Pragmatic Interpretation and Signaler-Receiver Asymmetries in Animal Communication

Researchers have converged on the idea that a pragmatic understanding of communication can shed important light on the evolution of language. Accordingly, animal communication scientists have been keen to adopt insights from pragmatics research. Some authors couple their appeal to pragmatic aspects of communication with the claim that there are fundamental asymmetries between signalers and receivers in non-human animals. For example, in the case of primate vocal calls, signalers are said to produce signals unintentionally and mindlessly, whereas receivers are thought to engage in contextual interpretation to derive the significance of signals. We argue that claims about signaler-receiver asymmetries are often confused. This is partly because their authors conflate two conceptions of pragmatics, which generate different accounts of the explanatory target for accounts of the evolution of language. Here we distinguish these conceptions, in order to help specify more precisely the proper explanatory target for language evolution research

The biomass distribution on Earth

A census of the biomass on Earth is key for understanding the structure and dynamics of the biosphere. However, a global, quantitative view of how the biomass of different taxa compare with one another is still lacking. Here, we assemble the overall biomass composition of the biosphere, establishing a census of the ≈550 gigatons of carbon (Gt C) of biomass distributed among all of the kingdoms of life. We find that the kingdoms of life concentrate at different locations on the planet; plants (≈450 Gt C, the dominant kingdom) are primarily terrestrial, whereas animals (≈2 Gt C) are mainly marine, and bacteria (≈70 Gt C) and archaea (≈7 Gt C) are predominantly located in deep subsurface environments. We show that terrestrial biomass is about two orders of magnitude higher than marine biomass and estimate a total of ≈6 Gt C of marine biota, doubling the previous estimated quantity. Our analysis reveals that the global marine biomass pyramid contains more consumers than producers, thus increasing the scope of previous observations on inverse food pyramids. Finally, we highlight that the mass of humans is an order of magnitude higher than that of all wild mammals combined and report the historical impact of humanity on the global biomass of prominent taxa, including mammals, fish, and plants

Environmental Work and Peace Work: The Palestinian-Israeli Case

This paper, based on a larger study that was carried out by a joint Palestinian – Israeli research team before and during the Al Aqsa Intifada, examines Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have worked on joint environmental projects. We focus here on three jointly run Palestinian – Israeli NGOs, 16 Israeli organizations and 12 Palestinian organizations that engaged in cooperative work, looking at the kind of work they did, their perceptions of the causes of environmental damage and its connection to the conflict, their perceptions of the roles of NGOs within their societies, and obstacles encountered in cooperative work. Data about the NGOs were collected through face-to-face audio taped interviews, their publications, and from their websites. Results showed that while the Israeli and Palestinian NGOs agree that joint work is needed to address ecological problems, they differ in their reasons for working together, their perceptions of the sources of environmental deterioration, the roles that NGOs should be taking within their society, the relationship of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict to the state of the environment, and the effect that a final peace agreement would have on solving these problems. It was concluded that the “environmental narratives” of the two sides differ greatly, and that the establishment of a “culture of peace” is a very long-term process

Manually controlled instrumented spasticity assessments: a systematic review of psychometric properties

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The role of emotional intelligence training in developing meaningfulness at work

To date, there remains a significant gap in the western management literature in understanding how individuals proactively shape their work environments to create meaningfulness. Equally, little is known about how training and development supports this process. This article shows how emotional intelligence (EI) training in the UK nurtures meaningfulness through the development of EI skills and aptitudes. The article explores how EI skills are then used at work to develop tasks, roles and relationships of worth and value. Data is collected from participant observations and interviews with trainers and managers attending three externally provided, ‘popular’ EI training courses. Interpreting the data through Lips-Wiersma and Morris’s (2009; 2011) model of meaningful work enables a clear articulation of managers’ independent capacity to shape their work environments to create four, interconnected sources of meaningfulness: inner development, expressing one’s full potential, unity with others and serving others. The findings also show the tension between the ‘inspiration’ and ‘reality’ of fulfilling these four existential needs at work through EI skills and aptitudes. Findings also exemplify how this is a constant process of search, balance and struggle which sometimes pivots work against life values and demands. Practically, the study demonstrates the importance of training for meaning making at work and offers recommendations for HRD practitioners. Implications for transferring innovative western management practices such as EI and meaningfulness/engagement processes across national contexts are discussed. Overall, this study provides empirical evidence that sources of meaningfulness are a core ingredient of EI training when popular EI models are used. It points towards future research on meaningfulness training and transfer to new contrasting regional contexts such as the middle east

