Development of the Feature Extractor for Speech Recognition

Projecte final de carrera realitzat en col.laboració amb University of MariborWith this diploma work we have attempted to give continuity to the previous work done by other researchers called, Voice Operating Intelligent Wheelchair – VOIC [1]. A development of a wheelchair controlled by voice is presented in this work and is designed for physically disabled people, who cannot control their movements. This work describes basic components of speech recognition and wheelchair control system. Going to the grain, a speech recognizer system is comprised of two distinct blocks, a Feature Extractor and a Recognizer. The present work is targeted at the realization of an adequate Feature Extractor block which uses a standard LPC Cepstrum coder, which translates the incoming speech into a trajectory in the LPC Cepstrum feature space, followed by a Self Organizing Map, which classifies the outcome of the coder in order to produce optimal trajectory representations of words in reduced dimension feature spaces. Experimental results indicate that trajectories on such reduced dimension spaces can provide reliable representations of spoken words. The Recognizer block is left for future researchers. The main contributions of this work have been the research and approach of a new technology for development issues and the realization of applications like a voice recorder and player and a complete Feature Extractor system

Konpetente digitalak izateko bidean

Hezkuntza-eremuan bizitzen ari garen trantsizio-une honetan, gauza gutxi dira ziurrak eta horietako bat teknologia digitalen nonahikotasuna da. Teknologiaz, pantailez inguraturik bizi gara eta, hezitzaileok gure bizitzaren parte gisa integratzen ari garen bitartean, ikasleak teknologiaz inguraturik hazi dira eta halakorik gabeko bizimodua ulertezina egiten zaie. Hezkuntza-eremuan, orain arte DBHko ikastetxeetan, ikasleak oinarrizko teknologia- erabiltzaile gisa trebatzen aritu izan dira irakasleen araberako eskakizunen baitan, baina ez da ildo nagusirik izan. Heziberri 2020k (EHAA, 1 2015, 69-72 or.), ordea, aldaketa handia ekarri du, izan ere, Konpetentzia Digitala zeharkako konpetentzia bezala zehaztu du; denok irakasgai guztietan landu beharrekoa, alegia. Horretarako, DIGCOMP marko europarra erreferentziatzat harturik, landu beharreko 5 arlo hauek aipatzen ditu: informazioa, komunikazioa, edukiak sortzea, segurtasuna eta arazoak ebaztea. Gainera, 12. artikuluan argi adierazten du: “Oinarrizko Hezkuntza amaitzen duten ikasleek konpetentzia digital eta mediatikoa eskuratu behar dituzte, alfabetatze edo gaikuntza funtzional osoa bermatzeko” (EHAA 2 14. orr.). Baliabideen erabilera etikoa eta arduratsua ere aipatzen du, besteak beste, kontuan hartuz pertsonen intimitatea, norberaren irudia eta sexu-joera eta -nortasuna, eta aurre eginez sexismoari eta arrazakeriari. Nola egin bidea erabiltzaile izatetik konpetente digital izatera? Zer bide proposatu konpetentzia horren 5 arloak irakasleek zein ikasleek gradualki eta modu autonomoan garatzeko? Nola aprobetxatu online prestakuntzaren abantailak ikasleari era ordenatu batean eskolaz kanpo (edo eskolan bertan) bere ikaskuntza aberasteko aukerak eskaintzeko? (Eta bide batez, zeharka irakasleena zein senideena.) Hori guztia zehaztea eta DBHko edozein ikastetxerentzako baliagarria izan litekeen proposamen zehatza aurkeztea da gure proiektuaren xedea

BHAM-Bilbo hiriko artxibo eta museoa

Arkitektura proiektua Bilbon

Identification of differentially expressed genes by means of outlier detection

BACKGROUND: An important issue in microarray data is to select, from thousands of genes, a small number of informative differentially expressed (DE) genes which may be key elements for a disease. If each gene is analyzed individually, there is a big number of hypotheses to test and a multiple comparison correction method must be used. Consequently, the resulting cut-off value may be too small. Moreover, an important issue is the selection's replicability of the DE genes. We present a new method, called ORdensity, to obtain a reproducible selection of DE genes. It takes into account the relation between all genes and it is not a gene-by-gene approach, unlike the usually applied techniques to DE gene selection. RESULTS: The proposed method returns three measures, related to the concepts of outlier and density of false positives in a neighbourhood, which allow us to identify the DE genes with high classification accuracy. To assess the performance of ORdensity, we used simulated microarray data and four real microarray cancer data sets. The results indicated that the method correctly detects the DE genes; it is competitive with other well accepted methods; the list of DE genes that it obtains is useful for the correct classification or diagnosis of new future samples and, in general, it is more stable than other procedures. CONCLUSIONS: ORdensity is a new method for identifying DE genes that avoids some of the shortcomings of the individual gene identification and it is stable when the original sample is changed by subsamples

6-8 urteko umeen gaitasun digitala garatzen

Haurrak teknologia erabiltzaile goiztiarrak dira gaur egun. Kontsumitzaile sutsuak dira eta aisialdiarekin lotura estua duen jarduera gisa ulertzen dute​ . Gaitasun digitalari buruzko eztabaidak eta ideia nagusiak aztertu ondoren, ​ G ​ raduondoko Proiektu honen xedea da Nafarroako ipar-mendebaldeko 6-8 urteko umeen gaitasun digitala ikertzea eta umeen eskura jartzen diren gailu teknologikoen ezaguera eta erabileraren diagnosia egitea: ​ smartphone ​ a, ​ tablet ​ a eta ordenagailuak. Horrekin batera, ikasleekin batera hezkuntza eragile eta komunitatea osatzen duten gurasoen eta irakasleen ezaguera eta erabilera aztertu dira, beraiek baitira gailu teknologiko horien arduradun nagusiak. H​ orretarako, erabilitako metodologian eskualderako propio diseinaturiko 840 galdetegien bidez 6-8 urtetako umeek, gurasoek eta irakasleek gailu hauen erabilera eta konfigurazioaren trebetasuna aztertu da, eta gai honekiko talde desberdinek duten ikuspuntua ageri utzi da emaitzen atalean. Horrez gain, galdetegietan bildu diren datuak sareratu eta ​ jendartearen esku 1 utzi dira. Datuen hustuketak, bertzeak bertze, informazio ugari eta interesgarria agerian utzi du, erraterako, umeak noiz, non, norekin eta zertan aritzen diren adieraziz. P​ roiektu honetako emaitzek Nafarroako ipar-mendebaldeko eskualdeko 6-8 urteko umeek zein hezitzaileek Informazio eta Komunikazio Teknologiez (IKT) duten ikuspegi osoa eskaintzen du. Datu horiek guztiak aztertu eta interpretatu ​ ondoren, nabarmentzekoa da hezitzaile guztiak oro har heziketa-beharraren garrantziaz ohartze bidean daudela argi ageri dela. Hori dela eta, internet eta gailu teknologiko hauen erabileran segurtasuna sustatzeko asmoarekin, eskura jarri dira gailuen inguruko laguntza gidak komunitatearen eta umeen gaitasun digitalaren hastapenetako arduradunentzat, baita konfigurazio bideo-tutorialak zein aplikazioen erabilera hezigarrien inguruko sailkapena ere (ikus https://sites.google.com/view/6-8urteko-garapen-digitala/). Hortaz, lan hau familia artean gailu teknologikoen trebetasuna era aske eta esperimentalean barneratzeaz gainera, ​ umearen haziera integrala eta inteligentzia globala bermatzen 2 laguntzeko proposamena da

ICGE: an R package for detecting relevant clusters and atypical units in gene expression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gene expression technologies have opened up new ways to diagnose and treat cancer and other diseases. Clustering algorithms are a useful approach with which to analyze genome expression data. They attempt to partition the genes into groups exhibiting similar patterns of variation in expression level. An important problem associated with gene classification is to discern whether the clustering process can find a relevant partition as well as the identification of new genes classes. There are two key aspects to classification: the estimation of the number of clusters, and the decision as to whether a new unit (gene, tumor sample...) belongs to one of these previously identified clusters or to a new group.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><monospace>ICGE</monospace> is a user-friendly <monospace>R</monospace> package which provides many functions related to this problem: identify the number of clusters using mixed variables, usually found by applied biomedical researchers; detect whether the data have a cluster structure; identify whether a new unit belongs to one of the pre-identified clusters or to a novel group, and classify new units into the corresponding cluster. The functions in the ICGE package are accompanied by help files and easy examples to facilitate its use.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrate the utility of ICGE by analyzing simulated and real data sets. The results show that ICGE could be very useful to a broad research community.</p

