Fitting, Not Clashing! A Distributional Semantic Model of Logical Metonymy

Logical metonymy interpretation (e.g. begin the book ->writing) has received wide attention in linguistics. Experimental results have shown higher processing costs for metonymic conditions compared with non-metonymic ones ( read the book). According to a widely held interpretation, it is the type clash between the event-selecting verb and the entity-denoting object (begin the book) that triggers coercion mechanisms and leads to additional processing effort. We propose an alternative explanation and argue that the extra processing effort is an effect of thematic fit. This is a more economical hypothesis that does not need to postulate a separate type clash mechanism: entity-denoting objects simply have a low fit as objects of event-selecting verbs. We test linguistic datasets from psycholinguistic experiments and find that a structured distributional model of thematic fit, which does not encode any explicit argument type information, is able to replicate all significant experimental findings. This result provides evidence for a graded account of coercion phenomena in which thematic fit accounts for both the trigger of the coercion and the retrieval of the covert even

The Curious Case of Metonymic Verbs: A Distributional Characterization

Logical metonymy combines an event-selecting verb with an entity-denoting noun (e.g.,The writer began the novel), triggering a covert event interpretation (e.g., reading, writing). Experimental investigations of logical metonymy must assume a binary distinction between metonymic (i.e. event-selecting) verbs and non-metonymic verbs to establish a control condition. However, this binary distinction (whether a verb is metonymic or not) is mostly made on intuitive grounds, which introduces a potential confounding factor. We describe a corpus-based approach which characterizes verbs in terms of their behavior at the syntax-semantics interface. The model assesses the extent to which transitive verbs prefer event-denoting objects over entity-denoting objects. We then test this “eventhood” measure on psycholinguistic datasets, showing that it can distinguish not only metonymic from non-metonymic verbs, but that it can also capture more fine-grained distinctions among different classes of metonymic verbs, putting such distinctions into a new graded perspective

The Effects of High Cheese Diets on Brain Serotonin and Alcohol Consumption

Male weanling rats were placed on a nutritionally adequate casein diet and randomly assigned to one of eight groups. The first four groups were force fed alcohol for 22 days prior to the experimental phase of the study, while the last four groups had access to water only. Upon commencing the experimental phase each group was given one of the following diets: continuation of the casein diet; Cheddar; Limburger; or Roquefort cheese diets, along with the choice of alcohol and/or water. The particular cheeses were chosen for their ability to raise brain serotonin levels (62) . Alcohol consumption was measured daily among all groups. A general linear hypothesis was used to compare serotonin levels with diet, drinking status, animal, and alcohol consumption per day. Of the variables considered in the analysis, the most important variable in terms of accounting for variability in serotonin levels was diet, i.e. whether the animal was given access to a casein or cheese diet, however, it failed to reach significance (p=.08). Findings from this study suggest that serotonin levels are the result of an interaction between type of diet and total alcohol consumption, i.e., whether the animal drank alcohol throughout the entire course of the experiment, or merely had access to it during the experimental phase

Breakdown of Varvenne scaling in (AuNiPdPt)1−x_{1-x} Cux_{x} high-entropy alloys

The compositional dependence of the yield strength σ$_{y}$ has been studied for a series of polycrystalline (AuNiPdPt)$_{1-x}$Cu$_{x}$ alloys by means of compression tests. σ$_{y}$ is found to decrease linearly with increasing Cu concentration. This behaviour is in contradiction to the generalised theory for solid solution strengthening in concentrated solid solutions provided by Varvenne et al. [1]. A breakdown of the scaling behaviour is found as σy should be non-linear and slightly increasing when modifying the composition from AuNiPdPt to AuCuNiPdPt

The origin of jerky dislocation motion in high-entropy alloys

© 2022 Springer Nature Limited. Dislocations in high-entropy alloys encounter pinning during glide resulting in jerky motion. Here the authors demonstrate that the density of high local Peierls force is proportional to the critical stress required for their glide and mobility. Dislocations in single-phase concentrated random alloys, including high-entropy alloys (HEAs), repeatedly encounter pinning during glide, resulting in jerky dislocation motion. While solute-dislocation interaction is well understood in conventional alloys, the origin of individual pinning points in concentrated random alloys is a matter of debate. In this work, we investigate the origin of dislocation pinning in the CoCrFeMnNi HEA. In-situ transmission electron microscopy studies reveal wavy dislocation lines and a jagged glide motion under external loading, even though no segregation or clustering is found around Shockley partial dislocations. Atomistic simulations reproduce the jerky dislocation motion and link the repeated pinning to local fluctuations in the Peierls friction. We demonstrate that the density of high local Peierls friction is proportional to the critical stress required for dislocation glide and the dislocation mobility.11Nsciescopu

Flat Electronic Bands in Long Sequences of Rhombohedral-stacked Multilayer Graphene

The crystallographic stacking order in multilayer graphene plays an important role in determining its electronic properties. It has been predicted that a rhombohedral (ABC) stacking displays a conducting surface state with flat electronic dispersion. In such a flat band, the role of electron-electron correlation is enhanced possibly resulting in high Tc superconductivity, charge density wave or magnetic orders. Clean experimental band structure measurements of ABC stacked specimens are missing because the samples are usually too small in size. Here, we directly image the band structure of large multilayer graphene flake containing approximately 14 consecutive ABC layers. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments reveal the flat electronic bands near the K point extends by 0.13 {\AA}-1 at the Fermi level at liquid nitrogen temperature. First-principle calculations identify the electronic ground state as an antiferromagnetic state with a band gap of about 40 meV

Origins of strength and plasticity in the precious metal based High-Entropy Alloy AuCuNiPdPt

The precious metal based High-Entropy Alloy (HEA) AuCuNiPdPt crystallises in a face-centred cubic structure and is single phase without chemical ordering after homogenisation. However, a decomposition is observed after annealing at intermediate temperatures. This HEA shows extended malleability during cold work up to a logarithmic deformation degree of φ=2.42. The yield strength ranges from 820 MPa in the recrystallised state to 1170 MPa when strain hardened by cold working with a logarithmic deformation degree of φ > 0.6. This work hardening behaviour is traced back to a steep increase in dislocation density as well as in deformation twinning occurring at low strain. The microstructure and the mechanical properties of AuCuNiPdPt are assessed in detail by various methods. EBSD and TEM analyses reveal mechanical twinning as an important deformation mechanism. The high strength in the recrystallised state is evaluated and found to originate predominantly upon solid solution strengthening

Influence of microRNAs from Semen on Bovine Fertility

The objective of this study was to compare the miRNAs within sperm cells of bulls considered to have high and low fertility