Depopulation of dense α-synuclein aggregates is associated with rescue of dopamine neuron dysfunction and death in a new Parkinson's disease model.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the presence of α-synuclein aggregates known as Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, whose formation is linked to disease development. The causal relation between α-synuclein aggregates and PD is not well understood. We generated a new transgenic mouse line (MI2) expressing human, aggregation-prone truncated 1-120 α-synuclein under the control of the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter. MI2 mice exhibit progressive aggregation of α-synuclein in dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta and their striatal terminals. This is associated with a progressive reduction of striatal dopamine release, reduced striatal innervation and significant nigral dopaminergic nerve cell death starting from 6 and 12 months of age, respectively. In the MI2 mice, alterations in gait impairment can be detected by the DigiGait test from 9 months of age, while gross motor deficit was detected by rotarod test at 20 months of age when 50% of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta are lost. These changes were associated with an increase in the number and density of 20-500 nm α-synuclein species as shown by dSTORM. Treatment with the oligomer modulator anle138b, from 9 to 12 months of age, restored striatal dopamine release, prevented dopaminergic cell death and gait impairment. These effects were associated with a reduction of the inner density of large α-synuclein aggregates and an increase in dispersed small α-synuclein species as revealed by dSTORM. The MI2 mouse model recapitulates the progressive dopaminergic deficit observed in PD, showing that early synaptic dysfunction is associated to fine behavioral motor alterations, precedes dopaminergic axonal loss and neuronal death that become associated with a more consistent motor deficit upon reaching a certain threshold. Our data also provide new mechanistic insight for the effect of anle138b's function in vivo supporting that targeting α-synuclein aggregation is a promising therapeutic approach for PD

Leave truth alone: on deflationism and contextualism

According to deflationism, grasp of the concept of truth consists in nothing more than a disposition to accept a priori (non-paradoxical) instances of the schema:(DS) It is true that p if and only if pAccording to contextualism, the same expression with the same meaning might, on different occasions of use, express different propositions bearing different truth-conditions (where this does not result from indexicality and the like).On this view, what is expressed in an utterance depends in a non-negligible way on the circumstances. Charles Travis claims that contextualism shows that ‘deflationism is a mistake’, that truth is a more substantive notion than deflationism allows. In this paper, I examine Travis's arguments in support of this ‘inflationary’ claim and argue that they are unsuccessful

The Relationship Between Medial Gastrocnemius Lengthening Properties and Stretch Reflexes in Cerebral Palsy

Stretch reflex hyperactivity in the gastrocnemius of children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) is commonly evaluated by passively rotating the ankle joint into dorsiflexion at different velocities, such as applied in conventional clinical spasticity assessments. However, surface electromyography (sEMG) collected from the medial gastrocnemius (MG) during such examination reveals unexplained heterogeneity in muscle activation between patients. Recent literature also highlights altered muscle tensile behavior in children with spastic CP. We aimed to document MG muscle and tendon lengthening during passive ankle motion at slow and fast velocity and explore its interdependence with the elicited hyperactive stretch reflex. The ankle of 15 children with CP (11 ± 3 years, GMFCS 9I 6II, 8 bilateral, 7 unilateral) and 16 typically developing children (TDC) was passively rotated over its full range of motion at slow and fast velocity. Ultrasound, synchronized with motion-analysis, was used to track the movement of the MG muscle-tendon junction and extract the relative lengthening of muscle and tendon during joint rotation. Simultaneously, MG sEMG was measured. Outcome parameters included the angular and muscle lengthening velocities 30 ms before EMG onset and the gain in root mean square EMG during stretch, as a measure of stretch reflex activity. Compared to slow rotation, the muscle lengthened less and stretch reflex activity was higher during fast rotation. These velocity-induced changes were more marked in CP compared to TDC. In the CP group, muscle-lengthening velocity had higher correlation coefficients with stretch reflex hyperactivity than joint angular velocity. Muscles with greater relative muscle lengthening during slow rotation had earlier and stronger stretch reflexes during fast rotation. These initial results suggest that ankle angular velocity is not representative of MG muscle lengthening velocity and is less related to stretch reflex hyperactivity than MG muscle lengthening. In addition, muscles that lengthened more during slow joint rotation were more likely to show a velocity-dependent stretch reflex. This interdependence of muscle lengthening and stretch reflexes may be important to consider when administering treatment. However, muscle and tendon lengthening properties alone could not fully explain the variability in stretch reflexes, indicating that other factors should also be investigated