University of Alcalá

About: University of Alcalá is a education organization based out in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 10795 authors who have published 20718 publications receiving 410089 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Alcala & University of Alcala de Henares.

U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art

Abstract: The extent and nature of symbolic behavior among Neandertals are obscure. Although evidence for Neandertal body ornamentation has been proposed, all cave painting has been attributed to modern humans. Here we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in Maltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucia). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship.

Global characterization of fire activity: toward defining fire regimes from Earth observation data

Abstract: There is interest in the global community on how fire regimes are changing as a function of changing demographics and climate. The ground-based data to monitor such trends in fire activity are inadequate at the global scale. Satellite observations provide a basis for such a monitoring system. In this study, a set of metrics were developed from 6 years of MODIS active fire data. The metrics were grouped into eight classes representing three axes of fire activity: density, season duration and interannual variability. These groups were compared with biophysical and human explanatory variables on a global scale. We found that more than 30% of the land surface has a significant fire frequency. The most extensive fire class exhibited high fire density, low duration and high variability and was found in boreal and tropical wet and dry environments. A high association was found between population distribution and fire persistence. Low GDPkm � 2 was associated with fire classes with high interannual variability and low seasonal duration. In areas with more economic resources, fires tend to be more regular and last longer. High fire duration and low interannual variability were associated with croplands, but often with low fire density. The study was constrained by the limited length of satellite data record but is a first step toward developing a comprehensive global assessment of fire regimes. However, more attention is needed by the global observing systems to provide the underpinning socio-economic observations to better quantify and analyze the human characteristics of fire regimes.

Dimensionality Reduction of a Pathological Voice Quality Assessment System Based on Gaussian Mixture Models and Short-Term Cepstral Parameters

Abstract: Voice diseases have been increasing dramatically in recent times due mainly to unhealthy social habits and voice abuse. These diseases must be diagnosed and treated at an early stage, especially in the case of larynx cancer. It is widely recognized that vocal and voice diseases do not necessarily cause changes in voice quality as perceived by a listener. Acoustic analysis could be a useful tool to diagnose this type of disease. Preliminary research has shown that the detection of voice alterations can be carried out by means of Gaussian mixture models and short-term mel cepstral parameters complemented by frame energy together with first and second derivatives. This paper, using the F-Ratio and Fisher's discriminant ratio, will demonstrate that the detection of voice impairments can be performed using both mel cepstral vectors and their first derivative, ignoring the second derivative

Creative cities, cultural clusters and local economic development

Abstract: Contents:PrefaceCreative Cities: An IntroductionPhilip Cooke and Luciana Lazzeretti1. Culture, Clusters, Districts and Quarters: Some Reflections on the Scale QuestionPhil Cooke2. Cultural Resources and Regional Development: The Case of the Cultural Legacy of WatchmakingKebir Leila and Crevoiseir Olivier3. Cultural Clusters and Districts: The State of ArtTommaso Cinti4. The Cultural Districtualisation ModelLuciana Lazzeretti5. Collective Trademarks and Cultural Districts: The Case of San Gregorio Armeno - NaplesTiziana Cuccia, Massimo Marrelli and Walter Santagata6. Fixed Book Pricing in Spain: A Debate between Economic Efficiency and Cultural DiversityMaria Luisa Palma Martos and Luis Palma Martos7. Why do Cultural Industries Cluster? Localization, Urbanization, Products and ProjectsMark Lorenzen and Lars Frederiksen8. Creativity, Innovation and Territorial Agglomeration in Cultural Activities: The Roots of the Creative CityPedro Costa9. Knowledge Externalities and Networks of Cities in Creative MetropolisJoan Trullen and Rafael Boix10. The Management of "Events" in the Veneto Performing Music Cluster: Bridging Latent Networks and Permanent OrganisationsFiorenza Belussi and Silvia Rita Sedita11. Creative Clusters and Governance: The Dominance of the Hollywood Film ClusterLisa De Propris and Laura Hypponen12. The Creative City: A Matter of ValuesRichard Smith and Katie Warfield13. Evolving Singapore the Creative CityHing Ai Yun14. Mapping and Analysing Creative Systems in Italy (1991-2001)Francesco CaponeIndex