Contingency learning and perfective morpheme productivity in L2 Italian: A study on lexeme–morpheme associations with ΔP

Abstract This study utilized unidirectional association score ΔP to track perfective morpheme productivity in longitudinal spoken L2 Italian data. Research questions concerned whether early L2 perfectives were contingent upon telicity of predicates, whether lexeme–morpheme association changed as proficiency increased, and whether distribution of perfectives in the L1 input affected the patterns of morpheme emergence. Results showed that (i) the productive use of the perfective was contingent upon a few, infrequent telic predicates but also upon some actionally underspecified, very frequent general-purpose ones; (ii) a generalized decrease in association scores over time accompanied the productivity of the perfective morpheme; (iii) distribution of perfectives in L2 data did not reflect distribution in the L1 input. The statistical analysis adopted in this study is replicable to other domains where contingency of stem-affix alternations may provide cues for observing the developing L2 gramma

Learner Corpora without Error Tagging

The article explores the possibility of adopting a form-to-function perspective when annotating learner corpora in order to get deeper insights about systematic features of interlanguage. A split between forms and functions (or categories) is desirable in order to avoid the "comparative fallacy" and because – especially in basic varieties – forms may precede functions (e.g., what resembles to a "noun" might have a different function or a function may show up in unexpected forms). In the computer-aided error analysis tradition, all items produced by learners are traced to a grid of error tags which is based on the categories of the target language. Differently, we believe it is possible to record and make retrievable both words and sequence of characters independently from their functional-grammatical label in the target language. For this purpose at the University of Pavia we adapted a probabilistic POS tagger designed for L1 on L2 data. Despite the criticism that this operation can raise, we found that it is better to work with "virtual categories" rather than with errors. The article outlines the theoretical background of the project and shows some examples in which some potential of SLA-oriented (non error-based) tagging will be possibly made clearer

“Didattica acquisizionale” e cortesia linguistica in italiano L2

Le norme pragmalinguistiche e sociopragmatiche che regolano l’uso dell’allocuzione pronominale e la modulazione della forza illocutoria degli atti linguistici in italiano sono particolarmente complesse, acquisite in stadi molto avanzati dai parlanti non nativi e difficili da dominare anche per apprendenti con una buona padronanza complessiva della lingua obiettivo. Alle difficoltà acquisizionali delle strutture si unisce l’atteggiamento dei parlanti nativi, che tendono a rivolgersi ai non nativi con una lingua semplificata anche sul piano pragmatico. Il mancato rispetto delle norme che regolano l’espressione linguistica della cortesia può rappresentare un ostacolo alla serena accettazione degli stranieri da parte dei membri della comunità ospitante. Inoltre, la semplificazione del sistema presente nell’input rischia di instaurare una forma basilare di discriminazione e l’adozione di questa semplificazione da parte dei non nativi potrebbe corrispondere a una strategia di adattamento culturale o addirittura a una implicita legittimazione di tale discriminazione. A partire da queste considerazioni e confortati dai nostri dati, sosteniamo che un sillabo informato ai principi della “didattica acquisizionale” dovrebbe addestrare all’uso degli esponenti linguistici della cortesia fin dalle primissime unità didattiche, anche se ciò va contro ogni evidenza di insegnabilità.Handling the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic rules governing the use of address forms and the modulation of illocutionary force is extremely demanding for Italian L2 learners. Most of these rules are acquired very late, and even proficient learners of the target language can hardly cope with them. Not only are the linguistic forms intrinsically difficult, but also the input is not of help, as native speakers tend to present non-native speakers with a pragmatically simplified variety of the target language. Violating the rules governing the linguistic expression of politeness can become a source of hindrance to learners’ smooth participation in the L2 community. Furthermore, a basic form of discrimination could stem from native speakers’ use of simplified input, and the adoption of the simplified variety by non-native speakers could result in a strategy of cultural accommodation but even in an implicit legitimization of that discrimination. On these bases, and supported by our data, we argue that a syllabus designed according to the principles of the so called “didattica acquisizionale” should train in using linguistic forms of politeness from the very beginning of the instructional program, even against any evidence of teachability.Le norme pragmalinguistiche e sociopragmatiche che regolano l’uso dell’allocuzione pronominale e la modulazione della forza illocutoria degli atti linguistici in italiano sono particolarmente complesse, acquisite in stadi molto avanzati dai parlanti non nativi e difficili da dominare anche per apprendenti con una buona padronanza complessiva della lingua obiettivo. Alle difficoltà acquisizionali delle strutture si unisce l’atteggiamento dei parlanti nativi, che tendono a rivolgersi ai non nativi con una lingua semplificata anche sul piano pragmatico. Il mancato rispetto delle norme che regolano l’espressione linguistica della cortesia può rappresentare un ostacolo alla serena accettazione degli stranieri da parte dei membri della comunità ospitante. Inoltre, la semplificazione del sistema presente nell’input rischia di instaurare una forma basilare di discriminazione e l’adozione di questa semplificazione da parte dei non nativi potrebbe corrispondere a una strategia di adattamento culturale o addirittura a una implicita legittimazione di tale discriminazione. A partire da queste considerazioni e confortati dai nostri dati, sosteniamo che un sillabo informato ai principi della “didattica acquisizionale” dovrebbe addestrare all’uso degli esponenti linguistici della cortesia fin dalle primissime unità didattiche, anche se ciò va contro ogni evidenza di insegnabilità

