"How May I Help You?": Modeling Twitter Customer Service Conversations Using Fine-Grained Dialogue Acts

Given the increasing popularity of customer service dialogue on Twitter, analysis of conversation data is essential to understand trends in customer and agent behavior for the purpose of automating customer service interactions. In this work, we develop a novel taxonomy of fine-grained "dialogue acts" frequently observed in customer service, showcasing acts that are more suited to the domain than the more generic existing taxonomies. Using a sequential SVM-HMM model, we model conversation flow, predicting the dialogue act of a given turn in real-time. We characterize differences between customer and agent behavior in Twitter customer service conversations, and investigate the effect of testing our system on different customer service industries. Finally, we use a data-driven approach to predict important conversation outcomes: customer satisfaction, customer frustration, and overall problem resolution. We show that the type and location of certain dialogue acts in a conversation have a significant effect on the probability of desirable and undesirable outcomes, and present actionable rules based on our findings. The patterns and rules we derive can be used as guidelines for outcome-driven automated customer service platforms.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, IUI 201

Etnički identitet i racionalnost

Ethnic identity is explained through the lens of collective action theory. Like other groups (Tribes, Feudal states, international organizations, nation states, etc.,) ethnic groups are a result of an individuals cost-benefit analysis that maximizes wealth and security. External variables associated with social relations determine the individual’s cost benefit analysis to choose ethnicity over other groups. However, collective action will not necessarily result just because the group provides benefits for its members. Individuals have incentive to consume and not produce collective goods. To overcome this problem, at least some individuals must have the incentive to produce collective goods that support ethnic groups. This paper illustrates how a rigorous cost benefit analysis explains when an individual will have the incentive to provide collective goods.U radu se fenomen etničkog identiteta promatra kroz optiku teorije kolektivne akcije. Poput ostalih društvenih skupina (plemena, feudalnih država, međunarodnih organizacija i si.) i etničke su grupe rezultat individualne analize troškova-i-koristi, čija je svrha maksimiziranje materijalnih sredstava i sigurnosti. Eksterne varijable, određene društvenim odnosima, determiniraju individualnu sklonost etnicitetu, to jesi nekom drugom principu združivanja. Kolektivna akcija nije neizbježna posljedica koristi koju grupe pribavljaju svojim članovima; pojedinci su motivirani da konzumiraju zajedničko dobro, ali ne i da ga ostvaruju. Rigorozna analiza troškova-i-koristi, prema autoru, pomaže u objašnjavanju individualnog doprinošenja zajedničkom dobru

Ancient Egypt 1915 Part 4

Part 4 of the 1915 Ancient Egypt books. Contents include discoveries at Lisht, a third century statuette, archaic burials in Libya, and the university college museum.https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/kweeks_coll/1004/thumbnail.jp

Decreased STARD10 expression is associated with defective insulin secretion in humans and mice

Genetic variants near ARAP1 (CENTD2) and STARD10 influence type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk. The risk alleles impair glucose-induced insulin secretion and, paradoxically but characteristically, are associated with decreased proinsulin:insulin ratios, indicating improved proinsulin conversion. Neither the identity of the causal variants nor the gene(s) through which risk is conferred have been firmly established. Whereas ARAP1 encodes a GTPase activating protein, STARD10 is a member of the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR)-related lipid transfer protein family. By integrating genetic fine-mapping and epigenomic annotation data and performing promoter-reporter and chromatin conformational capture (3C) studies in β cell lines, we localize the causal variant(s) at this locus to a 5 kb region that overlaps a stretch-enhancer active in islets. This region contains several highly correlated T2D-risk variants, including the rs140130268 indel. Expression QTL analysis of islet transcriptomes from three independent subject groups demonstrated that T2D-risk allele carriers displayed reduced levels of STARD10 mRNA, with no concomitant change in ARAP1 mRNA levels. Correspondingly, β-cell-selective deletion of StarD10 in mice led to impaired glucose-stimulated Ca2+ dynamics and insulin secretion and recapitulated the pattern of improved proinsulin processing observed at the human GWAS signal. Conversely, overexpression of StarD10 in the adult β cell improved glucose tolerance in high fat-fed animals. In contrast, manipulation of Arap1 in β cells had no impact on insulin secretion or proinsulin conversion in mice. This convergence of human and murine data provides compelling evidence that the T2D risk associated with variation at this locus is mediated through reduction in STARD10 expression in the β cell

