Artificial agents among us: Should we recognize them as agents proper?

Artificial Companions as Dialogue Agents

COMPANIONS is an EU project that aims to change the way we think about the relationships of people to computers and the Internet by developing a virtual conversational ‘Companion’. This is intended as an agent or ‘presence’ that stays with the user for long periods of time, developing a relationship and ‘knowing’ its owners preferences and wishes. The Companion communicates with the user primar...

Topical haemostatic agents in liver surgery: do we need them?

BACKGROUND Worldwide, partial liver resections are increasingly being performed for primary or secondary hepatic malignancies. There are various techniques to reduce blood loss during liver surgery. Several topical haemostatic agents have been developed to improve haemostasis of the resection surface and these agents are used more and more, even although the true effects remain unclear. METHO...

Topical hemostatic agents in liver surgery: do we need them?

Background: Worldwide, partial liver resections are increasingly performed for primary or secondary hepatic malignancies. There are various techniques to reduce blood loss during liver surgery. Several topical hemostatic agents have been developed to improve hemostasis of the resection surface and these agents are used more and more, even although the true effects remain unclear. Methods: The p...

Advice, Trust, and Gossip Among Artificial Agents

Toward Agents That Recognize Emotion

It is now easy to nd examples of interactive software agents and animated creatures that have the ability to express emotion; this paper describes research for giving them the ability to recognize emotion. The ability to recognize a per-son's emotions is a key aspect of human \emo-tional intelligence," which has been described by a number of scientists as being more important to success in life...