"Hello Emily, how are you today?" Personalised dialogue in a toy to engage children

In line with the growing interest in conversational agents as companions, we are developing a toy companion for children that is capable of engaging interactions and of developing a long-term relationship with them, and is extensible so as to evolve with them. In this paper, we investigate the importance of personalising interaction both for engagement and for long-term relationship development. In particular, we propose a framework for representing, gathering and using personal knowledge about the child during dialogue interaction

Flexible conversation management using a BDI agent approach

We describe a BDI (Belief, Desire, Intention) goal-oriented architecture for a conversational virtual companion embodied as a child's Toy, designed to be both entertaining and capable of carrying out col- laborative tasks. We argue that the goal-oriented approach supports both structured conversational activities (e.g., story-telling, collaborative games) as well as more \free- owing" engaging dialogue with variation and some unpredictability. BDI plans encode the knowledge required for the structured engagements, with the use of multiple plans for conversa- tional goals providing variation in the interactions

Revising conflicting intention sets in BDI agents

Autonomous agents typically have several goals they are pursuing simultaneously. Even if the goals themselves are not necessarily inconsistent, choices made about how to pursue each of these goals may well result in a set of intentions which are conflicting. A rational autonomous agent should be able to reason about and modify its set of intentions to take account of such issues. This paper presents the semantics of some preferences regarding modified sets of intentions. We look at the possibility of simply deleting some intention(s) but more importantly we also look at the possibility of modifying intentions, such that the goals will still be achieved but in a different way

Determination of Matter Surface Distribution of Neutron-rich Nuclei

We demonstrate that the matter density distribution in the surface region is determined well by the use of the relatively low-intensity beams that become available at the upcoming radioactive beam facilities. Following the method used in the analyses of electron scattering, we examine how well the density distribution is determined in a model-independent way by generating pseudo data and by carefully applying statistical and systematic error analyses. We also study how the determination becomes deteriorated in the central region of the density, as the quality of data decreases. Determination of the density distributions of neutron-rich nuclei is performed by fixing parameters in the basis functions to the neighboring stable nuclei. The procedure allows that the knowledge of the density distributions of stable nuclei assists to strengthen the determination of their unstable isotopes.Comment: 41 pages, latex, 27 figure

One Body Density Matrix, Natural Orbits and Quasi Hole States in 16O and 40Ca

The one body density matrix, momentum distribution, natural orbits and quasi hole states of 16O and 40Ca are analyzed in the framework of the correlated basis function theory using state dependent correlations with central and tensor components. Fermi hypernetted chain integral equations and single operator chain approximation are employed to sum cluster diagrams at all orders. The optimal trial wave function is determined by means of the variational principle and the realistic Argonne v8' two-nucleon and Urbana IX three-nucleon interactions. The correlated momentum distributions are in good agreement with the available variational Monte Carlo results and show the well known enhancement at large momentum values with respect to the independent particle model. Diagonalization of the density matrix provides the natural orbits and their occupation numbers. Correlations deplete the occupation number of the first natural orbitals by more than 10%. The first following ones result instead occupied by a few percent. Jastrow correlations lower the spectroscopic factors of the valence states by a few percent (~1-3%) and an additional ~8-12% depletion is provided by tensor correlations. It is confirmed that short range correlations do not explain the spectroscopic factors extracted from (e,e'p) experiments. 2h-1p perturbative corrections in the correlated basis are expected to provide most of the remaining strength, as in nuclear matter.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to Phys.Rev.

Recent progress towards a physics-based understanding of the H-mode transition

Results from recent experiment and numerical simulation point towards a picture of the L-H transition in which edge shear flows interacting with edge turbulence create the conditions needed to produce a non-zero turbulent Reynolds stress at and just inside the LCFS during L-mode discharges. This stress acts to reinforce the shear flow at this location and the flow drive gets stronger as heating is increased. The L-H transition ensues when the rate of work done by this stress is strong enough to drive the shear flow to large values, which then grows at the expense of the turbulence intensity. The drop in turbulence intensity momentarily reduces the heat flux across the magnetic flux surface, which then allows the edge plasma pressure gradient to build. A sufficiently strong ion pressure gradient then locks in the H-mode state. These results are in general agreement with previously published reduced 0D and 1D predator prey models. An extended predator-prey model including separate ion and electron heat channels yields a non-monotonic power threshold dependence on plasma density provided that the fraction of heat deposited on the ions increases with plasma density. Possible mechanisms to explain other macroscopic transition threshold criteria are identified. A number of open questions and unexplained observations are identified, and must be addressed and resolved in order to build a physics-based model that can yield predictions of the macroscopic conditions needed for accessing H-mode

Revising BMI Cut-Off Points for Overweight and Obesity in Male Athletes: An Analysis Based on Multivariable Model-Building

Background: Body composition in athletes is characterized by pronounced muscle mass and low body fat (BF). Over and excessive adiposity are thus expected in athletes at higher body mass index (BMI) levels than those suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO). Therefore, we aimed to test the validity of WHO BMI cut-off points for overweight and obesity, respectively (i.e., >= 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m2) in young male athletes from different sport disciplines in Italy. Methods: This study includes 622 male young adult athletes of mean age 25.7 +/- 4.7 years who were initially categorized according to the WHO BMI classification, and then re-categorized by adiposity status based on total BF% as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). A predictive equation has been developed utilizing multivariable model-building to predict the best BMI cut-offs for identifying overweight and obesity in this population. The agreement between the different classification systems was assessed with the kappa statistic (kappa). Results: According to the WHO BMI classification, 451 (72.5%) individuals were of normal weight, 148 (23.8%) were with overweight and 23 (3.7%) were with obesity, but based on the total BF%, 598 (96.1%) were of normal weight, and only 19 (3.1%) were with overweight and 5 (0.8%) were with obesity, revealing a weak agreement between the two classification systems (WHO BMI vs. BF%; kappa = 0.169). On the other hand, new BMI cut-off points were identified (BMI >= 28.2 kg/m2 for overweight and 33.7 kg/m2 for obesity) and showed good agreement with the BF% classification system (kappa = 0.522). Conclusions: The currently used WHO BMI cut-offs are not suitable for determining weight status in young male athletes, and since the newly proposed ones demonstrated a good performance, these should be implemented in new guidelines

Epidemiology of simultaneous medullary and papillary thyroid carcinomas (MTC/PTC): An Italian multicenter study

Background: The concomitant presence of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and medullary TC (MTC) is rare. In this multicentric study, we documented the epidemiological characteristics, disease conditions and clinical outcome of patients with simultaneous MTC/PTC. Methods: We collected data of patients with concomitant MTC/PTC at 14 Italian referral centers. Results: In total, 183 patients were enrolled. Diagnosis was mostly based on cytological examination (n = 58, 32%). At diagnosis, in the majority of cases, both PTC (n = 142, 78%) and MTC (n = 100, 54%) were at stage I. However, more cases of stage II\u2013IV were reported with MTC (stage IV: n = 27, 15%) compared with PTC (n = 9, 5%). Information on survival was available for 165 patients: 109 patients (66%) were disease-free for both PTC and MTC at the last follow-up. Six patients died from MTC. Median time to progression was 123 months (95% confidence interval (CI): 89.3\u2013156.7 months). Overall, 45% of patients were disease-free after >10 years from diagnosis (125 months); this figure was 72.5% for PTC and 51.1% for MTC. Conclusions: When MTC and PTC are concurrent, the priority should be given to the management of MTC since this entity appears associated with the most severe impact on prognosis