A proposal for the development of adaptive spoken interfaces to access the Web

Spoken dialog systems have been proposed as a solution to facilitate a more natural human–machine interaction. In this paper, we propose a framework to model the user׳s intention during the dialog and adapt the dialog model dynamically to the user needs and preferences, thus developing more efficient, adapted, and usable spoken dialog systems. Our framework employs statistical models based on neural networks that take into account the history of the dialog up to the current dialog state in order to predict the user׳s intention and the next system response. We describe our proposal and detail its application in the Let׳s Go spoken dialog system.Work partially supported by Projects MINECO TEC2012-37832- C02-01, CICYT TEC2011-28626-C02-02, CAM CONTEXTS (S2009/ TIC-1485

XIAP Protection of Photoreceptors in Animal Models of Retinitis Pigmentosa

BACKGROUND: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a blinding genetic disorder that is caused by the death of photoreceptors in the outer nuclear layer of the retina. To date, 39 different genetic loci have been associated with the disease, and 28 mutated genes have been identified. Despite the complexity of the underlying genetic basis for RP, the final common pathway is photoreceptor cell death via apoptosis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, P23H and S334ter rhodopsin transgenic rat models of RP were used to test the neuroprotective effects of anti-apoptotic gene therapy. Adeno-associated viruses (AAV) carrying the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) or green fluorescent protein (GFP) were delivered subretinally into the eye of transgenic rat pups. Histological and functional measures were used to assess neuroprotection. XIAP is known to block apoptosis by inhibiting the action of caspases-3, -7 and -9. The results show that XIAP gene therapy provides long-term neuroprotection of photoreceptors at both structural and functional levels. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our gene therapy strategy targets the apoptotic cascade, which is the final common pathway in all forms of retinitis pigmentosa. This strategy holds great promise for the treatment of RP, as it allows for the broad protection of photoreceptors, regardless of the initial disease causing mutation

Electronics Retail Store Atmospherics: A Consumer Type Comparison : A Quantitative Study of Consumer Types and Their Valuation of Sensory Cues

Background: Every fifth physical electronics store has been closed during the period between 2011 to 2017, and 30 % of all electronic products are now purchased online. As digitalization has affected both the number of physical stores negatively, but also loyalty towards firms among consumers, as price has become a more crucial role in decision making online, there is a need for physical stores to exploit the advantages that cannot be facilitated online to stay competitive. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to extend the understanding of how the valuation of sensory cues is related to consumer types in an electronics retail store context.Research Questions: To what extent are consumers in an electronics retail store utilitarian and hedonic in their needs and behavior? How do these consumers, in comparison to each other, value sensory cues in an electronics retail store environment?Methodology: The study uses a quantitative research approach with a cross-sectional research design and collects data through an online questionnaire. Findings: Consumers in an electronics retail store context tend to possess a higher degree of utilitarian traits and valued the importance of addressing the human senses significantly lower than consumers with a higher degree of hedonic traits. A significant difference between the groups is found for sight, sound and smell. Touch was found to be the most important sense for both groups. Managerial Implications: Contributes to knowledge managers could consider when relating the human senses to the strategic build-up of a store concept or the design of a retail environment.Further Research: Further research could investigate how the relationship, interplay and potential overload of stimuli affect consumers, either based on hedonic and utilitarian characteristics or other factors such as age and gender. Originality: To the best of the author’s knowledge, no other studies is researching the valuation of sensory cues in an electronics retail store environment from the consumers perspective. Keywords: Sensory Marketing, Consumer Types, Utilitarian, Hedonic, Atmospherics, Electronics Store, Retail Marketin

Μέθοδοι ανάλυσης και ψηφιακής επεξεργασίας για την βελτίωση σημάτων ομιλίας και μουσικής σε χώρους με αντήχηση

