18,192 research outputs found
On how 'middle' plus 'associative/reciprocal' became 'passive' in the Bantu A70 languages
In this paper we show that the Bantu A70 languages did not preserve the passive morpheme inherited from Proto-Bantu (PB), but developed a new suffix. It is a morpheme that is compound in origin, consisting of two verbal derivation suffixes which still function independently in today's languages as a middle marker and an associative/reciprocal marker respectively, though with variable degrees of productivity. The genesis of a passive marker from the stacking of two pre-existing suffixes is a typologically rare evolution path, but it fits in with a wider Bantu phenomenon of double verb extensions which develop non-compositional meanings. Especially double extensions involving the Proto-Bantu associative/reciprocal marker *-an- tend to develop such idiosyncratic meanings. This suffix is also one of the constituents of the Bantu A70 passive marker Nevertheless, even within Bantu, the emergence of a productive passive marker from such double extension is unique. In this paper, we argue that the notion of co-participation may account for the rising of this passive meaning out of the stacking of the common Bantu associative/reciprocal suffix to a common Bantu middle suffix. The semantic development of this compound suffix fix (and its historical constituents) happened within the semantic continuum that links reciprocals, reflexives, middles and passives in many languages of the world, but did not necessarily follow the typologically common reflexive > reciprocal > middle > passive cline
Volatiles beneath mid-ocean ridges: deep melting, channelised transport, focusing, and metasomatism
Deep-Earth volatile cycles couple the mantle with near-surface reservoirs.
Volatiles are emitted by volcanism and, in particular, from mid-ocean ridges,
which are the most prolific source of basaltic volcanism. Estimates of volatile
extraction from the asthenosphere beneath ridges typically rely on measurements
of undegassed lavas combined with simple petrogenetic models of the mean degree
of melting. Estimated volatile fluxes have large uncertainties; this is partly
due to a poor understanding of how volatiles are transported by magma in the
asthenosphere. Here, we assess the fate of mantle volatiles through numerical
simulations of melting and melt transport at mid-ocean ridges. Our simulations
are based on two-phase, magma/mantle dynamics theory coupled to idealised
thermodynamic model of mantle melting in the presence of water and carbon
dioxide. We combine simulation results with catalogued observations of all
ridge segments to estimate a range of likely volatile output from the global
mid-ocean ridge system. We thus predict global MOR crust production of 66-73
Gt/yr (22-24 km3/yr) and global volatile output of 52-110 Mt/yr, corresponding
to mantle volatile contents of 100--200~ppm. We find that volatile extraction
is limited: up to half of deep, volatile-rich melt is not focused to the axis
but is rather deposited along the LAB. As these distal melts crystallise and
fractionate, they metasomatise the base of the lithosphere, creating
rheological heterogeneity that could contribute to the seismic signature of the
LAB.Comment: 42 pages; 8 figures; 2 appendices (incl 1 table); 7 suppl. figures; 1
suppl. tabl
Motility at the origin of life: Its characterization and a model
Due to recent advances in synthetic biology and artificial life, the origin
of life is currently a hot topic of research. We review the literature and
argue that the two traditionally competing "replicator-first" and
"metabolism-first" approaches are merging into one integrated theory of
individuation and evolution. We contribute to the maturation of this more
inclusive approach by highlighting some problematic assumptions that still lead
to an impoverished conception of the phenomenon of life. In particular, we
argue that the new consensus has so far failed to consider the relevance of
intermediate timescales. We propose that an adequate theory of life must
account for the fact that all living beings are situated in at least four
distinct timescales, which are typically associated with metabolism, motility,
development, and evolution. On this view, self-movement, adaptive behavior and
morphological changes could have already been present at the origin of life. In
order to illustrate this possibility we analyze a minimal model of life-like
phenomena, namely of precarious, individuated, dissipative structures that can
be found in simple reaction-diffusion systems. Based on our analysis we suggest
that processes in intermediate timescales could have already been operative in
prebiotic systems. They may have facilitated and constrained changes occurring
in the faster- and slower-paced timescales of chemical self-individuation and
evolution by natural selection, respectively.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, Artificial Lif
HYPE with stochastic events
The process algebra HYPE was recently proposed as a fine-grained modelling
approach for capturing the behaviour of hybrid systems. In the original
proposal, each flow or influence affecting a variable is modelled separately
and the overall behaviour of the system then emerges as the composition of
these flows. The discrete behaviour of the system is captured by instantaneous
actions which might be urgent, taking effect as soon as some activation
condition is satisfied, or non-urgent meaning that they can tolerate some
(unknown) delay before happening. In this paper we refine the notion of
non-urgent actions, to make such actions governed by a probability
distribution. As a consequence of this we now give HYPE a semantics in terms of
Transition-Driven Stochastic Hybrid Automata, which are a subset of a general
class of stochastic processes termed Piecewise Deterministic Markov Processes.Comment: In Proceedings QAPL 2011, arXiv:1107.074
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