Bio-inspired broad-class phonetic labelling

Recent studies have shown that the correct labeling of phonetic classes may help current Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) when combined with classical parsing automata based on Hidden Markov Models (HMM).Through the present paper a method for Phonetic Class Labeling (PCL) based on bio-inspired speech processing is described. The methodology is based in the automatic detection of formants and formant trajectories after a careful separation of the vocal and glottal components of speech and in the operation of CF (Characteristic Frequency) neurons in the cochlear nucleus and cortical complex of the human auditory apparatus. Examples of phonetic class labeling are given and the applicability of the method to Speech Processing is discussed

Age-Stratified Analysis of COVID-19 Outcome Using Machine Learning Predictive Models

Since the emergence of COVID-19, most health systems around the world have experienced a series of spikes in the number of infected patients, leading to collapse of the health systems in many countries. The use of clinical laboratory tests can serve as a discriminatory method for disease severity, defining the profile of patients with a higher risk of mortality. In this paper, we study the results of applying predictive models to data regarding COVID-19 outcome, using three datasets after age stratification of patients. The extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) algorithm was employed as the predictive method, yielding excellent results. The area under the receiving operator characteristic curve (AUROC) value was 0.97 for the subgroup of patients up to 65 years of age. In addition, SHAP (Shapley additive explanations) was used to analyze the feature importance in the resulting model

Donor funding for family planning: levels and trends between 2003 and 2013.

The International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 set targets for donor funding to support family planning programmes, and recent initiatives such as FP2020 have renewed focus on the need for adequate funding to rights-based family planning. Disbursements supporting family planning disaggregated by donor, recipient country and year are not available for recent years. We estimate international donor funding for family planning in 2003-13, the period covering the introduction of reproductive health targets to the Millennium Development Goals and up to the beginning of FP2020, and compare funding to unmet need for family planning in recipient countries. We used the dataset of donor disbursements to support reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health developed by the Countdown to 2015 based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Creditor Reporting System. We assessed levels and trends in disbursements supporting family planning in the period 2003-13 and compared this to unmet need for family planning. Between 2003 and 2013, disbursements supporting family planning rose from under $400 m prior to 2008 to$886 m in 2013. More than two thirds of disbursements came from the USA. There was substantial year-on-year variation in disbursement value to some recipient countries. Disbursements have become more concentrated among recipient countries with higher national levels of unmet need for family planning. Annual disbursements of donor funding supporting family planning are far short of projected and estimated levels necessary to address unmet need for family planning. The reimposition of the US Global Gag Rule will precipitate an even greater shortfall if other donors and recipient countries do not find substantial alternative sources of funding

Glottal-Source Spectral Biometry for Voice Characterization

The biometric signature derived from the estimation of the power spectral density singularities of a speaker’s glottal source is described in the present work. This consists in the collection of peak-trough profiles found in the spectral density, as related to the biomechanics of the vocal folds. Samples of parameter estimations from a set of 100 normophonic (pathology-free) speakers are produced. Mapping the set of speaker’s samples to a manifold defined by Principal Component Analysis and clustering them by k-means in terms of the most relevant principal components shows the separation of speakers by gender. This means that the proposed signature conveys relevant speaker’s metainformation, which may be useful in security and forensic applications for which contextual side information is considered relevant

Wintering raptor species distribution in a semiarid Mediterranean region: the relevance of lowlands and open habitats as stopover sites

As land-use cover types affect wintering birds’ strategies, studying their habitat suitability for species conservation is relevant. Predictive spatial models are considered excellent tools for conservation planning and improving our understanding of species distribution. Here we build models to predict the spatial distribution of raptor species that overwinter in SE Spain. We modelled the wintering raptor species distribution based on the presence-only data obtained between 2017 and 2019 and analysed their habitat preferences based on elevation and land-use cover variables. Our results show that altitude and distance to the coastline are the most important environmental factors to affect most species’ habitat suitability. Habitat type-related factors are other important predictors, and raptors subject of this study prefer lowlands and areas close to the coastline for overwintering by selecting open habitats, which include wetlands and irrigated and rainfed crops. This study highlights the importance of the habitat heterogeneity generated by wetlands and herbaceous crops within a low-altitude range as the optimal environment for wintering raptors. Such information should be considered for raptor conservation planning in human-altered landscapes

Aportaciones sobre el campo magnético: historia e influencia en sistemas biológicos

This article reviews the history of magnetism following a chronological order, starting with the evolution of scientific knowledge regarding the topic in earlier civilizations, then moving to Egypt and China, later on to Ancient Greece and Rome, and ending at the Middle Ages and Early Modern period. The findings of prominent theoretical contributors to electromagnetism such as Oersted, Biot and Savart, Ampère, Sturgeon, Faraday, Lenz, Maxwell and Coulomb are discussed. The basics of magnetism --especially its relationship to electrical load-- are summarized. The interaction between magnetic fields and biological systems, plants and seeds above all, is highlighted as well. Based on an exhaustive bibliographic review, the effects of the magnetic field of the Earth as natural magnetism and those caused by the application of stationary magnetic fields on plant species are described in detail.Este artículo repasa la historia del magnetismo siguiendo un orden cronológico que comienza con la evolución del conocimiento científico en las primeras civilizaciones, después en Egipto y China, seguido de la antigua Grecia y Roma. Por último, se describen también la Edad Media y la Edad Moderna. Posteriormente, se comentan los hallazgos de los investigadores más importantes en el campo del electromagnetismo como son Oersted, Biot y Savart, Ampère, Sturgeon, Faraday, Lenz, Maxwell y Coulomb. Se resumen los principios básicos del electromagnetismo, con especial énfasis en la relación entre carga eléctrica y magnetismo. Asimismo, es parte esencial la relación entre campos magnéticos y sistemas biológicos, sobre todo semillas y plantas. Con la ayuda de una minuciosa recopilación de bibliografía, se tratan en detalle los efectos sobre diversas especies de plantas que tiene el campo magnético natural de la Tierra, como magnetismo natural, y de los causados por la aplicación de campos magnéticos estacionarios

Bio-inspired Dynamic Formant Tracking for Phonetic Labelling

It is a known fact that phonetic labeling may be relevant in helping current Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) when combined with classical parsing systems as HMM's by reducing the search space. Through the present paper a method for Phonetic Broad-Class Labeling (PCL) based on speech perception in the high auditory centers is described. The methodology is based in the operation of CF (Characteristic Frequency) and FM (Frequency Modulation) neurons in the cochlear nucleus and cortical complex of the human auditory apparatus in the automatic detection of formants and formant dynamics on speech. Results obtained informant detection and dynamic formant tracking are given and the applicability of the method to Speech Processing is discussed

El estudiante como capital humano en la educación secundaria: un análisis del impacto de variables sociodemográficas en la percepción del aprendizaje

Spain (statistically and at European level) occupies the top positions among the countries with the highest school dropout rates; and along the same lines, various studies (INE, 2020; Vaquero, 2011) confirm that teachers in our country consider that education must be transformed to ensure that all students feel that they are the protagonists of the learning process; and that - in addition - everything they learn can be transferred to develop as citizens to the extent that their needs are also met (Álvarez et al., 2020:20).  In this sense, it is absolutely necessary to know (through the student's perception) to what extent the socio-demographic variables that students present intervene and condition the learning process and its transfer. For this purpose, a purposive sample has been configured in which more than 1,400 4th ESO subjects (from Spain) have participated, with a significance level of 0.05 using a scale -original and unpublished- called EPECOCISO (Evaluation of the perception of social science competences -Álvarez, Trigueros, Miralles and Molina, 2020-).España (estadísticamente y a nivel europeo) ocupa las primeras posiciones de los países con mayores tasas de abandono escolar; y en esa misma línea diversos estudios (INE, 2020:155; Vaquero, 2011:3) constatan que los docentes en nuestro país consideran que la educación debe transformarse para hacer que todos los alumnos lleguen a sentirse protagonistas del proceso de aprendizaje; y que –además– todo lo aprendido pueda ser transferido para desarrollarse como ciudadanos en la medida que también satisfagan sus necesidades (Álvarez et al., 2020:4).  En este sentido, resulta del todo necesario conocer (a través de la percepción del estudiante) en qué medida las variables sociodemográficas que presenta el alumnado intervienen y condicionan al proceso de aprendizaje y su transferencia. Para ello, se ha configurado un muestreo intencional en el que han participado más de 1400 sujetos de 4.º de ESO (de España), con un nivel de significatividad de 0,05 utilizando una escala –original e inédita– denominada EPECOCISO (Evaluación de la percepción sobre las competencias de ciencias sociales –Álvarez, Trigueros, Miralles y Molina, 2020:1-15–)

El estudiante como capital humano en la educación secundaria : un análisis del impacto de variables sociodemográficas en la percepción del aprendizaje

Spain (statistically and at European level) occupies the top positions among the countries with the highest school dropout rates; and along the same lines, various studies (INE, 2020; Vaquero, 2011) confirm that teachers in our country consider that education must be transformed to ensure that all students feel that they are the protagonists of the learning process; and that - in addition - everything they learn can be transferred to develop as citizens to the extent that their needs are also met (Álvarez et al., 2020:20). In this sense, it is absolutely necessary to know (through the student’s perception) to what extent the socio-demographic variables that students present intervene and condition the learning process and its transfer. For this purpose, a purposive sample has been configured in which more than 1,400 4th ESO subjects (from Spain) have participated, with a significance level of 0.05 using a scale -original and unpublished- called EPECOCISO (Evaluation of the perception of social science competences -Álvarez, Trigueros, Miralles and Molina, 2020-).España (estadísticamente y a nivel europeo) ocupa las primeras posiciones de los países con mayores tasas de abandono escolar; y en esa misma línea diversos estudios (INE, 2020:155; Vaquero, 2011:3) constatan que los docentes en nuestro país consideran que la educación debe transformarse para hacer que todos los alumnos lleguen a sentirse protagonistas del proceso de aprendizaje; y que –además– todo lo aprendido pueda ser transferido para desarrollarse como ciudadanos en la medida que también satisfagan sus necesidades (Álvarez et al., 2020:4). En este sentido, resulta del todo necesario conocer (a través de la percepción del estudiante) en qué medida las variables sociodemográficas que presenta el alumnado intervienen y condicionan al proceso de aprendizaje y su transferencia. Para ello, se ha configurado un muestreo intencional en el que han participado más de 1400 sujetos de 4.º de ESO (de España), con un nivel de significatividad de 0,05 utilizando una escala –original e inédita– denominada EPECOCISO (Evaluación de la percepción sobre las competencias de ciencias sociales –Álvarez, Trigueros, Miralles y Molina, 2020:1-15–)

Beneficial Effects of Olive Oil Enriched with Lycopene on the Plasma Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Profile of Hypercholesterolemic Patients

Olive oil and lycopene are foods that have potent antioxidant activity. The objective was to determine the effects of consumption of olive oil enriched with lycopene on oxidative stress biomarkers in hypercholesterolemic subjects. We examined the effects of oil enriched with lycopene extract daily intake during 1 month on plasma antioxidant capacity, lipids profile (triacylgycerols, total cholesterol, cHDL; cLDL, ox-LDL), biomarkers of oxidative stress, and inflammatory markers related with atherosclerosis risk (C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6; sDC4L) in subjects hypercholesteremics (cholesterol > 220 mg/dL). In the group consuming olive oil-lycopene, significant increases (p < 0.05) in the levels of plasma lycopene concentration (0.146 ± 0.03 versus 0.202 ± 0.04 (µmol/L)), α-carotene (0.166 ± 0.064 versus 0.238 ± 0.07) and in β-carotene (0.493 ± 0.187 versus 0.713 ± 0.221) were observed. These results are linked with the increases of plasma antioxidants and decreases biomarkers of oxidative stress (carbonyl groups, malondialdehyde and 8-hydroxy-deoxiguanosine) observed in hypercholesterolemic group. In relation to lipid profile, a significant decrease was observed in the levels of ox-LDL (781 ± 302 versus 494 ± 200), remaining unchanged the levels of TG, cholesterol, HDL and LDL-c. Regarding inflammatory biomarkers, the levels of CRP and IL-6 decreased significantly. The positive results obtained in this study support the use of olive oil enriched with lycopene to reduce the risk of coronary disease