“Didattica acquisizionale” e cortesia linguistica in italiano L2

Le norme pragmalinguistiche e sociopragmatiche che regolano l’uso dell’allocuzione pronominale e la modulazione della forza illocutoria degli atti linguistici in italiano sono particolarmente complesse, acquisite in stadi molto avanzati dai parlanti non nativi e difficili da dominare anche per apprendenti con una buona padronanza complessiva della lingua obiettivo. Alle difficoltà acquisizionali delle strutture si unisce l’atteggiamento dei parlanti nativi, che tendono a rivolgersi ai non nativi con una lingua semplificata anche sul piano pragmatico. Il mancato rispetto delle norme che regolano l’espressione linguistica della cortesia può rappresentare un ostacolo alla serena accettazione degli stranieri da parte dei membri della comunità ospitante. Inoltre, la semplificazione del sistema presente nell’input rischia di instaurare una forma basilare di discriminazione e l’adozione di questa semplificazione da parte dei non nativi potrebbe corrispondere a una strategia di adattamento culturale o addirittura a una implicita legittimazione di tale discriminazione. A partire da queste considerazioni e confortati dai nostri dati, sosteniamo che un sillabo informato ai principi della “didattica acquisizionale” dovrebbe addestrare all’uso degli esponenti linguistici della cortesia fin dalle primissime unità didattiche, anche se ciò va contro ogni evidenza di insegnabilità

High-yield fabrication of entangled photon emitters for hybrid quantum networking using high-temperature droplet epitaxy

Several semiconductor quantum dot techniques have been investigated for the generation of entangled photon pairs. Among the other techniques, droplet epitaxy enables the control of the shape, size, density, and emission wavelength of the quantum emitters. However, the fraction of the entanglement-ready quantum dots that can be fabricated with this method is still limited to around 5%, and matching the energy of the entangled photons to atomic transitions (a promising route towards quantum networking) remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we overcome these obstacles by introducing a modified approach to droplet epitaxy on a high symmetry (111)A substrate, where the fundamental crystallization step is performed at a significantly higher temperature as compared to previous reports. Our method drastically improves the yield of entanglement-ready photon sources near the emission wavelength of interest, which can be as high as 95% due to the low values of fine structure splitting and radiative lifetime, together with the reduced exciton dephasing offered by the choice of GaAs/AlGaAs materials. The quantum dots are designed to emit in the operating spectral region of Rb-based slow-light media, providing a viable technology for quantum repeater stations.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Constitutive CD40 signaling in B cells selectively activates the noncanonical NF-κB pathway and promotes lymphomagenesis

CD40, a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor family, plays an essential role in T cell–dependent immune responses. Because CD40 is widely expressed on the surface of tumor cells in various B cell malignancies, deregulated CD40 signaling has been suggested to contribute to lymphomagenesis. In this study, we show that B cell-specific expression of a constitutively active CD40 receptor, in the form of a latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1)/CD40 chimeric protein, promoted an increase in the number of follicular and marginal zone B cells in secondary lymphoid organs in transgenic mice. The B cells displayed an activated phenotype, prolonged survival and increased proliferation, but were significantly impaired in T cell-dependent immune responses. Constitutive CD40 signaling in B cells induced selective and constitutive activation of the noncanonical NF-κB pathway and the mitogen-activated protein kinases Jnk and extracellular signal–regulated kinase. LMP1/CD40-expressing mice older than 12 mo developed B cell lymphomas of mono- or oligoclonal origin at high incidence, thus showing that the interplay of the signaling pathways induced by constitutive CD40 signaling is sufficient to initiate a tumorigenic process, ultimately leading to the development of B cell lymphomas

