Referring Expressions and Communicative Success in Task-oriented Dialogues

This paper studies lexical and structural properties of coreference chains in task-oriented dialogue and investigates their relationship with perceived and factual com-municative success. In line with previous literature, our quantitative analysis shows that lexical entrainment is the most reliable predictor of task success, among the ones we compute. But also that there is a complex relationship between these factors – for example, neither high nor low, but rather intermediate levels of lexical alignment predict high perceived and factual success

Anthropogenic Impacts as Determinants of Tropical Lake Morphology: Inferences for Strategic Conservation of Lake Wetland Biodiversity

Lakes as essential ecosystems for diverse life forms, including humans, have suffered altered morphology with adverse effects on biodiversity including amphibians and amphibious species. Thus, it is imperative for effective conservation strategies to simultaneously consider lake morphology, landscape variables, and the role of keystone species as ecosystem engineers for biodiversity preservation. Keystone species, particularly birds and large-bodied predators, i.e., crocodylians, play a critical role in maintaining the health of lake ecosystems as ecosystem engineers, bringing about large-scale changes in lake morphology and hydrology that determine the abundance and survival of other species in the ecosystem. Conservation strategies should, therefore, prioritize the protection of these keystone species and their habitats. To balance the needs of human society with the protection of lake ecosystems and their biodiversity, conservation practices must involve stakeholder engagement, including government agencies, local communities, traditional ecological knowledge, and scientists. A multidisciplinary approach, incorporating ecological, hydrological, and social factors, is considered necessary for effective lake conservation. This approach will encompass the preservation of lake biodiversity and consider important variables such as lake morphology, landscape variables, and the role of keystone species as ecosystem engineers in providing insights for strategic conservation practices

GEOELECTRIC PARAMETERS AND ELEMENTAL COMPOSITIONS OF THE TOP SOIL OF CAMP AREA, ABEOKUTA, SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA

Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) and elemental composition surveys were carried out at twenty-two (22) sites atª¤? Camp Area, Alabata Road, Abeokuta, Southwestern Nigeria. This was with a view to determining depth to water«¤??bearing zones and extent of soil contamination thereby saving residents not just the pain of recurrent losses incurred for investing in dry wells, but also not to invest in contaminated waters. The study area is underlain by associated rock suites which includes pegmatite and quartz veins. Field data obtained was modeled and interpreted to obtain the geophysical parameters of the area and delineate the groundwater potential zones. Soil samples were also collected at the 22 VES points, at depths of 10 cm and 100 cm; the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) equipment was used to obtain the geographical position of each sample point. Determination of the elemental composition of soil samples collected at the 10 cm and 100 cm depths was made using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Two heavy metals (Pb, and Cr), five major elements (K, Ca, N, P and Mg) and five trace elements (Zn, Mn, Cu, Al and Fe) were detected. It was observed that the values, representing the amount of the heavy metals, the major elements, and the trace elements were far less, mostly insignificant, at the 100 cm depth representing about the interface between the first and second layers in majority of the VES stations sampled, than at the 10 cm depth, representing the topsoil of the first layer. The implication of this is that the elements are not strictly domiciled within the area studied but may be due to runoffs as the area slopes down. Moreover, going by the values at the 100 cm depth, the elements may not be capable of percolating into the underground water zones in the area of study, and thus might not have contaminated the underground water. Thus, at the current level, the underground water can be adjudged safe for human consumption.ª¤

Nom o verb? La reflexión gramatical sobre el nombre y el verbo desde una perspectiva interlingüística en Primaria

En este artículo se presenta una investigación llevada a cabo, como un estudio de caso, con una secuencia didáctica de gramática titulada Nom o verb? (¿Nombre o verbo?), basada en el modelo Egramint. La secuencia pretende iniciar en la noción de verbo a un grupo de alumnos de 3.º de Educación Primaria y se articula mediante el contraste de los sintagmas nominales y las oraciones, con el fin de promover la reflexión metalingüística. Se presenta la secuencia didáctica y se ofrece una exploración preliminar de los resultados tras la implementación en el aula, relacionados con la enseñanza y el aprendizaje del verbo. Estos permiten realizar algunas consideraciones: atender a las formas lingüísticas desde la complejidad del uso contribuye a la mejora del uso lingüístico; el contraste interlingüístico incide en la conceptualización gramatical, y los alumnos recurren a la situación discursiva para fundamentar sus afirmaciones sobre nociones gramaticales y requieren metalenguaje para compartir sus reflexiones

