A Bi-Polar Theory of Nominal and Clause Structure and Function

It is taken as axiomatic that grammar encodes meaning. Two key dimensions of meaning that get grammatically encoded are referential meaning and relational meaning. The key claim is that, in English, these two dimensions of meaning are typically encoded in distinct grammatical poles—a referential pole and a relational pole—with a specifier functioning as the locus of the referential pole and a head functioning as the locus of the relational pole. Specifiers and heads combine to form referring expressions corresponding to the syntactic notion of a maximal projection. Lexical items and expressions functioning as modifiers are preferentially attracted to one pole or the other. If the head of an expression describes a relation, one or more complements may be associated with the head. The four grammatical functions specifier, head, modifier and complement are generally adequate to represent much of the basic structure and function of nominals and clauses. These terms are borrowed from X-Bar Theory, but they are motivated on semantic grounds having to do with their grammatical function to encode referential and relational meaning

Mechanical weeding effects on soil structure under organic vegetables

Mechanical weeding of vegetables involves the repeated use of cultivators and tractors. This repeated tillage and compaction changes soil structure. We studied these changes in fields of organic beans and carrots. Structure was described using visual assessment and by measuring soil strength. Under beans, the soil strength below the growing root zone was highly variable and in some areas was strong enough to restrict root growth. The carrots were grown in beds containing zones of crop and bare, weeded soil. The structure of the weeded soil in the top 10 cm layer eventually became disrupted and compacted enough to deter root growth. In addition the topsoil and subsoil in the wheel-tracks between the beds became very compact with little distinguish-able structure. This compaction extended to the sub-soil and persisted into the next cropping season

Untersuchung und Erfassung von kindlichen Krankheitskonzepten im Grundschulalter

Die vorliegende Arbeit verfolgte zwei Ziele. Zunächst ging es um die Konstruktion eines standardisierten Testverfahrens zur Erfassung von kindlichen Konzepten über Gesundheit und Krankheit. Aufbauend kam das Verfahren zur Anwendung, um die Bedeutung von Einflussfaktoren auf die Konzeptentwicklung zu analysieren. Vor dem Hintergrund der Forschungskritik und der praktischen Bedeutung des Wissens über kindliche Konzepte wurde der Frage nachgegangen, ob eine standardisierte Erfassung kindlicher Konzepte im Bereich Gesundheit und Krankheit möglich ist. Vor dem Hintergrund informationsverarbeitungstheoretischer Überlegungen und auf der Basis der klassischen Testtheorie wurden verschiedene Testmodule konzipiert. Diese umfassen Testmodule zum Wissen und Verständnis über den gesunden Körper und über Erkrankungen. Darüber hinaus wurden Testmodule zur Merkfähigkeit und zur Fähigkeit zum Schlussfolgernden Denken im Bereich von Gesundheit und Krankheit konstruiert. Das Testverfahren zur Erfassung kindlicher Krankheitskonzepte (FEKK) richtet sich an 7-11jährige Grundschüler. Der FEKK wurde hinsichtlich der Gütekriterien Objektivität, Reliabilität und Validität einer differenzierten Analyse unterzogen. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit zeigen, dass die Erfassung kindlicher Krankheitskonzepte im Grundschulalter durch ein standardisiertes Verfahren möglich ist. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wurde der FEKK zur Analyse von Einflussfaktoren auf die Entwicklung von Krankheitskonzepten genutzt. Es zeigte sich, dass die Klassenstufe, die intellektuellen Fähigkeiten, insbesondere die sprachliche Fähigkeiten, sowie längerfristige Krankheitserfahrungen als individuelle Einflussfaktoren angesehen werden können. Hinsichtlich der eigenen längerfristigen Krankheitserfahrungen konnte verdeutlicht werden, dass eine differentielle Wirkung angenommen werden kann, die durch Art der Krankheit und ihre Merkmale determiniert wird. Bei den sozialen Einflussfaktoren erlangten vor allem der Grad der mütterlichen Bildung und die längerfristigen Krankheitserfahrungen nahe stehender Personen Bedeutung. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Untersuchung werden auf der Basis der bisherigen Forschungsbefunde und in Hinblick auf ihre Implikationen für die Arbeit mit akut- und chronisch kranken Kindern diskutiert

