Leveraging native language information for improved accented speech recognition

Recognition of accented speech is a long-standing challenge for automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems, given the increasing worldwide population of bi-lingual speakers with English as their second language. If we consider foreign-accented speech as an interpolation of the native language (L1) and English (L2), using a model that can simultaneously address both languages would perform better at the acoustic level for accented speech. In this study, we explore how an end-to-end recurrent neural network (RNN) trained system with English and native languages (Spanish and Indian languages) could leverage data of native languages to improve performance for accented English speech. To this end, we examine pre-training with native languages, as well as multi-task learning (MTL) in which the main task is trained with native English and the secondary task is trained with Spanish or Indian Languages. We show that the proposed MTL model performs better than the pre-training approach and outperforms a baseline model trained simply with English data. We suggest a new setting for MTL in which the secondary task is trained with both English and the native language, using the same output set. This proposed scenario yields better performance with +11.95% and +17.55% character error rate gains over baseline for Hispanic and Indian accents, respectively.Comment: Accepted at Interspeech 201

Comparison of marital conflict dimensions between substance dependence patients: Shishe, Crack, Opioids.

زمینه و هدف: رضایت از رابطه زناشویی عامل مهمی در استحکام و حفظ بهداشت روانی خانواده است. یکی از عوامل موثر در تجربه رضایت مندی از رابطه زناشویی و افزایش کیفیت زندگی و بهداشت روان در خانواده وجود یا عدم تعارضات شدید زناشویی بوده و تعارضات زناشویی یکی از مشکلات شایع در بیماران وابسته به مواد می باشد. مطالعه حاضر با هدف بررسی مقایسه ای تعارضات زناشویی در سه گروه سوء مصرف کننده شیشه، کراک و تریاک انجام شده است. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه توصیفی- تحلیلی 70 نفر از بیماران مبتلا به وابستگی به مواد (16 نفر تریاک، 18 نفر کراک و 17 نفر شیشه) مراجعه کننده به کلینیک اعصاب و روان اصفهان (کلینیک پارسه) و بخش ترک اعتیاد بیمارستان حضرت علی اصغر(ع) اصفهان به روش نمونه گیری در دسترس انتخاب شدند. تعارضات زناشویی در بیماران با استفاده از مقیاس شیوه های تعارض در اختلافات زناشویی اشتراوس ( CTS-II ) بررسی و با 19 نفر در گروه کنترل مورد مقایسه قرار گرفت. داده ها به کمک آزمون های آماری آنالیز واریانس چند متغیره و آزمون تعقیبی شفه تجزیه و تحلیل شد. یافته ها: بین نمرات گروه ها در نمره کل و نیز در تمامی خرده مقیاس های خشونت روانی، خشونت جسمانی، آزار کلامی، آزار جنسی و آسیب اختلاف معنی داری وجود داشت (05/0 P< ). وابستگان به شیشه در تمامی خرده مقیاس ها، میانگین نمرات بالاتری نسبت به گروه کنترل و نیز گروه وابسته به تریاک نشان می دادند (05/0 P< ). تفاوت بین نمرات افراد وابسته به کراک و شیشه فقط در خرده مقیاس خشونت جسمانی معنی دار بود (05/0 P< ). نتیجه گیری: به نظر می رسد درمان مشکلات زناشویی در این بیماران و آموزش شیوه های موثر کنترل خشم، آموزش ارتباط جنسی سالم، آموزش حل تعارض و حل مساله نقش مهمی در افزایش رضایتمندی و به دنبال آن افزایش حمایت های خانوادگی و کاهش تعارضات و نارضایتی از روابط زناشویی ایفا خواهد کرد

One-pot Synthesis of Substituted Pyrroles with N,N,N’,N’-Tetrachlorobenzene-1,3-disulphonamide and N,N’-Diiodo-N,N’-1,2-ethanediylbis(p-toluenesulphonamide) as Novel Catalytic Reagents

In this research, N,N,N’N’-tetrachlorobenzene-1,3-disulphonamide as novel catalytic reagent and N,N’-diiodo-N,N’-1,2-ethanediylbis(p-toluenesulphonamide) as new catalyst were used for the synthesis of N-substituted pyrroles in good to excellent yields under mild conditions. These reusable reagents were compared with existing reagents and it is clear that this study is a welcome addition in the field of pyrrole synthesis.Keywords: Pyrroles, Paal-Knorr reaction, TCBDA, NIBTS, catalytic reagen

The Nehari manifold approach for p(x)p(x)-Laplacian problem with Neumann boundary condition

In this paper, we consider the system \begin{eqnarray*} \left\{\begin{array}{ll} -\Delta_{p(x)} u + |u|^{p(x)-2}u = \lambda a(x)|u|^{r_1(x)-2}u + \frac{\alpha(x)}{\alpha(x) + \beta(x)} c(x)|u|^{\alpha(x)-2}u|v|^{\beta(x)} &~\textrm{in}~\Omega\\ -\Delta_{q(x)} v+|v|^{q(x)-2}v = \mu b(x)|v|^{r_2(x)-2}v + \frac{\beta(x)}{\alpha(x) + \beta(x)} c(x)|v|^{\beta(x)-2}v|u|^{\alpha(x)} & ~\textrm{in}~\Omega\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial \gamma} = \frac{\partial v}{\partial \gamma}= 0 & \textrm{on}~ \partial \Omega \end{array}\right. \end{eqnarray*} where $\Omega \subset R^N$ is a bounded domain with smooth boundary and $\lambda, \mu > 0,~\gamma$ is the outer unit normal to $\partial\Omega$. Under suitable assumptions, we prove the existence of positive solutions by using the Nehari manifold and some variational techniques

Effects of brassinosteroid (24-epibrassinolide) on yield and quality of grape (Vitis vinifera L.) 'Thompson Seedless'

Berry growth ripening process and yield are directly related with nutrition status and phytohormones during fruit growth and development stages. Brassinosteroid (24-epibrassinolide) is one of the plant growth substances that influence different physiological processes including fruit growth and development. In this study, the effect of brassinosteroid (Br) application on the yield and berry quality of 'Thompson Seedless' was investigated in a commercial vineyard, Malayer, Hamedan, Iran. Br solution concentrations of 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 mg·L-1 at five stages (budbreak (S1), prebloom (S2), middle of bloom (S3), post bloom (S4) and veraison (S5) were sprayed. The results showed that the Br application has significant positive effects on bunch morphology and berry quantity and quality. Among levels of Br, the highest yields were related to the application of Br at the rate of 0.6 mg·L-1 in the post bloom and veraison stages, and the lowest was found in the bud break stage. Spraying Br in the post bloom and veraison stages had the greatest effect on berry quality. Also, the highest content of total phenol and antioxidant capacity were obtained with 0.6 mg·L-1 of Br application at veraison stage. In this study, we provided evidence to show that using steroidal plant hormones (Br) may play an essential role in improving the yield and quality of 'Thompson Seedless'

Lipoprotein (a): More than a bystander in the etiology of hypertension? A study on essential hypertensive patients not yet on treatment.

BACKGROUND Hypertension (HTN) is a very common disorder with a substantial impact on public health because of its complications. OBJECTIVES To study the association of serum lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] elevation with essential hypertension (eHTN). PATIENTS AND METHODS This study was conducted on a group of essential hypertensive patients. Laboratory exams consisting of serum creatinine and Lp(a) were measured. RESULTS Ninety five essential hypertensive patients were enrolled to the study. Serum LP (a) in patients was 46.5±20. In patients an inverse correlation between serum Lp(a) andcreatinine clearance was seen (r = -0.175 p<0.05). There was a significant correlation between serum Lp(a) and age (r =0.191 p<0.05) or duration of HTN (known duration of hypertension period) (r =0.362 p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that Lp(a) may be involved as a cofactor in essential hypertension, with a mechanism that remains to be elucidated