Peak-First CTC: Reducing the Peak Latency of CTC Models by Applying Peak-First Regularization

The CTC model has been widely applied to many application scenarios because of its simple structure, excellent performance, and fast inference speed. There are many peaks in the probability distribution predicted by the CTC models, and each peak represents a non-blank token. The recognition latency of CTC models can be reduced by encouraging the model to predict peaks earlier. Existing methods to reduce latency require modifying the transition relationship between tokens in the forward-backward algorithm, and the gradient calculation. Some of these methods even depend on the forced alignment results provided by other pretrained models. The above methods are complex to implement. To reduce the peak latency, we propose a simple and novel method named peak-first regularization, which utilizes a frame-wise knowledge distillation function to force the probability distribution of the CTC model to shift left along the time axis instead of directly modifying the calculation process of CTC loss and gradients. All the experiments are conducted on a Chinese Mandarin dataset AISHELL-1. We have verified the effectiveness of the proposed regularization on both streaming and non-streaming CTC models respectively. The results show that the proposed method can reduce the average peak latency by about 100 to 200 milliseconds with almost no degradation of recognition accuracy.Comment: Submitted to ICASSP 2023(5 pages, 2 figures

Macrophage polarization states in atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory condition primarily affecting large and medium arteries, is the main cause of cardiovascular diseases. Macrophages are key mediators of inflammatory responses. They are involved in all stages of atherosclerosis development and progression, from plaque formation to transition into vulnerable plaques, and are considered important therapeutic targets. Increasing evidence suggests that the modulation of macrophage polarization can effectively control the progression of atherosclerosis. Herein, we explore the role of macrophage polarization in the progression of atherosclerosis and summarize emerging therapies for the regulation of macrophage polarization. Thus, the aim is to inspire new avenues of research in disease mechanisms and clinical prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis

Benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene and benzotriazole based small molecule for solution-processed organic solar cells

A&nbsp;novel&nbsp;deep&nbsp;HOMO&nbsp;A1-p-A2-D-A2-p-A1&nbsp;type&nbsp;molecule&nbsp;(D(CATBTzT)BDT),&nbsp;which&nbsp;terminal<br /> electron-withdrawing&nbsp;octyl&nbsp;cyanoacetate&nbsp;group&nbsp;is&nbsp;connected&nbsp;to&nbsp;a&nbsp;benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b0]dithiophene<br /> (BDT)&nbsp;core&nbsp;through&nbsp;another&nbsp;electron-accepting&nbsp;benzotriazole&nbsp;block,&nbsp;has&nbsp;been&nbsp;synthesized,<br /> characterized,&nbsp;and&nbsp;employed&nbsp;as&nbsp;electron&nbsp;donor&nbsp;material&nbsp;for&nbsp;small&nbsp;molecule<br /> organic&nbsp;solar&nbsp;cells&nbsp;(SM-OSCs).&nbsp;By&nbsp;simple&nbsp;solution&nbsp;spin-coating&nbsp;fabrication&nbsp;process,&nbsp;D(CATBTzT)<br /> BDT/PC61BM&nbsp;based&nbsp;OSCs&nbsp;exhibit&nbsp;a&nbsp;power&nbsp;conversion&nbsp;efficiency&nbsp;(PCE)&nbsp;of&nbsp;3.61%&nbsp;with&nbsp;a<br /> high&nbsp;open-circuit&nbsp;voltage&nbsp;of&nbsp;0.93&nbsp;V.&nbsp;The&nbsp;D(CATBTzT)BDT&nbsp;based&nbsp;solar&nbsp;cells&nbsp;device&nbsp;also&nbsp;can<br /> show&nbsp;high&nbsp;FF&nbsp;of&nbsp;72%&nbsp;with&nbsp;PCEs&nbsp;of&nbsp;2.31%&nbsp;which&nbsp;is&nbsp;one&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;best&nbsp;FF&nbsp;results&nbsp;for&nbsp;solution-processed<br /> SM-OSCs.<br /

Hyperconjugated side chained benzodithiophene and 4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole based polymer for solar cells

A novel donor-acceptor (D-A) copolymer (P3TBDTDTBT), including hyperconjugated side chained benzodithiophene as a donor and 4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DTBT) as an acceptor, was designed and synthesized. Due to the introduction of the hyperconjugated side chain, the resultant polymer exhibited good thermal stability with a high decomposition temperature of 437 degrees C, a low band-gap of 1.67 eV with an absorption onset of 742 nm in the solid film, and a deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level of -5.26 eV. Finally, the polymer solar cell (PSC) device based on this polymer and [6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) showed the best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.57% with an open-circuit voltage (V-oc) of 0.78 V, a short-circuit current density (J(sc)) of 8.83 mA cm(-2) and a fill factor (FF) of 53%

Modularity of service design for IT company

Applying modular logic to service design is crucial to service innovation; however, both under-modularity and over-modularity results in strategic mistakes, in particular to the IT service offering companies. This paper firstly identifies four dimensions of the conceptual modular IT service platform for designing and providing service to the customers. And a mathematical model is developed and applied to evaluate the degree of modularity for the designed unique services