Third Person References: Forms and Functions in Two Spoken Genres of Spanish

This volume, a case study on the grammar of third person references in two genres of spoken Ecuadorian Spanish, examines from a discourse-analytic perspective how genre affects linguistic patterns and how researchers can look for and interpret genre effects. This marks a timely contribution to corpus linguistics, as many linguists are choosing to work with empirical data. Corpus based approaches have many advantages and are useful in the comparison of different languages as well as varieties of the same language, but what is often overlooked in such comparisons is the genre of language under examination. As this case study shows, genre is an important factor in interpreting patterns and distributions of forms. The book also contributes toward theories of anaphora, referentiality and Preferred Argument Structure. It is relevant for scholars who work with referentiality, genre differences, third person references, and interactional linguistics, as well as those interested in Spanish morphosyntax. [From the Publisher]https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1096/thumbnail.jp

Vector control for the chikungunya disease: chemical control versus biological control: a mathematical point of view.

The aim of this talk is to present recent investigations on the Chikungunya Disease that hitted Réunion Island, a French territory in Indian Ocean, in 2005 and 2006. Chikungunya is a vectorborne Disease, usually localized in Asia and East-Africa. In 2005, it was the first time that a developed country was affected by this virus. In July 2007, a small outbreak raised in Italy, indicating that the South of Europe is potentialy threatened. In recent works, we have proposed and studied a mathematical model to explain the outbreak of 2005 and possible links with the explosive epidemic of 2006. We also have focused our study in the comparison on different mosquito control tools (adulticide, larvicide, and mechanical control), in order to know if it would have been possible to contain or to stop the epidemic of 2006. Recently, a new project has began to check the feasability of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) as a tool for vector-control in Réunion Island. After a short review on the Chikungunya virus, its principal Vector, Aedes albopictus, and recent biological results, we will present the mathematical models developed to assess the efficacy of the vector-control tools used in Réunion Island. We will introduce the SIT project, provide some recent results, and compare them to the previous ones. Finally, we will end the presentation with some prospective works. (Texte intégral

Imagining Modernity: Kant's Wager on Possibility

In the introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason (2nd edition), Kant claims that a transcendental cognition is a one ‘that is occupied not so much with objects but rather with our mode of cognition of objects insofar as is this ought to be possible a priori (a priori möglich sein soll)’. In this paper, I argue that Kant scholarship should take into account the specific signification of the term ‘sollen’, which might require us to reconsider the usual distinction between the system of freedom and the system of nature. Following a Fichtean perspective, I will try to show that, even if ‘sollen’ in this context does not refer to a duty in the strict sense, it does refer to the demand that transcendental philosophy itself be possible. I will argue that this demand is contingent at its very origin and, accordingly, expresses a particular kind of ‘freedom’. On this basis I will consider the tribunal of reason enacted in the Critique of Pure Reason as a tribunal that emerges from a free decision, in which the transcendental philosopher imagines its own possibility. Because it is a ‘free’ and ‘contingent’ tribunal, it cannot exceed the status of a problematic philosophical strategy

Another Look at the Present Perfect in an Andean Variety of Spanish: Grammaticalization and Evidentiality in Quiteño Spanish

The existence of an extensive body of literature on the Present Perfect (PP), both Spanish-specific (cf. Alarcos Llorach 1947, Copple 2011, Escobar 1997, Gili Gaya 1972, Howe 2013, Rodríguez Louro 2009, Schwenter 1994, Schwenter & Torres Cacoullos 2008, inter alia) and cross-linguistic studies (cf. Bybee, Perkins, & Pagliuca, 1994, Comrie 1976 Harris, 1982, Squartini & Bertinetto 2000, inter alia), attests to the complexity of accurately describing the uses, meanings and functions of the PP. Among the studies of the PP in Spanish, two main approaches are employed. In one approach, the grammaticalization, analysis of temporal and aspectual uses of the PP are emphasized, and the PP is often examined in relation to the Preterit (Pret) (cf. Copple 2009, 2011, Hernández 2004, Howe & Schwenter 2003, Jara Yupanqui 2006, Rodríguez Louro & Howe 2010, Rodríguez Louro & Jara Yupanqui 2011, Schwenter 1994, Schwenter & Torres Cacoullos 2008, Serrano 1994, 1996, inter alia). Another approach focuses on non-temporal and non-aspectual uses of the PP, with particular attention to contact situations that appear to have produced innovative evidential uses of the PP (cf. Escobar 1997, Klee & Ocampo 1995, Mendoza 1991, Rojas-Sosa 2008, Stratford 1991, inter alia). The specific goals of this paper are to situate the grammaticalization of the Quiteño PP in relation to that of other varieties of Spanish, and to quantitatively test claims that the PP in this variety has acquired evidential meaning. [excerpt

Implementation and validation of the LHC SUSY searches with MadAnalysis 5

Separate, validated implementations of the ATLAS and CMS new physics analyses are necessary to fully exploit the potential of these searches. To this end, we use MadAnalysis 5, a public framework for collider phenomenology. In this talk, we present recent developments of MadAnalysis 5, as well as a new public database of reimplemented LHC analyses. The validation of one ATLAS and one CMS search for supersymmetry, present in the database, is also summarized.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Presented at the The Second Annual Conference on Large Hadron Collider Physics (LHCP 2014), New York, U.S.A, June 2-7, 2014. To appear in the proceeding

