanding of what high-quality arts programs are like, or what benefits may accrue from participation. Even when there is awareness or interest in out-of-school time (OST) arts programs, many young people choose other activities for a variety of reasons. Further, community groups often report a steep drop-off in teen OST engagement and participation. That finding points to the importance of captivating young people's interest prior to the teen years when, as tweens, they are more willing to try new OST experiences. This report attempts to answer the following questions: How can urban, low-income tweens and teens gain equal access to high quality arts experiences? Is there a model of practices that could provide a blueprint for community based organizations to emulate, so that proven approaches could be deployed in more places, more often? Is there a way to approach the analysis of these problems that respects and honors the young people as consumers who make informed choices? and how do the insights of what tweens and teens want align with what other experts say they need