MODELLING OF CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM REGULATION

The article deals with principles of cardiovascular system regulation. The work describes physiological basis of selected regulation mechanisms such as autoregulation and baroregulation. An overview of cardiovascular system models is presented. The paper contains description of linear regulation models and also models containing nonlinear phenomenon. The article describes implementation of heart rate and vascular resistance regulation to existing model of arterial system based on the principle of electromechanical analogy. The implemented regulation model is based on baroreceptor regulation application. There are analysed characteristic properties of baroreceptor regulation such as saturation, hysteresis or step change in baroreceptor impulse rate

Gender and number in the nominal domain : an introduction

In this introduction, we provide a general overview of the properties of gender and number, two nominal grammatical categories that this special issue is devoted to. Grammatical gender and number have been studied from a variety of theoretical viewpoints and still there is no commonly established and well-defined view on the nature of the two categories. The term 'gender' is used for a range of grammatical phenomena, including noun-classification into corresponding inflection classes and syntactically conditioned rules of agreement and concord. Like grammatical gender, grammatical number can be realized through inflection on the noun and/or through the agreement that it triggers on other items. However, unlike grammatical gender, grammatical number has stable, straightforward and systematic interpretive effects, related to the quantity of the predicate denoted by the noun, and hence also of the referent when the nominal expression is referential. Number and gender are core features of nouns and make up or participate in some of the hallmark properties of natural language.En aquesta introducció, fem un repàs general de les propietats del gènere i del nombre, les dues categories nominals de què s'ocupa aquest volum monogràfic. L'estudi del gènere i del nombre gramaticals s'ha abordat des de diverses perspectives teòriques i encara no hi ha una visió generalment acceptada i ben definida de la naturalesa d'aquestes dues categories. El terme gènere s'aplica a un ventall de fenòmens gramaticals que inclouen la classificació dels noms en classes flexives i les regles sintàctiques de concordança i acord. Com passa amb el gènere gramatical, el nombre gramatical es pot realitzar mitjançant la flexió del nom i/o la concordança que força en altres elements. No obstant això, a diferència del gènere gramatical, té efectes interpretatius estables, clars i sistemàtics, relacionats amb la quantitat del predicat que denota el nom, i, per tant, també del referent quan l'expressió nominal és referencial. El nombre i el gènere són trets fonamentals els noms i constitueixen algunes de les propietats definitòries del llenguatge natural o hi contribueixen

IMPACT OF DIFFERENT HEART RATES AND ARTERIAL ELASTIC MODULI ON PULSE WAVE VELOCITY IN ARTERIAL SYSTEM MODEL

The article describes the analysis of a pulse wave propagating through arteries towards periphery. For this analysis the model of arterial system based on the electromechanical analogy was used. Using the theory of transmission lines we estimated phase and group velocity of the arterial pulse wave. Both types of velocities were compared and dispersive properties of the selected arterial segments were evaluated. Pulse wave velocity corresponding to group velocity was calculated. We performed simulations for different heart rates and for different arterial elastic moduli. An increase in the heart rate causes that phase and group velocities converge to the same values. The higher magnitude of the arterial elastic module has the impact in the form of the increase in the both types of pulse wave velocities indicating the pathological state of the arterial system – arteriosclerosis

Numberless kinds : Evidence from Russian

As is well-known from both descriptive and formally oriented literature, kind referring nominal phrases in Russian can appear in both morphologically singular and plural forms (Chierchia 1998; Doron 2003; Dayal 2004). The main contribution of this article is to argue that morphologically singular kind expressions are, in fact, numberless nominal phrases. In other words, we will argue that the best way to analyse these expressions, which we refer to as definite kinds, following the terminology of Borik & Espinal (2012, 2015), is by representing them as lacking both syntactic and semantic Number. We base our analysis on the theoretical postulate that, semantically, Number can be viewed as a Realization Operator converting properties of kinds into properties of objects, and that definite kinds do not activate such an operator whatsoever. We show how the analysis we propose for definite kinds can be extended to explain the peculiarities of the word order found in modified kind expressions in Russian.Tal com es discuteix a la bibliografia descriptiva i formal, les expressions nominals del rus que fan referència a classes poden aparèixer en singular o en plural (Chierchia 1998; Doron 2003; Dayal 2004). La contribució principal d'aquest article és argumentar que les expressions que fan referència a classe i que són morfològicament singulars són sintagmes nominals sense nombre gramatical. Dit amb altres paraules, argumentem que la millor manera d'analitzar aquestes expressions, a les quals ens referim amb el terme de classes definides, seguint la proposta terminològica de Borik i Espinal (2012, 2015), és postulant unes estructures nominals que no tenen Nombre ni sintàctic ni semàntic. Basem la nostra anàlisi en el postulat teòric que, semànticament, el Nombre és un operador que realitza propietats de classes en propietats d'objectes i que les classes definides no activen aquest operador. Mostrem de quina manera l'anàlisi que proposem per a les classes definides també permet d'explicar les peculiaritats en l'ordre de mots que trobem en rus en les expressions que fan referència a classes modificades

Comparing Tense Systems: the Primacy of the Pres/Past Opposition

A way of improving on the description of the English tense system in Reichenbach [1947] is achieved by changing its matrix 3x3 design into a 2x2x2 set up, formed by 3 basic oppositions: present vs. past synchronous vs. posterior incompleted vs. completed action The advantages of the binary system over the Reichenbachian ternary system are the following: the binary system is completely compositional; there is no tripartition between Past, Present and Future, but only the basic opposition between Past and Present remains. As we intend to show later, this is empirically supported by the Russian and Polish data; some concrete problems, for instance, the ambiguity of past perfect with temporal adverbials or more then one configuration for the same tense form [Future Perfect [will have written] or Past Future tense [would write]] do not arise. The binary system can be naturally extended to apply for the tense systems of different groups of languages. Along with Germanic, we will consider two more groups of languages: Romance [e.g., French and Spanish] and Slavic [e.g., Russian and Polish]. The binary system, we will show, has the potential to be extended in order to capture the Romance data or shrunk to account for the Slavic data. The connection between tense and aspect, especially in Slavic languages is also described in this paper. Both temporal and aspectual differences in Slavic can be essentially captured by the same mechanism provided by the binary system. Some empirical facts, like, for instance, the absence of the present tense interpretation with perfective verb forms, will fall out naturally

Social Isolation, Social and Emotional Loneliness, and Self-Reported Hearing Difficulties in Older Adults with Hearing Loss

Hearing loss is known to affect communicative ability and has been associated with poor health-related outcomes such as impaired cognition, increased risk for falls, and psychotic manifestations. Social isolation and loneliness are also widely recognized to negatively impact mental and physical health. The purpose of this systematic review is to review literature that explores a relationship between hearing loss with and/or without self-reported hearing difficulties and social isolation and social and emotional loneliness in older adults with hearing loss ranging from mild to profound. The goal is to determine whether there is a direct relationship between subjective and/or objective hearing loss and subjective and/or objective social isolation and whether social isolation and/or social and emotional loneliness plays a mediating role in poor health-related outcomes that have been associated with hearing loss. The systematic review of the literature on this topic focused on studies that satisfied specific design criteria. Only studies that assessed the relationship between hearing status and social isolation and/or loneliness among participants aged 50 years or older with perceived or measured hearing loss ranging from mild to profound met the inclusion criteria for this review. Database searches of refereed, peer-reviewed journals were conducted. Relevant search strings applied to the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied-Health Literature (CINAHL), Academic Search Premier, PubMed, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, and psycINFO databases identified studies to be included in this review. Additionally, manual searches of the references of applicable articles were also conducted. Nineteen studies met a priori criteria for inclusion in this review. A thorough qualitative assessment of the research showed that there is a strong association between hearing loss and self-perceived hearing difficulties with social isolation and loneliness in the older adult. This review concludes that there is an agreement among researchers that hearing status is associated with social isolation and loneliness. However, inconsistencies in reporting on an age and gender effect of individuals with reduced hearing abilities on social isolation and/or loneliness is observed. This observation points to a need for investigations that employ more controlled studies in order to confirm a causal effect of hearing status on social isolation and/or loneliness and how variables of age, gender, and intervention strategies mediate the above-mentioned psychosocial outcomes

