Siri, Alexa, and Other Digital Assistants: A Study of Customer Satisfaction With Artificial Intelligence Applications

Siri, Alexa, and other digital assistants are rapidly becoming embraced by consumers and the adoption is projected to grow from 390 million to 1.8 billion for the period of 2015 to 2021. Digital assistants are offering benefits to consumers while also proving to be a disruptive technology for businesses. Coupling digital assistants with other artificial intelligence technologies offers the potential to transform companies by creating more efficient business processes, automating complex tasks, and improving the customer service experience. Businesses have begun integrating this technology into their operations with the expectation of achieving significant productivity gains. Customer satisfaction has been discussed extensively throughout marketing literature. Yet, there is little empirical evidence of customer satisfaction with digital assistants. This study used PLS-SEM to analyze 244 survey responses obtained from a cross-section of consumers. Using the Expectations Confirmation Theory as its foundation, the study identified that expectations and confirmation of expectations substantially explained customer satisfaction with digital assistants. For practice, the study provides guidance which allows firms to prioritize marketing and managerial activities. Firms should focus priorities on assisting digital assistant users to become aware of new skill capabilities while also providing relevant examples of how these skills can be used to meet user needs. In addition, priorities should be focused on assisting users with understanding how the average person can use digital assistants to perform more than just mundane tasks with relative ease. These priorities were identified as areas of high importance for customer satisfaction and require performance improvements

Can a combination of the conformal thin-sandwich and puncture methods yield binary black hole solutions in quasi-equilibrium?

We consider combining two important methods for constructing quasi-equilibrium initial data for binary black holes: the conformal thin-sandwich formalism and the puncture method. The former seeks to enforce stationarity in the conformal three-metric and the latter attempts to avoid internal boundaries, like minimal surfaces or apparent horizons. We show that these two methods make partially conflicting requirements on the boundary conditions that determine the time slices. In particular, it does not seem possible to construct slices that are quasi-stationary and avoid physical singularities and simultaneously are connected by an everywhere positive lapse function, a condition which must obtain if internal boundaries are to be avoided. Some relaxation of these conflicting requirements may yield a soluble system, but some of the advantages that were sought in combining these approaches will be lost.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX2e, 2 postscript figure

Classical and Quantum Gravity in 1+1 Dimensions, Part I: A Unifying Approach

We provide a concise approach to generalized dilaton theories with and without torsion and coupling to Yang-Mills fields. Transformations on the space of fields are used to trivialize the field equations locally. In this way their solution becomes accessible within a few lines of calculation only. In this first of a series of papers we set the stage for a thorough global investigation of classical and quantum aspects of more or less all available 2D gravity-Yang-Mills models.Comment: 24 pages, no figures, some sign errors in Eqs. 52--59 have been corrected (according to the Erratum

Amicus Brief, Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital

Illinois Public Act 82-280, § 2-1706.5, as amended by P.A. 94-677, § 330 (eff. Aug. 25, 2005), and as codified as 735 ILCS 5/2-1706.5(a), imposes a $500,000 “cap” on the noneconomic damages that may be awarded in a medical malpractice suit against a physician or other health care professional, and a$1 million “cap” on the noneconomic damages that may be awarded against a hospital, its affiliates, or their employees. This brief will address two of the questions presented for review by the parties: 1. Does the cap violate the Illinois Constitution’s prohibition on “special legislation,” Art. IV, § 3, because it unnecessarily, arbitrarily, and irrationally grants exceptional benefits and privileges exclusively to certain classes of tort defendants. 2. Does the cap violate the Illinois Constitution’s guarantee of “equal protection,” Art. I, § 2, because it unnecessarily, arbitrarily, and irrationally imposes extraordinary burdens uniquely upon certain classes and sub-classes of tort plaintiffs

Black hole solutions in F(R) gravity with conformal anomaly

In this paper, we consider $F(R)=R+f(R)$ theory instead of Einstein gravity with conformal anomaly and look for its analytical solutions. Depending on the free parameters, one may obtain both uncharged and charged solutions for some classes of $F(R)$ models. Calculation of Kretschmann scalar shows that there is a singularity located at $r=0$, which the geometry of uncharged (charged) solution is corresponding to the Schwarzschild (Reissner-Nordstr\"om) singularity. Further, we discuss the viability of our models in details. We show that these models can be stable depending on their parameters and in different epoches of the universe.Comment: 12 pages, one figur

