Evaluating the Usability of Automatically Generated Captions for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

The accuracy of Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) technology has improved, but it is still imperfect in many settings. Researchers who evaluate ASR performance often focus on improving the Word Error Rate (WER) metric, but WER has been found to have little correlation with human-subject performance on many applications. We propose a new captioning-focused evaluation metric that better predicts the impact of ASR recognition errors on the usability of automatically generated captions for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH). Through a user study with 30 DHH users, we compared our new metric with the traditional WER metric on a caption usability evaluation task. In a side-by-side comparison of pairs of ASR text output (with identical WER), the texts preferred by our new metric were preferred by DHH participants. Further, our metric had significantly higher correlation with DHH participants' subjective scores on the usability of a caption, as compared to the correlation between WER metric and participant subjective scores. This new metric could be used to select ASR systems for captioning applications, and it may be a better metric for ASR researchers to consider when optimizing ASR systems.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, published in ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17

Chiral Symmetry Breaking and Pion Wave Function

We consider here chiral symmetry breaking through nontrivial vacuum structure with quark antiquark condensates. We then relate the condensate function to the wave function of pion as a Goldstone mode. This simultaneously yields the pion also as a quark antiquark bound state as a localised zero mode in vacuum. We illustrate the above with Nambu Jona-Lasinio model to calculate different pionic properties in terms of the vacuum structure for breaking of exact or approximate chiral symmetry, as well as the condensate fluctuations giving rise to $\sigma$ mesons.Comment: latex, revtex, 16 page

A microfluidic device for the study of the orientational dynamics of microrods

We describe a microfluidic device for studying the orientational dynamics of microrods. The device enables us to experimentally investigate the tumbling of microrods immersed in the shear flow in a microfluidic channel with a depth of 400 mu and a width of 2.5 mm. The orientational dynamics was recorded using a 20 X microscopic objective and a CCD camera. The microrods were produced by shearing microdroplets of photocurable epoxy resin. We show different examples of empirically observed tumbling. On the one hand we find that short stretches of the experimentally determined time series are well described by fits to solutions of Jeffery's approximate equation of motion [Jeffery, Proc. R. Soc. London. 102 (1922), 161-179]. On the other hand we find that the empirically observed trajectories drift between different solutions of Jeffery's equation. We discuss possible causes of this orbit drift.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Aperiodic tumbling of microrods advected in a microchannel flow

We report on an experimental investigation of the tumbling of microrods in the shear flow of a microchannel (40 x 2.5 x 0.4 mm). The rods are 20 to 30 microns long and their diameters are of the order of 1 micron. Images of the centre-of-mass motion and the orientational dynamics of the rods are recorded using a microscope equipped with a CCD camera. A motorised microscope stage is used to track individual rods as they move along the channel. Automated image analysis determines the position and orientation of a tracked rods in each video frame. We find different behaviours, depending on the particle shape, its initial position, and orientation. First, we observe periodic as well as aperiodic tumbling. Second, the data show that different tumbling trajectories exhibit different sensitivities to external perturbations. These observations can be explained by slight asymmetries of the rods. Third we observe that after some time, initially periodic trajectories lose their phase. We attribute this to drift of the centre of mass of the rod from one to another stream line of the channel flow.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, as accepted for publicatio

Vector meson masses in hot nuclear matter : the effect of quantum corrections

The medium modification of vector meson masses is studied taking into account the quantum correction effects for the hot and dense hadronic matter. In the framework of Quantum Hadrodynamics, the quantum corrections from the baryon and scalar meson sectors were earlier computed using a nonperturbative variational approach through a realignment of the ground state with baryon-antibaryon and sigma meson condensates. The effect of such corrections was seen to lead to a softer equation of state giving rise to a lower value for the compressibility and, an increase in the in-medium baryonic masses than would be reached when such quantum effects are not taken into account. These quantum corrections arising from the scalar meson sector result in an increase in the masses of the vector mesons in the hot and dense matter, as compared to the situation when only the vacuum polarisation effects from the baryonic sector are taken into account.Comment: 13 pages revtex file, 6 figure

Intracellular Hg(0) Oxidation in Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132

The disposal of elemental mercury (Hg(0)) wastes in mining and manufacturing areas has caused serious soil and groundwater contamination issues. Under anoxic conditions, certain anaerobic bacteria can oxidize dissolved elemental mercury and convert the oxidized Hg to neurotoxic methylmercury. In this study, we conducted experiments with the Hg-methylating bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132 to elucidate the role of cellular thiols in anaerobic Hg(0) oxidation. The concentrations of cell-surface and intracellular thiols were measured, and specific fractions of D. desulfuricans ND132 were examined for Hg(0) oxidation activity and analyzed with extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. The experimental data indicate that intracellular thiol concentrations are approximately six times higher than those of the cell wall. Cells reacted with a thiol-blocking reagent were severely impaired in Hg(0) oxidation activity. Spheroplasts lacking cell walls rapidly oxidized Hg(0) to Hg(II), while cell wall fragments exhibited low reactivity toward Hg(0). EXAFS analysis of spheroplast samples revealed that multiple different forms of Hg-thiols are produced by the Hg(0) oxidation reaction and that the local coordination environment of the oxidized Hg changes with reaction time. The results of this study indicate that Hg(0) oxidation in D. desulfuricans ND132 is an intracellular process that occurs by reaction with thiol-containing molecules

Structure of the Vacuum in Nuclear Matter - A Nonperturbative Approach

We compute the vacuum polarisation correction to the binding energy of nuclear matter in the Walecka model using a nonperturbative approach. We first study such a contribution as arising from a ground state structure with baryon-antibaryon condensates. This yields the same results as obtained through the relativistic Hartree approximation of summing tadpole diagrams for the baryon propagator. Such a vacuum is then generalized to include quantum effects from meson fields through scalar-meson condensates. The method is applied to study properties of nuclear matter and leads to a softer equation of state giving a lower value of the incompressibility than would be reached without quantum effects. The density dependent effective sigma mass is also calculated including such vacuum polarisation effects.Comment: 26 pages including 5 eps files, uses revtex style; PACS number: 21.65.+f,21.30.+

Seroprevalence pattern among blood donors in a tertiary health care center

Although blood transfusion is a life-saving maneuver, it is associated with certain risks. In general, transfusion-related adverse events are categorized as infectious and noninfectious. Transfusion-transmissible infectious agents such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and syphilis are among the greatest threats to blood safety for the recipient. To assess the magnitude and dynamics of disease transmission and for its prevention and control, the study of its seroprevalence is important. Our institute, catering to the needs of a large population in the foothills of the Himalayas, represents an important center for serological surveys. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis infections among blood donors in a tertiary care center of this region. A retrospective analysis of medical records of blood donors who met the standard criteria for donor fitness were screened for HIV, HBS, HCV, Syphilis and Malaria, from January 2007 to December 2011 (5 years). Out of 7884 units collected, 83 (1.05%) units had seropositivity for HBsAg/anti-HCV Ab/anti-HIV Ab/anti-Treponemal Ab, 2 units each revealed dual infections with HIV-HBV and HIV-HCV. Seropositivity rates of HBsAg, anti-HCV Ab, anti-HIV Ab and anti-treponemal Ab were 0.63%, 0.20%, 0.19% and 0.02%, respectively. Even with the implementation of effective preventive strategies, there is significant risk of transmission of infectious agents in India. Efforts to ensure an adequate and safe blood supply should include proper screening and striving for optimal use of blood and its products.Keywords: Seroprevalence; HIV; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis C; Syphilis; Uttarakhan