Bandwidth extension of narrowband speech

Recently, 4G mobile phone systems have been designed to process wideband speech signals whose sampling frequency is 16 kHz. However, most part of mobile and classical phone network, and current 3G mobile phones, still process narrowband speech signals whose sampling frequency is 8 kHz. During next future, all these systems must be living together. Therefore, sometimes a wideband speech signal (with a bandwidth up to 7,2 kHz) should be estimated from an available narrowband one (whose frequency band is 300-3400 Hz). In this work, different techniques of audio bandwidth extension have been implemented and evaluated. First, a simple non-model-based algorithm (interpolation algorithm) has been implemented. Second, a model-based algorithm (linear mapping) have been designed and evaluated in comparison to previous one. Several CMOS (Comparison Mean Opinion Score) [6] listening tests show that performance of Linear Mapping algorithm clearly overcomes the other one. Results of these tests are very close to those corresponding to original wideband speech signal.Postprint (published version

Riesgo cardiovascular en pacientes nonagenarios: Antiagregantes y anticoagulantes

A pesar del incremento de la esperanza de vida en los últimos años, las guías de práctica clínica sobre riesgo cardiovascular no tienen en cuenta las comorbilidades, la plurimedicación o las características propias asociadas al envejecimiento de los pacientes de mayor edad. Es más, la prescripción de tratamientos antiagregantes y anticoagulantes en pacientes nonagenarios parece no estar condicionada por la edad, el grado de deterioro mental, el grado de dependencia ni con la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud de estas personas.Grado en Medicin

Las profecías mesiánicas del libro del Emmanuel en la "Expositio Super Isaiam" de Sto Tomás

Hoy día casi todas las obras de Santo Tomás de Aquino han sido minuciosamente estudiadas; sin embargo, algunas de ellas, ya sea por la duda de su autenticidad, o por algún otro motivo histórico, no son conocidas por el gran público. Gracias a la sugerencia del Prof. Miguel Angel Tabet, y a la paciente y dedicada atención del Prof. Gonzalo Aranda, comencé a estudiar una de estas obras menos conocidas del Aquinate: su Expositio super Isaiam . El trabajo de investigación fue de lo general (el estudio de las características de la exégesis tomista) a lo particular (la práctica de esa exégesis). Sin embargo, al tratar de ver encarnada la teoría general en la práctica concreta, se observaron algunas variaciones interesantes que llevaron a modificar el primer modelo acerca de las líneas maestras de la exégesis -tomista (ver el primer capítulo de la tesis original). Además, otro camino de investigación se abrió al contemplar el mesianismo de muchas interpretaciones tomistas de los pasajes de Isaías. ¿Cuál es el concepto de mesianismo de un pasaje bfblico en Santo Tomás?, ¿las famosas divisiones del Libro de Isaías en Libro del Emmanuel y Poema del Siervo de Yahvé, coinciden con las divisiones del texto según el Aquinate?, ¿cuáles son las diferencias más importantes?, ¿qué indican respecto al método exegético o a la teología tomista? Todas estas preguntas pedían respuestas, y poco a poco, algunos de estos interrogantes condujeron al descubrimiento de las posibles pautas usadas por Santo Tomás para establecer diversos tipos de mesianismo en los pasajes isaianos. En los capítulos I1I, IV, VI Y VII se pueden encontrar respuestas a los interrogantes arriba planteados, y también una sistematización del contenido teológico del comentario tomista a los pasajes mesiánicos de Isaías

Buscant materials adients per insonoritzar un local per fer-hi música

Es presenta un treball de recerca en el qual s'han estudiat diferents materials de construcció per tal d'analitzar quin és el que millor atenua el so. El treball experimental s'ha basat en la construcció d'un conjunt de capses, folrades amb diferents materials que reprodueixen un local on s'assaja amb un instrument musical, i en la mesura del nivell d'intensitat sonora emès per una font sonora tant a l'interior com a l'exterior de les capses

Combining malleability and I/O control mechanisms to enhance the execution of multiple applications

This work presents a common framework that integrates CLARISSE, a cross-layer runtime for the I/O software stack, and FlexMPI, a runtime that provides dynamic load balancing and malleability capabilities for MPI applications. This integration is performed both at application level, as libraries executed within the application, as well as at central-controller level, as external components that manage the execution of different applications. We show that a cooperation between both runtimes provides important benefits for overall system performance: first, by means of monitoring, the CPU, communication and I/O performances of all executing applications are collected, providing a holistic view of the complete platform utilization. Secondly, we introduce a coordinated way of using CLARISSE and FlexMPI control mechanisms, based on two different optimization strategies, with the aim of improving both the application I/O and overall system performance. Finally, we present a detailed description of this proposal, as well as an empirical evaluation of the framework on a cluster showing significant performance improvements at both application and wide-platform levels. We demonstrate that with this proposal the overall I/O time of an application can be reduced by up to 49% and the aggregated FLOPS of all running applications can be increased by 10% with respect to the baseline case. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work has been partially supported by the Spanish “Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad” under the project grant TIN2016-79637-P “Towards Unification of HPC and Big Data paradigms” and EU under the COST Program Action IC1305, Network for Sustainable Ultrascale Computing (NESUS)

"Tell me how you evaluate and i'll tell you what you teach": a theoretical analysis of the relationship between learning assessment, and teaching-learning process of social justice

La evaluación del aprendizaje es una de las prácticas escolares que por su recurrencia y centralidad en la cultura escolar representa una oportunidad especial para —en concordancia con el enfoque vivencial sobre la enseñanza-aprendizaje de los valores— enseñar y aprender, resistir o apropiar algunos significados asociados a la justicia social. El artículo explora dicho escenario mediante un análisis teórico. Planteamos que es posible identificar, siguiendo a Perrenoud, dos lógicas de evaluación del aprendizaje en las que subyacen concepciones dispares sobre la justicia. En una lógica de evaluación centrada en la diferenciación y fabricación de jerarquías, por un lado, identificamos principios propios de una concepción que llamamos liberal: igualdad formal de oportunidades, imparcialidad, y el mérito como criterio diferenciador y distributivo. Por otro lado, la lógica de la regulación de los aprendizajes alude a una noción de justicia social con principios opuestos a la concepción previa: reconocimiento explícito de las diferencias (individuales y grupales), reconocimiento de las diversas desigualdades sociales como producto de distintos procesos opresivos de carácter histórico-estructural, y el diálogo entre visiones parciales para la construcción del juicio. Así, se sugiere que según la lógica a la que tienda nuestra evaluación, según los significados que enseñamos sobre la justicia socia

Students’ representations of political participation : implications for citizenship education in Mexico City’s secondary schools

Within a growing body of research there is a tendency towards a depoliticisation of citizenship education (CE) which seems to be replicated by different programs in school. In this thesis, however, I argue for CE that engages with a political perspective through the enhancement of students’ experiences of participation within their daily contexts, particularly the school. The argument develops from an in-depth analysis of students’ representations of political participation (PP) and a consideration of implications for CE in Mexico City’s secondary schools.\ud Based on a mixed methodology that included qualitative work in two schools from contrasting delegaciones (municipalities) of Mexico City, and a representative survey (n=828) of third grade students from all the general secondary schools in these two areas, the thesis finds that students experience a general condition of exclusion from PP. They are largely excluded from a) their own representation of PP, b) the curricular characterisation of PP, and c) quality participation in their schools, families, and broader communities. This account coexists, however, with an ideal characterisation of PP embraced by students and teachers, which reaches its highest level in the curriculum of Civic and Ethical Formation. It turns considerably idealistic due to the lack of practical instrumentation and a strong discrepancy with participants’ representations of actual student involvement in school. Thus, the expected distance in education between real and ideal becomes nonsense. As the ideal is no longer an achievable point of reference, it loses the capacity of orienting a significant pedagogical practice. One of the main consequences of this gap is that students, teachers and principals learn the puerile and politically correct discourse about democracy and student participation. Simultaneously they are socialised into a rather authoritarian school system, where democracy is a marginal and sporadic phenomenon.\ud In spite of this situation that reflects the current priorities of secondary schools, the thesis shows that students’ participation in school is a key factor to developing a virtuous circle of participation with the family and broader communities. For this purpose, enhancing quality political participation in school is vital. I call this the politicisation of CE.\ud While previous works identify PP with the domain of politics, or dissolves any distinctive meaning by ambiguously interchanging the term with others like civic engagement, the thesis provides a more meaningful theoretical approach, clearly inclusive of adolescents, and specially thought to be enacted in the school. It is proposed that its performance entails the construction of a ‘school of proximal development’, the scaffold through which students’ politicity can evolve in an authentic, autonomous and efficacious way

Selection of internal control genes for quantitative real-time RT-PCR studies during tomato development process

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The elucidation of gene expression patterns leads to a better understanding of biological processes. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR has become the standard method for in-depth studies of gene expression. A biologically meaningful reporting of target mRNA quantities requires accurate and reliable normalization in order to identify real gene-specific variation. The purpose of normalization is to control several variables such as different amounts and quality of starting material, variable enzymatic efficiencies of retrotranscription from RNA to cDNA, or differences between tissues or cells in overall transcriptional activity. The validity of a housekeeping gene as endogenous control relies on the stability of its expression level across the sample panel being analysed. In the present report we describe the first systematic evaluation of potential internal controls during tomato development process to identify which are the most reliable for transcript quantification by real-time RT-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we assess the expression stability of 7 traditional and 4 novel housekeeping genes in a set of 27 samples representing different tissues and organs of tomato plants at different developmental stages. First, we designed, tested and optimized amplification primers for real-time RT-PCR. Then, expression data from each candidate gene were evaluated with three complementary approaches based on different statistical procedures. Our analysis suggests that SGN-U314153 (<it>CAC</it>), SGN-U321250 (<it>TIP41</it>), SGN-U346908 ("<it>Expressed</it>") and SGN-U316474 (<it>SAND</it>) genes provide superior transcript normalization in tomato development studies. We recommend different combinations of these exceptionally stable housekeeping genes for suited normalization of different developmental series, including the complete tomato development process.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This work constitutes the first effort for the selection of optimal endogenous controls for quantitative real-time RT-PCR studies of gene expression during tomato development process. From our study a tool-kit of control genes emerges that outperform the traditional genes in terms of expression stability.</p