The North System for Formosa Speech Recognition Challenge 2023

This report provides a concise overview of the proposed North system, which aims to achieve automatic word/syllable recognition for Taiwanese Hakka (Sixian). The report outlines three key components of the system: the acquisition, composition, and utilization of the training data; the architecture of the model; and the hardware specifications and operational statistics. The demonstration of the system has been made public at https://asrvm.iis.sinica.edu.tw/hakka_sixian

Product Design And Development Using Virtual Reality And CAD/CAM System

The complex product evaluation process can be costly and time-consuming throughout various stages of a design process. Therefore, the present project aims to develop a product towards I4.0 by integrating VR technologies and CAD/CAM systems into the PDD process to make possible improvements against the limitations while reducing the time and costs in the development cycle, ensuring its quality and usability. Throughout the screening and scoring processes, a wrist rehabilitation device is selected as a potential product for further development using VR technology. In expectation, the device has a lower production cost and a simpler working mechanism for fulfilling the requirements of the patients. Hence, the spring feature in the proposed concept AC is replaced with a resistance band for providing various semiautomatic wrist motions in 3-DOF. On top of that, a 3D CAD model of the device is created using SOLIDWORKS 2021 and the visualization of its assembly model and animation in a VR environment is carried out with the EpicCADVR application using Oculus Quest 2 VR device. Thus, the continuous PDD process can be much simpler as it allows the users to examine and verify the initial design of parts virtually for further necessary modification. Also, the demonstration of device usage in FPV instructs the wrist mechanism and encourages the patients to move their wrists through an appropriate ROM, emulating the movement therapy. Eventually, the final device product has been constructed by combining the 3D-printed parts with some standard parts acquired, possessing an approximate weight of 600.66 g. Testing of the product has proven the operating performance of 3-DOF wrist motions, such as flexion/extension, pronation/supination, and abduction/adduction. From the analysis, the achieved ROM exceeds the minimum ROM required to perform ADL. Finally, the total estimated production cost of the final product is RM 121.41, which is comparatively lower than other benchmarking products. The device developed in this study demonstrates the potential for utilizing VR technology in the PDD phase with its immersive experience in FPV. Thus, further implementation of VR systems in PDD has been recommended to explore its possibilities against the limitations. Work undertaken in this project represents a significant step towards the realization of the final product with the aid of a VR system

Absorption Cross Sections of NH_3, NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 in the Spectral Range 140-220 nm and Implications for Planetary Isotopic Fractionation

Cross sections for photoabsorption of NH_3, NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 in the spectral region 140-220 nm were determined at ~298 K using synchrotron radiation. Absorption spectra of NH_2D and NHD_2 were deduced from spectra of mixtures of NH_3 and ND_3, of which the equilibrium concentrations for all four isotopologues obey statistical distributions. Cross sections of NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 are new. Oscillator strengths, an integration of absorption cross sections over the spectral lines, for both A ← X and B ← X systems of NH_3 agree satisfactorily with previous reports; values for NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 agree with quantum chemical predictions. The photolysis of NH_3 provides a major source of reactive hydrogen in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere of giant planets such as Jupiter. Incorporating the measured photoabsorption cross sections of NH_3 and NH_2D into the Caltech/JPL photochemical diffusive model for the atmosphere of Jupiter, we find that the photolysis efficiency of NH_2D is lower than that of NH_3 by as much as 30%. The D/H ratio in NH_2D/NH_3 for tracing the microphysics in the troposphere of Jupiter is also discussed

By protecting against cutaneous inflammation, epidermal pigmentation provided an additional advantage for ancestral humans.

Pigmentation evolved in ancestral humans to protect against toxic, ultraviolet B irradiation, but the question remains: "what is being protected?" Because humans with dark pigmentation display a suite of superior epidermal functions in comparison with their more lightly pigmented counterparts, we hypothesized and provided evidence that dark pigmentation evolved in Africa to support cutaneous function. Because our prior clinical studies also showed that a restoration of a competent barrier dampens cutaneous inflammation, we hypothesized that resistance to inflammation could have provided pigmented hominins with yet another, important evolutionary benefit. We addressed this issue here in two closely related strains of hairless mice, endowed with either moderate (Skh2/J) or absent (Skh1) pigmentation. In these models, we showed that (a) pigmented mice display a markedly reduced propensity to develop inflammation after challenges with either a topical irritant or allergen in comparison with their nonpigmented counterparts; (b) visible and histologic evidence of inflammation was paralleled by reduced levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (i.e., IL-1α and INFα); (c) because depigmentation of Skh2/J mouse skin enhanced both visible inflammation and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels after comparable pro-inflammatory challenges, the reduced propensity to develop inflammation was directly linked to the presence of pigmentation; and (d) furthermore, in accordance with our prior work showing that pigment production endows benefits by reducing the surface pH of skin, acidification of albino (Skh1) mouse skin also protected against inflammation, and equalized cytokine levels to those found in pigmented skin. In summary, pigmentation yields a reduced propensity to develop inflammation, consistent with our hypothesis that dark pigmentation evolved in ancestral humans to provide a suite of barrier-linked benefits that now include resistance to inflammation

Novel technique of neovagina creation with uterine serosa in the treatment of vaginal agenesis associated with mullerian agenesis

AbstractObjectiveOur aim was to create a neovagina with the least surgical morbidity and the best functional outcome.Materials and methodsWe hereby describe a new technique (Lee's neovaginoplasty) using a combined laparoscopic and vaginal approach in the creation of a neovagina using the uterine serosa layer from the rudimentary uterus and the peritoneum as a graft to line the vagina. This procedure was performed in three patients who were followed-up for a duration of 4 months to 2 years. Vaginal dilation was maintained with a vaginal mold daily for 3 months and three to four times a week thereafter.ResultsAdequate vaginal length of 6-7 cm and width of 2.5 cm was achieved postoperatively. There were no surgical complications and postoperative recovery was fast. Vaginal examination 1 month later showed healthy vaginal tissue with no necrosis or infection. Long-term follow-up did not show any shortening or stenosis of the vagina. Patients were able to have satisfactory sexual intercourse with no pain.ConclusionThe laparoscopic-vaginal approach of using a uterine serosa and peritoneal graft for creation of a neovagina is a simple and effective approach with minimal surgical morbidity that can create a passageway for satisfactory intercourse

MiniSUPERB: Lightweight Benchmark for Self-supervised Speech Models

Self-supervised learning (SSL) is a popular research topic in speech processing. Successful SSL speech models must generalize well. SUPERB was proposed to evaluate the ability of SSL speech models across many speech tasks. However, due to the diversity of tasks, the evaluation process requires huge computational costs. We present MiniSUPERB, a lightweight benchmark that efficiently evaluates SSL speech models with comparable results to SUPERB while greatly reducing the computational cost. We select representative tasks and sample datasets and extract model representation offline, achieving 0.954 and 0.982 Spearman's rank correlation with SUPERB Paper and SUPERB Challenge, respectively. In the meanwhile, the computational cost is reduced by 97% in regard to MACs (number of Multiply-ACcumulate operations) in the tasks we choose. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine not only the computational cost of a model itself but the cost of evaluating it on a benchmark

Measuring the Quality of Financial Electronic Payment System: Combined with Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS

The study aims to apply Fuzzy AHP in TOPSIS to discuss the key factors that foster the success of current third-party online payment platforms. This study organized the quality measurements into four categories and eleven sub-categories. The AHP in TOPSIS is applied to calculate the weighted averages of all categories and sub-categories to measure the quality of third-party online payment platforms. This study finds that “safety quality” is the most emphasized category, “system quality” is the second, “communication quality” is the third, and “service quality” is the least emphasized