A comparison of explicit and implicit proactive dialogue strategies for conversational recommendation

Recommendation systems aim at facilitating information retrieval for users by taking into account their preferences. Based on previous user behaviour, such a system suggests items or provides information that a user might like or find useful. Nonetheless, how to provide suggestions is still an open question. Depending on the way a recommendation is communicated influences the user’s perception of the system. This paper presents an empirical study on the effects of proactive dialogue strategies on user acceptance. Therefore, an explicit strategy based on user preferences provided directly by the user, and an implicit proactive strategy, using autonomously gathered information, are compared. The results show that proactive dialogue systems significantly affect the perception of human-computer interaction. Although no significant differences are found between implicit and explicit strategies, proactivity significantly influences the user experience compared to reactive system behaviour. The study contributes new insights to the human-agent interaction and the voice user interface design. Furthermore, interesting tendencies are discovered that motivate future work

Vernetzung des physikalisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichtes und des Fachgebietes Astronomie im Schulbereich einer Region nach dem SchulPOOL-Prinzip

Das Fach Physik ist ebenso wie das Fach Chemie und wie das Fachgebiet Astronomie durch hohen Bedarf an Experimentieraufbauten gekennzeichnet, die häufig modernste und besonders im Klassensatz für das Schülerexperiment finanziell sehr aufwändige Geräte erfordern. Sind diese verfügbar, müssen sie der Lehrerschaft bekannt   gemacht und von ihr positiv evaluiert werden. Erst dann werden sie im Unterricht auch zur Anwendung kommen.  Wir haben für diese Schritte das SchulPOOL-Prinzip entwickelt und beschreiben es in dieser Arbeit. Dabei kooperieren Schulen in einer vorgegebenen Region und schaffen einen zentralen Experimentbereich an, den alle Partner gemeinsam nutzen. Wir berichten über unsere Erfahrungen für das Fach Physik bzw. Chemie. Mit einer innovativen Beobachtungsstation aus 6 gleichen, schülerbedienbaren Teleskopen auf dem Dach einer unserer Partnerschulen haben wir weiter dieses Prinzip auch auf den Bereich Astronomie erweitert. Nach der erfolgreichen Implementierung von SchulPOOL für den Wuppertaler Raum wurde nunmehr im Rhein-Kreis Neuss der erste Cluster aus Schulen gebildet, der selbstständig nach dem SchulPOOL-Prinzip Physikunterricht organisiert. Er kann damit eine Art Blaupause für weitere mögliche Ausgründungen liefern

Vernetzung des physikalisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichtes und des Fachgebietes Astronomie im Schulbereich einer Region nach dem SchulPOOL-Prinzip

Das Fach Physik ist ebenso wie das Fach Chemie und wie das Fachgebiet Astronomie durch hohen Bedarf an Experimentieraufbauten gekennzeichnet, die häufig modernste und besonders im Klassensatz für das Schülerexperiment finanziell sehr aufwändige Geräte erfordern. Sind diese verfügbar, müssen sie der Lehrerschaft bekannt   gemacht und von ihr positiv evaluiert werden. Erst dann werden sie im Unterricht auch zur Anwendung kommen.  Wir haben für diese Schritte das SchulPOOL-Prinzip entwickelt und beschreiben es in dieser Arbeit. Dabei kooperieren Schulen in einer vorgegebenen Region und schaffen einen zentralen Experimentbereich an, den alle Partner gemeinsam nutzen. Wir berichten über unsere Erfahrungen für das Fach Physik bzw. Chemie. Mit einer innovativen Beobachtungsstation aus 6 gleichen, schülerbedienbaren Teleskopen auf dem Dach einer unserer Partnerschulen haben wir weiter dieses Prinzip auch auf den Bereich Astronomie erweitert. Nach der erfolgreichen Implementierung von SchulPOOL für den Wuppertaler Raum wurde nunmehr im Rhein-Kreis Neuss der erste Cluster aus Schulen gebildet, der selbstständig nach dem SchulPOOL-Prinzip Physikunterricht organisiert. Er kann damit eine Art Blaupause für weitere mögliche Ausgründungen liefern

Colonoscopy quality across Europe : a report of the European Colonoscopy Quality Investigation (ECQI) Group

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Patterns of Alcohol Consumption Among Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdowns in Germany