Remobilization of Heavy Metals by Mangrove Leaves

Several studies have been carried out on heavy metal pollution in mangrove ecosystems. However, the role of mangroves in heavy metal remobilization is still relatively unknown. On one side, mangrove woody organs and soils sequester heavy metals for long time periods, but on the other hand, senescence of mangrove leaves may return these metals collected by roots to the upper layers of the soil. Here, we analyzed the concentration of chemical elements (Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sr, V, and Zn) as a function of age in mangrove leaves to understand heavy metals retention by the plant and to quantify the amounts shed with senescing leaves. In addition, we estimated metal concentrations and stocks in mangrove soils. Our results revealed that the concentration of most metals increased with leaf age, resulting in the remobilization of metals stored in soil, thereby returning metals to the upper layers of the soil during senescence of mangrove leaves. Only Cu was reabsorbed prior to shedding of leaves, a mechanism similar to that described for nutrients in mangroves globally. These results provide key data to understand mangroves role in the dynamics of heavy metals

Feeding and egg production of Oithona similis in the North Atlantic

Although cyclopoids of the genus Oithona are considered the most abundant copepods in the marine environment, there is still very little information about what sustains their population and almost constant reproduction rate throughout the year. Feeding and egg production rate (EPR) of O. similis were measured at coastal and oceanic stations during 3 cruises in the North Atlantic between April and November 2002. O. similis ingested ciliates preferentially to other components of the nano- and microplankton (herein nano-microplankton), which only became a more important component of the copepod diet when the abundance of the former decreased to low concentrations. EPR did not show significant seasonal differences, with 2.13 ± 0.67 eggs female–1 d–1 in spring, 1.61 ± 0.32 eggs female–1 d–1 in summer and 1.60 ± 0.15 eggs female–1 d–1 in winter. The ingestion rates measured at many oceanic stations and in winter were often too low to sustain EPR. Egg production efficiency (GGE) &gt;100% indicated that sustained EPR might have relied, particularly in winter, on alternative food sources such as a more carnivorous diet and/or on the faecal pellets of euphausids

Effect of food composition on egg production and hatching success rate of two copepod species (<i>Calanoides carinatus</i> and <i>Rhincalanus nasutus</i>) in the Benguela upwelling system

We have analysed the daily egg production (EPR) and hatching success rates of the calanoid copepods Calanoides carinatus and Rhincalanus nasutus as a function of nano- and microplankton concentration and composition in the northern Benguela upwelling system off Namibia. Food concentration explained 55% (R. nasutus) to 62% (C. carinatus) of the EPR variability. We found no relation between the residuals of the food concentration–EPR regression and the percentage of the different taxonomic components of the nano- and microplankton. Nor was there a relation with the proportion of the diatom Skeletonema costatum that dominated the major blooms or with the number of nano- and microplankton species. We conclude that food quality differences could not be attributed to the relative composition of microplanktonic particles of the different groups (i.e. taxonomic composition)

Large mesopelagic fishes biomass and trophic efficiency in the open ocean

Xabier Irigoien et al.With a current estimate of ~1,000 million tons, mesopelagic fishes likely dominate the world total fishes biomass. However, recent acoustic observations show that mesopelagic fishes biomass could be significantly larger than the current estimate. Here we combine modelling and a sensitivity analysis of the acoustic observations from the Malaspina 2010 Circumnavigation Expedition to show that the previous estimate needs to be revised to at least one order of magnitude higher. We show that there is a close relationship between the open ocean fishes biomass and primary production, and that the energy transfer efficiency from phytoplankton to mesopelagic fishes in the open ocean is higher than what is typically assumed. Our results indicate that the role of mesopelagic fishes in oceanic ecosystems and global ocean biogeochemical cycles needs to be revised as they may be respiring ~10% of the primary production in deep waters.This research was conducted by the Malaspina 2010 Expedition project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Consolider-Ingenio 2010, CSD2008-00077). Additional financial support was provided by the Basque Country Government and by AZTI-TecnaliaPeer Reviewe