Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of glottal signals for speaker information

This work analyzes the glottal signals recorded from different speakers for speaker information and describes some speaker specific cues. The glottal activity (GA) regions are detected by exploiting the strength of excitation and periodic nature of glottal signal. The identified GA regions are further processed to segment into nearly periodic smaller segments by detecting peaks in individual glottal cycles and using them as anchor points. The periodic segments are further divided into four smallest segments by considering the peaks and zero crossings. The speaker information present at the GA region, periodic segment and the four smallest segments are analyzed and illustrated. From the experimental studies the speaker information manifested at the four smallest segments show less intra speaker variability and more inter speaker variability. The four smallest segments of the periodic segments are therefore proposed as the speaker specific cues for the development of speaker recognition systems.
A systems research on quality management under the MBNQA framework

Most previous research in the quality management field investigates whether quality management practices contribute directly to business results. This paper reports the results of structural analysis of the systematic relationships among quality management practices and business performance. The study's aim is to determine whether companies have reached the requisite level of synthesis, alignment, and integration in quality management suggested by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) model. A conceptual model is developed from previous studies based on the MBNQA framework guidelines. Data from 180 Norwegian manufacturing companies are analysed using structural equation modelling. The results show that the sampled companies have not reached the level of synthesis, alignment, and integration suggested by the MBNQA framework. Leadership in human resources (HRS) is perhaps the major area for improvement identified in the sampled companies. Both previous studies and the data presented in this paper suggest that the positions of HRS development and customer focus in the MBNQA model should be switched, which suggests the potential for future improvements to the model's framework.
A software toolkit and authoring tools for user interfaces in ubiquitous augmented reality

Ubiquitous augmented reality (UAR) is an emerging human-computer interaction technology, arising from the convergence of augmented reality and ubiquitous computing. In user interfaces in UAR, visualizations can augment the real world with digital information, interactions can follow a tangible metaphor and both should adapt according to the user's context and are distributed on a possibly changing set of devices. In the past years, the basic technology for UAR has become fairly mature, but important challenges remain. In my dissertation, I address the challenges in developing new us er interfaces for UAR systems. Since the standards for user interface elements for UAR are still immature, it is difficult to create a supporting software infrastructure. Another concern is the development process for new user interface elements. Evidence suggests that it is imperative to work in interdisciplinary teams. However, it is challenging to illustrate the design space for new user interface elements to the team members. To address these two problems, my approach consists of two steps. First, I have created the component-based toolkit AVANTGUARDE, which enables the execution of user interfaces in UAR. AVANTGUARDE supports brains torming sessions that use a running system, through rapid modifiability of user interface elements. The core components of AVANTGUARDE include a Petri net-based dialog control management system and a view er for augmented reality scenes. Second, on top of AVANTGUARDE, I have developed several tools that further ease the task of experimenting w ith new interaction elements. These tools employ a combination of traditional graphical user inter faces and user interfaces in UAR. To support their usage in brainstorming sessions, the main desig n goals were minimization of turnaround time and ease of use. AVANTGUARDE was successfully used to build several research prototypes. Since AVANTGUARDE was developed through an iterative process, valuable insights regarding the components and overall architecture have been collected. The authoring tools on top of AVANTGUARDE have been successfully used by programmers and non-programmers to modify user interfaces during system runtime.
Exploring the learning experiences during an early childhood curriculum change in Singapore

This paper is part of a major research project on early childhood curriculum reforms in Singapore. Singapore launched the Pre-school Curriculum Framework in 2003. The resultant new curriculum focuses on developing the child holistically, on learning through play and experimentation, and on interacting with the teacher. The role played by teachers as change agents in the implementation of the new play curriculum must not be overlooked. As part of the reform the Ministry of Education (MOE) mandated that all preschool teachers had to have an accredited teaching diploma by year 2008. The aim of this reform in teacher education is to promote a shift in practice, knowledge and beliefs in pre-school teachers. A general recognition of teachers' professionalism was emphasized with a new education and training regime for teachers to promote quality teaching in a new era of a play curriculum. However, little attention has been given to Singapore's cultural and competitive environment which leads to teachers trying to make sense when negotiating the challenges and demands of this new professionalism. The new curriculum is challenging as theories of early childhood pedagogy and play may be interpreted differently, in practice, by teachers with differing teaching experiences, training and life histories. Teacher's knowledge of 'play' is based on their personal understanding and experience, from which they contextualize the development for children's learning. A qualitative research methodology was used to study the lived experiences of children and teachers during the curriculum reform. The research entails a case study of one kindergarten. Data collection methods consisted of interviews, observation and document analysis. Discussions on the children's learning based on observations and analysis of this study will provide information on how the kindergarten teachers have approached the reforms.
Attribution of Human VTEC O157 Infection from Meat Products: A Quantitative Risk Assessment Approach

