bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of amorphous Si on graphene
Authors: Lupina G. , Strobel C. , Dabrowski J. , Lippert G. , Kitzmann J. , Krause H. M. , Wenger Ch. , Lukosius M. , Wolff A. , Albert M. , Bartha J. W.
Published: May 2016

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of thin a-Si:H layers on transferred large area graphene is investigated. Radio frequency (RF, 13.56 MHz) and very high frequency (VHF, 140 MHz) plasma processes are compared. Both methods provide conformal coating of graphene with Si layers as thin as 20 nm without any additional seed layer. The RF plasma process results in amorphization of the graphene layer. In contrast, the VHF process keeps the high crystalline quality of the graphene layer almost intact. Correlation analysis of Raman 2D and G band positions indicates that Si deposition induces reduction of the initial doping in graphene and an increase of compressive strain. Upon rapid thermal annealing, the amorphous Si layer undergoes dehydrogenation and transformation into a polycrystalline film, whereby a high crystalline quality of graphene is preserved.
From den to dust: longevity of three dingoes (Canis lupus dingo) on Fraser Island (K'gari)
Authors: Behrendorff Linda , Allen Benjamin L.
Published: May 2016

The Australian dingo (Canis lupus dingo) is a common and well studied species, yet very little is known about the longevity of free-ranging individuals because most field studies are too short to obtain this information. Fraser Island, off the east coast of Queensland, contains a closed dingo population of high conservation value, and where a portion of them have been captured and subsequently monitored using ear tags and microchips for management purposes since 2002. We use these data to describe the longevity of three individual dingoes, including one female captured, microchipped and ear-tagged as a subadult in February 2003, recaptured and retagged in March 2012, and then found dead in October 2014. Longevity data and other observations demonstrate that wild dingoes can live for at least 13 years and successfully produce litters for at least 10 years. Such life-history data are useful for evaluating the dynamics and stability of dingo populations of conservation concern.
The Influence of Amino Group Position on Aryl Moiety of SarAr on Metal Complexation and Protein Labelling
Authors: Jamier Vincent , Mume Eskender , Papamicaël Cyril , Smith Suzanne. V.
Published: May 2016

New hexaazamacrobicyclic cage bi-functional chelators (BFCs), 1-N-(3-aminobenzyl)-3,6,10,13,16,19-hexaazabicyclo[6.6.6]eicosane-1,8-diamine (m-SarAr) and 1-N-(2-aminobenzyl)-3,6,10,13,16,19-hexaazabicyclo[6.6.6]eicosane-1,8-diamine (o-SarAr), were synthesised. Their complexation with selected transitions metal ions i.e. CuII, CoII, and CdII was investigated over a range of pH at micromolar concentrations. CuII was complexed by m-SarAr and o-SarAr rapidly within 5 min in pH range of 5–9 at ambient temperature. In contrast, the complexation of CoII and CdII by these ligands was slower. The conjugation efficiencies of p-SarAr, m-SarAr, and o-SarAr to bovine serum albumin (BSA) were compared under various reactions. Conditions were optimised to a molar ratio of BSA/N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N′-ethylcarbodiimide (EDC)/BFC of 1 : 250 : 50 in pH 5 buffer for 30 min at ambient temperature. Under these conditions, the average number of p-SarAr, m-SarAr, or o-SarAr attached to BSA were determined to be 2.21 ± 0.16, 4.90 × 10–1 ± 2.48 × 10–2, and 2.67 × 10–2 ± 2.67 × 10–3, respectively. This fundamental study clearly demonstrates that the position of the amine on the phenyl ring has a significant effect on the metal complexation and conjugation reactions with BSA.
Integrated and consumer-directed care: a necessary paradigm shift for rural chronic ill health
Authors: Ranson Nicole E. , Terry Daniel R. , Glenister Kristen , Adam Bill R. , Wright Julian
Published: May 2016

Chronic ill health has recently emerged as the most important health issue on a global scale. Rural communities are disproportionally affected by chronic ill health. Many health systems are centred on the management of acute conditions and are often poorly equipped to deal with chronic ill health. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the most prominent chronic ill health conditions and the principal cause of mortality worldwide. In this paper, CVD is used as an example to demonstrate the disparity between rural and urban experience of chronic ill health, access to medical care and clinical outcomes. Advances have been made to address chronic ill health through improving self-management strategies, health literacy and access to medical services. However, given the higher incidence of chronic health conditions and poorer clinical outcomes in rural communities, it is imperative that integrated health care emphasises greater collaboration between services. It is also vital that rural GPs are better supported to work with their patients, and that they use consumer-directed approaches to empower patients to direct and coordinate their own care.
Occupy
Authors: Martín Rojo Luisa
Published: May 2016

