Constrained structure of ancient Chinese poetry facilitates speech content grouping

Ancient Chinese poetry is constituted by structured language that deviates from ordinary language usage [1, 2]; its poetic genres impose unique combinatory constraints on linguistic elements [3]. How does the constrained poetic structure facilitate speech segmentation when common linguistic [4, 5, 6, 7, 8] and statistical cues [5, 9] are unreliable to listeners in poems? We generated artificial Jueju, which arguably has the most constrained structure in ancient Chinese poetry, and presented each poem twice as an isochronous sequence of syllables to native Mandarin speakers while conducting magnetoencephalography (MEG) recording. We found that listeners deployed their prior knowledge of Jueju to build the line structure and to establish the conceptual flow of Jueju. Unprecedentedly, we found a phase precession phenomenon indicating predictive processes of speech segmentation—the neural phase advanced faster after listeners acquired knowledge of incoming speech. The statistical co-occurrence of monosyllabic words in Jueju negatively correlated with speech segmentation, which provides an alternative perspective on how statistical cues facilitate speech segmentation. Our findings suggest that constrained poetic structures serve as a temporal map for listeners to group speech contents and to predict incoming speech signals. Listeners can parse speech streams by using not only grammatical and statistical cues but also their prior knowledge of the form of language

First-principles study on the effective masses of zinc-blend-derived Cu_2Zn-IV-VI_4 (IV = Sn, Ge, Si and VI = S, Se)

The electron and hole effective masses of kesterite (KS) and stannite (ST) structured Cu_2Zn-IV-VI_4 (IV = Sn, Ge, Si and VI = S, Se) semiconductors are systematically studied using first-principles calculations. We find that the electron effective masses are almost isotropic, while strong anisotropy is observed for the hole effective mass. The electron effective masses are typically much smaller than the hole effective masses for all studied compounds. The ordering of the topmost three valence bands and the corresponding hole effective masses of the KS and ST structures are different due to the different sign of the crystal-field splitting. The electron and hole effective masses of Se-based compounds are significantly smaller compared to the corresponding S-based compounds. They also decrease as the atomic number of the group IV elements (Si, Ge, Sn) increases, but the decrease is less notable than that caused by the substitution of S by Se.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

Successful Pregnancy after Treatment with Chinese Herbal Medicine in a 43-Year-Old Woman with Diminished Ovarian Reserve and Multiple Uterus Fibrosis: A Case Report.

OBJECTIVE: To highlight a natural approach to coexisting oligomenorrhea, subfertility, luteal phase insufficiency and multiple fibroids cohesively when in vitro fertilisation (IVF) has failed. CASE PRESENTATION: A 43-year-old woman with diminished ovarian reserve and multiple uterine fibroids had previously been advised to discontinue IVF treatment. According to Chinese Medicine diagnosis, herbal formulae were prescribed for improving age-related ovarian insufficiency as well as to control the growth of fibroids. After 4 months of treatment, the patient's menstrual cycle became regula r and plasma progesterone one week after ovulation increased from 10.9 nmol/L to 44.9 nmol/L. After 6 months, she achieved a natural conception, resulting in a live birth of a healthy infant at an estimated gestational age of 40 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: The successful treatment with Chinese Herbal Medicine for this case highlights a natural therapy to manage infertility due to ovarian insufficiency and multiple fibroids after unsuccessful IVF outcome

Enhancement of Gear Fault Detection Using Narrowband Interference Cancellation

The development of enhanced fault detection ability for gearbox systems has received considerable attention in recent years. Detecting the gear fault easier is very important for maintenance action. This has driven the need in research for enhanced gear fault detection method. The goal is to extract periodic impulse signal from the very noise signal which mainly contains the narrowband signals. This can be done by enhancing the impulsive signals while suppressing the narrowband signals. This paper used a new method, Narrowband Interference Cancellation, to detect the gear fault. This method reserves the impulsive signal produced by gear fault and removes the other signals out. The methodology is demonstrated on a gearbox run-to-failure test. The results show that Narrowband Interference Cancellation can enable the gear fault detection easier

Local infiltration analgesia versus femoral nerve block in total knee arthroplasty: A meta-analysis

AbstractIntroductionLocal infiltration analgesia (LIA) and femoral nerve block (FNB) are both used for the pain management after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Controversy still remains regarding the optimal technique for pain relief in patients undergoing TKA. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare the analgesia achieved with LIA and the one from FNB following TKA.HypothesisLIA achieves better pain control than FNB in patients with TKA.MethodsDatabases, including Pubmed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science were comprehensively searched to identify studies comparing LIA with FNB for patients with TKA. Two reviewers independently selected trials, extracted data, and assessed the methodological qualities of included studies. Data were analyzed by RevMan 5.2.ResultsNine RCTs involving 782 patients were included. LIA achieved more rapid pain relief (VAS) at 6h postoperatively [SMD6h=−0.92, 95% CI (−1.38, −0.47)] than FNB. There were no significant differences at 24h and 48h [SMD24h=−0.03, 95% CI (−0.46, 0.40); SMD48h=0.28, 95% CI (−0.35, 0.91)], VAS with activity at 24h and 48h [SMD6h=−0.54, 95% CI (−1.62, 0.54); SMD24h=−0.22, 95% CI (−1.41, 0.96); SMD48h=−0.08, 95% CI (−0.52, 0.69)], opioid consumption at 24h and 48h [SMD24h=−0.24, 95% CI (−0.82, 0.34); SMD48h=0.15, 95% CI (0.25, 0.54)] and length of hospital stay [MD=−0.52, 95% CI (−1.13, 0.09)].DiscussionLIA may be the better choice in the pain management of TKA for it could achieve fast pain relief and is easier to perform than FNB for patients with TKA.Level of evidenceLevel II, meta-analysis and systematic review

Tests on RC Beams Strengthened at the Span with Externally Bonded Polymers Reinforced with Carbon or Steel Fibers

The main objective of the experimental work reported herein is the comparative evaluation of steel-reinforced polymers (SRPs) and carbon-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) used as externally-bonded reinforcement in strengthening of reinforced-concrete (RC) members. Tensile stress strain as well as bond constitutive laws for these materials were first derived from 16 tests and are summarized here. Results are then reported from four-point bending tests of five full-scale RC beams strengthened at their span using SRP and CFRP strips. The bond tests have shown that by providing a bond length greater than the effective one, neither the bond strength nor the deformation capacity are increased, whereas by increasing the width of the strip the bond strength is increased. From the bending tests of beams it was found that the use of both SRP and CFRP strips resulted in a significant increase in strength (up to 92%) with respect to the strength of the initial specimen. The experimentally measured strengths were estimated analytically using both the experimental measurements of the specimen deformations and the pertinent provisions of standards from the American Concrete Institute and the European Committee for Standardization