Segmental Duration Control Based on an Articulatory Model

This paper proposes a new method that determines segmental duration for text-to-speech conversion based on the movement of articulatory organs which compose an articulatory model. The articulatory model comprises four time-variable articulatory parameters representing the conditions of articulatory organs whose physical restriction seems to significantly influence the segmental duration. The parameters are controlled according to an input sequence of phonetic symbols, following which segmental duration is determined based on the variation of the articulatory parameters. The proposed method is evaluated through an experiment using a Japanese speech database that consists of 150 phonetically balanced sentences. The results indicate that the mean square error of predicted segmental duration is approximately 15[ms] for the closed set and 15-17[ms] for the open set. The error is within 20[ms], the level of acceptability for distortion of segmental duration without loss of naturalness, and hence the method is proved to effectively predict segmental duration

A Feasibility Study of Postoperative Adjuvant Therapy of Carboplatin and Weekly Paclitaxel for Completely Resected Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

IntroductionRecent clinical trials have shown significant survival benefits from postoperative adjuvant therapy for respectable nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, evaluation of adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin combination is still uncertain. The purpose of the study was to test the feasibility of adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin and separate weekly paclitaxel after complete resection of pStage IB, II, IIIA NSCLC in a multicenter study.MethodsThe study was conducted from 2001 to 2006 in the outpatient setting. A total of 61 patients were enrolled. Patients received adjuvant chemotherapy with 4 cycles of carboplatin (AUC 5) on day 1 and paclitaxel (70 mg/m2) on day 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks. Primary endpoints were toxicity and chemotherapy compliance. Secondary endpoints were disease-free survival and overall survival.ResultsMore than 65% of eligible patients had pStage IIIA. The median number of chemotherapy cycles was 4 (range 1–4). Grade 3 or 4 toxicities of neutropenia were 34% (grade 4: 2%). Other hematologic adverse effects were extremely less frequent. Regarding the nonhematologic adverse effect, hair loss was frequent; however, peripheral neuralgia was less frequent. Treatment-related death was not registered. During median follow-up of 21 months, 24 patients developed recurrent disease. Estimated disease-free survival and overall survival at 2 years was 51.2% and 84.6%, respectively.ConclusionsPostoperative carboplatin and weekly paclitaxel showed favorable feasibility and acceptable toxicity in comparison with the cisplatin-containing regimen. Consequently, it is desirable that this regimen would be validated in a phase III clinical trial for NSCLC after curative resection

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) for AKARI

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is one of two focal plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. FIS has four photometric bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 um, and uses two kinds of array detectors. The FIS arrays and optics are designed to sweep the sky with high spatial resolution and redundancy. The actual scan width is more than eight arcmin, and the pixel pitch is matches the diffraction limit of the telescope. Derived point spread functions (PSFs) from observations of asteroids are similar to the optical model. Significant excesses, however, are clearly seen around tails of the PSFs, whose contributions are about 30% of the total power. All FIS functions are operating well in orbit, and its performance meets the laboratory characterizations, except for the two longer wavelength bands, which are not performing as well as characterized. Furthermore, the FIS has a spectroscopic capability using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). Because the FTS takes advantage of the optics and detectors of the photometer, it can simultaneously make a spectral map. This paper summarizes the in-flight technical and operational performance of the FIS.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in the AKARI special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa

Behaviors of pedestrians on streets with roadside strips

Pedestrian behaviors in natural settings have been investigated mainly on roads with sidewalks or the corridors outside or inside buildings. The present study examined pedestrian behaviors on roads with roadside strips, which are popular in Japanese local areas. The purpose of the study was to investigate pedestrian behaviors and the factors affecting them. Observations were made at two single-lane streets in Tokyo with 0.9 m and 0.5 m roadside strips. A total of 2,476 pedestrians were observed for 2 days (1 weekday, 1 weekend day) in each location. Walking with traffic was more popular (61%) than walking against traffic. People seemed to walk either side of the street depending on their turn direction at the forward intersection. Illegal behavior of walking into the roadway was also observed in 46% of pedestrians. This behavior was more likely to appear on the streets with narrower roadside strips and when people walked in a group. As expected, males, young and mature adults, and single pedestrians walked faster than females, children and senior adults, and pedestrians in a group. When a female and a male walked abreast, males tended to reduce their walking speed considerably and walk on the roadway side (62%), taking care of females. Similar positional consideration for a vulnerable partner was also found in parent–child pairs. It was concluded that people are likely to violate traffic law if the violation serves a purpose, and they tend to behave altruistically towards others, even if there is no relevant rule