Syntactic Computation as Labelled Deduction: WH a case study

This paper addresses the question "Why do WH phenomena occur with the particular cluster of properties observed across languages -- long-distance dependencies, WH-in situ, partial movement constructions, reconstruction, crossover etc." These phenomena have been analysed by invoking a number of discrete principles and categories, but have so far resisted a unified treatment. The explanation proposed is set within a model of natural language understanding in context, where the task of understanding is taken to be the incremental building of a structure over which the semantic content is defined. The formal model is a composite of a labelled type-deduction system, a modal tree logic, and a set of rules for describing the process of interpreting the string as a set of transition states. A dynamic concept of syntax results, in which in addition to an output structure associated with each string (analogous to the level of LF), there is in addition an explicit meta-level description of the process whereby this incremental process takes place. This paper argues that WH-related phenomena can be unified by adopting this dynamic perspective. The main focus of the paper is on WH-initial structures, WH in situ structures, partial movement phenomena, and crossover phenomena. In each case, an analysis is proposed which emerges from the general characterisatioan of WH structures without construction-specific stipulation.Articl

Formacâo, prática e modos de pensar de professores: uma análise de teses e dissertacôes em educacâo matemática

Neste trabalho apresentamos uma pesquisa de Mestrado que objetivou compreender o movimento temático e teórico-metodológico das inter-relações das TIC e a Formação, Prática e Modos de Pensar de Professores que ensinam Matemática. Foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa – Estado do Conhecimento da Pesquisa – por meio de um mapeamento da produção acadêmica em Educação Matemática, no Estado de São Paulo e selecionamos como objetos de investigação setenta Teses e Dissertações, defendidas nos Programas de Pós-Graduação da USP, UNICAMP, UFSCar, UNESP-Rio Claro, PUC-São Paulo e UNESP-Bauru, no período de 1987 a 2007. A análise dos dados mostrou que elas podem ser categorizadas, de acordo com seu objeto de investigação, em três grupos: Presença das TIC nos Processos de Formação de Professores de Matemática; Modos de Pensar de professores a respeito do uso das TIC nos processos de ensino e aprendizagem da Matemática; e Presença das TIC nas práticas de ensinar e aprender Matemática

POSTER: Privacy-preserving Indoor Localization

Upcoming WiFi-based localization systems for indoor environments face a conflict of privacy interests: Server-side localization violates location privacy of the users, while localization on the user's device forces the localization provider to disclose the details of the system, e.g., sophisticated classification models. We show how Secure Two-Party Computation can be used to reconcile privacy interests in a state-of-the-art localization system. Our approach provides strong privacy guarantees for all involved parties, while achieving room-level localization accuracy at reasonable overheads.Comment: Poster Session of the 7th ACM Conference on Security & Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks (WiSec'14

Behavior and regulation of centriolar appendage proteins during mitosis

Summary The centrosome is a small non-membranous organelle composed of two centrioles and surrounded by the pericentriolar material. The two primary functions of the centrosome are first, to act as the main microtubule-organizing center in interphase and mitosis and second, to generate the primary cilium. The primary cilium is a microtubule-based structure that projects from the plasma membrane, where it acts as a signaling hub to transfer extracellular signals into intracellular responses. Thereby, the cilium coordinates diverse signaling pathways implicated in development, tissue homeostasis and disease. The primary cilium originates from the older centriole of the pair, called the mother centriole. This mother centriole is decorated at its distal tip with a nine-fold symmetric ring of distal and subdistal appendage proteins. Both centrioles duplicate once per cell cycle to generate one copy of themselves and hence one of the centriole contains the oldest appendages. Studies in model organisms proposed that those inherently asymmetric centrosomes potentially work as a scaffold for asymmetric distribution of cell fate determinants during mitosis and thereby acting as an intrinsic cue for asymmetric cell division. Yet, how centrosome asymmetry is established and how, if at all, influences asymmetric cell division in human stem cells remains unclear. Thus, one aim of this study was to characterize centrosome asymmetry in somatic and stem cells. I observed centrosomal asymmetry during mitosis for a subset of appendages, while others dispersed from the centrosome upon the G2/M transition. My data show that an appendage core (composed of ODF2, Cep83 and SCLT1) remained at the mother centriole from interphase to mitosis, whereas a sub-set of appendages including Ninein, Centriolin, Cep123, Cep164 and LRRC45 detached from the mother centriole during mitosis. The behavior of appendages was similar in differentiated cells and human stem cells. The second aim was to unravel whether centrosome asymmetry regulates asymmetric stem cell division. I found that ODF2 can be used as a marker for centrosome asymmetry during mitosis in human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Here, I correlated the position of the daughter and mother centrosome, visualized by ODF2, with the asymmetric distribution of the stem cell marker CD133 in dividing HSPCs using imaging flow cytometry. Although a role for centrosomes in the asymmetric cell division of HSPCs cannot fully be excluded, I could not observe a clear correlation between centrosome age and CD133 segregation. Further, reversion of centrosome asymmetry by ODF2 depletion had no impact on the differentiation potential of HSPCs. The third aim concentrated on the regulation of appendage behavior. Distal appendages, which are required for initial steps of ciliogenesis, are released from centrosomes before mitosis by a mechanism that is currently unknown. Therefore, I aimed to elucidate the regulation of the cell cycle-dependent behavior of appendages and the consequence of perturbed appendages regulation with special regards to their function in ciliogenesis. Here, I show that the mitotic kinase Nek2 regulates the distal appendage removal at the mother centriole at the onset of mitosis. Ectopic overexpression of Nek2 but not kinase-dead Nek2 prematurely displaced those appendages in interphase, indicating a kinase-specific function. This phenotype was recapitulated in breast cancer cells with high levels of Nek2. Conversely, in Nek2 knockout (KO) cells, appendages remained associated with the older centrosome during mitosis. I could show that persistence of distal appendages on the mother centrosome in mitotic Nek2 KO cells did not allow the cells to fully disassemble their cilia before mitosis, resulting in a ciliary remnant during mitosis. This triggered asymmetric inheritance of ciliary signaling components and asynchronous cilium reassembly after cell division. Asynchronous cilium growth may have consequences for cell fate determination by allowing sister cells to differentially detect environmental signals. Therefore, a ciliary remnant during mitosis might be restricted to asymmetrically dividing stem cells, which need asymmetric cilium re-assembly as a tool for differential responding to environmental signals after cell division. Together, my data established the kinase Nek2 as a central regulator of distal appendages

