GRAMPAL: A Morphological Processor for Spanish implemented in Prolog

A model for the full treatment of Spanish inflection for verbs, nouns and adjectives is presented. This model is based on feature unification and it relies upon a lexicon of allomorphs both for stems and morphemes. Word forms are built by the concatenation of allomorphs by means of special contextual features. We make use of standard Definite Clause Grammars (DCG) included in most Prolog implementations, instead of the typical finite-state approach. This allows us to take advantage of the declarativity and bidirectionality of Logic Programming for NLP. The most salient feature of this approach is simplicity: A really straightforward rule and lexical components. We have developed a very simple model for complex phenomena. Declarativity, bidirectionality, consistency and completeness of the model are discussed: all and only correct word forms are analysed or generated, even alternative ones and gaps in paradigms are preserved. A Prolog implementation has been developed for both analysis and generation of Spanish word forms. It consists of only six DCG rules, because our {\em lexicalist\/} approach --i.e. most information is in the dictionary. Although it is quite efficient, the current implementation could be improved for analysis by using the non logical features of Prolog, especially in word segmentation and dictionary access.Comment: 11 page

Synthesis using speaker adaptation from speech recognition DB

This paper deals with the creation of multiple voices from a Hidden Markov Model based speech synthesis system (HTS). More than 150 Catalan synthetic voices were built using Hidden Markov Models (HMM) and speaker adaptation techniques. Training data for building a Speaker-Independent (SI) model were selected from both a general purpose speech synthesis database (FestCat;) and a database design ed for training Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems (Catalan SpeeCon database). The SpeeCon database was also used to adapt the SI model to different speakers. Using an ASR designed database for TTS purposes provided many different amateur voices, with few minutes of recordings not performed in studio conditions. This paper shows how speaker adaptation techniques provide the right tools to generate multiple voices with very few adaptation data. A subjective evaluation was carried out to assess the intelligibility and naturalness of the generated voices as well as the similarity of the adapted voices to both the original speaker and the average voice from the SI model.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Social responsibility and social security: The foundation of caja de pensiones para la vejez y de ahorros

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not new. Over the course of time, many entrepreneurs have created and developed companies, with a strong sense of ethical and social responsibility. This paper presents an example of how CSR was conceived and put into practice when Caja de Pensiones para la Vejez y de Ahorros was created in Barcelona in 1905, following the life and ideas of its founder, Francesc Moragas, a lawyer with a deep commitment to social action and a successful conception of the technical and economic dimensions of a financial and social institution.savings bank; corporate social responsibility; social security; welfare state;

Corporate social responsibility in the first years of Caja de Pensiones para la Vejez y de Ahorros

When Caja de Pensiones para la Vejez y de Ahorros, 'la Caixa', was created in 1905, it was not just a transient response to a serious social, political, and economic problem; it also provided a permanent solution by creating a long-lasting social welfare institution. In addition, its founder understood the responsibility of social welfare institutions not as an isolated responsibility for each institution, but as part of a harmonious whole that is a true moral entity, with a socio-economic character, independence and unity of nature, purpose and form. The purpose of this article is to show how the conception of corporate social responsibility of Francesc Moragas, the founder of 'la Caixa,' informed the activities of the new institution in a variety of dimensions, including its service to its customers, its economic strengths, its social welfare work and its participation in the creation of Spain's public social security system.savings bank; corporate social responsibility; social security; welfare state;

A use-side trade margins matrix for the Andalusian economy

According to the National Accounting Systems proposed by United Nations (1993) and Eurostat (1996), use and make (or supply) matrices should be measured before goods and services are conveyed to the markets (basic values). Actually, the make table is defined in basic values (excluding trade and transport margins and net commodity taxes) whereas the use table is in purchasers' values (including them). This paper shows how these margins and taxes can be removed from the use table with the purpose of entering both of them in the so-called material balance equation. With respect to trade margins, our approach is based on the use-side procedure from the ESA-95 Input-Output Manual (Eurostat, 2002) and is also being applied to the forthcoming 2000 Andalusian Input-Output Framework.Input-output analysis, use and make matrices, trade margins, National Accounts

Didactic strategies for comprehension and learning of structural concepts

p. 926-937In previous papers we have established the convenience of formulating educational strategies at the university level for both disciplines: Civil Engineering and Architecture, which involves academic topics of mutual interest by means of shared practices. As a particular matter of this approach, the application of physical experimental models is considered of special usefulness, in order to understand in better ways the performance of materials and structural systems. Several strategies of selection and development of such physical models will be discussed in this work, considering as a first step, the establishment of its correspondence with the different levels of structural complexity studied in curriculum plan: statics, strength of materials and structural design, among others. This task constitutes a part of the work program of the Laboratory of Structural Models, which is an academic project that develops and applies different didactic prototypes to structure courses in the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, campus Azcapotzalco, in Mexico City, project we have already presented in recent forums. Two different modes of application are implemented in classroom sessions and in structures workshop: the devices for functional demonstration of typical cases of structural work as well as the experimentation with student's own designs of destructible models where certain typologies are tested up to its failure limit. The first one allows teachers to explain adequately the theoretical principles and formulas (that usually are expressed on the blackboard) by means of didactic models identified in accordance to specific cases of the curriculum on variable level of complexity. This kind of practice allows the students of architecture and civil engineering to realize in better ways the possibilities of use and application of the different structural typologies. Such experimental models are part of more than fifty devices of the Laboratory's catalog. In the same sense, the possibility of observation of structural work of their own architectural designs, allows future professionals to achieve a better conception of the structural solutions that affect positively their designs. Based on specific predefined guides, the students develop their own architectural-structural projects and subject them to diverse loads, observing their behavior under the influence of variable stresses leading up the experiment to its last resistance. From both experiences a significant learning is obtained for the student's formation and training, who will be capable in his future professional work to use better tools of comprehension of the structural concepts applied to architecture as well as of increasing his conscience of the benefits and convenience of multidisciplinary work.Moreno, C.; Abad, A.; Gerdingh, JG.; Garcia M., C.; Gonzalez C., O. (2010). Didactic strategies for comprehension and learning of structural concepts. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/695

User involvement in the implementation of clinical guidelines for common mental health disorders: a review and compilation of strategies and resources

BACKGROUND: There is now broad consensus regarding the importance of involving users in the process of implementing guidelines. Few studies, however, have addressed this issue, let alone the implementation of guidelines for common mental health disorders. The aim of this study is to compile and describe implementation strategies and resources related to common clinical mental health disorders targeted at service users. METHODS: The literature was reviewed and resources for the implementation of clinical guidelines were compiled using the PRISMA model. A mixed qualitative and quantitative analysis was performed based on a series of categories developed ad hoc. RESULTS: A total of 263 items were included in the preliminary analysis and 64 implementation resources aimed at users were analysed in depth. A wide variety of types, sources and formats were identified, including guides (40%), websites (29%), videos and leaflets, as well as instruments for the implementation of strategies regarding information and education (64%), self-care, or users’ assessment of service quality. CONCLUSIONS: The results reveal the need to establish clear criteria for assessing the quality of implementation materials in general and standardising systems to classify user-targeted strategies. The compilation and description of key elements of strategies and resources for users can be of interest in designing materials and specific actions for this target audience, as well as improving the implementation of clinical guidelines

Compact set of invariants characterizing graph states of up to eight qubits

The set of entanglement measures proposed by Hein, Eisert, and Briegel for n-qubit graph states [Phys. Rev. A 69, 062311 (2004)] fails to distinguish between inequivalent classes under local Clifford operations if n > 6. On the other hand, the set of invariants proposed by van den Nest, Dehaene, and De Moor (VDD) [Phys. Rev. A 72, 014307 (2005)] distinguishes between inequivalent classes, but contains too many invariants (more than 2 10^{36} for n=7) to be practical. Here we solve the problem of deciding which entanglement class a graph state of n < 9 qubits belongs to by calculating some of the state's intrinsic properties. We show that four invariants related to those proposed by VDD are enough for distinguishing between all inequivalent classes with n < 9 qubits.Comment: REVTeX4, 9 pages, 1 figur