Large-scale protests have recently transformed urban common spaces into sites of resistance. Squares and urban places, monumentally designed as political and economic centres, have been reclaimed as places for discussion and decision-making, for increasing participation and intervention in the governance of the community. Through banners and signs, open assemblies, and other communicative practices in the encampments and interconnecting physical and virtual spaces, participants permanently reconfigure the spatial context discursively. The attempt to account for on-going social phenomena from the moment they first happen, and with an international perspective, undoubtedly represents a theoretical and methodological challenge. This volume focuses on this complex interplay between social, spatial, and communicative practices, drawing on complementary and alternative methods.
The Geosemiotics of Tahrir Square
Authors: Aboelezz Mariam
Published: May 2016

The year 2011 saw unprecedented waves of people occupying key locations around the world in a statement of public discontent. In Egypt, the protests which took place between 25 January and 11 February 2011 culminating in the ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak have now come to be known as the Egyptian Revolution. Media reporting of the revolution often portrayed it as a ‘spectacle’ playing out on the stage of Tahrir Square which was dubbed ‘the symbolic heart of the Egyptian revolution’. Tahrir Square quickly became a space serving various functions and layered with an array of meanings. This chapter explores the relationship between the discourse of protest messages and the space of Tahrir Square during the January 25 revolution, demonstrating how the two were mutually reinforcing. The messages are drawn from a corpus of approximately 2000 protest messages captured in Tahrir Square between 25 January and 11 February 2011. The analysis is presented in the form of six conceptualising frames for the space of Tahrir Square which take into account both its geographical and social context. The conceptualisation draws from the field of geosemiotics, which posits that all discourses are ‘situated’ both in space and time (Scollon & Scollon 2003), and on the Lefebvrian principles of the production of space which provide a useful framework for interpreting urban space (Lefebvre 1991).
Taking over the Square
Authors: Martín Rojo Luisa
Published: May 2016

In this chapter I study the extent to which the 15-M or Spanish Indignados movement has transformed the discourses of social movements, not only in terms of their content, but also in the way their communicative practices are produced and circulate. Thus, this paper firstly explores how changes in the conditions of production and circulation of linguistic practices contribute to the “deterritorialisation” and “reterritorialisation” of space, by means of which protestors replace the traditional organisation and uses of space with their own beliefs, ideologies and communicative practices. Secondly, I examine the extent to which this “reterritorialisation” leads to an in-depth transformation of the forms of communication, which could be, in their turn, not only transforming public spaces, but also social movements themselves, and the way of doing politics. The chapter addresses whether these practices, in projecting themselves onto a public space which they transform, prefigure in the present moment the kind of society being proposed and fought for.
Mobilities of a linguistic landscape at Los Angeles City Hall Park
Authors: Chun Christian W.
Published: May 2016

In this chapter, I expand a category of linguistic landscapes, the signs by individuals in public spaces, to include another form of linguistic landscape even more transgressive in nature and intent: the panoply of protest signs produced and mobilized by the Occupy Movement during the Fall of 2011 at Los Angeles City Hall Park. My data are drawn from the photographs I took of these signs at the Park and the near vicinity, a YouTube video of a protest sign, a blog commenting on this sign, and a political cartoon using the same image featured on two other signs. I explore how social actors drew upon and mediated specific discourses in their protest signs that became transportable across time and space, the role of these signs in transforming public space, and this linguistic landscape’s ensuing mobilities in its mediated relocations to online social media sites and blogs.
The Occupy Assembly
Authors: Steinberg Rebecca Lila
Published: May 2016

A key feature of the Occupy movement has been the General Assembly (GA), in which participants, gathered in outdoor public space, engaged in emergent forms of direct deliberative democratic practice. GAs created opportunities for renewed, co-constructed discourses about human rights, collectivity and autonomy, and the nature of fairness. The physical, durative occupation of public space and establishment of encampments enabled participants to converse and collaborate meaningfully about these matters and their implications for action. An attested ideology of horizontalism was produced and reflected in practices of decision-making within a direct participatory democratic framework. The generation of local intersubjectivity and global solidarity as well as the embodied augmentation of personal and group agency were lodged within face-to-face interactions at Occupy GAs. Participants developed and adapted specific embodied tools for assembly use, including hand signals and the human mic, to facilitate a discursive praxis of egalitarianism within the context of a speech exchange system suited to a large outdoor deliberative body. These practices are central to the Occupy movement, as they constitute the discursive experiments in direct democracy set in motion by a shared recognition of social crisis and systemic injustice felt increasingly around the world. This chapter examines how several embodied practices at Occupy Los Angeles attend to participants’ attested ideologies and the practical problems of open, large-group direct democracy.
Is science really English monoglot?
Authors: Bretxa Vanessa , Comajoan Llorenç , Vila i Moreno F. Xavier
Published: May 2016

