SELLER-BUYER TRUST IN CROSS-BORDER E-COMMERCE: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL

We conceptualize and propose a theoretical model of sellers’ trust in buyers in the cross border e-commerce context. This model is based on by signalling theory, which is further refined by using trust theories and empirical findings from prior e-commerce trust research. _x000D_ _x000D_ Keywords: buyer-seller trust, cross-border, e-commerce, signalling theory, trust theory, small and medium sized._x000D

Improved Noisy Student Training for Automatic Speech Recognition

Recently, a semi-supervised learning method known as "noisy student training" has been shown to improve image classification performance of deep networks significantly. Noisy student training is an iterative self-training method that leverages augmentation to improve network performance. In this work, we adapt and improve noisy student training for automatic speech recognition, employing (adaptive) SpecAugment as the augmentation method. We find effective methods to filter, balance and augment the data generated in between self-training iterations. By doing so, we are able to obtain word error rates (WERs) 4.2%/8.6% on the clean/noisy LibriSpeech test sets by only using the clean 100h subset of LibriSpeech as the supervised set and the rest (860h) as the unlabeled set. Furthermore, we are able to achieve WERs 1.7%/3.4% on the clean/noisy LibriSpeech test sets by using the unlab-60k subset of LibriLight as the unlabeled set for LibriSpeech 960h. We are thus able to improve upon the previous state-of-the-art clean/noisy test WERs achieved on LibriSpeech 100h (4.74%/12.20%) and LibriSpeech (1.9%/4.1%).Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables; v2: minor revisions, reference adde

Nested sampling statistical errors

Nested sampling (NS) is a popular algorithm for Bayesian computation. We investigate statistical errors in NS both analytically and numerically. We show two analytic results. First, we show that the leading terms in Skilling's expression using information theory match the leading terms in Keeton's expression from an analysis of moments. This approximate agreement was previously only known numerically and was somewhat mysterious. Second, we show that the uncertainty in single NS runs approximately equals the standard deviation in repeated NS runs. Whilst intuitive, this was previously taken for granted. We close by investigating our results and their assumptions in several numerical examples, including cases in which NS uncertainties increase without bound.Comment: 12 pages + appendices, 3 figure

Effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on the expressions of Cox-2 and GST-Pi in rats with hepatocellular carcinoma risk

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and aggressive cancers worldwide, and the pathogenesis is very complicated at present. There is rare effective therapeutic measure, and the novel therapeutic strategies are urgently required to improve clinical outcome. Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb) is reported to be with an anti-cancer activity. Objectives: This study was performed to explore the effect of EGb on expressions of cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) and glutathione S-transferase Pi (GST-Pi) in the pathogenesis of HCC risk. Methods: 120 Wistar rats were divided into three groups at random: normal control group (control group), HCC risk group without treatment (HCC risk group), HCC risk group treated with EGb (EGb group); n=40, respectively. The HCC risk in rat was induced by aflatoxin B1 injection. At the end of 13-week, 33-week, 53-week and 73-week, 10 rats in each group were killed and the relevant samples were collected. Results: The mRNA and protein expressions of Cox-2 and GST-Pi were measured by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemical analysis and western-blot. When compared with those in control group in 73-week, the mRNA and protein expressions of GST-Pi in EGb group were weakened than those in HCC risk group in 73-week. However, the mRNA and protein expressions of Cox-2 in HCC risk group were increased than that of control group, and there was no statistical difference for mRNA and protein expressions of Cox-2 between HCC risk group and EGb group. Conclusion: EGb can regulate the expression of GST-Pi, but it can’t take an effect on the Cox-2 expression in the liver of HCC risk rats.Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb); Cox-2; GST-PiAfrican Health sciences Vol 14 No. 1 March 201

Knee-point-conscious battery aging trajectory prediction of lithium-ion based on physics-guided machine learning

Early prediction of aging trajectories of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries is critical for cycle life testing, quality control, and battery health management. Although data-driven machine learning (ML) approaches are well suited for this task, unfortunately, relying solely on data is exceedingly time-consuming and resource-intensive, even in accelerated aging with complex aging mechanisms. This challenge is rooted in the highly complex and time-varying degradation mechanisms of Li-ion battery cells. We propose a novel method based on physics-guided machine learning (PGML) to overcome this issue. First, electrode-level physical information is incorporated into the model training process to predict the aging trajectory’s knee point (KP). The relationship between the identified KP and the accelerated aging behavior is then explored, and an aging trajectory prediction algorithm is developed. The prior knowledge of aging mechanisms enables a transfer of valuable physical insights to yield accurate KP predictions with small data and weak correlation feature relationship. Based on a Li[NiCoMn]O\ua02\ua0cell dataset, we demonstrate that only 14 cells are needed to train a PGML model for achieving a lifetime prediction error of 2.02% using the data of the first 50 cycles. In contrast, at least 100 cells are needed to reach this level of accuracy without the physical insights

Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on compliance in primary open angle glaucoma patients with topical medication

AIM: To explore the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction(MBSR)on anxiety, compliance and visual function in primary open angle glaucoma(POAG)patients.METHODS:Totally 64 patients, who were treated with topical medication and were diagnosed with POAG in the department of ophthalmology at Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, were randomly divided into the intervention group(n=32)and the control group(n=32). Both groups received conventional mental health education while the intervention group was complemented with MBSR intervention. The patient's anxiety status, compliance rates and MD before and after the intervention were evaluated.RESULTS:After the MBSR intervention, the scores of HAMA of the intervention group were significantly lower than that of the control group(PPCONCLUSION:The MBSR intervention can effectively relieve the anxiety of patients and improve the compliance in primary open angle glaucoma patients. It can be promoted and put into clinical application

Structural, stereochemical, and bioactive studies of cembranoids from Chinese soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum

LBK

Asymmetrical two-atom entanglement in a coated microsphere

We study evolution of entanglement of two two-level atoms placed inside a multilayered microsphere. We show that due to inhomogeneity of the field modes this entanglement essentially depends on the atomic positions (asymmetrical entanglement) and also on the detuning between the atomic transitions and field frequencies. The robust and complete entanglement can be achieved even in the resonant case when the atoms have different effective coupling constants, and it can be extended in time if the detuning is large enough. We study analytically the lossless case and estimate numerically the effect of dissipative processes