120 research outputs found
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 ..
Governance of Offshore IT Outsourcing at Shell Global Functions IT-BAM Development and Application of a Governance Framework to Improve Outsourcing Relationships
The lack of effective IT governance is widely recognized as a key inhibitor to successful global IT outsourcing relationships. In this study we present the development and application of a governance framework to improve outsourcing relationships. The approach used to developing an IT governance framework includes a meta model and a customization process to fit the framework to the target organization. The IT governance framework consists of four different elements (1) organisational structures, (2) joint processes between in- and outsourcer, (3) responsibilities that link roles to processes and (4) a diverse set of control indicators to measure the success of the relationship. The IT governance framework is put in practice in Shell GFIT BAM, a part of Shell that concluded to have a lack of management control over at least one of their outsourcing relationships. In a workshop the governance framework was used to perform a gap analysis between the current and desired governance. Several gaps were identified in the way roles and responsibilities are assigned and joint processes are set-up. Moreover, this workshop also showed the usefulness and usability of the IT governance framework in structuring, providing input and managing stakeholders in the discussions around IT governance
High on-off conductance switching ratio in optically-driven self-assembled conjugated molecular systems
A new azobenzene-thiophene molecular switch is designed, synthesized and used
to form self-assembled monolayers (SAM) on gold. An "on/off" conductance ratio
up to 7x1E3 (with an average value of 1.5x1E3) is reported. The "on"
conductance state is clearly identified to the cis isomer of the azobenzene
moiety. The high "on/off" ratio is explained in terms of photo-induced,
configuration-related, changes in the electrode-molecule interface energetics
(changes in the energy position of the molecular orbitals with respect to the
Fermi energy of electrodes) in addition to changes in the tunnel barrier length
(length of the molecules). First principles DFT calculations demonstrate a
better delocalization of the frontier orbitals, as well as a stronger
electronic coupling between the azobenzene moiety and the electrode for the cis
configuration over the trans one. Measured photoionization cross-sections for
the molecules in the SAM are close to the known values for azobenzene
derivatives in solution.Comment: 1 file with main text, figure and suppementary informatio
Origin and clinical relevance of chromosomal aberrations other than the common trisomies detected by genome-wide NIPS: Results of the TRIDENT study
PurposeNoninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS) using cell-free DNA in maternal blood is highly sensitive for detecting fetal trisomies 21, 18, and 13. Using a genome-wide approach, other chromosome anomalies can also be detected. We report on the origin
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