FAQchat as in Information Retrieval system

A chatbot is a conversational agent that interacts with users through natural languages. In this paper, we describe a new way to access information using a chatbot. The FAQ in the School of Computing at the University of Leeds has been used to retrain the ALICE chatbot system, producing FAQchat. The results returned from FAQchat are similar to ones generated by search engines such as Google. For evaluation, a comparison was made between FAQchat and Google. The main objective is to demonstrate that FAQchat is a viable alternative to Google and it can be used as a tool to access FAQ databases

An Arabic chatbot giving answers from the Qur'an

We present machine-learning techniques used to generate an Arabic chatbot, which accepts user input in Arabic and generates replies extracted from the Qur'an. A system to learn conversational patterns from a Corpus of transcribed conversation has been used to generate a range of chatbots speaking different languages including English, French and Afrikaans. We review aspects of the Arabic language, which pose problems for chatbot-learning, and we discuss the revised process to handle Arabic training text and input/output. In principle, the Qur'an provides guidance and answers to religious and other questions; so we used the Qur'an as a training corpus for our chatbot. As the Qur'an is not a transcription of a conversation, we adapted the learning process to cope with the structure of the Qur'an in terms of sooras and ayyas. The resulting system accepts user input in Arabic, and answers with appropriate ayyas from the Qur'an

Factors Affecting Financial Performance of Insurance Industry in Pakistan

This study investigated the indicators of financial performance of insurance companies of Pakistan. Gross written premium (GWP), Claim (CLM), Reinsurance (Rei), Management expenditure (MGE), Interest rate (IR), Size (SIZ), Leverage (LEV), Real GDP (RGDP) were taken as factors (independent variables), whereas Sales Profitability (SAP), Investment Income (INP), and Underwriting profit (UWP) were taken as proxy of financial performance. Data of five 5 insurance companies are chosen covering the period of 2013-2017. Data was analyzed using panel regression. Findings showed that the gross written premium has the significant impact on all three measure of profitability. The further size of the company has a negative impact on sales and investment profit. In addition, the claims, reinsurance, GDP, interest rate and management expenses have an insignificant relationship with all three profitability measures. Hence, in order to improve operational and financial performance of the insurance industry in Pakistan, more focus should be given to factors that could increase premium. Keywords: Growth, Financial Performance, Assessment, Financial stability, financial services, Insurance, Pakistan DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/10-5-03 Publication date:March 31st 201

Työhyvinvoinnin tunneälykäs johtaminen kasvuyrityksissä

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, kuinka iso merkitys työhyvinvoinnilla ja tunteilla on kasvuyrityksissä sekä hyödynnetäänkö tunneälyä johtamisessa ja millaisia vaikutuksia tällä mahdollisesti on ollut. Työhyvinvointi ja tunteet ovat teema, jota on pitkään pidetty vähemmän tärkeänä asiana työelämässä. Nämä teemat ovat nousseet kuitenkin enemmän esiin kuten myös vastuullisuus 2020-luvun megatrendinä. Tutkimus toteutettiin kuukauden vastausajalla heinäkuussa 2024 kyselytutkimuksena vuosina 2020-2023 sparrausohjelmassa mukana olleille pienille ja keskisuurille kasvua tavoitteleville yrityksille. Tämä joukko käsitti yli 800 yritystä, joista kyselyyn vastasi noin 60 henkilöä. Tulokset toivat ilmi, että kaikille termit eivät olleet edes tuttuja ja moni pieni yritys koki työhyvinvoinnin tai tunteiden johtamisen olevan tärkeää, mutta niiden jäävän helposti kiireen ja taloustavoitteiden jalkoihin. Resurssien puute, erityisesti raha, aika ja osaaminen, haastoivat työhyvinvoinnin johtamista kaikista eniten. Tunneälyä johtamisessa hyödyntäneet yritykset olivat kuitenkin kokeneet siitä olleen paljon hyötyä liiketoiminnalleen ja työyhteisölleen. Tuloksien siis voidaan katsoa tukevan myös aiheesta aiemmin kirjoitettua teoriaa. Monesti yrityksistä puhuttaessa tarkoitetaan isompia yrityksiä ja siksi kasvuyritykset olivat hyvä näkökulma tarkastella työhyvinvoinnin ja tunteiden aihepiiriä

Trends, applications, and challenges of chatbot technology

Chatbots offer exceptional services to end-users due to various factors, including the ability to respond to customer requests quickly according to their convenience. Given the magnitude of research and interest in chatbots, further study on several vital and evolving concerns including human-bot interaction, chatbot adoption, chatbot architecture, design considerations, and chatbot applications in various domains including education and customer support is necessary. Trends, Applications, and Challenges of Chatbot Technology provides novel research content and reviews of current chatbot technology and sheds light on challenges and open questions as well as possible research directions. Covering key topics such as human-computer interaction, education, customer support, and algorithms, this reference work is ideal for computer scientists, industry professionals, policymakers, researchers, academicians, practitioners, scholars, instructors, and students

Recognition of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class Ib molecule H2-Q10 by the natural killer cell receptor Ly49C

Murine natural killer (NK) cells are regulated by the interaction of Ly49 receptors with major histocompatibility complex class I molecules (MHC-I). Although the ligands for inhibitory Ly49 were considered to be restricted to classical MHC (MHC-Ia), we have shown that the non-classical MHC molecule (MHC-Ib) H2-M3 was a ligand for the inhibitory Ly49A. Here we establish that another MHC-Ib, H2-Q10, is a bona fide ligand for the inhibitory Ly49C receptor. H2-Q10 bound to Ly49C with a marginally lower affinity (∼5 μm) than that observed between Ly49C and MHC-Ia (H-2Kb/H-2Dd, both ∼1 μm), and this recognition could be prevented by cis interactions with H-2K in situ. To understand the molecular details underpinning Ly49·MHC-Ib recognition, we determined the crystal structures of H2-Q10 and Ly49C bound H2-Q10. Unliganded H2-Q10 adopted a classical MHC-I fold and possessed a peptide-binding groove that exhibited features similar to those found in MHC-Ia, explaining the diverse peptide binding repertoire of H2-Q10. Ly49C bound to H2-Q10 underneath the peptide binding platform to a region that encompassed residues from the α1, α2, and α3 domains, as well as the associated β2-microglobulin subunit. This docking mode was conserved with that previously observed for Ly49C·H-2Kb. Indeed, structure-guided mutation of Ly49C indicated that Ly49C·H2-Q10 and Ly49C·H-2Kb possess similar energetic footprints focused around residues located within the Ly49C β4-stand and L5 loop, which contact the underside of the peptide-binding platform floor. Our data provide a structural basis for Ly49·MHC-Ib recognition and demonstrate that MHC-Ib represent an extended family of ligands for Ly49 molecules