Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring determinants of early user acceptance for an audio-visual heritage archive service using the vignette method

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors, which explain the behavioural intention of the use of a new audio-visual cultural heritage archive service. An online survey in combination with a factorial survey is utilised to investigate the predictable strength of technological, individual and contextual constructs. The case used to validate this model is that of a not-yet-existing audio-visual archive service. Based on data collected from the survey (N = 1939), it is confirmed that payment and interpersonal influence the intention to adopt a new service thus partially supporting our three-dimensional model (i.e. technology, individual and context). The study contributes to the field of adoption research by studying a new service rather than an existing one. Subsequently, a vignette study is adopted. Moreover, the field of audio-visual archives is introduced in user research, which is considered novel. Pioneering on the unlocking of audio-visual archive this research seeks answers in the user needs and determinants for services upon these archives. Furthermore, the practical and scientific implications are discussed.
GENERAL & APPLIED ECONOMICS | RESEARCH ARTICLE Incorporating the advantages of clickers and mobile devices to teach Economics to non-economists

1 Abstract: In the twenty-first century, teaching practitioners in higher education (HE) have found themselves confronted with more challenges to help students engage in learning. Particularly, one of the main problems with the traditional lecture format to teach non-economists economics is that students tend to lack interest in the subject and therefore have a low level of engagement. Student response systems (i.e. "clickers") have been used in classes for about 20 years and become more popular on many college campuses. Many studies reveal that clicker technol- ogy offers great promise in increasing students' participation and engagement in lectures. Meanwhile, thanks to fast development of mobile technology, personal mobile devices can be integrated with clicker systems into teaching and learning with improved features. The programme we used and found as a very useful interac- tive teaching tool for learning is called Kahoot! This paper offers a brief guidance on how to use Kahoot! to encourage active learning and engage non-economics majors in learning economics. Meanwhile, the existing relevant literature with regard to the use of clickers in HE is highlighted. In addition, the effectiveness of using Kahoot! in teaching economics to non-economists is evaluated by a student survey.
Phonetically-based vector excitation coding of speech at 3.6 kbps

A phonetically based segmentation of speech is performed to classify segments into five classes: onset, unvoiced low-pass voiced, steady-state voiced, and transient voiced. The segment lengths are constrained to an integer multiple of a unit-frame. For each segment class, a distinctive coding scheme based on vector excitation coding (VXC) is used. The maximum bit-rate is 3.6 kb/s, and a moderate coding delay of 45 ms is incurred. Performance is roughly comparable to conventional VXC/CELP (code-excited linear prediction) coding at 4.8 kb/s. <<ETX>>
Information and information processing

Despite its name, "information processing" psychology has become gradually divorced from the mathematical theory of information. However, Dretske (1981) has proposed that infor¬ mation theoretic ideas can be extended to generate notions of information content and semantic content which may be applied to the analysis of perceptual and cognitive activity, and which found a theory of propositional attitudes. In this thesis, I shall argue Dretske's account is only tenuously related to its supposed information-theoretic basis, and that a misunderstanding of the relationship between the two has generated a number of crucial flaws in Dretske's analysis. A revised account, formalised in terms of propositional logic, is presented. The revised analysis embodies the claim that informational properties cannot be ascribed absolutely, but are necessarily relative to the informational idealisation chosen. I argue that Dretske's failure to recognise "idealisation relativity" has serious ramifications for the application of informational ideas to information processing in general, and mental activity in particular. For example, by varying the informational idealisation adopted, the distinction between perception and cognition can be manipulated almost arbitrarily. Build¬ ing on Dretske's analog-digital distinction, I propose that information processing may quite generally be seen as a matter of transforming information from unusable (inexplicit) form, to usable (explicit) form. Two important difficulties with applying informational ideas to the analysis of propositional attitudes Misrepresentation and Detectability are addressed.
High throughput decoding methods and architectures for polar codes with high energy-efficiency and low latency

HIGH THROUGHPUT DECODING METHODS AND ARCHITECTURES FOR POLAR CODES WITH HIGH ENERGY-EFFICIENCY AND LOW LATENCY Onur Dizdar Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Advisor: Erdal Arıkan November 2017 Polar coding is a low-complexity channel coding method that can provably achieve Shannon’s channel capacity for any binary-input discrete memoryless channels (B-DMC). Apart from the theoretical interest in the subject, polar codes have attracted attention for their potential applications. We propose high throughput and energy-efficient decoders for polar codes using combinational logic targeting, but not limited to, next generation communication services such as optical communications, Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC) and Terahertz communications. First, we propose a fully combinational logic architecture for Successive-Cancellation (SC) decoding, which is the basic decoding method for polar codes. The advantages of this architecture are high throughput, high energy-efficiency and flexibility. The proposed combinational SC decoder operates at very low clock frequencies compared to synchronous (sequential logic) decoders, but takes advantage of the high degree of parallelism inherent in such architectures to provide a higher throughput and higher energy-efficiency compared to synchronous implementations. We provide ASIC and FPGA implementation results to present the characteristics of the proposed architecture and show that the decoder achieves approximately 2.5 Gb/s throughput with a power consumption of 190 mW with 90 nm 1.3 V technology and block length of 1024. We also provide analytical estimates for complexity and combinational delay of such decoders. We explain the use of pipelining with combinational decoders and introduce pipelined combinational SC decoders. At longer block lengths, we propose a hybrid-logic SC decoder that combines the advantageous aspects of the combinational and synchronous decoders. In order to improve the throughput further, we use weighted majority-logic decoding for polar codes. Unlike SC decoding, majority-logic decoding fails to achieve channel capacity, but offers better throughput due its parallelizable schedule. We give a novel recursive description for weighted majority-logic decoding for iii
Implementation of the DTMROC-S ASIC for the ATLAS TRT detector in a 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS technology

The DTMROC-S is a 16-channel front-end chip developed for the signal processing of the ATLAS straw tube detector, TRT. Due to a highly radioactive environment, the chip is fabricated in a commercial 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS technology hardened by layout techniques and, in addition, a special methodology was used to improve the circuit's robustness against Single Events Effects (SEE) caused by ionizing particles. Exhaustive internal test features were foreseen to simplify and ensure comprehensive design verification, high fault coverage and throughput. Compared to the previous version of the chip done in a 0.8 /spl mu/m radiation-hard CMOS and despite of all supplementary features, the Deep-Sub-Micron (DSM) technology results in a much smaller chip size that increases the production yield and lowers the power consumption.
Bluetooth/WLAN receiver design methodology and IC implementations

Bluetooth/WLAN Receiver Design Methodology and IC Implementations. (December 2003) Ahmed Ahmed Eladawy Emira, B.Eng., Cairo University, Egypt; M.Eng., Cairo University, Egypt Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Edgar Sánchez-Sinencio Emerging technologies such as Bluetooth and 802.11b (Wi-Fi) have fuelled the growth of the short-range communication industry. Bluetooth, the leading WPAN (wireless personal area network) technology, was designed primarily for cable replacement applications. The first generation Bluetooth products are focused on providing low-cost radio connections among personal electronic devices. In the WLAN (wireless local area network) arena, Wi-Fi appears to be the superior product. Wi-Fi is designed for high speed internet access, with higher radio power and longer distances. Both technologies use the same 2.4GHz ISM band. The differences between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi standard features lead to a natural partitioning of applications. Nowadays, many electronics devices such as laptops and PDAs, support both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi standards to cover a wider range of applications. The cost of supporting both standards, however, is a major concern. Therefore, a dual-mode transceiver is essential to keep the size and cost of such system transceivers at a minimum.
Developing Standards for Post-Hoc Weighting in Population-Based Survey Experiments

Abstract Weighting techniques are employed to generalize results from survey experiments to populations of theoretical and substantive interest. Although weighting is often viewed as a second-order methodological issue, these adjustment methods invoke untestable assumptions about the nature of sample selection and potential heterogeneity in the treatment effect. Therefore, although weighting is a useful technique in estimating population quantities, it can introduce bias and also be used as a researcher degree of freedom. We review survey experiments published in three major journals from 2000–2015 and find that there are no standard operating procedures for weighting survey experiments. We argue that all survey experiments should report the sample average treatment effect (SATE). Researchers seeking to generalize to a broader population can weight to estimate the population average treatment effect (PATE), but should discuss the construction and application of weights in a detailed and transparent manner given the possibility that weighting can introduce bias.
DSP-Enhanced OTDR for Detection and Estimation of Events in PONs

To plan a rapid response and minimize operational costs, passive optical network operators require to automatically detect and identify faults that may occur in the optical distribution network. In this work, we present DSP-Enhanced OTDR, a novel methodology for remote fault analysis based on conventional optical time-domain reflectometry complemented with reference traces. Together with the mathematical formalism, we derive the detection tests that result to be uniformly most powerful, which are optimal according to the Neyman-Pearson criterion. To identify the type of fault and fully characterize it, the detection stage is followed by the estimation of its characteristic parameters, such as return loss and insertion loss. We experimentally demonstrate that this approach allows to detect faults inside the event dead zone, which overcomes the shortage of conventional event-marking algorithms.
Computational methods in air quality data

In this thesis, we have investigated several computational methods on data assimilation for air quality prediction, especially on the characteristic of sparse matrix and the underlying information of gradient in the concentration of pollutant species. In the first part, we have studied the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) for chemical species simulation in air quality forecast data assimilation. The main contribution of this paper is to study the sparse data observations and make use of the matrix structure of the Kalman filter updated equations to design an algorithm to compute the analysis of chemical species in the air quality forecast system efficiently. The proposed method can also handle the combined observations from multiple species together. We have applied the proposed method and tested its performance for real air quality data assimilation. Numerical examples have demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed computational method for Kalman filter update, and the effectiveness of the proposed method for NO2, NO, CO, SO2, O3, PM2.5 and PM10 in air quality data assimilation. For the second part, we have proposed and developed an optimization approach for data assimilation by using the gradients of the forecast of state variables. We have studied an objective function consisting of two data-fitting terms. The first term is based on the difference between the gradients of the forecast and the analysis of the state variables while the second term is based on the difference between the observations and the projected analysis of state variables. Here the existence and uniqueness of the analysis solution of the proposed objective function are shown. The solution can be calculated by using the conjugate gradient method iteratively. Experimental results based on the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) are presented. We then showed that the prediction performance of the proposed method is better than that of other testing methods in air quality and weather data assimilation. Within the third part, we have set up an automatic workflow to connect the management system of the chemical transport model CMAQ with our proposed data assimilation methods. The setup has successfully integrated the data assimilation into the management system and shown that the accuracy of the prediction has risen
A New Result on Distributed Input and State Estimation for Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

An important research area in sensor networks is the design and analysis of distributed estimation algorithms for dynamic information fusion in the presence of heterogeneity resulting from (i) nonidentical information roles of nodes and (ii) nonidentical modalities of nodes. In particular, (i) implies that both active (i.e., subject to observations of a process of interest) and passive (i
The effect of listening to self audio-taped journals on Iranian EFL learners' grammar knowledge

Abstract- Audio taped journals have been employed in the development of various language skills and components since 1990s. A thorough review of the literature revealed that the effect of audio-taped journals on the EFL learners' grammar knowledge, especially in the Iranian context, is poor. 40 intermediate level foreign language learners of English took part in the study forming the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 10 sessions of audio taped journals while the control group received the conventional method of teaching grammar, which mostly relied on implicit grammar teaching. Pursuing the treatment both groups sat for the posttest of grammar. The results of the study revealed that audio taped journals highly affected the learners’ grammatical development. The findings of the present study could, hopefully, contribute to materials development, curriculum design, and classroom techniques in the domain of SLA and ELT.
The influence of individual noise sensitivity on mobile phone attitudes and behavior

Research in psychoacoustics and public health reveals that individuals respond differently to noise, with some being more sensitive to noise than others. Given the prevalence of mobile technology and that noise sensitivity appears to be a relatively stable individual difference, it is possible that noise sensitivity may distinguish individual mobile phone use. This study investigates the relationship between noise sensitivity and mobile phone attitudes and behaviors. Study results suggest that noise sensitive bystanders find mobile phone conversations more annoying, that they differ in their assessment of the distraction level of ambient noise when making and receiving calls, are more likely to report mobile phones as distracting, and are more likely to seek privacy from others when receiving a call.
The Audit of Organizational Communication.

The objective of this paper is to provide a conceptual and methodological structure for the examination of organizational communication processes. To fulfill this purpose, there is presented, first, a logic for the identification of communication systems, and then, a method by which these systems can be examined, audited, or evaluated. Organizational communication is defined as a system in terms of purpose, operational procedures, and structure. The achievement of organizational goals is stated as the purpose of organizational communication; and for the particular organization unit, this is accomplished through the appropriate employment of communication networks, communication policies, and communication activities. Four communication networks are identified: (1) regulative, (2) innovative, (3) integrative (maintenance), and (4) informative-instructive. To further the explicit identification of the organizational communication system, an exploratory taxonomy of communication activities is exhibited. It i.
Design and performance evaluation of failure prediction models

