Adverb orientation: semantics and pragmatics

Orientation is a well known property of some adverbs in English. Early approaches to the topic simply offered a systematisation of paraphrase relations between these adverbs and the corresponding adjectives. Current cognitive (Nakamura, 1997) and Event Logic (García Núñez, 1999) approaches have discovered simpler semantic components in adverb orientation. This study presents cases of Subject Oriented Adverbs pragmatically oriented to non explicit participants, and demonstrates that the proposed analyses in terms of simpler meaning components provide a good basis for a predictive and explanatory account of adverb orientation to both explicit and implicit participants

Peer Victimization in Overweight Adolescents and Its Effect on Their Self-Esteem and Peer Difficulties

This study has three objectives: to examine whether adolescents who perceive themselves as overweight differ from others in terms of offline victimization at school, cybervictimization, self-esteem, and difficulties relating to peers; to examine the possible effects of offline and cybervictimization on self-esteem and difficulties relating to peers; and to examine the possible moderating role of perceiving oneself as overweight on those effects. Previously validated questionnaires were applied to a sample of 3145 adolescents in Asturias (Spain). Descriptive, inferential, correlational, and structural equation analyses were performed. Adolescents who perceived themselves as overweight reported being victims of both offline victimization and most forms of cybervictimization to a greater extent than those who did not perceive themselves as overweight. They also reported lower self-esteem and more peer difficulties (shyness or social anxiety). In both groups of adolescents, victimization and cybervictimization were correlated with each other, both types of victimization had direct, negative effects on self-esteem, and self-esteem in turn had a direct, negative effect on peer difficulties. Furthermore, offline victimization had a direct, positive effect on peer difficulties. Perceiving oneself as overweight moderated the effect of self-esteem on peer difficulties. In adolescents perceiving themselves as overweight, low self-esteem was a stronger risk factor of peer difficulties than in the rest of the adolescents. With high overall self-esteem there were no significant differences in peer difficulties between the adolescents perceiving themselves as overweight and the rest of the adolescents

Non-relational Embedding Verbs: Quotes and Reports

Some verbs cannot have their clausal complements replaced by referential expressions salva congruitate and/or veritate . This makes it difficult to analyse them as denoting relations of the type expressed by run-of-the-mill transitive verbs. The main goal in this work is to find an explanation for why some English embedding verbs are relational while others fail to be so. The question is, why can the latter, but not the former verbs have their embedded clauses replaced by direct speech complements? A comparison in the relevant contexts of the related categories of direct and indirect quotation reveals an important degree of coincidence that calls for (a) an overlapping semantic treatment, and (b) an interpretation of their often invoked differences as due to the contrasting semantic requirements of the class of verbs that fails to express a relation, non-relational ones. For us, the key distinguishing factor is utterance denotation, the differences between the two main classes of verbs identified in the work deriving from reliance on either the form or the content of the utterances involved. In order to account for these facts, we propose a substantial revision of the Davidsonian approach to clausal complementatio

ADVERB ORIENTATION: SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS

AbstractOrientation is a well known property of some adverbs in English. Early approaches to the topic simply offered a systematisation of paraphrase relations between these adverbs and the corresponding adjectives. Current cognitive (Nakamura, 1997) and Event Logic (García Núñez, 1999) approaches have discovered simpler semantic components in adverb orientation. This study presents cases of Subject Oriented Adverbs pragmatically oriented to non explicit participants, and demonstrates that the proposed analyses in terms of simpler meaning components provide a good basis for a predictive and explanatory account of adverb orientation to both explicit and implicit participants

Transcriptional analysis of Mycobacterium fortuitum cultures upon hydrogen peroxide treatment using the novel standard rrnA-P1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The ability of an intracellular pathogen to establish infection depends on the capacity of the organism to survive and replicate inside the host. <it>Mycobacterium fortuitum </it>is a bacteria that contains genes involved in the detoxification of the oxygen reactive species such as those produced by the host during the infection. In this work, we investigate the effects of hydrogen peroxide on the transcription and expression of these genes by developing a real time quantitative PCR technique (qRT-PCR) using the ribosomal promoter region (<it>rrn</it>A-P1) as reference product for quantification of the mRNA levels.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>M. fortuitum </it>cultures were treated with different hydrogen peroxide concentrations (0.02 to 20 mM) during several periods of time (30 to 120 minutes). The activity of the enzymes KatGII and SodA, and the transcription of corresponding genes were evaluated. The transcriptional regulator <it>fur</it>AII gene was also studied.</p> <p>The ribosomal promoter region <it>rrn</it>A-P1 was validated as referential product under the stress conditions checked by qRT-PCR.</p> <p>Minor changes were observed under the conditions tested except when bacteria were incubated in the presence of 20 mM hydrogen peroxide. Under those conditions, the levels of transcription of the three genes under study increased at 30 minutes of treatment. The viability of the bacteria was not influenced under the conditions tested.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this work, we have quantified transcriptional responses to stress suggesting that, the opportunistic pathogen <it>M. fortuitum </it>is more resistant and differs in behaviour in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, when compared to the major pathogen <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>and the saprophyte <it>Mycobacterium smegmatis</it>. Besides, we demonstrate the mycobacterial non-coding region <it>rrn</it>A-P1 to be a suitable reference product in the analysis of qRT-PCR transcriptional data of <it>M. fortuitum</it>.</p

Investigating Human Torso Asymmetries: An Observational Longitudinal Study of Fluctuating and Directional Asymmetry in the Scoliotic Torso

The presence of directional and fluctuating asymmetry in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis has not been deeply studied. We aimed to test the presence of both in a scoliosis group and a control group. 24 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and 24 control subjects were subjected to geometric morphometrics analyses to address our main hypotheses and to make qualitative visualizations of the 3D shape changes in patients with scoliosis. Our results support the hypothesis that both asymmetric traits are present in the scoliosis and control groups, but to a greater degree in patients. A qualitative visualization tool that allows us to measure the impact that directional and fluctuating asymmetry have on the 3D shape of our patients has been developed. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is the result of developmental instabilities during growth and the visualization of the 3D shape changes in response to both asymmetric variables has shown different morphological behaviors. Measuring these variables is important, as they can prevent the localization and deformation that is expected to occur during the course of scoliosis in every individual patient and therefore acts as a key clinical finding that may be used in the prognosis of the condition.Funding: This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number PID2020-115854GB-I00 and the APC was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number PID2020-115854GB-I00

Delimitation, description and success factors of family businesses in Spain: a European comparison

The aim of this paper is to delimit the concept of family business and based on it to provide a profile of large and medium-sized family businesses in Spain. We will analyze their distinctive characteristics by comparing them to non-family businesses and focus on the study of a series of economic-financial variables in order to identify their key success factors as compared to non-family businesses of the same sizes and in the same geographical areas. The paper also includes a comparative study of Spanish and European family businesse

Perfil de la empresa familiar en España y Andalucía

El propósito de este trabajo es proporcionar el perfil de la mediana y gran empresa familiar española en general, y en Andalucía en particular. Se analizarán las características distintivas que presentan este tipo de empresas familiares, con especial atención al estudio de una serie de variables económico-financieras que nos permitan identificar los factores claves de éxito de las mismas con respecto a las no familiares del mismo tamaño y localización geográfica. La información relativa a las 1.182 empresas que conforman la población objeto de nuestro estudio procede de la base de datos SABI para los tres últimos años de los que se podía obtener información completa.The purpose of this paper is to provide the profile of the median and large Spanish family business in general, and in Andalusia in particular. We will analyze the distinctive features of this type of family business, with special attention to the study of a series of economic and financial variables that allow us to identify the key success factors of the same with respect to non-relatives of the same size and geographical location . The information about the 1,182 companies that make up the population of our study comes from the SABI database for the last three years from which complete information could be obtained