ESPnet-ONNX: Bridging a Gap Between Research and Production

In the field of deep learning, researchers often focus on inventing novel neural network models and improving benchmarks. In contrast, application developers are interested in making models suitable for actual products, which involves optimizing a model for faster inference and adapting a model to various platforms (e.g., C++ and Python). In this work, to fill the gap between the two, we establish an effective procedure for optimizing a PyTorch-based research-oriented model for deployment, taking ESPnet, a widely used toolkit for speech processing, as an instance. We introduce different techniques to ESPnet, including converting a model into an ONNX format, fusing nodes in a graph, and quantizing parameters, which lead to approximately 1.3-2$\times$ speedup in various tasks (i.e., ASR, TTS, speech translation, and spoken language understanding) while keeping its performance without any additional training. Our ESPnet-ONNX will be publicly available at https://github.com/espnet/espnet_onnxComment: Accepted to APSIPA ASC 202

“Principles” is the beginning of “philosophy” : A viewpoint from Descartes and toward the future of “physical education philosophy”

　This article attempts to clarify the conceptual difference between“ principles” and“philosophy” from the viewpoint of Descartes and history of the discipline of the“Principles of Physical Education.” The conclusion of this paper will lead us to reconsider the mission of the discipline of “Physical Education Philosophy,” according to its fundamental academic character.　In the field of“ Principles of Physical Education” in Japan, research has continued since the beginning of the twentieth century from the viewpoint of the philosophical method, whereas, in other countries, “Principles of Physical Education” consistently offers some practical knowledge, which is not necessarily philosophical. For a long time, most Japanese researchers have thought of the concepts of “principles” and “philosophy” as the same. However, using Descartes’ Principles of Philosophy, this paper will show that the concepts of “principles” and “philosophy” are totally different. It will become necessary to articulate a clear difference between these things, and to offer some basic academic character to the discipline of “Physical Education Philosophy,” which changed its name from “Principles of Physical Education” in 2005.　According to Descartes, principles are what we would see as the beginning point of philosophy. Philosophy has its root in principles and principles is a part of philosophy, but not the same as philosophy. Philosophy, for Descartes, also has utility for our everyday affairs. He argued that wisdom should be produced from philosophy as practical knowledge. He also presented examples of this in his own writings, such as Dioptric, Meteorology, and Geometry. If we follow Descartes’ view, the discipline of “Physical Education Philosophy” should change its academic character, because so far it has retained the academic character of the previous“Principles of Education.” Researchers of “Physical Education Philosophy” should produce their own output, not only offering some fundamental knowledge for those who engage in physical education and sport, but also offering wisdom as a practical knowledge to practitioners in order to direct their basic thinking.　This will lead to a more enlightened discussion. Spiritual Exercises, proposed by Pierre Hadot, presents a type of essence of wisdom as practical knowledge, which will lead us to reconsider the nature of wisdom in the context of physical education and sport

Research Report on Miyako Ryukyuan : General Study for Research and Conservation of Endangered Dialects in Japan

National Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsFrench National Centre for Scientific ResearchKyoto UniversityHiroshima UniversityUniversity of the RyukyusHokusei Gakuen UniversityHitotsubashi UniversityHitotsubashi UniversityHitotsubashi UniversityFirst Published: August 1, 2012 (in Japanese

H2_2 Emission Nebulosity Associated with KH 15D

An H$_2$ emission filament is found in close proximity to the unique object KH 15D using the adaptive optics system of the Subaru Telescope. The morphology of the filament, the presence of spectroscopic outflow signatures observed by Hamilton et al., and the detection of extended H$_2$ emission from KH 15D by Deming, Charbonneau, & Harrington suggest that this filament arises from shocked H$_2$ in an outflow. The filament extends about 15" to the north of KH 15D.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres