Spoken Language Intent Detection using Confusion2Vec

Decoding speaker's intent is a crucial part of spoken language understanding (SLU). The presence of noise or errors in the text transcriptions, in real life scenarios make the task more challenging. In this paper, we address the spoken language intent detection under noisy conditions imposed by automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. We propose to employ confusion2vec word feature representation to compensate for the errors made by ASR and to increase the robustness of the SLU system. The confusion2vec, motivated from human speech production and perception, models acoustic relationships between words in addition to the semantic and syntactic relations of words in human language. We hypothesize that ASR often makes errors relating to acoustically similar words, and the confusion2vec with inherent model of acoustic relationships between words is able to compensate for the errors. We demonstrate through experiments on the ATIS benchmark dataset, the robustness of the proposed model to achieve state-of-the-art results under noisy ASR conditions. Our system reduces classification error rate (CER) by 20.84% and improves robustness by 37.48% (lower CER degradation) relative to the previous state-of-the-art going from clean to noisy transcripts. Improvements are also demonstrated when training the intent detection models on noisy transcripts

Export performance, competitiveness and commodity composition

The study of export performance, especially for countries with serious external imbalances, is essential for economic decision-making. This study attempts to evaluate Greek export performance during the 1996-2001 period, using detailed panel data on bilateral trade by product. Factors explaining Greek export market shares are analysed with the method of Constant Market Shares. In addition, the dynamics of the specialization pattern of Greek exports and the effect of price competitiveness on export market shares are examined. The results show a considerable change in export structure, mainly the geographical structure, with a favourable effect on market shares. Although the pattern of comparative advantages and the technological intensity of Greek exports have improved, exports remain concentrated in low- and medium-technology sectors, while product variety and quality have declined. Finally, the results show heterogeneity among the panels. In the aggregate, export market shares are inelastic with respect to relative and absolute prices, which would call for focus on non-price factors to improve competitiveness in international markets. However, elasticities are greater than one for a considerable proportion of commodities.export performance; market shares; New Trade Theory; comparative advantages; Markov matrix; price and non-price competitiveness

Calcium-activated potassium-channels in mammalian eggs

Intracellular microelectrode recordings from zonafree hamster eggs revealed a mean value for the membrane potential of -34+9mV (mean ± SD, n=36) and a mean value for the input resistance of 290±170MΩ.(mean ± SD) .Ionophoretic injection of calcium ions into a hamster egg caused a marked membrane hyperpolarization (mean ± SD = 27±9mV, n=63) which was associated with a large reduction in the egg input resistance (viz. from 140±94MΩ prior to the injection to 40±24MΩ at the peak of the response, n=63). The estimated reversal potential of the calcium-evoked hyperpolarization was found to be -69±11mV (mean ± SD,n=63). The mean slope of the relation between the reversal potential and log₁₀[ᴷ⁺]ₒ was 50mV in good agreement with the value predicted by the Nernst equation for a rise in conductance primarily selective for potassium ions. In addition the reversal potential was unaffected by about a tenfold reduction in the concentration of external chloride. It is concluded that the calcium-evoked hyperpolarization was caused by the opening of membrane potassium channels that are activated by an increase in the intracellular concentration of ionized free calcium.The duration of the calcium-evoked response was markedly extended in the presence of ImM external lanthanum or 20mM calcium or by external application of 0.2-2mM 2,4,dinitrophenol.Double microelectrode experiments identified the presence of an impalement leak artifact which might cause an underestimate of the true membrane potential and input resistance. Evidence is also presented for a second type of artifact, namely the generation of a leak conductance pathway during the passage of large depolarizing current pulses (>10nA, 1 sec) used for the ionophoretic injection of calcium into cells