Weak Beats Research Articles

Pulsus Alternans: Caught in Action.

Pulsus alternans describes an arterial pulse waveform that shows alternating strong and weak beats despite a regular rhythm. Either discovered during physical examination or catheterization, pulsus alternans indicates severe left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and poor prognosis. There has been considerable debate about the underlying mechanism. We present a tracing which depicts a classic example of pulsus alternans and gives some clues about its initiation mechanism.

High-Resolution Tissue Doppler and Strain Imaging for Adult Zebrafish Myocardial Tissue Through Ultrafast High-Frequency Ultrasound Vector Doppler Estimation.

Zebrafish has been considered as an essential small-animal model for investigating the mechanism of heart regeneration. Due to the small size of zebrafish heart, high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) imaging is often required for in vivo evaluations of its dynamic functions. Although commercial HFUS systems are available for myocardial velocity and strain measurement, only the outer myocardial region can be quantified due to the complex structure of zebrafish heart. In this study, a high-resolution 2-D myocardial tissue Doppler and strain imaging based on ultrafast HFUS imaging was developed for zebrafish heart imaging during heart regeneration. The cardiac flow region was first extracted to recognize the myocardial region, and the myocardial velocity and strain were then determined through vector Doppler estimation. Adult AB-line zebrafish was used for in vivo experiments, and cryoinjury was induced in the apical region of the heart. Both the myocardial velocity and strain of the whole ventricle after cryoinjury were directly visualized over 28 days. Myocardial velocity (during later diastolic motion) and strain, respectively, were significantly decreased (anterior wall: -2.0 mm/s and -3.3%; apical region: -2.0 mm/s and -4.5%; and posterior wall (PW): -1.7 mm/s and -4.3%) at the first three days after cryoinjury, which indicates weak myocardial beating due to heart injury. However, these all returned to the baseline values at 14 days after cryoinjury. All of the experimental results indicate that the proposed method is a useful tool for heart regeneration studies in adult zebrafish. In particular, it allows for the noninvasive evaluation of regional dynamic heart function.

Ultra-stretchable and anti-freezing ionic conductive hydrogels as high performance strain sensors and flexible triboelectric nanogenerator in extreme environments

Conductive hydrogels have shown promising applications in a variety of portable smart wearable electronics and flexible sensors due to their high flexibility, stretchability, adjustable mechanical properties and excellent electrical conductivity. However, most of the current hydrogel-based flexible strain sensors and portable triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) generally suffer from low stretchability/flexibility, poor mechanical properties, weak low-temperature tolerance and low power output. Herein, a multifunctional ionic conductive hydrogel (PPAVC-BA) with ultra-stretchability (∼1750%), high transparency (85%), high electrical conductivity (13.7 mS/cm), and outstanding anti-freezing properties (below −80°C without freezing). The strain sensor assembled from the PPAVC-BA hydrogel shows high sensitivity (GF=4.43) and ultra-wide sensing detection range (0%-1100%) as well as fast response time. Based on these properties, the PPAVC-BA hydrogel strain sensor can accurately recognize different joint movements of the human body as well as weak muscle beats. In addition, the PPAVC-BA hydrogel-based TENG (PPAVC-BA-TENG) exhibits excellent electrical output performance, with an open circuit voltage (Voc) of about 420 V, a short circuit current (Isc) of 23 μA, a short-circuit transfer charge (Qsc) of 112 nC and a maximum power density of 2246.03 mW/m2, which allows it to power small electronic devices. This PPAVC-BA-TENG also shows outstanding tensile performance and can output stable electrical signals at 200% strain. Impressively, the PPAVC-BA-TENG exhibits good electrical output performance even at low temperature of −50°C and high temperature of 80°C. The flexible strain sensors and stretchable TENG for high performance and multifunctionality reported in this work provide viable references in the development of motion detection, energy harvesting and self-powered electronic devices.

Probing Beat Perception with Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) in Human Adults, Newborns, and Nonhuman Primates.

The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of how the perception of rhythmic temporal regularity such as a regular beat in music can be studied in human adults, human newborns, and nonhuman primates using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). First, we discuss different aspects of temporal structure in general, and musical rhythm in particular, and we discuss the possible mechanisms underlying the perception of regularity (e.g., a beat) in rhythm. Additionally, we highlight the importance of dissociating beat perception from the perception of other types of structure in rhythm, such as predictable sequences of temporal intervals, ordinal structure, and rhythmic grouping. In the second section of the chapter, we start with a discussion of auditory ERPs elicited by infrequent and frequent sounds: ERP responses to regularity violations, such as mismatch negativity (MMN), N2b, and P3, as well as early sensory responses to sounds, such as P1 and N1, have been shown to be instrumental in probing beat perception. Subsequently, we discuss how beat perception can be probed by comparing ERP responses to sounds in regular and irregular sequences, and by comparing ERP responses to sounds in different metrical positions in a rhythm, such as on and off the beat or on strong and weak beats. Finally, we will discuss previous research that has used the aforementioned ERPs and paradigms to study beat perception in human adults, human newborns, and nonhuman primates. In doing so, we consider the possible pitfalls and prospects of the technique, as well as future perspectives.

