Dipole evolution: perspectives for collectivity and gamma*A collisions

The transverse, spatial structure of protons is an area revealing fundamental properties of matter, and provides key input for deeper understanding of emerging collective phenomena in high energy collisions of protons, as well as collisions of heavy ions. In this paper eccentricities and eccentricity fluctuations are predicted using the dipole formulation of BFKL evolution. Furthermore, first steps are taken towards generation of fully exclusive final states of $\gamma^*$A collisions, by assessing the importance of colour fluctuations in the initial state. Such steps are crucial for the preparation of event generators for a future electron-ion collider. Due to the connection between an impact parameter picture of the proton structure, and cross sections of ep and pp collisions, the model parameters can be fully determined by fits to such quantities, leaving results as real predictions of the model.Comment: 54 pages, 20 figures, replacement corresponding to published versio

Referential metonymy: Cognitive bases and communicative functions

Referential metonymy is a variety of figurative usage wherein our apprehension of relations of contiguity (e.g. the ‘distinctive property-individual’ relation) is exploited in order to pick out a specific target referent in the communicative context: The green trousers (= man wearing green trousers) is doing the Macarena with gusto. This thesis begins by providing an in-depth theoretical treatment of referential metonymy, exploring (i) the conceptual basis of the phenomenon, and how ‘contiguity’ may best be understood; (ii) the relationship between referential metonymy and other ‘contiguity-based’ usages of language (e.g. noun-noun compounds and conversions); (iii) current theoretical approaches to metonymy, namely Bowerman’s (2019) ‘repurposing’ account and Wilson and Falkum’s (2015, 2020, forthcoming) ‘neologism’ account; (iv) both metonymically-derived nicknames (e.g. ‘Red Shirt’) and the metonymic usage of established proper names (e.g. ‘a Picasso’ = a painting by Picasso); and (v) the relationship between metonymy and ellipsis. The theoretical claims I develop are then empirically examined, with an acquisition focus. First, I present a corpus study of two young children’s spontaneous production, in a naturalistic setting, of referential metonymy and other related phenomena (noun-noun compounds, conversions, metaphor, etc.) (Eleanor: 2;6-2;12, Thomas: 2;6-3;12). Key findings include: examples of referential metonymy and contiguity-based naming from 2;6, and striking evidence of metalinguistic awareness before age four. Second, I report a series of experiments into metonymy comprehension and production in Japanese adult learners of English as an additional language. Key findings include: support for the claim that metonym is a useful ‘gap-filling’ strategy during acquisition. Finally, directions for future research are indicated; in particular, examining metonymy comprehension and production in atypical development (e.g. ASD), and systematically comparing referential metonymy with referential metaphor (e.g. ‘the helmet’ = metonymy: woman wearing a cycle helmet/metaphor: woman with a lacquered bouffant resembling a military helmet)

Sociololinguistic competence and the bilingual's adoption of phonetic variants: auditory and instrumental data from English-Arabic bilinguals

This study is an auditory and acoustic investigation of the speech production patterns developed by English-Arabic bilingual children. The subjects are three Lebanese children aged five, seven and ten, all born and raised in Yorkshire, England. Monolingual friends of the same age were chosen as controls, and the parents of all bilingual and monolingual children were also taped to obtain a detailed assessment of the sound patterns available in the subjects' environment. The study addresses the question of interaction between the bilingual's phonological systems by calling for a refinement of the notion of a `phonological system' using insights from recent phonetic and sociolinguistic work on variability in speech (e. g. Docherty, Foulkes, Tillotson, & Watt, 2002; Docherty & Foulkes, 2000; Local, 1983; Pisoni, 1997; Roberts, 1997; Scobbie, 2002). The variables under study include /1/, In, and VOT production. These were chosen due to the existence of different patterns in their production in English and Arabic that vary according to contextual and dialectal factors. Data were collected using a variety of picture-naming, story-telling, and free-play activities for the children, and reading lists, story-telling, and interviews for the adults. To control for language mode (Grosjean, 1998), the bilinguals were recorded in different language sessions with different interviewers. Results for the monolingual children and adults in this study underline the importance of including controls in any study of bilingual speech development for a better interpretation of the bilinguals' patterns. Input from the adults proved highly variable and at times conflicted with published patterns normally found in the literature for the variables under study. Results for the bilinguals show that they have developed separate sociolinguistically-appropriate production patterns for each of their languages that are on the whole similar to those of monolinguals but that also reflect the bilinguals' rich socio-phonetic repertoire. The interaction between the bilinguals' languages is mainly restricted to the bilingual mode and is a sign of their developing sociolinguistic competence

Usage Policies for Decentralised Information Processing

Owners impose usage restrictions on their information, which can be based e.g. on privacy laws, copyright law or social conventions. Often, information is processed in complex constellations without central control. In this work, we introduce technologies to formally express usage restrictions in a machine-interpretable way as so-called policies that enable the creation of decentralised systems that provide, consume and process distributed information in compliance with their usage restrictions

Primary Teachers' Understandings Of The Nature Of Science And The Purposes Of Science Education

With the introduction of the National Curriculum in English primary schools in the late 1980s, the status of science changed from discretionary option, taught to the teacher’s strengths, to mandated core subject with tightly defined curriculum. During the first few years, teachers’ initial uncertainty gave way to growing feelings of competence and confidence, which local, national and international evidence from the mid- 1990s onwards shows were not entirely misplaced. Meanwhile, however, a series of studies consistently showed apparently severe gaps in primary teachers’ science knowledge – so what was it that was changing? Teachers themselves hold the key to understanding how science has been accommodated into primary practice: this research looks at some teachers’ views of the nature of science and the purposes of teaching it, the manifestation of such views in planning and teaching; changes in views over time: and the accommodation of science teaching into their professional identities. Drawing on a 1996 pilot study, the research involves case studies of five teachers - biographical and semi-structured interviews, protocol analysis, and lesson observations, over eighteen months from early 1998, a questionnaire survey of a broader sample; and triangulation between case studies and survey. Various factors that may underlie a teacher’s view of the nature of science are proposed - scientism, naive empiricism, new-age-ism, constructivism, pragmatism, and scepticism. It is suggested that teachers’ accommodation of science into their practice can involve its structural and organisational interweaving into the fabric of their professional identities. A tentative hypothetical model is outlined, of the emergence of professional identity from an autopoietic network involving auto-biography; values; dispositions; beliefs; personal theories; self-image; knowledge of and relationships and discourse with children and colleagues; curriculum, subject and pedagogic knowledge: images of teaching and learning; the exercise of agency in practice; and reflexive connections between, and reflection upon, these

Investigating gesture in children with autism : development, input and interaction.

Early typical gesture development is characterised by deictic gestures, which gradually integrate with speech. Relatively little, however, is known about gesture development in atypical populations. This study traces in detail the pattern of gesture development in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) prior to the two word stage of language acquisition with a specific focus on development, professional and parental input, and adult-child interaction. It extends previous research by combining linguistic and psychological methodologies to provide an in-depth, detailed, longitudinal profile from different perspectives. Eight participants with ASD were recruited, aged between 2;0 and 3;6 years and were followed for up to eight months during their attendance on a first intervention programme designed to facilitate social and communication skills. The participants' vocabulary and gestural repertoire were assessed on commencement and completion of the project using the Gesture Checklist created for this study using normative data collected from fifty four typically developing children aged 6 to 24 months. During attendance on the programme the participants were recorded weekly alternating between nursery and home. The video data was analysed using micro-genetic and qualitative methods. The study found that a) development: compared to typically developing children the participants were found to be delayed in both vocabulary and gesture, corresponding to the varying impact of their respective impairments, b) input: the adults adapted their gestures to the participants, but gesture was not sensitive to the participant's developmental level, c) interaction: the adults used several different communication strategies to support the child's interaction, the -professionals showing a greater range than the parents. The study provides a more detailed and in-depth account of gesture development in children with ASD than earlier work, and extends our knowledge of gestural input and gesture in interaction, thus contributing to our wider understanding of both gesture development and its role in communication

