The Experts below are selected from a list of 4737 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jonas Beskow - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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MushyPeek: a framework for online investigation of audiovisual dialogue phenomena.
Language and speech, 2009Co-Authors: Jens Edlund, Jonas BeskowAbstract:Evaluation of methods and techniques for conversational and multimodal spoken dialogue systems is complex, as is gathering data for the modeling and tuning of such techniques. This article describes MushyPeek, an experiment framework that allows us to manipulate the audiovisual behavior of interlocutors in a setting similar to face-to-face human-human dialogue. The setup connects two subjects to each other over a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Telephone Connection and simultaneously provides each of them with an avatar representing the other. We present a first experiment which inaugurates, exemplifies, and validates the framework. The experiment corroborates earlier findings on the use of gaze and head pose gestures in turn-taking.
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MushyPeek: an experiment framework for controlled investigation of human-human interaction control behaviour
2007Co-Authors: Jens Edlund, Jonas Beskow, Mattias HeldnerAbstract:This paper describes MushyPeek, a experiment framework that allows us to manipulate interaction control behaviour – including turn-taking – in a setting quite similar to face-to-face human-human dialogue. The setup connects two subjects to each other over a VoIP Telephone Connection and simultaneuously provides each of them with an avatar representing the other. The framework is exemplified with the first experiment we tried in it – a test of the effectiveness interaction control gestures in an animated lip-synchronised talking head.
Yoshiaki Nose - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Remote Connection to the Kyushu University Medical Center LAN Using Digital and Analog Telephone Lines
Journal of Medical Systems, 1997Co-Authors: Yasuaki Antoku, Eisuke Hanada, Kouhei Akazawa, Yuko Kenjo, Yoshiaki NoseAbstract:SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) has recently become popular, as it makes working at home possible. Computers or Local Area Networks(LAN) connected to the office network from home are necessary for the implementation of this concept. Kyushu University has begun a service connecting home computers to the campus LAN for researchers, staff and students of the Faculty of Medicine. We have two different Telephone Connection methods. One connects the campus LAN and the home computer LAN using routers through the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). The other connects computers at home to the workstation in the university, using modems and the PPP (Point to Point Protocol) through a public Telephone analog line. This paper outlines our university SOHO Connection system and discusses the merits and demerits of using Telephone line Connections.
Xiu-mei Fan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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On building an Internet telephony gateway
2007 International Symposium on Communications and Information Technologies, 2007Co-Authors: Quanxin Zhang, Zhendong Niu, Yu-an Tan, Xiu-mei FanAbstract:An Internet telephony gateway server is proposed to integrate the Internet into the public switched Telephone network (PSTN) and allows speech communication to take place between users using conventional Telephones. Each gateway is composed of a voice modem connected to the server computer and a set of server software. Audio signal is converted into digital form by the voice modem, then the digital bitstream is encoded and transmitted by the software over the Internet, a Telephone Connection is established and terminated with the local trunk line. During the process encoded voice data buffered and stored by a buffering mechanism. The operating system is Microsoft Windows 2000 and telephony application program interface (TAPI) is used to control the voice modem and the coupled trunk line. Since Internet is used as the transport medium between two communicating gateways, long distance phone charges is saved while the user still use the ordinary Telephone as the end-point device instead of the headset and the personal computer (PC).
