The Science of Pronominal Usage: He and It in Co-Reference to Inanimate Objects in Late Middle English Texts on Alchemy

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The published version can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0075424210384225This article explores the variation between he and it in coreference to inanimate entities (such as mercury, sulfur, and salt). Using alchemical texts from the fifteenth century as material, the article demonstrates that there was much more variation in pronominal reference in this period than has previously been shown. Of the possible explanations suggested by previous research, the earlier grammatical gender system and transference from Latin do not seem to play a role, while pronoun clustering and pronominal reanalysis appear to influence the quantitative distribution. The scale of individuation used by Siemund and Stenroos to explain similar usage is shown not to be a straightforward predictor. Other factors such as personification and perceived similarities between animate and inanimate entities may affect the degree of perceived individuation. The choice of he over she seems to be influenced by pronominal reanalysis and straightforward personification in some cases. In other instances, it is speculated that the he usage reflects (stereotypical) gender conceptions in the Middle Ages

Die Zufriedenheit von Stuttgarter Studierenden mit ihrer Lebens- und Wohnsituation: erste deskriptive Ergebnisse einer sozialwissenschaftlichen Studie zu allgemeinen und bereichsspezifischen Zufriedenheiten der Studienrenden des Campus Vaihingen und des Campus Hohenheim

"In diesem Bericht werden erste Ergebnisse einer im Sommersemester 1999 durchgeführten Befragung unter rund 1000 Studierenden am Campus Vaihingen und Hohenheim vorgestellt. Im Zentrum des Interesses der Umfrage standen neben der allgemeinen Lebenszufriedenheit und den Zufriedenheiten der Studierenden in verschiedenen Lebensbereichen die Bewertung und Wahrnehmung der Wohnsituation und des jeweiligen Campus durch die Studierenden. Das Design der Studie wurde so gewählt, dass zum einem ein Vergleich der Situation der Studierenden am Campus Hohenheim und am Campus Vaihingen möglich ist. Zusätzlich ermöglicht das Studiendesign auch Vergleiche zwischen Studierenden, die am Campus wohnen und studieren, mit solchen, die 'nur' am Campus studieren. Die Ergebnisse belegen recht hohe Grade von Zufriedenheiten, die jedoch z.T. sehr deutlich nach verschiedenen sozialen Kontexten variieren. Als auffälligste Ergebnisse sind zu nennen, dass die Studierenden in Vaihingen mit ihrer Campussituation geringer zufrieden sind als die Studierenden in Hohenheim. Zudem zeigen die Analysen zu verschiedenen Bereichszufriedenheiten (u.a. Lebensstandard, Wohnsituation und Studium) und zur allgemeinen Lebenszufriedenheit, dass die Studierenden, die am Campus Vaihingen wohnen und studieren, im Vergleich zu allen anderen Studierenden stets geringere Zufriedenheiten äußern." (Autorenreferat)"This report presents first results of a survey among 1000 college students at the Vaihingen and the Hohenheim campus. The study concentrates an patterns of students' general and specific life satisfaction. It explores students' perception and evaluation of different areas of living at each campus. Due to its research design comparisons can be made between the situation at the Vaihingen and the Hohenheim campus and between students residing at the campus and students residing at other places outside the college area. The results show rather high degrees of satisfaction with variations according to different social contexts of living. The most striking results document higher degrees of satisfaction at the Hohenheim campus than at the Vaihingen campus. Students doing both residing and studying at the Vaihingen campus show the lowest degrees of satisfaction in comparison to all other groups of students concerning general life satisfaction and satisfaction with different area-specific topics (i.e. general standard of living, specific situations of housing and specific situations of studying and academic activities)." (author's abstract

Life satisfaction and residential satisfaction among college students at two Stuttgart universities : first descriptive results of a social science study on patterns of general and specific satisfaction among college students at the Vaihingen and the Hohenheim campus

In diesem Bericht werden erste Ergebnisse einer im Sommersemester 1999 durchgeführten Befragung unter rund 1000 Studierenden am Campus Vaihingen und Hohenheim vorgestellt. Im Zentrum des Interesses der Umfrage standen neben der allgemeinen Lebenszufriedenheit und den Zufriedenheiten der Studierenden in verschiedenen Lebensbereichen die Bewertung und Wahrnehmung der Wohnsituation und des jeweiligen Campus durch die Studierenden. Das Design der Studie wurde so gewählt, dass zum einem ein Vergleich der Situation der Studierenden am Campus Hohenheim und am Campus Vaihingen möglich ist. Zusätzlich ermöglicht das Studiendesign auch Vergleiche zwischen Studierenden, die am Campus wohnen und studieren, mit solchen, die 'nur' am Campus studieren. Die Ergebnisse belegen recht hohe Grade von Zufriedenheiten, die jedoch z.T. sehr deutlich nach verschiedenen sozialen Kontexten variieren. Als auffälligste Ergebnisse sind zu nennen, dass die Studierenden in Vaihingen mit ihrer Campussituation geringer zufrieden sind als die Studierenden in Hohenheim. Zudem zeigen die Analysen zu verschiedenen Bereichszufriedenheiten (u.a. Lebensstandard, Wohnsituation und Studium) und zur allgemeinen Lebenszufriedenheit, dass die Studierenden, die am Campus Vaihingen wohnen und studieren, im Vergleich zu allen anderen Studierenden stets geringere Zufriedenheiten äußern.This report presents first results of a survey among 1000 college students at the Vaihingen and the Hohenheim campus. The study concentrates on patterns of students general and specific life satisfaction. It explores students perception and evaluation of different areas of living at each campus. Due to its research design comparisons can be made between the situation at the Vaihingen and the Hohenheim campus and between students residing at the campus and students residing at other places outside the college area. The results show rather high degrees of satisfaction with variations according to different social contexts of living. The most striking results document higher degrees of satisfaction at the Hohenheim campus than at the Vaihingen campus. Students doing both residing and studying at the Vaihingen campus show the lowest degrees of satisfaction in comparison to all other groups of students concerning general life satisfaction and satisfaction with different area-specific topics (i.e. general standard of living, specific situations of housing and specific situations of studying and acade-mic activities)