To address the risk posed to human health by the consumption of VTEC O157 within contaminated pork, lamb, and beef products within Great Britain, a quantitative risk assessment model has been developed. This model aims to simulate the prevalence and amount of VTEC O157 in different meat products at consumption within a single model framework by adapting previously developed models. The model is stochastic in nature, enabling both variability (natural variation between animals, carcasses, products) and uncertainty (lack of knowledge) about the input parameters to be modeled. Based on the model assumptions and data, it is concluded that the prevalence of VTEC O157 in meat products (joints and mince) at consumption is low (i.e., <0.04%). Beef products, particularly beef burgers, present the highest estimated risk with an estimated eight out of 100,000 servings on average resulting in human infection with VTEC O157.
Financially Constrained Fluctuations in an Evolving Network Economy

We explore the properties of a credit network characterized by inside credit - i.e. credit relationships connecting downstream (D) and upstream (U) firms - and outside credit - i.e. credit relationships connecting firms and banks. The structure of the network changes over time due to the preferred-partner choice rule: each agent chooses the partner who charges the lowest price. The net worth of D firms turns out to be the driver of fluctuations. U production, in fact, is determined by demand of intermediate inputs on the part of D firms and production of the latter is financially constrained, i.e. determined by the availability of internal finance proxied by net worth. The output of simulations shows that at the macroeconomic level a business cycle can develop as a consequence of the complex interaction of the agents' financial conditions. We can also reproduce the main stylized facts of firms' demography, i.e. the power law distribution of firms' size and the Laplace distribution of firms' growth rates.
The Relationship between Personality Disorders and Quality of Life in Adolescent Outpatients

Abstract Background: During recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the benefits of the early detection and treatment of personality disorders in adolescents. Previous studies of adults have shown that the number of personality disorder criteria met is negatively correlated with a patient’s quality of life and general functioning. Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of personality disorders, particularly with regard to the correlation between the number of personality disorder criteria fulfilled and self-perceived quality of life. Distribution according to gender and age in a clinical sample of adolescent outpatients were also considered. Method: This study included 153 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17 years who were referred to a mental health outpatient clinic. Personality disorders were assessed using the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality. Quality of life was assessed using the Youth Quality of Life Instrument - Research Version, which is a 41-item questionnaire that covers broad aspects of quality of life. Axis I disorders were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Results: Results demonstrated that 21.6% of the adolescents met the diagnostic criteria for at least one personality disorder. A relationship between the number of personality disorder criteria met and reduced quality of life was found. No significant gender differences with regard to the prevalence of each of the personality disorders were revealed. Adjustment for the presence of Axis I disorders did not appreciably affect these findings Conclusion: The present study indicates that reduced quality of life as a result of the number of personality disorder criteria met affects adolescents in much the same way that it does adults. This further emphasizes the clinical importance of including quality of life assessment as part of the general diagnostic procedures used with adolescents.
Measurement of Income Distribution in Supranational Entities: The Case of the European Union

Greater social cohesion is an explicit goal of the European Union. Progress is monitored considering the performance in each member country on the basis of national indicators; EU-wide estimates of inequality and poverty play no role. Yet this is a basic information to evaluate the progress of the Union toward grater social cohesion. This paper examines the methodological requirements of this evaluative exercise, and provides the first estimates of inequality and poverty in the enlarged European Union as if it was a single country.
Limited Attention and the Residential Energy Efficiency Gap

Inattention may be an important contributor to the energy efficiency gap and may be particularly acute in residential buildings where many different features will determine a home's energy use. Energy audits can provide information on how to reduce energy loss in a home, but the use of audits is rare. We use data from a national survey of 1700 homeowners to study the factors affecting a home owner's choice to have an audit. We create an index of energy inattention for our survey respondents. This index and two additional behavioral factors prove to be important determinants of the audit choice.
Decreased calcitriol requirement during pregnancy and lactation with a window of increased requirement immediately post partum.

