In this paper, a new approach for improved spontaneous Mandarin speech recognition with disfluencies well considered is presented. The basic idea is to detect the disfluency interruption points (IPs) prior to the recognition, and then to use these information during rescoring in the recognition process. For accurate detection of disfluency interruption points (IPs), a whole set of new features ...

The high error rate of recognition accuracy in spontaneous speech is due in part to the poor modeling of pronunciations. In this paper, we propose modeling pronunciation variations through triphone model reconstruction. We first generate partial change phone model (PCPM) to differentiate pronunciation variations. In order to improve the resolution of triphone models, PCPM is used as a hidden mo...

Prosodic word is a basic rhythmic unit of Mandarin Chinese Speech. It is one of the most important factors determining the naturalness of the generated speech by a TTS system. This paper investigates the problem of predicting Chinese prosodic words from word sequence. First, we examine the patterns of Chinese prosodic words and investigate the key features for prediction. Then a baseline model ...

Wild chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, frequently hunt and share meat. Despite widespread interest and considerable study, continued controversy exists regarding the factors that influence chimpanzee hunting decisions and meat sharing. Three hypotheses invoke the importance of ecological, reproductive and social factors. A nutritional shortfall hypothesis suggests that chimpanzees hunt to compensat...

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a non-parametric method for measuring the efficiency of a set of decision making units (DMUs), such as companies or public sector agencies. The main DEA models are only used for positive data. In recent years, some models have been presented to deal with negative data in DEA models. However, these models do not discriminate between efficient DMUs and only eval...

This paper reports the methodology and results of decision tree based duration prediction for a Mandarin text-to-speech system developed by the Fujitsu Laboratories. Syllable initials and finals are the basic units in this duration study. Factors influencing finals duration such as phrase boundary and phone context are discussed in detail. Experiments indicate that it is the most important dete...

The purpose of conventional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is to evaluate the performance of a set of firms or Decision-Making Units using deterministic input and output data. However, the input and output data in the real-life performance evaluation problems are often stochastic. The stochastic input and output data in DEA can be represented with random variables. Several methods have been pr...

Two main uses of categories are classification and feature inference, and category labels have been widely shown to play a dominant role in feature inference. However, the nature of this influence remains unclear, and we evaluate two contrasting hypotheses formalized as mathematical models: the label special-mechanism hypothesis and the label super-salience hypothesis. The special-mechanism hyp...

In this paper we adopt Skew Symmetric Bilinear (SSB) utility functions to compare policies in Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). By considering pairs of alternatives, SSB utility theory generalizes von Neumann and Morgenstern’s expected utility (EU) theory to encompass rational decision behaviors that EU cannot accommodate. We provide a game-theoretic analysis of the problem of identifying an SS...

In neurosurgical treatment of the Parkinson Disease (PD) the target is a small (9 x 7 x 4 mm) deep within brain placed structure called SubthalamicNucleus (STN). The goal of the Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery is the permanent precise placement of the stimulating electrode within target nucleus. As this structure poorly discriminates in CT or MRI it is usually stereotactically located usin...