Chikungunya: an unusual vector-borne disease. Overview and new research trends

Since the huge epidemic of Chikungunya in 2006 in Réunion Island and in India, and since the small outbreak in 2007 in Italy, a few Chikungunya cases were reported in september 2010 in the south-east of France, indicating that even northern and developed countries can be affected. Since the epidemic in Réunion Island, our knowledge on the Chikungunya virus and its principal vector in Réunion Island, Aedes albopictus, have increased (see [6] for instance). Chikungunya is an unusual vector-borne disease. For instance, it has been proved that the virus has a strong impact on the life-span of the infected mosquitoes [6]. After some works on the modeling of the epidemic and on the efficiency of chemical vector control tools, like adulticides and larvicides, [1, 2], a new project, the SIT-project, has began in 2009. It aims to investigate the possible use of the "Pulsed" Sterile Insect Technique (PSIT) as an alternative to insecticides, principally because mosquito can develop a resistance to insecticides and because SIT only impacts the mosquito population [3]. In particular, in [3], we show that frequent and small releases of sterile males can be efficient to control an epidemic, if it is used early after the beginning of the epidemic or as a preventive control tool. Up to now, all published models are temporal models, i.e. they don't take into account the spatial component. Based on the previous works [1, 2], we have filled this gap by considering a Patch model that takes into account population migration between some cities in Réunion Island [1]. We compute a general Basic Reproduction Number, R0;G, related to this patch model, and show that even if locally R0 is less than 1, R0;G can be greater than 1. This indicates that population displacements can globally induce an outbreak. For practical purposes, we show that vector control in some places where locally R0 is large, can be efficient to control "globally" the epidemic. Finally, following the P-SIT study, we add the spatial component in the modelling of the mosquito population, which leads to a system of non linear partial differential equations [5]. The aim is to "optimize" vector control by reducing the breeding sites or/and by using the P-SIT control. We illustrate the presentation with numerical simulations. (Texte intégral

Higgs coupling measurements and impact on the MSSM

Run I of the LHC has not revealed any sign of new physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). However, the discovery of an SM-like Higgs boson with mass around 125 GeV opens up new possibilities for probing various BSM scenarios with enlarged Higgs sectors and/or new particles affecting the loop-induced processes or opening new decay modes. We will present how we derive constraints on new physics from the Higgs measurements performed by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations. The impact of these measurements will then be assessed in the context of the general phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and in the MSSM with a light neutralino as a dark matter candidate.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Presented at the XXII. International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects (DIS 2014), Warsaw, Poland, 28 April - 2 May 2014. To appear in the proceeding

An overview on (mathematical) plant growth modelling and applications

Plants are very complex systems. If agronomic plants, like rice, maize or corn, are essential to provide food or other kind of goods, trees are also essential to preserve the carbon balance, or even to absorb carbon surplus. Despite the great importance of plants, only a small number of modellers, and applied mathematicians are involved in the modelling, the development of mathematical tools, the simulation of plant growth, and, in general, in problems related to Agronomy or Forestry. In fact, the amount of knowledges necessary to understand how a plant is growing is huge and only a multidisciplinary approach can be used to overcome the encountered di_culties. Phenomena are so complex, that even botanist, agronomists and foresters still debate how to handle them e_ciently in plant growth models, and, more important, what are the essential ingredients to take into account to obtain a realistic modeling. Indeed, if we know very precisely what is going on in photosynthesis, transpiration processes,..., we didn't yet succeed in the development of macroscopic laws, like in Physics or in Mechanics. Plant growth modelling is not only challenging from the scienti_c point of view, but is also crucial for real applications, like, for instance, improving crop yields, developing biological tools against Pest attacks, studying the impact of climate change, time evolution of rain forests,.... Thus not only plant growth modeling is challenging but its interactions with the environment too. Up to now people have used di_erent modeling for plant growth, like empirical models, geometric models, process-based models or functional and structural plant models [7].... AMAP laboratory (BotAny and coMputationAl Plant architecture) is a place where Botany, Ecophysiology, Plant Architecture, Applied Mathematics, and Computer Science are deeply connected [1]. AMAP has become World leader in Botany, in Plant Architecture [3], and, based on biological knowledges, has developed several Simulation tools, like AMAPsim: (see [2] for an overview) 1 The aim of this lecture is to show the diversity of the problems encountered in the area of plant growth modeling, through an overview on di_erent ongoing studies in AMAP. After a brief recall on some "basic" knowledges' in Botany and in Ecophysiology, I will present di_erent problems related to plant growth, root growth [4, 5], biomechanics [6], ecology, ... using discrete or continuous models. The wide diversity of problems encountered leads to very interresting mathematical problems, that deserve theoretical and numerical investigations. CIRAD is an International Centre of Agronomic Research for Developing Countries. It is based in Montpellier (France). About 800 researchers, around the world, are working in life sciences, social sciences and engineering sciences, applied to agriculture, food and rural territories. (Texte intégral