C.g. Sanderson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Semi-annual report of the Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management, Quality Assessment Program
1995Co-Authors: C.g. Sanderson, Pamela D Greenlaw, V. PanAbstract:This report presents the results from the analysis of the 42st set of environmental quality assessment samples (QAP XLII) that were received on or before June 1, 1995. This Quality Assessment Program (QAP) is designed to test the quality of the environmental measurements being reported to the Department of Energy by its contractors. Since 1976, real or synthetic environmental samples that have been prepared and thoroughly analyzed at the Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML) have been distributed at first quarterly and then semi-annually to these contractors. Their results, which are returned to EML within 90 days, are compiled with EML`s results and are reported back to the participating contractors 30 days later. A summary of the reported results is available to the participants 2 days after the reporting deadline via a modem-Telephone Connection to the EML computer
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Semi-annual report of the Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Quality Assessment Program
1993Co-Authors: C.g. Sanderson, C.s. KlusekAbstract:This Quality Assessment Program (QAP) is designed to test the quality of the environmental measurements being reported to the Department of Energy by its contractors. Since 1976. real or synthetic environmental samples that have been prepared and thoroughly analyzed at the Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML) have been distributed at first quarterly and then semi-annually to these contractors. Their results, which are returned to EML within 90 days, are compiled with EML's results and are reported back to the participating contractors 30 days later. A summary of the reported results is available to the participants 3 days after the reporting deadline via a modem-Telephone Connection to the EML computer. This is the 42nd report of this program.
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Semi-annual report of the Department of Energy Quality Assessment Program
1992Co-Authors: C.g. Sanderson, S.c. ScarpittaAbstract:This report presents the results from the analysis of the 35th set of environmental quality assessment samples (QAP XXXV) that were received on or before December 5, 1991. This Quality Assessment Program (QAP) is designed to test the quality of the environmental measurements being reported to the Department of Energy by its contractors. Since 1976, real or synthetic environmental samples that have been prepared and thoroughly analyzed at the Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML) have been distributed at first quarterly and then semi-annually to these contractors. Their results, which are returned to EML within 90 days, are compiled with EML`s results and are reported back to the participating contractors 30 days later. A summary of the reported results is available to the participants 3 days after the reporting deadline via a modem-Telephone Connection to the EML computer.
Rahul Goswami - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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medical visas mark growth of indian medical tourism
Bulletin of The World Health Organization, 2007Co-Authors: Rupa Chinai, Rahul GoswamiAbstract:Indian consulates and missions abroad face a growing number of inquiries about “M” or medical visas. The Indian Ministry of Tourism’s 13 overseas offices are stocked with information for those intending to travel to India for medical treatment. The new M-visas are valid for a year and are issued for companions too. Howard Staab, a 53-year-old from the United States, is one such tourist. His smiling face figures in the glossy brochure on medical tourism produced as part of Incredible India, the government’s big-budget marketing campaign to attract tourists. India’s efforts to promote medical tourism took off in late 2002, when the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) produced a study on the country’s medical tourism sector, in collaboration with international management consultants, McKinsey & Company, which outlined immense potential for the sector. The following year, then finance minister Jaswant Singh called for the country to become a “global health destination” and urged measures, such as improvements in airport infrastructure, to smooth the arrival and departure of medical tourists. Medical tourism is an example of how India is profiting from globalization and outsourcing. It is also a new form of consumer diplomacy, whereby foreigners who receive medical services in India help the country to promote itself as a business and tourism destination. India hosts medical tourists from industrialized countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, but also from its neighbours Bangladesh, China and Pakistan. It faces intense regional competition in this sector, particularly from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. A wide-range of services are on offer. Ministry of tourism brochures advertise cardiac surgery, minimally invasive surgery, oncology services, orthopaedics and joint replacement, and holistic health care, provided by about 45 hospitals promoted as “centres of excellence”. Health tourism is often hailed as a sector where developing countries, such as India, have huge potential due to their comparative advantage based on providing world-class treatment at low prices combined with attractive resorts for convalescence. The CII estimates that 150 000 medical tourists came to India in 2005, based on feedback from the organization’s member hospitals. Figures for M-visa entrants are not readily available. CII spokesperson Aditya Bahadur told the Bulletin that patients prefer to come on ordinary tourist visas to avoid the M-visa’s requirement that they register with the regional authorities within two weeks of arrival. A ministry of tourism brochure predicts a “phenomenal expansion” of the Indian health-care industry. According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the health-care market, which includes health insurance, is expected to expand by 2012 from US$ 22.2 billion, or 5.