This article presents a study of a multilingual research park at the University of Barcelona (Catalonia), where administrative staff, researchers and other members interact in a variety of languages. Focusing on the use of Catalan, Spanish, and English the study investigates whether all scientific tasks are carried out in English (the monoglot hypothesis regarding scientific language practices) or they are carried out in different languages depending on several variables (interlocutors, domains, etc.). An online questionnaire was sent to all members of the university research staff, and their responses provide evidence that English is the scientific lingua franca of the scientific park, but this does not mean that English has become the default language of the institution, but rather that the institution functions essentially on the basis of trilingualism. Two main factors can be singled out when trying to explain the organization of this plurilingual practice: the professional role of the PCB (Parc Cientific de Barcelona) staff, and the type of communicative activity, the latter being strongly influenced by the intended addressee. A cluster analysis of the research staff at the institution shows that there are four sociolinguistic profiles of researchers depending on their proficiency in different languages and their geographic origin. The final section argues that the processes of language change do not occur in a compact but rather in a domain-by-domain manner, according to complex balances that depend on the composition of each linguistic ecosystem.
Invented cities, invented languages
Authors: Tonkin Humphrey
Published: May 2016

L. L. Zamenhof saw the creation of his proposed international language, Esperanto, as a process of construction, rather like the building of a city. This new city of words would replace the walls of language difference that had previously separated the nations. His poems imagined a new “foundation” replacing the Tower of Babel and destroying the walls of Jericho. Unlike most other projectors of international languages, Zamenhof saw the creation of a community of Esperanto speakers, who could claim ownership of the language, as crucially important. The language began as text, but soon, as a result of its growing community of users, became a spoken language. The language owed its popularity to the emergence of an urban European middle class, eager to travel and learn about the world — at a time when the modern city was also emerging, its sense of identity defined above all by shared text and a common narrative. A common narrative and a shared text were also generated among the speakers of Esperanto, who were imbued with faith in technological progress and a corresponding belief in the achievement of common values. They developed common symbols and common modes of organization reflecting those that they found around them, notably the holding of annual international congresses in European cities, and other city-based activities. Zamenhof’s own beliefs were driven above all by his experience as a Central European Jew and by his exposure to early manifestations of the Zionist movement, which led him to dream of a kind of post-Zionist universalism embracing all creeds and races. Sadly, this was not to be: he could not put an end to anti-Semitism, nor bring about the kind of ecumenism of which he dreamed. That vision was lost in the rise of nationalism in World War I and beyond.
Pictorial-verbal metaphors in Chinese editorial cartoons on food safety
Authors: Lan Chun , Zuo Danyun
Published: May 2016

Based on a corpus of 120 cartoons collected from the website http://cartoon.chinadaily.com.cn, this study attempts to give an account of pictorial-verbal metaphors in Chinese editorial cartoons on food safety from the perspective of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and multimodal metaphor theory. The findings are as follows: (1) Four major mode configuration patterns are observed: cross-modal mapping, mono-modal mapping, multimodal mapping and implied mapping. (2) The pictorial-verbal metaphors centre around five major target domains: unsafe food, consumer, producer/seller, supervision authority and food safety law/standard. (3) A large number of scenario metaphors are observed in the data, which can be further divided into those that are cross-culturally perceivable and those that are heavily embedded in Chinese culture. The working mechanism of scenario metaphors can be accounted for by Conceptual Blending Theory. The study helps delineate the food safety situation that we are facing in China from a metaphorical perspective. It also extends the application of multimodal metaphor theory to a Chinese context and contributes to the refinement of the theory.
A critical metaphor analysis of Arab uprisings in “The Washington Post” and “Keyhan” editorials
Authors: Fallah Nahid , Raouf Moini Mohammad
Published: May 2016

This study examines the metaphorical representation of the Arab uprisings in a number of Arab countries that came to be known as the Arab Spring in the editorials of two newspapers, one Persian and the other in English, namely “Keyhan” and “The Washington Post”. Sixty editorials from the two newspapers were examined for the metaphorical representation of the Arab uprisings during 2011 and the possible ideologies those representations reflect. A cognitive-pragmatic approach was adopted in the analysis of the editorials to uncover any ideology embedded in the fabrics of the text. The results indicated that the newspapers cast the same events in completely different frames. It is shown that these events were mainly portrayed as a religious conflict in “Keyhan”, presenting the dictators and their supporters as unbelievers and the greatest evil and the demonstrators as believers and God’s soldiers. However, the same events were described by “The Washington Post” via a range of different source domains, the main ones being a journey toward democracy, a natural phenomenon and a game between political powers.
Floating agreement and information structure
Authors: Forker Diana
Published: May 2016

