A knowledge based signal processing approach to tonic identification in indian classical music

In this paper, we describe several techniques for detecting tonic pitch value in Indian classical music. In Indian music, the raga is the basic melodic framework and it is built on the tonic. Tonic detection is therefore fundamental for any melodic analysis in Indian classical music. This workexplores detection of tonic by processing the pitch histograms of Indian classic music. Processing of pitch histograms using group delay functions and its ability to amplify certain traits of Indian music in the pitch histogram, is discussed. Three different strategies to detect tonic, namely, the concert method, the template matching and segmented histogram method are proposed. The concert method exploits the fact that the tonic is constant over a piece/concert.templatematchingmethod and segmented histogrammethodsuse the properties: (i) the tonic is always present in the background, (ii) some notes are less inflected and dominant, to detect the tonic of individual pieces. All the three methods yield good results for Carnatic music (90−100% accuracy), while for Hindustanimusic, the templatemethod works best, provided the v¯adi samv¯adi notes for a given piece are known (85%).

ViralZone: recent updates to the virus knowledge resource.

ViralZone (http://viralzone.expasy.org) is a knowledge repository that allows users to learn about viruses including their virion structure, replication cycle and host-virus interactions. The information is divided into viral fact sheets that describe virion shape, molecular biology and epidemiology for each viral genus, with links to the corresponding annotated proteomes of UniProtKB. Each viral genus page contains detailed illustrations, text and PubMed references. This new update provides a linked view of viral molecular biology through 133 new viral ontology pages that describe common steps of viral replication cycles shared by several viral genera. This viral cell-cycle ontology is also represented in UniProtKB in the form of annotated keywords. In this way, users can navigate from the description of a replication-cycle event, to the viral genus concerned, and the associated UniProtKB protein records.

In the eye of the listener: pupil dilation elucidates discourse processing.

The current study investigated cognitive resource allocation in discourse processing by means of pupil dilation and behavioral measures. Short question-answer dialogs were presented to listeners. Either the context question queried a new information focus in the successive answer, or else the context query was corrected in the answer sentence (correction information). The information foci contained in the answer sentences were either adequately highlighted by prosodic means or not. Participants had to judge the adequacy of the focus prosody with respect to the preceding context question. Prosodic judgment accuracy was higher in the conditions bearing adequate focus prosody than in the conditions with inadequate focus prosody. Latency to peak pupil dilation was longer when new information foci were perceived compared to correction foci. Moreover, for the peak dilation, an interaction of focus type and prosody was found. Post hoc statistical tests revealed that prosodically adequate correction focus positions were processed with smaller peak dilation in comparison to all other dialog conditions. Thus, pupil dilation and results of a principal component analysis suggest an interaction of focus type and focus prosody in discourse processing.

En torno a los efectos de la edad en el aprendizaje escolar de una lengua extrangera