Progress in Simultaneous Interpreting - an Evaluation of the Development of four Students

This article describes an analysis of students’ simultaneous interpreting performance. The interpreting performance of four students was recorded in the beginning and at the end of their interpreting training. The performances were then analysed by using a modified version of a model of analysis presented by Kopczynski (1980 and 1981). Factors paid attention to in the analysis were equivalence, linguistic competence, linguistic performance and style. The analysis shows that equivalence improves during the period of training but does not achieve the level of equivalence of professional interpreters. In the area of linguistic competence, progress can be noticed as well, but in the area of linguistic performance the students only progress slightly

Shannon entropy of brain functional complex networks under the influence of the psychedelic Ayahuasca

The entropic brain hypothesis holds that the key facts concerning psychedelics are partially explained in terms of increased entropy of the brain's functional connectivity. Ayahuasca is a psychedelic beverage of Amazonian indigenous origin with legal status in Brazil in religious and scientific settings. In this context, we use tools and concepts from the theory of complex networks to analyze resting state fMRI data of the brains of human subjects under two distinct conditions: (i) under ordinary waking state and (ii) in an altered state of consciousness induced by ingestion of Ayahuasca. We report an increase in the Shannon entropy of the degree distribution of the networks subsequent to Ayahuasca ingestion. We also find increased local and decreased global network integration. Our results are broadly consistent with the entropic brain hypothesis. Finally, we discuss our findings in the context of descriptions of "mind-expansion" frequently seen in self-reports of users of psychedelic drugs.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure

Energy Infrastructure of the Factory as a Virtual Power Plant: Smart Energy Management

Smart energy factories are crucial for the development of upcoming energy markets in which emissions, energy use and network congestions are to be decreased. The virtual power plant (VPP) can be implemented in an industrial site with the aim of minimizing costs, emissions and total energy usage. A VPP considers the future situation forecasting and the situation of all energy assets, including renewable energy generation units and energy storage systems, to optimize the total cost of the plant, considering the possibility to trade with the energy market. For a VPP to be constructed, a proper communication system is essential. The energy management system (EMS) enables the monitoring, management and control of the different energy devices and permits the transference of the decisions made by the VPP to the different energy assets. VPP concept is explained together with the methods used for forecasting the future situation and the energy flow inside the facility. To reach its benefits, the optimization of the VPP is assessed. After that, the communication technologies that enable the VPP implementation are also introduced, and the advantages/disadvantages regarding their deployment are stated. With the tools introduced, the VPP can face the challenges of energy markets efficiently

Behavioural Dimensions for Discovering Knowledge Actor Roles Utilising Enterprise Social Network Metrics

The identification of distinct user roles is an important theme in social media research. However, for Enterprise Social Networks (ESN), the use of social media within organisations, research identifying such roles is still lacking. Yet, understanding user roles, in particular regarding their knowledge con-tributions and communication behaviour, might usefully support companies in managing critical knowledge resources. Against this backdrop, in this research-in-progress paper we derive 16 metrics characterising the participation behaviour, message content and structural position of ESN users of an Australian professional services firm. Based on a factor analysis, we identify four distinct dimensions of ESN user behaviour: Contribution & networking, information provision, contact dispersion and invisible usage. With this research we contribute to the literature by transferring concepts and meth-ods of organisation science and social media research to an ESN context. Further, our approach forms the basis for the identification of different types of knowledge actors, which might ultimately help to improve organisational knowledge transparency