OBJECTIVE To describe the changes in calcium and calcitriol requirements during pregnancy and lactation in a patient with hypoparathyroidism due to autosomal dominant hypocalcemia. METHODS We summarize the clinical presentation and treatment of the patient and review the pertinent literature. RESULTS Calcitriol requirements disappeared during pregnancy in a 34-year-old woman with autosomal dominant hypoparathyroidism secondary to an activating mutation in the calcium-sensing receptor gene. Within hours after delivery, her serum calcium concentration dropped to 4.7 mg/dL (albumin, 3.2 g/dL), and she required intravenous calcium and reinstitution of calcitriol. When lactation began a few days later, her calcitriol requirement again disappeared. As has occasionally been described in the literature, this patient with hypoparathyroidism required no calcitriol during late pregnancy and lactation to maintain a normal serum calcium level. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the first reported case documenting a period of time between pregnancy and lactation when calcitriol requirements reappeared, likely due to a parathyroid hormone-related protein "window" between delivery, when placental production of parathyroid hormone-related protein stops, and lactation, when mammary gland production begins.
The Fama and French Three-Factor Model - Evidence from the Swedish Stock Market

The present study adds to the sparse published Swedish literature on the performance of the Fama and French Three-Factor model on the Swedish stock market. The ability of the model to measure the cost of equity is compared with that of the CAPM. The tests are conducted in time periods with and without financial turmoil. The Fama and French Three-Factor Model is found to provide improved explanatory power over the CAPM in both stable and unstable market conditions. Another finding is that the performance of the Fama and French Three- Factor model does not perform well during a period of financial turmoil on the Swedish market.
Media Impacts around EarningsAnnouncement Dates with Consideration ofInvestor Types and Market Scenarios

This study examines the impacts of media reports prior to earnings announcements on trading behaviors in the Taiwan stock market. The results reveal that media coverage prior to earnings announcements has positive impacts on the price changes and volatility initiated by foreign investors, with the findings being consistent in both bull and bear markets. There exists a positive relation between media coverage and trading volatility for individual traders; however, there is no significant relation between the media and price changes. We argue that a firm’s media exposure leaves investors with diverse impressions, ultimately influencing their trading behavior. Key words: Media coverage, investor types, earnings announcements, market scenarios, trading behavior
A New Pilot Architecture for Sub-Band Uplink OFDMA Systems

In sub-band uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, the data signals of the different users are transmitted on non-overlapping frequency sub-bands. Moreover, the pilots used to estimate the carrier frequency offset (CFO) and channel state are generally placed at the edge of each sub-band. However, the accuracies of the CFO and channel estimates are seriously degraded by multiple-user interference (MUI) between neighboring subscribers. Conventionally, the effects of MUI are mitigated by inserting a guard sub-carrier between adjacent users and adding a single pilot to either edge of the data sub-carrier. However, in the present study, the guard sub-carrier is more fully exploited by adding three pilots to each side of the data subcarrier. Notably, in the proposed approach, the pilots of neighboring users are overlapped. As a result, the proposed architecture has the same bandwidth efficiency as that of the conventional guard subcarrier insertion scheme. It is shown that the proposed pilot design yields a lower MUI than the conventional guard subcarrier insertion method and achieves an improved bit error rate (BER) performance as a result.
External pressures affecting the adoption of employee performance management in higher education institutions

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the relationship between external pressures and the adoption of employee performance management systems within academic units of Flemish higher education institutions. The literature on contextually based HRM and institutionalism is used to underpin the theoretical propositions.Design/methodology/approach – A comparative case study is described to provide evidence for the theoretical arguments.Findings – It has been suggested that academic units face a set of external pressures, which leads to different employee performance management systems. This study finds that academic units imitate their legitimacy‐based reference group and legitimacy‐driven imitation and the adoption of external employee performance management requirements distort the alignment of employee performance management systems.Research limitations/implications – Future research could formally test the relationship between external drivers and the adoption of strategic and integrated employee performanc.
Market Statistics and Technical Analysis: The Role of Volume

The authors investigate the informational role of volume and its applicability for technical analysis. They develop a new equilibrium model in which aggregate supply is fixed and traders receive signals with differing quality. The authors show that volume provides information on information quality that cannot be deduced from the price statistic. They show how volume, information precision, and price movements relate, and demonstrate how sequences of volume and prices can be informative. The authors also show that traders who use information contained in market statistics do better than traders who do not. Technical analysis, thus, arises as a natural component of the agents' learning process. Copyright 1994 by American Finance Association.
Psychiatric disorders in children with Prader–Willi syndrome—Results of a 2‐year longitudinal study

