Understanding Satisfaction With Service Providers From The Resource-Based View Of A Firm

Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), the aim of this research is to better understand how satisfaction with application service providers (ASPs) is affected by intangible assets in interorganizational relationships (e.g. antecedents of non-contractibility), which in turn are influenced by IT-enabled resources such as information systems (IS) integration and ambidexterity of software development. Empirical findings support the proposed model. We discuss the implications for practitioners and research

Detection of sinusoidal amplitude modulation in logarithmic frequency sweeps across wide regions of the spectrum

a b s t r a c t Many natural sounds such as speech contain concurrent amplitude and frequency modulation (AM and FM), with the FM components often in the form of directional frequency sweeps or glides. Most studies of modulation coding, however, have employed one modulation type in stationary carriers, and in cases where mixed-modulation sounds have been used, the FM component has typically been confined to an extremely narrow range within a critical band. The current study examined the ability to detect AM signals carried by broad logarithmic frequency sweeps using a 2-alternative forced-choice adaptive psychophysical design. AM-detection thresholds were measured as a function of signal modulation rate and carrier sweep frequency region. Thresholds for detection of AM in a sweep carrier ranged from À8 dB for an AM rate of 8 Hz to À30 dB at 128 Hz. Compared to thresholds obtained for stationary carriers (pure tones and filtered Gaussian noise), detection of AM carried by frequency sweeps substantially declined at low (12 dB at 8 Hz) but not high modulation rates. Several trends in the data, including sweep-versus stationary-carrier threshold patterns and effects of frequency region were predicted from a modulation filterbank model with an envelope-correlation decision statistic

The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

We review the evidence for buried ice in the asteroid belt; specifically the questions around the so-called Main Belt Comets (MBCs). We summarise the evidence for water throughout the Solar System, and describe the various methods for detecting it, including remote sensing from ultraviolet to radio wavelengths. We review progress in the first decade of study of MBCs, including observations, modelling of ice survival, and discussion on their origins. We then look at which methods will likely be most effective for further progress, including the key challenge of direct detection of (escaping) water in these bodies

Detection of coronary lesions in Kawasaki disease by Scaled-YOLOv4 with HarDNet backbone

IntroductionKawasaki disease (KD) may increase the risk of myocardial infarction or sudden death. In children, delayed KD diagnosis and treatment can increase coronary lesions (CLs) incidence by 25% and mortality by approximately 1%. This study focuses on the use of deep learning algorithm-based KD detection from cardiac ultrasound images.MethodsSpecifically, object detection for the identification of coronary artery dilatation and brightness of left and right coronary artery is proposed and different AI algorithms were compared. In infants and young children, a dilated coronary artery is only 1-2 mm in diameter than a normal one, and its ultrasound images demonstrate a large amount of noise background-this can be a considerable challenge for image recognition. This study proposes a framework, named Scaled-YOLOv4-HarDNet, integrating the recent Scaled-YOLOv4 but with the CSPDarkNet backbone replaced by the CSPHarDNet framework.ResultsThe experimental result demonstrated that the mean average precision (mAP) of Scaled-YOLOv4-HarDNet was 72.63%, higher than that of Scaled YOLOv4 and YOLOv5 (70.05% and 69.79% respectively). In addition, it could detect small objects significantly better than Scaled-YOLOv4 and YOLOv5.ConclusionsScaled-YOLOv4-HarDNet may aid physicians in detecting KD and determining the treatment approach. Because relatively few artificial intelligence solutions about images for KD detection have been reported thus far, this paper is expected to make a substantial academic and clinical contribution

Detection of SARS-associated Coronavirus in Throat Wash and Saliva in Early Diagnosis

Early detection of SARS-CoV in throat wash and saliva suggests that these specimens are ideal for SARS diagnosis

Urate-lowering treatment and risk of total joint replacement in patients with gout

Objectives: To examine whether gout is an independent risk factor for total joint replacement (TJR) and whether urate-lowering treatment (ULT) reduces this risk. Methods: Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance database and the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, 74 560 Taiwan patients and 34 505 UK patients with incident gout were identified and age and sex matched to people without gout. Cox proportional hazards models and condition logistic regression were used to examine the risk of TJR in gout patients and the association between cumulative defined daily dose (cDDD) of ULT and TJR.Results: The prevalence rates of TJR in the patients at the time of diagnosis of gout and in people without gout were 1.16% vs 0.82% in Taiwan and 2.61% vs 1.76% in the UK. After a gout diagnosis, the incidence of TJR was higher in the patients with gout compared with those without (3.23 vs 1.91 cases/1000 person-years in Taiwan and 6.87 vs 4.61 cases/1000 person-years in the UK), with adjusted HRs of 1.56 (95% CI 1.45, 1.68) in Taiwan and 1.14 (1.05, 1.22) in the UK. Compared with patients with gout with 180 cDDD ULT in Taiwan. In the UK, the respective ORs were 1.09 (0.83, 1.42), 0.93 (0.68, 1.27) and 1.08 (0.94, 1.24).Conclusion: This population-based study provides evidence from two nation populations that gout confers significant TJR risk, which was not reduced by current ULT

Observer weighting of interaural cues in positive and negative envelope slopes of amplitude-modulated waveforms

The auditory system can encode interaural delays in highpass-filtered complex sounds by phase locking to their slowly modulating envelopes. Spectrotemporal analysis of interaurally time-delayed highpass waveforms reveals the presence of a concomitant interaural level cue. The current study systematically investigated the contribution of time and concomitant level cues carried by positive and negative envelope slopes of a modified sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) high-frequency carrier. The waveforms were generated from concatenation of individual modulation cycles whose envelope peaks were extended by the desired interaural delay, allowing independent control of delays in the positive and negative modulation slopes. In experiment 1, thresholds were measured using a 2-interval forced-choice adaptive task for interaural delays in either the positive or negative modulation slopes. In a control condition, thresholds were measured for a standard SAM tone. In experiment 2, decision weights were estimated using a multiple-observation correlational method in a single-interval forced-choice task for interaural delays carried simultaneously by the positive, and independently, negative slopes of the modulation envelope. In experiment 3, decision weights were measured for groups of 3 modulation cycles at the start, middle, and end of the waveform to determine the influence of onset dominance or recency effects. Results were consistent across experiments: thresholds were equal for the positive and negative modulation slopes. Decision weights were positive and equal for the time cue in the positive and negative envelope slopes. Weights were also larger for modulations cycles near the waveform onset. Weights estimated for the concomitant interaural level cue were positive for the positive envelope slope and negative for the negative slope, consistent with exclusive use of time cues.We thank Virginia M. Richards and Bruce G. Berg for helpful discussions. We also thank Brian C. J. Moore and an anonymous reviewer for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Work supported by grants from the National Science Council, Taiwan NSC 98-2410-H-008-081-MY3 and NIH R01DC009659

Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks

In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge, and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control, learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity, localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature, and identify topics that require more research attention in the future