Semi-supervised and Active-learning Scenarios: Efficient Acoustic Model Refinement for a Low Resource Indian Language

We address the problem of efficient acoustic-model refinement (continuous retraining) using semi-supervised and active learning for a low resource Indian language, wherein the low resource constraints are having i) a small labeled corpus from which to train a baseline `seed' acoustic model and ii) a large training corpus without orthographic labeling or from which to perform a data selection for manual labeling at low costs. The proposed semi-supervised learning decodes the unlabeled large training corpus using the seed model and through various protocols, selects the decoded utterances with high reliability using confidence levels (that correlate to the WER of the decoded utterances) and iterative bootstrapping. The proposed active learning protocol uses confidence level based metric to select the decoded utterances from the large unlabeled corpus for further labeling. The semi-supervised learning protocols can offer a WER reduction, from a poorly trained seed model, by as much as 50% of the best WER-reduction realizable from the seed model's WER, if the large corpus were labeled and used for acoustic-model training. The active learning protocols allow that only 60% of the entire training corpus be manually labeled, to reach the same performance as the entire data

Ferroelectric and Dielectric Properties of ZnFe2O4-Pb(ZrTi)O-3 Multiferroic Nanocomposites

Magnetoelectric composites of zinc ferrite and soft lead zirconate titanate (PZT) having formula 0.5 ZnFe2O4-0.5 PZT were synthesized by sol-gel technique. X-ray diffraction analysis was carried out to confirm the coexistence of individual phase. TEM micrographs were taken to confirm the formation of nanosized powders and SEM micrographs were taken to study the morphology of the sintered pellets. Dielectric and P-E hysteresis loops were recorded, respectively, to confirm the ferroelectric properties of the composites

Fecundity and viability of eggs in wild breeders of spiny lobsters, Panulirus homarus (Linnaeus, 1758), Panulirus versicolor (Latrielle, 1804) and Panulirus ornatus (Fabricius, 1798)

Berried lobsters collected from landing centres and lobster holding centres were used for larval rearing of the spiny lobsters, Panulirus homarus (Linnaeus, 1758), Panulirus ornatus (Fabricius, 1798) and Panulirus versicolor (Latrielle, 1804). Fecundity of the lobsters used for larval rearing was calculated as the number of eggs deposited on the ovigerous setae on the pleopods. The number of eggs in a single brood ranged from 1,20,544 to 4,49,585 in P. homarus. 5,18,181 to P.ornatus 1,979,522 and that of P. versicolor as 1,70,212 to P.versicolor 7,33,752. The tropical lobsters are reported to and therefore breed two times or more in a year. The absolute (annual) fecundity of these lobsters is expected to be higher. The phyllosoma larvae released, as percentage of fecundity, was maximum in P. homarus 85.7, 49.7 in P. ornatus and 74.0 in P. versicolor. Handling of lobsters at the landing and holding centres and aerial transport resulted in high percentage of eggs in arrested development, complete or partial shedding of eggs and release of weak phyllosoma larvae. Severe bacterial infection leading to complete shedding of eggs was recorded in a few breeders collected from holding centres

Floristic Diversity and Medicinal importance of South Vagaikulam Region Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, South India

The present study was aimed to explore the plant diversity wealth of South Vagaikulam village, which is yet to be botanised to make the flora of Tirunelveli complete. The result of plant diversity of South Vagaikulam shrub jungles includes 133 species of flowering plants, 115 genera belonging to 49 families. Among the 133 species, 126 species belongs to dicotyledons and 7 species belongs to monocotyledons. The most dominant family in the present study area is Asteraceae with 12 species (21%). Next to that, Fabaceae and Euphorbiaceae comprises 10 species (19%), Amaranthaceae includes 9 species (17%), Lamiaceae contains 8 species (15%) and Verbenaceae embraces 5 species (9%). In addition to the floristic study, the present study enumerated the medicinally important plants in the shrub jungles which are used to cure various diseases

Nanomaterials Meet Li-ion Batteries

Li-ion batteries are used in many applications in everyday life: cell phones, laser pointers, laptops, cordless drillers or saws, bikes and even cars. Yet, there is room for improvement in order to make the batteries smaller and last longer. The Fromm group contributes to this research focusing mainly on nanoscale lithium ion cathode materials. This contribution gives an overview over our current activities in the field of batteries. After an introduction on the nano-materials of LiCoO2 and LiMnPO4, the studies of our cathode composition and preparation will be presented

