Directional adposition use in English, Swedish and Finnish

Directional adpositions such as to the left of describe where a Figure is in relation to a Ground. English and Swedish directional adpositions refer to the location of a Figure in relation to a Ground, whether both are static or in motion. In contrast, the Finnish directional adpositions edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (behind) solely describe the location of a moving Figure in relation to a moving Ground (Nikanne, 2003). When using directional adpositions, a frame of reference must be assumed for interpreting the meaning of directional adpositions. For example, the meaning of to the left of in English can be based on a relative (speaker or listener based) reference frame or an intrinsic (object based) reference frame (Levinson, 1996). When a Figure and a Ground are both in motion, it is possible for a Figure to be described as being behind or in front of the Ground, even if neither have intrinsic features. As shown by Walker (in preparation), there are good reasons to assume that in the latter case a motion based reference frame is involved. This means that if Finnish speakers would use edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (behind) more frequently in situations where both the Figure and Ground are in motion, a difference in reference frame use between Finnish on one hand and English and Swedish on the other could be expected. We asked native English, Swedish and Finnish speakers’ to select adpositions from a language specific list to describe the location of a Figure relative to a Ground when both were shown to be moving on a computer screen. We were interested in any differences between Finnish, English and Swedish speakers. All languages showed a predominant use of directional spatial adpositions referring to the lexical concepts TO THE LEFT OF, TO THE RIGHT OF, ABOVE and BELOW. There were no differences between the languages in directional adpositions use or reference frame use, including reference frame use based on motion. We conclude that despite differences in the grammars of the languages involved, and potential differences in reference frame system use, the three languages investigated encode Figure location in relation to Ground location in a similar way when both are in motion. Levinson, S. C. (1996). Frames of reference and Molyneux’s question: Crosslingiuistic evidence. In P. Bloom, M.A. Peterson, L. Nadel & M.F. Garrett (Eds.) Language and Space (pp.109-170). Massachusetts: MIT Press. Nikanne, U. (2003). How Finnish postpositions see the axis system. In E. van der Zee & J. Slack (Eds.), Representing direction in language and space. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Walker, C. (in preparation). Motion encoding in language, the use of spatial locatives in a motion context. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Lincoln, Lincoln. United Kingdo

The ALICE EMCal L1 trigger first year of operation experience

The ALICE experiment at the LHC is equipped with an electromagnetic calorimeter (EMCal) designed to enhance its capabilities for jet, photon and electron measurement. In addition, the EMCal enables triggering on jets and photons with a centrality dependent energy threshold. After its commissioning in 2010, the EMCal Level 1 (L1) trigger was officially approved for physics data taking in 2011. After describing the L1 hardware and trigger algorithms, the commissioning and the first year of running experience, both in proton and heavy ion beams, are reviewed. Additionally, the upgrades to the original L1 trigger design are detailed.Comment: Proceedings of TWEPP-12, Oxford. 10 pages, 9 figure

Feeling happy when feeling down : the effectiveness of positive mental imagery in dysphoria

Background and objectives Mental imagery can evoke strong emotional responses, but imagery perspective can influence the response, with observer perspective reducing emotionality. This is important provided that positive imagery can be an effective mood repairing strategy in healthy individuals. However, (sub-clinical) depressed individuals tend to spontaneously adopt an observer perspective. We investigated whether positive imagery would result in a similar emotional response in dysphoric and non-dysphoric individuals when instructed and trained to use field perspective imagery. Additionally, we compared the emotional response in dysphoric individuals who received instructions to dysphoric individuals who received no instructions on processing mode during positive memory recall. Methods Dysphoric and non-dysphoric individuals completed a mood induction procedure imagining positive or neutral memories. They received instructions and practice in the use of field perspective imagery. An additional control group of dysphoric individuals recalled positive memories without receiving instructions on processing mode. Results Dysphoric and non-dysphoric individuals who received instructions on field perspective imagery reported similar use of field and observer perspective imagery, and a similar positive emotional response. Dysphoric individuals who did not receive specific instructions, as compared to those who did, reported greater use of observer perspective and lower levels of positive affect afterwards. Limitations A dysphoric sample limits generalization to clinically depressed individuals, although these individuals are at risk for developing depression. However, mental imagery used in relapse prevention is likely targeting sub-clinical populations. Conclusions Providing practice in field perspective imagery could potentially improve the effectiveness of positive memory recall as a mood repair strategy in (sub-clinically) depressed individuals, and may therefore have important therapeutic benefits.</p