Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Psychophysiological and Dual-Task Measures of Listening Effort.

PURPOSE We wished to make a comparison of psychophysiological measures of listening effort with subjective and dual-task measures of listening effort for a diotic-dichotic-digits and a sentences-in-noise task. METHOD Three groups of young adults (18-38 years old) with normal hearing participated in three experiments: two psychophysiological studies for two different listening tasks and a dual-task measure for a sentences-in-noise task. Psychophysiological variables included skin conductance, heart-rate variability, and heart rate; the dual-task measure was a letter-identification task. Heart-rate variability was quantified with the difference from baseline for the normalized standard deviation of R to R. RESULTS Heart-rate variability differences from baseline were greater for increased task complexity and for poorer signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). The dual-task measure of listening effort also increased for sentences presented at a +5 dB SNR compared with a +15 dB SNR. Skin conductance was elevated for greater task complexity only, and similar across noise conditions. None of these measures were significantly correlated with subjective measures of listening effort. CONCLUSIONS Heart-rate variability appears to be a robust psychophysiological indicator of listening effort, sensitive to both task complexity and SNR. This sensitivity to SNR was similar to a dual-task measure of listening effort.
Transfer entropy analysis of maternal and fetal heart rate coupling

Although evidence of the short term relationship between maternal and fetal heart rates has been found in previous model-based studies, knowledge about the mechanism and patterns of the coupling during gestation is still limited. In this study, a model-free method based on Transfer Entropy (TE) was applied to quantify the maternal-fetal heart rate couplings in both directions. Furthermore, analysis of the lag at which TE was maximum and its changes throughout gestation, provided more information about the mechanism of coupling and its latency. Experimental results based on fetal electrocardiograms (fECGs) and maternal ECG showed the evidence of coupling for 62 out of 65 healthy mothers and fetuses in each direction, by statistically validating against the surrogate pairs. The fetuses were divided into three gestational age groups: early (16-25 weeks), mid (26-31 weeks) and late (32-41 weeks) gestation. The maximum TE from maternal to fetal heart rate significantly increased from early to mid gestation, while the coupling delay on both directions decreased significantly from mid to late gestation. These changes occur concomitant with the maturation of the fetal sensory and autonomic nervous systems with advancing gestational age. In conclusion, the application of TE with delays revealed detailed information about the changes in fetal-maternal heart rate coupling strength and latency throughout gestation, which could provide novel clinical markers of fetal development and well-being.
Accuracy of connected confidence left ventricle segmentation in 3-D multi-slice computerized tomography images

Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in the World. This fact has motivated different actions for prevention, diagnosis and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases. In this work, the accuracy of a connected confidence left ventricle segmentation method is performed. This task is accomplished using a software platform for left ventricle segmentation of 3-D cardiac Multi-Slice Computerized Tomography (MSCT) images that is also described. The software platform has as a goal performing research about efficient methods for cardiac image segmentation and quantification. The accuracy assessment of the segmentation method is performed by comparing the estimated segmentation with respect to segmentations manually traced by cardiologists. Results show that the segmentation method provides Dice Similarity coefficients higher than 0.90 with low computational cost. The obtained segmentation is able to include within the left ventricular lumen the papillary trabeculae muscles, enabling further accurate estimation of the left ventricular mass.
Business model development – it’s all about perceived value

for the 30th Annual IMP Conference 2014 in Bordeaux – Competitive Paper Kirsten L. Frandsen (CA)* Industrial Ph.d. student Email: kifra@sam.sdu. dk Kristin B. Munksgaard* Associate Professor, PhD Email: kbm@sam.sdu. dk Torben Damgaard* Vice-dean, PhD Email: torben@sam.sdu. dk *) Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management University of Southern Denmark, Engstien 1, DK-6000 Kolding
Technical complications of implant-causes and management: A comprehensive review

Given the increasing popularity of dental implants, the number of failures due to late implant fracture is also expected to increase. Hence, the scope for prevention and management needs to be emphasized. The objective of this review article is to analyze the various causes of failure of dental implants due to implant fixture/abutment screw fractures and also to enumerate the management and the preventive options for these failures, thereby aiming to help the clinicians to properly plan the implant-supported prosthesis treatment by considering the important biomechanical aspects of this type of rehabilitation. The present review emphasizes the causes and management of technical complications and not the incidence of such complications.
Minimization of tool switches for a flexible manufacturing machine with slot assignment of different tool sizes

