Interpreting Mrs Malaprop: Davidson and communication without conventions

Inspired by my reading of the conclusions of Plato’s Cratylus, in which I suggest that Socrates endorses the claim that speaker’s intentions determine meaning of their utterances, this thesis investigates a modern parallel. Drawing on observations that people who produce an utterances that do not accord with the conventions of their linguistic community can often nevertheless communicate successfully, Donald Davidson concludes that it is the legitimate intentions of speakers to be interpreted in a particular way that determine the meanings of their utterances. This thesis investigates how we might interpret the non-standard utterances of another from the perspective of Davidson’s anticonventionalist picture of language. It proceeds by investigating the possible roles for radical interpretation and triangulation in explaining successful day-to-day communication, where non-standard language use abounds, and argues that - even from a Davidsonian perspective - a full account of the linguistic skills and knowledge that a language user requires to interpret utterances must ultimately appeal at least to regularities word use and expressions, if not full-blown conventions

Literature, materiality, technology: Australian literary journals on the edge

Literary journals have always existed on the edge of Australian literature: constantly springing up, folding, and regenerating; always under threat from funding cuts, never truly popular, but with high literary value nonetheless. Over the last ten years, Australian literary journals have moved closer to the edge, as the digital revolution completely overturned their material form, and, some said, threatened their future. While they have survived, literary journals have well no longer ‘journals’ or ‘magazines’ at all, but something else – they’re websites, web publications, podcasts, events, social media entities, as well as print editions all at once – often these different media refer to one another, inform one another, revise and comment on one another, and together form a new kind of text

Sonic hedgehog signalling mediates astrocyte crosstalk with neurons to confer neuroprotection

Sonic hedgehog (SHH) is a glycoprotein associated with development that is also expressed in the adult CNS and released after brain injury. Since the SHH receptors patched homolog-1 and Smoothened are highly expressed on astrocytes, we hypothesized that SHH regulates astrocyte function. Primary mouse cortical astrocytes derived from embryonic Swiss mouse cortices, were treated with two chemically distinct agonists of the SHH pathway, which caused astrocytes to elongate and proliferate. These changes are accompanied by decreases in the major astrocyte glutamate transporter-1 and the astrocyte intermediate filament protein glial fibrillary acidic protein. Multisite electrophysiological recordings revealed that the SHH agonist, smoothened agonist suppressed neuronal firing in astrocyte-neuron co-cultures and this was abolished by the astrocyte metabolic inhibitor ethylfluoroacetate, revealing that SHH stimulation of metabolically active astrocytes influences neuronal firing. Using three-dimensional co-culture, MAP2 western blotting and immunohistochemistry, we show that SHH-stimulated astrocytes protect neurons from kainate-induced cell death. Altogether the results show that SHH regulation of astrocyte function represents an endogenous neuroprotective mechanism

Plastic habitats: Algal biofilms on photic and aphotic plastics

Plastic pollution is abundant in aquatic environments worldwide and many of its detrimental impacts are well documented, but it also represents a novel substrate available to a diversity of organisms. Biofilms – assemblages of bacteria, algae, and fungi – colonise hard surfaces in aquatic environments. They are key agents in biogeochemical cycling and are a food source for grazing organisms, representing a keystone aquatic community, and are known to influence the fate of plastic pollution in aquatic environments. In one of the most temporally thorough assessments of biofilm development on freshwater plastics, here we report on the evolution of algal biofilm assemblages on three plastic polymers (Low Density Polyethylene, Polypropylene, and Polyethylene Terephthalate) over six weeks in the photic and aphotic zones of a freshwater reservoir in Staffordshire, UK. Significant differences were found between diatom assemblages on plastics in the photic and aphotic zones, and between diatom assemblages quantified on weeks 2, 4 and 6 of the study, but total algal photosynthetic pigment concentrations did not vary significantly between polymers in either zone. Scanning Electron Microscopy indicates that degradation of polymer surfaces occurs within six weeks in the aphotic zone, with potential implications for plastic fragmentation and microplastic generation

"What is on your mind?" Automated Scoring of Mindreading in Childhood and Early Adolescence

In this paper we present the first work on the automated scoring of mindreading ability in middle childhood and early adolescence. We create MIND-CA, a new corpus of 11,311 question-answer pairs in English from 1,066 children aged 7 to 14. We perform machine learning experiments and carry out extensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation. We obtain promising results, demonstrating the applicability of state-of-the-art NLP solutions to a new domain and task.Comment: Accepted in COLING 202

Designed to fail : a biopolitics of British Citizenship.

