The Effect of Personalization Techniques in Users’ Perceptions of Conversational Recommender Systems

Conversational recommender systems provide users with individually tailored recommendations in a flowing dialogue. These require users to disclose information proactively or reactively for receiving personalized recommendations, which can trigger users' resistance to the platform and to the recommendations. Accordingly, this study examined the extent to which user-initiated and system-initiated recommendations provided by a conversational recommender system influenced users' perceptions of it. The results of an online experiment entail that when recommendations are system-initiated, as compared to user-initiated, users perceive to be in less control and perceive the system as riskier. Furthermore, the results stress that systems that provide user-initiated or system-initiated recommendations do not differ in users' perceptions of anthropomorphism

Don’t Take It Personally: Resistance to Individually Targeted Recommendations from Conversational Recommender Agents

Conversational recommender agents are artificially intelligent recommender systems that provide users with individually-tailored recommendations by targeting individual needs and communicating in a flowing dialogue. These are widely available online, communicating with users while demonstrating human-like (anthropomorphic) social cues. Nevertheless, little is known about the effect of their anthropomorphic cues on users’ resistance to the system and recommendations. Accordingly, this study examined the extent to which conversational recommender agents’ anthropomorphic cues and the type of recommendations provided (user-initiated and system-initiated) influenced users’ perceptions of control, trustworthiness, and the risk of using the platform. The study assessed how these perceptions, in turn, influence users’ adherence to the recommendations. An online experiment was conducted among users with conversational recommender agents and web recommender platforms that provided user-initiated or system-initiated restaurant recommendations. The results entail that user-initiated recommendations, compared to system-initiated, are less likely to affect users’ resistance to the system and are more likely to affect their adherence to the recommendations provided. Furthermore, the study’s findings suggest that these effects are amplified for conversational recommender agents, demonstrating anthropomorphic cues, in contrast to traditional systems as web recommender platforms

Frequencies, Drivers, and Solutions to News Non-Attendance: Investigating Differences Between Low News Usage and News (Topic) Avoidance with Conversational Agents

Low levels of news seeking can be problematic for an informed citizenry. Previous research has discussed different types of news non-attendance but conceptual ambiguities between low news usage, general news avoidance, and news topic avoidance still exist. By using a longitudinal design conducted with a chatbot survey among Dutch users (n = 189), this study provides first empirical evidence that helps clarify conceptual differences. First, it estimates the prevalence of these different types of news non-attendance. Second, it tests to what extend cognitive restrictions, quality assessments, and personal relevance are relevant predictors in explaining engagement in three types of non-attendance to news. Third, the study investigates how news usage behaviors (e.g., news curation, news snacking, and verification engagement) may serve as potential user-driven counter strategies against news avoidance. We find evidence for the conceptual differences. Only small shares of news non-attendance are explained by avoidance motivations. Especially news curation and verification engagement can mitigate common drivers of news avoidance, while news snacking reinforces them

Comparison of the biocompatibility of grey mineral trioxide aggregate and sealapex plus zinc oxide in rat subcutaneous tissue

ABSTRACT   Objectives:The aim of this study was to compare the subcutaneous tissue response to grey mineral trioxide aggregate white Sealapex plus zinc oxide.   Methods: Polyethylene tubes filled with tested material were implanted in the connective tissue of rats. Control animals received empty tubes. Tissue samples were collected after 7, 60, and 90 days and stained with hematoxylin-eosin, picrosirius-fast green, and von Kossa stain for morphological analysis. The connective tissue response to the implanted materials was evaluated descriptively and semi-quantitatively by scoring the degree of inflammation, granulation tissue formation, fibrosis, and calcification. Results: Examinations of the grey mineral trioxide aggregate group over time revealed more intense inflammation at 7 days than at 60 days (p <0.05). In the Sealapex plus zinc oxide group, granulation tissue was more abundant at 7 days than at 60 days (p <0.05). Regarding calcification, von Kossa-positive granules were observed in the grey mineral trioxide aggregate and Sealapex plus zinc oxide  groups at all time points studied. In the Sealapex/ZnO group, calcification was more apparent at 60 days than at 7 days (p <0.05). Relevance: This study demonstrates that all tested materials promote similar tissue reactions. Descriptors: Biocompatibility Testing, Endodontics, Dental Materials, Retrograde Obturation.

A framework for privacy preserving digital trace data collection through data donation

A potentially powerful method of social-scientific data collection and investigation has been created by an unexpected institution: the law. Article 15 of the EU’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) mandates that individuals have electronic access to a copy of their personal data, and all major digital platforms now comply with this law by providing users with “data download packages” (DDPs). Through voluntary donation of DDPs, all data collected by public and private entities during the course of citizens’ digital life can be obtained and analyzed to answer social-scientific questions – with consent. Thus, consented DDPs open the way for vast new research opportunities. However, while this entirely new method of data collection will undoubtedly gain popularity in the coming years, it also comes with its own questions of representativeness and measurement quality, which are often evaluated systematically by means of an error framework. Therefore, in this paper we provide a blueprint for digital trace data collection using DDPs, and devise a “total error framework” for such projects. Our error framework for digital trace data collection through data donation is intended to facilitate high quality social-scientific investigations using DDPs while critically reflecting its unique methodological challenges and sources of error. In addition, we provide a quality control checklist to guide researchers in leveraging the vast opportunities afforded by this new mode of investigation

How advertising in offline media drives reach of and engagement with brands on Facebook

Research investigating the drivers of consumers’ engagement with brands on social media is proliferating. However, little is known about how advertising outside social media drives engagement with brands on social media. This study aims to explore the relation between advertising spend in different offline media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, out of home), and reach of and engagement with brand pages on Facebook. The study uses a unique real-life data-set containing information about the Facebook pages of 45 brands for approximately three years combined with Nielsen Advertising Spend data. Results showed that while advertising in offline media influenced organic and viral reach, the number of page likes was directly influenced by advertising on Facebook only. It can be concluded that offline advertising is relevant in driving consumers’ online brand engagement; however, there is a unique set of drivers for organic reach, viral reach and likes

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Psychosocial impact of undergoing prostate cancer screening for men with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

OBJECTIVES: To report the baseline results of a longitudinal psychosocial study that forms part of the IMPACT study, a multi-national investigation of targeted prostate cancer (PCa) screening among men with a known pathogenic germline mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. PARTICPANTS AND METHODS: Men enrolled in the IMPACT study were invited to complete a questionnaire at collaborating sites prior to each annual screening visit. The questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics and the following measures: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Impact of Event Scale (IES), 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36), Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer, Cancer Worry Scale-Revised, risk perception and knowledge. The results of the baseline questionnaire are presented. RESULTS: A total of 432 men completed questionnaires: 98 and 160 had mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, respectively, and 174 were controls (familial mutation negative). Participants' perception of PCa risk was influenced by genetic status. Knowledge levels were high and unrelated to genetic status. Mean scores for the HADS and SF-36 were within reported general population norms and mean IES scores were within normal range. IES mean intrusion and avoidance scores were significantly higher in BRCA1/BRCA2 carriers than in controls and were higher in men with increased PCa risk perception. At the multivariate level, risk perception contributed more significantly to variance in IES scores than genetic status. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to report the psychosocial profile of men with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations undergoing PCa screening. No clinically concerning levels of general or cancer-specific distress or poor quality of life were detected in the cohort as a whole. A small subset of participants reported higher levels of distress, suggesting the need for healthcare professionals offering PCa screening to identify these risk factors and offer additional information and support to men seeking PCa screening

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements