A Literature Survey of Recent Advances in Chatbots

Chatbots are intelligent conversational computer systems designed to mimic human conversation to enable automated online guidance and support. The increased benefits of chatbots led to their wide adoption by many industries in order to provide virtual assistance to customers. Chatbots utilise methods and algorithms from two Artificial Intelligence domains: Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. However, there are many challenges and limitations in their application. In this survey we review recent advances on chatbots, where Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language processing are used. We highlight the main challenges and limitations of current work and make recommendations for future research investigation.

Investigating e-Retailers’ Intentions to Adopt Cryptocurrency Considering the Mediation of Technostress and Technology Involvement

Cryptocurrencies have transgressed ever-changing economic trends in the global economy, owing to their conveyance, security, trust, and the ability to make transactions without the aid of formal institutions and governing bodies. However, the adoption of cryptocurrency remains low among stakeholders, including e-retailers. Thus, the current work explores the intentions of e-retailers in the Asia and Pacific region to adopt cryptocurrencies. This study considers the TAM-based SOR, with a combination of non-cognitive attributes (compatibility and convenience) proposed as stimuli for e-retailers to adopt the examined cryptocurrencies. The findings indicate that the proposed non-cognitive attributes are critical in determining e-retailers’ technostress (emotional state). Moreover, it was found that technostress among e-retailers profoundly impacts their intentions to adopt cryptocurrency in business settings. Meanwhile, regulatory support communication can be used to help regulatory bodies and governing institutions control the future economy worldwide. The proposed study offers significant theoretical and practical contributions through its investigation of e-retailers’ intentions to adopt cryptocurrency for the first time in the particular context of technostress and regulatory support.

Finding the parameters of a Bernoulli-Gaussian Model

<div><div><div><p>A transmission medium perturbed by an additive noise from which the estimated noise power is all information known, is better modeled as a Gaussian channel. Since the Gaussian channel is, according to Information Theory, the worst channel to transmit information through, this is the most pessimistic assumption. When noise samples are available though, choosing to model the transmission medium using a more sophisticated model pays off. The Bernoulli-Gaussian channel, would be one such a choice. Finding the three parameters that characterize the Bernoulli-Gaussian stochastic process which mathematically models the noise is a task of paramount importance. Many algorithms can be used to estimate the parameters of this model based on numerical methods. In the current work a closed form expression to estimate the model parameters is presented. All that is required besides the estimation of the power of Bernoulli-Gaussian process from the available noise samples is the estimation of two additional quantities: the expected value of the absolute value of the amplitude of the process—the first absolute moment—plus the third absolute moment, viz., the expected value of the third power of the absolute value of the process. An alternative option, often used for power line communication, is to model the transmission medium as a channel in which the noise is represented by a three parameter stochastic process called Middleton Class A. Other models (like generalized-Bernoulli-Gaussian, or Bernoulli- Gaussian with memory) might render a better medium model than the Bernoulli-Gaussian channel. Estimating the parameters of these processes is however a cumbersome task and, as we show in the current work, the rate harvested by using the simple, yet more sophisticated, Bernoulli-Gaussian channel is increased as compared to the, more pessimistic, Gaussian channel, allowing one thus to more closely approach the true capacity. The communication system design can be much improved if a well fit Bernoulli-Gaussian stochastic process is selected to model the true noise. The incorporation of the Bernoulli-Gaussian channel in the communication system model leads to a better design as corroborated by the computer simulation results presented.</p></div></div></div>

Finding the parameters of a Bernoulli-Gaussian Model

<div><div><div><p>A transmission medium perturbed by an additive noise from which the estimated noise power is all information known, is better modeled as a Gaussian channel. Since the Gaussian channel is, according to Information Theory, the worst channel to transmit information through, this is the most pessimistic assumption. When noise samples are available though, choosing to model the transmission medium using a more sophisticated model pays off. The Bernoulli-Gaussian channel, would be one such a choice. Finding the three parameters that characterize the Bernoulli-Gaussian stochastic process which mathematically models the noise is a task of paramount importance. Many algorithms can be used to estimate the parameters of this model based on numerical methods. In the current work a closed form expression to estimate the model parameters is presented. All that is required besides the estimation of the power of Bernoulli-Gaussian process from the available noise samples is the estimation of two additional quantities: the expected value of the absolute value of the amplitude of the process—the first absolute moment—plus the third absolute moment, viz., the expected value of the third power of the absolute value of the process. An alternative option, often used for power line communication, is to model the transmission medium as a channel in which the noise is represented by a three parameter stochastic process called Middleton Class A. Other models (like generalized-Bernoulli-Gaussian, or Bernoulli- Gaussian with memory) might render a better medium model than the Bernoulli-Gaussian channel. Estimating the parameters of these processes is however a cumbersome task and, as we show in the current work, the rate harvested by using the simple, yet more sophisticated, Bernoulli-Gaussian channel is increased as compared to the, more pessimistic, Gaussian channel, allowing one thus to more closely approach the true capacity. The communication system design can be much improved if a well fit Bernoulli-Gaussian stochastic process is selected to model the true noise. The incorporation of the Bernoulli-Gaussian channel in the communication system model leads to a better design as corroborated by the computer simulation results presented.</p></div></div></div>

Windowed linear canonical transform: its relation to windowed Fourier transform and uncertainty principles

The windowed linear canonical transform is a natural extension of the classical windowed Fourier transform using the linear canonical transform. In the current work, we first remind the reader about the relation between the windowed linear canonical transform and windowed Fourier transform. It is shown that useful relation enables us to provide different proofs of some properties of the windowed linear canonical transform, such as the orthogonality relation, inversion theorem, and complex conjugation. Lastly, we demonstrate some new results concerning several generalizations of the uncertainty principles associated with this transformation.

Riceberry rice beverage decreases postprandial glycemic response, inflammatory markers and antioxidant status induced by a high carbohydrate and moderate fat meal in overweight and obese men

Recent clinical studies support the beneficial role of riceberry rice and its food products on controlling glycemic response in healthy subjects. The aim of the current work was to determine...

A Statistical Model for Analyzing Anthropometric Data and Developing Clothing Sizing Systems for Libyan School Children

A garment sizing system is essential for effective clothing design and production. A sizing system classifies a specific population into homogeneous subgroups based on some key dimensions. Persons of the same subgroup have the same body shape characteristics, and share the same garment size. Anthropometric data plays important role in creating clothing sizing system. The current work represents the sixth step towards the overall goal of developing the Libyan children’s clothing standards system based on physical measurements of the human body of Libyan schoolchildren. The objective of the current work is to study the physical measurements of students aged 6 to 17 years in the stages of primary, secondary. The body measurements of school children in Benghazi were collected and analyzed using simple statistics methods to understand the body ranges and current of student in all stages to develop the system sizing. The measurements were collected from previous projects. Some measurements were collected to complement a work of 90 (male and female) students between 6, 7 and 8 years old from a school in Benghazi. ANOVA test was used to determine differences between age groups.

Charge – fixed and floating: Agnew and Another v. Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Privy Council (New Zealand), 5 June 2001 (the “Brumark” case) Charge and Hypothec as Functional Equivalents

Our endeavour is dedicated to a few security devices. The first part of the current work is called “Words of Introduction”. The second portion takes into account a Privy Council case: Agnew and Another v. Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Privy Council (New Zealand), 5 June 2001 (the Brumark case). The third part briefly focuses on charge and mortgage. The fourth portion, in a succinct manner, describes the hypothec. The fifth and final part shows that charge and hypothec are functional equivalents.

Dr John Goodsir (1746–1816): The surgeon of Largo

The ancient fishing village of Lower Largo or the Seatoun of Largo stands quietly on Largo Bay along the north side of the Firth of Forth and is famous as being the birthplace of its famous resident, Alexander Selkirk, who inspired Daniel Defoe’s, Robinson Crusoe. However, it has another resident, Dr. John Goodsir, who, for forty-six years served as a medical practitioner and was a Minister of the Gospel at the Largo Baptist Church for twenty years. The current work describes the life of this ordinary early medical practitioner and surgeon, discusses his correspondences, and finally examines his role as serving as Largo’s Baptist minister.

Theater/Performance Historiography: A Preamble

The introduction to the issue of Pamiętnik Teatralny which gestures towards current work on theater/performance historiography published in the Anglo-American academe. Reflecting on insights about the complex nature and the mediality of historical knowledge, we would like to offer a collection of essays which, in their singularity, draw attention to internal contradictions prompted by tensions between 1) time, space, and matter, which are used to frame academic practices, and 2) events and objects, which are determined historically not only by past and present imaginations but also by how time, space, and matter function within the field of theater/performance historiography. We ask the following questions: How are we to think about the ways of housing the past (the archive, the event, the object) and the experience of the past (time, space, matter)? How are we to think about historiography in ways that are not only not dualistic (e.g., self and other, mainstream and margin), but that facilitate seeing historical subjects as unsettled by (rather than settled in) time, as riddled with contradictions (rather than reflective of a status quo), and as constructs of meaning (rather than as regulated thought)? And finally, how are we to negotiate the dynamics and the contradictions between multiple temporalities and spatialities housed in one and the same object or event?