From the Physical to the Digital Playground: Child Folklore in the COVID Era

In the fall of 2019, the places of childhood in North America became increasingly prohibited to the very populations they served. In response, children migrated more purposely to the digital playground. In this dissertation, I argue that children’s social interactions and cultural production have changed in appearance and organization within the virtual space but remain fundamentally rooted in the same folkloric traditions originally seen in the physical world. I base my argument on the premise that children’s technological practices do not occur outside of, nor are they separated from the cultural practices that occur on the physical playground, but that children’s social and cultural lives are transmediated (Terrell, 2015). Very little research has endeavoured to explore the evolution of folklore in an increasingly digital age. This dissertation attempts to ignite a re-examination of the intimate relationship between technology and folklore and shine a light on the often-overlooked digital participation of children. Using transmediated sociality theories, I argue that children’s play traditions and folklore harmoniously interact with popular culture and technology, while their online practices act as an extension of this playground folk tradition. Michel Foucault’s (1986) concept of heterotopia informs the analysis of children’s folklore from the physical to the digital playground and is the impetus for the concept of heterotopic transmediated play. The term considers the playground to be a discursive space that upsets and transforms the various spaces that converge within its boundaries, producing a form of play that is simultaneously fluid and placeless yet also stable and grounded. Folklore, as explored through the case studies of play, fandom, YouTube parodies, and TikTok dances, functions as the symbolic ‘glue’ for appropriating popular culture into play practices and children’s navigation of the digital space

Selling and collecting art in the network society: Interactions among contemporary art new media and the art market

Aquesta tesi explora i analitza les interaccions actuals entre art, nous mitjans i el mercat de l'art, i també les transformacions que es produeixen en el reconeixement de l'art digital, l'estructura del mercat de l'art i els rols de l'espectador i el col·leccionista. La tesi es divideix en tres parts. La primera part analitza les maneres en què l'art de nous mitjans s'ha definit ell mateix com un món de l'art específic, i les polèmiques que exemplifiquen la seva separació del món de l'art contemporani. La segona part analitza les motivacions i les expectatives dels artistes que treballen amb tecnologies emergents, per mitjà d'una enquesta feta per l'autor entre més de cinc-cents artistes de cinquanta països. La tercera part analitza les maneres en què l'art digital ha estat comercialitzat i els canvis recents en el mercat de l'art contemporani a internet.La presente tesis explora y analiza las interacciones actuales entre arte, nuevos medios y el mercado del arte, así como las transformaciones que se están produciendo en el reconocimiento del arte digital, la estructura del mercado del arte y los roles del espectador y el coleccionista. La tesis se divide en tres partes. La primera parte analiza las formas en que el arte de nuevos medios se ha definido a sí mismo como un mundo del arte específico, y las polémicas que ejemplifican su separación del mundo del arte contemporáneo. La segunda parte analiza las motivaciones y las expectativas de los artistas que trabajan con tecnologías emergentes, por medio de una encuesta realizada por el autor entre más de quinientos artistas de cincuenta países. La tercera parte analiza las maneras en que el arte digital ha sido comercializado y los cambios recientes en el mercado del arte contemporáneo en internet.The present dissertation explores and analyzes the current interactions among art, new media and the art market, as well as the ongoing transformations in the recognition of digital art, the structure of the market, and the role of the viewer and collector. It is divided into three parts. The first part analyzes the ways in which new media art has defined itself as a distinct art world, as well as the controversies that exemplify its separation from the mainstream contemporary art world. The second part exposes the motivations and expectations of artists working with emerging technologies by means of a survey carried out by the author among more than 500 artists from 50 countries. The third part discusses the ways in which digital art has been commercialized as well as the recent developments in the online contemporary art market