Prediction of corporate failure is one of the major activities in auditing firms’ risks and uncertainties. The design of reliable models to predict bankruptcy is crucial for many decision-making processes. Although a large number of models have been designed to predict bankruptcy, the relative performance evaluation of competing prediction models remains an exercise that is unidimensional in nature, which often leads to reporting conflicting results. This research overcomes this methodological issue by proposing an orientation-free super-efficiency data envelopment analysis model as a multi-criteria assessment framework. Furthermore, it performs an exhaustive comparative analysis of the most popular bankruptcy modelling frameworks for UK data including new models. In addition, this study addresses two important research questions; namely, do some modelling frameworks perform better than others by design? and to what extent the choice and/or the design of explanatory variables and their nature affect the performance of modelling frameworks? , and report on the findings.
Advanced modulation techniques for scaling up multiuser MIMO communications

Multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) has the potential to substantially increase the uplink network efficiency by multiplexing the user terminals' (UTs) transmissions in the spatial domain. However, demultiplexing the transmissions at the network side, known as MU-MIMO detection, can become a considerable signal processing challenge, especially in cases with a high spatial user load. During the last two decades, the MIMO detection problem has been extensively studied, and many receiver designs have been proposed that offer very good tradeoffs in complexity vs. performance. Nevertheless, MU-MIMO detection still presents challenges in signal processing scalability in the system size and modulation order. We revisit this problem but through an alternative method of joint transmitter and receiver design. Two approaches that exhibit near-optimal reliability and low complexity are presented: First, a technique that uses real-valued modulation in fully- and over-loaded cases in large MU-MIMO systems, where there are equal or more UTs than service antennas. It is seen that the use of real constellations with a widely linear equaliser benefits from an increased spatial diversity gain over complex constellations with a linear equaliser. Moreover, a likelihood ascent search (LAS) algorithm post-processing stage is applied to further improve the error performance. Computer simulations show remarkable results for large MU-MIMO sizes in uncoded or coded cases. Second, recognising that real-valued modulation offers poor modulation efficiency, a real-complex hybrid modulation (RCHM) scheme is proposed, where a mix of real- and complex-valued symbols are interleaved in the spatial and temporal domains. It is seen that RCHM combines the merits of real and complex modulations and enables the adjustment of the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff. Through the system outage probability analysis, the optimal ratio of the number real-to-complex symbols, as well as their optimal power allocation, is found for the RCHM pattern. Furthermore, reliability is improved with a small expense in complexity through the use of a successive interference cancellation (SIC) stage. Results are validated through the mathematical analysis of the average bit error rate and through computer simulations considering single and multiple base station scenarios, which show SNR gains over conventional approaches in excess of 5 dB at 1% BLER. The results suggest that an expense in complexity is not the only way to improve error performance, but near-optimal reliability is also possible using simple techniques through a reduction in the multiplexing gain. Therefore, rather than a two-way complexity vs. performance tradeoff in MU-MIMO detection, a three-way tradeoff may be more appropriate, and is roughly expressed in the following statement: “Low complexity, high reliability, high multiplexing gain: choose two. ”
Ability Streaming : Alternative Frames of Reference The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect and a National Policy of Within-School

http://aer.sagepub. com/content/50/2/326 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.3102/0002831212464511 2013 50: 326 originally published online 15 November 2012 Am Educ Res J Alexander S. Yeung Gregory Arief D. Liem, Herbert W. Marsh, Andrew J. Martin, Dennis M. McInerney and Ability Streaming : Alternative Frames of Reference The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect and a National Policy of Within-School
Use and User Satisfaction with Library Services and Resources at the Main Library of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka

The main library of the General Sir John Kotelawela Defence University conducted a survey of the first and third-year undergraduates of the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Management, Social Sciences and Humanities, to investigate the use and user satisfaction on library services and resources. The study employed the 455 structured questionnaires to the whole population of undergraduates as the main tool for collecting data. Further, various registers were used to count the number of users. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS Version 20. The major findings of the study revealed that the respondents were satisfied with the library resources and services of the library as a whole. Also, the study found that many of the respondents visit the library for more than one reason, whereas the majority of the respondents visit the library for accessing past papers. Other findings show that the largest proportion of the respondents visit the library once a week. As for resources, the textbooks were ranked first, followed by the newspapers/magazine, and reference sources. The less frequently used resources are CD/DVD/VCD, online journals, databases, and library web links. To meet undergraduate information requirements and make them aware of the available resources and services, it is recommended to conduct information literacy programs as well as awareness programs at regular intervals.