Weak beat frequency extraction method for photon Doppler signal with low signal-to-noise ratio

Abstract In the window function spectrum of the low signal-to-noise ratio photon Doppler signal after the short-time Fourier transform, the weak beat frequency cannot be obtained by extracting the maximum amplitude spectrum frequency of each window because the amplitude of the noise spectrum exceeds the weak beat frequency. In this article, the value of the beat frequency is first estimated by the Kalman filter. Then, a multiple analytical bandpass filter is constructed to refine the spectrum of the high noise signal with the value of the beat frequency estimate as the spectrum band center. This technique extracts only the beat frequencies from the narrowband refinement spectrum by removing the interference spectrum band range. We use this technique to process the photon Doppler signals from the tiny high-speed flying fragments explosion experiment. After data processing, the beat frequency value heavily affected by high-frequency noise can reduce the error by up to 64.9%. The beat frequency value of the low noise signal can be accurate to 106 Hz, equivalent to 0.775 m/s after velocity demodulation. This method fully considers the positioning and protection of the beat frequency characteristics. It makes weak beat frequencies more obvious in the refined narrowband spectrum without changing the signal amplitude. This article describes a method for extracting the weak beat frequency of the photon Doppler signal or a signal optimization algorithm for needing high-precision beat frequencies in a test environment.

Musical Phenomenon in the Traditional Art of Alee Tunjang in Aceh

Alee Tunjang is an art form originating from North Aceh Regency that consists of melodic and rhythmic music elements. The form of this art instrument is in the form of vocals that chant verses, and mortar beaten by alu/alee in the form of percussion rhythms with six sound colors. These two types of musical instruments form a distinctive musical fabric in the presentation of the performance, where melodic and rhythmic instruments are played not only as the main melody and melodic musical accompaniment, but the two elements become inseparable, as evidenced by the musical fills of Alee Tunjang that alternate and complement each other. The purpose of this research is to analyze the musical phenomena found in the art of Alee Tunjang. The method in this research uses a qualitative approach, with data collection techniques: literature review, observation, interview, and documentation. Alee Tunjang's music is divided into three sections, namely: Saleum, Kisah, and Lani, which consists of one vocal player and five lesung players, each with a constant rhythm and repetition. The tempo and rhythm are similar in all parts of the Alee Tunjang song/chapter. The difference in rhythm and cadence is found in the lesung 4th instrument which plays the tung sound color by playing a pattern on a different weak beat in each part of the song/chapter of Alee Tunjang.

Exploring the characteristics of folk music tunes based on data mining model

Abstract In this paper, during the design process, some sample data are first extracted, and the distance between data is calculated to obtain the symmetric distance matrix along the diagonal. The model mutual information quantity is introduced, and the homogenization factor is detected after weight calculation. Next, analyze the rule weights based on the normalized mutual information quantity and use information entropy to identify abnormal data. Finally, find the minimum set with frequent item set and mine the fuzzy association rules. To verify the feasibility of the model, the results of exploring the characteristics of ethnic music tunes show that the neutral tone color is thin and the ethnic music melody line is soft in tune when the long and short melody lines are 9% and 12%, respectively. The number of strong and weak beats in the beat is 2-7 times, mixed with 2/4 and 3/8 beats alternately, and the musical tune is regular. The third-order interaction of wave amplitude variance is significant, and the two media of CD and phonograph help listeners understand and remember the music. Based on this, the digital model can improve the reproduction effect of folk music and can objectively target the transmission of folk music with national cultural characteristics.

Design of Midi Drum Controller Using Piezoelectric and Arduino-Based TCRT5000 Sensor to Facilitate Sound Engineer Performance in the Music Industry

This study discusses the Midi Drum Controller using the Arduino Mega which has many analog pins making it suitable for producing complete drum pads as well as piezoelectricity which is used to detect vibrations when the drum pad is beaten, as well as the Tcrt5000 sensor which is used to control the hi-hat so that it can move. from the sound of an open hi-hat to a closed hi-hat. The results of this study indicate that piezoelectricity can detect vibrations and dynamics of strong and weak drum beats and send the game to midi-based virtual drum applications. The Tcrt5000 sensor used can also work well, judging by the sound it produces and the data sent when the Tcrt5000 sensor is on and off.

