Speech recognition and keyword spotting for low-resource languages : Babel project research at CUED

Recently there has been increased interest in Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Key Word Spotting (KWS) systems for low resource languages. One of the driving forces for this research direction is the IARPA Babel project. This paper describes some of the research funded by this project at Cambridge University, as part of the Lorelei team co-ordinated by IBM. A range of topics are discussed including: deep neural network based acoustic models; data augmentation; and zero acoustic model resource systems. Performance for all approaches is evaluated using the Limited (approximately 10 hours) and/or Full (approximately 80 hours) language packs distributed by IARPA. Both KWS and ASR performance figures are given. Though absolute performance varies from language to language, and keyword list, the approaches described show consistent trends over the languages investigated to date. Using comparable systems over the five Option Period 1 languages indicates a strong correlation between ASR performance and KWS performance

Cyanobacterial metabolites as a source of sunscreens and moisturizers: a comparison with current synthetic compounds

The recognition of the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation on the skin has led to the commercial development of inorganic and synthetic organic UV filters that can attenuate the negative effects of sunlight exposure. In addition, chemical moisturizers are extensively used in cosmetic products to improve the ability of skin to retain water. Whilst these chemicals have clear beneficial qualities, they may also have adverse effects such as contact sensitivity, oestrogenicity and even tumorigenic effects on human skin. Furthermore, the accumulation of such chemicals in the aquatic environment could be potentially harmful. Consequently, there is interest in exploiting safer alternatives derived from biological sources, especially from photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria that have developed mechanisms for coping with high UV irradiation and desiccation. In order to overcome the detrimental effects of UV radiation, these microorganisms produce UV screening compounds such as mycosporine-like amino acids and scytonemin, which are good candidates as alternatives to current synthetic UV filters. In addition, extracellular substances produced by some extremophilic species living in hyper-arid habitats have a high water retention capacity and could be used in cosmetic products as moisturizers. In this review, we present an overview of the literature describing the potential of cyanobacterial metabolites as an alternative source for sunscreens and moisturizers

Efimov physics beyond universality

We provide an exact solution of the Efimov spectrum in ultracold gases within the standard two-channel model for Feshbach resonances. It is shown that the finite range in the Feshbach coupling makes the introduction of an adjustable three-body parameter obsolete. The solution explains the empirical relation between the scattering length a_- where the first Efimov state appears at the atom threshold and the van der Waals length l_vdw for open channel dominated resonances. There is a continuous crossover to the closed channel dominated limit, where the scale in the energy level diagram as a function of the inverse scattering length 1/a is set by the intrinsic length r* associated with the Feshbach coupling. Our results provide a number of predictions for non-universal ratios between energies and scattering lengths that can be tested in future experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; final versio

A Study of J/psi-->gamma gamma V(rho,phi) Decays with the BESII Detector

Using a sample of $58\times 10^6$ $J/\psi$ events collected with the BESII detector, radiative decays $J/\psi\to\gamma\gamma V$, where $V=\rho$ or $\phi$, are studied. A resonance around 1420 MeV/c$^2$ (X(1424)) is observed in the $\gamma\rho$ mass spectrum. Its mass and width are measured to be $1424\pm 10(stat)\pm 11(sys)$ MeV/c$^2$ and $101.0\pm 8.8 \pm 8.8$ MeV/c$^2$, respectively, and its branching ratio $B(J/\psi\to \gamma X(1424)\to \gamma \gamma \rho)$ is determined to be $(1.07\pm0.17 \pm 0.11)\times 10^{-4}$. A search for $X(1424)\to \gamma\phi$ yields a 95% C.L. upper limit $B(J/\psi\to \gamma X(1424)\to \gamma\gamma \phi) < 0.82 \times 10^{-4}$.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PL

ϒ production in p–Pb collisions at √sNN=8.16 TeV

ϒ production in p–Pb interactions is studied at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon–nucleon collision √sNN = 8.16 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The measurement is performed reconstructing bottomonium resonances via their dimuon decay channel, in the centre-of-mass rapidity intervals 2.03 < ycms < 3.53 and −4.46 < ycms < −2.96, down to zero transverse momentum. In this work, results on the ϒ(1S) production cross section as a function of rapidity and transverse momentum are presented. The corresponding nuclear modification factor shows a suppression of the ϒ(1S) yields with respect to pp collisions, both at forward and backward rapidity. This suppression is stronger in the low transverse momentum region and shows no significant dependence on the centrality of the interactions. Furthermore, the ϒ(2S) nuclear modification factor is evaluated, suggesting a suppression similar to that of the ϒ(1S). A first measurement of the ϒ(3S) has also been performed. Finally, results are compared with previous ALICE measurements in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV and with theoretical calculations.publishedVersio

(Anti-)deuteron production in pp collisions at 1as=13TeV

The study of (anti-)deuteron production in pp collisions has proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the formation mechanism of loosely bound states in high-energy hadronic collisions. In this paper the production of (anti-)deuterons is studied as a function of the charged particle multiplicity in inelastic pp collisions at s=13 TeV using the ALICE experiment. Thanks to the large number of accumulated minimum bias events, it has been possible to measure (anti-)deuteron production in pp collisions up to the same charged particle multiplicity (d Nch/ d \u3b7 3c 26) as measured in p\u2013Pb collisions at similar centre-of-mass energies. Within the uncertainties, the deuteron yield in pp collisions resembles the one in p\u2013Pb interactions, suggesting a common formation mechanism behind the production of light nuclei in hadronic interactions. In this context the measurements are compared with the expectations of coalescence and statistical hadronisation models (SHM)

Multiplicity dependence of inclusive J/psi production at midrapidity in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV

Measurements of the inclusive J/psi yield as a function of charged-particle pseudorapidity density dN(ch)/d eta in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV with ALICE at the LHC are reported. The J/psi meson yield is measured at midrapidity (vertical bar y vertical bar <0.9) in the dielectron channel, for events selected based on the charged-particle multiplicity at midrapidity (vertical bar eta vertical bar <1) and at forward rapidity (-3.7 <eta <-1.7 and 2.8 <eta <5.1); both observables are normalized to their corresponding averages in minimum bias events. The increase of the normalized J/psi yield with normalized dN(ch)/d eta is significantly stronger than linear and dependent on the transverse momentum. The data are compared to theoretical predictions, which describe the observed trends well, albeit not always quantitatively. (C) 2020 European Organization for Nuclear Research. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of Y(1S) and Y(2S) mesons in PbPb collisions at √S^{S}NN = 5.02 TeV

The second-order Fourier coefficients (υ$_{2}$) characterizing the azimuthal distributions of Υ(1S) and Υ(2S) mesons produced in PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are studied. The Υmesons are reconstructed in their dimuon decay channel, as measured by the CMS detector. The collected data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 nb$^{-1}$. The scalar product method is used to extract the υ$_{2}$ coefficients of the azimuthal distributions. Results are reported for the rapidity range |y| < 2.4, in the transverse momentum interval 0 < p$_{T}$ < 50 GeV/c, and in three centrality ranges of 10–30%, 30–50% and 50–90%. In contrast to the J/ψ mesons, the measured υ$_{2}$ values for the Υ mesons are found to be consistent with zero