Methods for speaking style conversion from normal speech to high vocal effort speech

This thesis deals with vocal-effort-focused speaking style conversion (SSC). Specifically, we studied two topics on conversion of normal speech to high vocal effort. The first topic involves the conversion of normal speech to shouted speech. We employed this conversion in a speaker recognition system with vocal effort mismatch between test and enrollment utterances (shouted speech vs. normal speech). The mismatch causes a degradation of the system's speaker identification performance. As solution, we proposed a SSC system that included a novel spectral mapping, used along a statistical mapping technique, to transform the mel-frequency spectral energies of normal speech enrollment utterances towards their counterparts in shouted speech. We evaluated the proposed solution by comparing speaker identification rates for a state-of-the-art i-vector-based speaker recognition system, with and without applying SSC to the enrollment utterances. Our results showed that applying the proposed SSC pre-processing to the enrollment data improves considerably the speaker identification rates. The second topic involves a normal-to-Lombard speech conversion. We proposed a vocoder-based parametric SSC system to perform the conversion. This system first extracts speech features using the vocoder. Next, a mapping technique, robust to data scarcity, maps the features. Finally, the vocoder synthesizes the mapped features into speech. We used two vocoders in the conversion system, for comparison: a glottal vocoder and the widely used STRAIGHT. We assessed the converted speech from the two vocoder cases with two subjective listening tests that measured similarity to Lombard speech and naturalness. The similarity subjective test showed that, for both vocoder cases, our proposed SSC system was able to convert normal speech to Lombard speech. The naturalness subjective test showed that the converted samples using the glottal vocoder were clearly more natural than those obtained with STRAIGHT

Análisis y mejores prácticas proyectuales de una obra civil hidroeléctrica de Honduras

Currently project management has many tools and methodologies that seek to develop successful projects, it is not always possible to meet the objectives set from its conception. A large part of construction projects are executed without being properly evaluated and documented throughout their life cycle, increasing the chances of being a failed project and not meeting the profitability or expected use. The case study is about a hydroelectric project that was started with the personnel of a private Honduran company (EPH) *, which soon began to present a series of inconveniences that generated lags in costs and time. When 85% of the original estimated budget had been used and a work progress of less than 50% was observed, the EPH decided to hire an external supervisory company (ESE) to monitor the project, review its design and make sure that the project was completed. The project was completed with an additional year and eight months of construction and the final total cost exceeded US $ 7.5 million from the original budget. The main objective of this research is to analyze the efficiency and sustainability of the project to obtain lessons that make it possible to identify the failures and successes in the deviations achieved throughout the project and, based on them, generate recommendations that allow it to the organization correct and improve its current methodology for its future projects.Actualmente la gestión de proyectos cuenta con muchas herramientas y metodologías que buscan desarrollar proyectos exitosos, no siempre es posible cumplir con los objetivos fijados desde su concepción. Una gran parte de los proyectos de construcción son ejecutados sin ser evaluados y documentados adecuadamente a lo largo de su ciclo de vida, aumentando las probabilidades de ser un proyecto fallido y de no cumplir con la rentabilidad o uso esperado. El caso de estudio es sobre un proyecto hidroeléctrico que fue iniciado con personal propio de una empresa privada hondureña (EPH)[1], que al poco tiempo empezó a presentar una serie de inconvenientes que generaron desfases en costos y en tiempo. Cuando se había utilizado el 85% del presupuesto original estimado y se observa un avance de obra menor al 50%, la EPH decidió contratar a una empresa supervisora externa (ESE) para darle seguimiento al proyecto, revisar el diseño del mismo y que se asegurara que el proyecto fuera culminado. El proyecto fue culminado con un año y ocho meses adicionales de construcción y el costo del total final superó en 7.5 millones de dólares americanos del presupuesto original. El objetivo principal de esta investigación es la de analizar la eficiencia y sostenibilidad del proyecto para obtener lecciones que posibiliten la identificación de las fallas y aciertos en los desvíos alcanzados a lo largo del mismo y, a partir de ellos, generar recomendaciones que le permitan a la organización corregir y mejorar su actual metodología para sus futuros proyectos

Improving independent vector analysis in speech and noise separation tasks

Independent vector analysis (IVA) is an efficient multichannel blind source separation method. However, source models conventionally assumed in IVA present some limitations in case of speech and noise separation tasks. Consequently, it is expected that using better source models that overcome these limitations will improve the source separation performance of IVA. In this work, an extension of IVA is proposed, with a new source model more suitable for speech and noise separation tasks. The proposed extended IVA was evaluated in a speech and noise separation task, where it was proven to improve separation performance over baseline IVA. Furthermore, extended IVA was evaluated with several post-filters, aiming to realize an analogous setup to a multichannel Wiener filter (MWF) system. This kind of setup proved to further increase the separation performance of IVA

Influence of irrigation conditions in the germination of plasma treated Nasturtium seeds

Plasma treatments had emerged as a useful technique to improve seed germination. In this work we investigate the influence of different irrigation conditions and plasma treatments on the germination of nasturtium seeds. During plasma treatment, seeds experience a progressive weight loss as a function of treatment time that has been associated to water release, a process that is more pronounced after longer plasma treatment times. Seeds treated for short times (<30 s) are able to germinate more efficiently than untreated specimen under hydric stress (drought conditions), while plasma treatments for longer times (up to 300 s) impaired germination independently on irrigation conditions. Characterization analysis of plasma treated seeds by FTIR-ATR, SEM/EDX and XPS showed that plasma treatment affected the chemical state of pericarp while, simultaneously, induced a considerable increase in the seeds water uptake capacity. The decrease in germination efficiency found after plasma treatment for long times, or for short times under optimum irrigation conditions, has been attributed to that the excess of water accumulated in the pericarp hampers the diffusion up to the embryo of other agents like oxygen which are deemed essential for germination.España FEDER y MINECO MINECO (projects MAT2013-40852-R, MAT2016-79866-R, MINECOCSIC 201560E055)España, RECUPERA 2020 y Junta de Andalucía project P12-2265 M

The RNA Silencing Enzyme RNA Polymerase V Is Required for Plant Immunity

RNA–directed DNA methylation (RdDM) is an epigenetic control mechanism driven by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that influence gene function. In plants, little is known of the involvement of the RdDM pathway in regulating traits related to immune responses. In a genetic screen designed to reveal factors regulating immunity in Arabidopsis thaliana, we identified NRPD2 as the OVEREXPRESSOR OF CATIONIC PEROXIDASE 1 (OCP1). NRPD2 encodes the second largest subunit of the plant-specific RNA Polymerases IV and V (Pol IV and Pol V), which are crucial for the RdDM pathway. The ocp1 and nrpd2 mutants showed increases in disease susceptibility when confronted with the necrotrophic fungal pathogens Botrytis cinerea and Plectosphaerella cucumerina. Studies were extended to other mutants affected in different steps of the RdDM pathway, such as nrpd1, nrpe1, ago4, drd1, rdr2, and drm1drm2 mutants. Our results indicate that all the mutants studied, with the exception of nrpd1, phenocopy the nrpd2 mutants; and they suggest that, while Pol V complex is required for plant immunity, Pol IV appears dispensable. Moreover, Pol V defective mutants, but not Pol IV mutants, show enhanced disease resistance towards the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae DC3000. Interestingly, salicylic acid (SA)–mediated defenses effective against PsDC3000 are enhanced in Pol V defective mutants, whereas jasmonic acid (JA)–mediated defenses that protect against fungi are reduced. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis revealed that, through differential histone modifications, SA–related defense genes are poised for enhanced activation in Pol V defective mutants and provide clues for understanding the regulation of gene priming during defense. Our results highlight the importance of epigenetic control as an additional layer of complexity in the regulation of plant immunity and point towards multiple components of the RdDM pathway being involved in plant immunity based on genetic evidence, but whether this is a direct or indirect effect on disease-related genes is unclear

Tendencias de liderazgo en la gestión de equipos de trabajo con presencia de diversidad generacional

En tiempos pasados los modelos institucionales no eran cuestionados, por el contrario las generaciones que ahí convivían tenían la convicción de que si querían tener éxito solo debían comprender esos modelos y llevarlos a la práctica siguiendo unas reglas claramente definidas1. En la actualidad la sociedad industrial está siendo desplazada por la información y el conocimiento, y son muchos los cambios de paradigma que esta nueva sociedad supone, uno de ellos es que por primera vez en la historia conviven cinco generaciones en un mismo ambiente laboral6. Por tales razones, este trabajo está enfocado en el tema del liderazgo y la brecha generacional, en busca de apoyar una toma de decisiones más efectiva que impacte positivamente el direccionamiento estratégico. La investigación monográfica se realizó entre 2014 y 2015; su principal objetivo es determinar las tendencias del liderazgo en función de la brecha generacional existente en las organizaciones, a fin de estructurar una recopilación de las tendencias teóricas actuales de los autores más relevantes en cuanto a las mejores prácticas en gestión de generaciones en ambientes organizacionales. Adicionalmente se desarrollaron los objetivos específicos operacionalizados, a través de tres herramientas de conocimiento: un cuadro comparativo de teorías de liderazgo, una matriz de características organizacionales de las generaciones presentes en ambientes laborales en la actualidad y un modelo donde se relacionan los tipos de liderazgo en función de las características organizacionales de las generaciones; todo basado en las mejores prácticas de la gestión del talento humano

Utilización de una plataforma tecnológica para el desarrollo de contenidos de la asignatura introducción a la economía II de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas de la Universidad Francisco Gavidia para su aplicación en la enseñanza moderna

La Universidad Francisco Gavidia se fundó el 7 de marzo de 1981, en el año de 1990, en el año 2003 se comenzó a ofrecer cursos por medio de la plataforma informática U-virtual, para estar en sintonía con las nuevas tendencias de la educación en la modalidad virtual, la Plataforma Virtual de Aprendizaje es sobre el cual se sustenta tecnológicamente el ambiente virtual y que reúne las condiciones de flexibilidad y adaptabilidad necesarias para respuestas a requerimientos relacionados con el desarrollo de la labor educativa, además de soportar el diseño de recursos didácticos. Este proyecto se desarrolla partiendo de la situación actual, determinando la necesidad de la utilización de herramientas tecnológicas para la formación de los estudiantes y con este se aprovechara el nivel de tecnología implementado por la institución. CATIPULO I. Aspectos generales sobre la educación en el Salvador y antecedentes de la Historia de la UFG. CAPITULO II. Marco Teórico sobre los temas tecnología, pedagogía, didáctica, aprendizaje, plataforma virtual y herramientas de desarrollo. CAPITULO III. Presenta la investigación de campo que se realizó en la UFG con catedráticos y estudiantes activos. Ciclo II-2009. CAPITULO IV. Utilización de la plataforma tecnológica para el desarrollo de contenidos de la asignatura introducción a la economía I

Measuring the extent of the encroaching into Europe of African species due to climate change

Comunicación presentada a un CongresoThe recent modification of species distributions in response to a warmer climate constitutes a major and generalized biogeographic change. One of the main drivers of the change in species distribution is the disequilibrium of the species ranges with their climatic favorability. The various approaches to the species distribution modelling assume an equilibrium of the distribution with the environment, and this hinders their applicability to the analysis of this change. Using fuzzy set theory we have studied the response to climate change of 10 African bird species in the context of the Strait of Gibraltar, where a short-distance expansion of the species’ range towards the north means a major step in biogeographical terms, since the Strait is an important barrier separating North African and European fauna. All studied species have already been observed during the last decade in Spain, in some cases sporadically, in others regularly and in some others, it has even been possible to confirm the reproduction of the species in Europe; some examples of the latter case are the Long-legged Buzzard, the Little Swift and the Common Bulbul. We have also identified those areas of Southern Europe that are climatically favorable for the breeding of the set of selected African species for the period 2041-2060, which shows that southern Spain is a potential focal point for the colonization of Europe by African species. If our climate continues to warm, further arrivals of potential colonist African bird species to southern Europe are to be expected.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech