Mining the Stars: Learning Quality Ratings with User-facing Explanations for Vacation Rentals

Abstract Background Mandarin Chinese has a rich repertoire of high-frequency speech sounds. This may pose a remarkable challenge to hearing-impaired listeners who speak Mandarin Chinese because of their high-frequency sloping hearing loss. An adaptive nonlinear frequency compression (adaptive NLFC) algorithm has been implemented in contemporary hearing aids to alleviate the problem. Purpose The present study examined the performance of speech perception and sound-quality rating in Mandarin-speaking hearing-impaired listeners using hearing aids fitted with adaptive NLFC (i.e., SoundRecover2 or SR2) at different parameter settings. Research Design Hearing-impaired listeners' phoneme detection thresholds, speech reception thresholds, and sound-quality ratings were collected with various SR2 settings. Study Sample The participants included 15 Mandarin-speaking adults aged 32 to 84 years old who had symmetric sloping severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. Intervention The participants were fitted bilaterally with Phonak Naida V90-SP hearing aids. Data Collection and Analysis The outcome measures included phoneme detection threshold using the Mandarin Phonak Phoneme Perception test, speech reception threshold using the Mandarin hearing in noise test (M-HINT), and sound-quality ratings on human speech in quiet and noise, bird chirps, and music in quiet. For each test, five experimental settings were applied and compared: SR2-off, SR2-weak, SR2-default, SR2-strong 1, and SR2-strong 2. Results The results showed that listeners performed significantly better with SR2-strong 1 and SR2-strong 2 settings than with SR2-off or SR2-weak settings for speech reception threshold and phoneme detection threshold. However, no significant improvement was observed in sound-quality ratings among different settings. Conclusions These preliminary findings suggested that the adaptive NLFC algorithm provides perceptual benefit to Mandarin-speaking people with severe-to-profound hearing loss.

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Toward a Valid Measure of E-Retailing Service Quality

Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research ◽

10.3390/jtaer2030020 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 36-48

Author(s):

John R. Rossiter

Keyword(s):

College Student ◽

Scale Development ◽

Service Quality ◽

Electronic Commerce ◽

Service Process ◽

Valid Measure ◽

Quality Ratings ◽

Four Levels

E-retailers are major players in the field of electronic commerce and their success would seem to depend on service quality, because they are selling the same products that traditional retailers sell. This article critiques Collier and Bienstock’s [5] new measure of e-retailing service quality and shows how the stages of e-retailing service quality can be more validly measured by adopting Rossiter’s [12] C-OAR-SE procedure for scale development. Collier and Bienstock`s measure is insufficiently valid because the measure (1) fails to specify the hierarchical objects that form the construct, and measures the overall object, e-retailing, wrongly by focusing on completed transactions; (2) does not fully acknowledge the hierarchy of attributes that form the construct and operationalizes these attributes wrongly as “reflective” when at all four levels they are “formed”; (3) inappropriately represents the rater entity by using college student participants; (4) employs unnecessarily numerous, often redundant, and sometimes ambiguous scale items, with Likert-type answer scales that make the observed scores managerially almost uninterpretable; and (5) tries to measure overall e-retailing service quality when it makes sense only to measure the separate quality ratings of sequential stages of the e-retailing service process. The article points out how these problems could be avoided by constructing a new measure that properly applies the C-OAR-SE procedure.

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Abstract TP250: Defining Technical Quality Standards for Mobile Telestroke Assessment: A Substudy of the Improving Treatment with Rapid Evaluation of Acute Stroke via Mobile Telemedicine (iTREAT) Mobile Telestroke Platform

Stroke ◽

10.1161/str.47.suppl_1.tp250 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 47 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Jason M Lippman ◽

Zachary G Sutton ◽

Timothy L McMurry ◽

Brian Gunnell ◽

Jack Cote ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Acute Stroke ◽

High Speed ◽

Low Cost ◽

Video Quality ◽

Stroke Care ◽

Video Data ◽

Acute Stroke Care ◽

Technical Standards ◽

Quality Ratings ◽

Transmission Quality

Introduction: In-ambulance use of remote videoconferencing for prehospital stroke assessment (mobile telestroke) is an emerging innovation in acute stroke care. As a new technology, there is a dearth of technical standards to ensure transmission quality and guide deployment in various EMS settings. Hypothesis: Subjective video quality ratings during in-vehicle mobile telestroke assessment correlate to objective video data transmission metrics. Methods: We performed videoconferencing via a low-cost, utilitarian mobile telestroke platform: tablet endpoint, high-speed 4G LTE modem, external antennae, HIPAA-secure videoconferencing application, and portable bracket mounting. We held test calls along typical ambulance routes recording transmission quality by a stationary and a mobile rater. We used a standardized 6-point scale of video quality: rating ≥ 4 deemed acceptable for mobile telestroke assessment. We recorded jitter, the variance in transmission data reception order, as simultaneously reported by the videoconferencing application. Results: We completed five test runs yielding 64 data ratings. Average jitter for ratings 1 through 6 was 434.9ms (SD = 407), 106.1ms (SD = 110), 41.4ms (SD = 29), 35.3ms (SD = 15), 29.5ms (SD = 6), and 29.0ms (SD = 2) respectively. Analyzing the raw data yielded an R2 of 0.41. As seen in Chart 1, video quality decreased as average jitter increased, but jitter values as low as 30ms were still seen across video transmission of all qualities. Conclusion: These preliminary data suggest modest correlation of transmission variance with subjective quality ratings using a low-cost mobile telestroke platform along rural-based ambulance routes. However, average transmission variance correlated highly (R2 = 0.93) suggesting more data ratings may improve the correlation. Testing of our mobile telestroke platform to assess performance and clinical efficacy as well as incorporate live acute stroke encounters is ongoing.

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ERPs and Quality Ratings Evoked by Phoneme Stimuli Under Varying SNR Conditions

T-Labs Series in Telecommunication Services - Neural Correlates of Quality Perception for Complex Speech Signals ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-15521-0_2 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 27-43

Author(s):

Jan-Niklas Antons

Keyword(s):

Quality Ratings

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Estimating Quality Ratings from Touch Interactions in Mobile Games

2018 Tenth International Conference on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX) ◽

10.1109/qomex.2018.8463419 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Carola Trahms ◽

Sebastian Moller ◽

Jan-Niklas Voigt-Antons

Keyword(s):

Mobile Games ◽

Quality Ratings

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Response of Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum ‘Ruby’ to Foliar Applications of Micronutrient Fertilizers and Miticide

Journal of Environmental Horticulture ◽

10.24266/0738-2898-26.4.235 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 235-238

Author(s):

Amy L. Shober ◽

Gary Leibee ◽

Moh Leng Kok-Yokomi

Keyword(s):

Plant Growth ◽

Significant Decline ◽

Fertilizer Treatment ◽

Copper Hydroxide ◽

Foliar Fertilizer ◽

Central Florida ◽

Quality Ratings ◽

Eriophyid Mites ◽

Quality Response

Abstract Loropetalum chinense (also called Chinese Fringebush or Chinese Witch Hazel) is commonly used in the Florida landscapes. However, in recent years, there have been increasing reports and complaints of unexplained decline throughout Central Florida. The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth and quality response of declining L. chinense plants to foliar micronutrient and miticide applications. L. chinense ‘Ruby’ plants exhibiting significant decline symptoms were treated with eight foliar fertilizer treatments (High Cu, Low Cu, Kocide® 2000 [copper hydroxide], B, Mn, Zn, and Peters S.T.E.M.) and half of the plants also received two treatments of GardenTech Sevin Concentrate Bug Killer® (carbaryl, 22.5% AI). Plant growth was not influenced by miticide or fertilizer treatments. However, plants sprayed with Cu (i.e., Cu high, Cu low, and Kocide) had quality ratings, at 4 and 8 weeks after treatment, that were significantly higher than plants treated with other foliar fertilizers. Additionally, results indicated that there was no fertilizer treatment effect on mite populations. Failure of the miticide to enhance plant quality ratings, suggested that eriophyid mites were not associated with decline symptoms. The quality of declining landscape plantings of L. chinense ‘Ruby’ can be improved with the application of foliar Cu sprays.

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