The Upper Stratospheric Solar Cycle Ozone Response

The solar cycle (SC) stratospheric ozone response is thought to influence surface weather and climate. To understand the chain of processes and ensure climate models adequately represent them, it is important to detect and quantify an accurate SC ozone response from observations. Chemistry climate models (CCMs) and observations display a range of upper stratosphere (1–10 hPa) zonally averaged spatial responses; this and the recommended data set for comparison remains disputed. Recent data‐merging advancements have led to more robust observational data. Using these data, we show that the observed SC signal exhibits an upper stratosphere U‐shaped spatial structure with lobes emanating from the tropics (5–10 hPa) to high altitudes at midlatitudes (1–3 hPa). We confirm this using two independent chemistry climate models in specified dynamics mode and an idealized timeslice experiment. We recommend the BASICv2 ozone composite to best represent historical upper stratospheric solar variability, and that those based on SBUV alone should not be used

Cross-species gene expression analysis of species specific differences in the preclinical assessment of pharmaceutical compounds

Animals are frequently used as model systems for determination of safety and efficacy in pharmaceutical research and development. However, significant quantitative and qualitative differences exist between humans and the animal models used in research. This is as a result of genetic variation between human and the laboratory animal. Therefore the development of a system that would allow the assessment of all molecular differences between species after drug exposure would have a significant impact on drug evaluation for toxicity and efficacy. Here we describe a cross-species microarray methodology that identifies and selects orthologous probes after cross-species sequence comparison to develop an orthologous cross-species gene expression analysis tool. The assumptions made by the use of this orthologous gene expression strategy for cross-species extrapolation is that; conserved changes in gene expression equate to conserved pharmacodynamic endpoints. This assumption is supported by the fact that evolution and selection have maintained the structure and function of many biochemical pathways over time, resulting in the conservation of many important processes. We demonstrate this cross-species methodology by investigating species specific differences of the peroxisome proliferatoractivator receptor (PPAR) a response in rat and human

Thermal Structure of Eastern Australia's Upper Mantle and Its Relationship to Cenozoic Volcanic Activity and Dynamic Topography

Funder: Geoscience AustraliaFunder: Shell Global, Shell Exploration and Production Company; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011092Abstract: Spatio‐temporal changes of upper mantle structure play a significant role in generating and maintaining surface topography. Although geophysical models of upper mantle structure have become increasingly refined, there is a paucity of geologic constraints with respect to its present‐day state and temporal evolution. Cenozoic intraplate volcanic rocks that crop out across eastern Australia provide a significant opportunity to quantify mantle conditions at the time of emplacement and to independently validate geophysical estimates. This volcanic activity is divided into two categories: age‐progressive provinces that are generated by the sub‐plate passage of mantle plumes and age‐independent provinces that could be generated by convective upwelling at lithospheric steps. In this study, we acquired and analyzed 78 samples from both types of provinces across Queensland. These samples were incorporated into a comprehensive database of Australian Cenozoic volcanism assembled from legacy analyses. We use geochemical modeling techniques to estimate mantle temperature and lithospheric thickness beneath each province. Our results suggest that melting occurred at depths ≤80 km across eastern Australia. Prior to, or coincident with, onset of volcanism, lithospheric thinning as well as dynamic support from shallow convective processes could have triggered uplift of the Eastern Highlands. Mantle temperatures are inferred to be ∼50–100°C hotter beneath age‐progressive provinces that demarcate passage of the Cosgrove mantle plume than beneath age‐independent provinces. Even though this plume initiated as one of the hottest recorded during Cenozoic times, it appears to have thermally waned with time. These results are consistent with xenolith thermobarometric and geophysical studies

