Visually grounded learning of keyword prediction from untranscribed speech

During language acquisition, infants have the benefit of visual cues to ground spoken language. Robots similarly have access to audio and visual sensors. Recent work has shown that images and spoken captions can be mapped into a meaningful common space, allowing images to be retrieved using speech and vice versa. In this setting of images paired with untranscribed spoken captions, we consider whether computer vision systems can be used to obtain textual labels for the speech. Concretely, we use an image-to-words multi-label visual classifier to tag images with soft textual labels, and then train a neural network to map from the speech to these soft targets. We show that the resulting speech system is able to predict which words occur in an utterance---acting as a spoken bag-of-words classifier---without seeing any parallel speech and text. We find that the model often confuses semantically related words, e.g. "man" and "person", making it even more effective as a semantic keyword spotter.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables; small updates, added link to code; accepted to Interspeech 201

Power analysis for detecting trends in juvenile spotted seatrout abundance in Florida Bay

The spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) is considered a key species relative to the implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). One of the goals of the CERP is to increase freshwater flows to Florida Bay. Increased freshwater flows can have potential positive and negative impacts on spotted seatrout populations. At low salinities, the planktonic eggs of spotted seatrout sink to the bottom and are not viable (Alshuth and Gilmore, 1994; Holt and Holt, 2002). On the other hand, increased freshwater flows can alleviate hypersaline conditions that could result in an expansion of the distribution of the early life stages of spotted seatrout (Thayer et al., 1999; Florida Department of Environmental Protection1). Thus it would be useful to develop a monitoring program that can detect changes in seatrout abundance on time scales short enough to be useful to resource managers. The NOAA Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research (NOAA) has made sporadic collections of juvenile seatrout using otter trawls since 1984 (see Powell et al, 2004). The results suggest that it might be useful to sample for seatrout in as many as eight different areas or basins (Figure 1): Bradley Key, Sandy Key, Johnson Key, Palm Key, Snake Bight, Central, Whipray and Crocodile Dragover. Unfortunately, logistical constraints are likely to limit the number of tows to about 40 per month over a period of six months each year. Inasmuch as few seatrout are caught in any given tow and the proportion of tows with zero seatrout is often high, it is important to determine how best to allocate this limited sampling effort among the various basins so that any trends in abundance may be detected with sufficient statistical confidence. (PDF contains 16 pages

How analyzing social media data can help determine whether or not people will vote

Political scientists have been trying to understand how political campaigns affect voter turnout for decades. Now, with the rise and ubiquity of social media platforms such as Facebook, those who study political campaigns have access to a new and potentially vast data source on voters’ intentions. In new research, Jaime Settle analyses over 100 million Facebook updates, finding that 1.3 percent more users in battleground states posted status updates about politics, and that this increased their likelihood of voting by nearly 40 percent

Information technology and computer science programs: How do we relate?

In this panel session, the relationship between computer science programs and information technology programs at universities that house both will be explored. People outside the computing disciplines often find the distinction between these programs confusing. The panelists, who have experience with both types of program, will discuss strategies for differentiating the programs in the eyes of administrators, for advising students into the correct program, and for maintaining focus and excellence in both computer science and information technology programs

Interactive learning online: Challenges and opportunities

Since the early 1990s online education and online learning systems have held the promise of increasing instructional productivity and reducing costs without sacrificing educational quality. There is no evidence to date that such promise has materialized. The impetus of the newest developments with free online courses to hundreds of thousands of students might drastically transform how we teach more and better with less. The innovation that prompted this panel is called Interactive Learning Online (ILO), and has the distinctive feature of highly interactive, machine-guided instruction that can be scaled to accommodate a large number of students who benefit from targeted and personalized learning. The panelists have experimented with online learning in different ways. Their perspectives will address challenges and opportunities with the adoption of ILO systems

Nasa's Land Remote Sensing Plans for the 1980's

Research since the launch of LANDSAT-1 has been primarily directed to the development of analysis techniques and to the conduct of applications studies designed to address resource information needs in the United States and in many other countries. The current measurement capabilities represented by MSS, TM, and SIR-A and B, coupled with the present level of remote sensing understanding and the state of knowledge in the discipline earth sciences, form the foundation for NASA's Land Processes Program. Science issues to be systematically addressed include: energy balance, hydrologic cycle, biogeochemical cycles, biological productivity, rock cycle, landscape development, geological and botanical associations, and land surface inventory, monitoring, and modeling. A global perspective is required for using remote sensing technology for problem solving or applications context. A successful model for this kind of activity involves joint research with a user entity where the user provides a test site and ground truth and NASA provides the remote sensing techniques to be tested

Integration-Valuation Nexus in Invasive Species Policy

This paper reviews recent work examining two topics of economic research vital for invasive species policy-integration and valuation. Integration requires bioeconomic models that blend invasive biology with economic circumstances and the feedback loops between the two systems. Valuation requires nonmarket valuation associated with human and environmental damages posed by invasive species. We argue for a second-level of integration in invasive species economics-valuation based on integration models. Policy prescriptions based on integration models need valuation work; valuation surveys need integration models-the two are complements. Valuation could be enhanced with integration in mind; integration could be made better with valuation in mind. An example from blending the two research areas is presented and its merits demonstrated.invasive species, integrated economic-ecological modeling, nonmarket valuation, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Do Fixed Exchange Rates Fetter Monetary Policy? A Credit View

The Bernanke-Blinder credit-view model is expanded to encompass a small, open economy with fixed exchange rates. In contrast to conventional wisdom and traditional models, monetary policy is resurrected as a stabilization tool. We show that various financial sector shocks have real aggregate demand effects. Further, we demonstrate that independent monetary policy actions can have substantive impacts on aggregate demand despite perfect capital mobility in bond markets and adherence to a fixed exchange rate regime as long as bank loans are imperfectly mobile.