This paper investigates the morphosyntactic and pragmatic properties of floating person agreement in Sanzhi Dargwa (Nakh-Daghestanian, Russia). Person agreement enclitics can occur on the verb or on other constituents (NPs, adverbs, or pronouns). In the latter case, they seem to function like constituent focus markers because they emphasize their host, but this effect is limited to elicited sentences. Floating agreement in Sanzhi Dargwa is compared to similar constructions in other Nakh-Daghestanian languages (Udi, Lak) which have been analyzed as synchronicin situclefts or as diachronically arising from clefts. The paper shows that a synchronic cleft analysis for floating agreement in Sanzhi must be rejected, and it is argued that diachronically they originate from identificational copula constructions.
The role of verbal prefixes and particles in aspectual composition
Authors: Fleischhauer Jens , Czardybon Adrian
Published: May 2016

In this paper we provide an analysis of the function of Polish verbal prefixes and German verbal particles in aspectual composition of incremental theme predicates (ITP) such aseatanddrink. Incremental theme verbs (e.g.eat,drink) are well known for the fact that the referential properties of the incremental theme arguments (ITA) affect the telicity of the whole predication. In the Slavic languages, only prefixed incremental theme verbs result in a telic predication. Since in many cases prefixed verbs are perfective, it is often assumed that telicity results from perfectivity. We argue that grammatical aspect is not necessary for achieving a telic ITP, since there are perfective ITPs that do not result in a telic predication. Rather (a)telicity is dependent on the semantic content of the verbal prefix.
A matter of perspective
Authors: Nuti Andrea
Published: May 2016

Eo and venio, Latin’s primary motion verbs, are traditionally interpreted referring to an aspectual differentiation (telic venio vs. non-telic eo). The analysis of preclassical texts, however, show traces of an embryonic change towards a deictic-oriented use. Venio, in particular, displays prototypical instances centered around telicity vs. less typical occurrences governed by a deictic principle. Cognitive and pragmatic phenomena such as the interaction between spatial and temporal deixis or an ego-perspective appear to be relevant within this process, where aspectual or deictic orientations turn out to be functional in terms of textual exploitation. The comprehension of these features can account for the emergence, in Classical Latin, of a new eo – venio polarization where deixis progressively plays a pivot role.
Vertical scales in temporal sub constructions in Latin
Authors: Knighton Erik
Published: May 2016

Latin authors of the classical period used sub rarely and purposefully in a temporal construction like a polarity item with the dichotomous nouns nox and lux to convey the relative quantity of atmospheric light at dusk and dawn, implying a scale at its minimum value within an absolute frame of reference. This construction comes out of the spatial semantics of sub as “under” through a manipulation of metaphor, directional mappings from vertical to horizontal axes, and up/down and center/periphery image schemas. Beginning with the embodied experience of the sky as “above”, projections onto topological features such as mountains allows for negative and inceptive uses of sub for pragmatic scalar construal and implicature.
Ontological and orientational metaphors in Latin
Authors: Fedriani Chiara
Published: May 2016

Ontological and orientational metaphors arise from general cognitive processes and rely on our embodied experience of the physico-spatial world, providing us with image schemas that we commonly exploit in order to interpret and express abstract notions in terms of spatial configurations. This is particularly true in the case of emotions and feelings, which are much less clearly defined than our bodily functions. Indeed, recurrent embodied patterns building bridges between spatial orientations and feelings occur in a great variety of languages. It has long been noted, for instance, that the vertical axis up vs. down offers the basis for portraying many experiential metaphors in terms of ‘happy/positive is up’, ‘sad/negative is down’. This paper shows that both ontological and orientational metaphorization is largely attested in this domain of experience in Latin, and provides corpus-based evidence for frequency and productivity effects and cross-linguistic comparisons that testify how the human body is a universal cognitive key to interpret and categorize emotions in modern as well as in ancient languages.
The metaphorical structuring of kinship in Latin
Authors: Buccheri Alessandro
Published: May 2016

In this paper, I analyze how concepts related to the domains of space and plants were used by Latin speakers to deliver their culturally specific understanding of (some aspects of) human kinship, in the light of the theory of conceptual metaphor. I go on to claim that analysis of the metaphorical layer of Latin lexicon of kinship can contribute to its “emic” description in ancient Rome, that is, framing it (as much as possible) in concepts near to the Romans’ own experience. First, I describe the contribution that the domains of space and plants makes to the metaphorical structuring of Roman ideas about kinship. Then, I move on to their interplay and to their interaction with Roman images of time, which appear to be ultimately responsible for some of the seemingly odd features of these metaphors. I conclude by trying to spell out some differences between modern and ancient elaborations of the tree as a cultural image.
Embodiment in Latin technical texts
Authors: Roby Courtney Ann
Published: May 2016

