We assessed the effects of video modeling on acquisition and generalization of conversational skills among autistic children. Three autistic boys observed videotaped conversations consisting of two people discussing specific toys. When criterion for learning was met, generalization of conversational skills was assessed with untrained topics of conversation; new stimuli (toys); unfamiliar person...

Investing in Our Young People This paper reviews the recent literature on the production of skills of young persons. The literature features the multiplicity of skills that explain success in a variety of life outcomes. Noncognitive skills play a fundamental role in successful lives. The dynamics of skill formation reveal the interplay of cognitive and noncognitive skills, and the presence of c...

Requirements engineering (RE) is typically associated with the creation of a service or product. Its activities are usually not immediately considered to be part of the pre-sales phase. Yet, not only salesbut a lot of requirements engineering activities actually do occur during this phase. Besides tender processes where customers provide a detailed Request for Proposal (RfP) and a potential con...

Web-based sales assistance systems are a valuable means to guide online customers in the decision-making and product selection process. Conversational recommenders simulate the behavior of an experienced sales expert, which is a knowledge-intensive task and requires personalized user interaction according to the customers’ needs and skills. In this paper, we present the ADVISOR SUITE framework ...

The analysis of how individuals obtain and are paid for their skills is fundamental to labor economics. The basic idea of human capital theory is that workers and firms invest in workers’ skills in order to increase their productivity, much as persons invest in financial or physical assets to earn income. Workers develop many skills through formal education not tied to an employer, but an impor...

This paper analyzes the potential of serious games for professional and pedagogical purposes and learning. To do this, the authors have questioned the efficiency of these games. They present an experiment conducted with 66 students trained in sales that compares a group of players with a group of non-players. The game’s impact on skills was studied from two angles: first from a theoretical poin...

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in employing animated agents for tasks that are typically performed by humans. They serve as communicative partners in a variety of applications, such as tutoring systems, sales, or entertainment. This paper discusses design principles for animated agents to enhance their effectiveness as tutors, sales persons, or actors, among other roles. It is a...

Background Community pharmacy has been a lucrative area of practice for pharmacists in Jos, Nigeria, until about the turn of the millennium where a decline in viability of the business has been observed. Objective This study assessed the entrepreneurial skills of community pharmacists, the business performance of community pharmacies and the impact of their entrepreneurial skills on business ...