The Architecture of Semantic Domains

The expression ‘semantic domain’ is a spatial metaphor. In this article, it will be argued that it also expresses a necessary notion in semantic analysis. Anything meaningful is meaningful in a ‘context’; contexts supply relevant frames for the contents of our consciousness, and they thereby allow us to draw inferences from these contents. According to the view presented, contexts are structured within distinct semantic domains, which are grounded in bodily experience, not only in a basic sense, as referring to motor activities, but in the sense of a stable articulation of our life-world as an experiencable whole. The notion of semantic domain expresses this articulation in parts, regions, sorts of conceptual and practical behavior

Analyse Sémantique des Réseaux Sociaux d'Usages et d'Opinions

International audienceNos travaux s'inscrivent dans le cadre d'une Plateforme Régionale d'In-novation dédiée au tourisme du futur. Ils visent à développer un modèle d'analyse sémantique de réseaux sociaux et d'analyse d'opinions destiné à la représentation et à la compréhension des usages territoriaux restitués via des traces numériques, ainsi qu'un système décisionnel basé sur ce modèle. Intégré au sein d'un Système d'In-formation Touristique, ce système de veille et d'analyse constitue un outil d'aide à la gouvernance et à l'identification des produits et services touristiques de demain qui contribueront à l'essor économique territorial

Metaphor, theories of concepts and biological reductionism

This thesis is an attempt to present a multidisciplinary approach to adjectival polysemy, particularly adjectival polysemy of a metaphorical type, and its underlying conceptual structure. The last ten years have clearly shown a tendency towards reducing the number of meanings and the idea of metaphor as a mechanism of concept formation has been gaining much force, influencing research in linguistics, psychology and cognitive science. Despite that fact, the long-standing tradition of analytic philosophy did not succumb to the attack. However few contentions are shared in these different fields, one is held unquestioningly by almost everyone. It is the literal-metaphorical distinction which is at the heart of both traditional philosophy and the theory of embodied realism. Drawing extensively on evidence from research on cross-modal perception, synesthesia, double-function terms in cross-cultural studies, child development, psycholinguistic experiments and experiments with brain-damaged subjects, reinterpreting the available data and analyzing in detail theories of concepts contained in cognitive linguistics, lexical semantics and informational semantics, the thesis casts doubt on the validity of the literalmetaphorical distinction, for this class of examples. It stipulates the existence of psychologically primitive concepts, which are likely to be atomic and innate, and offers a no-polysemy view of conceptual structure with implications for linguistic polysemy. It also shows the limits of biological reductionism and emphasizes the need for functional approaches to cognition. The proposed alternative is both unexpected and exciting, and may serve as a basis for bringing together empirical evidence and philosophical coherence in a non-contradictory wa

Urban Sustainability: Innovative Spaces, Vulnerabilities and Opportunities

[Abstract] The need to promote a debate among researchers from active research networks in IAPS is at the origin of this book on “Urban sustainability: Innovative spaces, vulnerabilities and opportunities”. This book is the reflection of a growing tradition of tackling issues that are central to social and political efforts to solve pressing societal and environmental problems in evermore intricate contexts of resource scarcity, growing population and urbanization, social inequality and rising emissions. Promoting research and creating the conditions for lively and effective scientific debate has been part of the mission of IAPS since its beginnings. The growing effervescence of content network is reflected in a rising number of scientific events and interesting publications, such as the book you now have in your hands. In this introduction, we will gloss over the reasons that lie behind the choice of theme, which is likely to underlie the discussions and debates throughout the next years, all over the world. The theme we have selected, and reflected in the title, makes reference to a recurring concept that is ever-present in today’s society: sustainabilit

Luxury retail brands and their consumers in emerging markets: developing mobile marketing and sustaining the brand value

Understanding an individual’s self-interests remains a challenging task for consumer marketing because brands have no direct access to individual’s inner mind in order to satisfy his or her consumption-related wants, needs and expectations. In the case of luxury brands, customer service experts only seek to maintain close relationships with wealthy and elite customers, and they cannot extend the same individualized services to mass-market consumers. Among the new middle classes in emerging markets, consumers do not have strong brand attachments, but they do have high purchasing power with regard to luxuries. To bridge this gap, mobile technology could be an ideal interface through which luxury brands could enhance interactive communication and engagement with consumers. Nevertheless, research findings have revealed major discrepancies in the adoption of technology. While luxury brands have been ‘slow’ in their adoption of such technologies, consumers have adopted mobile devices as extensions of themselves in the digital world, which greatly enrich their lifestyles. Therefore, a medium should be developed to bridge this gap. The Gearbox of Exchange is proposed to help integrate the consumer’s self-interests with those of luxury brands. Through conditional access with a mutually agreed-upon exchange value to balance privacy concerns and financial risks, the consumer might be willing to share customized information with the brands with which they trust to engage. The luxury brands will benefit from the sharing of this customized information, as they can better predict an individual’s preferences and choices. This virtual engagement will revitalize customization to activate personalized services for every individual. These mutually agreed-upon interactions will develop into a mutual interdependence, a B2B2C relationship. This bond will protect brands from severe competition. More importantly, their knowledge of customized information, which is provided through their direct access to consumers’ self-interests, will fill the black box of radical behaviourism and enhance these brands’ abilities to predict individual choices. Therefore, the knowledge generated from the Gearbox of Exchange will not be meaningless to transform consumer analysis into micro marketing

Rethinking Streets: a study of streetspace allocation metrics and street networks in London

This research investigates streetspace allocation metrics for all streets in London providing quantitative evidence about a key parameter of street design citywide. A new methodology to quantify streetspace allocation is introduced using a geocomputational approach that allows both the processing of high-resolution topographic data over a large geographic extent and enables replicability for other cities. The correlation between streetspace allocation metrics and street network centrality at distinct scales is investigated across different geographic areas. These variables are then examined using cluster analysis to identify a typology of streets based on streetspace allocation and centrality. The results provide the framework for a design scenario study of inner London applying shortest-path analysis under an active travel prioritisation perspective. Streetspace statistics for London confirm the predominance of space allocated for vehicular transport over pedestrian uses. Most streets display standard "residential" street metrics, coinciding with traditional street classification schemes. Also, this serves to demonstrate quantitatively the spatially efficient organisation of the London street system with few wider distributors and many narrower local streets. In addition, through the combined examination of the streets' allocation and configurational metrics, it is possible to identify a new sub-type of local streets. The spatial arrangement of the streets segments types follows a centre-periphery pattern: wider and higher centrality streets are clustered at the city centre and show relative larger streetspace designated to pedestrians, corresponding with higher levels of estimated activity. On a prescriptive streetspace model of Inner London, the streetspace allocation of critical pathways is modified to illustrate how strategic scale street properties affect and are affected by design scale street parameters. The fine-grain physical metrics analysed here, not only can be useful to tackle a wide range of contemporary street related questions from urban environmental quality to the adoption of new technologies but also offer alternative analytical methods for street research, planning and design

Human experience in the natural and built environment : implications for research policy and practice

22nd IAPS conference. Edited book of abstracts. 427 pp. University of Strathclyde, Sheffield and West of Scotland Publication. ISBN: 978-0-94-764988-3