Chit-chat models are known to have several problems: they lack specificity, do not display a consistent personality and are often not very captivating. In this work we present the task of making chit-chat more engaging by conditioning on profile information. We collect data and train models to (i) condition on their given profile information; and (ii) information about the person they are talki...

This paper focuses on two major aspects of globalization: international trade and FDI and their impacts on manufacturing employment in Iran and study whether foreign direct investment and trade expansion with Asian and European partner played any role in shaping the Iranian manufacturing employment structure. This study incorporates globalization (KOF index), trade integration and FDI into a si...

this paper highlights the folk perception of impoliteness among ghanaians in view of watts’ (2003) notion of first order impoliteness. the study showed that impoliteness is not just an opposite of politeness, but the manifestation of non-cooperation, disapproval, and mutual antipathy through certain communicative behaviours that signal disrespect. these communicative behaviours include ‘interru...

While there are a wide variety of studies about communicative action theory of Habermas, there is the need for building of indicators and variables for quantitative methods of assessing this concept in a particular case study. Especially as the development of communicative action theory has created new perspectives in urban planning, it is necessary to assess and promote this concept in cities ...

We investigated the early socio-communicative development of individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS) by undertaking a retrospective analysis family videos. Videos were analyzed to identify existing communicative forms and functions. Analyses undertaken on seven children who later diagnosed FXS. The filmed when they 9–12 months old before being diagnosed. Fourteen different six functions obser...

Extending previous research on positive and negative correlates of Facebook use for individuals' outcomes, this study examined male and female dating partners' (n=58 couples) Facebook use and portrayals of their intimate relationship on the Facebook profile. Confirming hypotheses from compatibility theories of mate selection, partners demonstrated similar Facebook intensity (e.g., usage, connec...

The influence of culture and ethnic background on women's experience of domestic violence has been explored in research only recently. Here the authors review research about the impact of culture and minority status in the United States on women's experience of domestic violence, considering family structure,immigration, acculturation, oppression, and community response. The authors encourage r...

Research suggests that overweight/obese people face stigma. A measure of weight-related stigma was developed, adapted from the HIV stigma measure (Berger, Ferrans, & Lashley, 2001). A CFA confirmed the measure’s internal consistency. Using privacy management theory as a framework, participants (N = 199) completed a self-report survey that included a hypothetical conversational partner profile. ...

Twenty-nine couples in which one partner was depressed, 21 couples in which one partner had an anxiety disorder, and 26 nondistressed control couples were compared on measures of (1) quality of life, stress, and social support; (2) family functioning; (3) marital functioning; and (4) relationship attributions. The depressed group had significant difficulties in all four domains. In contrast, th...

The paper describes aspects of situated interaction when a humanoid robot uses the WikiTalk system as a spoken language dialogue interface. WikiTalk is a speech-based open-domain information access system that enables the user to move around Wikipedia from topic to topic and have chunks of interesting articles read out aloud. The interactions with the robot are situated: they take place in a pa...