May I Interrupt? Diverging Opinions on Proactive Smart Speakers

Although smart speakers support increasingly complex multi-turn dialogues, they still play a mostly reactive role, responding to user’s questions or requests. With rapid technological advances, they are becoming more capable of initiating conversations by themselves. However, before developing such proactive features, it is important to understand how people perceive different types of agent-initiated interactions. We conducted an online survey in which participants () rated 8 scenarios around proactive smart speakers on different aspects. Despite some controversy around proactive systems, we found that participants’ ratings were surprisingly positive. However, they also commented on potential issues around user privacy and agency as well as undesirable interference with ongoing (social) activities. We discuss these findings and their implications for future avenues of research on proactive smart speakers

Understanding Circumstances for Desirable Proactive Behaviour of Voice Assistants: The Proactivity Dilemma

The next major evolutionary stage for voice assistants will be their capability to initiate interactions by themselves. However, to design proactive interactions, it is crucial to understand whether and when this behaviour is considered useful and how desirable it is perceived for different social contexts or ongoing activities. To investigate people's perspectives on proactivity and appropriate circumstances for it, we designed a set of storyboards depicting a variety of proactive actions in everyday situations and social settings and presented them to 15 participants in interactive interviews. Our findings suggest that, although many participants see benefits in agent proactivity, such as for urgent or critical issues, there are concerns about interference with social activities in multi-party settings, potential loss of agency, and intrusiveness. We discuss our implications for designing voice assistants with desirable proactive features

From C-3PO to HAL: Opening The Discourse About The Dark Side of Multi-Modal Social Agents

The increasing prevalence of communicative agents raises questions about human-agent communication and the impact of such interaction on people's behavior in society and human-human communication. This workshop aims to address three of those questions: (i) How can we identify malicious design strategies - known as dark patterns - in social agents?; (ii) What is the necessity for and the effects of present and future design features, across different modalities and social contexts, in social agents?; (iii) How can we incorporate the findings of the first two questions into the design of social agents? This workshop seeks to conjoin ongoing discourses of the CUI and wider HCI communities, including recent trends focusing on ethical designs. Out of the collaborative discussion, the workshop will produce a document distilling possible research lines and topics encouraging future collaborations

A design of experiments (DoE) approach to identify the influencing parameters that determine poly-D,L-lactic acid (PDLLA) electrospun scaffold morphologies

Electrospun fibrous materials have increasing applications in regenerative medicine due to the similarity of fibre constructs to the morphology of certain extracellular matrices. Although experimentally the electrospinning method is relatively simple, at the theoretical level the interactions between process parameters and their influence on the fibre morphology is not yet fully understood. Here, we hypothesised that a design of experiments (DoE) model could determine combinations of process parameters that result in significant effects on poly-D,L-lactic acid (PDLLA) fibre morphology. The process parameters used in this study were applied voltage, needle-to-collector distance, flow rate and polymer concentration. Data obtained for mean fibre diameter, standard deviation of the fibre diameter (stdev, measure of fibre morphology) and presence of 'beading' on the fibres (beads per µm2) were evaluated as a measure of PDLLA fibre morphology. Uniform fibres occurred at standard deviations of ≤ 500 nm, 'beads-on-string' morphologies were apparent between ± 500-1300 nm and large beads were observed at ± 1300-1800 nm respectively. Mean fibre diameter was significantly influenced by the applied voltage and interaction between flow rate and polymer concentration. Fibre morphology was mainly influenced by the polymer concentration, while bead distribution was significantly influenced by the polymer concentration as well as the flow rate. The resultant DoE model regression equations were tested and considered suitable for the prediction of parameters combinations needed for desired PDLLA fibre diameter and additionally provided information regarding the expected fibre morphology

Open Problems in DAOs

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a new, rapidly-growing class of organizations governed by smart contracts. Here we describe how researchers can contribute to the emerging science of DAOs and other digitally-constituted organizations. From granular privacy primitives to mechanism designs to model laws, we identify high-impact problems in the DAO ecosystem where existing gaps might be tackled through a new data set or by applying tools and ideas from existing research fields such as political science, computer science, economics, law, and organizational science. Our recommendations encompass exciting research questions as well as promising business opportunities. We call on the wider research community to join the global effort to invent the next generation of organizations

Evaluation of sperm quality and different nutrient levels on sperm efficiency in male rainbow trout

