Advantages of the metaphonology and linguistic semi-immersion in monolingual children learning EFL

Este estudio piloto de nueve meses de duración presenta un análisis empírico que refleja la evolución de los fonemas oclusivos sordos ingleses /ph/, /th/, /kh/ en dos grupos (control y experimental) de niños monolingües españoles con edades comprendidas entre los 6,3 (6 años y 3 meses) y 7,8. El seguimiento se llevó a cabo para determinar si los niños del grupo experimental producían aspiración en las realizaciones físicas de /ph,th,kh/ en mayor medida que los niños del grupo control. La hipótesis inicial se basaba en la idea de que a lo largo de un curso académico los sujetos del grupo experimental desarrollarían un VOT (Voice Onset Time) superior al grupo control.This nine month duration pilot study presents an empirical analysis that shows the evolution of the voiceless plosive English phonemes /ph/, /th/, /kh/ in two groups (control and experimental) of Spanish monolingual children aged 6.3 (6 years and 3 months) to 7.8 years old. The monitoring aimed to discover whether the experimental group would produce a more natural realization of the English phonemes mentioned above than the control group. The hypothesis predicted that the experimental group would develop a longer VOT than the control group by the end of the academic year.peerReviewe

Neutralización de rasgos contrastivos en el español del suroeste peninsular

This paper focuses on the phonetic implementation of /s/ and /r/ preceding nasal -n in the variety of Spanish spoken in the western Andalusian province of Seville (henceforth WAS). In a large number of Spanish dialects /s/ and /r/ in coda position are aspirated or deleted, suffering a weakening process usually known in the field of Linguistics as «lenition». This phenomenon has been very well documented in the literature ―especially concerning the phonological erosion and loss of final /s/― as it represents the morphological marker of plurality in nouns and second person singular in verbs. Since both the sibilant and the vibrant phonemes undergo lenition word-internally and word-finally, a key question to be posited would be whether /s/ and /r/ in an environment preceding -n could be phonetically neutralized, resulting in cases of mergers as in the examples bosna y borna, whose underlying representations /bosna/&/borna/ would surface as [boh·na]. My experiment examines the hypothesis of a complete neutralization of contrastive supralaringeal features of /s/ and /r/ in offset position preceding onset /n/. In this analysis, I present evidence from two controlled studies, one acoustic and the other perceptive, that, on the one hand, /s/ and /r/ are not aspirated preceding /n/ in WAS, but instead they suffer phonetic zero without leaving any phonological cues, and are replaced by the regressive germination of the nasal segment; and on the other hand, that to the Sevillian speaker's acoustic perception, minimal pairs as lerna/lesna represent cases of homophone words.En un gran número de dialectos del Español /s/ implosiva es aspirada o suprimida. Este fenómeno ha sido bien constatado en la literatura lingüística debido a las consecuencias morfológicas de la pérdida de -s final, la cual marca la segunda persona singular de los verbos y pluralidad en los sustantivos. El debilitamiento de /r/ en la misma posición también se da en un número considerable de dialectos del español. Sin embargo, ha habido menos estudios sobre el comportamiento de este último segmento. La aspiración de -r/s está estrechamente relacionada con las formas subyacentes /r//s/ y su lenición en determinados contextos, por ejemplo, precediendo a -n en palabras como trasnochar /trasnot∫ar/ o carne /karne/, cuyas realizaciones fonéticas serían [trah·no∫á] y [kah·ne]. Existe también la posibilidad de encontrar geminación del ataque siguiente a los segmentos debilitados, en cuyo caso la actividad laríngea de la aspiración se vería reducida a una duración inferior. Este estudio cuantitativo examina la hipótesis de una posible neutralización fonética entre pares mínimos con las secuencias internas -rn/sn en el dialecto español hablado en la provincia de Sevilla (EOA) ―frente al español estándar peninsular (EEP), variedad que mantiene las realizaciones de /s/ y /r/ como sibilante y vibrante respectivamente. En caso de producirse susodicho fenómeno, formas léxicas como lerna y lesna se verían afectadas y podrían llegar a emerger bajo una única representación fonética [leØ(n)·na]. En este análisis presento evidencia de dos estudios controlados ―acústico y perceptivo― de que, por un lado, /s/ y /r/ no son aspiradas en EOA, sino que llegan al cero fonético, perdiendo sus rasgos supraglotales, y ocupando su lugar la consonante siguiente -n; y por otro lado, que al oído del hablante sevillano pares mínimos como asno/Arnold presentan casos de palabras homófonas

Review and Comparison of Intelligent Optimization Modelling Techniques for Energy Forecasting and Condition-Based Maintenance in PV Plants

Within the field of soft computing, intelligent optimization modelling techniques include various major techniques in artificial intelligence. These techniques pretend to generate new business knowledge transforming sets of "raw data" into business value. One of the principal applications of these techniques is related to the design of predictive analytics for the improvement of advanced CBM (condition-based maintenance) strategies and energy production forecasting. These advanced techniques can be used to transform control system data, operational data and maintenance event data to failure diagnostic and prognostic knowledge and, ultimately, to derive expected energy generation. One of the systems where these techniques can be applied with massive potential impact are the legacy monitoring systems existing in solar PV energy generation plants. These systems produce a great amount of data over time, while at the same time they demand an important e ort in order to increase their performance through the use of more accurate predictive analytics to reduce production losses having a direct impact on ROI. How to choose the most suitable techniques to apply is one of the problems to address. This paper presents a review and a comparative analysis of six intelligent optimization modelling techniques, which have been applied on a PV plant case study, using the energy production forecast as the decision variable. The methodology proposed not only pretends to elicit the most accurate solution but also validates the results, in comparison with the di erent outputs for the di erent techniques

Example-driven meta-model development

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10270-013-0392-yThe intensive use of models in model-driven engineering (MDE) raises the need to develop meta-models with different aims, such as the construction of textual and visual modelling languages and the specification of source and target ends of model-to-model transformations. While domain experts have the knowledge about the concepts of the domain, they usually lack the skills to build meta-models. Moreover, meta-models typically need to be tailored according to their future usage and specific implementation platform, which demands knowledge available only to engineers with great expertise in specific MDE platforms. These issues hinder a wider adoption of MDE both by domain experts and software engineers. In order to alleviate this situation, we propose an interactive, iterative approach to meta-model construction, enabling the specification of example model fragments by domain experts, with the possibility of using informal drawing tools like Dia or yED. These fragments can be annotated with hints about the intention or needs for certain elements. A meta-model is then automatically induced, which can be refactored in an interactive way, and then compiled into an implementation meta-model using profiles and patterns for different platforms and purposes. Our approach includes the use of a virtual assistant, which provides suggestions for improving the meta-model based on well-known refactorings, and a validation mode, enabling the validation of the meta-model by means of examples.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity with project “Go Lite” (TIN2011-24139), and by the R&D programme of Madrid Region with project “eMadrid” (S2009/TIC-1650)

Dunford-Pettis-like Properties of Projective and Natural Tensor Product Spaces

Sin resume

A framework for effective management of condition based maintenance programs in the context of industrial development of E-Maintenance strategies

CBM (Condition Based Maintenance) solutions are increasingly present in industrial systems due to two main circumstances: rapid evolution, without precedents, in the capture and analysis of data and significant cost reduction of supporting technologies. CBM programs in industrial systems can become extremely complex, especially when considering the effective introduction of new capabilities provided by PHM (Prognostics and Health Management) and E-maintenance disciplines. In this scenario, any CBM solution involves the management of numerous technical aspects, that the maintenance manager needs to understand, in order to be implemented properly and effectively, according to the company’s strategy. This paper provides a comprehensive representation of the key components of a generic CBM solution, this is presented using a framework or supporting structure for an effective management of the CBM programs. The concept “symptom of failure”, its corresponding analysis techniques (introduced by ISO 13379-1 and linked with RCM/FMEA analysis), and other international standard for CBM open-software application development (for instance, ISO 13374 and OSA-CBM), are used in the paper for the development of the framework. An original template has been developed, adopting the formal structure of RCM analysis templates, to integrate the information of the PHM techniques used to capture the failure mode behaviour and to manage maintenance. Finally, a case study describes the framework using the referred template.Gobierno de Andalucía P11-TEP-7303 M

The Potential of Seaweeds as a Source of Functional Ingredients of Prebiotic and Antioxidant Value

Two thirds of the world is covered by oceans, whose upper layer is inhabited by algae. This means that there is a large extension to obtain these photoautotrophic organisms. Algae have undergone a boom in recent years, with consequent discoveries and advances in this field. Algae are not only of high ecological value but also of great economic importance. Possible applications of algae are very diverse and include anti-biofilm activity, production of biofuels, bioremediation, as fertilizer, as fish feed, as food or food ingredients, in pharmacology (since they show antioxidant or contraceptive activities), in cosmeceutical formulation, and in such other applications as filters or for obtaining minerals. In this context, algae as food can be of help to maintain or even improve human health, and there is a growing interest in new products called functional foods, which can promote such a healthy state. Therefore, in this search, one of the main areas of research is the extraction and characterization of new natural ingredients with biological activity (e.g., prebiotic and antioxidant) that can contribute to consumers? well-being. The present review shows the results of a bibliographic survey on the chemical composition of macroalgae, together with a critical discussion about their potential as natural sources of new functional ingredients.Fil: Gomez Zavaglia, Andrea. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Prieto Lage, Miguel Ángel. Universidad de Vigo; EspañaFil: Jiménez López, Cecilia. Universidad de Vigo.; EspañaFil: Mejuto, Juan Carlos. Universidad de Vigo. Facultad de Ciencias de Ourense; EspañaFil: Simal Gándara, Jesús. Universidad de Vigo; Españ

Combining unit and specification-based testing for meta-model validation and verification

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Information Systems. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Information Systems, VOL 62, (2016)] DOI 10.1016/j.is.2016.06.008Meta-models play a cornerstone role in Model-Driven Engineering as they are used to define the abstract syntax of modelling languages, and so models and all sorts of model transformations depend on them. However, there are scarce tools and methods supporting their Validation and Verification (V&V), which are essential activities for the proper engineering of meta-models. In order to fill this gap, we propose two complementary meta-model V&V languages. The first one has similar philosophy to the xUnit framework, as it enables the definition of meta-model unit test suites comprising model fragments and assertions on their (in-)correctness. The second one is directed to express and verify expected properties of a meta-model, including domain and design properties, quality criteria and platform-specific requirements. As a proof of concept, we have developed tooling for both languages in the Eclipse platform, and illustrate its use within an example-driven approach for meta-model construction. The expressiveness of our languages is demonstrated by their application to build a library of meta-model quality issues, which has been evaluated over the ATL zoo of meta-models and some OMG specifications. The results show that integrated support for meta-model V&V (as the one we propose here) is urgently needed in meta-modelling environments.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity with project “Flexor” (TIN2014-52129-R), the region of Madrid with project “SICOMORO-CM” (S2013/ICE-3006), and the EU commission with project “MONDO” (FP7- ICT-2013-10, #611125)

Study of mullite formation in porcelain stoneware applying isoconversional and IKP methods

The growth process of mullite in a porcelain stoneware body has been studied under isoconversional, isokinetic relationship and invariant kinetic parameters. Activation energy for mullite crystallisation of over 589–628 kJ mol−1 and a Ln A over 50–59 min−1 was obtained. The model was Johnson–Melh–Avrami with n = 1.5. The model chosen implies quick nucleation and subsequent one or three-dimensional growth. Isoconversional methods show an independent activation energy variation in mid range conversion degrees. Lower and higher conversion degrees show different reactions in mullite formation. Results obtained with the methods employed here are in agreement with a previous paper where the Kissinger non-isothermal method and Ligero et al.approximation were appliedPeer reviewe