New Grapheme Generation Rules for Two-Stage Modelbased Grapheme-to-Phoneme Conversion

The precise conversion of arbitrary text into its  corresponding phoneme sequence (grapheme-to-phoneme or G2P conversion) is implemented in speech synthesis and recognition, pronunciation learning software, spoken term detection and spoken document retrieval systems. Because the quality of this module plays an important role in the performance of such systems and many problems regarding G2P conversion have been reported, we propose a novel two-stage model-based approach, which is implemented using an existing weighted finite-state transducer-based G2P conversion framework, to improve the performance of the G2P conversion model. The first-stage model is built for automatic conversion of words  to phonemes, while  the second-stage  model utilizes the input graphemes and output phonemes obtained from the first stage to determine the best final output phoneme sequence. Additionally, we designed new grapheme generation rules, which enable extra detail for the vowel and consonant graphemes appearing within a word. When compared with previous approaches, the evaluation results indicate that our approach using rules focusing on the vowel graphemes slightly improved the accuracy of the out-of-vocabulary dataset and consistently increased the accuracy of the in-vocabulary dataset

Open-source Software for Developing Anthropomorphic Spoken Dialog Agents

An architecture for highly-interactive human-like spoken-dialog agent is discussed in this paper. In order to easily integrate the modules of different characteristics including speech recognizer, speech synthesizer, facial-image synthesizer and dialog controller, each module is modeled as a virtual machine that has a simple common interface and is connected to each other through a broker (communication manager). The agent system under development is supported by the IPA and it will be publicly available as a software toolkit this year

Regional variation in survival following pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Background: Although regional variation in outcome after adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is known, no clinical studies have assessed this in pediatric OHCA. Methods and Results: This nationwide, prospective, population-based observation of the whole of Japan included consecutive OHCA patients with resuscitation attempt from January 2005 through December 2009. Primary outcome was 1-month survival with neurologically favorable outcome. Japan was divided into the following 7 regions as the largest administrative units: Hokkaido-Tohoku, Kanto, Tokai-Hokuriku, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu-Okinawa. The outcome of pediatric OHCA was then compared between the regions. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for other factors that were considered to influence the relationship between region and outcome. A total of 8,240 pediatric OHCA patients were registered during the study period. One-month survival with neurologically favorable outcome significantly differed by region: 2.5% (24/967) in Hokkaido-Tohoku (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.65; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.94-2.90), 2.9% (47/1614) in Tokai-Hokuriku (AOR, 2.06; 95% CI: 1.28-3.31), 2.1% (26/1239) in Kinki (AOR, 1.45; 95% CI: 0.84-2.51), 3.4% (16/465) in Chugoku (AOR, 3.11; 95% CI: 1.62-6.00), 1.5% (4/259) in Shikoku (AOR, 0.79; 95% CI: 0.26-2.43), and 2.8% (27/974) in Kyushu-Okinawa (AOR, 2.15; 95% CI: 1.24-3.74) referred to Kanto (1.4%, 37/2722). Conclusions: According to Japanese nationwide OHCA registry data there are significant regional variations in the outcome of pediatric OHCA.Yoshio Okamoto, Taku Iwami, Tetsuhisa Kitamura, Masahiko Nitta, Atsushi Hiraide, Tsuneo Morishima, Takashi Kawamura, Regional Variation in Survival Following Pediatric Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest, Circulation Journal, 2013, Volume 77, Issue 10, Pages 2596-2603, Released September 25, 2013, [Advance publication] Released July 04, 2013, Online ISSN 1347-4820, Print ISSN 1346-9843, https://doi.org/10.1253/circj.CJ-12-1604, https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/circj/77/10/77_CJ-12-1604/_article/-char/e

Reduction of Phosphatic and Potash Fertilizer in Sweet Corn Production by Pre-transplanting Application of Potassium Phosphate to Plug Seedlings

To develop a new fertilizing system with a reduced amount of phosphatic fertilizer in sweet corn production, we applied potassium phosphate to the plug seedlings before transplanting to the field, and examined its effects on growth, yield, photosynthetic activity and absorption of minerals. The amount of phosphatic and potash fertilizers necessary to grow sweet corn could be reduced by the pre-transplanting KP application (PTKPA) to the plug seedlings. We considered the mechanisms involved in the reduction of P and K application rate by PTKPA as follows; 1) PTKPA increased the P content of plant, which accelerated the root establishment. 2) The advanced root establishment not only reduced the duration of water stress, but also increased absorption of the essential nutrients such as N and Mg. 3) Higher content of N and Mg led to higher chlorophyll content and possibly protein content, which activated photosynthesis during the early growth stage. 4) Improved photosynthetic activities increased NAR during the early growth stage. 5) This increase in NAR accelerated leaf expansion, increasing LAI. 6) Larger LAI during the early growth stage led to larger LAI throughout the growing stage, resulting in a higher CGR and ear yield