Fully Learnable Front-End for Multi-Channel Acoustic Modeling using Semi-Supervised Learning

In this work, we investigated the teacher-student training paradigm to train a fully learnable multi-channel acoustic model for far-field automatic speech recognition (ASR). Using a large offline teacher model trained on beamformed audio, we trained a simpler multi-channel student acoustic model used in the speech recognition system. For the student, both multi-channel feature extraction layers and the higher classification layers were jointly trained using the logits from the teacher model. In our experiments, compared to a baseline model trained on about 600 hours of transcribed data, a relative word-error rate (WER) reduction of about 27.3% was achieved when using an additional 1800 hours of untranscribed data. We also investigated the benefit of pre-training the multi-channel front end to output the beamformed log-mel filter bank energies (LFBE) using L2 loss. We find that pre-training improves the word error rate by 10.7% when compared to a multi-channel model directly initialized with a beamformer and mel-filter bank coefficients for the front end. Finally, combining pre-training and teacher-student training produces a WER reduction of 31% compared to our baseline.Comment: To appear in ICASSP 202

Modernization, Life Course, and Marriage Timing in Indonesia

Past research on marriage timing in Asia has found the modernization framework to be insufficient for explaining and understanding the processes of marriage and non-marriage. Using insights provided by research on marriage timing in Western societies, we examine the determinants of marriage and non-marriage for Indonesian men and women using the 1993 and 1997 waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey dataset. Using a logit and a hierarchical model we examine the characteristics of unmarried men and women at time 1 who had married by time 2. We find that the basic correlates of the process of industrialization - education and work-force participation have counter-intuitive associations with marriage. While level of education does nothing to delay marriage, being enrolled in school keeps people away from marriage. Work force participation in contrast increases the odds of people's marriage while earnings from work have no effect. Based on our results we argue that the processes of marriage and non-marriage are best understood using a life course perspective. The life course perspective examines how the social context that people live in influences their lives, and determines their life trajectories, and the choices they make. Seen from this perspective, events such as marriage are a part of a person's life course that follows a normative sequence. People get married at that stage in their life when they are considered ready for it. When they are in school they are viewed as minors who are not suited to starting and raising a family whereas people who are working are viewed as adults who have the stability to take on the responsibilities of a married life

Energy Efficiency: Opportunities, Challenges, and Potential Solutions

Energy efficiency undertakings create cost savings and public benefits. These cost savings provide owners/managers with opportunities to earn a return on their investments. Benefits include lower electricity congestion, lower emissions, and potentially lower prices. However, there are many cases in which viable projects are known but not pursued. This research seeks to asses the role of capital markets in driving investment into non-residential building energy efficiency. Research Questions: What are the demand-side and supply-side measures that could save the most energy at the least cost? What are the impediments to investment in these measures? What are potential solutions, particularly in terms of financial instruments, products, and structures? Methodology: Secondary research In-depth interviews Conferences / trade shows Findings: Investment in non-residential building energy efficiency is taking place but not to the extent possible. When projects do attract customer attention, access to capital is a significant issue, not least because of the difficulty in collateralizing EE equipment, and most ESCOs’ lack of credit ratings. Utilities are looking to establish authoritative and lucrative positions, driven by new regulation. Capital markets financiers can seize this opportunity to leverage utilities and government partners to devise financing structures that can reallocate risk and return and drive investment into non-residential building energy efficiency.Master of ScienceSchool of Natural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62084/1/AparnaSundaram-FinancingEnergyEfficiency-FINAL.do

Inflammation-Induced Oxidative Stress Mediates Gene Fusion Formation in Prostate Cancer.

Approximately 50% of prostate cancers are associated with gene fusions of the androgen-regulated gene TMPRSS2 to the oncogenic erythroblast transformation-specific (ETS) transcription factor ERG. The three-dimensional proximity of TMPRSS2 and ERG genes, in combination with DNA breaks, facilitates the formation of TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusions. However, the origins of DNA breaks that underlie gene fusion formation in prostate cancers are far from clear. We demonstrate a role for inflammation-induced oxidative stress in the formation of DNA breaks leading to recurrent TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusions. The transcriptional status and epigenetic features of the target genes influence this effect. Importantly, inflammation-induced de novo genomic rearrangements are blocked by homologous recombination (HR) and promoted by non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathways. In conjunction with the association of proliferative inflammatory atrophy (PIA) with human prostate cancer, our results support a working model in which recurrent genomic rearrangements induced by inflammatory stimuli lead to the development of prostate cancer

The global retinoblastoma outcome study : a prospective, cluster-based analysis of 4064 patients from 149 countries

DATA SHARING : The study data will become available online once all analyses are complete.BACKGROUND : Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular cancer worldwide. There is some evidence to suggest that major differences exist in treatment outcomes for children with retinoblastoma from different regions, but these differences have not been assessed on a global scale. We aimed to report 3-year outcomes for children with retinoblastoma globally and to investigate factors associated with survival. METHODS : We did a prospective cluster-based analysis of treatment-naive patients with retinoblastoma who were diagnosed between Jan 1, 2017, and Dec 31, 2017, then treated and followed up for 3 years. Patients were recruited from 260 specialised treatment centres worldwide. Data were obtained from participating centres on primary and additional treatments, duration of follow-up, metastasis, eye globe salvage, and survival outcome. We analysed time to death and time to enucleation with Cox regression models. FINDINGS : The cohort included 4064 children from 149 countries. The median age at diagnosis was 23·2 months (IQR 11·0–36·5). Extraocular tumour spread (cT4 of the cTNMH classification) at diagnosis was reported in five (0·8%) of 636 children from high-income countries, 55 (5·4%) of 1027 children from upper-middle-income countries, 342 (19·7%) of 1738 children from lower-middle-income countries, and 196 (42·9%) of 457 children from low-income countries. Enucleation surgery was available for all children and intravenous chemotherapy was available for 4014 (98·8%) of 4064 children. The 3-year survival rate was 99·5% (95% CI 98·8–100·0) for children from high-income countries, 91·2% (89·5–93·0) for children from upper-middle-income countries, 80·3% (78·3–82·3) for children from lower-middle-income countries, and 57·3% (52·1-63·0) for children from low-income countries. On analysis, independent factors for worse survival were residence in low-income countries compared to high-income countries (hazard ratio 16·67; 95% CI 4·76–50·00), cT4 advanced tumour compared to cT1 (8·98; 4·44–18·18), and older age at diagnosis in children up to 3 years (1·38 per year; 1·23–1·56). For children aged 3–7 years, the mortality risk decreased slightly (p=0·0104 for the change in slope). INTERPRETATION : This study, estimated to include approximately half of all new retinoblastoma cases worldwide in 2017, shows profound inequity in survival of children depending on the national income level of their country of residence. In high-income countries, death from retinoblastoma is rare, whereas in low-income countries estimated 3-year survival is just over 50%. Although essential treatments are available in nearly all countries, early diagnosis and treatment in low-income countries are key to improving survival outcomes.The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust and the Wellcome Trust.https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/homeam2023Paediatrics and Child Healt