Considering the importance of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in supplying required protein of people and effort to increase the efficiency of these fish reproduction, some related factors such as sperm quality and potential fertility of male are necessary. The aim of this study was to find out the effects of different dosages of Arginine on the biochemical parameters (including LDH, AST, ALT, ALP, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, chloride, calcium, sodium, Potassium, cholesterol, uric acid, urea, fructose, glucose, total protein and pH) of rainbow trout seminal plasma. For this purpose, five practical diets (each consisting of 3 triplicates) were supplemented with Arginine at 0.00 (Control), 0.50, 1.00, 1.50 and 2.00%. Broodstock feed last for 90 days. At the end of the feeding period one fish was captured from each replicate in order to collect their semen. Results indicate that there were no significant differences in LDH, ALP, Fe^2+ and P content among different treatments. The lowest level of AST and ALT and the highest level of Ca^2+ and Mg^2+ ions were observed in the treatment fed with 1.50% of Arginine which showed significant differences with other treatments (p<0.05). Moreover, the amount of Cl^-, Na^+ and K^+ ions were significantly increased in the seminal plasma in fish which were fed on diets containing arginine in comparison to control. As the amount of Arginine were increased, the levels of uric acid stepped up significantly in contrast to the urea and glucose. The highest amounts of cholesterol, fructose and total protein were observed in the treatments fed on 2.00, 0.50 and 1.00% of Arginine, respectively, that showed significant differences with other treatments (p<0.05). The highest pH value was assayed in the 1.50% of Arginine treatment. The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed a significant positive correlation between Ca^2+ and Mg^2+ ions and Na^+ with K^+ and Clions (r=0.750, r=0.769 and r= 0.938, p<0.01), respectively. On the other hand, a significant negative correlation between cholesterol with Cl^-, Na^+, K^+, ALT and LDH (r=- 0.764, r=-0.724 and r=-0.728, p<0.01) and (r=-0.531 and r=-0.560, p<0.05) and also a significant positive correlation between K^+ and Clions (r=0.836, p<0.01) were observed. Finally, it can be expressed that the levels of most of the ions were increased and there was a reduction in the levels of enzymes in seminal plasma of fish which were fed with practical diet including 1.5% of Arginine. So it can be recommended that adding this value of Arginine to the diets of rainbow trout broodstock, would improve the sperm quality which results in the enhancement of efficiency in rainbow trout reproduction

The creation of genetic basic population of rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss) based on study of genetic variation in brood stocks using microsatellite

In order to perform the project, 446 samples of rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss) from 24 different regions in Iran were collected. About 2-3 g of caudal fin samples was collected from each specimen and preserved in absolute ethyl alcohol and then transferred to the genetic laboratory. Genomic DNA was extracted using the phenol-chloroform method and then DNA content and quality was determined using spectrophotometry and agarose gel electrophoresis, respectively. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) of genomic DNA fin samples was carried out using 10 pairs of microsatellite primers. All PCR products were electrophoresed on 6% polyacrylamide gel and stained with silver nitrate. Following the scoring of alleles, all parameters including allelic frequency, effective number of allele, observed and expected heterozygosity, shanon index, measurement of similarity and genetic distance and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, Fst , Rst and gene flow were calculated using AMOVA analysis in the GenAlex and Popgene programs. The results showed that 8 pairs of microsatellite primers were polymorphic. In total, 50 alleles were determined with the range size of 64-280 bp. The locus omyf had maximum number of allele (26) and loci OTSG 474 and Strurruta58 had minimum number of allele (5). The observed heterozygosity was between 0.86 and 0.964. Hardy-Weinberg departure was observed for all loci from farms 18, 15, 4, E20 and 21 and were disequilibrium (P<0.05). The farms 14, 8, 7 and 6 were equilibrium at 3 loci, but showed disequilibrium in other loci. The other farms were equilibrium at 1 or 2 loci and disequilibrium at 8 or 9 loci. The FST results showed that maximum FST (0.24) were between farms 1 and 11in which had minimum of gene flow (3.7). Minimum FST (0.04) were between farms 8 and 9 in which had maximum of gene flow (346). Based on the results of AMOVA analysis, significant differences were detected between all farms (P<0.01). Furthermore, based on Nei 's standard (1972) maximum genetic distance (0.89) were observed between farms 2 and 11 and maximum genetic similarity (0.15) were detected between farms 3 and 4. This result suggests that the unique genetic variation of rainbow trout in hatchery farms of Iran represents a highly valuable genetic resource and provide useful information for creating a based population in the future breeding programs

Genetic improvement of rainbow trout in Iran

Inthisstudy, Iranian and French male and female Oncorhynchus mykiss broodstocks were invided into two groups 50 and 24 respectivelyin Research center of genetic and breeding of coldwater fishers, Yasouj,Iran and the genetic structure of them was investigated using 6 microsatellite markers. Along with broodstock maturation, fertilization 1:1(female:male) were randomly assigned and occurred in25 of12Iranian andFrench treatment respectively. Reproductive parameters were recordedfor the whole family.Average number of observed alleles in Iranian and French stocks was 6.68 and 6.83, respectively.Average number of effective alleles in Iranian and French stocks was 3.13 and 3.45 respectively.Fixation index Fstwas calculated based on allelic frequency between two stocks was 0.058 with significant difference between 2 stocks. Eyed percentage for french broodstock calaulated zero and deleted. Fertilization rate(100-0), the eyed percentage (98-0), The hatch rate(98- 0),the averagefecundity4114.708, the average eggs size 4.88 mm, Survivalinthe first three months 19-73% calculated for Iranian broodstocks. Considering the quality of eggs and larvaeat different stages and selection between the different family and the within family remained 10 treatments and are keptas future broodstocks. Therelationship between fecundity-egg size, fecundity-weight, fecundity-length, egg sizeweightwas performed using regression. The results showed that Fecundity wasinfluenced more byweight and productivelength. The research is beginning to IDthe broodstockin our country