The effect of pre-exposure on family resemblance categorization for stimuli of varying levels of perceptual difficulty

This study investigated the effect that pre-exposure to a set of stimuli has on the prevalence of family resemblance categorization. 64 participants were tested to examine the effect that pre-exposure type (same-stimuli vs unrelated-stimuli) and the perceptual difficulty of the stimuli (perceptually similar vs perceptually different) has on categorization strategy. There was a significant effect of perceptual difficulty, indicating that perceptually different stimuli evoked a higher level of family resemblance sorting than perceptually similar stimuli. There was no significant main effect of pre-exposure type; however, there was a significant interaction between pre-exposure type and level of perceptual difficulty. Post-hoc tests revealed that this interaction was the result of an increase in family resemblance sorting for the perceptually different stimuli under relevant preexposure but no such effect for perceptually similar stimuli. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed

Detecting modification of biomedical events using a deep parsing approach

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This work describes a system for identifying event mentions in bio-molecular research abstracts that are either speculative (e.g. <it>analysis of IkappaBalpha phosphorylation</it>, where it is not specified whether phosphorylation did or did not occur) or negated (e.g. <it>inhibition of IkappaBalpha phosphorylation</it>, where phosphorylation did <it>not </it>occur). The data comes from a standard dataset created for the BioNLP 2009 Shared Task. The system uses a machine-learning approach, where the features used for classification are a combination of shallow features derived from the words of the sentences and more complex features based on the semantic outputs produced by a deep parser.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>To detect event modification, we use a Maximum Entropy learner with features extracted from the data relative to the trigger words of the events. The shallow features are bag-of-words features based on a small sliding context window of 3-4 tokens on either side of the trigger word. The deep parser features are derived from parses produced by the English Resource Grammar and the <it>RASP </it>parser. The outputs of these parsers are converted into the Minimal Recursion Semantics formalism, and from this, we extract features motivated by linguistics and the data itself. All of these features are combined to create training or test data for the machine learning algorithm.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Over the test data, our methods produce approximately a 4% absolute increase in F-score for detection of event modification compared to a baseline based only on the shallow bag-of-words features.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate that grammar-based techniques can enhance the accuracy of methods for detecting event modification.</p

The effect of pre-exposure on overall similarity categorization

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Excavating the 'Rutland Sea Dragon': The largest ichthyosaur skeleton ever found in the UK (Whitby Mudstone Formation, Toarcian, Lower Jurassic)

An almost complete ichthyosaur skeleton 10 m long was discovered in January 2021 at the Rutland Water Nature Reserve in the county of Rutland, UK. This was excavated by a small team of palaeontologists in the summer of the same year. Nicknamed ‘The Rutland Sea Dragon’, this almost fully articulated skeleton is an example of the large-bodied Early Jurassic ichthyosaur Temnodontosaurus. The specimen was analysed in situ, recorded (including a 3D scan using photogrammetry), excavated and removed from the site in a series of large plaster field jackets to preserve taphonomic information. Significantly, the specimen is the largest ichthyosaur skeleton to have been found in the UK and it may be the first recorded example of Temnodontosaurus trigonodon to be found in the country, extending its known geographic range significantly. It also represents the most complete skeleton of a large prehistoric reptile to have been found in the UK. We provide an account of the discovery and describe the methods used for excavating, recording and lifting the large skeleton which will aid palaeontologists facing similar challenges when collecting extensive remains of large and fragile fossil vertebrates. We also discuss the preliminary research findings and the global impact this discovery has had through public engagement

Biotic and stable-isotope characterization of the Toarcian Ocean Anoxic Event through a carbonate–clastic sequence from Somerset, UK

This study focuses on a condensed sequence of alternating carbonate–clastic sediments of the Barrington Member, Beacon Limestone Formation (latest Pliensbachian to early Toarcian) from Somerset (SW England). Abundant ammonites confirm (apart from the absence of the Clevelandicum and Tenuicostatum ammonite subchronozones) the presence of Hawskerense Subchronozone to Fallaciosum–Bingmanni subchronozones. Well-preserved, sometimes diverse assemblages of ostracods, foraminifera, nannofossils and lowdiversity dinoflagellate assemblages support the chronostratigraphic framework. Stable-isotope analyses demonstrate the presence of a carbon isotope excursion, relating to the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, within the early Toarcian. Faunal, geochemical and sedimentological evidence suggest that deposition largely took place in a relatively deep-water (subwave base), mid-outer shelf environment under a well-mixed water column. However, reduced benthic diversity, the presence of weakly laminated sediments and changes in microplankton assemblage composition within the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event indicates dysoxic, but probably never anoxic, bottom-water conditions during this event. The onset of the carbon isotope excursion coincides with extinction in the nannofossils and benthos, including the disappearance of the ostracod suborder Metacopina. Faunal evidence indicates connectivity with the Mediterranean region, not previously recorded for the UK during the early Toarcian

Methodologies in Development Studies:An Overview

The interdisciplinary nature of the field of Development Studies (DS) makes it hard to point towards a ‘signature’ methodology. Different development challenges bring different ideas about what the problem is (ontology) and how researchers can know about it (epistemology), as well as different research methods. The rationale for choosing a method can be ideological or pragmatic. In the field of DS, this often entails knowing what methods research commissioners see as credible and what types of evidence they find persuasive. The weight placed on the data generated by certain methods and the lack of critical attention to how it was actually produced shows the importance of a focus on methodology. In looking at, or for, the defining methodologies of DS, this chapter focuses on methodology in a relatively narrow sense: what types of sample and what combinations of methods are typically used by researchers within DS to construct credible arguments around questions of policy or practice. It describes which methodologies constitute the bulk of DS research through analysis of projects and outputs. Finally, it asks what people who generate and use DS research could do to increase its rigour and relevance (Gujit and Roche, 2014; see also Oswald, Leach and Gaventa, this volume) and how the political economy of development research funding might militate against this