In search of intonational cues to content word beginnings in conversational speech

International audienceWe used an annotated conversational French speech corpus to 1. investigate whether the intonational rises that occur at the beginning of French content words in read speech (APRs) are also present in spontaneous speech and therefore available as cues to word segmentation and lexical access, and 2. test two measures of characterizing intonation patterns using automatically extracted F0 and time values. The two measures tested both proved problematic: they were sensitive to the segmental composition of the critical region. We found no evidence that APRs are reliably present in the corpus as a whole, although we suggest that they may be present in particular types of conversational speech

Atlas problématique d'une métropole vulnérable : inégalités urbaines à Lima et Callao

Lima, capitale du Pérou, forme avec El Callao une immense agglomération de 10 millions d'habitants qui pose au quotidien d'immenses défis de gestion et de gouvernance urbaines. Confrontée à la perspective d'un séisme majeur, la nécessité de comprendre ce qui fait la vulnérabilité de cette métropole va bien au-delà de son exposition au risque sismique et de tsunami. Comme la plupart des métropoles d'Amériques latine les inégalités sociales et spatiales sont inscrites dans le paysage urbain de Lima qui présente des contrastes impressionnants entre barrios populaires auto-construits et les lotissements de classes aisées, secteurs historiques délabrés et quartier d'affaires resplendissant, Mall luxueux et commerce informel. Les inégalités sociales et territoriales se sont construites historiquement, socialement et politiquement par les modalités même de production des quartiers, la distribution spatiale des services et équipements urbains, et les conditions d'accessibilité qui tout à la fois expriment et produisent des inégalités d'accès à la ville et une vulnérabilité «ordinaire» du territoire et de sa population. Elle est amplifiée par la complexité politico-institutionnelle de cette immense agglomération composée de 49 districts, dont les capacités techniques et budgétaires sont très inégales. Ce territoire urbain fragmenté politiquement et socialement, est traversé de conflits, d'avancées démocratiques et de libéralisation économique, la gouvernance de la ville se jouant entre domination, participation et résistance autour de projets publics ou privés. Les paysages urbains et la structuration de l’espace se fabriquent entre faiblesse des pouvoirs publics, montée en puissance de la population comme acteur du politique et du territoire, et dynamiques économiques et spatiales de l'informalité et du secteur privé. Cet atlas propose une lecture de Lima et Callao en trois chapitres, et tente la démonstration que la connaissance de la ville, de sa production et de son fonctionnement est une exigence pour comprendre sa vulnérabilité, faisant ainsi le lien entre études de risques et études urbaines

A Legal Assessment of Indigenous Peoples' Rights to Lands and Natural Resources over Transboundary Aquifers Contaminated by Mining Production within the Lake Titicaca Region

Lake Titicaca is the largest lake in South America and the highest navigable lake in the world.1 Due to pressure on natural resources and losses from environmental events, Peru and Bolivia put forward a Binational Master Plan for the Lake Titicaca – Desaguadero River – Lake Poopó – Coipasa Salt Lake (TDPS) System to protect its waters through a Joint Sub-Commission for the Development of the Integrated Region of Lake Titicaca (SUBICOMILAGO), between October 1989 and June 1993. In 1996, both countries established an Autonomous Binational Authority of the TDPS System (ALT). This framework embraces the entire TDPS System and includes Peruvian and Bolivian institutions related to water resources.

Idéfix:identifying accidental sample mix-ups in biobanks using polygenic scores

MOTIVATION: Identifying sample mix-ups in biobanks is essential to allow the repurposing of genetic data for clinical pharmacogenetics. Pharmacogenetic advice based on the genetic information of another individual is potentially harmful. Existing methods for identifying mix-ups are limited to datasets in which additional omics data (e.g. gene expression) is available. Cohorts lacking such data can only use sex, which can reveal only half of the mix-ups. Here, we describe Idéfix, a method for the identification of accidental sample mix-ups in biobanks using polygenic scores. RESULTS: In the Lifelines population-based biobank, we calculated polygenic scores (PGSs) for 25 traits for 32 786 participants. We then applied Idéfix to compare the actual phenotypes to PGSs, and to use the relative discordance that is expected for mix-ups, compared to correct samples. In a simulation, using induced mix-ups, Idéfix reaches an AUC of 0.90 using 25 polygenic scores and sex. This is a substantial improvement over using only sex, which has an AUC of 0.75. Subsequent simulations present Idéfix’s potential in varying datasets with more powerful PGSs. This suggests its performance will likely improve when more highly powered GWASs for commonly measured traits will become available. Idéfix can be used to identify a set of high-quality participants for whom it is very unlikely that they reflect sample mix-ups, and for these participants we can use genetic data for clinical purposes, such as pharmacogenetic profiles. For instance, in Lifelines, we can select 34.4% of participants, reducing the sample mix-up rate from 0.15% to 0.01%. AVAILABILITYAND IMPLEMENTATION: Idéfix is freely available at https://github.com/molgenis/systemsgenetics/wiki/Idefix. The individual-level data that support the findings were obtained from the Lifelines biobank under project application number ov16_0365. Data is made available upon reasonable request submitted to the LifeLines Research office ([email protected], https://www.lifelines.nl/researcher/how-to-apply/apply-here). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

The Change of Production Systems through Consultancy Involved Projects: a Multiple Case Study in Chinese SMEs

Production systems, such as Lean Production System (LPS), have been developed to improve organisational performance. In their application to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), resource constraints mean that business assistance from external agencies, such as management consultants, is often required. Building on organisational learning research associated with knowledge flow across boundaries, this study aims to explore the practical issues associated with consultancy-involved LPS implementation in Chinese SMEs and the possible approaches to deal with them. A multiple case study is conducted focusing on four real-life, consultancy-involved, lean projects in Chinese SMEs. Four key problems that arise from consultancy-involved change of production systems are identified and four relevant approaches to handle these problems are also addressed. The case study implies that to better embed new production systems, such as LPS into SMEs, both consultants and SME clients need to adopt a more proactive approach when engaging with each other