The Syntax of Multi-Word Expressions in Yorulish Code-Mixing

Scholars have discussed Yorulish (Yorùbá–English) code-switching/mixing from the perspectives of sociolinguistics, contact linguistics and pragmatics, among others; but the syntax–semantics aspect has not enjoyed much scholarly scrutiny, if any. Multi-word expressions (MWEs) are characterised by non-compositionality as they comprise two or more words, which have a unique meaning not traceable to any of the combined words. This study examines the syntactic behaviour of MWEs in Yorulish code-switched grammar, with an eye to the meaning before and after code-switching/mixing. The adopted theoretical framework is a combination of Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame theory and Chomsky’s Transformational Generative Grammar. Data were purposively sampled from standard dictionaries and textbooks on English and Yorùbá languages, and code-switched/mixed with words from the alternate language. The MWEs selected are idioms (from English and Yorùbá); phrasal verbs, phrasal-prepositional verbs and prepositional verbs (from English); and splitting verbs and serial verb constructions (from Yorùbá). The study suggests that switching is allowed when components of MWEs are relatively free as in English prepositional verbs, but barred when they are fixed as in Yorùbá splitting verbs and idioms. Nevertheless, apart from idioms where both English and Yorùbá substrates resist switching, the other Yorùbá MWEs are more impervious to switching than do those of English origin, which suggests that Yorùbá is the base language

Perception of nonnative tonal contrasts by Mandarin-English and English-Mandarin sequential bilinguals

This study examined the role of acquisition order and crosslinguistic similarity in influencing transfer at the initial stage of perceptually acquiring a tonal third language (L3). Perception of tones in Yoruba and Thai was tested in adult sequential bilinguals representing three different first (L1) and second language (L2) backgrounds: L1 Mandarin-L2 English (MEBs), L1 English-L2 Mandarin (EMBs), and L1 English-L2 intonational/non-tonal (EIBs). MEBs outperformed EMBs and EIBs in discriminating L3 tonal contrasts in both languages, while EMBs showed a small advantage over EIBs on Yoruba. All groups showed better overall discrimination in Thai than Yoruba, but group differences were more robust in Yoruba. MEBs’ and EMBs’ poor discrimination of certain L3 contrasts was further reflected in the L3 tones being perceived as similar to the same Mandarin tone; however, EIBs, with no knowledge of Mandarin, showed many of the same similarity judgments. These findings thus suggest that L1 tonal experience has a particularly facilitative effect in L3 tone perception, but there is also a facilitative effect of L2 tonal experience. Further, crosslinguistic perceptual similarity between L1/L2 and L3 tones, as well as acoustic similarity between different L3 tones, play a significant role at this early stage of L3 tone acquisition.Published versio

Preservation of Smoked African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus Burchell against Dermestes maculatus De Geer (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) using Neem Seed Oil-iodized Salt Mixtures

Dermestes maculatus is a major fish pest causing serious damage when left uncontrolled. This work identifies the fatty acids of Nigeria-obtained neem seed oil (NSO) and the potential of different mixtures of the NSO and iodized salt in the control of the pest. Seven fatty acids: palmitic acid (18.09%), linoleic acid (33.73%), stearic acid (14.37%), oleic acid (13.4%), octadecanoic acid (12.93%), 9, 12–octadecadienoic acid (1.47%) and arachidic acid (3.33%) were identified in the NSO. Percentage of D. maculatus adu1t mortality (100%) observed in fish treated with 0.00 μl NSO + 0.50 mg salt, 100 μl NSO + 0.125 mg salt and 0.00 μl NSO + 0.25 mg salt was significantly (p<0.05) different from mortality observed in untreated fish (31.25%). Percentage of live larvae (0.0%) in fish treated with 0.50 mg salt + 0.00 μl NSO, 100 μl NSO + 0.125 mg salt, 0.00 μ1 NSO + 0.25 mg salt and 50 μl NSO + 0.125 mg salt was lower than 63.97% observed in the control. Percentage of weight loss of untreated (75.10%) and 50 μl NSO-treated fish (69.65%) was significantly higher than values obtained from fish treated with 0.5 mg salt (26.93%), 100 μ1 NSO + 0.125 mg salt (25.73%) and 0.25 mg salt (23.63%). Application of NSO-iodized salt did not change the colour and odour of treated fish. Consumers significantly rejected fish treated with ≥ 50 μl NSO

Development of a core descriptor set for Crohn's anal fistula

AIM: Crohn's anal fistula (CAF) is a complex condition, with no agreement on which patient characteristics should be routinely reported in studies. The aim of this study was to develop a core descriptor set of key patient characteristics for reporting in all CAF research. METHOD: Candidate descriptors were generated from published literature and stakeholder suggestions. Colorectal surgeons, gastroenterologists and specialist nurses in inflammatory bowel disease took part in three rounds of an international modified Delphi process using nine-point Likert scales to rank the importance of descriptors. Feedback was provided between rounds to allow refinement of the next ratings. Patterns in descriptor voting were assessed using principal component analysis (PCA). Resulting PCA groups were used to organize items in rounds two and three. Consensus descriptors were submitted to a patient panel for feedback. Items meeting predetermined thresholds were included in the final set and ratified at the consensus meeting. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty three respondents from 22 countries completed round one, of whom 67.0% completed round three. Ninety seven descriptors were rated across three rounds in 11 PCA-based groups. Forty descriptors were shortlisted. The consensus meeting ratified a core descriptor set of 37 descriptors within six domains: fistula anatomy, current disease activity and phenotype, risk factors, medical interventions for CAF, surgical interventions for CAF, and patient symptoms and impact on quality of life. CONCLUSION: The core descriptor set proposed for all future CAF research reflects characteristics important to gastroenterologists and surgeons. This might aid transparent reporting in future studies

Antimitotic drugs in the treatment of cancer

Cancer is a complex disease since it is adaptive in such a way that it can promote proliferation and invasion by means of an overactive cell cycle and in turn cellular division which is targeted by antimitotic drugs that are highly validated chemotherapy agents. However, antimitotic drug cytotoxicity to non-tumorigenic cells and multiple cancer resistance developed in response to drugs such as taxanes and vinca alkaloids are obstacles faced in both the clinical and basic research field to date. In this review, the classes of antimitotic compounds, their mechanisms of action and cancer cell resistance to chemotherapy and other limitations of current antimitotic compounds are highlighted, as well as the potential of novel 17-β estradiol analogs as cancer treatment.Medical Research Council of South Africa, the Research Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Pretoria, the Cancer association of South Africa and the National Research Foundation.http://link.springer.com/journal/280hb201

MHD flow of a uniformly stretched vertical permeable membrane in the presence of zero order reaction and quadratic heat generation

We present a magneto - hydrodynamic flow of a uniformly stretched vertical permeable surface undergoing Arrhenius heat reaction. The analytical solutions are obtained for concentration, temperature and velocity fields using an asymptotic approximation, similar to that of Ayeni et al 2004. It is shown that the temperature field and the velocity field depend heavily on the thermal grashof numbers, heat generation/absorption, magnetic induction, chemical reaction parameters and reaction order. It is also established that maximum velocity occurs in the body of the fluid close to the surface and not the surface. JONAMP Vol. 11 2007: pp. 119-12