Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Personalized Quantification of Voice Attractiveness in Multidimensional Merit Space

Voice attractiveness is an indicator which is somehow objective and somehow subjective. It would be helpful to assume that each voice has its own attractiveness. However, the paired comparison results of human listeners sometimes include inconsistency. In this paper, we propose a multidimensional mapping scheme of voice attractiveness, which explains the existence of objective merit values of voices and subjective preference of listeners. Paired comparison is modeled in a probabilistic framework, and the optimal mapping is obtained from the paired comparison results on the maximum likelihood criterion. The merit values can be estimated from the acoustic feature using the machine learning framework. We show how the estimation process works using real database consisting of common Japanese greeting utterances. Experiments using 1and 2dimensional merit spaces confirm that the comparison result prediction from the acoustic feature becomes more accurate in the 2-dimensional case.
Segmenting Markets by Travel Expenditure Patterns: The Case of International Visitors to Australia

This article addresses the issue of segmenting markets according to drivers of travel expenses, exemplified by the case of international visitors to Australia and modeled by means of hedonic (log-linear) regression. Based on characteristics of a trip (number of travel companions from the same household, duration of trip, and choice of type of accommodation) as well as the reason for travel and influences to come to Australia, the overall expenditure for a trip is estimated by log-linear regression. The results (all ceteris paribus) reveal that visitors from mature markets, most of them in Europe, tend to spend approximately 20% to 30% less on a trip to Australia than those from less mature markets, most of them in Asia. Attending conferences as a delegate, visitation to rural areas such as the outback, and travel aimed at enjoying local food and beverages are associated with higher spending compared to other reasons for visiting Australia. In contrast, (commoditized) beach holidays and visitation to events lead to comparably less spending. With regard to accommodation, the use of hotels results in expenditure of 20% higher than average for other forms of accommodation, whereas staying with friends and relatives leads to expenditures of 8% to 14% less than average. Finally, travelers on group tours spend up to 10% less than average.
E-Commerce Adoption in Thailand: An Empirical Study of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Abstract Thailand, one of the fast growing countries in Asia, has initiated and implemented a series of national plans and activities to promote e-commerce adoption in both public and private sectors. Despite such efforts, e-commerce adoption rate is still slow. It is therefore important to understand factors affecting a firm's decision on e-commerce adoption in Thailand. This study examines the factors injluencing e-commerce adoption decisions in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand. We classzB firms into three main groups based on the earliness of e-commerce adoption, namely adopters, prospectors, and laggards. Three groups of factors injluencing adoption decisions are identified, including organizational, technology, and environmental factors. Data was collected through a national survey in Thailand. The statistical analysis results strongly support the hypotheses. The results are interpreted and the implications of this study are subsequently discussed.
Increasing Diversity in the Geosciences: Recruitment Programs and Student Self-Efficacy

Using a conceptual framework constructed around self-efficacy, this study explores specific recruitment programs that may contribute to the development of self-efficacy for students of color in the geosciences. This mixed methods study of geoscience education includes quantitative analysis of the Summer Experience in Earth and Mineral Science Program and qualitative analysis of the Summer Research Opportunity Program. Findings identify programmatic components that fostered self-efficacy, thus contributing to students’ continued interest in careers in geoscience. This study has potential implications for higher education institutions interested in cultivating programs that attract, support, and retain students of color through various stages of the geoscience education pipeline.
Popular Support for the Welfare State: A Comparison Between Institutional Regimes

Abstract Apart from the preoccupation with raising revenue for the welfare state, the question of popular support is central to its future. Arguments about the prospects for the welfare state, about its social and political bases of support and about classifying different types of regime provide the context of our investigation. Our approach is to examine empirical evidence of the connection between support for the welfare state and (a) different types of regime and (b) social and political factors. The analysis of these relationships has important implications for policy-makers who are concerned about consent to their programmes and about the experiences of comparable regimes.
Verification of cache coherence protocols wrt. trace filters

We address the problem of parameterized verification of cache coherence protocols for hardware accelerated transactional memories. In this setting, transactional memories leverage on the versioning capabilities of the underlying cache coherence protocol. The length of the transactions, their number, and the number of manipulated variables (i.e., cache lines) are parameters of the verification problem. Caches in such systems are finite-state automata communicating via broadcasts and shared variables. We augment our system with filters that restrict the set of possible executable traces according to existing conflict resolution policies. We show that the verification of coherence for parameterized cache protocols with filters can be reduced to systems with only a finite number of cache lines. For verification, we show how to account for the effect of the adopted filters in a symbolic backward reachability algorithm based on the framework of constrained monotonic abstraction. We have implemented our method and used it to verify transactional memory coherence protocols with respect to different conflict resolution policies.
Characterization of aerobically fit individuals with cardiovascular disease