This thesis presents novel signal processing algorithms for speech and music dereverberation. The proposed algorithms focus on blind single-channel suppression of late reverberation however binaural and semi-blind methods have also been introduced Late reverberation is a particularly harmful distortion since it significantly decreases the perceived quality of the reverberant signals but also degrades the performance of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems and other speech and music processing algorithms. Hence the proposed deverberation methods can be either used as standalone enhancing techniques or implemented as preprocessing schemes prior to ASR or other applied systems. The main dereverberation method proposed here is a blind dereverberation technique based on perceptual reverberation modeling has been developed. This technique employs a computational auditory masking model and locates the signal regions where late reverberation is audible i.e. where it is unmasked from the clean signal components. Following a selective signal processing approach only such signal regions are further processed through sub-band gain filtering. The above technique has been evaluated for both speech and music signals and for a wide range of reverberation conditions. In all cases it was found to minimize the processing artifacts and to produce perceptually superior clean signal estimations than any other tested technique. Moreover extensive ASR tests have shown that it significantly improves the recognition performance especially in highly reverberant environments.Η διατριβή αποτελείται από εννιά κεφάλαια δυο παραρτήματα καθώς και την σχετική βιβλιογραφία. Είναι γραμμένη στα αγγλικά ενώ περιλαμβάνει και ελληνική περίληψη. Στην παρούσα διατριβή αναπτύσσονται μέθοδοι ψηφιακής επεξεργασίας σήματος για την αφαίρεση αντήχησης από σήματα ομιλίας και μουσικής. Οι προτεινόμενοι αλγόριθμοι καλύπτουν ε να μεγάλο εύρος εφαρμογών αρχικά εστιάζοντας στην τυφλή (blind) αφαίρεση για μονοκαναλικά σήματα. Στοχεύοντας σε πιο ειδικά σενάρια χρήσης προτείνονται επίσης αμφιωτικοί αλγόριθμοι άλλα και τεχνικές που προϋποθέτουν την πραγματοποίηση κάποιας ακουστικής μέτρησης. Οι αλγόριθμοι επικεντρώνουν στην αφαίρεση της καθυστερημένης αντήχησης που είναι ιδιαίτερα επιβλαβής για την ποιότητα σημάτων ομιλίας και μουσικής και μειώνει την καταληπτότητα της ομιλίας. Επίσης επειδή αλλοιώνει σημαντικά τα στατιστικά των σημάτων μειώνει σημαντικά την απόδοση συστημάτων αυτόματης αναγνώρισης ομιλίας καθώς και άλλων αλγορίθμων ψηφιακής επεξεργασίας ομιλίας και μουσικής. Έτσι οι προτεινόμενοι αλγόριθμοι μπορούν είτε να χρησιμοποιηθούν σαν αυτόνομες τεχνικές βελτίωσης της ποιότητας των ακουστικών σημάτων είτε να ενσωματωθούν σαν στάδια προ επεξεργασίας σε άλλες εφαρμογές. Η κυρία μέθοδος αφαίρεσης αντήχησης που προτείνεται στην διατριβή είναι βασισμένη στην αντιληπτική μοντελοποίηση και χρησιμοποιεί ένα σύγχρονο ψυχοακουστικό μοντέλο. Με βάση αυτό το μοντέλο γίνεται μια εκτίμηση των σημείων του σήματος που η αντήχηση είναι ακουστή δηλαδή που δεν επικαλύπτεται από το ισχυρότερο σε ένταση καθαρό από αντήχηση σήμα. Η συγκεκριμένη εκτίμηση οδηγεί σε μια επιλεκτική επεξεργασία σήματος οπού η αφαίρεση πραγματοποιείται σε αυτά και μονό τα σημεία μέσω πρωτοτύπων υβριδικών συναρτήσεων κέρδους που βασίζονται σε δείκτες αντικειμενικής και υποκειμενικής αλλοίωσης. Εκτεταμένα αντικειμενικά και υποκειμενικά πειράματα δείχνουν ότι η προτεινομένη τεχνική δίνει βέλτιστες ποιοτικά ανηχωικές εκτιμήσεις ανεξάρτητα από το μέγεθος του χώρου

Momentum strategies : Empirical evidence from the Swedish stock market

The study is based on the study of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993, 2001) which found evidence of succesfull trading strategies which yielded significant positive abnormal returns by exploiting a momentum pattern in stock prices. The purpose of this study is to contribute with empirical results to the discussions of efficient markets, momentum effects and behavioral finance by providing evidence from the Swedish stock market between the years 1998 and 2013. The conclusion is that there exists a Momentum Effect on the Swedish stock market. The utilization of momentum strategies yields significant positive abnormal returns. The Efficient Market Hypothesis is a model which might hold in the long-term, but shows limitations in the short-term. The implications of the results of this study are that short-term investor behavior and momentum profits might be partially explained by behavioral finance models but the origin of the momentum profits need to be further evaluated

One step forward or one step backwards? : A survey about how consumers prioritize safety and ease of use in the choice of modern or traditional pay method

Syfte: Identifiera de olika betalningsmedlen för att finna samband mellan upplevelserna av deras säkerhet, enkelhet och hur dessa aspekter påverkar valet av betalningsmedel. Metod: Kvantitativ metod Teori: Litteratur, vetenskapliga artiklar och empiriska rapporter Empiri: En enkätundersökning gjordes för datainsamling Slutsats: Undersökningen bekräftar att både upplevelsen av säkerhet och enkelhet påverkar konsumenterna i valet av betalningsmedel. Vår undersökning visar att enkelhet ör den vanli-gaste och viktigaste orsaken för en konsument i valet av betalningsmedel. Undersökningen visar även att i olika ålderskategorier skiljer sig användandet av de olika betalningsmedlen åt och den visar även på olika värderingsgrunder vad gäller säkerhet och enkelhet mellan ålders-kategorierna för valet av betalningsmedel.Purpose: Identify the different payment methods to find a connection between the perceived safety, the ease of use and how those aspects affects the choice of pay method in a buying process. Method: Quantitative method Theory: Literature, scientific articles and empirical reports Empirical foundation: A survey was made to collect data Conclusion: The research confirms that both safety and ease of use affects consumers in the choice of pay method. Our research shows that the ease of use is the most common and im-portant reason for a consumer when choosing a pay method. The survey also shows that in different age categories the use of the various means of payment is different and also shows a difference in the valuation of qualities as safety and ease of use between age categories for the choice of payment

Newt Opportunities for Understanding the Dedifferentiation Process

Urodele amphibians, such as the newt Notophthalmus viridescens, have the unique ability to regenerate limbs, spinal cord, eye structures, and many vital organs through a process called epimorphic regeneration. Although the cellular basis of regeneration has been studied in detail, we know relatively little about the molecular controls of the process. This review provides an overview of forelimb regeneration in the newt, addressing what we know about cellular and molecular aspects. Particular focus is placed on the dedifferentiation process, which yields a population of embryonic-like pluripotent cells that will eventually reform the lost structure. This cellular plasticity seems to be the key to regenerative ability. We discuss the dedifferentiation process in newt forelimb regeneration and outline the various studies that have revealed that mammalian cells also have the ability to dedifferentiate if given the appropriate triggers