DARTS-ASR: Differentiable Architecture Search for Multilingual Speech Recognition and Adaptation

In previous works, only parameter weights of ASR models are optimized under fixed-topology architecture. However, the design of successful model architecture has always relied on human experience and intuition. Besides, many hyperparameters related to model architecture need to be manually tuned. Therefore in this paper, we propose an ASR approach with efficient gradient-based architecture search, DARTS-ASR. In order to examine the generalizability of DARTS-ASR, we apply our approach not only on many languages to perform monolingual ASR, but also on a multilingual ASR setting. Following previous works, we conducted experiments on a multilingual dataset, IARPA BABEL. The experiment results show that our approach outperformed the baseline fixed-topology architecture by 10.2% and 10.0% relative reduction on character error rates under monolingual and multilingual ASR settings respectively. Furthermore, we perform some analysis on the searched architectures by DARTS-ASR.Comment: Accepted at INTERSPEECH 202

Rapid Determination of Saponins in the Honey-Fried Processing of Rhizoma Cimicifugae by Near Infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy.

ObjectiveA model of Near Infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIR-DRS) was established for the first time to determine the content of Shengmaxinside I in the honey-fried processing of Rhizoma Cimicifugae.MethodsShengmaxinside I content was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the data of the honey-fried processing of Rhizoma Cimicifugae samples from different batches of different origins by NIR-DRS were collected by TQ Analyst 8.0. Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis was used to establish a near-infrared quantitative model.ResultsThe determination coefficient R² was 0.9878. The Cross-Validation Root Mean Square Error (RMSECV) was 0.0193%, validating the model with a validation set. The Root Mean Square Error of Prediction (RMSEP) was 0.1064%. The ratio of the standard deviation for the validation samples to the standard error of prediction (RPD) was 5.5130.ConclusionThis method is convenient and efficient, and the experimentally established model has good prediction ability, and can be used for the rapid determination of Shengmaxinside I content in the honey-fried processing of Rhizoma Cimicifugae

Problems of QCD factorization in exclusive decays of B meson to charmonium

We study the exclusive decays of $B$ meson into P-wave charmonium states $\chi_{cJ}(J=0,1)$ in the QCD factorization approach with light-cone distribution functions describing the mesons in the processes. For $B \to \chi_{c1} K$ decay, we find that there are logarithmic divergences arising from nonfactorizable spectator interactions even at twist-2 order and the decay rate is too small to accommodate the experimental data. For $B\to \chi_{c0} K$ decay, we find that aside from the logarithmic divergences arising from spectator interactions at leading-twist order, more importantly, the factorization will break down due to the infrared divergence arising from nonfactorizable vertex corrections, which is independent of the specific form of the light-cone distribution functions. Our results may indicate that QCD factorization in the present form may not be safely applied to $B$-meson exclusive decays to charmonium states.Comment: Latex, 7 pages, 1 eps figure, final version to appear in Phys.Lett.B; a few references are added, the expression of chi_c1 decay constant is give

Attenuation of Guided Wave Propagation by the Insulation Pipe

Pipeline systems are widely used in gas, refinery, chemical and petro-chemical industries, which usually carry high pressure, high temperature or even highly corrosive fluids. Cracks and corrosion are often found at the outer or inner surface of pipeline and can lead to a serious thinning of wall thickness. Leaks or sudden failures of pipes can cause injuries, fatalities and environmental damage. Ultrasonic nondestructive techniques are available for the detection of wall loss associated with defects in the pipe. Unfortunately, a high proportion in pipelines of these industrial are insulated, so that even external corrosion cannot readily be detected by the conventional ultrasonic testing (single position measurement) without the removal of the insulation, which in most case is time-consuming and cost expensive. Especially in typically industrial plants, there are hundreds of kilometers of pipelines can be in operation. Making inspection of full pipelines is virtually impossible in industrial plants. There is therefore a quick reliable method for the detection of corrosion under insulation (CUI). This technique, called guided wave, employs a pulseecho system applied at a single location of a pipe where only a small section of insulation need to be removed, using waves propagation along the pipe wall. The changes in the response signal indicate the presence of an impedance change in the pipe. The shape and axial location of defects and features in the pipe are also determined by reflected signals and their arrival times. Propagation distance of many tens of meters can readily be obtained in steel pipes [1-6]. Since these guided waves are cylindrical Lamb waves along the pipe, no lateral spreading can occur and the propagation is essentially one-dimensional. In a uniform pipe, their amplitude with propagation distance is therefore only reduced by the material attenuation of the steel [7]

Black Soybean Shows Protective Function against Carbon Tetrachloride-induced Liver Damage in Sprague-dawely Rats

ABSTRACT Anthocyanins are abounding in the seed coat of black soybean (BS) (Glycine max (L.) Merrill), which contribute to anti-oxidative and anti-antiinflammatory activities. It leaded us to investigate the protective function of BS against a strong oxidant carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) induced liver damage in rats. BS was baked at 130°C for 5 min and then was submerged in 100°C hot water for 20 min to produce an anthocyanin enriched tea/decoction (BST). Protective function of BST against CCl 4 -induced liver damage in Sprague-Dawely rats was investigated with six experimental groups: control, high BST (1 g BS/kg bw), CCl 4 (0.5 ml 20% CCl 4 ), CCl 4 + silymarin (0.2 g/kg bw), CCl 4 + low BST (0.1 g BS/kg bw) and CCl 4 + high BST (1 g BS/kg bw). BST enhanced GSH and GSSH contents, as well as antioxidant enzymes activities (superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) activities) in the liver tissue of normal rats. BST also attenuated the elevation of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) levels in CCl 4 treated rats. Liver histopathology revealed that BST reduced fatty liver and liver fibrosis caused by CCl 4 . It was suggested that anthocyanins in the seed coat of black soybean contributed to such hepatoprotective effect

Neuronal degeneration in autonomic nervous system of Dystonia musculorum mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Dystonia musculorum </it>(<it>dt</it>) is an autosomal recessive hereditary neuropathy with a characteristic uncoordinated movement and is caused by a defect in the <it>bullous pemphigoid antigen 1 </it>(<it>BPAG1</it>) gene. The neural isoform of <it>BPAG1 </it>is expressed in various neurons, including those in the central and peripheral nerve systems of mice. However, most previous studies on neuronal degeneration in <it>BPAG1</it>-deficient mice focused on peripheral sensory neurons and only limited investigation of the autonomic system has been conducted.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, patterns of nerve innervation in cutaneous and iridial tissues were examined using general neuronal marker protein gene product 9.5 via immunohistochemistry. To perform quantitative analysis of the autonomic neuronal number, neurons within the lumbar sympathetic and parasympathetic ciliary ganglia were calculated. In addition, autonomic neurons were cultured from embryonic <it>dt/dt </it>mutants to elucidate degenerative patterns <it>in vitro</it>. Distribution patterns of neuronal intermediate filaments in cultured autonomic neurons were thoroughly studied under immunocytochemistry and conventional electron microscopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our immunohistochemistry results indicate that peripheral sensory nerves and autonomic innervation of sweat glands and irises dominated degeneration in <it>dt/dt </it>mice. Quantitative results confirmed that the number of neurons was significantly decreased in the lumbar sympathetic ganglia as well as in the parasympathetic ciliary ganglia of <it>dt/dt </it>mice compared with those of wild-type mice. We also observed that the neuronal intermediate filaments were aggregated abnormally in cultured autonomic neurons from <it>dt/dt </it>embryos.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that a deficiency in the cytoskeletal linker BPAG1 is responsible for dominant sensory nerve degeneration and severe autonomic degeneration in <it>dt/dt </it>mice. Additionally, abnormally aggregated neuronal intermediate filaments may participate in neuronal death of cultured autonomic neurons from <it>dt/dt </it>mutants.</p