Conventional speech communication systems do not perform well in the absence of an intelligible acoustic signal. Silent Speech Interfaces enable speech communication to take place with speech-handicapped users and in noisy environments. However, since no acoustic signal is available, information on nasality may be absent, which is an important and relevant characteristic of several languages, p...

Many marine invertebrates have planktonic larvae with cilia used for both propulsion and capturing of food particles. Hence, changes in ciliary activity have implications for larval nutrition and ability to navigate the water column, which in turn affect survival and dispersal. Using high-speed high-resolution microvideography, we examined the relationship between swimming speed, velar arrangem...

Wine biological aging is a wine making process used to produce specific beverages in several countries in Europe, including Spain, Italy, France, and Hungary. This process involves the formation of a velum at the surface of the wine. Here, we present the first large scale comparison of all European flor strains involved in this process. We inferred the population structure of these European flo...

This proposal is aimed at understanding the strategies that are used to control articulators during speech and at clarifying the relationships between phonological features and articulatory motions. This experimental project involves the collection and analysis of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and acoustic speech data, combined with numerical modelling of articulatory motions. Movements of t...

The distribution of the Calvin cycle enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RbuP(2)Case; EC 4.1.1.39) was examined by using two immunological methods in tissues of Solemya velum, an Atlantic coast bivalve containing putative chemoautotrophic symbionts. Antibodies elicited by the purified large subunit of RbuP(2)Case from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cross-reacted on immunoblots with a pro...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Differential considerations for pineal region CSF collections include both true cysts and normal cystlike anatomic variations. Our purpose was to determine the sonographic characteristics of pineal region fluid spaces that reflect the presence of a normal persistent cavum velum interpositum (CVI). METHODS Eighteen neonates and infants who had sonographic findings of "cy...

Arachnoid cysts are thin-walled fluid-filled cavities that are uncommon causes of intracranial mass lesions [1 , 2]. These lesions have been found in various locations, both supratentorial and infratentorial [1 , 3-7] . This report describes a case in which the arachnoid cyst arose from the tela choroidea and occupied the cistern of the velum interpositum. The cyst caused symptoms similar to th...

The velopharyngeal opening (VPO) is analyzed in 17 professional operatic singers, 3 high sopranos, 3 sopranos, 2 mezzo-sopranos, 3 tenors, 2 baritones, 2 bass-baritones, and 2 basses singing the vowels [a, i, u] at middle degree of vocal loudness at different pitches throughout their pitch range. Three methods were used for detection of a VPO. One was nasofiberscopy, which revealed VPO of vario...