Abstract With an ageing population there is an increased prevalence of individuals living with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Characteristics of older aerobically fit individuals with previously diagnosed CVD have not been studied. Therefore, our knowledge is limited as to how, or if, aerobically fit individuals with CVD attempt to adapt their physical activity and the intensity of their training programmes. The objective of this paper is to characterise the physical activity habits and behaviours of older aerobically fit individuals with CVD. We identified 28 aerobically fit patients with CVD from those who completed a minimum of 15 and 12 min of the Bruce treadmill protocol for men and women, respectively. Consenting participants responded to questionnaires regarding physical activity levels, competitive event participation and self-monitoring since diagnosis of heart disease. Average age and treadmill time of participants were 56 and 49 years and 15.6 and 13.0 min for males and females, respectively. Data were obtained regarding recent medical history (medical diagnoses, surgeries/procedures). Despite the majority of individuals participating in the same or more activity since their diagnosis, 25% indicated that their condition limited their activity and 39% reported having symptoms during activity. Nearly all participants (93%) indicated that they monitored their heart rate during exercise. However, only 14% of participants stated that their physician advised them on how to exercise safely. It is necessary for physicians and cardiac rehabilitation programmes to be involved in safe and effective exercise programming to allow individuals to return to sport after CVD.
Using Self-Report and Adverse Event Measures to Track Health’s Impact on Productivity in Known Groups

The use of survey data to measure and monitor health and productivity differences between groups is an issue of increasing importance. This article examines the capacity of productivity self-reports (derived from surveys) and adverse event measures (derived from administrative sources) to differentiate groups with a priori known characteristics. A replication strategy is used to test the contributions that productivity self-reports make, alone as well as above and beyond measures of adverse events, to the discrimination of 5 pairs of groups classified by clinical, job type, and demographic criteria. These tests are conducted on representative samples of the active, largely blue-collar employee population at International Truck and Engine Corporation. The results show that both productivity self-reports and adverse event measures differentiate and track known groups. Even in the presence of highly significant effects from adverse event measures, self-reports improve the assessment of productivity. We conclude that: 1) although the joint use of self-reports and adverse event measures is the better approach, practitioners can use self-reports with the expectation that this method will track group differences in health and productivity when adverse event measures are not available; and 2) survey self-reports make unique and independent contributions when adverse events measures are used.
Language as an evolving word web

Human language may be described as a complex network of linked words. In such a treatment, each distinct word in language is a vertex of this web, and interacting words in sentences are connected by edges. The empirical distribution of the number of connections of words in this network is of a peculiar form that includes two pronounced power–law regions. Here we propose a theory of the evolution of language, which treats language as a self–organizing network of interacting words. In the framework of this concept, we completely describe the observed word web structure without any fitting. We show that the two regimes in the distribution naturally emerge from the evolutionary dynamics of the word web. It follows from our theory that the size of the core part of language, the ‘kernel lexicon’, does not vary as language evolves.
The Role of Collaboration Tools in Problem Solving Experience of Global Technical Support Center

Support and maintenance services rely on organization's capabilities of delivering expertise, tools and spare parts to the customer's location effectively and economically. To tackle the problems of delivering the expertise, a multilevel support organization is often utilized. This article presents a study of problem solving experience in a global technical support center. The study aimed to identify the core building blocks of problem solving experience of individual workers and the role the collaboration tools played in the problem solving experiences. During the study, 11 interlinked themes responsible for the key characteristics of problem solving experience in a global technical support center were identified. The problem solving experiences emerged from situational relations between workers' expertise and the problem solving themes as well as between the problem solving themes. Improving the user experience of the collaboration tools would mean changing the situational relationships and thus the whole problem solving experience.
Statistical analysis of 6T SRAM data retention voltage under process variation

One of the main issues in scaled SRAMs is the increase in static power. A common way to reduce the static power consumption of an SRAM array is to decrease its supply voltage when in memory retention mode. Decreasing the supply voltage however has a strong negative effect on the stability of the SRAM cell. This paper statistically analyzes the behavior of the 6T SRAM cell in data retention mode, under process variability. The failure probabilities under various supply voltages are determined for different technology nodes, and the Data Retention Voltage is determined. For the 45nm PTM SRAM cell under random threshold voltage variation, the Data Retention Voltage is found to be 423mV while for the 16nm PTM SRAM, the DRV is 649mV.
LUMINOSITY CORRELATIONS FOR GAMMA-RAY BURSTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THEIR PROMPT AND AFTERGLOW EMISSION MECHANISMS