The purpose of this article is to treat a currently much debated issue, the effects of age on second language learning. To do so, we contrast data collected by our research team from over one thousand seven hundred young and adult learners with four popular beliefs or generalizations, which, while deeply rooted in this society, are not always corroborated by our data.Two of these generalizations about Second Language Acquisition (languages spoken in the social context) seem to be widely accepted: a) older children, adolescents and adults are quicker and more efficient at the first stages of learning than are younger learners; b) in a natural context children with an early start are more liable to attain higher levels of proficiency. However, in the context of Foreign Language Acquisition, the context in which we collect the data, this second generalization is difficult to verify due to the low number of instructional hours (a maximum of some 800 hours) and the lower levels of language exposure time provided. The design of our research project has allowed us to study differences observed with respect to the age of onset (ranging from 2 to 18+), but in this article we focus on students who began English instruction at the age of 8 (LOGSE Educational System) and those who began at the age of 11 (EGB). We have collected data from both groups after a period of 200 (Time 1) and 416 instructional hours (Time 2), and we are currently collecting data after a period of 726 instructional hours (Time 3). We have designed and administered a variety of tests: tests on English production and reception, both oral and written, and within both academic and communicative oriented approaches, on the learners' L1 (Spanish and Catalan), as well as a questionnaire eliciting personal and sociolinguistic information. The questions we address and the relevant empirical evidence are as follows: 1. "For young children, learning languages is a game. They enjoy it more than adults."Our data demonstrate that the situation is not quite so. Firstly, both at the levels of Primary and Secondary education (ranging from 70.5% in 11-year-olds to 89% in 14-year-olds) students have a positive attitude towards learning English. Secondly, there is a difference between the two groups with respect to the factors they cite as responsible for their motivation to learn English: the younger students cite intrinsic factors, such as the games they play, the methodology used and the teacher, whereas the older students cite extrinsic factors, such as the role of their knowledge of English in the achievement of their future professional goals. 2 ."Young children have more resources to learn languages." Here our data suggest just the opposite. The ability to employ learning strategies (actions or steps used) increases with age. Older learners' strategies are more varied and cognitively more complex. In contrast, younger learners depend more on their interlocutor and external resources and therefore have a lower level of autonomy in their learning. 3. "Young children don't talk much but understand a lot"This third generalization does seem to be confirmed, at least to a certain extent, by our data in relation to the analysis of differences due to the age factor and productive use of the target language. As seen above, the comparably slower progress of the younger learners is confirmed. Our analysis of interpersonal receptive abilities demonstrates as well the advantage of the older learners. Nevertheless, with respect to passive receptive activities (for example, simple recognition of words or sentences) no great differences are observed. Statistical analyses suggest that in this test, in contrast to the others analyzed, the dominance of the subjects' L1s (reflecting a cognitive capacity that grows with age) has no significant influence on the learning process. 4. "The sooner they begin, the better their results will be in written language"This is not either completely confirmed in our research. First of all, we perceive that certain compensatory strategies disappear only with age, but not with the number of instructional hours. Secondly, given an identical number of instructional hours, the older subjects obtain better results. With respect to our analysis of data from subjects of the same age (12 years old) but with a different number of instructional hours (200 and 416 respectively, as they began at the ages of 11 and 8), we observe that those who began earlier excel only in the area of lexical fluency. In conclusion, the superior rate of older learners appears to be due to their higher level of cognitive development, a factor which allows them to benefit more from formal or explicit instruction in the school context. Younger learners, however, do not benefit from the quantity and quality of linguistic exposure typical of a natural acquisition context in which they would be allowed to make use of implicit learning abilities. It seems clear, then, that the initiative in this country to begin foreign language instruction earlier will have positive effects only if it occurs in combination with either higher levels of exposure time to the foreign language, or, alternatively, with its use as the language of instruction in other areas of the curriculum.

En torno a los efectos de la edad en el aprendizaje escolar de una lengua extrangera

The purpose of this article is to treat a currently much debated issue, the effects of age on second language learning. To do so, we contrast data collected by our research team from over one thousand seven hundred young and adult learners with four popular beliefs or generalizations, which, while deeply rooted in this society, are not always corroborated by our data.Two of these generalizations about Second Language Acquisition (languages spoken in the social context) seem to be widely accepted: a) older children, adolescents and adults are quicker and more efficient at the first stages of learning than are younger learners; b) in a natural context children with an early start are more liable to attain higher levels of proficiency. However, in the context of Foreign Language Acquisition, the context in which we collect the data, this second generalization is difficult to verify due to the low number of instructional hours (a maximum of some 800 hours) and the lower levels of language exposure time provided. The design of our research project has allowed us to study differences observed with respect to the age of onset (ranging from 2 to 18+), but in this article we focus on students who began English instruction at the age of 8 (LOGSE Educational System) and those who began at the age of 11 (EGB). We have collected data from both groups after a period of 200 (Time 1) and 416 instructional hours (Time 2), and we are currently collecting data after a period of 726 instructional hours (Time 3). We have designed and administered a variety of tests: tests on English production and reception, both oral and written, and within both academic and communicative oriented approaches, on the learners' L1 (Spanish and Catalan), as well as a questionnaire eliciting personal and sociolinguistic information. The questions we address and the relevant empirical evidence are as follows: 1. "For young children, learning languages is a game. They enjoy it more than adults."Our data demonstrate that the situation is not quite so. Firstly, both at the levels of Primary and Secondary education (ranging from 70.5% in 11-year-olds to 89% in 14-year-olds) students have a positive attitude towards learning English. Secondly, there is a difference between the two groups with respect to the factors they cite as responsible for their motivation to learn English: the younger students cite intrinsic factors, such as the games they play, the methodology used and the teacher, whereas the older students cite extrinsic factors, such as the role of their knowledge of English in the achievement of their future professional goals. 2 ."Young children have more resources to learn languages." Here our data suggest just the opposite. The ability to employ learning strategies (actions or steps used) increases with age. Older learners' strategies are more varied and cognitively more complex. In contrast, younger learners depend more on their interlocutor and external resources and therefore have a lower level of autonomy in their learning. 3. "Young children don't talk much but understand a lot"This third generalization does seem to be confirmed, at least to a certain extent, by our data in relation to the analysis of differences due to the age factor and productive use of the target language. As seen above, the comparably slower progress of the younger learners is confirmed. Our analysis of interpersonal receptive abilities demonstrates as well the advantage of the older learners. Nevertheless, with respect to passive receptive activities (for example, simple recognition of words or sentences) no great differences are observed. Statistical analyses suggest that in this test, in contrast to the others analyzed, the dominance of the subjects' L1s (reflecting a cognitive capacity that grows with age) has no significant influence on the learning process. 4. "The sooner they begin, the better their results will be in written language"This is not either completely confirmed in our research. First of all, we perceive that certain compensatory strategies disappear only with age, but not with the number of instructional hours. Secondly, given an identical number of instructional hours, the older subjects obtain better results. With respect to our analysis of data from subjects of the same age (12 years old) but with a different number of instructional hours (200 and 416 respectively, as they began at the ages of 11 and 8), we observe that those who began earlier excel only in the area of lexical fluency. In conclusion, the superior rate of older learners appears to be due to their higher level of cognitive development, a factor which allows them to benefit more from formal or explicit instruction in the school context. Younger learners, however, do not benefit from the quantity and quality of linguistic exposure typical of a natural acquisition context in which they would be allowed to make use of implicit learning abilities. It seems clear, then, that the initiative in this country to begin foreign language instruction earlier will have positive effects only if it occurs in combination with either higher levels of exposure time to the foreign language, or, alternatively, with its use as the language of instruction in other areas of the curriculum.

Aprender a ser docente en un mundo en cambio. Simposio internacional

[spa] Este texto recoge el conjunto de contribuciones presentadas al simposio internacional Aprender a ser docente en un mundo en cambio, que tuvo lugar en Barcelona el 21 y 22 de noviembre de 2013, un acto organizado por los grupos de investigación consolidados Esbrina - Subjetividades y entornos de aprendizaje contemporáneos (2009SGR 503) de la Universidad de Barcelona y ELKARRIKERTUZ (IT-563-13) de la Universidad del País Vasco.El simposio nos dio la oportunidad de debatir con la comunidad educativa el sentido de ser docente en el mundo actual y nos permitió presentar y debatir los resultados del proyecto de investigación coordinado La construcción de la identidad docente del profesorado educación infantil y primaria en la formación inicial y los primeros años de trabajo (Identidoc) (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. EDU2010-20852-C02-01/EDU2010-20852-C02-02), e intercambiar con otros colegas conocimientos y reflexiones en torno a estos temas.[cat]Aquest text recull el conjunt de contribucions presentades al simposi internacional Aprender a ser docente en un mundo en cambio, que va tenir lloc a Barcelona el 21 i 22 de novembre de 2013, un acte organitzat pels grups de recerca consolidats ESBRINA - Subjectivitats i entorns educatius contemporanis (2009SGR 503) de la Universitat de Barcelona i ELKARRIKERTUZ (IT-563-13) de la Universitat del País Basc.El simposi ens va donar l'oportunitat de debatre amb la comunitat educativa el sentit de ser docent en el món actual i ens va permetre presentar i debatre els resultats del projecte de recerca coordinat La construcción de la identidad docente del profesorado educación infantil y primaria en la formación inicial y los primeros años de trabajo (Identidoc) (Ministeri d'Economia i Competitivitat. EDU2010-20852-C02-01/EDU2010-20852-C02-02), i intercanviar amb altres col·legues coneixements i reflexions al voltant d'aquests temes.

Aprender a ser docente en un mundo en cambio. Simposio internacional

[spa] Este texto recoge el conjunto de contribuciones presentadas al simposio internacional Aprender a ser docente en un mundo en cambio, que tuvo lugar en Barcelona el 21 y 22 de noviembre de 2013, un acto organizado por los grupos de investigación consolidados Esbrina - Subjetividades y entornos de aprendizaje contemporáneos (2009SGR 503) de la Universidad de Barcelona y ELKARRIKERTUZ (IT-563-13) de la Universidad del País Vasco.El simposio nos dio la oportunidad de debatir con la comunidad educativa el sentido de ser docente en el mundo actual y nos permitió presentar y debatir los resultados del proyecto de investigación coordinado La construcción de la identidad docente del profesorado educación infantil y primaria en la formación inicial y los primeros años de trabajo (Identidoc) (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. EDU2010-20852-C02-01/EDU2010-20852-C02-02), e intercambiar con otros colegas conocimientos y reflexiones en torno a estos temas.[cat]Aquest text recull el conjunt de contribucions presentades al simposi internacional Aprender a ser docente en un mundo en cambio, que va tenir lloc a Barcelona el 21 i 22 de novembre de 2013, un acte organitzat pels grups de recerca consolidats ESBRINA - Subjectivitats i entorns educatius contemporanis (2009SGR 503) de la Universitat de Barcelona i ELKARRIKERTUZ (IT-563-13) de la Universitat del País Basc.El simposi ens va donar l'oportunitat de debatre amb la comunitat educativa el sentit de ser docent en el món actual i ens va permetre presentar i debatre els resultats del projecte de recerca coordinat La construcción de la identidad docente del profesorado educación infantil y primaria en la formación inicial y los primeros años de trabajo (Identidoc) (Ministeri d'Economia i Competitivitat. EDU2010-20852-C02-01/EDU2010-20852-C02-02), i intercanviar amb altres col·legues coneixements i reflexions al voltant d'aquests temes.

Aprender a ser docente en un mundo en cambio. Simposio internacional

[spa] Este texto recoge el conjunto de contribuciones presentadas al simposio internacional Aprender a ser docente en un mundo en cambio, que tuvo lugar en Barcelona el 21 y 22 de noviembre de 2013, un acto organizado por los grupos de investigación consolidados Esbrina - Subjetividades y entornos de aprendizaje contemporáneos (2009SGR 503) de la Universidad de Barcelona y ELKARRIKERTUZ (IT-563-13) de la Universidad del País Vasco.El simposio nos dio la oportunidad de debatir con la comunidad educativa el sentido de ser docente en el mundo actual y nos permitió presentar y debatir los resultados del proyecto de investigación coordinado La construcción de la identidad docente del profesorado educación infantil y primaria en la formación inicial y los primeros años de trabajo (Identidoc) (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. EDU2010-20852-C02-01/EDU2010-20852-C02-02), e intercambiar con otros colegas conocimientos y reflexiones en torno a estos temas.[cat]Aquest text recull el conjunt de contribucions presentades al simposi internacional Aprender a ser docente en un mundo en cambio, que va tenir lloc a Barcelona el 21 i 22 de novembre de 2013, un acte organitzat pels grups de recerca consolidats ESBRINA - Subjectivitats i entorns educatius contemporanis (2009SGR 503) de la Universitat de Barcelona i ELKARRIKERTUZ (IT-563-13) de la Universitat del País Basc.El simposi ens va donar l'oportunitat de debatre amb la comunitat educativa el sentit de ser docent en el món actual i ens va permetre presentar i debatre els resultats del projecte de recerca coordinat La construcción de la identidad docente del profesorado educación infantil y primaria en la formación inicial y los primeros años de trabajo (Identidoc) (Ministeri d'Economia i Competitivitat. EDU2010-20852-C02-01/EDU2010-20852-C02-02), i intercanviar amb altres col·legues coneixements i reflexions al voltant d'aquests temes.

