Inferring Capabilities of Intelligent Agents

We investigate the usability of human-like agent-based interfaces. In an experiment we manipulate the capabili­ties and the “human-likeness” of a travel advisory agent. We show that users of the more human-like agent form an anthropomorphic use image of the system: they act as if the system is human, and try to exploit typical human-like capabilities. Unfortu­nately, this severely reduces the usa­bility of the agent that looks human but lacks human-like capabilities (overestima­tion effect). We also show that the use image users form of agent-based systems is inherently integrated (as opposed to the compositional use image they form of conventional GUIs): cues provided by the system do not instill user responses in a one-to-one manner, but are instead integrated into a single use image. Consequently, users try to exploit capabilities that were not signaled by the system to begin with, thereby further exacerbating the overestimation effect

Behaviorism is Not Enough: Better Recommendations Through Listening to Users

Behaviorism is the currently-dominant paradigm for building and evaluating recommender systems. Both the operation and the evaluation of recommender system applications are most often driven by analyzing the behavior of users. In this paper, we argue that listening to what users say — about the items and recommendations they like, the control they wish to exert on the output, and the ways in which they perceive the system — and not just observing what they do will enable important developments in the future of recommender systems. We provide both philosophical and pragmatic motivations for this idea, describe the various points in the recommendation and evaluation processes where explicit user input may be considered, and discuss benefits that may result from considered incorporation of user preferences at each of these points. In particular, we envision recommender applications that aim to support users’ better selves: helping them live the life that they desire to lead. For example, recommender-assisted behavior change requires algorithms to predict not what users choose or do now, inferable from behavioral data, but what they should choose or do in the future to become healthier, fitter, more sustainable, or culturally aware. We hope that our work will spur useful discussion and many new ideas for recommenders that empower their users

Using latent features diversification to reduce choice difficulty in recommendation lists

Ail important side effect of using recoinmender systems is a phenomenon called "choice overload"; the negative feeling incurred by the increased difficulty to choose from large sets of high quality recommendations. Choice overload has traditionally been related to the size of the item set, but recent work suggests that the diversity of the item set is an important moderator. Using the latent feanires of a matrix factorization algorithm, we were able to manipulate the diversity of the items, while controlling the overall attractiveness of the list of recommendations. In a user study, participants evaluated personalized item lists (varying in level of diversity) on perceived diversity and attractiveness, and their experienced choice difficulty and tradeoff difficulty. The results suggest that diversifying the recommendations might be an effective way to reduce choice overload, as perceived diversity and attractiveness increase with item set diversity, subsequently resulting in participants experiencing less tradeoff difficulty and choice difficulty.</p

Joint Workshop on Interfaces and Human Decision Making for Recommender Systems (IntRS’21)

Recommender systems were originally developed as interactive intelligent systems that can proactively guide users to items that match their preferences. Despite its origin on the crossroads of HCI and AI, the majority of research on recommender systems gradually focused on objective accuracy criteria paying less and less attention to how users interact with the system as well as the efficacy of interface designs from users’ perspectives. This trend is reversing with the increased volume of research that looks beyond algorithms, into users’ interactions, decision making processes, and overall experience. The series of workshops on Interfaces and Human Decision Making for Recommender Systems focuses on the "human side" of recommender systems. The goal of the research stream featured at the workshop is to improve users’ overall experience with recommender systems by integrating different theories of human decision making into the construction of recommender systems and exploring better interfaces for recommender systems. In this summary,we introduce the JointWorkshop on Interfaces and Human Decision Making for Recommender Systems at RecSys’21, review its history, and discuss most important topics considered at the workshop

Towards Reflective AI:Needs, Challenges and Directions for Future Research

Harnessing benefits and preventing harms of AI cannot be solved alone through technological fixes and regulation. It depends on a complex interplay between technology, societal governance, individual behaviour, organizational and societal dynamics. Enabling people to understand AI and the consequences of its use and design is a crucial element for ensuring responsible use of AI.In this report we suggest a new framework for the development and use of AI technologies in a way that harnesses the benefits and prevents the harmful effects of AI. We name it Reflective AI. The notion of Reflective AI that we propose calls for adopting a holistic approach in the research and development of AI to investigate both what people need to learn about AI systems to develop better mental models i.e. an experiential knowledge of AI, to be able to use it safely and responsibly, as well as how this can be done and supported

The Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop on Performance Modeling and Prediction

Non peer reviewe

From Evaluating to Forecasting Performance: How to Turn Information Retrieval, Natural Language Processing and Recommender Systems into Predictive Sciences

Non peer reviewe

Disruption of tuftelin 1, a desmosome associated protein, causes skin fragility, woolly hair and palmoplantar keratoderma

Desmosomes are dynamic complex protein structures involved in cellular adhesion. Disruption of these structures by loss of function variants in desmosomal genes lead to a variety of skin and heart related phenotypes. Here, we report tuftelin 1 as a desmosome-associated protein, implicated in epidermal integrity. In two siblings with mild skin fragility, woolly hair and mild palmoplantar keratoderma, but without a cardiac phenotype, we identified a homozygous splice site variant in the TUFT1 gene, leading to aberrant mRNA splicing and loss of tuftelin 1 protein. Patients' skin and keratinocytes showed acantholysis, perinuclear retraction of intermediate filaments, and reduced mechanical stress resistance. Immunolabeling and transfection studies showed that tuftelin 1 is positioned within the desmosome and its location dependent on the presence of the desmoplakin carboxy-terminal tail. A Tuft1 knock-out mouse model mimicked the patients' phenotypes. Altogether, this study reveals tuftelin 1 as a desmosome-associated protein, whose absence causes skin fragility, woolly hair and palmoplantar keratoderma.</p

Disruption of tuftelin 1, a desmosome associated protein, causes skin fragility, woolly hair and palmoplantar keratoderma

Desmosomes are dynamic complex protein structures involved in cellular adhesion. Disruption of these structures by loss of function variants in desmosomal genes lead to a variety of skin and heart related phenotypes. Here, we report tuftelin 1 as a desmosome-associated protein, implicated in epidermal integrity. In two siblings with mild skin fragility, woolly hair and mild palmoplantar keratoderma, but without a cardiac phenotype, we identified a homozygous splice site variant in the TUFT1 gene, leading to aberrant mRNA splicing and loss of tuftelin 1 protein. Patients' skin and keratinocytes showed acantholysis, perinuclear retraction of intermediate filaments, and reduced mechanical stress resistance. Immunolabeling and transfection studies showed that tuftelin 1 is positioned within the desmosome and its location dependent on the presence of the desmoplakin carboxy-terminal tail. A Tuft1 knock-out mouse model mimicked the patients' phenotypes. Altogether, this study reveals tuftelin 1 as a desmosome-associated protein, whose absence causes skin fragility, woolly hair and palmoplantar keratoderma

The Genome of the Netherlands:design, and project goals

Within the Netherlands a national network of biobanks has been established (Biobanking and Biomolecular Research Infrastructure-Netherlands (BBMRI-NL)) as a national node of the European BBMRI. One of the aims of BBMRI-NL is to enrich biobanks with different types of molecular and phenotype data. Here, we describe the Genome of the Netherlands (GoNL), one of the projects within BBMRI-NL. GoNL is a whole-genome-sequencing project in a representative sample consisting of 250 trio-families from all provinces in the Netherlands, which aims to characterize DNA sequence variation in the Dutch population. The parent-offspring trios include adult individuals ranging in age from 19 to 87 years (mean = 53 years; SD = 16 years) from birth cohorts 1910-1994. Sequencing was done on blood-derived DNA from uncultured cells and accomplished coverage was 14-15x. The family-based design represents a unique resource to assess the frequency of regional variants, accurately reconstruct haplotypes by family-based phasing, characterize short indels and complex structural variants, and establish the rate of de novo mutational events. GoNL will also serve as a reference panel for imputation in the available genome-wide association studies in Dutch and other cohorts to refine association signals and uncover population-specific variants. GoNL will create a catalog of human genetic variation in this sample that is uniquely characterized with respect to micro-geographic location and a wide range of phenotypes. The resource will be made available to the research and medical community to guide the interpretation of sequencing projects. The present paper summarizes the global characteristics of the project.</p