A Cognitive Linguistics approach to the ‘less is more’ paradox of communication, with specific reference to public relations messages

In this article the spotlight falls on the challenge to public relations practitioners toachieve a ‘less is more’ approach – not less communication, but less ambiguity. Thisarticle focuses on the way in which Cognitive Linguistics tools can facilitate clarity inpublic relations messages, as illustrated in the analysis of a slogan.The relationshipbetween assumptions within this framework and issues in public relations is pointed outand illustrated. Within the Cognitive Linguistic analysis presented here, it is argued thatpublic relations messages can be analysed in terms of specific conceptual metaphors,and that ambiguity can be limited by proposed mental mechanisms. The analysis ties inwith the claim that much of our conceptualisation of experience is metaphorical, whichboth motivates and constrains our creativity.The advantages of an analysis within CognitiveGrammar are shown to reside in its potential to interpret linguistic expressionsmetaphorically and to account for stylistic phenomena

A Proactive Approach to the Translation of Bible Stories for Children

This paper presents cognitive poetics as an agent in overcoming difficulties in translating bible stories for young children in the multi-lingual and multi-cultural South African environment. The translated picture book texts typically involve the integration of words with pictures. For the purposes of this article, the Genesis 28 narrative of Jacob’s dream in the Hebrew source text is compared in various South African translations. Religious literature was chosen as subject matter because of the relative certainty of comparative translations in most of the eleven official languages of South Africa, but the present article is limited mainly to English and Afrikaans translations. The analysis is done within the fairly new framework of cognitive poetics, which combines psychological and cognitive linguistic approaches to the study of literature. The focus is on the contribution of cognitive linguistics to the translation of children’s literature, in the spirit of proactive translatology.Cet essai traite de la poésie cognitive comme facilitateur dans les traductions des histoires bibliques pour enfants dans l’environnement multiculturel et polyglotte de l’Afrique du Sud. Les traductions des textes des livres illustrés font généralement correspondre les mots avec des images. Dans l’exemple utilisé, soit la Genèse 28, le rêve de Jacob, dans son texte original en hébreu, est comparé à diverses traductions sud-africaines. La littérature religieuse a été choisie comme sujet de cet essai, étant donné la présence probable de traductions comparables dans la plupart des onze langues officielles de l’Afrique du Sud, mais cet article se limite à la comparaison des traductions anglaise et afrikaans seulement. L’analyse est faite dans le cadre relativement récent de la poésie cognitive, qui applique des approches linguistiques psychologique et cognitive à l’étude de la littérature. La concentration se fait sur la contribution de la linguistique cognitive dans la traduction de la littérature pour enfants dans un esprit de traduction proactive

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Heavy noun phrase constructions in the Afrikaans novel 'n Ander Land: a cognitive account of a stylistic feature

This article focusses on one grammatical construction, namely heavy noun phrase (NP) constructions in Afrikaans, and more specifically on those instances encountered in the Afrikaans novel 'n Ander Land by Karel Schoeman. Within the cognitive analysis presented here it is argued that heavy NP constructions form a radial set with prototypical and less central members. The advantages of an analysis within cognitive grammar are shown to reside in their potential to interpret the metaphorical structuring of linguistic expressions and to account for stylistic phenomena. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2005, 23(2): 187–20

REEXAMINING THE BORDER TAX EFFECT: A CASE STUDY OF WASHINGTON STATE

"Without an income tax, Washington State relies heavily upon its sales tax revenue to fund public goods and services. Bordering Idaho and especially Oregon, where the sales tax is substantially lower, the juxtaposition of the different tax structures generates the border tax effect in Washington's border counties. Controlling for unobservable county-specific characteristics and spatial autocorrelation, we find that the price elasticity generated by the sales tax discrepancy over the years 1992-2006 is - 3.11. We estimate that elimination of the sales tax differential between Washington and its neighboring states would generate tax revenue in excess of $145 million at the state level and over$21 million at the county level in border counties." ("JEL" C23, D12, E62, H71) Copyright (c) 2010 Western Economic Association International.