Vocal tract growth from birth to adulthood, applications for articulatory studies in infants and biomechanical modeling of the vocal apparatus

International audienceThe growth of the vocal apparatus is far from linear, and reflects several important changes during ontogeny. How are children able to reach acoustic targets in such a context? To counterbalance the nonuniform growth of the vocal tract, adequate motor control of the supra-laryngeal articulators is crucial. Therefore, prior to understand the development of speech production, not only in the acoustic space, but in respect with the articulatory-to-acoustic relationships evolution, it is crucial to study vocal tract morphology

Croissance du conduit vocal de la naissance à l'âge adulte : données morphologiques longitudinales et modélisation articulatoire

National audienceThe growth of the vocal tract is far from linear and is particularly important during the first years of life. How are children able to reach acoustic targets in such a context? To understand the development of speech production, not only in the acoustic space, but with respect to the evolution of articulatory-to-acoustic relationships, it is crucial to study vocal tract morphology. This study aims at proposing specific measurements on the vocal apparatus, not only to study vocal tract growth during ontogeny, but in order to improve the accuracy of articulatory phonetic tools, such as ultrasonography or biomechanical modeling of the vocal tract

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Croissance du conduit vocal de la naissance à l'âge adulte : données morphologiques longitudinales et modélisation articulatoire

National audienceThe growth of the vocal tract is far from linear and is particularly important during the first years of life. How are children able to reach acoustic targets in such a context? To understand the development of speech production, not only in the acoustic space, but with respect to the evolution of articulatory-to-acoustic relationships, it is crucial to study vocal tract morphology. This study aims at proposing specific measurements on the vocal apparatus, not only to study vocal tract growth during ontogeny, but in order to improve the accuracy of articulatory phonetic tools, such as ultrasonography or biomechanical modeling of the vocal tract

Vocal tract growth during ontogenesis: consequences for the debate on speech origins

International audienc

Indirect N2O emissions from shallow groundwater in an agricultural catchment (Seine Basin, France)

International audienceProduction and accumulation of nitrous oxide (N2O), a major greenhouse gas, in shallow groundwater might contribute to indirect N2O emissions to the atmosphere (e.g., when groundwater flows into a stream or a river). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has attributed an emission factor (EF5g) for N2O, associated with nitrate leaching in groundwater and drainage ditches-0.0025 (corresponding to 0.25% of N leached which is emitted as N2O)-although this is the subject of considerable uncertainty. We investigated and quantified the transport and fate of nitrate (NO3 (-)) and dissolved nitrous oxide from crop fields to groundwater and surface water over a 2-year period (monitoring from April 2008 to April 2010) in a transect from a plateau to the river with three piezometers. In groundwater, nitrate concentrations ranged from 1.0 to 22.7 mg NO3 (-)-N l(-1) (from 2.8 to 37.5 mg NO3 (-)-N l(-1) in the river) and dissolved N2O from 0.2 to 101.0 mu g N2O-N l(-1) (and from 0.2 to 2.9 mu g N2O-N l(-1) in the river). From these measurements, we estimated an emission factor of EF5g = 0.0026 (similar to the value currently used by the IPCC) and an annual indirect N2O flux from groundwater of 0.035 kg N2O-N ha(-1) year(-1), i.e., 1.8% of the previously measured direct N2O flux from agricultural soils

Effect of slope position and land use on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions (Seine Basin, France)

Nitrous oxide emissions from soils are known to be variable in both space and time. To better understand this variability, this study was conducted to (i) evaluate the landscape-scale patterns and seasonal variations in N2O emissions, (ii) determine the contribution of the different environmental factors (texture and organic matter content of the soil, crop management, mineral nitrogen content, and fertilizer application) on the estimation of N2O emissions at the field scale. We used static chamber and gas chromatography methods to measure N2O emissions in the Orgeval sub-basin (Seine Basin, France), in representative sites selected on the basis of land use: a continuum from an agricultural plateau to the riparian buffer, grassland and a forest site. A consistent landscape-scale pattern of N2O emissions was observed with higher emissions in the footslope (annual flux of 4.0 ± 2.2 kg N ha-1 yr-1) than in the slope positions (1.1 ± 0.6 and 1.9 ± 1.2 kg N ha-1 yr-1) or the shoulder positions (1.1 ± 0.5 kg N ha-1 yr-1). Nitrous oxide emissions from the riparian buffer were significant with an annual budget of 0.5 ± 0.4 kg N ha-1 yr-1, while extrapolated emissions from forest and grassland were 0.6 ± 0.2 kg N ha-1 yr-1 and 0.7 ± 0.2 kg N ha-1 yr-1, respectively. Topography plays a role mainly in its relation with hydrological processes which, in turn, regulate the soil factors (mainly water-filled pore space) controlling N2O emissions at the microscale level. The seasonal fluctuations of N2O emissions were influenced by precipitations (pulses after large rainfall events following fertilization) and thawing