An international university network for online teaching of pathology in Frenchspeaking countries

Introduction: Building online courses is a highly time consuming task for teachers of a single university. Universities working alone create high-quality courses but often cannot cover all pathological fields. Moreover this often leads to duplication of contents among universities, representing a big waste of teacher time and energy. We initiated in 2011 a French university network for building mutualized online teaching pathology cases, and this network has been extended in 2012 to Quebec and Switzerland. Method: Twenty French universities (see & for details), University Laval in Quebec and University of Lausanne in Switzerland are associated to this project. One e-learning Moodle platform (http://moodle.sorbonne-paris-cite.fr/) contains texts with URL pointing toward virtual slides that are decentralized in several universities. Each university has the responsibility of its own slide scanning, slide storage and online display with virtual slide viewers. The Moodle website is hosted by PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité, and financial supports for hardware have been obtained from UNF3S (http://www.unf3s.org/) and from PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité. Financial support for international fellowships has been obtained from CFQCU (http://www.cfqcu.org/). Results: The Moodle interface has been explained to pathology teachers using web-based conferences with screen sharing. The teachers added then contents such as clinical cases, selfevaluations and other media organized in several sections by student levels and pathological fields. Contents can be used as online learning or online preparation of subsequent courses in classrooms. In autumn 2013, one resident from Quebec spent 6 weeks in France and Switzerland and created original contents in inflammatory skin pathology. These contents are currently being validated by senior teachers and will be opened to pathology residents in spring 2014. All contents of the website can be accessed for free. Most contents just require anonymous connection but some specific fields, especially those containing pictures obtained from patients who agreed for a teaching use only, require personal identification of the students. Also, students have to register to access Moodle tests. All contents are written in French but one case has been translated into English to illustrate this communication (http://moodle.sorbonne-pariscite.fr/mod/page/view.php?id=261) (use "login as a guest"). The Moodle test module allows many types of shared questions, making it easy to create personalized tests. Contents that are opened to students have been validated by an editorial committee composed of colleagues from the participating institutions. Conclusions: Future developments include other international fellowships, the next one being scheduled for one French resident from May to October 2014 in Quebec, with a study program centered on lung and breast pathology. It must be kept in mind that these e-learning programs highly depend on teachers' time, not only at these early steps but also later to update the contents. We believe that funding resident fellowships for developing online pathological teaching contents is a win-win situation, highly beneficial for the resident who will improve his knowledge and way of thinking, highly beneficial for the teachers who will less worry about access rights or image formats, and finally highly beneficial for the students who will get courses fully adapted to their practice.

Current knowledge on the Ralstonia solanacearum type III secretion system

R. solanacearum was ranked in a recent survey the second most important bacterial plant pathogen, following the widely used research model Pseudomonas syringae (Mansfield et al., 2012). The main reason is that bacterial wilt caused by R. solanacearum is the world"s most devastating bacterial plant disease (http://faostat.fao.org), threatening food safety in tropical and subtropical agriculture, especially in China, Bangladesh, Bolivia and Uganda (Martin and French, 1985). This is due to the unusually wide host range of the bacterium, its high persistence and because resistant crop varieties are unavailable. In addition, R. solanacearum has been established as a model bacterium for plant pathology thanks to pioneering molecular and genomic studies (Boucher et al., 1985; Cunnac et al., 2004b; Mukaihara et al., 2010; Occhialini et al., 2005; Salanoubat et al., 2002). As for many bacterial pathogens, the main virulence determinant in R. solanacearum is the type III secretion system (T3SS) (Boucher et al., 1994), which injects a number of effector proteins into plant cells causing disease in hosts or an hypersensitive response in resistant plants. In this article we discuss the current state in the study of the R. solanacearum T3SS, stressing the latest findings and future perspectives.