We present the relation between the (z- and k-corrected) spectral lags, τ, for the standard Swift energy bands 50–100 keV and 100–200 keV and the peak isotropic luminosity, Liso (a relation reported first by Norris et al.), for a subset of 12 long Swift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) taken from a recent study of this relation by Ukwatta et al. The chosen GRBs are also a subset of the Dainotti et al. sample, a set of Swift GRBs of known redshift, employed in establishing a relation between the (GRB frame) luminosity, LX, of the shallow (or constant) flux portion of the typical X-Ray Telescope GRB-afterglow light curve and the (GRB frame) time of transition to the normal decay rate, Tbrk. We also present the LX–Tbrk relation using only the bursts common in the two samples. The two relations exhibit a significant degree of correlation (ρ = −0.65 for the Liso–τ and ρ = −0.88 for the LX–Tbrk relation) and have surprisingly similar best-fit power-law indices (−1.19 ± 0.17 for Liso–τ and −1.10 ± 0.03 for LX–Tbrk). Even more surprisingly, we noted that although τ and Tbrk represent different GRB time variables, it appears that the first relation (Liso–τ) extrapolates into the second one for timescales τ ≃ Tbrk. This fact suggests that these two relations have a common origin, which we conjecture to be kinematic. This relation adds to the recently discovered relations between properties of the prompt and afterglow GRB phases, indicating a much more intimate relation between these two phases than hitherto considered.
Planning for Workforce Succession Among National Park Service Advanced-Level Natural Resource Program Managers: A Gap Analysis

Most natural resource management agencies will suffer a loss of the skills, knowledge, and institutional memory embodied in their most experienced employees as advanced-level managers retire. Knowledge of job deficiencies of employees scheduled to move into positions of pending retirees is essential for training and workforce succession management. This article provides guidance about workforce succession by analyzing perceived training competency/needs of National Park Service resource management professionals. A gap analysis was used to analyze perceived differences in preparation for and importance of specific competencies for advanced-level job classifications (GS-12 grades and above). Results indicated that Program Managers (n = 117) reported “large gaps” or deficiencies in training for 18 out of 34 competencies measured. There were also significant differences (p ≤ .05) between the perceived gaps of three age cohorts, with the cohort group most likely to succeed retirees the most deficient. Five training modules are suggested to address these job competency needs.
Impacts of China's Foreign Direct Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

The paper examines the determinants of growth of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the past decade from a macroeconomic perspective. Particularly, we test the impacts of net FDI inflows, as well as China’s FDI on GDP growth of Sub-Saharan African countries, respectively. By using the data from 44 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2003-2010, we find that China’s OFDI has significant impacts on GDP growth of SSA countries. However, the effects are not significant for 13 oil exporting countries in SSA. We also find that trade policies and monetary policies are vital for GDP growth in SSA, and monetary policies play an especially important role for oil exporting countries of SSA in the determination of GDP growth.
Income and educational inequalities in the regions of the European Union: Geographical spillovers under welfare state restrictions*

This paper uses a balanced dataset extracted from the European Community Household Panel data survey for 94 regions over the period 1995-2000 to examine the relationship between income and educational inequalities in the regions of the European Union. It highlights the importance of geography and institutions in accounting for the economic performance of the European regions. The regression results suggest a positive relationship between income and educational inequalities, which have evolved differently across welfare regimes. Using different designs of spatial weights matrices which concern not only distance, but also the welfare regime, this paper shows that both spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity matter for inequalities. Copyright (c) 2008 the author(s). Journal compilation (c) 2008 RSAI.
Baseline NIH Stroke Scale score strongly predicts outcome after stroke

Objective: To compare the baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score and the Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) stroke subtype as predictors of outcomes at 7 days and 3 months after ischemic stroke. Methods: Using data collected from 1,281 patients enrolled in a clinical trial, subtype of stroke was categorized using the TOAST classification, and neurologic impairment at baseline was quantified using the NIHSS. Outcomes were assessed at 7 days and 3 months using the Barthel Index (BI) and the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). An outcome was rated as excellent if the GOS score was 1 and the BI was 19 or 20 (scale of 0 to 20). Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, race, and history of previous stroke. Results: The baseline NIHSS score strongly predicted outcome, with one additional point on the NIHSS decreasing the likelihood of excellent outcomes at 7 days by 24% and at 3 months by 17%. At 3 months, excellent outcomes were noted in 46% of patients with NIHSS scores of 7 to 10 and in 23% of patients with scores of 11 to 15. After multivariate adjustment, lacunar stroke had an odds ratio of 3.1 (95% CI, 1.5 to 6.4) for an excellent outcome at 3 months. Conclusions: The NIHSS score strongly predicts the likelihood of a patient’s recovery after stroke. A score of ≥16 forecasts a high probability of death or severe disability whereas a score of ≤6 forecasts a good recovery. Only the TOAST subtype of lacunar stroke predicts outcomes independent of the NIHSS score.
Head-on collision of drops—A numerical investigation