Lipid metabolic perturbation is an early-onset phenotype in adult spinster mutants: a Drosophila model for lysosomal storage disorders

Intracellular accumulation of lipids and swollen dysfunctional lysosomes are linked to several neurodegenerative diseases, including lysosomal storage disorders (LSD). Detailed characterization of lipid metabolic changes in relation to the onset and progression of neurodegeneration is currently missing. We systematically analyzed lipid perturbations in spinster (spin) mutants, a Drosophila model of LSD-like neurodegeneration. Our results highlight an imbalance in brain ceramide and sphingosine in the early stages of neurodegeneration, preceding the accumulation of endomembranous structures, manifestation of altered behavior, and buildup of lipofuscin. Manipulating levels of ceramidase and altering these lipids in spin mutants allowed us to conclude that ceramide homeostasis is the driving force in disease progression and is integral to spin function in the adult nervous system. We identified 29 novel physical interaction partners of Spin and focused on the lipid carrier protein, Lipophorin (Lpp). A subset of Lpp and Spin colocalize in the brain and within organs specialized for lipid metabolism (fat bodies and oenocytes). Reduced Lpp protein was observed in spin mutant tissues. Finally, increased levels of lipid metabolites produced by oenocytes in spin mutants allude to a functional interaction between Spin and Lpp, underscoring the systemic nature of lipid perturbation in LSD

Deficiency in the Multicopy Sycp3-Like X-Linked Genes Slx and Slxl1 Causes Major Defects in Spermatid Differentiation

Slx and Slxl1 are genes present in multiple copies on the mouse X chromosome. Using transgenically-delivered small interfering RNAs to disrupt their function, we show that Slx and Slxl1 are important for normal sperm differentiation and male fertility

Pathogenic huntingtin inhibits fast axonal transport by activating JNK3 and phosphorylating kinesin

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature Neuroscience 12 (2009): 864-871, doi:10.1038/nn.2346.Selected vulnerability of neurons in Huntington’s disease (HD) suggests alterations in a cellular process particularly critical for neuronal function. Supporting this idea, pathogenic Htt (polyQ-Htt) inhibits fast axonal transport (FAT) in various cellular and animal HD models (mouse and squid), but the molecular basis of this effect remains unknown. Here we show that polyQ-Htt inhibits FAT through a mechanism involving activation of axonal JNK. Accordingly, increased activation of JNK was observed in vivo in cellular and animal HD models. Additional experiments indicate that polyQ-Htt effects on FAT are mediated by the neuron-specific JNK3, and not ubiquitously expressed JNK1, providing a molecular basis for neuron-specific pathology in HD. Mass spectrometry identified a residue in the kinesin-1 motor domain phosphorylated by JNK3, and this modification reduces kinesin-1 binding to microtubules. These data identify JNK3 as a critical mediator of polyQ-Htt toxicity and provides a molecular basis for polyQ-Htt-induced inhibition of FAT.This work was supported by 2007/2008 MBL summer fellowship to GM; an HDSA grant to GM; NIH grants MH066179 to GB; and ALSA, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and NIH (NS23868, NS23320, NS41170) grants to STB

Activity-Induced Remodeling of Olfactory Bulb Microcircuits Revealed by Monosynaptic Tracing

The continued addition of new neurons to mature olfactory circuits represents a remarkable mode of cellular and structural brain plasticity. However, the anatomical configuration of newly established circuits, the types and numbers of neurons that form new synaptic connections, and the effect of sensory experience on synaptic connectivity in the olfactory bulb remain poorly understood. Using in vivo electroporation and monosynaptic tracing, we show that postnatal-born granule cells form synaptic connections with centrifugal inputs and mitral/tufted cells in the mouse olfactory bulb. In addition, newly born granule cells receive extensive input from local inhibitory short axon cells, a poorly understood cell population. The connectivity of short axon cells shows clustered organization, and their synaptic input onto newborn granule cells dramatically and selectively expands with odor stimulation. Our findings suggest that sensory experience promotes the synaptic integration of new neurons into cell type-specific olfactory circuits