Rethinking the Metre of Parzival: Iambic Verse for a Trochaic Language

AbstractThe Middle High German (MHG) prosodic foot is uncontroversially considered to be trochaic, a fact which has traditionally led scholars to assume a preference for trochaic metre in poetry of the MHG Classical Period. However, given the trend elsewhere in mediaeval Europe (even in trochaic languages) to emulate French lyrics and compose verse in iambic metre, the uncritical assumption of a trochaic metre in all MHG poetry seems inadequate. A close examination of Parzival, an early thirteenth‐century grail romance by Wolfram von Eschenbach, suggests that the traditional analysis is not only insufficient but counter to the linguistic evidence. This paper argues for the first time that Parzival was in fact composed in iambic tetrameter, based on a close analysis of the rhythmic alternations within lines and the quantity and foot structure of line‐final syllables. Halle & Keyser's (1966) principles for iambic metre were used to produce a taxonomy of possible line structures in Parzival and the dominance of the wswswsws pattern, beginning on a weak beat and ending on a strong, offers convincing evidence in favour of iambic metre. The remaining lines can be neatly categorised as iambic by allowing feminine rhyme (with an extrametrical schwa syllable) or the construction of monosyllabic feet from a single heavy syllable. This analysis is further corroborated by the consistently iambic structure of line‐final feet, as well as the foot structures avoided by the poet, identified according to the weight of the final, penultimate and antepenultimate syllables. The present analysis has the advantage of explaining the various patterns of alternating prominence in the metre of Parzival much more consistently than the complex system advocated by the traditional literary view.

Meter without rhythmic pattern repetitions increases pre-attentive processing

Processing musical meter—the organization of time into regular cycles of strong and weak beats—requires abstraction from the varying rhythmic surface. Several studies have investigated whether meter processing requires attention, or if it can be both pre-attentive and attentive. While findings on temporal expectation (processing meter per se) indicate benefits of attention, studies on meter processing in complex, dual-task contexts (meter used for temporal orientation) consistently report pre-attentive processing. Also, while surface-based approaches to meter (meter aided by pattern repetition) show some benefits of attention, structural approaches (meter not aided by pattern repetition, increased complexity) find pre-attentive-only processing. Therefore, in the present study, we hypothesized that pre-attentive processing increases with cognitive load, and we compared surface with structural meter processing. Supporting our hypothesis, we saw improved behavioral performance for surface meter, as well as electroencephalogram (EEG) evidence that structural meter elicits pre-attentive processing while surface meter does not. Our findings highlight the need for increased awareness in approaches to meter processing and support the idea that increased cognitive demand may recruit pre-attentive processing of temporal structure. At the practical level, our findings suggest that focusing listeners’ attention on meter, for example, when practicing dance, may not increase their understanding of meter structure.

The French Reception of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Belated Consecration

The French Reception of <i>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</i>: A Belated Consecration

Isolated tricuspid regurgitation alternans in acute myocardial infarction: A rare entity

Pulsus alternans is characterized by alternating strong and weak beats, and occurs with failing hearts. Left ventricular pulsus alternans is known to occur with ischemic heart disease, valvular heart disease, and outflow tract obstructions. Isolated right ventricular (RV) pulsus alternans is a rare entity. We report the case of a 51-year-old male patient who presented with inferior wall myocardial infarction and cardiogenic shock. He was diagnosed to have an isolated tricuspid regurgitation alternans signifying severe RV dysfunction. The patient was resuscitated and treated with primary percutaneous intervention to the right coronary artery. We also review the literature associated with RV pulsus alternans and its mechanisms.

Cardiac Alternans Occurs through the Synergy of Voltage- and Calcium-Dependent Mechanisms.

