The statistical analysis of acoustic phonetic data: exploring differences between spoken Romance languages

The historical and geographical spread from older to more modern languages has long been studied by examining textual changes and in terms of changes in phonetic transcriptions. However, it is more difficult to analyze language change from an acoustic point of view, although this is usually the dominant mode of transmission. We propose a novel analysis approach for acoustic phonetic data, where the aim will be to statistically model the acoustic properties of spoken words. We explore phonetic variation and change using a time-frequency representation, namely the log-spectrograms of speech recordings. We identify time and frequency covariance functions as a feature of the language; in contrast, mean spectrograms depend mostly on the particular word that has been uttered. We build models for the mean and covariances (taking into account the restrictions placed on the statistical analysis of such objects) and use these to define a phonetic transformation that models how an individual speaker would sound in a different language, allowing the exploration of phonetic differences between languages. Finally, we map back these transformations to the domain of sound recordings, allowing us to listen to the output of the statistical analysis. The proposed approach is demonstrated using recordings of the words corresponding to the numbers from ``one'' to ``ten'' as pronounced by speakers from five different Romance languages.John Coleman appreciates the support of UK Arts and Humanities Research Council grant AH/M002993/1, “Ancient Sounds: mixing acoustic phonetics, statistics and comparative philology to bring speech back from the past”. John Aston appreciates the support of UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant EP/K021672/2, “Functional Object Data Analysis and its Applications”

Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Bovine Mastitis in Eight Countries: Genotypes, Detection of Genes Encoding Different Toxins and Other Virulence Genes

Staphylococcus aureus is recognized worldwide as one of the major agents of dairy cow intra-mammary infections. This microorganism can express a wide spectrum of pathogenic factors used to attach, colonize, invade and infect the host. The present study evaluated 120 isolates from eight different countries that were genotyped by RS-PCR and investigated for 26 different virulence factors to increase the knowledge on the circulating genetic lineages among the cow population with mastitis. New genotypes were observed for South African strains while for all the other countries new variants of existing genotypes were detected. For each country, a specific genotypic pattern was found. Among the virulence factors, fmtB, cna, clfA and leucocidins genes were the most frequent. The sea and sei genes were present in seven out of eight countries; seh showed high frequency in South American countries (Brazil, Colombia, Argentina), while sel was harboured especially in one Mediterranean country (Tunisia). The etb, seb and see genes were not detected in any of the isolates, while only two isolates were MRSA (Germany and Italy) confirming the low diffusion of methicillin resistance microorganism among bovine mastitis isolates. This work demonstrated the wide variety of S. aureus genotypes found in dairy cattle worldwide. This condition suggests that considering the region of interest might help to formulate strategies for reducing the infection spreading

Consenso colombiano de atención, diagnóstico y manejo de la infección por SARS-COV-2/COVID-19 en establecimientos de atención de la salud Recomendaciones basadas en consenso de expertos e informadas en la evidencia

The “Asociación Colombiana de Infectología” (ACIN) and the “Instituto de Evaluación de Nuevas Tecnologías de la Salud” (IETS) created a task force to develop recommendations for Covid 19 health care diagnosis, management and treatment informed, and based, on evidence. Theses reccomendations are addressed to the health personnel on the Colombian context of health services. © 2020 Asociacion Colombiana de Infectologia. All rights reserved

A Classification System for Colombian Wetlands: an Essential Step Forward in Open Environmental Policy-Making

Knowledge about the distribution and diversity of wetlands has become an essential tool for environmental management and policy-making. Yet, while recent estimates indicate that 27% of the area of Colombia is covered by wetlands and despite a number of regional studies, information about the diversity of wetlands nationally is scarce. In response, we present a national wetland classification system that is based on an ecological approach, from the perspective of wetland scientists, and which builds upon the assumptions underlying the flood pulse concept and hydrogeomorphic approach. Thus, the approach and structure of the Brazilian wetland classification system are used, with geomorphological adjustments made according to Colombia’s topography. The classification is hierarchical, multi-scale, functional, and organized according to four levels (system, macroregion, subsystem, and class), with the wetland diversity of Colombia represented nationally by 89 macrohabitats across marine-coastal, inland, and anthropogenic systems. The primary purpose of this classification is to provide integrated and organized information on the distribution and diversity of Colombian wetlands that will serve as a baseline for transparent environmental policy-making

Biodiversidad en la cuenca del Orinoco II. Áreas prioritarias para la conservación y uso sostenible

El presente libro avanza notablemente en la búsqueda de respuestas que nos lleven a una mejor comprensión no solo de la Orinoquia, sino de nuestra responsabilidad institucional y social con este territorio de importancia global, responsabilidad que debe partir del reconocimiento general de que la Orinoquia no es un recurso ilimitado, sino un hábitat rico y complejo, y que toda intervención debe tener como objetivo que lo siga siendo para beneficio de todos, hoy y siempre

Biodiversidad en la cuenca del Orinoco. Bases científicas para la identificación de áreas prioritarias para la conservación y uso sostenible de la biodiversidad

Es un placer para el Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt presentar a la comunidad científica, conservacionista y autoridades ambientales de Colombia y Venezuela la obra Biodiversidad de la cuenca del Orinoco: bases científicas para la identificación de áreas prioritarias para la conservación y el uso sostenible de la biodiversidad. Este libro es fruto de un esfuerzo de una década de trabajo y recoge numerosos proyectos de carácter institucional que han venido desarrollándose en la Orinoquia, incluyendo el Plan de acción en biodiversidad para la cuenca del Orinoco (2005-2015), además de los resultados de reuniones técnicas de carácter binacional

Biodiversidad 2015. Estado y tendencias de la biodiversidad continental de Colombia

El propósito de este documento es fortalecer la capacidad de agentes públicos y privados para la aplicación de la PNGIBSE, que constituye en sí misma una apuesta de interfaz entre ciencia, política y sociedad en la perspectiva de construir sostenibilidad en el desarrollo. Además de ello, representa un insumo para el seguimiento a los compromisos del país frente a convenios e iniciativas internacionales (CDB, IPBES, OCDE), así como un mecanismo pedagógico para generar interés, conciencia y apropiación de las diferentes dimensiones de la biodiversidad del país.Bogotá, D. C., ColombiaInstituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldtreporte.humboldt.org.coreporte.humboldt.org.co/biodiversidad/en