Cohomologie des groupes et corps d'invariants multiplieatifs

Sans résumé     

Vowel Intelligibility in Classical Singing

Vowel intelligibility during singing is an important aspect of communication during performance. The intelligibility of isolated vowels sung by Western classically trained singers has been found to be relatively low, in fact, decreasing as pitch rises, and it is lower for women than for men. The lack of contextual cues significantly deteriorates vowel intelligibility. It was postulated in this study that the reduced intelligibility of isolated sung vowels may be partly from the vowels used by the singers in their daily vocalises. More specifically, if classically trained singers sang only a few American English vowels during their vocalises, their intelligibility for American English vowels would be less than for those classically trained singers who usually vocalize on most American English vowels. In this study, there were 21 subjects (15 women, 6 men), all Western classically trained performers as well as teachers of classical singing. They sang 11 words containing 11 different American English vowels, singing on two pitches a musical fifth apart. Subjects were divided into two groups, those who normally vocalize on 4, 5, or 6 vowels, and those who sing all 11 vowels during their daily vocalises. The sung words were cropped to isolate the vowels, and listening tapes were created. Two listening groups, four singing teachers and five speech-language pathologists, were asked to identify the vowels intended by the singers. Results suggest that singing fewer vowels during daily vocalises does not decrease intelligibility compared with singing the 11 American English vowels. Also, in general, vowel intelligibility was lower with the higher pitch, and vowels sung by the women were less intelligible than those sung by the men. Identification accuracy was about the same for the singing teacher listeners and the speech-language pathologist listeners except for the lower pitch, where the singing teachers were more accurate.     

Convex Sobolev inequalities and spectral gap

This Note is devoted to the proof of convex Sobolev (or generalized Poincaré) inequalities which interpolate between spectral gap (or Poincaré) inequalities and logarithmic Sobolev inequalities. We extend to the whole family of convex Sobolev inequalities results which have recently been obtained by Cattiaux, and Carlen and Loss for logarithmic Sobolev inequalities. Under local conditions on the density of the measure with respect to a reference measure, we prove that spectral gap inequalities imply all convex Sobolev inequalities including in the limit case corresponding to the logarithmic Sobolev inequalities. To cite this article: J.-P. Bartier, J. Dolbeault, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 342 (2006).     

Convergence in probability for perturbed stochastic integral equations

Summary In this work, one considers two stochastic integral equations indexed by some parameter and one studies the contiguity of their solutions when the parameter converges to some ₀. Two types of behaviour are described; they lead to the notion of regular and singular perturbations. The method which is used also enables a study of the rate of convergence. Applications to time discretization of equations are given.     

An improved algorithm for satellite-derived UV radiations

The improved algorithm surface irradiance derived from a range of satellite-based sensors (SIDES) is presented in this article. It calculates various types of surface UV intensities, such as biologically weighted or unweighted UV spectra, integrated doses or irradiance at specific wavelengths, using data from satellite instruments. These surface UV data are mainly useful for environmental impact or process studies where high accuracy or a high temporal resolution is required. In contrast to several previous studies, SIDES has been validated with spectral measurements. By this method an averaging of positive or negative deviations over the complete wavelength range is avoided. This is especially important for UV wavelengths around 300 nm where biological effectiveness is highest. The results of SIDES deviate less than 7% from ground-based observations for wavelengths between 295 and 400 nm. In contrast, the corresponding deviations of the joint research center algorithm escalate for shorter wavelengths, reaching 35% at 295 nm. This large deviation is due to an inaccurate interpolation procedure that has been detected by spectral analysis. Thus, spectral validation is demonstrated to be an appropriate tool to detect weaknesses in such an algorithm and provides information essential for improvement.     

PHYTOCHROME MEDIATION OF UREDOSPORE GERMINATION IN THE FUNGUS PUCCINIA GRAMINIS

Abstract—Applying criteria used for higher plants, phytochrome mediation of uredospore germination in the stem-rust fungus, Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Eriks & Henn) Guyot is established. A 1 min red irradiation at 660 nm promotes uredospore germination and this potentiation of promotion is photoreversible by a 1 min far-red irradiation at 730 nm.     

The investigation of critical parameters in the glycolytic response of single living cells by rapid microspectrofluorometric analysis

Summary NAD(P)H fluorescence emission spectra are recorded from single living cells, by a recently developed multichannel microspectrofluorometric technique, in correlation with the intracellular microelectrophoretic addition of substrate (i. e., glucose-6-P). These spectra may be used as a reference basis in establishing the critical parameters to be followed when the same studies are extended to a variety of cells, submitted to various drug effects or physical treatments. The sum-spectra corresponding to channel by channel (wavelength by wavelength) summation of spectra obtained from various cells within a series, before and after addition of substrate, and their difference spectrum may be normalized and evaluated comparatively. The NAD(P)H emission maximum prior to addition of substrate seems to present a mixture of dehydrogenase-bound and free coenzyme. There is a suggestion that immediately after substrate, i. e., at 5 sec, an increase in free NADH is first observed. While the overall changes in fluorescence intensity associated with substrate are quite large (50–150% increase), the counts (i. e., an expression of photons) associated with shifts in the emission maximum (free vs. bound NAD(P)H changes) are at times barely above noise. Rapid microspectrofluorometry provides in principle the most direct approach for the identification of coenzyme bound to various dehydrogenases in single living cells, but further improvements in spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio are required, for a better definition of the spectral shifts which may be observed.

---

Zusammenfassung Mit Hilfe einer kürzlich entwickelten Mehrkanal-Mikrospektrofluorometer-Methode wurden von einzelnen lebenden Zellen nach intrazellulär mikroelektrophoretischer Substratzugabe (z. B. Glucose-6-P) NAD(P)H Fluoreszenz-Emissionsspektren aufgenommen. Diese Spektren können als Vergleichsbasis bei der Festsetzung der entscheidenden Parameter verwendet werden, wenn die gleichen Untersuchungen auf eine Reihe von Zellen ausgedehnt werden sollen, die verschiedenen Medikamenteffekten oder physikalischer Behandlung ausgesetzt werden. Die Summenspektren, die der kanalmäßigen (wellenlängenmäßigen) Summierung der Spektren von verschiedenen Zellen innerhalb einer Serie, vor und nach Substratzugabe entsprechen, sowie ihre Differenzspektren können normalisiert und vergleichsweise ausgewertet werden. Das NAD(P)H-Emissionsmaximum vor der Substratzugabe scheint ein Gemisch von freiem und dehydrogenasegebundenem Coenzym darzustellen. Unmittelbar nach Substratzugabe (d. h. nach 5 sec) ist ein Anstieg an freiem NADH das erste Mal zu beobachten. Während die mit dem Substrat einhergehenden Gesamtveränderungen der Fluoreszenzintensität recht groß sind (50–150% Anstieg), sind die Impulse (als Effekt der Photonen), die mit einer Verschiebung im Emissionsmaximum verbunden sind (Veränderungen von freiem und gebundenem NAD(P)H) zu manchen Zeiten kaum höher als das Rauschen. Die rasche Mikrospektrofluorometrie stellt im Prinzip die direkteste Methode zur Identifizierung von Coenzymen dar, die an verschiedenen Dehydrogenasen in einzelnen lebenden Zellen gebunden sind. Weitere Verbesserungen der Spektralauflösung und der Empfindlichkeit (signal-to-noise ratio) sind notwendig, um die Spektralverschiebungen, die beobachtet werden, besser auswerten zu können.