An intelligent multi-agent memory assistant

World population is ageing and increasingly scarce resources are required to cover the needs of everyone adequately. Medical conditions, especially memory problems, restrict the daily life of a broad slice of the elderly population, affect their independence. To prevent this, providing the right care and assistance while having in mind the costs implicated is essential. One possible path is to work with resources that we already have today and create innovative solutions to achieve the required level of support. There are not many solution either technological or not to prevent memory loss. In this work we present a possible solution aimed at restoring or maintaining the independence of elderly people, through the use of so-called Memory Assistants. We thus present an Intelligent Multi-Agent Memory Assistant designed to help people with memory problems remember their events and activities. The implementation of an event manager, free time manger, medication remainder and a sensory system, to manage and monitor the user, we aim to improve their quality of life and increase their independence

Not fitting in and getting out : psychological type and congregational satisfaction among Anglican churchgoers in England

Listening to the motivations reported by individuals for ceasing church attendance and becoming church leavers, Francis and Richter identified high on the list the sense of "not fitting in". Drawing on psychological type theory, several recent studies have documented the way in which some psychological types are over-represented in church congregations and other psychological types are under-represented. Bringing these two observations together, the present study tested the hypothesis that church congregations have created type-alike communities within which individuals displaying the opposite type preferences are more likely to feel marginalised and to display lower levels of satisfaction with the congregations they attend. Data were provided by 1867 churchgoers who completed a measure of psychological type, together with measures of frequency of attendance and congregational satisfaction. These data confirmed that congregations were weighted towards preferences for introversion, sensing, feeling and judging, and that individuals displaying the opposite preferences (especially intuition, thinking and perceiving) recorded lower levels of congregational satisfaction. The implications of these findings are discussed for promoting congregational retention by enhancing awareness of psychological type preferences among those who attend

Statistical analysis of modal gating in ion channels

Ion channels regulate the concentrations of ions within cells. By stochastically opening and closing its pore, they enable or prevent ions from crossing the cell membrane. However, rather than opening with a constant probability, many ion channels switch between several different levels of activity even if the experimental conditions are unchanged. This phenomenon is known as modal gating: instead of directly adapting its activity, the channel seems to mix sojourns in active and inactive modes in order to exhibit intermediate open probabilities. Evidence is accumulating that modal gating rather than modulation of opening and closing at a faster time scale is the primary regulatory mechanism of ion channels. However, currently, no method is available for reliably calculating sojourns in different modes. In order to address this challenge, we develop a statistical framework for segmenting single-channel datasets into segments that are characteristic for particular modes. The algorithm finds the number of mode changes, detects their locations and infers the open probabilities of the modes. We apply our approach to data from the inositol-trisphosphate receptor. Based upon these results, we propose that mode changes originate from alternative conformational states of the channel protein that determine a certain level of channel activity

Artificial Neural Network Inference (ANNI): A Study on Gene-Gene Interaction for Biomarkers in Childhood Sarcomas

Objective: To model the potential interaction between previously identified biomarkers in children sarcomas using artificial neural network inference (ANNI). Method: To concisely demonstrate the biological interactions between correlated genes in an interaction network map, only 2 types of sarcomas in the children small round blue cell tumors (SRBCTs) dataset are discussed in this paper. A backpropagation neural network was used to model the potential interaction between genes. The prediction weights and signal directions were used to model the strengths of the interaction signals and the direction of the interaction link between genes. The ANN model was validated using Monte Carlo cross-validation to minimize the risk of over-fitting and to optimize generalization ability of the model. Results: Strong connection links on certain genes (TNNT1 and FNDC5 in rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS); FCGRT and OLFM1 in Ewing’s sarcoma (EWS)) suggested their potency as central hubs in the interconnection of genes with different functionalities. The results showed that the RMS patients in this dataset are likely to be congenital and at low risk of cardiomyopathy development. The EWS patients are likely to be complicated by EWS-FLI fusion and deficiency in various signaling pathways, including Wnt, Fas/Rho and intracellular oxygen. Conclusions: The ANN network inference approach and the examination of identified genes in the published literature within the context of the disease highlights the substantial influence of certain genes in sarcomas