Cardiac alternans is characterized by alternating weak and strong beats of the heart. This signaling at the cellular level may appear as alternating long and short action potentials (APs) that occur in synchrony with alternating large and small calcium transients, respectively. Previous studies have suggested that alternans manifests itself through either a voltage dependent mechanism based upon action potential restitution or as a calcium dependent mechanism based on refractoriness of calcium release. We use a novel model of cardiac excitation-contraction (EC) coupling in the rat ventricular myocyte that includes 20,000 calcium release units (CRU) each with 49 ryanodine receptors (RyR2s) and 7 L-type calcium channels that are all stochastically gated. The model suggests that at the cellular level in the case of alternans produced by rapid pacing, the mechanism requires a synergy of voltage- and calcium-dependent mechanisms. The rapid pacing reduces AP duration and magnitude reducing the number of L-type calcium channels activating individual CRUs during each AP and thus increases the population of CRUs that can be recruited stochastically. Elevated myoplasmic and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium, [Ca2+]myo and [Ca2+]SR respectively, increases ryanodine receptor open probability (Po) according to our model used in this simulation and this increased the probability of activating additional CRUs. A CRU that opens in one beat is less likely to open the subsequent beat due to refractoriness caused by incomplete refilling of the junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum (jSR). Furthermore, the model includes estimates of changes in Na+ fluxes and [Na+]i and thus provides insight into how changes in electrical activity, [Na+]i and sodium-calcium exchanger activity can modulate alternans. The model thus tracks critical elements that can account for rate-dependent changes in [Na+]i and [Ca2+]myo and how they contribute to the generation of Ca2+ signaling alternans in the heart.

Bright vowels are favoured on weak beats in popular music lyrics

A previous study showed that ‘bright’ vowels (i.e. front vowels, which have higher second formants) are favoured for on-beat words in hip-hop music. Here we partially replicated these findings in a more diverse sample of pop songs from the Rolling Stone Corpus. Stressed monosyllables were classified by their vowel’s place of articulation and their metric position. Bright vowels were 9–13% more likely on weak (but not strong) beats and metric positions immediately surrounding than other metric positions. Favouring bright vowels on and surrounding weak beats may mitigate masking by the snare drum, which typically plays on weak beats.

Wearable Strain Sensor Based on Double‐Layer Graphene Fabrics for Real‐Time, Continuous Acquirement of Human Pulse Signal in Daily Activities

AbstractReal‐time, continuous acquirement of human pulse signal in daily activity has important clinical significance for cardiovascular disease diagnosis and healthcare system. Here, a wearable strain sensor is developed based on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) fabrics/foam tape/rGO fabrics structure to realize this goal. The wearable device is designed and fabricated with two‐layered rGO fabrics: the lower rGO fabrics that can directly attach to the skin surface acquire the superposition signal of the human daily activity and pulse, while the upper rGO fabrics can only acquire human daily activity signal because the foam substrate between the two rGO fabrics components can preclude the response of the upper rGO film to the weak pulse beat. Through comparing two signal modules, the human daily activity signal of the superposition signal can be marked and further eliminated by band‐pass filter method and the pulse signal in daily activity can be obtained. This wearable sensor displays capability to monitor human pulse signal during various daily activities, including index finger bending, middle finger bending, wrist flexion and extension, fist clenching and continuous finger flexion with different rates, thus providing a promising solution to monitor human pulse in daily activity.

An Initial Investigation of the Responsiveness of Temporal Gait Asymmetry to Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation and the Relationship to Rhythm Ability Following Stroke.

Temporal gait asymmetry (TGA) is a persistent post-stroke gait deficit. Compared to conventional gait training techniques, rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS; i.e., walking to a metronome) has demonstrated positive effects on post-stroke TGA. Responsiveness of TGA to RAS may be related to several factors including motor impairment, time post-stroke, and individual rhythm abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between rhythm abilities and responsiveness of TGA when walking to RAS. Assessed using behavioral tests of beat perception and production, participants with post-stroke TGA (measured as single limb support time ratio) were categorized according to rhythm ability (as strong or weak beat perceivers/producers). We assessed change in TGA between walking without cues (baseline) and walking while synchronizing footsteps with metronome cues. Most individuals with stroke were able to maintain or improve TGA with a single session of RAS. Within-group analyses revealed a difference between strong and weak rhythm ability groups. Strong beat perceivers and producers showed significant reduction (improvement) in TGA with the metronome. Those with weak ability did not and exhibited high variability in the TGA response to metronome. Moreover, individuals who worsened in TGA when walking to metronome had poorer beat production scores than those who did not change in TGA. However, no interaction between TGA improvement when walking to metronome and rhythm perception or production ability was found. While responsiveness of TGA to RAS did not significantly differ based on strength of rhythm abilities, these preliminary findings highlight rhythm ability as a potential consideration when treating post-stroke individuals with rhythm-based treatments.

Zero-field spin splitting in AlInN/GaN heterostructures

GaN-based heterostructures are of technical interest in spintronic applications. This paper reports the study of the magnetotransport properties of AlInN/GaN heterostructures with the indium composition of 17%. The quantum Hall effect is observed at low temperatures, accompanied by the Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations of the longitudinal magnetoresistance. In the SdH oscillations, weak beating patterns appear up at high magnetic field, which is indicative of the presence of the zero-field spin splitting. Together with the beating patterns, the weak antilocalization effect is also observed. From this effect, the dephasing rate and the spin–orbit scattering time are extracted. From the extracted spin–orbit scattering time, we obtained a spin–orbit coupling parameter of α=8.6×10−13 eV m, comparable to the reported values in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. This suggests that AlInN/GaN heterostructures provides an alternative to AlGaN/GaN heterostructures for spintronic applications.