Wavelength and intensity dependence of multiple forward scattering at above-threshold ionization in mid-infrared strong laser fields

The nonperturbative role of multiple forward scattering for Coulomb focusing in mid-infrared laser fields and its dependence on a laser intensity and wavelength are investigated for low-energy photoelectrons at above-threshold ionization. We show that high-order rescattering events can have comparable contributions to the Coulomb focusing and the effective number of rescattering depends weakly on laser parameters in the classical regime. However, the relative contribution of the forward scattering to the Coulomb focusing and the Coulomb focusing in total decrease with the rise of the laser intensity and wavelength

Production of cysts and biomass of the exotic species of brine shrimp Artemia franciscana (Kellog) in out-door culture system

The production of cysts and biomass of the exotic species of brine shrimp Artemia franciscana was studied for a period of 90 days in out- door culture system at a salinity range of 38 to 83 ppt. From the initial stocking density of 231 to 294 nauplii / 700 l of brine the population density steadily increased and reached the maximum of 389.7 to 565.3 numbers / l on 38th day of culture. The total quantity of cysts and biomass harvested from the culture system ranged from 26.450 g to 33.860 g and from 813.6 g to 1226.7 g respectively. The first maturity and first spawning were recorded at the age of 7-8 and 12-13 days respectively and the maximum density of 59.3 riding pairs / l was recorded on 59th day of culture . The prospect of the culture of the exotic species is discussed in this pap

Quality of the cysts of Artemia franciscana collected at Tuticorin with observations on growth, maturity and sex ratio of the offspring

The cysts of the exotic species of brine shrimp Artemia franciscana collected from the natural ecosystem at Tuticorin during January 2001 were processed, stored and their quality evaluated. A total of 22 experiments were conducted on hatching and it was observed that the time taken for first hatching ranged from 13 hours and 10 minutes to 17 hours. The maximum hatching percentage recorded at 24 hours and 48 hours were 52.0 and 79.9 respectively. The I instar obtained from the hatching experiments were reared in outdoor culture tanks at 30, 50, and 70 ppt with two different types of feed and the maximum size of 10.04 ± 0.3 mm was recorded on 18th day in the animals fed with rice bran at 70 ppt. The earliest first pairing and first spawning were recorded on 6th and 12th days respectively in the animals fed with mixed phytoplankton at 50 ppt

Fuzzy Logic-Based Health Monitoring System for COVID’19 Patients

In several countries, the ageing population contour focuses on high healthcare costs and overloaded health care environments. Pervasive health care monitoring system can be a potential alternative, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic situation to help mitigate such problems by encouraging healthcare to transition from hospital-centred services to self-care, mobile care and home care. In this aspect, we propose a pervasive system to monitor the COVID’19 patient’s conditions within the hospital and outside by monitoring their medical and psychological situation. It facilitates better healthcare assistance, especially for COVID’19 patients and quarantined people. It identifies the patient’s medical and psychological condition based on the current context and activities using a fuzzy context-aware reasoning engine based model. Fuzzy reasoning engine makes decisions using linguistic rules based on inference mechanisms that support the patient condition identification. Linguistics rules are framed based on the fuzzy set attributes belong to different context types. The fuzzy semantic rules are used to identify the relationship among the attributes, and the reasoning engine is used to ensure precise real-time context interpretation and current evaluation of the situation. Outcomes are measured using a fuzzy logic-based context reasoning system under simulation. The results indicate the usefulness of monitoring the COVID’19 patients based on the current context

A genetic algorithm-based energy-aware multi-hop clustering scheme for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

Background: The energy-constrained heterogeneous nodes are the most challenging wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for developing energy-aware clustering schemes. Although various clustering approaches are proven to minimise energy consumption and delay and extend the network lifetime by selecting optimum cluster heads (CHs), it is still a crucial challenge.Methods: This article proposes a genetic algorithm-based energy-aware multi-hop clustering (GA-EMC) scheme for heterogeneous WSNs (HWSNs). In HWSNs, all the nodes have varying initial energy and typically have an energy consumption restriction. A genetic algorithm determines the optimal CHs and their positions in the network. The fitness of chromosomes is calculated in terms of distance, optimal CHs, and the node's residual energy. Multi-hop communication improves energy efficiency in HWSNs. The areas near the sink are deployed with more supernodes far away from the sink to solve the hot spot problem in WSNs near the sink node.Results: Simulation results proclaim that the GA-EMC scheme achieves a more extended network lifetime network stability and minimises delay than existing approaches in heterogeneous nature.peer-reviewe