Ancient Egypt 1920 Part 4

Part 4 of the 1920 Ancient Egypt books. Contents include Coptic twists and plaits, the sphinxes of Tanis, Alexandrian world maps, passages of Aleppo Citadel, and Kheker friezes.https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/kweeks_coll/1013/thumbnail.jp

Multimodality and ambient intelligence

In this report we discuss multimodal interface technology. We present examples of multimodal interfaces and show problems and opportunities. Fusion of modalities is discussed and some roadmap discussions on research in Multimodality are summarized. This report also discusses future developments where rather than communicating with a single computer, users communicate with their environment using multimodal interactions and where the environmental interface has perceptual competence that includes being able to interpret what is going on in the environment. We contribute roles to virtual humans in order to allow daily users of future computing environments to establish relationships with the environments, or more in particular, these virtual humans

Providing person-centered care for patients with complex healthcare needs: A qualitative study

Background People with chronic conditions have complex healthcare needs that lead to challenges for adequate healthcare provision. Current healthcare services do not always respond adequately to their needs. A modular perspective, in particular providing visualization of the modular service architecture, is promising for improving the responsiveness of healthcare services to the complex healthcare needs of people with chronic conditions. The modular service architecture provides a comprehensive representation of the components and modules of healthcare provision. In this study, we explore this further in a qualitative multiple case study on healthcare provision for children with Down syndrome in the Netherlands. Methods Data collection for four cases involved 53 semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals and 21 semi-structured interviews with patients (the parents of children with Down syndrome as proxy). In addition, we gathered data by means of practice observations and analysis of relevant documents. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed utilizing the Miles and Huberman approach. Results Our study shows that the perspectives on healthcare provision of professionals and patients differ substantially. The visualization of the modular service architecture that was based on the healthcare professionals’ perspective provided a complete representation of (para)medical outcomes relevant to the professionals’ own discipline. In contrast, the modular service architecture based on the patients’ perspective, which we define as a person-centered modular service architecture, provided a representation of the healthcare service that was primarily based on functional outcomes and the overall wellbeing of the patients. Conclusion Our study shows that visualization of the modular service architecture can be a useful tool to better address the complex needs and requirements of people with a chronic condition. We suggest that a person-centered modular service architecture that focuses on functional outcomes and overall wellbeing, enables increased responsiveness of healthcare services to people with complex healthcare needs and provision of truly person-centered care

Evaluation of two interaction techniques for visualization of dynamic graphs

Several techniques for visualization of dynamic graphs are based on different spatial arrangements of a temporal sequence of node-link diagrams. Many studies in the literature have investigated the importance of maintaining the user's mental map across this temporal sequence, but usually each layout is considered as a static graph drawing and the effect of user interaction is disregarded. We conducted a task-based controlled experiment to assess the effectiveness of two basic interaction techniques: the adjustment of the layout stability and the highlighting of adjacent nodes and edges. We found that generally both interaction techniques increase accuracy, sometimes at the cost of longer completion times, and that the highlighting outclasses the stability adjustment for many tasks except the most complex ones.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2016

Surfactant phosphatidylcholine half-life and pool size measurements in premature baboons developing bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Because minimal information is available about surfactant metabolism in bronchopulmonary dysplasia, we measured half-lives and pool sizes of surfactant phosphatidylcholine in very preterm baboons recovering from respiratory distress syndrome and developing bronchopulmonary dysplasia, using stable isotopes, radioactive isotopes, and direct pool size measurements. Eight ventilated premature baboons received (2)H-DPPC (dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine) on d 5 of life, and radioactive (14)C-DPPC with a treatment dose of surfactant on d 8. After 14 d, lung pool sizes of saturated phosphatidylcholine were measured. Half-life of (2)H-DPPC (d 5) in tracheal aspirates was 28 +/- 4 h (mean +/- SEM). Half-life of radioactive DPPC (d 8) was 35 +/- 4 h. Saturated phosphatidylcholine pool size measured with stable isotopes on d 5 was 129 +/- 14 micro mol/kg, and 123 +/- 11 micro mol/kg on d 14 at autopsy. Half-lives were comparable to those obtained at d 0 and d 6 in our previous baboon studies. We conclude that surfactant metabolism does not change during the early development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, more specifically, the metabolism of exogenous surfactant on d 8 is similar to that on the day of birth. Surfactant pool size is low at birth, increases after surfactant therapy, and is kept constant during the first 2 wk of life by endogenous surfactant synthesis. Measurements with stable isotopes are comparable to measurements with radioactive tracers and measurements at autopsy