Символизм Андрея Белого в эпоху джаза – контрапункты двух философий (на примере «Котика Летаева»)

ABSTRACTThe connection between jazz philosophy, pre-jazz genres and Belyj’s creational method is analyzed in this paper through cultural-historical, comparative and mythopoetic methods. The tunes of jazz predecessors (spirituals, blues, ragtime, working songs) had started to spread in Russian since the beginning of the 20th century. Andrej Belyj also could have become acquainted with jazz culture in Europe during his frequent journeys. The most prominent features of jazz are difficult rhythms originated in African drums playing style, the influence of European musical harmony, but at the same time dedication to dissonances, accents on weak beats, “blue mood,” “call-and-response pattern,” scat, falsetto break from working songs and many others. The novel Kotik Letaev could be called the most jazz-inspiring work of the author. Despite the fact that this novel has been created at the dawn of “jazz era,” there are a lot of features that connect this work to jazz philosophy. Belyj sensed the mood of his time, the jazz pulsation of the century. Returning to the ancient African drums rhythm in jazz has its reflection in Belyj’s novel through the resurrection of the myth, remembering the “inner form” of words which was used by the first speaking man on the Earth, rebirth of the word through the child speech. Kotik Letaev is rhythmically complex text decorated with alliteration – the scat analogy.Every character in Kotik Letaev has their own melody and musical voice. “Blue mood” is also a prominent feature in this novel: fear and anxiety (“blue tonality”) govern the text. It could be attributed to Kotik Letaev’s feeling of dread after the escape from the chaotic pre-existence and his attempts to find his place in new cosmos. The main elements of the novel’s inner structure are dissonance and ambivalence. Improvisation in word, sound and symbol creation is used in the novel, which also reminds us about jazz intention to overcome any previous boundaries in music in order to express inexpressible.

Graphic signs in musical texts by Johannes Brahms

The relevance of the chosen problem is determined by the lack in the scientific sources of any approach to graphic signs as a system of units of musical text, which reflects its content, and wider – serves as indicator of the individual style properties of the author of the musical work. The purpose of the article is to reveal with specific reference of certain conditions in which the communication of the composer and the performer is carried out by means of understanding the functional and semantic content of graphic signs. The choice of research methods are determined by the existing approaches to reading of the graphic signs and their role in the interpretation process. In this regard we involve the materials of the works of D. Blagoy, A. Sokol, S. Feinberg, M. Venable. Analytical observations concerning disclosure of the functional and semantic meaning of the studied phenomena became the results of the research. The conclusions propose classification of graphic signs in accordance with the purpose of their use by composer. Two groups of graphic signs are identified: slurs and dynamic signs («&lt;» and «&gt;»), which contain information about the structural and procedural principles of the musical text organization. The interaction of graphic signs with pitch and rhythmic ones has been discovered. In the contextual field of J. Brahms’ piano pieces, graphic signs are intended to warn interpreters against approach to the musical text from the point of view of the usual representations, limited to such considerations as the natural attraction to the reference tones or a strong proportion of tact. The logic of the musical process within a single theme or a phrase may be subject to other laws in Brahms’ musical texts, which are conditioned by the movement of the interior meaning. Thanks to graphic signs, the rhythmic structure of the theme reveals certain measure of freedom due to alternating strong and weak beats, and in the texture – certain temporary independence of voices in relation to each other. Thus, graphic signs in J. Brahms’ piano pieces are not additional, but decisive factors in many ways for understanding of the composer’s thought, which allows us to see in them some special form of manifestation of the author’s stylistic properties.

RHYTHM IN MONOLOGUE VIDEO BY CHARLIE CHAPLIN

The aim of this article is to know about the rhythm of the monologue video by the dialogue of Charlie Chaplin. Rhythm is a characteristic sound that have a strong beat and a weak beat, the writers will try to proof whether it can imitated well or can not imitated well by some of foreign learners. The writers will make a transcript of a dialogue in the last part of the movie The Great Dictator, and as a foreign learner, the writers will try to imitated Charlie Chaplin by watching and listening the character sound that Charlie Chaplin has. The last, the writers will discus the result to find where is the beat that hard to imitated or which the dialogue that hard or easy to imitated. The method of this article is using a qualitative method because this article is about non-numerical language and also focus on analyzing the data.