The problem addressed in this paper is the tool switching problem for an automated manufacturing environment, when each tool may occupy more than one slot of the tool magazine. A machine processes parts automatically by using a limited capacity tool magazine. Providing a tool that is needed for a certain processing operation is not in the magazine, a tool switch must occur before the job can be processed, a time/cost consuming operation. To solve this problem, one has to decide three types of decisions, namely, how to select the jobs' sequence (machine loading), which tools to switch before each processing operation (tool loading) and where to locate each tool in the magazine (slot loading). We present an integer programming formulation for the problem and suggest a heuristic procedure to obtain a solution. Our heuristic is partly a generalization of previously suggested approaches to the first two decision types, but it is mainly oriented towards answering the third decision type. The unified problem has not been addressed previously in the literature. We present a numerical study that demonstrates the efficiency of our procedure.
Knowledge management perception: An exploratory study of a payphone company in Malaysia

This paper will discuss the survey that was carried out in Malaysia’s biggest payphone company.Payphone service is considered a sunset business.However, it is part of the social responsible corporate entity that supports the public payphones project embarked by the government under the Universal Service Provision (USP) fund at various rural and remote locations throughout Malaysia.The main objective of this research is to assess employees’ perception towards KM initiatives in the payphone organization.Data were collected through questionnaires survey with technical support staff, engineers and managers. Descriptive analyses were conducted which include respondent’s profiles, types of challenges faced by the organisation and employees’ perception of KM practices.One of the findings indicated that people-to-people relationship is important in implementing effective KM in the organization.
Validation of the CHADS2 clinical prediction rule to predict ischaemic stroke

Summary The CHADS2 predicts annual risk of ischaemic stroke in non-valvular atrial fibrillation. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to determine the predictive value of CHADS2. The literature was systematically searched from 2001 to October 2010. Data was pooled and analysed using discrimination and calibration statistical measures, using a random effects model. Eight data sets (n=2815) were included. The diagnostic accuracy suggested a cut-point of ≥1 has higher sensitivity (92%) than specificity (12%) and a cut-point of ≥4 has higher specificity (96%) than sensitivity (33%). Lower summary estimates were observed for cut-points ≥2 (sensitivity 79%, specificity 42%) and ≥3 (specificity 77%, sensitivity 50%). There was insufficient data to analyse cut-points ≥5 or ≥6. Moderate pooled c statistic values were identified for the classic (0.63, 95% CI 0.52–0.75) and revised (0.60, 95% CI 0.43–0.72) view of stratification of the CHADS2 . Calibration analysis in-dicated no significant difference between the predicted and observed strokes across the three risk strata for the classic or revised view. All results were associated with high heterogeneity, and conclusions should be made cautiously. In conclusion, the pooled c statistic and calibration analysis suggests minimal clinical utility of both the classic and revised view of the CHADS2 in predicting ischaemic stroke across all risk strata. Due to high heterogeneity across studies and low event rates across all risk strata, the results should be interpreted cautiously. Further validation of CHADS2 should perhaps be undertaken, given the methodological differences between many of the available validation studies and the original CHADS2 derivation study.
Biology of Physical Activity in Youth Assessment of physical activity in youth

Corder K, Ekelund U, Steele RM, Wareham NJ, Brage S. Assessment of physical activity in youth. J Appl Physiol 105: 977–987, 2008. First published July 17, 2008; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00094. 2008. —Despite much progress with physical activity assessment, the limitations concerning the accurate measurement of physical activity are often amplified in young people due to the cognitive, physiological, and biomechanical changes that occur during natural growth as well as a more intermittent pattern of habitual physical activity in youth compared with adults. This mini-review describes and compares methods to assess habitual physical activity in youth and discusses main issues regarding the use and interpretation of data collected with these techniques. Self-report instruments and movement sensing are currently the most frequently used methods for the assessment of physical activity in epidemiological research; others include heart rate monitoring and multisensor systems. Habitual energy expenditure can be estimated from these input measures with varying degree of uncertainty. Nonlinear modeling techniques, using accelerometry perhaps in combination with physiological parameters like heart rate or temperature, have the greatest potential for increasing the prediction accuracy of habitual physical activity energy expenditure. Although multisensor systems may be more accurate, this must be balanced against feasibility, a balance that shifts with technological and scientific advances and should be considered at the beginning of every new study.
The dynamics of entrepreneurship in ICT: case of mobile phones downstream services in Kenya

