All Politics is Local: The Renminbi's Prospects as a Future Global Currency

. In this article we describe methods for improving the RWTH German speech recognizer used within the VERBMOBIL project. In particular, we present acceleration methods for the search based on both within-word and across-word phoneme models. We also study incremental methods to reduce the response time of the online speech recognizer. Finally, we present experimental off-line results for the three VERBMOBIL scenarios. We report on word error rates and real-time factors for both speaker independent and speaker dependent recognition. 1 Introduction The goal of the VERBMOBIL project is to develop a speech-to-speech translation system that performs close to real-time. In this system, speech recognition is followed by subsequent VERBMOBIL modules (like syntactic analysis and translation) which depend on the recognition result. Therefore, in this application it is particularly important to keep the recognition time as short as possible. There are VERBMOBIL modules which are capable to work ..

COVID-19. Pandemic surgery guidance

Abstract – Based on high quality surgery and scientific data, scientists and surgeons are committed to protecting patients as well as healthcare staff and hereby provide this Guidance to address the special issues circumstances related to the exponential spread of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during this pandemic. As a basis, the authors used the British Intercollegiate General Surgery Guidance as well as recommendations from the USA, Asia, and Italy. The aim is to take responsibility and to provide guidance for surgery during the COVID-19 crisis in a simplified way addressing the practice of surgery, healthcare staff and patient safety and care. It is the responsibility of scientists and the surgical team to specify what is needed for the protection of patients and the affiliated healthcare team. During crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the responsibility and duty to provide the necessary resources such as filters, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) consisting of gloves, fluid resistant (Type IIR) surgical face masks (FRSM), filtering face pieces, class 3 (FFP3 masks), face shields and gowns (plastic ponchos), is typically left up to the hospital administration and government. Various scientists and clinicians from disparate specialties provided a Pandemic Surgery Guidance for surgical procedures by distinct surgical disciplines such as numerous cancer surgery disciplines, cardiothoracic surgery, ENT, eye, dermatology, emergency, endocrine surgery, general surgery, gynecology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, pediatric surgery, reconstructive and plastic surgery, surgical critical care, transplantation surgery, trauma surgery and urology, performing different surgeries, as well as laparoscopy, thoracoscopy and endoscopy. Any suggestions and corrections from colleagues will be very welcome as we are all involved and locked in a rapidly evolving process on increasing COVID-19 knowledg

Eleven strategies for making reproducible research and open science training the norm at research institutions

Reproducible research and open science practices have the potential to accelerate scientific progress by allowing others to reuse research outputs, and by promoting rigorous research that is more likely to yield trustworthy results. However, these practices are uncommon in many fields, so there is a clear need for training that helps and encourages researchers to integrate reproducible research and open science practices into their daily work. Here, we outline eleven strategies for making training in these practices the norm at research institutions. The strategies, which emerged from a virtual brainstorming event organized in collaboration with the German Reproducibility Network, are concentrated in three areas: (i) adapting research assessment criteria and program requirements; (ii) training; (iii) building communities. We provide a brief overview of each strategy, offer tips for implementation, and provide links to resources. We also highlight the importance of allocating resources and monitoring impact. Our goal is to encourage researchers - in their roles as scientists, supervisors, mentors, instructors, and members of curriculum, hiring or evaluation committees - to think creatively about the many ways they can promote reproducible research and open science practices in their institutions

Locus-of-hope in therapeutic communities for addiction: Testing the framework, feasibility, and efficacy of a brief intervention

The therapeutic community (TC) is a social-learning treatment platform widely used for substance use disorders. Most studies focused on the TC\u27s contribution to recovery and less on personal dispositions that interact with its treatment process. The current research argues that the person’s locus-of-hope can boost the TC mechanism, and an intervention based on locus-of-hope can enhance TC outcomes. Following a framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions, three independent and complementary studies were done to test the brief locus-of-hope intervention’s theoretical framework, feasibility, and efficacy. Study 1 examined if locus-of-hope boosted how community process experience predicted recovery capital and psychological well-being through group working alliance. Participants with high internal and external-peer locus-of-hope reported nonsignificant indirect pathways. For participants with high external-family and external spirit locus-of-hope, the indirect pathways to recovery capital and psychological well-being were significant. Based on the locus-of-hope model of TCs and hope-based therapy components, a brief locus-of-hope intervention was developed. Study 2 then assessed the feasibility of the brief locus-of-hope intervention. Participants found the brief intervention acceptable, appropriate, and feasible, with some limitations that can be addressed in future iterations of the protocol. Lastly, Study 3 tested the brief locus-of-hope intervention’s efficacy using a randomized clinical trial with pre-treatment, post-treatment, and follow-up design (RCT-PPF). Participants who received the brief locus-of-hope intervention reported significant improvements in internal locus-of-hope, external-peer locus-of-hope, community process experience, and group working alliance compared to the control group across time, but not for family hope, spiritual hope, recovery capital, and psychological well-being. The brief locus-of-hope intervention also did not moderate the TC mechanism. But based on partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), the brief locus-of-hope intervention indirectly boosted residents’ recovery capital and psychological well-being by path of community process experience to group working alliance at post-treatment. The brief locus-of-hope intervention’s indirect pathways were maintained for residents’ recovery capital but not for psychological well-being at 1-month follow-up. The overall findings offer preliminary evidence for the locus-of-hope model’s validity in TCs and the brief locus-of-hope intervention’s feasibility and efficacy. Insights from these results are expounded, and implications on TC practice, locus-of-hope research, and positive interventions in substance use disorder treatment in the Philippine context are discussed

Examining a Filipino therapeutic community: The role of attachment styles in client clinical progress as mediated by treatment motivation among recovering patients with substance use disorder

The therapeutic community (TC) is a widely used intervention program in managing and treating substance use disorders. Despite its documented utility, researchers and practitioners are still perplexed on how it exactly works. Several studies suggest the possible role of attachment styles and treatment motivation in the TC process. This research hypothesized that attachment styles influence client clinical progress through treatment motivation in the TC context. Applying an explanatory correlational research method, this notion was tested by examining the responses of 200 patients with substance use disorder undergoing treatment in a TC. Using mediation analysis, the results revealed that attachment styles indirectly affect client clinical progress by path of treatment motivation. Although the current study cannot conclude causality, the results provide empirical evidence suggesting that attachment styles activate motivation in treatment within the social dynamics of the TC, thus influencing client clinical progress. From these findings, clinical recommendations for the modification of TCs along with considerations for further research, and socio-political implications are discussed