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Abstract Modern automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems are capable of impressive performance recognizing clean speech but struggle in noisy, multi-talker environments, commonly referred to as the “cocktail party problem.” In contrast, many human listeners can solve this problem, suggesting the existence of a solution in the brain. Here we present a novel approach that uses a brain inspired sound segregation algorithm (BOSSA) as a preprocessing step for a state-of-the-art ASR system (Whisper). We evaluated BOSSA’s impact on ASR accuracy in a spatialized multi-talker scene with one target speaker and two competing maskers, varying the difficulty of the task by changing the target-to-masker ratio. We found that median word error rate improved by up to 54% when the target-to-masker ratio was low. Our results indicate that brain-inspired algorithms have the potential to considerably enhance ASR accuracy in challenging multi-talker scenarios without the need for retraining or fine-tuning existing state-of-the-art ASR systems. 

The reaction of dibenzonorcarynyliden(e/oid) with phencyclone was recently reported to give a congested spiropentane withendostereochemistry. Herein we report that, in sharp contrast, an analogous reaction using tetracyclone, instead of phencyclone, gives the highly crowded title spiropentane but withexostereochemistry as determined by X-ray crystallography. This new tetracyclone adduct (C₄₄H₃₀O) crystallizes upon slow evaporation from hexanes/ethyl acetate in the monoclinic crystal system andP2₁/n(No. 14) space group. It has one molecule in the asymmetric unit and four molecules per unit cell. DLPNO-CCSD(T)/def2-TZVP//B3LYP/def2-SVP calculations indicate that theendospiropentane diastereomers from phencyclone and tetracyclone are both more stable than the correspondingexoforms by 6.68 and 5.35 kcal mol⁻¹, respectively. As noted previously in the phencyclone system, favorable π-stacking interactions between the two flat biphenyl moieties in the product and transition state may lead to the preferential formation of theendodiastereomer. However, the ability of the phenyl rings in the 3,4-position of the tetracyclone component to rotate could introduce destabilizing steric interactions in the transition state that hinder formation of theendodiastereomer in favor of the less thermodynamically stableexoisomer. 

Binary nanoparticle superlattices (BNSLs) comprised of polymer-grafted shaped nanoparticles enable the construction of new isotropic mesomaterial. 

Paper presentation at the Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference 

Two Lab-on-Chip sensors, one measuring nitrate + nitrite (here after nitrate) and one measuring silicic acid (here after silicate), were deployed on the Ocean Observing Initiative (OOI) Southern Ocean Array surface mooring at a depth of approximately 12m on the near surface instrument frame in the southeast Pacific Ocean (-54 N, -89W). The nitrate sensor operated as expected for the full deployment period (6/12/2018 to 19/1/2020), collecting daily measurements. The silicate sensor operated as expected for almost ten months (until 1/10/2019), collecting up to four measurements per day. The OOI surface mooring was deployed in December 2018 on research cruise DY096 and recovered in January 2020 on research cruise DY112. The sensors and associated research cruises (DY096 and DY112) were supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) RoSES Carbon Uptake and Seasonal Trends in Antarctic Remineralisation Depth (CUSTARD) project. This material is based upon work supported by the Ocean Observatories Initiative, which is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).