The research paper explores the extent to which mobile phones downstream services, defined here as those provided using the existing connectivity, are generating opportunities for entrepreneurship development in Kenya. After identifying the services of mobile payphones, money transfer and phone repair, the paper analyses the micro-enterprises providing them and their contribution to income and employment creation. It shows that majority of the enterprises providing the services are survivalists and they are characterised by minimal barriers to entry and therefore stiff competition. Those in growth-oriented category are characterised by barriers to entry and specialisation. These enterprises have made a notable contribution to the concerned households and the economy in form of employment opportunities, income generation and linkage with other sectors. They directly supported over 25,000 households in addition to the extra staff employed in them. Across the board the incomes of the operators improved after engaging in the enterprises. The enterprises also created opportunities for women, youth, people with disabilities and those with low or no education. To the economy, payphones have contributed to increasing the mobile phones coverage to 75% of the country; money transfer services have provided cheaper financial transactions and means of sending emergency funds; while repair services have enabled low income earners to remain connected even when they could not afford to buy new phones. The paper therefore concludes that mobile phones downstream services have generated entrepreneurial opportunities to many as well as contributing positively to the goal of fighting poverty.
Multi-labeled Data Expressed by a Set of Labels

Collected data must be organized to be utilized efficiently, and hierarchical classification of data is efficient approach to organize data. When data is classified to multiple categories or annotated with a set of labels, users request multi-labeled data by giving a set of labels. There are several interpretations of the data expressed by a set of labels. This paper discusses which data is expressed by a set of labels by introducing orders for sets of labels and shows that there are four types of orders, which are characterized by whether the labels of expressed data includes every label of the given set of labels within the range of the set. Desirable properties of the orders, data is also expressed by the higher set of labels and different sets of labels express different data, are discussed for the orders. Keywords—Classification Hierarchies, Multi-labeled Data, Multiple Classificaiton, Orders of Sets of Labels
Robust Control of Stochastic Systems Against Bounded Disturbances With Application to Flight Control

This paper investigates the problems of state observer design and observer-based integral sliding-mode control (SMC) for a class of Itô stochastic systems subject to simultaneous input and output disturbances. A new type of sliding-mode-based descriptor observer method is developed to approximate the system state and disturbance vectors. An integral-type SMC scheme is proposed based on the state estimation to stabilize the overall system. The main contributions of this approach are as follows: 1) The desired estimations of state and disturbance vectors can be obtained simultaneously, and 2) in the designed sliding-mode observer, the integral term of the Itô stochastic noise is eliminated in the proposed sliding-mode surface by a matrix design; thus, the reachability of the sliding-mode surface is strictly guaranteed. Finally, the proposed approach is applied to the disturbance reconstruction problem of an F-18 aircraft model to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability.
A medical data trustworthiness assessment model

Electronic Health Record systems are being introduced to overcome the limitations associated with paper-based and isolated Electronic Medical Record systems. This is accomplished by aggregating medical data and consolidating them in one digital repository. Though an EHR system provides obvious functional benefits, there is a growing concern about reliability trust (trustworthiness) of Electronic Health Records. Security requirements such as confidentiality, integrity, and availability can be satisfied by traditional data security mechanisms. However, measuring data trustworthiness is an issue that cannot be solved with traditional mechanisms, especially since degrees of trust change over time. In this chapter, a Medical Data Trustworthiness Assessment model to assist an EHR system to validate the trustworthiness of received/stored medical data based on who entered the data and when is presented. The MDTA model uses a statistical approach that depends on the observed experiences available to the EHR system. In order to provide an accurate trustworthiness estimate for historical medical data, a time scope around the time when the data was entered was used. This scope enables the model to capture the dynamic behavior of the data entry agent’s trustworthiness. To conduct this assessment medical metadata is used to extract information about the medical data sources (e.g. timestamps, and the identities of healthcare agents and medical practitioners) and, thereafter, this information is used in a statistical process to derive a trustworthiness value for the medical data. The result can then be expressed in the displayed health record by manipulating the EHR’s metadata to alert the medical practitioner to possible trustworthiness problems.
AIRPORT CHOICE AND COMPETITION - A STRATEGIC APPROACH

After discussing some background information of the aviation sector, a strategic approach for the management of airports is shown, which can be embedded in the decision making process. Two modeling issues are highlighted; one concerns the non-linearity of consumer behavior which touches a major principle in modelling including the airport choice, and the other deals with competition in the aviation sector focusing on the possibility of measuring it so that a quantification is possible. The applied system approach ensures that effects based on the synergy of air networks, the competition among alternatives and between air and the land based modes as well as the co-operation of modes are taken into account in the simulation process.
Overview of Planning and Scheduling for Enterprise-wide Optimization of Process Industries (Übersicht über Planungs- und Feinplanungssysteme für die unternehmensweite Optimierung in der verfahrenstechnischen Industrie

Enterprise-wide optimization (EWO) is a new emerging area that lies at the interface of chemical engineering and operations research, and has become a major goal in the process industries due to the increasing pressures for remaining competitive in the global marketplace. EWO involves optimizing the operations of supply, production and distribution activities of a company to reduce costs and inventories. A major focus in EWO is the production optimization, which often requires the use of nonlinear process models. Major operational items include production planning, scheduliOverview of Planning and Scheduling for Enterprise-wide Optimization of Process Industriesng, real-time optimization and control. This paper provides an overview of major challenges in the development of deterministic and stochastic linear/nonlinear optimization models and algorithms for the optimization of entire supply chains that are involved in EWO problems. We specifically review two major challenges: (a) modeling of planning and scheduling, (b) multiscale optimization. We consider two major applications in batch scheduling and crude oil scheduling. We conclude with a brief discussion on future directions. Unternehmensweite Optimierung (Enterprise-wide optimization, EWO) ist ein neues Gebiet an der Schnittstelle zwischen chemischer Verfahrenstechnik und Operations Research. Wegen steigender Wettbewerbsanforderungen auf den globalen Märkten hat es sich zu einem bedeutenden Ziel in der Prozessindustrie entwickelt. EWO umfasst die Optimierung des Betriebs von Versorgungs-, Herstellungs- und Verteilungsaktivitäten von Unternehmen mit dem Ziel der Verringerung von Kosten und Lagerbeständen. Ein wichtiger Bereich von EWO ist die Optimierung der Herstellung, wozu häufig nichtlineare Prozessmodelle erforderlich sind. Produktionsplanung und -feinplanung, Echtzeitoptimierung und Regelung gehören zu den wichtige operativen Aufgaben. Dieser Beitrag liefert eine Übersicht über die wesentlichen Herausforderungen in der Entwicklung von deterministischen sowie linearen/nichtlinearen stochastischen Optimierungsmodellen und Algorithmen zur Optimierung der gesamten Versorgungskette (supply chain), die Teil der EWO-Problemstellung sind. Insbesondere werden zwei wesentliche Herausforderungen besprochen: (a) Die Modellierung von Planungs- und Feinplanungsaufgaben, und (b) die Optimierung auf verschiedenen Zeitskalen (multiscale optimization). Dazu werden zwei Anwendungen der Feinplanung im Bereich Chargenprozesse sowie Mineralölverarbeitung vorgestellt. Eine kurze Diskussion und ein Ausblick auf zukünftige Arbeiten beschließen den Beitrag.
Visual Wikipedia : Landmark Detection for Cities

When people visit a certain city there are some particular places that strike to their tourist appeal and these places summarize the city, in some sense, for them. We want to automatically summarize the tourist appeal for cities by singling out these visually striking landmarks along with a brief verbal description for them. Earlier applications have looked at finding visual distinction between cities, but we are aiming at identifying distinctions within the local domain. We divide the city in blocks on the basis of its latitude and longitude, and try to find out those blocks which have more unusual or interesting visual information as compared to the rest. By intuition, all the interesting places must be exclusive to their own blocks hence must get highlighted upon comparison with the rest of the dataset. Using our approach we were able to find a few landmarks for a portion of Paris and Pittsburgh which are shown in the form of heat maps. We also try to find out the similarities or patterns between these two cities and see if these unusual places follow a certain theme.
0 Earthquake Observation by Social Sensors

Social media have garnered much attention recently and the number of social media users has been increasing. Social media are kinds of media for social interaction among users. Users create contents for themselves and exchange them on social media. Social media include many kinds of forms, including weblog, wikis, videos and microblogs. One of the biggest characteristics of social media is user-generated contents.
The Valuation of Callable-Puttable Reverse Convertible bonds

Many companies issue some complex structured bonds. A reverse convertible bond is one of such structured bonds. In this paper we consider a valuation model of callable-puttable reverse convertible bonds which have the complex payoff in a setting of the optimal stopping problem between the issuer and the investor. Reverse convertible bonds issued by a company can be exchanged for the shares of another company. We analyze the pricing of reverse convertible bonds with call and put clauses and explore analytical properties of the value of the reverse convertible bond and optimal call and put boundaries by the issuer and the investor, respectively. Furthermore, we investigate how the call and put clauses affect the value and the optimal strategies for both of them.