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Bootstrapping speech recognition on limited data resources has been an area of active research for long. The recent transition to all-neural models and end-to-end (E2E) training brought along particular challenges as these models are known to be data hungry, but also came with opportunities around language-agnostic representations derived from multilingual data as well as shared word-piece output representations across languages that share script and roots. We investigate here the effectiveness of different strategies to bootstrap an RNN-Transducer (RNN-T) based automatic speech recognition (ASR) system in the low resource regime, while exploiting the abundant resources available in other languages as well as the synthetic audio from a text-to-speech (TTS) engine. Our experiments demonstrate that transfer learning from a multilingual model, using a post-ASR text-to-text mapping and synthetic audio deliver additive improvements, allowing us to bootstrap a model for a new language with a fraction of the data that would otherwise be needed. The best system achieved a 46% relative word error rate (WER) reduction compared to the monolingual baseline, among which 25% relative WER improvement is attributed to the post-ASR text-to-text mappings and the TTS synthetic data.

Today, many state-of-the-art automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems apply all-neural models that map audio to word sequences trained end-to-end along one global optimisation criterion in a fully data driven fashion. These models allow high precision ASR for domains and words represented in the training material but have difficulties recognising words that are rarely or not at all represented during training, i.e. trending words and new named entities. In this paper, we use a text-to-speech (TTS) engine to provide synthetic audio for out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words. We aim to boost the recognition accuracy of a recurrent neural network transducer (RNN-T) on OOV words by using the extra audio-text pairs, while maintaining the performance on the non-OOV words. Different regularisation techniques are explored and the best performance is achieved by fine-tuning the RNN-T on both original training data and extra synthetic data with elastic weight consolidation (EWC) applied on the encoder. This yields a 57% relative word error rate (WER) reduction on utterances containing OOV words without any degradation on the whole test set., To appear in Proc. ICASSP2021, June 06-11, 2021, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Secondary batteries based on earth-abundant sodium metal anodes are desirable for both stationary and portable electrical energy storage. Room-temperature sodium metal batteries are impractical today because morphological instability during recharge drives rough, dendritic electrodeposition. Chemical instability of liquid electrolytes also leads to premature cell failure as a result of parasitic reactions with the anode. Here we use joint density-functional theoretical analysis to show that the surface diffusion barrier for sodium ion transport is a sensitive function of the chemistry of solid–electrolyte interphase. In particular, we find that a sodium bromide interphase presents an exceptionally low energy barrier to ion transport, comparable to that of metallic magnesium. We evaluate this prediction by means of electrochemical measurements and direct visualization studies. These experiments reveal an approximately three-fold reduction in activation energy for ion transport at a sodium bromide interphase. Direct visualization of sodium electrodeposition confirms large improvements in stability of sodium deposition at sodium bromide-rich interphases., The chemistry at the interface between electrolyte and electrode plays a critical role in determining battery performance. Here, the authors show that a NaBr enriched solid–electrolyte interphase can lower the surface diffusion barrier for sodium ions, enabling stable electrodeposition.

Rechargeable batteries based on metallic anodes are of interest for fundamental and application-focused studies of chemical and physical kinetics of liquids at solid interfaces. Approaches that allow facile creation of uniform coatings on these metals to prevent physical contact with liquid electrolytes, while enabling fast ion transport, are essential to address chemical instability of the anodes. Here, we report a simple electroless ion-exchange chemistry for creating coatings of indium on lithium. By means of joint density functional theory and interfacial characterization experiments, we show that In coatings stabilize Li by multiple processes, including exceptionally fast surface diffusion of lithium ions and high chemical resistance to liquid electrolytes. Indium coatings also undergo reversible alloying reactions with lithium ions, facilitating design of high-capacity hybrid In-Li anodes that use both alloying and plating approaches for charge storage. By means of direct visualization, we further show that the coatings enable remarkably compact and uniform electrodeposition. The resultant In-Li anodes are shown to exhibit minimal capacity fade in extended galvanostatic cycling when paired with commercial-grade cathodes.

Mete, Ersen (Balikesir Author), The electronic and optical properties of thin anatase TiO2 (1 0 1) and (0 0 1) nanowires have been investigated using the screened Coulomb hybrid density functional calculations. For the bare nanowires with sub-nanometer diameters, the calculated band gaps are larger relative to the bulk values due to size effects. The role of organic light harvesting sensitizers on the absorption characteristics of the anatase nanowires has been examined using the hybrid density functional method incorporating partial exact exchange with range separation. For the lowest lying excitations, directional charge redistribution of tetrahydroquinoline (C2-1) dye shows a remarkably different profile in comparison to a simple molecule which is chosen as the coumarin skeleton. The binding modes and the adsorption energies of C2-1 dye and coumarin core on the anatase nanowires have been studied including non-linear solvation effetcs. The calculated optical and electronic properties of the nanowires with these two different types of sensitizers have been interpreted in terms of their electron-hole generation, charge carrier injection and recombination characteristics.

Tunability of the photoabsorption and directional charge injection characteristics of Bodipy-based dye molecules with different carbonyl groups make them promising candidates for photovoltaic applications. In order to study the effect of screening in the Coulomb interaction on the electronic and optical properties of two Bodipy derivatives, we have used linear response time-dependent and exact exchange hybrid density functional approaches. The effect of linear and non-linear solvation models on the electrochemical properties of the dyes has also been discussed., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table

A major goal of energy research is to use visible light to cleave water directly, without an applied voltage, into hydrogen and oxygen. Although SrTiO3 requires ultraviolet light, after four decades, it is still the "gold standard" for the photo-catalytic splitting of water. It is chemically robust and can carry out both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions without an applied bias. While ultrahigh vacuum surface science techniques have provided useful insights, we still know relatively little about the structure of these electrodes in contact with electrolytes under operating conditions. Here, we report the surface structure evolution of a n-SrTiO3 electrode during water splitting, before and after "training" with an applied positive bias. Operando high-energy X-ray reflectivity measurements demonstrate that training the electrode irreversibly reorders the surface. Scanning electrochemical microscopy at open circuit correlates this training with a 3-fold increase of the activity toward the photo-induced water splitting. A novel first-principles joint density functional theory simulation, constrained to the X-ray data via a generalized penalty function, identifies an anatase-like structure as the more active, trained surface.

The adsorption of two different organic molecules cyanidin glucoside (C$_{21}$O$_{11}$H$_{20}$) and TA-St-CA on anatase (101) and (001) nanowires have been investigated using the standard and the range separated hybrid density functional theory calculations. The electronic structures and optical spectra of resulting dye--nanowire combined systems show distinct features for these types of photochromophores. The lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the natural dye cyanidin glucoside is located below the conduction band of the semiconductor while, in the case of TA-St-CA, it resonates with the states inside the conduction band. The wide-bandgap anatase nanowires can be functionalized for solar cells through electron-hole generation and subsequent charge injection by these dye sensitizers. The intermolecular charge transfer character of Donor-$\pi$-Acceptor type dye TA-St-CA is substantially modified by its adsorption on TiO$_2$ surfaces. Cyanidin glucoside exhibits relatively stronger anchoring on the nanowires through its hydroxyl groups. The atomic structures of dye--nanowire systems re-optimized with the inclusion of nonlinear solvation effects showed that the binding strengths of both dyes remain moderate even in ionic solutions., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

Continuum solvation models enable efficient first principles calculations of chemical reactions in solution, but require extensive parametrization and fitting for each solvent and class of solute systems. Here, we examine the assumptions of continuum solvation models in detail and replace empirical terms with physical models in order to construct a minimally-empirical solvation model. Specifically, we derive solvent radii from the nonlocal dielectric response of the solvent from ab initio calculations, construct a closed-form and parameter-free weighted-density approximation for the free energy of the cavity formation, and employ a pair-potential approximation for the dispersion energy. We show that the resulting model with a single solvent-independent parameter: the electron density threshold ($n_c$), and a single solvent-dependent parameter: the dispersion scale factor ($s_6$), reproduces solvation energies of organic molecules in water, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride with RMS errors of 1.1, 0.6 and 0.5 kcal/mol respectively. We additionally show that fitting the solvent-dependent $s_6$ parameter to the solvation energy of a single non-polar molecule does not substantially increase these errors. Parametrization of this model for other solvents, therefore, requires minimal effort and is possible without extensive databases of experimental solvation free energies.

A major challenge in the development of new battery materials is understanding their fundamental mechanisms of operation and degradation. Their microscopically inhomogeneous nature calls for characterization tools that provide operando and localized information from individual grains and particles. Here, we describe an approach that enables imaging the nanoscale distribution of ions during electrochemical charging of a battery in a transmission electron microscope liquid flow cell. We use valence energy-loss spectroscopy to track both solvated and intercalated ions, with electronic structure fingerprints of the solvated ions identified using an ab initio nonlinear response theory. Equipped with the new electrochemical cell holder, nanoscale spectroscopy and theory, we have been able to determine the lithiation state of a LiFePO4 electrode and surrounding aqueous electrolyte in real time with nanoscale resolution during electrochemical charge and discharge. We follow lithium transfer between electrode and electrolyte and image charging dynamics in the cathode. We observe competing delithiation mechanisms such as core-shell and anisotropic growth occurring in parallel for different particles under the same conditions. This technique represents a general approach for the operando nanoscale imaging of electrochemically active ions in the electrode and electrolyte in a wide range of electrical energy storage systems.

The adsorption of organic molecules coumarin and the donor-$\pi$-acceptor type tetrahydroquinoline (C2-1) on anatase (101) and (001) nanowires have been investigated using screened Coulomb hybrid density functional theory calculations. While coumarin forms single bond with the nanowire surface, C2-1 additionally exhibits bidentate mode giving rise to much stronger adsorption energies. Nonlinear solvation effects on the binding characteristics of the dye chromophores on the nanowire facets have also been examined. These two dye sensitizers show different electronic charge distributions for the highest occupied and the lowest unoccupied molecular states. We studied the electronic structures in terms of the positions of the band edges and adsorbate related band gap states and their effect on the absorption spectra of the dye-nanowire combined systems. These findings were interpreted and discussed from the view point of better light harvesting and charge separation as well as in relation to more efficient charge carrier injection into the semiconductor nanowire., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, and 1 table

Delivering the full benefits of first principles calculations to battery materials demands the development of accurate and computationally-efficient electronic structure methods that incorporate the effects of the electrolyte environment and electrode potential. Realistic electrochemical interfaces containing polar surfaces are beyond the regime of validity of existing continuum solvation theories developed for molecules, due to the presence of significantly stronger electric fields. We present an ab initio theory of the nonlinear dielectric and ionic response of solvent environments within the framework of joint density-functional theory, with precisely the same optimizable parameters as conventional polarizable continuum models. We demonstrate that the resulting nonlinear theory agrees with the standard linear models for organic molecules and metallic surfaces under typical operating conditions. However, we find that the saturation effects in the rotational response of polar solvent molecules, inherent to our nonlinear theory, are crucial for a qualitatively correct description of the ionic surfaces typical of the solid electrolyte interface., 20 pages, 7 figures

Achieving coherent population transfer in the solid-state is challenging compared to atomic systems due to closely spaced electronic states and fast decoherence. Here, within an atomistic pseudopotential theory, we offer recipes for the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in embedded silicon and germanium nanocrystals. The transfer efficiency spectra displays characteristic Fano resonances. By exploiting the Stark effect, we predict that transfer can be switched off with a dc voltage. As the population transfer is highly sensitive to structural variations, with a choice of a sufficiently small two-photon detuning bandwidth, it can be harnessed for addressing individual nanocrystals within an ensemble., Published version, 4 pages, 3 figures