Sabotage in Contests: A Survey

A contest is a situation in which individuals expend irretrievable resources to win valuable prize(s). ‘Sabotage’ is a deliberate and costly act of damaging a rival’s' likelihood of winning the contest. Sabotage can be observed in, e.g., sports, war, promotion tournaments, political or marketing campaigns. In this article, we provide a model and various perspectives on such sabotage activities and review the economics literature analyzing the act of sabotage in contests. We discuss the theories and evidence highlighting the means of sabotage, why sabotage occurs, and the effects of sabotage on individual players and on overall welfare, along with possible mechanisms to reduce sabotage. We note that most sabotage activities are aimed at the ablest player, the possibility of sabotage reduces productive effort exerted by the players, and sabotage may lessen the effectiveness of public policies, such as affirmative action, or information revelation in contests. We discuss various policies that a designer may employ to counteract sabotage activities. We conclude by pointing out some areas of future research

Updated unified phylogenetic classification system and revised nomenclature for Newcastle disease virus

Several Avian paramyxoviruses 1 (synonymous with Newcastle disease virus or NDV, used hereafter) classification systems have been proposed for strain identification and differentiation. These systems pioneered classification efforts; however, they were based on different approaches and lacked objective criteria for the differentiation of isolates. These differences have created discrepancies among systems, rendering discussions and comparisons across studies difficult. Although a system that used objective classification criteria was proposed by Diel and co-workers in 2012, the ample worldwide circulation and constant evolution of NDV, and utilization of only some of the criteria, led to identical naming and/or incorrect assigning of new sub/genotypes. To address these issues, an international consortium of experts was convened to undertake in-depth analyses of NDV genetic diversity. This consortium generated curated, up-to-date, complete fusion gene class I and class II datasets of all known NDV for public use, performed comprehensive phylogenetic neighbor-Joining, maximum-likelihood, Bayesian and nucleotide distance analyses, and compared these inference methods. An updated NDV classification and nomenclature system that incorporates phylogenetic topology, genetic distances, branch support, and epidemiological independence was developed. This new consensus system maintains two NDV classes and existing genotypes, identifies three new class II genotypes, and reduces the number of sub-genotypes. In order to track the ancestry of viruses, a dichotomous naming system for designating sub-genotypes was introduced. In addition, a pilot dataset and sub-trees rooting guidelines for rapid preliminary genotype identification of new isolates are provided. Guidelines for sequence dataset curation and phylogenetic inference, and a detailed comparison between the updated and previous systems are included. To increase the speed of phylogenetic inference and ensure consistency between laboratories, detailed guidelines for the use of a supercomputer are also provided. The proposed unified classification system will facilitate future studies of NDV evolution and epidemiology, and comparison of results obtained across the world

STAT3/LKB1 controls metastatic prostate cancer by regulating mTORC1/CREB pathway

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common and fatal type of cancer in men. Metastatic PCa (mPCa) is a major factor contributing to its lethality, although the mechanisms remain poorly understood. PTEN is one of the most frequently deleted genes in mPCa. Here we show a frequent genomic co-deletion of PTEN and STAT3 in liquid biopsies of patients with mPCa. Loss of Stat3 in a Pten-null mouse prostate model leads to a reduction of LKB1/pAMPK with simultaneous activation of mTOR/CREB, resulting in metastatic disease. However, constitutive activation of Stat3 led to high LKB1/pAMPK levels and suppressed mTORC1/CREB pathway, preventing mPCa development. Metformin, one of the most widely prescribed therapeutics against type 2 diabetes, inhibits mTORC1 in liver and requires LKB1 to mediate glucose homeostasis. We find that metformin treatment of STAT3/AR-expressing PCa xenografts resulted in significantly reduced tumor growth accompanied by diminished mTORC1/CREB, AR and PSA levels. PCa xenografts with deletion of STAT3/AR nearly completely abrogated mTORC1/CREB inhibition mediated by metformin. Moreover, metformin treatment of PCa patients with high Gleason grade and type 2 diabetes resulted in undetectable mTORC1 levels and upregulated STAT3 expression. Furthermore, PCa patients with high CREB expression have worse clinical outcomes and a significantly increased risk of PCa relapse and metastatic recurrence. In summary, we have shown that STAT3 controls mPCa via LKB1/pAMPK/mTORC1/CREB signaling, which we have identified as a promising novel downstream target for the treatment of lethal mPCa