Assessing the Feasibility of Removing Graffiti from Railway Vehicles Using Ultra-Freezing Air Projection

[EN] Unauthorised graffiti is a challenge in urban environments, affecting railway structures, stations, tracks, and vehicles. Inefficient cleaning methods increase the costs and downtime of railcars, limiting passenger transport. In turn, they are harmful to the operator¿s health and the environment, due to the VOCs they release. This study focuses on the feasibility of dry-ice blasting, replacing carbon dioxide with ambient air as an innovative and sustainable solution to remove graffiti from rail vehicles. Experimental tests have been carried out with 13 different aerosols, controlling the temperature (<¿80 °C), pressure (up to 3 bar), projection distance (0.5 cm) and exposure times (30¿/1¿/2¿/4¿/6¿/8¿/++). The results showed that ultra-freezing with ambient air preserved the integrity of the support materials and altered the topography, colourimetry and adhesion of the aerosols tested, achieving the total removal of one of the paints. Preliminary results suggest that ultra-freezing with ambient air could be a viable and sustainable solution for graffiti removal on railway structures, transferable to other urban environments.The authors would like to acknowledge the support received for this research from the Vice-Rectorate for Research of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (PAID-11-22), grant number PID2022-139433OB-I00, as well as the collaboration with Istobal S.A., facilitated by the ISTOBAL Chair of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). In addition, the authors would like to express their gratitude to CEICE-GVA and its grant Programme for Doctoral Studies (CIACIF/2021/404), funded by the European Union.Vega-Bosch, A.; Santamarina-Campos, V.; Bosch-Roig, P.; López-Carrillo, JA.; Dolz, V.; Sánchez Pons, M. (2024). Assessing the Feasibility of Removing Graffiti from Railway Vehicles Using Ultra-Freezing Air Projection. Applied Sciences. 14(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/app14104165141

Caractérisation physico-chimique et évaluation du risque d’eutrophisation du lac Nokoué (Bénin)

L&#8217; &#233;tude, men&#233;e sur deux (2) ans (2006 et 2007) , a permis de faire le bilan hydrologique du lac Nokou&#233; et de connaitre la qualit&#233; physico-chimique des eaux du lac en vue d&#8217;offrir les &#233;l&#233;ments de base pour une mod&#233;lisation &#233;cologique future du syst&#232;me. Les donn&#233;es historiques observ&#233;es au niveau des stations de Bonou et de S&#244; &#8211; Ava, de m&#234;me que des mesures ponctuelles des d&#233;bits &#224; l&#8217;ADCP des tributaires &#224; leurs entr&#233;es dans le lac, ont &#233;t&#233; exploit&#233;es pour r&#233;aliser ce bilan hydrologique. Les saisons (saison s&#232;che et p&#233;riode de hautes eaux) ont &#233;t&#233; prises en compte dans cette &#233;valuation. Les r&#233;sultats du bilan hydrologique montrent que le d&#233;bit moyen d&#8217;eau douce re&#231;u par le lac en p&#233;riode de hautes eaux (Ao&#251;t &#224; Octobre) est de 216 m3/s essentiellement apport&#233; par le fleuve Ou&#233;m&#233;, le plus long fleuve du B&#233;nin qui traverse le pays du nord au sud. Cette valeur tombe &#224; 49m3/s en saison s&#232;che avec 86% du d&#233;bit apport&#233; par la S&#244;. En saison s&#232;che, la S&#244; &#224; Ganvi&#233; a le taux le plus important de charge organique (53% de DBO). Pour le phosphore en saison s&#232;che le plus fort taux est obtenu au niveau du fleuve Ou&#233;m&#233; &#224; Totch&#232; (42%). En p&#233;riode de hautes eaux (Ao&#251;t &#224; Octobre) il est observ&#233; un effet de dilution des apports. En terme de charges nutritives apport&#233;es par les syst&#232;mes d&#8217;assainissement, les r&#233;sultats obtenus sont pour Cotonou et Calavi 360 kg/j &#8211;P et 840 kg/j &#8211; N et pour Ganvi&#233; 150 kg/j - P et 700 kg/j &#8211;N; les apports des &#171; Acadjas &#187; donnent 2,3 &#8211; 2,9 kg/j P et 29 &#8211; 36 kg/j N. Les principaux r&#233;sultats obtenus pour la caract&#233;risation physico &#8211; chimique se pr&#233;sentent comme suit :- une intrusion saline est tr&#232;s remarquable en saison s&#232;che, ainsi &#224; Ganvi&#233; on passe de 0 g/L en p&#233;riode de hautes eaux &#224; 2,5 g/L en saison s&#232;che ; le pH moyen varie ente 6,6 et 7,5 pour les eaux du fond du lac et entre 6,9 et 7,8 pour les eaux de surface du lac. Le pH varie tr&#232;s peu entre le fond du lac et la surface du lac ; l&#8217;&#233;valuation du risque d&#8217;eutrophisation &#224; partir de l&#8217;outil de diagnostic d&#8217;Ifremer, classe la quasi-totalit&#233; des eaux dans la zone rouge (i.e mauvaise). Les valeurs des nutriments azot&#233;s et phosphor&#233;s sont largement sup&#233;rieures aux valeurs limites indiqu&#233;es par le syst&#232;me de classification de l&#8217;Organisation de Coop&#233;ration et D&#233;veloppement Economique (OCDE). Les eaux du lac sont eutrophes. Cette eutrophisation se manifeste par la prolif&#233;ration des jacinthes d&#8217;eau. On note une &#233;volution saisonni&#232;re du syst&#232;me. Du point de vue des facteurs de contr&#244;le des jacinthes d&#8217;eau, il ressort que les nutriments contr&#244;lent le d&#233;veloppement des jacinthes lorsque la salinit&#233; n&#8217;inhibe plus la croissance des jacinthes, c&#8217;est-&#224;-dire de juillet &#224; janvier.Mots cl&#233;s: Bilan hydrologique, lac Nokou&#233;, charges polluantes, eutrophisation, jacinthe d&#8217;eau, intrusion salin

IRAS 21391+5802: The Molecular Outflow and its Exciting Source

We present centimeter and millimeter observations of gas and dust around IRAS 21391+5802, an intermediate-mass source embedded in the core of IC 1396N. Continuum observations from 3.6 cm to 1.2 mm are used to study the embedded objects and overall distribution of the dust, while molecular line observations of CO, CS, and CH3OH are used to probe the structure and chemistry of the outflows in the region. The continuum emission at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths has been resolved into three sources separated about 15 arcsec from each other, and with one of them, BIMA 2, associated with IRAS 21391+5802. The dust emission around this source shows a very extended envelope, which accounts for most of the circumstellar mass of 5.1 Msun. This source is powering a strong molecular outflow, elongated in the E--W direction, which presents a complex structure and kinematics. While at high outflow velocities the outflow is clearly bipolar, at low outflow velocities the blueshifted and redshifted emission are highly overlapping, and the strongest emission shows a V-shaped morphology. The outflow as traced by CS and CH3OH exhibits two well differentiated and clumpy lobes, with two prominent northern blueshifted and redshifted clumps. The curved shape of the clumps and the spectral shape at these positions are consistent with shocked material. In addition, CS and CH3OH are strongly enhanced toward these positions with respect to typical quiescent material abundances in other star-forming regions.Comment: 41 pages, including 11 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ (July 1); available at http://www.am.ub.es/~robert/Papers.html#las

Prise en charge communautaire des maladies de l’enfance à Madagascar : de l’espoir au dysfonctionnement

En 2014, l’UNICEF avec le Ministère de la santé publique (MINSAP) a procédé au renforcement du programme de prise en charge des maladies de l’enfance au niveau communautaire. Bien que le programme soit efficace en ce sens qu’il contribue à l’augmentation du nombre d’enfants traités et diagnostiqués, la qualité de la prise en charge n’est pas satisfaisante (42,6% des agents de santé communautaires effectuent encore des erreurs). L’objectif de cet article est d’identifier les causes de ce dysfonctionnement