THE ANALYSIS OF NON-LITERAL MEANING IN CHRISTMAS CAROL BY CHARLES DICKENS

This study investigates non-literal meaning in ‘Christmas Carol’ story written by a famous British author, Charles Dickens. This study used a descriptive qualitative method. The data were taken or collected from words, phrases, and sentences on ‘Christmas Carol’ novella, without reducing, adding, or changing any parts from the original source.  The data were analyzed to answer three research questions: (1) What types of non-literal meaning are found in Christmas Carol story? (2) What are the interpretations of those non-literal meanings found in Christmas Carol story? (3) What is the most dominant type of non-literal meaning found in Christmas Carol story? In order to avoid bias, validator triangulation was used. The study found 11 idiom, 14 Simile, 6 Hyperbole, 6 Alliteration, 5 Personification, 3 Anaphora, 3 Onomatopoeia, 2 Irony, 2 Synecdoche, 2 Sarcasm, 1 Metaphor, and 1 Litotes. Simile was the non-literal meaning’s type which was mostly used in the story, although the percentage was still less than 50%. These findings indirectly could help the readers to understand deeper the message or the story that the author wants to convey. It is suggested for future researchers to investigate the non-literal meaning of others literary works such as tale, folklore, fairy tale, short-story, fable, etc. and media such as movie, drama, speech script etc. It is because other type of non-literal meaning and different ways of using them could be found in these literary works and media. This study will improve our understanding about non-literal meaning.     Keywords: Semantics, Non-Literal meaning, Christmas Carol, Novella, Charles Dicken

A Compreensão De Silogismos Em Crianças

Research has shown that the comparatively poorlevels of performance observed among children and adults in syllogisticproblems are attributable not to a lack of reasoning competence,but are related to the content of the premises, as well as tothe different forms of syllogistic problems. In this study subjectsfrom 7 to 14 years of age were more accurate in dealing withproblems with content that agreed with their everyday experience,than with that which contradicted it. Children performed muchworse on problems involving invalid inferences (Affirmation ofConsequent and Denial of Antecedent) than on problems involvingvalid inferences (Modus Ponens and Modus Tollens), replicatingDias (1987) findings among adultsRESUMO - Pesquisas tem demonstrado que os baixos níveis de desempenho encontrados entre crianças e adultos em problemas silogísticos são devidos não à falta de competência em raciocinar, porém aos conteúdos das premisas como também às diferentes formas de silogismos. No presente estudo, sujeitos de 7 a 14 anos de idade obtiveram melhores resultados nos problemas que envolviam fatos que concordavam com suas experiências diárias do que com os fatos que contradiziam estas experiências. Nos problemas envolvendo inferências inválidas (Afirmação do Conseqüente e Negação do Antecedente) o desempenho das crianças foi muito inferior ao alcançado nos problemas que envolviam inferências válidas (Modus Ponens e Modus Tollens), replicando os resultados encontrados por Dias (1987) entre adultos

