Físics de la UAB i la UdG ideen una eina per visualitzar l'impacte de la destrucció lingüística i així poder revertir-la

Investigadors de la UAB i de la UdG han desenvolupat un model que permet estimar el nivell d'amenaça d'una llengua i dissenyar accions per controlar o revertir la destrucció lingüística. Han analitzat el cas del gal·lès i el seu retrocés, i han definit uns paràmetres per estimar la velocitat de retrocés d'un idioma autòcton en ser substituït per un idioma veí, considerat més avantatjós socialment i econòmica, que es poden extrapolar a idiomes parlats en països on els governs no s'han preocupat de la seva conservació.Investigadores de la UAB y la UdG han desarrollado un modelo que permite estimar el nivel de amenaza de una lengua y diseñar acciones para controlar o revertir la destrucción lingüística. Han analizado el caso del galés y su retroceso, y han definido unos parámetros para estimar la velocidad de retroceso de un idioma autóctono al ser sustituido por un idioma vecino, considerado más ventajoso social y económicamente, que se pueden extrapolar a idiomas hablados en países donde los gobiernos no se han preocupado por su conservación

Modelling cultural shift : application to language decline and extinction

Cultural shift is present in many aspects of human history. Here we present a model developed to study the particular case of language shift when a minority language is in competition with another language, which is perceived by the population as being socially and economically more advantageous (Isern and Fort, J. R. Soc. Interface 2014). We show that this model can describe satisfactorily the decline on the fraction of Welsh speakers over the last century. We also apply our language shift model as an interaction term into a reaction-diffusion equation and use it to predict the spread of retreat of the area of prevalence of the Welsh language. We find that the predictions are consistent with observational data

Population spread and cultural transmission in Neolithic transitions

The classical wave-of-advance model is based on Fisher's equation. However, this approach leads to an unbounded wave-of-advance speed at high reproduction rates. In contrast, an integro-difference model leads to a finite upper bound for the speed, namely the maximum dispersal distance divided by the generation time. Intuitively, this is a very reasonable result. This demic model has been generalized to include cultural transmission (Fort, PNAS 2012). We apply this recent demic-cultural model to determine the percentages of demic and cultural diffusion in the Neolithic transition for two case studies: (i) Europe, and (ii) southern Africa (Jerardino et al., submitted 2014). The similarities and differences between both case studies are interpreted in terms of the three mechanisms at work (population reproduction, dispersal and acculturation)

The Ancient cline of haplogroup K implies that the neolithic transition in europe was mainly demic

Using a database with the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 513 Neolithic individuals, we quantify the space-time variation of the frequency of haplogroup K, previously proposed as a relevant Neolithic marker. We compare these data to simulations, based on a mathematical model in which a Neolithic population spreads from Syria to Anatolia and Europe, possibly interbreeding with Mesolithic individuals (who lack haplogroup K) and/or teaching farming to them. Both the data and the simulations show that the percentage of haplogroup K (%K) decreases with increasing distance from Syria and that, in each region, the %K tends to decrease with increasing time after the arrival of farming. Both the model and the data display a local minimum of the genetic cline, and for the same Neolithic regional culture (Sweden). Comparing the observed ancient cline of haplogroup K to the simulation results reveals that about 98% of farmers were not involved in interbreeding neither acculturation (cultural diffusion). Therefore, cultural diffusion involved only a tiny fraction (about 2%) of farmers and, in this sense, the most relevant process in the spread of the Neolithic in Europe was demic diffusion (i.e., the dispersal of farmers), as opposed to cultural diffusion (i.e., the incorporation of hunter-gatherers)Tis work has been partially funded by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Grant FIS-2016- 80200-P), Fundación Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (Grant NeoDigit-PIN2015E), and an Academia award from the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (to J.F.

Modeling the role of voyaging in the coastal spread of the Early Neolithic in the West Mediterranean

The earliest dates for the West Mediterranean Neolithic indicate that it expanded across 2,500 km in about 300 y. Such a fast spread is held to be mainly due to a demic process driven by dispersal along coastal routes. Here, we model the Neolithic spread in the region by focusing on the role of voyaging to understand better the core elements that produced the observed pattern of dates. We also explore the effect of cultural interaction with Mesolithic populations living along the coast. The simulation study shows that (i) sea travel is required to obtain reasonable predictions, with a minimum sea-travel range of 300 km per generation; (ii) leapfrog coastal dispersals yield the best results (quantitatively and qualitatively); and (iii) interaction with Mesolithic people can assist the spread, but long-range voyaging is still needed to explain the archaeological pattern.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Balanç de la primera onada de la pandèmia de grip A (H1N1)

Grip A; Pandèmia; VirusGripe A; Pandemia; VirusInfluenza A; Pandemic; VirusEl present document agrupa un resum de les principals actuacions i resultats obtinguts, seguint els eixos del Pla de pandèmia, donant compliment al compromís de rigor, transparència i rendiment de comptes que emmarca l’actuació de les autoritats sanitàries catalanes i dels nombrosos professionals i entitats que hi han contribuït

Language extinction and linguistic fronts

Language diversity has become greatly endangered in the past centuries owing to processes of language shift from indigenous languages to other languages that are seen as socially and economically more advantageous, resulting in the death or doom of minority languages. In this paper, we define a new language competition model that can describe the historical decline of minority languages in competition with more advantageous languages. We then implement this non-spatial model as an interaction term in a reaction-diffusion system to model the evolution of the two competing languages. We use the results to estimate the speed at which the more advantageous language spreads geographically, resulting in the shrinkage of the area of dominance of the minority language. We compare the results from our model with the observed retreat in the area of influence of the Welsh language in the UK, obtaining a good agreement between the model and the observed data

Guia per a la incorporació de la perspectiva de gènere en els plans docents i les assignatures de la Universitat de Barcelona

La Universitat de Barcelona, en el seu III Pla d’igualtat, s’ha compromès a incloure i desplegar la perspectiva de gènere en tots els seus àmbits d’actuació. Un dels eixos que estructuren aquest pla (concretament, l’eix 4) està dedicat a la perspectiva de gènere en la docència. La Comissió d’Igualtat, el Vicerectorat de Política Docent, el Vicerectorat de Política Acadèmica i Qualitat, el Vicerectorat d’Igualtat i Gènere i la Unitat d’Igualtat volem facilitar-vos la tasca d’incorporar la perspectiva de gènere a totes les assignatures. Us proposem d’avançar cap a una UB més inclusiva començant pels plans docents, tal com preveu la legislació vigent. Aquesta proposta s’anirà acompanyant, al llarg del curs, d’accions de formació i d’altres materials que esperem que us siguin útils