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November 2016 Vol. 14 No. 11 |
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View from the Top
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 Eiji Ueki, Executive Vice President, NTT DATA
Overview
Eiji Ueki, NTT DATA Executive Vice President, believes in the importance of strengthening global brand power by developing trustworthy relationships with clients and providing new value with an eye to their future. We asked Mr. Ueki how NTT DATA plans to face the challenges ahead.
Front-line Researchers
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Tomohiro Nakatani, Senior Distinguished Researcher, NTT Communication Science Laboratories
Overview
Interfaces using speech recognition have become common practice these days. However, commonly used technologies for this purpose can suffer a drop in recognition performance in noisy environments or when the microphone is too far from the speaker. There is therefore a growing need for technologies that can provide more robust and accurate speech recognition. We asked Dr.
Tomohiro Nakatani, Senior Distinguished Researcher at NTT Communication Science Laboratories, whose technology last year achieved the world’s highest performance for speech recognition in noisy environments, to tell us about his recent research results and his approach to research.
Feature Articles: Basic Research Envisioning Future Communication-
 From Information Transmission to Mutual Understanding: Paradigm Shift in the Age of Data
Abstract
The paradigm shift from information transmission to communication is taking place amid technological advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and their attendant expectations. Against this background, I introduce NTT’s AI-related research and development strategy and the research currently being pursued by NTT Communication Science Laboratories. I also examine the role played by communication science and present a vision of its future.
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Transmission of High-quality Sound via Networks Using Speech/Audio Codecs
Abstract
This article describes two recent advances in speech and audio codecs. One is EVS (Enhanced Voice Service), the new standard by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) for speech codecs, which is capable of transmitting speech signals, music, and even the ambient sound on the speaker’s side. This codec has been adopted in a new VoLTE (voice over Long-Term Evolution) service with enhanced high-definition voice (HD+), which provides us with clearer and more natural conversations than conventional telephony services such as with fixed-line/land-line and 3G mobile phones. The other is MPEG-4 Audio Lossless Coding (ALS) standardized by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), which makes it possible to transmit studio-quality audio content to the home. ALS is expected to be used by some broadcasters, including IPTV (Internet protocol television) companies, in their broadcasts in the near future.
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Learning from a Large Number of Feature Combinations
Abstract
Second-order polynomial regression can often outperform simple linear regression by making use of feature combinations. However, when the number of feature combinations is large, second-order polynomial regression quickly becomes impractical. In this article, we present convex factorization machines, a new technology developed by NTT Communication Science Laboratories, which can cope with a large number of feature combinations and guarantees globally optimal model parameters.
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Towards User-friendly Conversational Systems
Abstract
Remarkable progress has been made with conversational systems in recent years, and they are becoming much more common. However, many problems remain to be solved such as errors in speech recognition and the narrow range of tractable dialogue topics. In this article, we introduce our efforts to improve the dialogue quality of our dialogue systems and to prevent dialogue breakdown using multiple dialogue robots.
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Child Language Development: The Differences between Japanese and English
Abstract
In early language development, it is known that Japanese-speaking children acquire words in a more gradual manner and have smaller productive vocabulary sizes compared with English-speaking children. On the other hand, Japanese-speaking children have an ability to learn new words correctly from earlier stages of lexical development than English-speaking children. Why do Japanese-speaking children have smaller productive vocabulary sizes despite this ability to learn words correctly? To explore this riddle, we compared parental input between Japanese and English and examined the relationship between parental input and child vocabulary development.
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Elucidating the Brain Processing Mechanisms of Athletes Using Virtual Reality Technology
Abstract
In addition to fitness, physical skill and state of mind are important factors for athletes to achieve sporting success. These factors are mainly determined by information processing mechanisms in the brain, but the potential for clarifying them with conventional measurement techniques is limited. NTT is developing a virtual reality (VR) system for sports measurement that can provide a highly realistic sports experience. We aim to use this novel VR system to extract key features related to an athlete’s skill and mental state and to establish systematic methods for sports training and coaching.
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How Tracking Technologies Improve Family Communication
Abstract
In this article, we explore how health-tracking technologies could be designed to support family caregivers to better cope with the unexpected behaviors of a depressed family member. We designed a tracking tool called Family Mood and Care Tracker (FMCT) and deployed it for 6 weeks in the homes of 14 family caregivers looking after depressed family members. FMCT is a web-based tracking tool designed specifically for family caregivers to allow them to record their caregiving activities and the sufferers’ health conditions. Our findings demonstrate how the family caregivers made use of FMCT to better cope with depressed sufferers and how it improved the communication between family caregivers and sufferers.
Regular Articles-
Indium Phosphide-based Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors with Metal Subcollector Fabricated Using Substrate-transfer Technique
Abstract
We fabricated indium phosphide (InP)-based heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) with a highly thermal conductive gold (Au) subcollector on a silicon carbide substrate using a substrate-transfer technique. The fabricated HBTs show good electrical characteristics without any degradation caused by the transfer process. In addition, they exhibit about a 50% reduction in thermal resistance (Rth) compared with conventional HBTs on an InP substrate. The reduced Rth enables us to increase collector current density without a rise in the junction temperature of HBTs, which improves the HBT high-frequency performance. The fabricated Au-subcollector HBTs have great potential for boosting the operation speed of future telecommunications integrated circuits.
Global Standardization Activities-
Standardization Activities in International Electrotechnical Commission Technical Committee 86 (Fiber Optics)
Abstract
The International Electrotechnical Commission Technical Committee 86 (IEC TC86) is an international standardization organization that prepares and decides on international standards in relation to products used for optical fiber telecommunication. In this article, we provide an overview of standardization activities, introduce topics discussed at meetings in 2015 and 2016, and describe the Japanese standardization strategy in IEC TC86.
Information-
Event Report: NTT Communication Science Laboratories Open House 2016
Abstract
NTT Communication Science Laboratories Open House 2016 was held in Keihanna Science City, Kyoto, on June 2 and 3, 2016. Nearly 1300 visitors enjoyed 6 talks and 29 exhibits, which focused on our latest research activities and efforts in the fields of information and human sciences.
Short Reports
External Awards/Papers Published in Technical Journals and Conference Proceedings
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