Study on Pragmatic Functions of Gender Terms in Japanese Conversation

In order to clarify the pragmatic functions of the phenomenon “Sexual Inversion” in the use of gender terms in Japanese conversation, this paper analyses respectively the pragmatic functions of the male using female terms and the female using male terms through conversational examples, presenting the point that there is compatibility between male and female terms, the use of which is not confined to gender identity of the speaker, and the flexible use of which can better express the speaker’s identity and viewpoint, moderate the talking atmosphere and coordinate relationship between the two talking sides. It is an intentional pragmatic strategy. Key words: male terms; female terms; pragmatic functions Résumé: Afin de clarifier les fonctions pragmatiques du phénomène de l’inversion sexuelle dans l'utilisation des termes de genre dans la conversation en japonais, ce document analyse respectivement les fonctions pragmatiques des termes féminins utilisés par les hommes et des termes masculins utilisés par les femmes en nous donnant des exemples de conversation, et en présentant le point de vue qu'il y a une compatibilité entre les termes masculins et les termes féminins, dont l'utilisation ne se limite pas à l'identité sexuelle de l'orateur, et qu’une utilisation souple peut mieux exprimer l'identité et le point de vue du locuteur, modérer l'atmosphère de conversation et coordonner les relations entre les deux locuteurs. Il s'agit d'une stratégie pragmatique intentionnelle.Mots-Clés: termes masculins; termes féminins; fonctions pragmatique

Microbial production of rhamnolipids from isolate pseudomonas sp. —A mono- rhamnolipid producer

Rhamnolipids are a class of glycolipid biosurfactants containing mono- or di-rhamnose as the sugar moiety linked to β-hydroxylated fatty acid chain(s). Rhamnolipids are used in many consumer products such as cosmetics, food and pesticides, due to their excellent surface and biological activities. The main rhamnolipid producer is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen which may cause safety and health concerns during large-scale production. Furthermore, cost of microbial production of rhamnolipids is more expensive as compared to that of the chemical surfactants. Therefore, extensive studies have been carried out to explore suitable and economical methods to obtain rhamnolipids in non-pathogenic strains. In our study, we have isolated a rhamnolipid-producing strain capable of producing 2 g/L mono-rhamnolipids when supplemented with 8g/L glucose as the sole carbon source in 72h. The production of only mono-rhamnolipids eliminates the need for costly and laborious separation of mono- and di-rhamnolipids. The mono-rhamnolipid yield can be further improved through optimization of medium composition and fermentation condition

Fast micro-differential evolution for topological active net optimization

This paper studies the optimization problem of topological active net (TAN), which is often seen in image segmentation and shape modeling. A TAN is a topological structure containing many nodes, whose positions must be optimized while a predefined topology needs to be maintained. TAN optimization is often time-consuming and even constructing a single solution is hard to do. Such a problem is usually approached by a ``best improvement local search'' (BILS) algorithm based on deterministic search (DS), which is inefficient because it spends too much efforts in nonpromising probing. In this paper, we propose the use of micro-differential evolution (DE) to replace DS in BILS for improved directional guidance. The resultant algorithm is termed deBILS. Its micro-population efficiently utilizes historical information for potentially promising search directions and hence improves efficiency in probing. Results show that deBILS can probe promising neighborhoods for each node of a TAN. Experimental tests verify that deBILS offers substantially higher search speed and solution quality not only than ordinary BILS, but also the genetic algorithm and scatter search algorithm

Effect of Magnesium Bond on the Competition Between Hydrogen Bond and Halogen Bond and the Induction of Proton and Halogen Transfer

HOX (X=Cl, Br, I, and At) can engage in either a H‐bond (HB) or halogen bond (XB) with a base‐like HCN, NH3, and imidazole. Although the former is energetically preferred for X=Cl and Br, it is the XB that is more stable for At, with I showing little preference. MgY2 forms a Mg‐bond with the O atom of HOX, which grows stronger in the order X=C