Importance Alcohol consumption (AC) leads to death and disability worldwide. Ongoing discussions on potential negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on AC need to be informed by real-world evidence. Objective To examine whether lockdown measures are associated with AC and consumption-related temporal and psychological within-person mechanisms. Design, Setting, and Participants This quantitative, intensive, longitudinal cohort study recruited 1743 participants from 3 sites from February 20, 2020, to February 28, 2021. Data were provided before and within the second lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: before lockdown (October 2 to November 1, 2020); light lockdown (November 2 to December 15, 2020); and hard lockdown (December 16, 2020, to February 28, 2021). Main Outcomes and Measures Daily ratings of AC (main outcome) captured during 3 lockdown phases (main variable) and temporal (weekends and holidays) and psychological (social isolation and drinking intention) correlates. Results Of the 1743 screened participants, 189 (119 [63.0%] male; median [IQR] age, 37 [27.5-52.0] years) with at least 2 alcohol use disorder (AUD) criteria according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) yet without the need for medically supervised alcohol withdrawal were included. These individuals provided 14 694 smartphone ratings from October 2020 through February 2021. Multilevel modeling revealed significantly higher AC (grams of alcohol per day) on weekend days vs weekdays (β = 11.39; 95% CI, 10.00-12.77; P < .001). Alcohol consumption was above the overall average on Christmas (β = 26.82; 95% CI, 21.87-31.77; P < .001) and New Year’s Eve (β = 66.88; 95% CI, 59.22-74.54; P < .001). During the hard lockdown, perceived social isolation was significantly higher (β = 0.12; 95% CI, 0.06-0.15; P < .001), but AC was significantly lower (β = −5.45; 95% CI, −8.00 to −2.90; P = .001). Independent of lockdown, intention to drink less alcohol was associated with lower AC (β = −11.10; 95% CI, −13.63 to −8.58; P < .001). Notably, differences in AC between weekend and weekdays decreased both during the hard lockdown (β = −6.14; 95% CI, −9.96 to −2.31; P = .002) and in participants with severe AUD (β = −6.26; 95% CI, −10.18 to −2.34; P = .002). Conclusions and Relevance This 5-month cohort study found no immediate negative associations of lockdown measures with overall AC. Rather, weekend-weekday and holiday AC patterns exceeded lockdown effects. Differences in AC between weekend days and weekdays evinced that weekend drinking cycles decreased as a function of AUD severity and lockdown measures, indicating a potential mechanism of losing and regaining control. This finding suggests that temporal patterns and drinking intention constitute promising targets for prevention and intervention, even in high-risk individuals

Cosmic Rays and the Search for a Lorentz Invariance Violation

This is an introductory review about the on-going search for a signal of Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) in cosmic rays. We first summarise basic aspects of cosmic rays, focusing on rays of ultra high energy (UHECRs). We discuss the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min (GZK) energy cutoff for cosmic protons, which is predicted due to photopion production in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This is a process of modest energy in the proton rest frame. It can be investigated to a high precision in the laboratory, if Lorentz transformations apply even at factors $\gamma \sim O(10^{11})$. For heavier nuclei the energy attenuation is even faster due to photo-disintegration, again if this process is Lorentz invariant. Hence the viability of Lorentz symmetry up to tremendous gamma-factors - far beyond accelerator tests - is a central issue. Next we comment on conceptual aspects of Lorentz Invariance and the possibility of its spontaneous breaking. This could lead to slightly particle dependent ``Maximal Attainable Velocities''. We discuss their effect in decays, Cerenkov radiation, the GZK cutoff and neutrino oscillation in cosmic rays. We also review the search for LIV in cosmic gamma-rays. For multi TeV gamma-rays we possibly encounter another puzzle related to the transparency of the CMB, similar to the GZK cutoff. The photons emitted in a Gamma Ray Burst occur at lower energies, but their very long path provides access to information not far from the Planck scale. No LIV has been observed so far. However, even extremely tiny LIV effects could change the predictions for cosmic ray physics drastically. An Appendix is devoted to the recent hypothesis by the Pierre Auger Collaboration, which identifies nearby Active Galactic Nuclei - or objects next to them - as probable UHECR sources.Comment: 81 pages, 15 figures, some points extended and improved, references adde

Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster

A wide variety of enzymatic pathways that produce specialized metabolites in bacteria, fungi and plants are known to be encoded in biosynthetic gene clusters. Information about these clusters, pathways and metabolites is currently dispersed throughout the literature, making it difficult to exploit. To facilitate consistent and systematic deposition and retrieval of data on biosynthetic gene clusters, we propose the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster (MIBiG) data standard.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog