CUSIDE: Chunking, Simulating Future Context and Decoding for Streaming ASR

History and future contextual information are known to be important for accurate acoustic modeling. However, acquiring future context brings latency for streaming ASR. In this paper, we propose a new framework - Chunking, Simulating Future Context and Decoding (CUSIDE) for streaming speech recognition. A new simulation module is introduced to recursively simulate the future contextual frames, without waiting for future context. The simulation module is jointly trained with the ASR model using a self-supervised loss; the ASR model is optimized with the usual ASR loss, e.g., CTC-CRF as used in our experiments. Experiments show that, compared to using real future frames as right context, using simulated future context can drastically reduce latency while maintaining recognition accuracy. With CUSIDE, we obtain new state-of-the-art streaming ASR results on the AISHELL-1 dataset.Comment: submitted to INTERSPEECH 202

Airborne transmission of pathogen-laden expiratory droplets in open outdoor space

Virus-laden droplets dispersion may induce transmissions of respiratory infectious diseases. Existing research mainly focuses on indoor droplet dispersion, but the mechanism of its dispersion and exposure in outdoor environment is unclear. By conducting CFD simulations, this paper investigates the evaporation and transport of solid-liquid droplets in an open outdoor environment. Droplet initial sizes (dp=10m, 50m, 100m), background relative humidity (RH=35%, 95%), background wind speed (Uref=3m/s, 0.2m/s) and social distances between two people (D=0.5m, 1m, 1.5m, 3m, 5m) are investigated. Results show that thermal body plume is destroyed when the background wind speed is 3m/s (Froude number Fr~10). The inhalation fraction (IF) of susceptible person decreases exponentially when the social distance (D) increases from 0.5m to 5m. The exponential decay rate of inhalation fraction (b) ranges between 0.93 and 1.06 (IF=IF0e-b(D-0.5)) determined by the droplet initial diameter and relative humidity. Under weak background wind (Uref=0.2m/s, Fr~0.01), the upward thermal body plume significantly influences droplet dispersion, which is similar with that in indoor space. Droplets in the initial sizes of 10m and 50m disperse upwards while most of 100m droplets fall down to the ground due to large gravity force. Interestingly, the deposition fraction on susceptible person is ten times higher at Uref=3m/s than that at Uref=0.2m/s. Thus, a high outdoor wind speed does not necessarily lead to a smaller exposure risk if the susceptible person locating at the downwind region of the infected person, and people in outdoors are suggested to not only keep distance of greater than 1.5m from each other but also stand with considerable angles from the prevailing wind direction

Comparative Genomic Analysis and Characterization of Two Salmonella enterica Serovar Enteritidis Isolates From Poultry With Notably Different Survival Abilities in Egg Whites

Salmonellaenterica serovar Enteritidis (Salmonella Enteritidis) is a globally important foodborne pathogen, and the contaminated chicken eggs are the major source of salmonellosis in humans. Salmonella Enteritidis strains are differentially susceptible to the hostile environment of egg whites. Strains with superior survival ability in egg whites are more likely to contaminate eggs and consequently infect humans. However, the genetic basis for this phenotype is unclear. We characterized two Salmonella Enteritidis strains isolated from chicken meat that had similar genetic backgrounds but large differences in survival ability in egg whites. Although genome comparisons indicated that the gene content and genomic synteny were highly conserved, variations including six insertions or deletions (INDELs) and 70 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were observed between the two genomes. Of these, 38 variations including four INDELs and 34 non-synonymous SNPs (nsSNP) were annotated to result in amino acid substitutions or INDELs in coding proteins. These variations were located in 38 genes involved in lysozyme inhibition, vitamin biosynthesis, cell division and DNA damage response, osmotic and oxidative protection, iron-related functions, cell envelope maintenance, amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism, antimicrobial resistance, and type III secretion system. We carried out allelic replacements for two nsSNPs in bioC (biotin synthesis) and pliC (lysozyme inhibition), and two INDELs in ftsK and yqiJ (DNA damage response) by homologous recombination, and these replacements did not alter the bacterial survival ability in egg whites. However, the bacterial survival ability in egg whites was reduced when deletion mutation of the genes bioC and pliC occurred. This study provides initial correlations between observed genotypes and phenotypes and serves as an important caveat for further functional studies

Sirtuin 1 and Autophagy Attenuate Cisplatin-Induced Hair Cell Death in the Mouse Cochlea and Zebrafish Lateral Line

Cisplatin-induced ototoxicity is one of the major adverse effects in cisplatin chemotherapy, and hearing protective approaches are unavailable in clinical practice. Recent work unveiled a critical role of autophagy in cell survival in various types of hearing loss. Since the excessive activation of autophagy can contribute to apoptotic cell death, whether the activation of autophagy increases or decreases the rate of cell death in CDDP ototoxicity is still being debated. In this study, we showed that CDDP induced activation of autophagy in the auditory cell HEI-OC1 at the early stage. We then used rapamycin, an autophagy activator, to increase the autophagy activity, and found that the cell death significantly decreased after CDDP injury. In contrast, treatment with the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) significantly increased cell death. In accordance with in vitro results, rapamycin alleviated CDDP-induced death of hair cells in zebrafish lateral line and cochlear hair cells in mice. Notably, we found that CDDP-induced increase of Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in the HEI-OC1 cells modulated the autophagy function. The specific SIRT1 activator SRT1720 could successfully protect against CDDP-induced cell loss in HEI-OC1 cells, zebrafish lateral line, and mice cochlea. These findings suggest that SIRT1 and autophagy activation can be suggested as potential therapeutic strategies for the treatment of CDDP-induced ototoxicity

Fine-mapping analysis including over 254,000 East Asian and European descendants identifies 136 putative colorectal cancer susceptibility genes

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 200 common genetic variants independently associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, but the causal variants and target genes are mostly unknown. We sought to fine-map all known CRC risk loci using GWAS data from 100,204 cases and 154,587 controls of East Asian and European ancestry. Our stepwise conditional analyses revealed 238 independent association signals of CRC risk, each with a set of credible causal variants (CCVs), of which 28 signals had a single CCV. Our cis-eQTL/mQTL and colocalization analyses using colorectal tissue-specific transcriptome and methylome data separately from 1299 and 321 individuals, along with functional genomic investigation, uncovered 136 putative CRC susceptibility genes, including 56 genes not previously reported. Analyses of single-cell RNA-seq data from colorectal tissues revealed 17 putative CRC susceptibility genes with distinct expression patterns in specific cell types. Analyses of whole exome sequencing data provided additional support for several target genes identified in this study as CRC susceptibility genes. Enrichment analyses of the 136 genes uncover pathways not previously linked to CRC risk. Our study substantially expanded association signals for CRC and provided additional insight into the biological mechanisms underlying CRC development

Transmission and infection risk of various pathogen-laden expiratory droplets in a coach bus with COVID-19

The study about droplet transmission in crowded, poorly ventilated buses and the resulting infection risk(IR) remains rare. Based on a COVID-19 outbreak which the index patient located at bus rear, we performed CFD simulations to study the effect of initial droplet diameters and hourly ventilation rate(ACH) on droplet transmission and IR. The outdoor pressure differential creates the natural ventilation enters from theskylight at bus rear and exits from the front one. With increased ACH, the IR of tracer gas reduced quickly, from 11.1-15.3% under 0.62ACH to 1.3-3.1% under 5.66ACH. Furthermore, the IR of 100μm/50μm droplets was almost independent of ACH as most droplets were deposited due to gravity. Furthermore, 5μm droplets are more widely dispersed than larger droplets, and can spread further with increasing ACH with a low IR(≤0.4%). Unlike general rooms, most droplets are deposited on the route passing through the long-distance bus space(~9.46m). But the tracer gas will not deposit, so the tracer gas can only be used to simulate the fine droplet dispersion process in the long-distance bus. Our research results provide a reference for future research on droplet transmission in the bus environment, and also provide a guidance for epidemic prevention

The analysis of the structural parameter influences on measurement errors in a binocular 3D reconstruction system: a portable 3D system

This study used an analytical model to investigate the factors that affect the reconstruction accuracy composed of the baseline length, lens focal length, the angle between the optical axis and baseline, and the field of the view angle. Firstly, the theoretical expressions of the above factors and measurement errors are derived based on the binocular three-dimensional reconstruction model. Then, the structural parameters’ impact on the error propagation coefficient is analyzed and simulated using MATLAB software. The results show that structural parameters significantly impact the error propagation coefficient, and the reasonable range of structural parameters is pointed out. When the angle between the optical axis of the binocular camera and the baseline is between 30° and 55°, the ratio of the baseline length to the focal length can be reasonably reduced. In addition, using the field angle of the view that does not exceed 20° could reduce the error propagation coefficient. While the angle between the binocular optical axis and the baseline is between 40° and 50°, the reconstruction result has the highest accuracy, changing the angle out of this range will lead to an increase in the reconstruction error. The angle between the binocular optical axis and the baseline changes 30° through 60° leads to the error propagation coefficient being in a lower range. Finally, experimental verification and simulation results show that selecting reasonable structural parameters could significantly reduce measurement errors. This study proposes a model that constructs a binocular three-dimensional reconstruction system with high precision. A portable three-dimensional reconstruction system is built in the article

Haplotype analysis of the polymorphic 40 Y-STR markers in Chinese populations

Forty Y-STR loci were analyzed in 1128 males from the following six Chinese ethnic populations: Han (n = 300), Hui (n = 244), Korean (n = 100), Mongolian (n = 100), Uighur (n = 284) and Tibetan (n = 100), utilizing two new generation multiplex Y-STR systems, AGCU Y24 STR and GFS Y24 STR genotyping kits, which allow for the genotyping of 24 loci from a single amplification reaction in each system. The lowest estimates of genetic diversity (below 0.5) correspond to markers DYS391 (0.441658) and DYS437 (0.496977), and the greatest diversity corresponds to markers DYS385a/b (0.969919) and DYS527a/b (0.94676). A considerable number of duplicate and off-ladder alleles were also revealed. Additionally, there were 1111 different haplotypes identified from the total 1128 samples, of which 1095 were unique. Notably, no shared haplotypes between populations were observed. The estimated overall haplotype diversity (HD) was 0.999085, and its discrimination capacity (DC) was 0.970745. An MDS plot based on the genetic distances between populations showed the genetic similarity of the southern Han population to the Northern populations of Hui, Korean, Mongolian and Uighur and a clear genetic departure of the Tibetan population from other populations. For the Y STR markers, population substructure correction was considered when calculating the rarity of the Y STR profile. However, because the haplotype based Fst values are extremely small within the present data (0.000153 with 40 Y-STRs), no substructure correction is required to estimate the rarity of a haplotype comprising 40 markers. In summary, the results of our study indicate that the 40 Y-STRs have a high level of polymorphism in Chinese ethnic groups and could therefore be a powerful tool for forensic applications and population genetic studies. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

The coupling coordination between rural public services and rural tourism and its causative factors: The case study of southwestern China

Rural public services and rural tourism are interdependent, and their coordinated development is crucial for promoting rural revitalization and overall growth in China. So far, the existing studies mainly focus on the mutual influence, mutual promotion, and coordination paths of rural public services and rural tourism but fail to conduct an empirical analysis on the coupling coordination of rural public services and rural tourism or summarize the spatial and temporal differences of the coupling coordination. Therefore, we adopt an evaluation index system for rural public services and rural tourism. To measure the development level and the coupling coordination degree of rural public services and rural tourism in southwestern China from 2012 to 2019, we used a comprehensive evaluation model and a coupling coordination degree model. Additionally, geographic detectors were utilised to detect the causative factors of their coupling coordination development. Based on the analysis of research results, we made the following observations. In southwestern China, the comprehensive development of rural public services and rural tourism indicated an upward trend. An additional interactive coupling relationship between the two systems is observed, and its coupling coordination degree increases, with the increment varying from slow to rapid. The type of coupling coordination changes from rural tourism lagging type to rural public service lagging type, and there are spatial differences in the degree of coupling coordination between the two. The coupling coordination development of the two systems is affected by multiple causative forces, such as economic, industrial, resource attraction, and service guarantee forces, and some differences distinguish the driving strengths of both single and interaction factors. The main contribution of this article is to reveal the coupling and coordination relationship between rural public services and rural tourism, to explore the driving factors affecting the degree of coupling and coordination between them, and to make relevant policy recommendations