Speech Recognition with unknown partial feature corruption - a review of the union model

This paper provides a summary of our studies on robust speech recognition based on a new statistical approach – the probabilistic union model. We consider speech recognition given that part of the acoustic features may be corrupted by noise. The union model is a method for basing the recognition on the clean part of the features, thereby reducing the effect of the noise on recognition. To this end, the union model is similar to the missing feature method. However, the two methods achieve this end through different routes. The missing feature method usually requires the identity of the noisy data for noise removal, while the union model combines the local features based on the union of random events, to reduce the dependence of the model on information about the noise. We previously investigated the applications of the union model to speech recognition involving unknown partial corruption in frequency band, in time duration, and in feature streams. Additionally, a combination of the union model with conventional noise-reduction techniques was studied, as a means of dealing with a mixture of known or trainable noise and unknown unexpected noise. In this paper, a unified review, in the context of dealing with unknown partial feature corruption, is provided into each of these applications, giving the appropriate theory and implementation algorithms, along with an experimental evaluation.

‘‘Capital of Culture - you must be having a laugh!” Challenging the official rhetoric of Liverpool as the 2008 European cultural capital’

Major cultural events are increasingly seen by local stakeholders as important opportunities to stimulate urban regeneration, city branding and economic development. The European Capital of Culture programme is a prominent example. Since 1985 over thirty cities have hosted the title and today it remains a highly sought-after prize. This paper analyses competing interpretations of the success of Liverpool's hosting of the European Capital of Culture in 2008. It unpacks contrasting views of Liverpool08, from the official triumphant message of urban regeneration and economic renaissance to more critical analyses that problematise important elements of the event and its social and spatial impacts. In so doing, it challenges the hyperbole of culture-led transformation to reveal different geographies of culture, different cultural experiences and different socio-economic realities; it also offers an additional cultural reading of Liverpool in 2008. Through the example of Liverpool this paper shows how local culture is politicised, manipulated and sanitised in order to stimulate urban regeneration and construct a spatial re-branding of the city.

De grands événements culturels sont de plus en plus perçus par les rentiers locaux comme des opportunités importantes pour stimuler la régénération urbaine, produire la devise des villes et le développement économique. L'initiative La Capitale Européenne de la Culture est un exemple proéminent. Depuis 1985, plus de trente villes ont accueilli le titre et maintenant il reste un prix largement recherché. Cet article analyse des interprétations en concurrence du succès de l'accueil de Liverpool de la Capitale Européenne de la Culture en 2008. Il déballe des vues contrastées de Liverpool08, du message officiel et triomphal de la régénération urbaine et de la renaissance économique à des analyses plus critiques qui problématisent des éléments importants de l'événement et ses impacts sociaux et spatiaux. De cette façon, il conteste l'hyperbole de la transformation menée par la culture pour révéler des géographies différentes de la culture, des expériences différentes de la culture et des réalités socioéconomiques différentes; il offre aussi une interprétation culturelle différente de Liverpool en 2008. Au travers de l'exemple de Liverpool cet article montre comment la culture locale est politisée, manipulée et aseptisée pour stimuler la régénération urbaine et construire un relookage spatial de la ville.

Cada vez más, los inversores locales vean a los eventos culturales como oportunidades importantes para estimular regeneración urbana, el desarollo económico y la branding a una ciudad. El Capital Europeo de Cultura es un ejemplo prominente. Desde 1985, más que treinta ciudades han presentado el título y hoy sigue siendo un premio deseable. Este papel se analiza interpretaciones competitivos del éxito del Capital Europea de Cultura 2008 en Liverpool. Se deshace las perspectivas opuestas del Liverpool08, del mensaje triunfante de regeneración urbana y renacimiento económico, a analices críticos que problematizan elementos importantes del evento y sus impactos sociales y espaciales. Al hacer esto, se cuestiona el hipérbole de la transformación cultural para revelar geografías diferentes de cultura, experiencias culturales diferentes y realidades diferentes socio-económicas; también ofrece un entendimiento cultural adicional de Liverpool en el 2008. Através el ejemplo de Liverpool, este papel demuestra como la cultura local está politizada, manipulada, y desinfectado para estimular regeneración urbana y construir una nueva branding de la ciudad.

'Rule of Law and Politics of Anti-Corruption Campaigns in a Post-Authoritarian State- The Nigerian Case'

This article evaluates the anti-corruption campaign instituted in Nigeria following on the post-authoritarian transition in the country, with specific focus on political corruption. The anti-corruption campaign is being prosecuted within a context where law is as critical a factor as politics. This article examines whether the judiciary, in view of its accountability deficit, can offer legitimacy to the campaign. How has its questionable credentials impacted on its involvement in the campaign to sanitise public life? What has been the impact of the judicial role on the rule of law? These are some of the important questions this article seeks to answer. The inquiry in this article demonstrates how the guardian institution of the rule of law faces an uphill task in the performance of that role in a post-authoritarian context.

Corruption and subsidiary profitability: US MNC subsidiaries in the Asia Pacific region

Would multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries be more profitable in host countries where corruption is less severe? Would MNC subsidiaries be more profitable in less corrupt countries if they focus on local sales? This paper examines the impact of the level of corruption on the profitability of US MNCs in the Asia Pacific region. Using foreign direct investment (FDI) data archived by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and corruption data reported by the World Bank, we find that MNC subsidiaries located in countries with a lower level of corruption are more profitable. In addition, MNC subsidiaries with a greater focus on local sales are more profitable when the corruption level is low. This study contributes to the literature by showing that when local sales are important to MNC subsidiaries, a lower level of corruption by host countries positively affects the profitability of the MNC subsidiaries.

‘Reconsidering Dermot Bolger’s Grotesquery: Class and Sexuality in The Journey Home’

Dermot Bolger's The Journey Home (1990) narrates an often hyperbolic and overblown diatribe against a litany of social and political ills, which elicited frequently critical responses to the novel from reviewers. Yet Bolger's seminal work remains both popular and controversial because of its capacity to shock and upbraid the false morality of Irish society--a society that the author considered to be riven by class inequalities and official abuses. Bolger employs sexual abuse as a metonym for political corruption in the novel, and this essay explores The Journey Home's surreal story of youth in a working-class Dublin suburb in light of more recent revelations of Ireland's legacy of institutional sexual abuse.