Epiplooplastie médiastinale dans le traitement d’une médiastinite post chirurgie cardiaque : à propos d’un cas

Nous rapportons le cas d'un patient diabétique et obèse, opéré d'une chirurgie de revascularisation myocardique avec l'utilisation des deux artères mammaires internes comme greffon. L'intervention s'est compliquée d'une médiastinite traitée premièrement à thorax fermé et secondairement par une épiplooplastie. Cette technique reste efficace dans les médiastinites graves et délabrantes. Tout chirurgien cardiaque et digestif doit la connaitre

Aspect and Reference time

This thesis provides a theory of aspect in Russian based on the notion of Reference time. The main claim advocated in this study is that there are two types of aspect, predicational/telicity aspect and perspective or Reference time aspect. It is argued that these two types should be carefully distinguished and analyzed in fundamentally different terms. Thus, if predicational aspect concerns only the properties of a predicate, the differences in perspective are captured in terms of the relation between two temporal notions, Speech time and Reference time. The analysis of perspective aspect is developed in the framework of interval semantics and is based on the theory of Reference time proposed by Reinhart (1986, 2000). This theory allows for the unified treatment of Reference time in tense systems and discourse analysis. On this theoretical basis, it is further argued that the aspectual differences in Russian cannot be successfully accounted for in terms of predicational/telicity aspect. The aspectual opposition between perfective and imperfective in Russian is, therefore, analyzed in terms of perspective or Reference time. The definitions of perfective and imperfective aspect are derived on the basis of the following empirical observation: in Russian, sentences with perfective verb forms cannot obtain an actual present interpretation. The Reference time theory of Russian aspect maintains and formalizes one of the basic informal intuitions about (im)perfectivity, namely, that it is described in terms of the speaker s viewpoint. This study is of interest to researches concerned with semantics and pragmatics of aspect and tense and to scholars interested in the issues of Slavic linguistics

On definite kinds

In this paper we defend three hypotheses. First, all languages that have Determiners (null or overt) have definite kinds, a possibility which does not prevent languages from using other means to refer to kinds. Second, kinds are referred to by definite DPs with no Number involved. Third, the subkind interpretation is built on Number. We will provide empirical support for these hypotheses based on a contrastive analysis of two languages that show opposite strategies for marking definiteness: Spanish, a Romance language with articles, and Russian, a Slavic language with no article. We predict that definite kinds cannot combine with predicates that encode plurality, cannot trigger a generic interpretation with s-level predicates, and have an interpretation that differs from the one associated to definite plurals.Dans cet article, nous défendons trois hypothèses. Premièrement, toutes les langues qui possèdent des déterminants (nuls ou manifestes) ont des termes d’espèces définis, une possibilité qui n’empêche pas les langues de recourir à d’autres moyens pour faire référence aux espèces. Deuxièmement, les espèces sont dénotées par des DPs définis sans Nombre. Troisièmement, l’interprétation de sous-espèces se fait sur Nombre. Nous soutiendrons empiriquement ces hypothèses en nous appuyant sur l’analyse contrastive de deux langues qui mettent en œuvre des stratégies opposées pour marquer la définitude : l’espagnol, une langue romane avec articles, et le russe, une langue slave sans article. Nous faisons la prédiction que les termes d’espèces définis ne peuvent pas se combiner avec des prédicats qui encode la pluralité, ne peuvent pas déclencher une interprétation générique avec des prédicats s-level, et ont une interprétation différente de celle associée aux définis pluriels