A COMPREENSÃO DE CONCEITOS SOCIAIS E MORAIS EM CRIANÇAS DE ORFANATOS

Turiel (1983) argues that moral and social rules aredistinct domains with different courses of development and universallystable at a very early age. However, this distinction was not found in Diasand Harris (1990) among children from different SES families. Five-year-oldchildren from Orphanages accepted moral and conventional violations as empirically true. Thus, with the aim to evaluate the existence of anevolution of the rules, we presented 7-year-olds from Orphanages with thesame syllogistic problems that convene either moral or conventional rulesand the same probe questions used in the previous study, and wecompared their results with those found in the present study.Seven-year-olds also did not distinguish between moral and conventionalrules. However, they considered both forms of violations as very seriousand they only accepted them in an imaginary world. It seems there aremore atenuations to these violations among younger children fromOrphanages, and these atenuations decrease when children start formalschooling.- Para Turiel (1983) convenções morais e sociais abrangem domínios distintos com cursos de desenvolvimento separados e estariam ambas presentes, desde cedo, em todas as crianças. No entanto, Dias e Harris (1990) encontraram que crianças de 5 anos de orfanatos aceita­vam as violações tanto morais quanto convencionais como fazendo parte de seu dia-a-dia, não distinguindo os dois tipos de violações. A fim de avaliarmos a existência de uma evolução na aquisição dessas regras, fo­ram apresentadas a crianças de orfanatos, na faixa etária de 7 anos, as mesmas violações inseridas em problemas silogísticos simples e em per­guntas de sondagem. Seus resultados foram comparados com aqueles alcançados pelas crianças de 5 anos do estudo anterior. Constatou-se que as crianças de 7 anos também não discriminavam entre regras mo­rais e convencionais em termos de grau de ofensa e de conseqüências arbitrárias/intrínsecas, mas consideravam ambos os tipos de violações como infrações sérias, sendo passíveis de aceitação apenas em um con­texto de mundo fictício. Os resultados parecem indicar que os atenuantes às violações de regras morais e convencionais são minimizados à medi­da que as crianças ingressam no sistema educacional formal

Realidade X Fantasia:: Sua influência no raciocínio dedutivo

Many studies have shown the importance of mode ofpresentation in tasks aimed at evaluating cognitive performance.In three experiments concerning the understanding of syllogisticproblems whose content runs counter to subjects' practical worldknowledge, we examined the hypothesis that the presence of thetoys in a make-believe condition, would significantly improve children'sperformance, since encoding of the premisses would be facilitated.Experiments I, II and III showed that, as in the study of Dias& Harris (submited), children's performance was significantly betterwhen the premisses were presented in a make-believe play moderather than in the standard verbal mode. The make-believe contextof play is what facilitates children's reasoning, when the premissesof the problems run counter to their experience.A importância do modo de apresentação das tarefas para avaliar o desempenho cognitivo tem sido enfatizada em muitos estudos. Em três experimentos sobre a compreensão de problemas silogísticos com conteúdos contrários à experiência do dia-a-dia das crianças analisou-se até que ponto a visibilidade de brinquedos durantea tarefa onde brincadeiras eram incluídas, seria um fator fundamental no desempenho na medida' em que favoreceria a memorização das premissas. Os Experimentos I, II e III demonstraram que, como no estudo de Dias e Harris (submetido), o desempenho das crianças era significativamente melhor quando as premissas eram apresentadas dentro de um contexto de brincadeira do que quando eram apresentadas de modo verbal comum. O contexto de faz-de-conta mais do que a visível presença dos brinquedos durante a apresentação é que facilita o raciocínio das crianças quando as premissas dos problemas vão de encontro à suas experiências

Regras morais e convencionais no raciocínio de crianças

A make-believe mode can help children to construct a selfcontainedworld within which they accept premises and conclusions thathave no counterpart in their everyday experience (Dias e Harris, 1988a,b, c; no prelo a e b). Thus, we asked if the construct of that make-believeworld would have the same effect in syllogistic problems that convene either moral or conventional rules. The results show that neither of thepopulations studied (Brazilian and English children from medium SESfamilies and Brazilian children from Orphanages) distinguish betweenmoral and conventional rules as found by Turiel (1983). The make-believemode helped the performance of children from medium SES familes.However, children from Orphanages Showed similar reasoning under thetwo types of context, as children did with known fact premises that agreedwith subject's experience (see Hawkins, Pea, Glick & Scribner, 1984;Dias e Harris, 1988a, b). For these children premises that contravenemoral or conventional rules to the two other populations, seems beaccepted as empirically true without need of the make-believe play.RESUMO - Uma apresentação de brincadeira de faz-de-conta pode ser usada para induzir crianças a criarem um mundo independente, onde os eventos podem ocorrer diferentemente daqueles do mundo empírico, facilitando assim a ocorrência de raciocínio dedutivo com base em premissas contrárias aos fatos (Dias e Harris, 1988a, b, c; no prelo a e b). Analisou-se então, se a criação deste mundo de faz-de-conta proporciona o mesmo efeito em problemas silogísticos que contêm premissas contrárias aos dorhfnios morais ou convencionais. Os resultados mostram que, em nenhuma das três amostras estudadas (crianças brasileiras e inglesas de NSE médio, e crianças brasileiras de orfanatos), houve distinção entre regras morais e convencionais como encontrado por Turiel (1983). O contexto de brincadeira favoreceu, como nos estudos anteriores, o desempenho das crianças inglesas e brasileiras de NSE médio. No entanto, as crianças brasileiras de orfanatos raciocinaram similarmente em ambos os contextos, como acontece quando o conteúdo dos problemas está de acordo com a experiência dos sujeitos (ver Hawkins, Pea, Giick & Scríbner, 1984; Dias e Harris, 1988a, c). Para estas crianças, afirmações que representam violações de regras morais, convencionais ou empíricas para as outras amostras, pareciam ser aceitas como verdades empíricas, facilitando seu desempenho mesmo em problemas apresentados verbalmente, sem necessidade do contexto de brincadeira

