This book provides a survey of the state-of-the-art in the practical implementation of Spoken Dialog Systems for applications in everyday settings. It includes contributions on key topics in situated dialog interaction from a number of leading researchers and offers a broad spectrum of perspectives on research and development in the area. In particular, it presents applications in robotics, knowledge access and communication and covers the following topics: dialog for interacting with robots; language understanding and generation; dialog architectures and modeling; core technologies; and the analysis of human discourse and interaction. The contributions are adapted and expanded contributions from the 2014 International Workshop on Spoken Dialog Systems (IWSDS 2014), where researchers and developers from industry and academia alike met to discuss and compare their implementation experiences, analyses and empirical findings.

This book provides a survey of the state-of-the-art in the practical implementation of Spoken Dialog Systems for applications in everyday settings. It includes contributions on key topics in situated dialog interaction from a number of leading researchers and offers a broad spectrum of perspectives on research and development in the area. In particular, it presents applications in robotics, knowledge access and communication and covers the following topics: dialog for interacting with robots; language understanding and generation; dialog architectures and modeling; core technologies; and the analysis of human discourse and interaction. The contributions are adapted and expanded contributions from the 2014 International Workshop on Spoken Dialog Systems (IWSDS 2014), where researchers and developers from industry and academia alike met to discuss and compare their implementation experiences, analyses and empirical findings.

This book is a topical review of venous disease providing an up-to-date view of management and current issues. It is aimed at professionals involved in the management of patients with venous disease, whether they be a vascular specialist, nurse or technologist, physicians with an interest in venous disease, as well as primary care doctors and nurses who wish to complement their knowledge of the area. Acknowledged experts, active in the field, have covered topics ranging from the history, epidemiology, signs and symptoms, investigation and treatment of venous disease to issues of quality of life, complications and litigation, and setting up a clinical service. The treatment of deep vein thrombosis is discussed together with the controversial area of DVT and travel. Newer techniques of vein ablation, subfascial endoscopic perforator surgery (SEPS) and foam sclerotherapy are also covered. This book should find a place on the bookshelf as an exciting review of contemporary themes and complements traditional textbooks.