Inter-industry analysis of the impacts and attitudes of a chat versus human representative

Technology disruptions are known to keep on changing the way people interact with brands thus contributing to experiences that may or may not lead to better events if companies don’t invest on understanding the critical pain points in the consumer journey. The aim of this dissertation is to understand the impacts that the implementation of a chat has on the user and compare this effect with the outcome that traditional agents have for similar situations, leading to an observation if there are differences when satisfying a need through digital or physical instruments. Other objects of research include investigating which are the drivers that lead to a better consumer experience through chat coupled with understanding which are the attributes that makes the software unique from all other platforms and which retract the acceptance. To finish, it is studied which are the current attitudes towards the inevitable diffusion of chatbots. It was possible to conclude that for low involvement situations chat leads to underperforming valuations of loyalty, that the drivers of a satisfying experience are focused on the outcome whereas to foster loyalty it additionally needs to transmit sincerity, that the value added of this channel is its convenience and communication style although the impersonality and technical difficulties may repeal users and the sample is not yet comfortable with the upcoming of chatbots.As disrupções tecnológicas levam a que as pessoas mudem a maneira como interagem com as marcas, contribuindo para melhores ou piores experiências dependendo se as empresas investem em perceber os pontos críticos na jornada do consumidor. O objetivo desta dissertação é de perceber os impactos que a implementação de um chat tem e comparar este efeito com o resultado que os agentes tradicionais têm em situações similares, levando a perceber se existem diferenças na satisfação de uma necessidade através de meios digitais ou físicos. Outros objetos de pesquisa incluem investigar quais os fatores que levam a uma melhor experiência no chat, juntamente com a compreensão de quais os atributos que tornam o software único face a outras plataformas e também quais retraem a sua aceitação. Para terminar, é também analisado as atitudes atuais face à difusão dos chatbots. Foi possível concluir que para situações de baixo envolvimento o chat leva a avaliações inferiores de lealdade, que a avaliação de uma experiência satisfatória é focada somente no resultado providenciado, mas para gerar lealdade é necessária também sinceridade, que o valor adicional deste canal é a conveniência e o estilo de comunicação apesar de a impessoalidade e dificuldades técnicas poderem repelir os utilizadores e a amostra não se encontra ainda confortável com a iminente chegada dos chatbots

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved