A descriptive study of the tones in the Chengtu dialect (Szechuan, China) and the intonation of certain types of sentences

First, tones pronounced in isolation behave differently from those pronounced in connected speech. In connected speech they go through perturbation. This is usually governed by the position they occupy in the phrase or by the tonal environment. It may also be governed by grammatical structure, though this does not form part of my present inquiry.Second, besides the four naming tones in the Chengtu dialect, I found six other tones which, together with those naming tones, could be grouped into four tonemes. It is the interchange of these tones which formed the study of the tonal behaviour in the first part of this thesis.Third, intonation does exist in the Chengtu dialect. It is superimposed on the whole sentence. And it is this superimposed intonation that modifies the individual tones and not the individual tones that decide the intonation of the sentence.My purpose in undertaking this study has been twofold. On one hand, it is my hope that the work may serve as a teaching manual for intonation in the Chengtu dialect. In the process of acquiring the right intonation, the advanced student may find the numerous examples useful. Though they are taken only from the speech of two people (the informant and myself), they more or less represent the main speech characteristics of the Chengtu dialect.Oh the other hand, the material I assembled and particularly the conclusions I reached may be of some value to students of other dialects. Tone sandhi has already been studied in many Chinese dialects , though without the help of the more modern instruments. It would be desirable for similar work to be done on A eresting question is whether in other dialects intonation is also indicated by the perturbation of one particular syllable, which in the case of the Chengtu dialect is the final syllable. It would also be interesting to know if the resulting tunes could be divided neatly into two or more patterns. If a number of other dialects could be studied along lines similar to the present inquiry, we could then perhaps come to a more general explanation of tonal behaviour and intonation in the Chinese dialects

THE RESPONSE OF WHOLE BODY VIBRATION ON TAI CHI AND WEIGHT-LIFTING ATHLETES

Whole body vibration (WBV) is a new technique which may improve leg muscle strength. Many researchers have studied the effect of whole body vibration recently. But study of effects of vibration stimulus to different activity type athletes, such as Tai Chi (N=12) and Weight-lifting (N=15) athletes is lacking. In this study we examine that question. The subjects were asked to stand in a half-squat posture without additional load on a vibration platform with 7 vibration frequencies (5, 9, 12, 16, 20, 24, 30 Hz) at 4 mm amplitude and maintained for 30 seconds. The effect of WBV would be different on different sport subjects’ perceived exertion. We discovered that the subject’s perception may be related with the acceleration of the subject’s head. Using whole body vibration training to improve muscle power and strength depends on the particular sport’s training emphasis to setup the appropriate training protocol such as amplitude and frequency

Do cognition and emotion matter? A study of COVID-19 vaccination decision-making in college students

The unparalleled speed of COVID-19 vaccine development has necessitated an expansion of existing knowledge on vaccination decision-making. The current study explored (1) how cognitions and emotions shaped college students’ COVID-19 vaccination decisions, and (2) where vaccination-inclined and vaccination-hesitant students converged and diverged in their decision-making process. Seventy-seven students participated in 26 focus groups to discuss their complex thoughts and feelings regarding COVID-19 vaccination, offering a more nuanced understanding of COVID-19 vaccination decision-making that has not been fully captured by quantitative studies. Thematic analysis found that vaccination-inclined participants and their hesitant counterparts reported differential patterns of positive and negative emotions, systematic appraisals, and heuristics in decision-making. Future research should investigate the roles of hope and relief, non-health-related benefits of vaccination, social trust, and interpersonal influence in vaccination decision-making

Better Privacy and Security in E-Commerce: Using Elliptic Curve-Based Zero-Knowledge Proofs

We propose an approach using elliptic curve-based zero-knowledge proofs in e-commerce applications. We demonstrate that using elliptic curved-based zero-knowledge proofs provide privacy and more security than other existing techniques. The improvement of security is due to the complexity of solving the discrete logarithm problem over elliptic curves

Electro-mechanical coupling of KCNQ channels is a target of epilepsy-associated mutations and retigabine

KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 form the M-channels that are important in regulating neuronal excitability. Inherited mutations that alter voltage-dependent gating of M-channels are associated with neonatal epilepsy. In the homolog KCNQ1 channel, two steps of voltage sensor activation lead to two functionally distinct open states, the intermediate-open (IO) and activated-open (AO), which define the gating, physiological, and pharmacological properties of KCNQ1. However, whether the M-channel shares the same mechanism is unclear. Here, we show that KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 feature only a single conductive AO state but with a conserved mechanism for the electro-mechanical (E-M) coupling between voltage sensor activation and pore opening. We identified some epilepsy-linked mutations in KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 that disrupt E-M coupling. The antiepileptic drug retigabine rescued KCNQ3 currents that were abolished by a mutation disrupting E-M coupling, suggesting that modulating the E-M coupling in KCNQ channels presents a potential strategy for antiepileptic therapy

Semiconductor thermal and electrical properties decoupled by localized phonon resonances

Thermoelectric materials convert heat into electricity through thermally driven charge transport in solids, or vice versa for cooling. To be competitive with conventional energy-generation technologies, a thermoelectric material must possess the properties of both an electrical conductor and a thermal insulator. However, these properties are normally mutually exclusive because of the interconnection of the scattering mechanisms for charge carriers and phonons. Recent theoretical investigations on sub-device scales have revealed that silicon membranes covered by nanopillars exhibit a multitude of local phonon resonances, spanning the full spectrum, that couple with the heat-carrying phonons in the membrane and collectively cause a reduction in the in-plane thermal conductivity$-$while, in principle, not affecting the electrical properties because the nanopillars are external to the pathway of voltage generation and charge transport. Here this effect is demonstrated experimentally for the first time by investigating device-scale suspended silicon membranes with GaN nanopillars grown on the surface. The nanopillars cause up to 21 % reduction in the thermal conductivity while the electrical conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient remain unaffected, thus demonstrating an unprecedented decoupling in the semiconductor's thermoelectric properties. The measured thermal conductivity behavior for coalesced nanopillars and corresponding lattice-dynamics calculations provide further evidence that the reductions are mechanistically tied to the phonon resonances. This finding breaks a longstanding trade-off between competing properties in thermoelectricity and paves the way for engineered high-efficiency solid-state energy recovery and cooling

Global institutions and local filtering: Introducing independent directors to Taiwanese corporate boards

Drawing on the idea of selective interaction between organizations and environments, the authors examine how organizations change their traditional practices when they are exposed to new institutional environments. In the context of corporate governance change in response to financial market globalization, they argue that global institutional influence is moderated by local corporate control contexts that function as filtering mechanisms. The authors empirically analyse the adoption of a new corporate governance practice, i.e., the initial introduction of independent directors, in Taiwanese public firms, where family governance has been a dominant governance model. The findings suggest that while firms exposed to US capital markets are more likely to adopt independent directors, this facilitating effect weakens when the firms are under strong family control and is amplified when they are unbound from local frameworks through the key leader???s education or their geographic context

Circulating syndecan-1 is reduced in pregnancies with poor fetal growth and its secretion regulated by matrix metalloproteinases and the mitochondria

Fetal growth restriction is a leading cause of stillbirth that often remains undetected during pregnancy. Identifying novel biomarkers may improve detection of pregnancies at risk. This study aimed to assess syndecan-1 as a biomarker for small for gestational age (SGA) or fetal growth restricted (FGR) pregnancies and determine its molecular regulation. Circulating maternal syndecan-1 was measured in several cohorts; a large prospective cohort collected around 36 weeks' gestation (n = 1206), a case control study from the Manchester Antenatal Vascular service (285 women sampled at 24-34 weeks' gestation); two prospective cohorts collected on the day of delivery (36 + 3-41 + 3 weeks' gestation, n = 562 and n = 405 respectively) and a cohort who delivered for preterm FGR (< 34 weeks). Circulating syndecan-1 was consistently reduced in women destined to deliver growth restricted infants and those delivering for preterm disease. Syndecan-1 secretion was reduced by hypoxia, and its loss impaired proliferation. Matrix metalloproteinases and mitochondrial electron transport chain inhibitors significantly reduced syndecan-1 secretion, an effect that was rescued by coadministration of succinate, a mitochondrial electron transport chain activator. In conclusion, circulating syndecan-1 is reduced among cases of term and preterm growth restriction and has potential for inclusion in multi-marker algorithms to improve detection of poorly grown fetuses

Host non-inflammatory neutrophils mediate the engraftment of bioengineered vascular networks

Notwithstanding remarkable progress in vascular network engineering, implanted bioengineered microvessels largely fail to form anastomoses with the host vasculature. Here, we demonstrate that implants containing assembled human vascular networks (A-Grafts) fail to engraft due to their inability to engage non-inflammatory host neutrophils upon implantation into mice. In contrast, unassembled vascular cells (U-Grafts) readily engage alternatively polarized neutrophils, which in turn serve as indispensable mediators of vascular assembly and anastomosis. The depletion of host neutrophils abrogated vascularization in U-Grafts, whereas an adoptive transfer of neutrophils fully restored vascularization in myeloid-depleted mice. Neutrophil engagement was regulated by secreted factors and was progressively silenced as the vasculature matured. Exogenous addition of factors from U-Grafts reengaged neutrophils and enhanced revascularization in A-Grafts, a process that was recapitulated by blocking Notch signaling. Our data suggest that the pro-vascularization potential of neutrophils can be harnessed to improve the engraftment of bioengineered tissues