Dance training improves cytokine secretion and viability of neutrophils in diabetic patients

Background. Evidence suggests that exercise improves neutrophil function. The decreased functional longevity of neutrophils and their increased clearance from infectious sites contribute to the increased susceptibility to infection and severity of infection observed in patients with diabetes. Objective. Herein, we investigated the effects of a dance program on neutrophil number, function, and death in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and healthy volunteers. Methods. Ten patients with T2DM and twelve healthy individuals participated in a moderate-intensity dance training program for 4 months. The plasma levels of leptin, free fatty acids (FFAs), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra); neutrophil counts; extent of DNA fragmentation; cell membrane integrity; and production of TNF-α, interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and IL-1β in neutrophils were measured before and after training. Results. Training reduced plasma levels of TNF-α (1.9-fold in controls and 2.2-fold in patients with T2DM) and CRP (1.4-fold in controls and 3.4-fold in patients with T2DM). IL-1ra levels were higher in the control group (2.2-fold) after training. After training, neutrophil DNA fragmentation was decreased in patients with T2DM (90%), while the number of neutrophils increased (70% in controls and 1.1-fold in patients with T2DM). Conclusion. Dance training is a nonpharmacological strategy to reduce inflammation and improve neutrophil clearance in patients with T2DM

Marine pelagic ecosystems: the West Antarctic Peninsula

The marine ecosystem of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) extends from the Bellingshausen Sea to the northern tip of the peninsula and from the mostly glaciated coast across the continental shelf to the shelf break in the west. The glacially sculpted coastline along the peninsula is highly convoluted and characterized by deep embayments that are often interconnected by channels that facilitate transport of heat and nutrients into the shelf domain. The ecosystem is divided into three subregions, the continental slope, shelf and coastal regions, each with unique ocean dynamics, water mass and biological distributions. The WAP shelf lies within the Antarctic Sea Ice Zone (SIZ) and like other SIZs, the WAP system is very productive, supporting large stocks of marine mammals, birds and the Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba. Ecosystem dynamics is dominated by the seasonal and interannual variation in sea ice extent and retreat. The Antarctic Peninsula is one among the most rapidly warming regions on Earth, having experienced a 28C increase in the annual mean temperature and a 68C rise in the mean winter temperature since 1950. Delivery of heat from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current has increased significantly in the past decade, sufficient to drive to a 0.68C warming of the upper 300 m of shelf water. In the past 50 years and continuing in the twenty-first century, the warm, moist maritime climate of the northern WAP has been migrating south, displacing the once dominant cold, dry continental Antarctic climate and causing multi-level responses in the marine ecosystem. Ecosystem responses to the regional warming include increased heat transport, decreased sea ice extent and duration, local declines in icedependent Ade´lie penguins, increase in ice-tolerant gentoo and chinstrap penguins, alterations in phytoplankton and zooplankton community composition and changes in krill recruitment, abundance and availability to predators. The climate/ecological gradients extending along theWAPand the presence of monitoring systems, field stations and long-term research programmes make the region an invaluable observatory of climate change and marine ecosystem response