Verb Second in Old Venetian

This study aims to add to a rich scholarship on the presence of a verb second constraint in old (Italo-)Romance that has been argued to cause V-to-C raising of both the finite verb and one or more constituents, provided we understand this constraint to be lax in these varieties (cf. Ledgeway 2007, 2008). In particular, it analyses a late 14th century old Venetian text, corroborating the existence of this constraint within the variety. Within this study, it will be shown that the syntax of 14th century Venetian is one in which we find the gradual loss of the V2 constraint. This will be shown through a range of phenomena present within the text, such as a loss of Informational Focus fronting, the weakening of subject pronouns, and the loss of scrambling to vP. All in all, this study aims to shed light on the syntax of 14th century Venetian specifically, adding to a growing scholarship on what the incipient loss of the V2 constraint looks like within respective old Romance varieties

Anatomical variations of brachial plexus: anomalous branching pattern

Background: The brachial plexus is the plexus of nerves formed by the anterior rami of lower four cervical and the first thoracic spinal nerves with little contribution of prefix C4 and postfix T2 spinal nerve. The variations in formation, location, and courses of the cords of brachial plexus and the median nerve are not uncommon and were studied in both axillae.Methods: The forty cadavers were studied preserved in the department of anatomy, SGRRIM and HS, Dehradun. The age and sex of the cadavers were not taken into consideration. The upper limbs were examined for the abnormal formation and union of branches of brachial plexus.Results: The musculocutaneous nerve communicates with the median nerve before and after piercing the coracobrachialis muscle. The lateral cord also gives the twig to the both roots of the median nerve. It also gives a branch which joined the ulnar nerve. The communication between medial root of median nerve and ulnar nerve also observed.Conclusions: Out of 20 examined cadavers (forty upper limbs), the variations in the formation and distribution of branches of the brachial plexus were noted in nine limbs (22.5%). The both sides of the brachial plexus were inspected and it was not found bilateral variations even in a single cadaver.  The knowledge of these variations may be helpful for the anatomists, radiologists, anaesthetist, neurosurgeons and orthopaedic surgeons during surgical operation of the upper limb.

A minimality property for knots without Khovanov 2-torsion

A conjecture of Shumakovitch states that every nontrivial knot has 2-torsion in its Khovanov homology. We show that if a knot $K$ has no 2-torsion in its Khovanov homology, then the rank of its reduced Khovanov homology is minimal among all knots obtainable from $K$ by a proper rational tangle replacement. It follows, for example, that unknotting number 1 knots have 2-torsion in their Khovanov homology.Comment: 3 page