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), to between US$ 50 billion and US$ 69 billion, or 6.2% and 8.5% of GDP. While impressive, these figures do not address the divide between facilities oriented towards medical tourism and those that cater to the health needs of the average, usually rural, Indian. According the World Health Organization (WHO), private expenditure on health as a percentage of total expenditure on health in 2003 was 75%. That contrasted starkly with government expenditure of 25% in the same year, a portion which finances public health facilities that cater to most of India’s population. Fewer than 50% of India’s primary health centres have a labour room or a laboratory, while fewer than one in five have a Telephone Connection, according to the 2005 Reproductive and Child Health Facility Survey. Moreover, fewer than one in three primary health-care centres stocked essential drugs, in contrast to the situation in many new urban medical centres. Health care in India’s rural districts is poor, dogged by shortages of trained health workers, a lack of funds and corruption. Many patients resort to quacks or seek no medical care at all, since private practitioners are beyond the means of most. In contrast, to provide a guarantee of service quality for medical tourists, the Indian Ministry of Health has begun accrediting hospitals and recommending prices for services. So far 35 hospitals have applied for accreditation. CII has a certification system and has already approved 30 of its 120 hospital members. Under the CII system, certified hospitals must agree to limit charges to foreigners as part of a dual pricing-system that offers domestic patients lower prices. Non-resident Indian medical tourists are charged the same as any others from abroad. Still, even these lower prices are too high for the vast majority of India’s 1.1 billion population. The CII group, which also has an ethical code for member hospitals, is establishing a regulatory framework for its own members, raising questions about how effective such self-imposed rules can be. CII lawyers are also drawing up a standard contract to ensure that any litigation, arising from treatment, is dealt with in Indian courts. Currently, neither medical tourists nor Indian patients can take their cases to Indian courts. Their only recourse is India’s State and National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions, which have a huge backlog. “Any litigation launched against an Indian hospital will expose the poor system of justice that exists here,” said Dr Mohan Thomas, medical director of the Cosmetic Surgery Institute in Mumbai and Chairman of CII’s Healthcare Committee. But while helping to strengthen medical tourism, the Indian government is coming under increasing pressure to use these foreign exchange revenues to benefit the ailing and under-resourced public health system. The private sector hospitals argue that trickle-down payments for hotels and other services will improve the economy as a whole. But public health advocates say that, unless the Indian government actually allocates more of its revenues to public health systems, the impact will be negligible. “The government has not examined how our patients will benefit [from medical tourism] or whether they will lose out,” Dr Nilima Kshirsagar, dean of one of Mumbai’s largest public hospitals, the King Edward Memorial, told the Bulletin. “The need to benefit Indian patients is the main goal, and medical tourism cannot be at their cost.” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently acknowledged the need improve public health care: “There are many parts of our country where public-sector intervention in health is absolutely essential to carry conviction with our people and to improve the quality of delivery of services.” As the medical tourism sector grows, however, little is known about the impact this is having on its health workforce. Private hospitals argue that medical tourism reverses the brain drain and that health workers, who are migrating to economies where salaries are higher and career opportunities more attractive, will stay in India if they can work in the medical tourism sector. There are fears, however, that medical tourism could worsen the internal brain drain and lure professionals from the public sector and rural areas to take jobs in urban centres. “Although there are no ready figures that can be cited from studies, initial observations suggest that medical tourism dampens external migration but worsens internal migration,” said Dr Manuel Dayrit, director of WHO’s Human Resources for Health department. “It remains to be seen how significant these effects are going to be. But in either case, it does not augur well for the health care of patients who depend largely on the public sector for their services as the end result does not contribute to the retention of well-qualified professionals in the public sector services,” Dayrit said. Dayrit disagreed with medical tourism proponents, who argue that some revenues from medical tourism will find their way into public coffers to help retain staff in the public sector. “Unless national laws or regulations are set up so that these revenues are taxed explicitly and channelled to the public sector to augment salaries, the likelihood of this happening is very slim,” he said. ■ Woman being treated for cholera in poor-resourced Indian hospital. The contrast between some public hospitals and the new centres of medical excellence in India is stark.