The head‐on collision of equal sized drops is studied by full numerical simulations. The Navier–Stokes equations are solved for the fluid motion both inside and outside the drops using a front tracking/finite difference technique. The drops are accelerated toward each other by a body force that is turned off before the drops collide. When the drops collide, the fluid between them is pushed outward leaving a thin layer bounded by the drop surface. This layer gets progressively thinner as the drops continue to deform, and in several of our calculations we artificially remove this double layer at prescribed times, thus modeling rupture. If no rupture takes place, the drops always rebound, but if the film is ruptured the drops may coalesce permanently or coalesce temporarily and then split again. Although the numerically predicted boundaries between permanent and temporary coalescence are found to be consistent with experimental observations, the exact location of these boundaries in parameter space is found .
Asset Allocation with Regime-Switching: Discrete-Time Case

In this paper, we study the optimal asset allocation problem under a discrete regime switching model. Under the short-selling and leveraging constraints, the existence and uniqueness of the optimal trading strategy are obtained. We also obtain some natural properties of the optimal strategy. In particular, we show that if there exists a stochastic dominance order relationship between the random returns at different regimes, then we can order the optimal proportions we should invest in such regimes.
Flow Cytometric Analysis of Characteristics of Hybridization of Species-Specific Fluorescent Oligonucleotide Probes to rRNA of Marine Nanoflagellates

Identification problems restrict quantitative ecological research on specific nanoflagellates. Identification by specific oligonucleotide probes permits use of flow cytometry for enumeration and measurement of size of nanoflagellates in statistically meaningful samples. Flow cytometry also permits measurement of intensity of probe binding by cells. Five fluorescent probes targeted to different regions of the small subunit rRNA of the common marine flagellate Paraphysomonas vestita all hybridized with cells of this flagellate. Cells fixed with trichloroacetic acid gave detectable signals at a probe concentration of 15 aM and specific fluorescence increased almost linearly to 1.5 fM, but at higher concentrations nonspecific binding increased sharply. Three flagellates, P. vestita, Paraphysomonas imperforata, and Pteridomonas danica, all bound a general eukaryotic probe approximately in proportion to their cell size, but the specific P. vestita probe gave 14 times more fluorescence with P. vestita than with either of the other flagellates. Cell fluorescence increased during the early growth of a batch culture and decreased toward the stationary phase; cell size changed in a comparable manner. Cell fluorescence intensity may allow inferences about growth rate, but whether fluorescence (assumed to reflect ribosome number) merely correlates with cell biomass or changes in a more complex manner remains unresolved.
Prevalence of human papillomavirus genotypes in northern Taiwanese women

The prevalence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in the general population of northern Taiwan is described. A total of 343 consecutive cervical swabs from women visiting the medical center for routine gynecologic care were included. Cervical cell cytology was examined by the Papanicolaou (Pap) test, and a PCR‐based hybridization gene chip analysis was used to identify HPV genotypes. The HPV prevalence in the overall population was 32.4%. When divided into two groups according to cytology, 20.9% of women with normal cytology were HPV positive while 75.3% of women with abnormal cytology were HPV positive. Among positive samples, 68.5% were single type infections while 31.5% harbored multiple HPV types. A total of 32 types of HPV were identified; the leading five were HPV16 (5.8%), HPV58 (5.3%), HPV53 (4.1%), HPV52 (3.8%), and HPV18 (2.3%). Our results constitute baseline data and may provide important implications for future prophylactic programs. The relatively high prevalence of HPV 58, 53, and 52 among northern Taiwanese women has important implications for vaccine development. J. Med. Virol. 82:1739–1745, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Optimal Energy Management Strategies in Wireless Data and Energy Cooperative Communications

This paper presents a new cooperative wireless communication network strategy that incorporates energy cooperation and data cooperation. The model establishment, design goal formulations, and algorithms for throughput maximization of the proposed protocol are presented and illustrated using a three-node network with two energy harvesting (EH) user nodes and a destination node. Transmission models are established from the performance analysis for a total of four scenarios. Based on the models, we seek to find optimal energy management strategies by jointly optimizing time allocation for each user, power allocations over these time intervals, and data throughputs at user nodes so as to maximize the sum-throughput or, alternatively, the minimum throughput of the two users in all scenarios. An accelerated Newton barrier algorithm and an alternative algorithm based on local quadratic approximation of the transmission models are developed to solve the aforementioned optimization problems. Numerical experiments under practical settings provide supportive observations to our performance analysis.