The paradox of an unpolluted coastal site facing a chronically contaminated industrial area

Present and past industrial activities in coastal areas have left us a legacy of contamination and habitat degradation with potential implications for human health. Here, we investigated a coastal marine area enclosed in a Site of National Interest (SNI) of the central-western Adriatic (Mediterranean Sea), where priority actions of environmental remediation are required by governmental laws due the high environmental and human risk, and that is off-limits to any human activity since 2002. In particular, our investigation was focused on an area located in front of a chemical industry dismissed more than 3 decades ago. We report that the concentrations of heavy-metal and organic contaminants in the investigated sediments were generally lower than those expected to induce detrimental biological effects. Meiofaunal abundance, biomass and community structure changed among stations, but regardless of the distance from the abandoned industrial plant. Taxa richness within the SNI did not change significantly compared to the controls and the lack of some taxa in the SNI transects was not due to the contamination of the SNI area. The results of this study suggest a natural recovery of the marine area over 2 decades of restrictions on human activities, including fishing and shipping bans. If the hypothesis of the natural recovery of this SNI will be further confirmed by other studies, the plans forthe identification and monitoring of the most polluted areas in Italy should necessarily be redefined also in the light of the Water Framework, the Marine Strategy Framework and the Environmental Quality Standard Directives

The CFT6 origin of all tree-level 4-point correlators in AdS3 x S3

© 2020, The Author(s). We provide strong evidence that all tree-level 4-point holographic correlators in AdS 3× S3 are constrained by a hidden 6D conformal symmetry. This property has been discovered in the AdS 5× S5 context and noticed in the tensor multiplet subsector of the AdS3× S3 theory. Here we extend it to general AdS3× S3 correlators which contain also the chiral primary operators of spin zero and one that sit in the gravity multiplet. The key observation is that the 6D conformal primary field associated with these operators is not a scalar but a self-dual 3-form primary. As an example, we focus on the correlators involving two fields in the tensor multiplets and two in the gravity multiplet and show that all such correlators are encoded in a conformal 6D correlator between two scalars and two self-dual 3-forms, which is determined by three functions of the cross ratios. We fix these three functions by comparing with the results of the simplest correlators derived from an explicit supergravity calculation

Microbiome-assisted restoration of degraded marine habitats: a new nature-based solution?

Microorganisms interact with all biological components in a variety of ways. They contribute to increase the efficiency of marine food webs and facilitate the adaptation of multicellular organisms to climate change and other human-induced impacts. Increasing evidence suggests that microbiomes are essential for the health of marine species, for maintaining productive marine ecosystems, and thus for the sustainable functioning of the global biosphere. Marine microbiomes are typically species- or habitat-specific and are susceptible to environmental and human-driven changes. The microbiota of seagrasses, macroalgae, mangroves or tropical corals benefits their hosts by increasing their fitness, contributing to the removal of toxic compounds, conferring protection against pathogens, and/or supporting nutrient requirements. Alterations of the microbiomes might have negative consequences on species’ health, survival, and overall ecosystem functioning. Despite the key ecological role of microbiomes in all ecosystems, their potential for the restoration of degraded habitats is still largely unexplored. Here we present a literature survey of the existing information on the microbiota associated with habitat-forming species and suggest that the resilience/recovery of damaged marine habitats can depend largely on the changes in the microbiota. Nature-based solutions relying on microbiome analyses (also through omics approaches) enable health monitoring of transplanted organisms/metacommunities and potential identification/production of probiotics/bio-promoters to stabilize unhealthy conditions of transplants. In the context of international strategies concerning ecological restoration, the use of the scientific knowledge acquired on the marine microbiome deserves to be exploited to assist both traditional and innovative restoration approaches. The success of habitat restoration may depend on our ability to maintain, along with the restored species and habitats, a functional microbiota

Holographic 4-point correlators with heavy states

SCOAP