Optimization of Weighted Finite State Transducer for Speech Recognition

There is considerable interest in creating embedded, speech recognition hardware using the weighted finite state transducer (WFST) technique but there are performance and memory usage challenges. Two system optimization techniques are presented to address this; one approach improves token propagation by removing the WFST epsilon input arcs; another one-pass, adaptive pruning algorithm gives a dramatic reduction in active nodes to be computed. Results for memory and bandwidth are given for a 5,000 word vocabulary giving a better practical performance than conventional WFST; this is then exploited in an adaptive pruning algorithm that reduces the active nodes from 30,000 down to 4,000 with only a 2 percent sacrifice in speech recognition accuracy; these optimizations lead to a more simplified design with deterministic performance.

yambo: An ab initio tool for excited state calculations

yambo is an ab initio code for calculating quasiparticle energies and optical properties of electronic systems within the framework of many-body perturbation theory and time-dependent density functional theory. Quasiparticle energies are calculated within the GW approximation for the self-energy. Optical properties are evaluated either by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation or by using the adiabatic local density approximation. yambo is a plane-wave code that, although particularly suited for calculations of periodic bulk systems, has been applied to a large variety of physical systems. yambo relies on efficient numerical techniques devised to treat systems with reduced dimensionality, or with a large number of degrees of freedom. The code has a user-friendly command-line based interface, flexible 110 procedures and is interfaced to several publicly available density functional ground-state codes.

Fragility of the spin-glass-like collective state to a magnetic field in an interacting Fe-C nanoparticle system

The effect of applied magnetic fields on the collective nonequilibrium dynamics of a strongly interacting Fe-C nanoparticle system has been investigated. It is experimentally shown that the magnetic aging diminishes to finally disappear for fields of moderate strength. The field needed to remove the observable aging behavior increases with decreasing temperature. The same qualitative behavior is observed in an amorphous metallic spin glass (Fe0.15Ni0.85)(75)P16B6Al3.

Hyperfine interaction in the ground state of the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy center in diamond

The N-14, N-15, and C-13 hyperfine interactions in the ground state of the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV-) center have been investigated using electron-paramagnetic-resonance spectroscopy. The previously published parameters for the N-14 hyperfine interaction do not produce a satisfactory fit to the experimental NV- electron-paramagnetic-resonance data. The small anisotropic component of the NV- hyperfine interaction can be explained from dipolar interaction between the nitrogen nucleus and the unpaired-electron probability density localized on the three carbon atoms neighboring the vacancy. Optical spin polarization of the NV- ground state was used to enhance the electron-paramagnetic-resonance sensitivity enabling detailed study of the hyperfine interaction with C-13 neighbors. The data confirmed the identification of three equivalent carbon nearest neighbors but indicated the next largest C-13 interaction is with six, rather than as previously assumed three, equivalent neighboring carbon atoms.

Insurgent Building: Spatial Practices of Resistance in the Bedouin-State Conflict in Southern Israel

In the con?ict between Bedouin representatives and government authorities in the southern Israeli Negev, the term ‘insurgent building’ refers to the construction of buildings erected in the full expectation that they will be demolished by the Israeli police shortly thereafter. This article analyses how insurgent building is employed as a spatial practice by emerging political actors to claim contested Bedouin landownership. Importantly, insurgent building relies on the ability of media and advocacy organizations to mobilize behind the issue. Most of the relevant scholarship takes the interpretative categories advanced by these actors at face value. Following anthropological debates regarding objecti?cation and categorization, I examine the context of a speci?c case of insurgent building. Emerging political actors who employ insurgent building often rely on prede?ned ethnic categories and clear-cut people–state polarities. This case demonstrates the need for a more differentiated understanding of multilayered local dynamics than the one offered by mainstream linear interpretations. At a more abstract level, political actors contribute to the reproduction of the very categories against which they mobilize.

Pinning down the solid-state polymorphism of the ionic liquid [bmim][PF6]

The solid-state polymorphism of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, [bmim][PF6], has been investigated via low-temperature and high-pressure crystallisation experiments. The samples have been characterised by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The solid-state phase behaviour of the compound is confirmed and clarified with respect to previous phase diagrams. The structures of the previously reported gamma-form, which essentially exhibits a G'T cation conformation, as well as those of the elusive beta- and alpha-forms, are reported. Crystals of the beta-phase are twinned and the structure is heavily disordered; the cation conformation in this form is predominantly TT, though significant contributions from other less frequently encountered conformers are also observed at low temperature and high pressure. The cation conformation in the alpha-form is GT; the presence of the G'T conformer at 193 K in this phase can be eliminated on cooling to 100 K. Whilst X-ray structural data are overall in good agreement with previous interpretations based on Raman and NMR studies, they also reveal a more subtle interplay of intermolecular interactions, which give rise to a wider range of conformers than previously considered.

A Comparative Look on Foreign State Compulsion as a Defence in Antitrust Litigation

This paper presents and investigates the foreign state compulsion as a defence in transnational antitrust cases. It takes a comparative approach by looking at the doctrine and its developments in the United States and in the European Union. To illustrate the relevance of the defence and the difficulties of its applicability, this paper analyses the new antitrust case law emerging in the US involving Chinese export cartels. It is argued that at present the standard required to prove compulsion is too high to serve its function.

Avoidance Techniques: State Related Defences in International Antitrust Cases

Despite its economic significance, competition law still remains fragmented, lacking an international framework allowing for dispute settlement. This, together with the growing importance of non-free-market economies in world trade require us to re-consider and re-evaluate the possibilities of bringing an antitrust suit against a foreign state. If the level playing field on the global marketplace is to be achieved, the possibility of hiding behind the bulwark of state sovereignty should be minimised. States should not be free to act in an anti-competitive way, but at present the legal framework seems ill-equipped to handle such challenges.

This paper deals with the defences available in litigation concerning transnational anti-competitive agreements involving or implicating foreign states. Four important legal doctrines are analysed: non-justiciability (political question doctrine), state immunity, act of state doctrine and foreign state compulsion. The paper addresses also the general problem of applicability of competition laws to a foreign state as such. This is a tale about repetitive unsuccessful efforts to sue OPEC and recent attempts in the US to deal with export cartels of Chinese state-owned enterprises

STEADY-STATE SOLUTIONS IN NONLINEAR DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION

Stationary solutions to the equations of nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration play a fundamental role in the theory of cosmic-ray acceleration. Their existence usually requires that a fraction of the accelerated particles be allowed to escape from the system. Because the scattering mean free path is thought to be an increasing function of energy, this condition is conventionally implemented as an upper cutoff in energy space-particles are then permitted to escape from any part of the system, once their energy exceeds this limit. However, because accelerated particles are responsible for the substantial amplification of the ambient magnetic field in a region upstream of the shock front, we examine an alternative approach in which particles escape over a spatial boundary. We use a simple iterative scheme that constructs stationary numerical solutions to the coupled kinetic and hydrodynamic equations. For parameters appropriate for supernova remnants, we find stationary solutions with efficient acceleration when the escape boundary is placed at the point where growth and advection of strongly driven nonresonant waves are in balance. We also present the energy dependence of the distribution function close to the energy where it cuts off-a diagnostic that is in principle accessible to observation.