Psychiatric disorders such as psychosis are highly prevalent in adults with Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS). However, knowledge about the presence and progression of psychiatric disorders in children with PWS is very limited. Sixty‐one children with PWS aged 7–17 years were tested using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) and Compulsive Behaviour Checklist (CBC), and 38/61 were retested after 2 years. Prevalence of psychiatric disorders and the association with age, gender, genetic subtype, and total IQ were assessed. In addition, occurrence and characteristics of compulsions were determined.
Economic Freedom and Income Inequality Revisited: Evidence from a Panel Error Correction Model

We investigate the causal relationship between income inequality and economic freedom using data from U.S. states over the period 1981 to 2004 within a panel error correction model framework. The results indicate bidirectional causality between income inequality and economic freedom in both the short and the long run. These results suggest that high income inequality may cause states to implement redistributive policies causing economic freedom to decline. As economic freedom declines, income inequality rises even more. In other words, it is quite possible for a state to get caught in a vicious circle of high income inequality and heavy redistribution.
Constructing Labor Markets

In the U.S. South, a free labor market rapidly—although, in some cases, only nominally—replaced the plantation system of slave labor in the years following the American Civil War. Drawing on data comprising 75,099 transactions in the antebellum period, as well as 1,378 labor contracts in the postbellum era, I examine how the valuation of black labor was transformed between the 1830s and the years of emancipation. I trace the process of valuation through four markets for labor, moving from slave purchases and appraisals within the plantation economy, to the antebellum system of hiring out, to wage-setting for black labor under the auspices of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Comparative analysis of labor pricing across these markets reveals systematic differences: slave markets placed price premiums on children and young women, and occupational skills emerged as the most salient influence in the pricing of wage labor. I conclude by theorizing how transvaluation of labor occurs when markets for unfree and free workers are governed by distinct institutional conditions.
Determinants of sell‐side financial analysts’ use of non‐financial information

Abstract This paper aims to research the context within which sell‐side financial analysts make decisions to use corporate non‐financial information. Prior research has demonstrated that financial analysts take into account non‐financial information in their analyses of firms, but knowledge is scarce about what determines their use of this information. Based on a survey conducted among Belgian financial analysts, we observe a significant negative association between the financial analysts’ use of non‐financial information and the earnings informativeness of a firm's financial statement information proxied by leverage and stock return volatility. We also find that a higher amount of non‐financial information is used by less experienced financial analysts and by financial analysts covering a higher number of firms.
NONPARAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ATTITUDES TOWARD RISKY CROPS: A PLANT MOLECULAR FARMING CASE STUDY

Research on plant molecular farming (PMF) is supported by public and private sectors in Canada. This may lead to benefits of new or cheaper medicines, industrial products and foods, but also be the source of appreciable risks to food safety from contamination by PMF materials, as well as potential environmental risks and costs. This study uses data from a 2005 nation-wide Canadian survey to gain insights into citizens’ perceptions of PMF benefits and risks. A series of nonparametric tests are conducted on ordinal survey data on risk and benefit assessments of respondents. PMF is not seen as a major threat to food safety or the environment, but as a moderate indirect risk. The use of PMF to produce better and cheaper medical drugs appears to have the best benefits-to-risks ratio, while using PMF to produce more nutritious and cheaper food has the least favorable ratio.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae Kills Carcinoembryonic Antigen-Related Cellular Adhesion Molecule 1 (CD66a)-Expressing Human B Cells and Inhibits Antibody Production

ABSTRACT Neisseria gonorrhoeae cells (gonococci [GC]), the etiological agents for gonorrhea, can cause repeated infections. During and after gonococcal infection, local and systemic antigonococcal antibody levels are low. These clinical data indicate the possibility that GC may suppress immune responses during infection. Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cellular adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1 or CD66a), a receptor for GC opacity (Opa) proteins, was shown to mediate inhibitory signals. In the present study, human B cells were activated by interleukin-2 to express CEACAM1 and then stimulated to secrete antibodies and simultaneously coincubated with Opa− and OpaI GC of strain MS11. Our results show that this OpaI GC has the ability to inhibit antibody production. The interaction of GC and CEACAM1 with human peripheral B cells also results in induction of cell death. The same findings were observed in DT40 B cells. This CEACAM1-promoted cell death pathway does not involve the inhibitory signals or the tyrosine phosphatases SHP-1 and SHP-2 but depends on Bruton's tyrosine kinase in DT40 cells. Our results suggest that Neisseria gonorrhoeae possesses the ability to suppress antibody production by killing CEACAM1-expressing B cells.