Tracing a route through the recent 'ugly history' of British citizenship, this article advances two central claims. Firstly, British citizenship has been designed to fail specific groups and populations. Failure, it argues, is a design principle of British citizenship, in the most active and violent sense of the verb to design: to mark out, to indicate, to designate. Secondly, British citizenship is a biopolitics - a field of techniques and practices (legal, social, moral) through which populations are controlled and fashioned. This article begins with the 1981 Nationality Act and the violent conflicts between the police and black communities in Brixton that accompanied the passage of the Act through the British parliament. Employing Michel Foucault's concept of state racism, it argues that the 1981 Nationality Act marked a pivotal moment in the design of British citizenship and has operated as the template for a glut of subsequent nationality legislation that has shaped who can achieve citizenship. The central argument is that the existence of populations of failed citizens within Britain is not an accident of flawed design, but is foundational to British citizenship. For many 'national minorities' the lived realities of biopolitical citizenship stand in stark contradistinction to contemporary governmental accounts of citizenship that stress community cohesion, political participation, social responsibility, rights and pride in shared national belonging

Globalisation, Entrepreneurship and the South Pacific: Reframing Australian Colonial Architecture, 1800-1850

In 1957, Clinton Hartley Grattan, one of Australia’s most important foreign observers, wrote of the shadow of the “urban” in legends of the Australian “bush”.1 He argued that the early frontiers of Australian settlement were frontiers of men with private capital, or entrepreneurs, and those frontiers thus carried more elements of the urban than is commonly realised. Such early colonial enterprises around Australia’s south and southeastern coasts, and across the Tasman included sealing, whaling, milling and pastoralism, as well as missionary, trading and finance ventures. In advance of official settlements in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, entrepreneurs mapped coastlines, pioneered trade routes and colonised lands. Backed by private capital they established colonial infrastructural architecture effecting urban expansion in the Australian colonies, New Zealand and beyond. Yet this architecture is rarely a subject of architectural histories

Effect of medications with anti-cholinergic properties on cognitive function, delirium, physical function and mortality:a systematic review

Objectives: to determine the effect of drugs with anti-cholinergic properties on relevant health outcomes.Design: electronic published and unpublished literature/trial registries were systematically reviewed. Studies evaluating medications with anti-cholinergic activity on cognitive function, delirium, physical function or mortality were eligible.Results: forty-six studies including 60,944 participants were included. Seventy-seven percent of included studies evaluating cognitive function (n = 33) reported a significant decline in cognitive ability with increasing anti-cholinergic load (P 0.05). Five of the eight included studies reported a decline in physical function in users of anti-cholinergics (P < 0.05). Three of nine studies evaluating mortality reported that the use of drugs with anti-cholinergic properties was associated with a trend towards increased mortality, but this was not statistically significant. The methodological quality of the evidence-base ranged from poor to very good.Conclusion: medicines with anti-cholinergic properties have a significant adverse effect on cognitive and physical function, but limited evidence exists for delirium or mortality outcomes. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved

ISBS 2018 AUCKLAND CONFERENCE OPENING CEREMONY ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS

The Master of Ceremony Professor Patria Hume will ask delegates to stand at the commencement of the opening for the procession of the dignitaries to the auditorium. Dignitaries will be called into the auditorium via the Māori traditional karanga, and will proceed to their seats. The first formal address will be given by kaihāpai Dr Valance Smith and commence with a Karakia (Blessing) and Mihi Whakatau welcoming dignitaries, guests and delegates to the ISBS 2018 Conference. Derek McCormack, the AUT Vice-Chancellor, will address the assembled company and welcome them to AUT for the conference hosted in partnership by AUT, AUTM, HPSNZ, ATEED and ISBS. The conference logo was designed by Professor Patria Hume and Dr Valance Smith based on: the adaption of the AUT SPRINZ logo (taking steps to research-education-service excellence – sprinting up the NZ fern); and the goals of conference reflected in Māori culture “Te hōkai tapuwae” means “The breadth of stride”. Within the Māori Karakia (prayer) ‘Tenei au tenei au’ is the line ‘te hōkai nei i o taku tapuwae’ – The breadth of stride as Tane ascends to the heavens to retrieve the three baskets of knowledge. This embodies human movement and the pursuit of knowledge – the goals of ISBS. The AUT Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences Dean and Pro-Vice Chancellor, in absentia, welcomes the assembled company and encourages them to experience the research-education-service focus at AUT. Mike Stanley, the AUT Millennium (AUT Millennium) Chief Executive & New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) President, will address the assembled company and welcome them to AUTM for the conference applied programme. Michael Scott, the High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) Chief Executive, will address the assembled company and outline the importance of biomechanics and integrated sport science in supporting high performance athletes. Pam Ford, General Manager Economic Development, Auckland Tourism, Events Economic Development (ATEED), will address the assembled company and outline the importance of the conference to Auckland and New Zealand. Thanks will be given to the industry partners for their active contribution to the conference. The Conference Flag Ceremony and Official Opening of the Conference by the ISBS President. The delegates selected to participate as flag bearers during the opening ceremony as they were the first from their country to register for the conference, will proceed to the stage. (We apologise to delegates from countries who do not have a flag represented in the flag bearing ceremony due to logistics). The conference will be officially opened by President Young-Hoo with the unfurling of the ISBS banner. The ISBS President Professor Young-Hoo Kwon will address the assembled company on behalf of the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports and its Board of Directors, to welcome delegates to the 36th ISBS Annual Conference and to the city of Auckland. The details of this ISBS 2018 Conference inaugural Presidents Award are confidential until it is awarded. The recipient does not know they are receiving this award. The citation will be read by Dr Laura-Anne Furlong, ISBS Board member. The ISBS President Professor Young-Hoo Kwon and AUT Vice Chancellor Derek McCormack will present the ISBS 2018 conference travel grants to the recipients. NZ$20,000 is being awarded. The Kaikōrero Dr Valance Smith will perform the traditional Māori blessing of the gifts for dignitaries. Master wood carver Jarrod Hume was commissioned to create hand carved pohutukawa, puriri, and kauri (native NZ trees) items for dignitaries. Jarrod reclaimed the wood from fallen trees at Kawau Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. He dried the wood for two years, hand carved each item, and added Pasifika art work of his own creation using pyrography. The AUT kapahaka group, Tītahi ki Tua, will again perform for the assembled company. ISBS Geoffrey Dyson Awardee Professor Hermann Schwameder will be introduced by ISBS President Professor Young-Hoo Kwon. The prestigious Geoffrey Dyson Lecture is an invited presentation given by scientists who have made an outstanding contribution to ISBS and the field of sports biomechanics. As the Industry Partners Representative, Imogen Moorhouse (VICON’S CEO) from the ISBS 2018 Auckland Conference Platinum Industry Partner VICON, will address the assembled company and invite them to the opening Industry Playground Event immediately following the procession of the delegates from the theatre into the Sir Paul Reeves Atrium. The delegates will be requested to rise and remain standing for the procession of the dignitaries from the auditorium. All delegates will then proceed to the Kiwiana Opening Reception in the Sir Paul Reeves Atrium, where they will be greeted by Kelly Sheerin, and Alex Muir from VICON, on behalf of the industry partner medallists participating in the Playing Field Events

Dietary Energy Density Affects Fat Mass in Early Adolescence and Is Not Modified by FTO Variants

BACKGROUND: Dietary energy density (DED) does not have a simple linear relationship to fat mass in children, which suggests that some children are more susceptible than others to the effects of DED. Children with the FTO (rs9939609) variant that increases the risk of obesity may have a higher susceptibility to the effects of DED because their internal appetite control system is compromised. We tested the relationship between DED and fat mass in early adolescence and its interaction with FTO variants. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We carried out a prospective analysis on 2,275 children enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Diet was assessed at age 10 y using 3-day diet diaries. DED (kJ/g) was calculated excluding drinks. Children were genotyped for the FTO (rs9939609) variant. Fat mass was estimated at age 13 y using the Lunar Prodigy Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry scanner. There was no evidence of interaction between DED at age 10 y and the high risk A allele of the FTO gene in relation to fat mass at age 13 y (beta = 0.005, p = 0.51), suggesting that the FTO gene has no effect on the relation between DED at 10 y and fat mass at 13 y. When DED at 10 y and the A allele of FTO were in the same model they were independently related to fat mass at 13 y. Each A allele of FTO was associated with 0.35+/-0.13 kg more fat mass at 13 y and each 1 kJ/g DED at 10 y was associated with 0.16+/-0.06 kg more fat mass at age 13 y, after controlling for misreporting of energy intake, gender, puberty, overweight status at 10 y, maternal education, TV watching, and physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals the multi-factorial origin of obesity and indicates that although FTO may put some children at greater risk of obesity, encouraging a low dietary energy density may be an effective strategy to help all children avoid excessive fat gain