Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance of Triple Play Services in Wireless Meshed Networks

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) will play an important role in the next-generation wireless communication systems because it can support broadband services with ubiquitous coverage by low transmission power. In this paper, we will discuss and evaluate triple play (VoIP Internet and IPTV) services in terms of packet loss and delay over a wireless meshed network. The services is evaluated in a real environment and the performance results show that it is possible to run three standard definition (SD) IPTV channels simultaneously and also have VoIP connected.
Identification of arenas unconquered by agile manufacturing researches and practices through a literature survey

During the last two decades, numerous researches and applications of agile manufacturing (AM) have been reported in the literature arena. Yet, there are certain arenas that are not conquered by AM researches and practices. This paper reports a literature survey, which was conducted to identify those unconquered arenas in manufacturing field. During this literature survey, it was found that two artificial intelligence techniques are conspicuously absent in AM researches and practices. It was found out that the AM researches and practices are not applied much in sectors other than automobile, aerospace and electronic industrial sectors. It was found that the AM practices and researches are yet to be applied on several products. This paper is concluded by suggesting that the contemporary researchers may explore the ways of overcoming the hurdles in conquering AM researches and practices on AI techniques, industrial sectors and products that are pinpointed in this paper.
Limitations of Current Prophylaxis Against Influenza Virus Infection

Avian influenza has been a source of worldwide concern since Hong Kong authorities detected the first outbreak in 1997. Mainly as a result of poultry-to-human transmission, more than 200 cases of infection in humans have been attributed to the A/H5, A/H7, and A/H9 viral subtypes, with a case fatality rate for A/H5N1 infections exceeding 50%. A mutant or reassortant virus capable of efficient human-to-human transmission can set off a pandemic. Increased attention to prophylaxis against viral infection has identified several potentially complementary approaches: nonpharmacologic measures (eg, travel restrictions), vaccination, chemotherapeutic agents, and herbal/natural products. All have significant limitations that point out the need for additional modalities. Herbal/natural products, particularly those based on green tea extract, offer promise as adjuncts or alternatives to current interventions and warrant further evaluation in well-controlled human trials.
Avian Influenza surveillance: on the usability of FTA cards to solve biosafety and transport issues

Many zoonotic diseases have birds as their natural hosts. Waterfowl are the natural hosts of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) and most avian influenza infections of wild birds appear mild, with infected inviduals displaying no or few symptoms. It is clear that the epidemiology of avian influenza cannot be fully understood without taking the ecology of its hosts into account. However, large scale studies and surveillance are still hampered by issues about preservation, transport and storage of AIVs, including bio-safety regulations and maintaining samples. This complicates the possibilities of the many small projects across the world if they are not done within the framework of one of the few big projects. Here, evidence is provided of the potential for using Whatman FTA®cards as a new preservation method to solve the above mentioned issues. Its efficiency is comparable to that of a standard method in virology, and saves time and money. In both large scale AIV sampling and small scale independent projects this method might be the means by which the field of the AIV ecology will be lifted beyond the constraints of difficult and expensive sampling, storage and laboratory facilities. (Less)
A Review of Food Safety Interventions and Evaluation in Food Service Establishments

The public health and economic implications for foodborne illness in industrialized nations can be costly. Food service establishments (FSEs) are major settings for foodborne pathogen exposure in developed countries due to high consumption of food prepared outside homes. To reduce foodborne illness risks, many health authorities implement food safety interventions in FSEs in order to modify food preparation behaviour and service practices. The goal of this project is to assess existing knowledge and research, explore issues of implementation, and identify research gaps related to interventions in FSEs.
Pref-1 (Preadipocyte Factor 1) Activates the MEK/Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Pathway To Inhibit Adipocyte Differentiation

ABSTRACT Preadipocyte factor 1 (Pref-1) is found in preadipocytes but is absent in adipocytes. Pref-1 is made as a transmembrane protein but is cleaved to generate a biologically active soluble form. Although Pref-1 inhibition of adipogenesis has been well studied in vitro and in vivo, the signaling pathway for Pref-1 is not known. Here, by using purified soluble Pref-1 in Pref-1 null mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEF), we show that Pref-1 increases MEK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Compared to wild-type MEF, differentiation of Pref-1 null MEF into adipocytes is enhanced, as judged by lipid accumulation and adipocyte marker expression. Both wild-type and Pref-1 null MEF show a transient burst of ERK phosphorylation upon addition of adipogenic agents. Wild-type MEF show a significant, albeit lower, second increase in ERK phosphorylation peaking at day 2. This ERK phosphorylation, corresponding to Pref-1 abundance, is absent during differentiation of Pref-1 null MEF. Prevention of this second increase in ERK1/2 phosphorylation in wild-type MEF by the MEK inhibitor PD98059 or by transient depletion of ERK1/2 via small interfering RNA-enhanced adipocyte differentiation. Furthermore, treatment of Pref-1 null MEF with Pref-1 restores this ERK phosphorylation, resulting in inhibition of adipocyte differentiation primarily by preventing peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ2 induction. However, in the presence of PD98059 or depletion of ERK1/2, exogenous Pref-1 cannot inhibit adipocyte differentiation in Pref-1 null MEF. We conclude that Pref-1 activates MEK/ERK signaling, which is required for Pref-1 inhibition of adipogenesis.
Airline service failure and recovery :a conceptual and empirical analysis

One of the most problematic issues to face airlines in recent years has been service failure/breakdown. Consequently, the notion of effective recovery, in terms of retaining customer loyalty, has become increasingly important. The aim of this study is to examine incidents of airline service failure and identify optimal recovery strategies. The study evaluates the service failure and recovery strategies in full-service airlines and low-cost carriers, the comparative effectiveness of alternative recovery actions/strategies (e.g. apology, compensation, correction, explanation) and their impact on post-recovery satisfaction and loyalty for a range of failure types. It also examines the mediating effect of emotion and justice on post-recovery behaviour. A total of 387 useable questionnaires were obtained from three different sources: a street intercept survey in Manchester (n=50); an online survey at Salford University (n=52); a Marketest panel survey (n=285). A number of important findings have been obtained from the hypothesis tests. Firstly, the severity of service failure and failure criticality were found to have a significant impact on customer satisfaction, negative word-of-mouth communication (WOM) and customer loyalty. Secondly, the results revealed the following five service recovery actions are particularly effective for airline service recovery: acceptance of responsibility of service failure; correction; compensation; apology and follow-up in writing. Thirdly, the results show that three recovery actions (e.g. compensation; acceptance of responsibility and correction) have a significant impact on customer post-recovery satisfaction when severity is high (>4). The implications of these results are that operations manager and staff can use these five recovery actions to deal with service failure (e.g. acceptance of responsibility of service failure; correction; compensation; apology and follow-up in writing). Frontline staff needs to be aware of customer emotions during service failure incident and good service recovery can therefore avoid negative customer emotion.
Do Markets Behave As Expected?Empirical Test Using Both Implied Volatility AndFutures Prices For The Taiwan Stock Market

This study adopts derivative pricing as an indicator of market expectations, with those results suggesting that general investors can use market expectations to predict the final settlement value of underlying assets. Most investment textbooks note that one of the major functions of futures is price discovery. Similarly, the implied volatility associated with option prices can be used to discover the volatility of the underlying asset. This study combines futures price and implied volatility to establish a probability space of market expectations regarding the final settlement value of the underlying asset, and verifies this probability space using empirical data from the Taiwan stock market. The verification results suggest that market expectations closely reflect the actual behavior of the final settlement value of the underlying asset, and thus provide a practical perspective on future price behavior. According to this study, investors can easily estimate underlying asset behavior based on the behavior of the related futures and options and without incurring significant measurement error, which can be helpful in risk management and planning investment strategies.
Job Stress and Job Satisfaction of IT Companies' Employees

This paper tries to explore decision making phenomenon among husbands-wives with respect to purchase of high involvement items. While selecting the purchase items, care has been taken to qualify them in terms of evidence of pronounced decision making, involvement of huge financial outlay, and prolonged consumption over a wide span of time. Since 1970's decision making and subsequent purchase roles played by husband-wives in household has witnessed a tremendous shift in the Western countries. This is governed by demographic factors like increasing women in the workforce, higher educational standards, and delayed age of marriage. As a fallout of this trend, the topic assumes significance, and effort has been made to study if there is an underlying shift in decision making observed in Indian households. This is achieved through measurement of the relative influence exerted by husbands and wives in purchase decisions
An Examination of Moderators of Perceived Stress and Illness Behavior

The purpose of this study was to examine multiple psychosocial factors (social support, negative affect, coping skills, and perceived health status) as moderators of perceived stress on illness behavior. College students recruited from undergraduate psychology courses completed measures in an on-line survey. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that commonly investigated psychosocial factors such as affectivity, coping, and social support moderated the relationship between perceived stress and one illness behavior (report of illness without visits to the doctor). However, other moderator variables less investigated, such as perceived health status had a significant effect on both illness behaviors (self-reported incidents of illness with and without visits to the doctor). Our findings highlight the role of behavioral health in primary care and the importance of educating individuals on the relationship between psychosocial factors and health.
Using Cloud Computing Service: A Perspective from Users’ Information Security, Privacy Concern, and Trust

There are numerous techniques to make Cloud Computing service more secure, however only little attention is given to the users’ perception regarding the information security and privacy issues in using such service. Grounded from Theory of Reasoned Action and Ethical Contract based theory, this paper addresses the information security, privacy concern, and trust issues in using Cloud Computing service from end users’ perspective. The result and conclusion are discussed.
Comparative effectiveness of different angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on the risk of hospitalization in patients with heart failure.

AIMS Existing randomized controlled trials do not address the comparative effectiveness of different angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) on hospitalization due to heart failure (HF)-hospitalization in patients with HF. We sought to examine the effect of four ACEIs on HF-hospitalization in a large real-world HF population. METHODS The study was a retrospective analysis of a national cohort of patients with HF identified from the Department of Veterans Affairs (TX, USA). A multiple propensity score analysis was used to balance 47 baseline patient characteristics between the different ACEIs. The effect of different ACEIs on time to HF-hospitalization was assessed using the multiple propensity score-weighted multivariable Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS The study included 139,994 patients with 69.50% (97,293) on lisinopril, 21.79% (30,503) on fosinopril, 8.41% (11,775) on captopril and 0.30% (423) on enalapril. Propensity scores balanced nearly all differences between different ACEIs groups. Enalapril (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.800; 95% CI: 0.492-1.297), fosinopril (HR: 0.971; 95% CI: 0.877-1.074), and lisinopril (HR: 1.005; 95% CI: 0.918-1.101) when compared with captopril were found to have similar effectiveness in reducing HF-hospitalizations. CONCLUSION In patients with HF, we found that the four ACEIs are equally effective in reducing HF-hospitalization in day-to-day practice.
The Effects of Temporal Consistency of Sales Promotions and Availability on Consumer Choice Behavior

The importance of consistency of the marketing mix is widely regarded as a key marketing principle. Consistency is commonly understood to apply among marketing mix elements, but it also involves a temporal dimension: Marketing messages and, more generally, marketing mix strategies should achieve some degree of consistency over time. In this article, the authors focus on a particular aspect of marketing mix consistency over time in the context of frequently purchased packaged consumer goods: They investigate the impact of temporal consistency on store promotions, as well as the availability of the product on the shelf, on consumer product evaluations (utilities) and choices. In this specific context, temporal (in)consistency captures the degree of variability of prices, displays, and features, as well as availability over time, for a stockkeeping unit. The authors find that sales promotion mix consistency over time affects both consumer utility mean and scale and thus consumers’ choices and brand shares. Lack of sales promotion mix consistency is generally deleterious to consumer brand evaluations through (1) decreases to average valuations and (2) decreases in scale, both of which can lead to decreases in market share.
Comparative International Characteristics of Banking

This paper compares key characteristics of banking systems across countries. A basic premise underlying our review is that the increasing globalization of banking and finance mandate a broad, cross-country perspective on banking issues. Indeed, cross-country comparisons can add insight into basic issues in banking that may not emerge, or are only partially discernible, from single-country analyses. With this in mind, we review representative research dealing with four fundamental aspects of international banking: the structure of banking, with emphasis on the connection between the development of the banking system and economic growth; banking industry performance; banking regulation, supervision, and corporate governance; and banking crises. We augment each of these discussions with an examination of the cross-country “landscape” of key dimensions of banking, using data for over 50 countries.
EMERGING MARKETS, TECHNOLOGY DESIGN AND GLOBAL COMMUNITIES INSIDE THE UNITED STATES

Information technologies provided by internet startups and established brands offer fundamentally new communication and transaction capabilities for increasingly diverse customers and in often unexpected environments. This short paper relates findings from ethnographic interaction research conducted for a major New York-based multinational bank designing an innovative, technology-rich financial service machine for lower income, lower education and immigrant customers. The case study speaks to larger issues of emerging markets, new technology environments and the role of interaction ethnographers in modeling user experience and designing transformative and usable electronic services for newly connected U.S. and global communities. The author earned his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University and conducts interaction ethnography for Sapient Corporation.
Effectiveness of Environmental Advertising for Hotels

This study investigates how a hotel's brand and an environmental issue featured in the advertisement may influence consumers’ responses. The study adopts a 2 × 2 factorial design. The first factor is the hotel brand. Two hotels (i.e., Hilton and Ibis) were selected to represent relatively high-end and low-end hotel brands, respectively. The second factor is the environmental issue featured. Energy saving and absence of single-use consumables were selected. A total of 237 university students in Hong Kong participated in the study. Results indicated that the two independent variables had significant impact on attitudes towards advertisements, brand image, and perceived effectiveness of the advertisements.
Customers' loyalty and its antecedents and perception of ISO 9001 in online banking

This thesis investigates whether ISO 9001 certification by banks affects customers’ perceptions of e-service quality and recovery (and hence customer satisfaction, value and loyalty) in online banking services. In pursuit of this objective this thesis holistically undertake a comprehensive review of the current state of the E-S-QUAL scale including methodology used, suggestions, and limitations associated with the adoption of the scale. Thereafter, this thesis proposed and applied scales to measure service quality and service recovery in the setting of electronic banking (e-banking). At that juncture, the thesis further developed and empirically tested a model and different sub-models that considers perceived online service quality and online service recovery as antecedents to online satisfaction and value to investigate factors that might influence customer satisfaction, value and loyalty and the possible mediating/moderating effects of customer satisfaction and value on the relationship between service quality, recovery and customer loyalty. Findings are discussed and management implications presented.
Machine Learning for Dialog State Tracking: A Review

Spoken dialog systems help users achieve a task using natural language. Noisy speech recognition and ambiguity in natural language motivate statistical approaches that model distributions over the user’s goal at every step in the dialog. The task of tracking these distributions, termed Dialog State Tracking, is therefore an essential component of any spoken dialog system. In recent years, the Dialog State Tracking Challenges have provided a common test-bed and evaluation framework for this task, as well as labeled dialog data. As a result, a variety of machine-learned methods have been successfully applied to Dialog State Tracking. This paper reviews the machine-learning techniques that have been adapted to Di-alog State Tracking, and gives an overview of published evaluations. Discriminative machine-learned methods outperform generative and rule-based methods, the previous state-of-the-art.
No More “Good” Intentions: Purchase Behaviors in Sponsorship

The growth of sport sponsorship has led to an increase in the number of studies measuring sponsorship outcomes in different sport settings. Most studies, however, have focused on understanding the factors leading to purchase intentions. A more accurate assessment of sponsorship effectiveness would come through measuring actual purchase behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine a sport sponsorship model that included awareness, fit, attitude toward the sponsor, past purchases, purchase intentions, and actual purchases. Data were collected via longitudinal web surveys conducted with soccer fans from the United States. The results of a structural equation model provided evidence that the relationships among the analyzed sponsorship outcomes did not have a significant effect on actual purchase behaviors. The discussion includes questions about the impact of sponsorship variables such as awareness, fit, attitude toward the sponsor, purchase intentions, and past purchases on actual purchase behaviors.
A heart rate detection method for low power exercise intensity monitoring device

Exercise is important for health, however inappropriate exercise would harm our body or get nothing affects. Therefore, a wearable exercise intensity monitoring device can assist user to manage their exercise intensity. Heart rate (HR) is an index to indicate the exercise intensity. In this paper, we proposed a high accuracy HR detection method and implemented it on a wearable and low power device for exercise intensity monitoring. This device consists of a two-electrode ECG amplifier, a MSP430 microprocessor and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module. Moreover, the device can transmit the HR to a Smart-phone via the BLE. The accuracy of HR detection method is verified in both resting and dynamic conditions. For resting condition, we use a commercial ECG simulator as signal input and the accuracy of HR detection is 100 percents. For dynamic condition, we use treadmill test. Three subjects (2 male, 1 female) walking in six speeds from 1.8 km/h until 6.3 km/h and running in 7.2 km/h. The accuracy of HR detection is 99.7 percents.
A Meta-Learning Approach based on Mean Field Genetic Algorithms

Mean Field Genetic Algorithm (MGA) is a hybrid algorithm of Mean Field Annealing (MFA) and Simulated annealing-like Genetic Algorithm (SGA). It combines benefit of rapid convergence property of MFA and effective genetic operations of SGA. This paper presents an approach for building a multi-classifier system in a MGA-based inductive learning environment. Multiple base classifiers are combined to build a multi-classifier system. A base classifier consists of a general classifier and a meta-classifier. The general classifier performs regular classification task. The meta-classifier evaluates classification result of its general classifier and decides whether the base classifier participates into a final decisionmaking process or not. The paper discusses our approach in details and presents some empirical results that show the improvement we can achieve with our approach.