Características acústicas de las vocales del español de Chile producidas por sujetos residentes en la ciudad de Santiago

The aim of this study was, firstly, to describe the acoustic characteristics of isolated vowels produced by Chilean young people from Santiago, Chile, secondly, to compare the results obtained between men and women and, finally, to compare the data with information collected from Argentinian speakers (Rio de la Plata) and Chilean speakers (Concepción). 117 university students were selected for this study. Neither vocal nor auditory pathologies were found in the participants. Vowels produced by the participants were registered in isolation and they were analyzed using the software PRAAT. In general, the comparison shows that women from Santiago produce higher frequency than men in the analyzed formants (F0, F2, F3 y F4), except in F1. It was also observed that women and men from Santiago show a higher F0 formant than speakers from Rio de la Plata. Finally, no differences were found between speakers from Santiago and speakers from Concepción. In each comparison, a detailed description of the vowel formants is also presented.El presente estudio tuvo por objetivos describir las características acústicas de las vocales aisladas en jóvenes chilenos residentes en Santiago, comparar en ellos los resultados obtenidos para hombres y mujeres y también realizar una comparación con datos de hablantes en Río de la Plata (Argentina) y de Concepción (Chile). Se seleccionó una muestra de 117 estudiantes universitarios en quienes se descartó patología vocal y auditiva. Se registraron las voces de los sujetos produciendo las vocales aisladas y, posteriormente, se analizaron sus registros vocales con el software PRAAT. En general, en las comparaciones se advierte que en los sujetos de Santiago las mujeres presentan mayor frecuencia que los hombres en los formantes analizados (F0, F2, F3 y F4) excepto en F1. A su vez, las mujeres y hombres de Santiago evidencian una F0 mayor que sus pares rioplatenses. Por último, no se advierten diferencias importantes en la comparación con hablantes de Concepción. En cada comparación, se comentan también en forma detallada los formantes de cada una de las vocales

Effect of sex chromosome complement on sodium appetite and Fos-immunoreactivity induced by sodium depletion.

Effect of sex chromosome complement on sodium appetite and Fos-immunoreactivity induced by sodium depletion. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 306: R175–R184, 2014. First published November 20, 2013; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00447.2013.—Previous studies indicate a sex chromosome complement (SCC) effect on the angiotensin II-sexually dimorphic hypertensive and bradycardic baroreflex responses. We sought to evaluate whether SCC may differentially modulate sexually dimorphic-induced sodium appetite and specific brain activity due to physiological stimulation of the rennin angiotensin system. For this purpose, we used the “four core genotype” mouse model, in which the effect of gonadal sex and SCC is dissociated, allowing comparisons of sexually dimorphic traits between XX and XY females as well as in XX and XY males. Gonadectomized mice were sodium depleted by furosemide (50mg/kg) and low-sodium diet treatment; control groups were administered with vehicle and maintained on normal sodium diet. Twenty-one hours later, the mice were divided into two groups: one group was submitted to the water-2% NaCl choice intake test, while the other group was perfused and their brains subjected to the Fos-mmunoreactivity (FOS-ir) procedure. Sodium depletion, regardless of SCC (XX or XY), induced a significantly lower sodium and water intake in females than in males, confirming the existence in mice of sexual dimorphism in sodium appetite and the organizational envolvement of gonadal steroids. Moreover, our results demonstrate a SCC effect on induced brain FOS-ir, showing increased brain activity in XX-SCC mice at the paraventricular nucleus, nucleus of the solitary tract, and lateral parabrachial nucleus, as well as an XX-SCC augmented effect on sodium depletion-induced brain activity at two circumventricular organs, the subfornical organ and area postrema, nuclei closely involved in fluid and blood pressure homeostasis.publishedVersio

Exploring the Historical Earthquakes Preceding the Giant 1960 Chile Earthquake in a Time-Dependent Seismogenic Zone

New documentary findings and available paleoseismological evidence provide both new insights into the historical seismic sequence that ended with the giant 1960 south‐central Chile earthquake and relevant information about the region’s seismogenic zone. According to the few available written records, this region was previously struck by earthquakes of varying size in 1575, 1737, and 1837. We expanded the existing compilations of the effects of the two latter using unpublished first‐hand accounts found in archives in Chile, Peru, Spain, and New England. We further investigated their sources by comparing the newly unearthed historical data and available paleoseismological evidence with the effects predicted by hypothetical dislocations. The results reveal significant differences in the along‐strike and depth distribution of the ruptures in 1737, 1837, and 1960. While the 1737 rupture likely occurred in the northern half of the 1960 region, on a narrow and deep portion of the megathrust, the 1837 rupture occurred mainly in the southern half and slipped over a wide range of depth. Such a wide rupture in 1837 disagrees with the narrow and shallow seismogenic zone currently inferred along this region. If in fact there is now a narrow zone where 200 years ago there was a wider one, it means that the seismogenic zone changes with time, perhaps between seismic cycles. Such change probably explains the evident variability in both size and location of the great earthquakes that have struck this region over the last centuries, as evidenced by written history, and through millennia, as inferred from paleoseismology

Determination of seismogenic interplate contact zone and crustal seismicity around Antofagasta, Northern Chile using local data

International audienc

The Perugia (Italy) earthquake of April 29,1984: a seismic survey

International audienceA field study after the Perugia earthquake of 29 April 1984 provided more than 300 well-recorded events concentrated within two parallel clusters separated by 2 km and trending along the Apenninic direction. The length of the aftershock area is 14 km, focal depths being shallower than 8 km. Relocation of the main event places the epicenter at the southern end of the aftershock zone, suggesting a rupture propagation from SE to NW. Most focal mechanisms are consistent with normal faulting. The spatial distribution of seismicity suggests that the Gubbio normal fault was activated during the main shock. This earthquake, together with the Norcia 1979 and the Abruzzi 1984 shocks, is typical of the extension in the high Apennines generated by the flexure of the mountain chain in response to regional compression. The Parma 1983 event, a thrust, belongs to the compres- sion zone at the eastern flank of the chain. These results are consistent with the EW continental collision along the Apennines

Fresh Activity in Old Systems: Radio AGN in Fossil Groups of Galaxies

We present the first systematic 1.4 GHz Very Large Array radio continuum survey of fossil galaxy group candidates. These are virialized systems believed to have assembled over a gigayear in the past through the merging of galaxy group members into a single, isolated, massive elliptical galaxy and featuring an extended hot X-ray halo. We use new photometric and spectroscopic data from SDSS Data Release 7 to determine that three of the candidates are clearly not fossil groups. Of the remaining 30 candidates, 67% contain a radio-loud (L_1.4GHz > 10^23 W Hz^-1) active galactic nucleus (AGN) at the center of their dominant elliptical galaxy. We find a weak correlation between the radio luminosity of the AGN and the X-ray luminosity of the halo suggesting that the AGN contributes to energy deposition into the intragroup medium. We only find a correlation between the radio and optical luminosity of the central elliptical galaxy when we include X-ray selected, elliptically dominated non-fossil groups, indicating a weak relationship between AGN strength and the mass assembly history of the groups. The dominant elliptical galaxy of fossil groups is on average roughly an order of magnitude more luminous than normal group elliptical galaxies in optical, X-ray, and radio luminosities and our findings are consistent with previous results that the radio-loud fraction in elliptical galaxies is linked to the stellar mass of a population. The current level of activity in fossil groups suggests that AGN fueling continues long after the last major merger. We discuss several possibilities for fueling the AGN at the present epoch.Comment: Accepted for publication in A