Emissions de N2O dans un versant agricole de grandes cultures (Brie, Bassin de la Seine) (observations, expérimentations et modélisation dans un continuum "plateau/zone enherbée/rivière")

Les pratiques agricoles contribuent largement à l accroissement des concentrations en oxyde nitreux (N2O) dans l'atmosphère et représentent 70% des émissions mondiales. La nitrification et la dénitrification dans les sols sont les deux processus microbiens responsables de la production de N2O. En dehors de leur contrôle par le climat ou les conditions du sol, le rôle de la topographie est moins connu. L'objectif principal de cette thèse était donc à la fois de caractériser la variabilité des flux de N2O long d'un transect partant d'un plateau agricole jusqu à la rivière et d'analyser l'influence de la position dans le paysage sur ces émissions. Des études en laboratoire ont été menées sur des échantillons de sol et il a été montré que la production potentielle de N2O semble avoir lieu majoritairement sur l horizon superficiel. La position dans le paysage affecte les émissions réelles de N2O avec des émissions annuelles plus de trois fois supérieures en position de bas de pente (budget annuel de 4 kg N-N2O ha-1 an-1). Nous avons aussi pris en compte les émissions indirectes de N2O par prélèvements piézométriques le long du transect. Les teneurs analysées se situent, en moyenne annuelle, entre 3.2 et 33.4 g N-N2O L-1. En considérant que tout le N2O contenu dans les aquifères sera dégazé nous pouvons estimer que les émissions indirectes de N2O représentent environ 1.8% des émissions directes par les sols, soit 0.035 kg N-N2O ha-1 an-1. Enfin, une approche statistique et de modélisation ont permis d approfondir nos analyses et de mieux comprendre les mécanismes à l origine des émissions de N2O et comment les principaux facteurs de contrôle pouvaient interagir entre eux.PARIS-BIUSJ-Sci.Terre recherche (751052114) / SudocSudocFranceF

Potential of denitrification and nitrous oxide production from agricultural soil profiles (Seine Basin, France)

The denitrification process and the associated nitrous oxide (N2O) production in soils have been poorly documented, especially in terms of soil profiles; most work on denitrification has concentrated on the upper layer (first 20 cm). The objectives of this study were to examine the origin of N2O emission and the effects of in situ controlling factors on soil denitrification and N2O production, also allowing the (N2O production)/(NO3 −-N reduction) ratio to be determined through (1) the position on a slope reaching a river and (2) the depth (soil horizons: 10-30 and 90-110 cm). In 2009 and 2010, slurry batch experiments combined with molecular investigations of bacterial communities were conducted in a corn field and an adjacent riparian buffer strip. Denitrification rates, ranging from 0.30 μg NO3 −-N g−1 dry soil h−1 to 1.44 μg NO3 −-N g−1 dry soil h−1, showed no significant variation along the slope and depth. N2O production assessed simultaneously differed considerably over the depth and ranged from 0.4 ng N2O-N g−1 dry soil h−1 in subsoils (the 90-110-cm layer) to 155.1 ng N2O-N g−1 dry soil h−1 in the topsoils (the 10-30-cm layer). In the topsoils, N2O-N production accounted for 8.5-48.0% of the total denitrified NO3 −-N, but for less than 1% in the subsoils. Similarly, N2O-consuming bacterial communities from the subsoils greatly differed from those of the topsoils, as revealed by their nosZ DGGE fingerprints. High N2O-SPPR (nitrous oxide semi potential production rates) in comparison to NO3-SPDR (nitrate semi potential reduction rates) for the topsoils indicated significant potential greenhouse N2O gas production, whereas lower horizons could play a role in fully removing nitrate into inert atmospheric N2. In terms of landscape management, these results call for caution in rehabilitating or constructing buffer zones for agricultural nitrate removal

Hydraulic head interpolation in an aquifer unit using ANFIS and Ordinary Kriging

In this study, Ordinary Kriging (ok), and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy based Inference System (anfis) are evaluated for assessing hydraulic head distribution in an aquifer unit covering 40 km2. Cartesian coordinates of the samples were used as inputs of anfis. Calibrated models are used to interpolate the hydraulic head distribution on a 50 m square - grid. Both simulations have realistic pattern (R2 > 0.97) even if ok performs slightly better than anfis at sampling location. The two methods capture different patterns. The Comparison of the two distributions allows for identifying area of estimate uncertainty, what can be used to improve the sampling network