365 research outputs found
Resuming Reflexives
In this paper, we offer an analysis for the prenominal possessor
doubling construction (PPDC) as it occurs in Germanic, paying particular
attention to the differences between Norwegian and West Flemish. Our
analysis implements recent theoretical proposals concerning locality
relations, the Anti-Locality Hypothesis, the idea that movement not only
must not target a position too far away, but it cannot be too close
either. Anti-Locality is formulated over derivational sub-domains
relevant for the operation Spell Out, so-called Prolific Domains, and
the ban on Domain-internal movement is PF-driven. In order to yield a
well-formed PF-object, anti-local movement may be repaired by spelling
out a copy with a different PF-shape; this operation of Copy Spell Out
inserts a grammatical formative to save a PF-violation. We take
pronominal elements to be grammatical formatives par excellence and
develop an application of this approach to the nominal layer, focusing
on the PPDC. This framework derives the occurrence of a possessive
pronoun doubling the possessor, which we analyse in terms of an
anti-local movement dependency in which the moved possessor spells out a
lower copy as the doubling possessive pronoun. We further discuss
comparisons across Germanic dialects. Our main proposal is that the
doubling pronoun is a resumptive element, understood more generally as a
spelled out copy of the (moved) possessor DP and as such inserted into
the computation derivationally
On hawser force criteria for navigation lock design: Case study of maritime locks in port of Antwerp
The first part of this paper offers a general reflection upon the issue of mooring line forces and ship behaviour during filling/emptying of (maritime) navigation locks. The philosophy behind the so-called hawser force criterion and the classical approach to deal with it in design studies, is described first. Secondly, some innovations in the definition, verification and validation of the design criteria are highlighted. In the second part of this paper, a case study is presented focusing on two maritime locks in the Port of Antwerp (Belgium): the Zandvliet lock (L x W = 500m x 57m) and the Berendrecht lock (L x W = 500m x 68m). To illustrate and comment upon the hawser force issues, results of scale modelling, in situ measurements and numerical modelling are discussed, in comparison to published hawser force criteria
Facing the future : time for the EU to meet global challenges
There is a clear and growing need for the capacity to anticipate change to be embedded in policy. This is critical not only to be able to respond and adapt to new situations before they occur, but also to shape the future, building upon mutual understanding and common visions to be jointly pursued.
For policy responses to address all the pressing current global challenges, especially when these are seen separately from one another, is clearly a demanding task. Institutions face greater complexity and difficulty in providing solutions in due time. In particular, this is true when the policy focus extends beyond the challenges that societies face today, seeking to anticipate future challenges and transform them into opportunities.
This is the rationale for the report âFacing the future: time for the EU to meet global challengesâ based on a study carried out in the course of 2009 by the Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS) for the Bureau of European Policy Advisors (BEPA) of the European Commission.
The aim is to provide a comprehensive picture of the main trends ahead and possible future disruptive global challenges, and to examine how the EU could position itself to take an active role in shaping a response to them. The work described in this report brings a fresh perspective, by linking widely accepted quantified trends towards 2025 and beyond with expertsâ and policy makersâ opinions on the likely consequences of these trends and wild cards
Cow responses and evolution of the rumen bacterial and methanogen community following a complete rumen content transfer
Understanding the rumen microbial ecosystem requires the identification of factors that influence the community structure, such as nutrition, physiological condition of the host and host-microbiome interactions. The objective of the current study was to describe the rumen microbial communities before, during and after a complete rumen content transfer. The rumen contents of one donor cow were removed completely and used as inoculum for the emptied rumen of the donor itself and three acceptor cows under identical physiological and nutritional conditions. Temporal changes in microbiome composition and rumen function were analysed for each of four cows over a period of 6 weeks. Shortly after transfer, the cows showed different responses to perturbation of their rumen content. Feed intake depression in the first 2 weeks after transfer resulted in short-term changes in milk production, methane emission, fatty acid composition and rumen bacterial community composition. These effects were more pronounced in two cows, whose microbiome composition showed reduced diversity. The fermentation metrics and microbiome diversity of the other two cows were not affected. Their rumen bacterial community initially resembled the composition of the donor but evolved to a new community profile that resembled neither the donor nor their original composition. Descriptive data presented in the current paper show that the rumen bacterial community composition can quickly recover from a reduction in microbiome diversity after a severe perturbation. In contrast to the bacteria, methanogenic communities were more stable over time and unaffected by stress or host effects
Extending additivity from symmetric to asymmetric channels
We prove a lemma which allows one to extend results about the additivity of
the minimal output entropy from highly symmetric channels to a much larger
class. A similar result holds for the maximal output -norm. Examples are
given showing its use in a variety of situations. In particular, we prove the
additivity and the multiplicativity for the shifted depolarising channel.Comment: 8 pages. This is the latest version of the first half of the original
paper. The other half will appear in another pape
Estimating internal pelvic sizes using external body measurements in the double-muscled Belgian Bleu beef breed
In the double-muscled (DM) Belgian Blue beef (BBB) breed, caesarean section (CS) is being applied systematically as a management tool to prevent dystocia. As a matter of fact, CS is the only possible way of calving in the breed. High birth weight and a relatively small pelvic area are the main causes of dystocia and, in the DM-BBB breed, the reasons for the systematically applied CS. Selection for lower birth weight and larger pelvic sizes might reduce dystocia and routine CS. Few data on inner pelvic sizes of pedigree animals are available. Using external measurements to estimate the inner pelvic sizes might be an option to resolve this problem. In this study, animals of the DM-BBB breed were measured and weighed on farms and in abattoirs. External and internal pelvic sizes increased with live weight and age of the animals. Gender had a significant influence on inner pelvic traits. Increased muscular conformation was associated with decreased inner pelvic dimensions. Models with weight, gender, age, withers height and outer pelvic width (TcTc) can be used to estimate inner pelvic sizes (R-2 between 0.35 and 0.77). The estimated inner pelvic sizes can then be used to genetically evaluate pelvic traits in the DM-BBB breed. Improving weight, withers height and TcTc width in combination with lowering muscular conformation may help to decrease the high rate of caesarean section in the DM-BBB
Geometric representations for minimalist grammars
We reformulate minimalist grammars as partial functions on term algebras for
strings and trees. Using filler/role bindings and tensor product
representations, we construct homomorphisms for these data structures into
geometric vector spaces. We prove that the structure-building functions as well
as simple processors for minimalist languages can be realized by piecewise
linear operators in representation space. We also propose harmony, i.e. the
distance of an intermediate processing step from the final well-formed state in
representation space, as a measure of processing complexity. Finally, we
illustrate our findings by means of two particular arithmetic and fractal
representations.Comment: 43 pages, 4 figure
The âGalilean Style in Scienceâ and the Inconsistency of Linguistic Theorising
Chomskyâs principle of epistemological tolerance says that in theoretical linguistics contradictions between the data and the hypotheses may be temporarily tolerated in order to protect the explanatory power of the theory. The paper raises the following problem: What kinds of contradictions may be tolerated between the data and the hypotheses in theoretical linguistics? First a model of paraconsistent logic is introduced which differentiates between week and strong contradiction. As a second step, a case study is carried out which exemplifies that the principle of epistemological tolerance may be interpreted as the tolerance of week contradiction. The third step of the argumentation focuses on another case study which exemplifies that the principle of epistemological tolerance must not be interpreted as the tolerance of strong contradiction. The reason for the latter insight is the unreliability and the uncertainty of introspective data. From this finding the author draws the conclusion that it is the integration of different data types that may lead to the improvement of current theoretical linguistics and that the integration of different data types requires a novel methodology which, for the time being, is not available
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