Perception of breaks and discourse boundaries in spontaneous speech: developping an on-line technique

International audienceThe goal of this paper is to present an on-line paradigm being developed among the ProDiGE research group at the "Parole et Langage" laboratory at the University of Provence in Aix-en-Provence. This paradigm aims at studying the perception of breaks and discourse boundaries by expert and/or naive listeners. An experimental technique was designed to compare the listeners' perception of breaks and boundaries in four different speech types (normal, low-pass filtered, re-synthezised and re-synthesized with phoneme conversion).Thirty naive subjects took part in the present experiment in which two versions of a one-minute tape-recorded spontaneous speech sample were compared (normal vs. converted phonemes).The results show similar total numbers and average inter-subject agreement values for breaks identified by a majority of subjects; however, segmented portions differ both in the position of their boundaries and in the nature of the textual units they isolate

Tropical Channel NEMO-OASIS-WRF Coupled Simulations at Very High Resolution

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Développement de méthodes physico-chimiques pour le contrôle de la médication par l'Harpagophytum et l'Eleutherococcus, principes actifs utilisés en phytothérapie équine.: Etude par spectrométrie de masse des harpagosides, des éleuthérosides et du cycloarténol, principes actifs utilisés en phytothérapie équine.

This five-chaptered manuscript is devo! ted to t he development of physico-chemical methods for the equine medical treatment control of Harpagophytum and Eleutherococcus, active principles used in herbal medicine. The first chapter deals with the objects of the study and presents the botanical and pharmacological properties of the plants of interest: Harpagophytum procumbens and Eleutherococcus senticosus. The second chapter details the experimental and theoretical techniques used: sample preparation, mass spectrometry coupled with liquid or gas chromatography and molecular modeling. The third chapter is presented on the basis of publications; extraction of active principles of Harpagophytum from equine biological samples, LC/MS analysis, as well as a theoretical approach of harpagide cationization by sodium ions and a metabolic approach of harpagoside are developed. A direct application of these results on eleutherosides B and E is shown in the fourth chapter, completed by a research of the active principles in feed suppl! ements. The fifth and last chapter is the outcome of the applications, results and perspectives from the work performed during the last three years.Ce mémoire, consacré au développement de méthodes physico-chimiques pour le contrôle de la médication par l'Harpagophytum et l'Eleutherococcus, principes actifs utilisés en phytothérapie équine, est constitué de cinq chapitres. Le premier chapitre situe les enjeux des recherches entreprises ; il détaille le principe d'un contrôle de la méditation et le déroulement de celui-ci. Les propriétés, tant botaniques que pharmacologiques, des plantes étudiées, l'Harpagophytum procumbens et l'Eleutherococcus senticosus y sont également présentées. Dans le second chapitre, les différentes techniques expérimentales et les méthodes théoriques employées au cours de cette thèse sont détaillées. Cela concerne la préparation d'échantillon avec les différentes métho! des d'extraction, l'analyse par couplage chromatographie – spectrométrie de masse, et la modélisation moléculaire. Le troisième chapitre, dédié à l'étude de l'Harpagophytum, est présenté sur publications. L'extraction des principes actifs à partir des fluides biologiques équins, leur analyse par LC/MS, une approche théorique de la cationisation de l'harpagide par le sodium ainsi qu'une approche métabolique de l'harpagoside y sont développées. Une application directe de ces résultats à l'étude des éleutherocoques est présentée dans le chapitre 4, complétée par la recherche des principes actifs dans les compléments alimentaires. Le cinquième et dernier chapitre est un bilan des applications, des résultats et des perspectives qui découlent du travail effectué au cours de ces trois anné! es

Water-Based Microwave-Assisted Extraction of Pigments from Madder Optimized by a Box–Behnken Design

Water is one of the greenest and most accessible solvents. To harness its potential, the water-based microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of pigments from madder was optimized by the response surface methodology (RSM) using a Box–Behnken experimental design. The extract that presented both the highest extraction yield and the most intense color was obtained after a 30-s cycle at 1000 W using 100 mg of madder for 20 mL of water. This water-based MAE was more efficient than Soxhlet extraction and proved comparable to hydroalcoholic MAE. The optimized extract was further characterized using UHPLC-HRMS/MS to identify its main compounds. Glycosylated flavonoids and anthraquinones were putatively identified, as well as free anthraquinones, generally found in madder. The microwave-assisted extraction extended the range of polarity of the extracted compounds, making the water more versatile

Oak Species Quercus robur L. and Quercus petraea Liebl. Identification Based on UHPLC-HRMS/MS Molecular Networks

International audienceTwo species of oak are dominant in French forests: pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) and sessile oak (Quercus petraea Liebl.). Their differentiation is not straightforward but is essential to better understand their respective molecular content in order to better valorize them. Thus, to improve oak species identification, an untargeted UHPLC-HRMS/MS method associated with a two-step data treatment was developed to analyze a wide range of specialized metabolites enabling the comparison of both species of oak extracts. Pooled extracts from sessile and pedunculate oaks, composed of extracts from several trees of pure species from various origins, were compared using first the Venn diagram, as a quick way to get an initial idea of how close the extracts are, and then using a molecular network to visualize, on the one hand, the ions shared between the two species and, on the other hand, the compounds specific to one species. The molecular network showed that the two species shared common clusters mainly representative of tannins derivatives and that each species has specific molecules with similar fragmentation patterns, associated in specific clusters. This methodology was then applied to compare these two pooled extracts to unknown individuals in order to determine the species. The Venn diagram allowed for the quick presumption of the species of the individual and then the species could be assigned more precisely with the molecular network, at the level of specific clusters. This method, developed for the first time, has several interests. First, it makes it possible to discriminate the species and to correctly assign the species of unknown samples. Moreover, it gave an overview of the metabolite composition of each sample to better target oak tree utilization and valorization