In this chapter I analyze Latin textual representations of the engagements between body and world entailed in the technical tasks of laying out spaces in the landscape and orienting oneself within them, emphasizing how rhetorical techniques of enargeia or “vividness” give the reader a sense of being physically present in those spaces. Drawing principally on the works of the Roman surveyors and Frontinus’s De aquae ductu urbis Romae, I focus on the road and water networks, and on the surveyed landscapes of Roman settlements. I give particular attention to linguistic techniques that vividly render the manual activities used to reify these spaces, from the surveyor’s manipulation of his instruments to the creation and decoding of the landscape of boundary markers.
Embodied historiography
Authors: Devereaux Jennifer J.
Published: May 2016

This paper argues that although scholars recognize the use of rhetorical devices in historiography, they overlook a deeper connection that has the potential to enrich our understanding of the historians’ art and their potential impact on their audiences. Evaluating Latin narrative structured by embodied and extended metaphor, the author considers the rhetorical device of enargeia and evaluates its definition and use in terms of mental simulation. Exploring the possible role of embodied linguistic processing in the writing and reception of narrated experience, the author finds that historiography displays a narrative strategy centered on eliciting sensorimotor activity, and suggests that the narrative of Tacitus’ Annales “works” persuasively and affectively by exploiting this narrative strategy to create specific models for reasoning about historical events.
Error, feature, (incipient) change – or something else altogether? On the role of low-frequency deviant patterns for the description of Englishes
Authors: Hundt Marianne
Published: May 2016

All corpus linguists routinely come across language use that may, at first sight, appear to be erroneous: planning errors, slips of the tongue/pen or, in the case of contact varieties, evidence of interference from a substrate language. These apparent ‘errors’ are of potential interest because they may, in fact, be on their way of becoming a ‘feature’ of a contact variety or be instances of ongoing change. With respect to change in previous stages of English, we can decide in hindsight which of the three possible scenarios we are dealing with. When it comes to variation in present-day English and possible (ongoing) change, matters are more complicated. In this paper, I present a case study on an unusual auxiliary-participle combination (be been), which has the potential of being an (emergent) feature of contact varieties or an instance of (incipient) language change. I compare two kinds of evidence: acceptability judgements and metalinguistic comments, on the one hand, and data collected from a broad range of corpora, on the other hand. The findings are used not only to discuss grammaticality and norms, but also to reflect on the methodologies employed in the description of World Englishes today.
He don’t like football, does he? A corpus-based study of third person singular don’t in the language of British teenagers
Authors: Palacios Martínez Ignacio M.
Published: May 2016

This paper compares the use of third person don’t versus doesn’t in the language of British teenagers and adults, based on the analysis of data from three comparable corpora. Findings indicate that third person don’t is used significantly more by teenagers than adults. This tendency is seen not only in declarative clauses but also in question tags, although to a lesser extent. Furthermore, in London teen talk the subject of the clause and the occurrence of another negative in the don’t sentence (negative concord) appear to play a significant role, while the type of main verb of the clause is somewhat secondary. Finally, while the speaker’s gender appears to be of no importance in the choice of third person don’t or doesn’t, the speaker’s ethnic group does seem to play an important role.
Standards of English in the Caribbean
Authors: Hackert Stephanie
Published: May 2016

This paper presents a report of the state of research into standards of English in the anglophone Caribbean. It first outlines the history of educated English in the region and then turns to current language attitudes and functions. While Caribbean English-lexifier creoles are no longer overtly stigmatized, standardness in the Caribbean context is still mostly defined negatively, that is, in terms of distance from the creoles. Nevertheless, distinctly local norms of educated speech have arisen and are beginning to be recognized and appreciated. Descriptions of the features of educated Caribbean English have focused on Jamaica and Trinidad and the question of creole influence, but along with the growth of the International Corpus of English, smaller varieties such as Bahamian have recently come into focus as well, and other issues, such as Americanization, have begun to be investigated.
(Semi-)modals of necessity in Hong Kong and Indian Englishes
Authors: Loureiro-Porto Lucía
Published: May 2016

In Standard Englishes the semi-modals need (to), want to and have to are gaining ground over central modals such as must (Leech 2013, for example). As a means of exploring the status of these verbs in Hong Kong and Indian Englishes, this paper analyses must, need (to), want to and have to from both a syntactic and a semantic point of view based on examples found in the International Corpus of English (ICE-HK and ICE-IND). It also compares these with examples drawn from the British English component of the ICE project (ICE-GB). Findings show that: (a) semantically, the behaviour of these (semi-) modals differs considerably from one variety to another; (b) the degree of grammaticalization of the semi-modals is lower in Indian English than in the other varieties; and (c) colloquialization and grammaticalization operate synergetically in the replacement of modals with semi-modals.
Indian English quotatives in a diachronic perspective
Authors: Davydova Julia
Published: May 2016

The study is a corpus-based variationist analysis tracing the development of quotative marking in Indian English. It seeks to enhance our understanding of the way the quotative system changes over time and complements existing academic research, most of which has primarily explored constructed dialogue in native-speaker English. Stemming from far-flung locales in North America, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, burgeoning findings demonstrate that the system has undergone internal reorganisation, with more traditional elements, say and think, giving way to other forms, notably quotative go and the copula construction be like. Relying on second-language data from the early 1990s and the late 2000s, I mainly explore the gradual retreat of say as a quotative marker in Indian English. More specifically, I look at the changes in the language-internal conditioning through which the decline occurs and examine how those are related to the contexts through which the innovative quotative marker be like is paving its way into the system. All in all, I attempt to establish regularities in the developmental paths of native and non-native quotation. I also point to idiosyncratic developments characterising Indian English quotative marking, while making an effort to tap into their origin.
English in San Francisco Chinatown
Authors: Zipp Lena , Staicov Adina
Published: May 2016

This study reports on the methodological challenges of determining and quantifying ethnic identity in questionnaire and interview data from second-generation members of the San Francisco Chinatown community, and linking these identity scores to the use of durational characteristics that we argue are part of the ethnolinguistic repertoires of our participants. We analyse durational features from free speech in interactions with an in-group and an out-group interlocutor for an exemplary sample of four speakers. By thus combining qualitative data on ethnic identity orientation with quantitative sociophonetic results, we show that rhythmic variability in free speech is both possible and traceable, and suggest that speech rhythm can be used as a flexible feature to index ethnic identity.
On the globalization of English
Authors: Laitinen Mikko , Levin Magnus
Published: May 2016

This article discusses the globalization of English and suggests that the changing role and nature of English in the expanding circle requires new methodological approaches and new empirical materials which better represent non-native global English(es), that is, when English is used as an additional linguistic resource alongside L1s. Our case study investigates how ongoing grammatical changes are adapted in global use, and focuses on a specific use of the progressive: the subjective sense with an intervening adverbial. Our findings corroborate those of Hundt & Vogel (2011) on the progressive in general, but also show that stretched, special uses of progressives are fully established in non-native global usage. We conclude that as the globalization of English continues to blur the neat division of the English varieties, better data is needed to take into account the diversity of texts emerging in the expanding circle and to represent a variety of text types from natural, non-instructional settings.
Name that Percussive Tune: Associative Memory and Amplitude Envelope
Authors: Schutz Michael , Stefanucci Jeanine K. , Sarah H. Baum , Roth Amber
Published: May 2016

A series of experiments demonstrated novel effects of amplitude envelope on associative memory, with tones exhibiting naturally decaying amplitude envelopes (e.g., those made by two wine glasses clinking) better associated with target objects than amplitude-invariant tones. In Experiment 1 participants learned associations between household objects and 4-note tone sequences constructed of spectrally matched pure tones with either “flat” or “percussive” amplitude envelopes. Those hearing percussive tones correctly recalled significantly more sequence–object associations. Experiment 2 demonstrated that participants hearing percussive tones learned the associations more quickly. Experiment 3 used “reverse percussive” tones (percussive tones played backwards) to test whether differences in overall energy might account for this effect, finding they did not lead to the same level of performance as percussive tones. Experiment 4 varied the envelope at encoding and retrieval to determine which stage of the task was most affected by the envelope manipulation. Participants hearing percussive tones at both encoding and retrieval performed significantly better than the other three groups (i.e., flat at encoding/percussive at retrieval, etc.). We conclude that amplitude envelope plays an important role in learning and memory, a finding with relevance to psychological research on audition and associative memory, as well as practical relevance for improving human–computer interface design.
Talin tension sensor reveals novel features of focal adhesion force transmission and mechanosensitivity
Authors: Kumar Abhishek , Ouyang Mingxing , Van den Dries Koen , McGhee Ewan James , Tanaka Keiichiro , Anderson Marie D. , Groisman Alexander , Goult Benjamin T. , Anderson Kurt I. , Schwartz Martin A.
Published: May 2016

Integrin-dependent adhesions are mechanosensitive structures in which talin mediates a linkage to actin filaments either directly or indirectly by recruiting vinculin. Here, we report the development and validation of a talin tension sensor. We find that talin in focal adhesions is under tension, which is higher in peripheral than central adhesions. Tension on talin is increased by vinculin and depends mainly on actin-binding site 2 (ABS2) within the middle of the rod domain, rather than ABS3 at the far C terminus. Unlike vinculin, talin is under lower tension on soft substrates. The difference between central and peripheral adhesions requires ABS3 but not vinculin or ABS2. However, differential stiffness sensing by talin requires ABS2 but not vinculin or ABS3. These results indicate that central versus peripheral adhesions must be organized and regulated differently, and that ABS2 and ABS3 have distinct functions in spatial variations and stiffness sensing. Overall, these results shed new light on talin function and constrain models for cellular mechanosensing.
Ubiquitin-mediated fluctuations in MHC class II facilitate efficient germinal center B cell responses
Authors: Bannard Oliver , McGowan Simon J. , Ersching Jonatan , Ishido Satoshi , Victora Gabriel D. , Shin Jeoung-Sook , Cyster Jason G.
Published: May 2016

Antibody affinity maturation occurs in germinal centers (GCs) through iterative rounds of somatic hypermutation and selection. Selection involves B cells competing for T cell help based on the amount of antigen they capture and present on their MHC class II (MHCII) proteins. How GC B cells are able to rapidly and repeatedly transition between mutating their B cell receptor genes and then being selected shortly after is not known. We report that MHCII surface levels and degradation are dynamically regulated in GC B cells. Through ectopic expression of a photoconvertible MHCII-mKikGR chimeric gene, we found that individual GC B cells differed in the rates of MHCII protein turnover. Fluctuations in surface MHCII levels were dependent on ubiquitination and the E3 ligase March1. Increases in March1 expression in centroblasts correlated with decreases in surface MHCII levels, whereas CD83 expression in centrocytes helped to stabilize MHCII at that stage. Defects in MHCII ubiquitination caused GC B cells to accumulate greater amounts of a specific peptide–MHCII (pMHCII), suggesting that MHCII turnover facilitates the replacement of old complexes. We propose that pMHCII complexes are periodically targeted for degradation in centroblasts to favor the presentation of recently acquired antigens, thereby promoting the fidelity and efficiency of selection.
Improved electroluminescence of quantum dot light-emitting diodes enabled by a partial ligand exchange with benzenethiol
Authors: Kim Daekyoung , Fu Yan , Kim Jungwoo , Lee Ki-heon , Kim Hyoungsub , Yang Heesun , Chae Heeyeop
Published: May 2016

In this study, benzenethiol ligands were applied to the surface of CdSe@ZnS core@shell quantum dots (QDs) and their effect on the performance of quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QD-LEDs) was investigated. Conventional long-chained oleic acid (OA) and trioctylphosphine (TOP) capping ligands were partially replaced by short-chained benzenethiol ligands in order to increase the stability of QDs during purification and also improve the electroluminescence performance of QD-LEDs. The quantum yield of the QD solution was increased from 41% to 84% by the benzenethiol ligand exchange. The mobility of the QD films with benzenethiol ligands approximately doubled to 2.42 × 10−5 cm2 V−1 s−1 from 1.19 × 10−5 cm2 V−1 s−1 compared to the device consisting of OA/TOP-capped QDs, and an approximately 1.8-fold improvement was achieved over QD-LEDs fabricated with bezenethiol ligand-exchanged QDs with respect to the maximum luminance and current efficiency. The turn-on voltage decreased by about −0.6 V through shifting the energy level of the QDs with benzenethiol ligands compared to conventional OA and TOP ligands.
Skin-electrode impedance measurement during ECG acquisition: method’s validation
Authors: Casal Leonardo , Mura Guillermo La
Published: May 2016

Skm-electrode impedance measurement can provide valuable information prior. dunng and post electrocardiographic (ECG) or electroencephalographs (EEG) acquisitions. In this work we validate a method for skm-electrode impedance measurement using test circuits with known resistance and capacitor values, at different frequencies for injected excitation current. Finally the method is successfully used for impedance measurement during ECG acquisition on a subject usmg 125 Hz and 6 nA square wave excitation signal at instrumentation amplifier mput. The method can be used for many electrodes configuration.
Video-analysis Interface for Angular Joint Measurement
Authors: Mondani M , Ghersi I , Miralles M T
Published: May 2016

Real-time quantification of joint articular movement is instrumental in the comprehensive assessment of significant biomechanical gestures. The development of an interface, based on an automatic algorithm for 3D-motion analysis, is presented in this work. The graphical interface uses open-source libraries for video processing, and its use is intuitive. The proposed method is low-cost, of acceptable precision (|εθ| < 1°), and minimally invasive. It allows to obtain angular movement of joints in different planes, synchronized with the video of the gesture, as well as to make comparisons and calculate parameters of interest from the acquired angular kinematics.
Executive Compensation Incentives Contingent on Long-Term Accounting Performance
Authors: Li Zhi , Wang Lingling
Published: May 2016

The percentage of S&P 500 firms using multiyear accounting-based performance (MAP) incentives for CEOs increased from 16.5% in 1996 to 43.3% in 2008. The use and design of MAP incentives depend on the signal quality of accounting versus stock performance, shareholder horizons, strategic imperatives, and board independence. After the technology bubble, option expensing, and the publicity of option backdating, firms increasingly use stock-based MAP plans to replace options, resulting in changes in pay structure, but not in pay level. While firms respond to the evolving contracting environment, they consider firm characteristics and shareholder preferences and do not blindly follow the trend.

Received September 20, 2013; accepted November 20, 2015 by Editor David Denis.
Structure of astrotactin-2: a conserved vertebrate-specific and perforin-like membrane protein involved in neuronal development
Authors: Ni Tao , Harlos Karl , Gilbert Robert
Published: May 2016

The vertebrate-specific proteins astrotactin-1 and 2 (ASTN-1 and ASTN-2) are integral membrane perforin-like proteins known to play critical roles in neurodevelopment, while ASTN-2 has been linked to the planar cell polarity pathway in hair cells. Genetic variations associated with them are linked to a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders and other neurological pathologies, including an advanced onset of Alzheimer's disease. Here we present the structure of the majority endosomal region of ASTN-2, showing it to consist of a unique combination of polypeptide folds: a perforin-like domain, a minimal epidermal growth factor-like module, a unique form of fibronectin type III domain and an annexin-like domain. The perforin-like domain differs from that of other members of the membrane attack complex-perforin (MACPF) protein family in ways that suggest ASTN-2 does not form pores. Structural and biophysical data show that ASTN-2 (but not ASTN-1) binds inositol triphosphates, suggesting a mechanism for membrane recognition or secondary messenger regulation of its activity. The annexin-like domain is closest in fold to repeat three of human annexin V and similarly binds calcium, and yet shares no sequence homology with it. Overall, our structure provides the first atomic-resolution description of a MACPF protein involved in development, while highlighting distinctive features of ASTN-2 responsible for its activity.
Key indexes choosing approach of complex equipment’s development cost based on grey incidence cluster model
Authors: Xie Naiming , Hu Chuanzhen , Yin Songming
Published: May 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to establish a combined model for selecting key indexes of complex equipment, and then improve the cost forecasting precision of the model. The problem how to choose the key elements of complex products has always been concerned on many fields, such as cost assessment, investment decision making, etc.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using Grey System Theory to establish a cost estimation model of complicated equipment is more reasonable under the few data and poor information. Therefore, this paper constructs cost index’s system of complex equipment, and then quantitative and qualitative analysis methods are utilized to calculate the grey entropy between the characteristic parameter and the behavior parameters. Further, establish the grey relational clustering matrix of the behavior sequences by using the grey relative incidence analysis. Finally, the authors select key indicators according to the grey degree.

Findings

– The experiment demonstrates that the cost key parameters of complex equipment can be successfully screened out by the proposed approach, and the cost estimation accuracy of complicated products is improved.

Practical implications

– The method proposed in this paper could be utilized to solve some practical problems, particularly the selection of cost critical parameters for complex products with few samples and poor information. Taking the cost key indexes of civil aircraft as an example, the results verified the validity of the GICM model.

Originality/value

– In this paper, the authors develop the method of GICM model. Taking the data of civil aircraft as an example, the authors screen the key indicators of complex products successfully, and improve the prediction accuracy of the GM (1, N) model by using the selected parameters, which provides a reference for some firms.
The study on key influencing factors of mergers and acquisitions performance based on China state-owned listed enterprises
Authors: Zhao Xi , Qu Haitao , Huang Yimin
Published: May 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the key influencing factors which affect the performance of M
&
A and the key influencing factors by establishing grey relational sequence model. The results can not only perfect the current existing theoretical system, but also provide theoretical guide for M
&
A practice.

Design/methodology/approach

– First of all, this paper analyzes the M
&
A performance through the literature reviews, and then establishes the grey model about M
&
A performance from three influencing factors: profitability, operational and development capacity to analyze its key influencing factors which affect M
&
A performance. Furthermore, the key factors influencing of M
&
A performance are analyzed, the results can be obtained through the analysis of the grey relative degree based on six years’ data of state-owned enterprises.

Findings

– In this paper, some results can be found that ownership restriction and executive compensation can significantly affect corporate profitability and operation ability. M
&
A and institutional investors can be affected greater from the perspective of development ability and profitability. In general, enterprise scale has little affect on the performance after M
&
A.

Practical implications

– With the sustainable development of economic globalization, M
&
A has become an important strategy for the rapid growth of the enterprise, enlargement market and brand effect. But the performance after M
&
A in most enterprises does not improve. As the pillar of the national economy, state-owned enterprises have an important impact on China’s economic development and urgently need to be reformed.

Originality/value

– This paper analyzes the key factors through establishing grey relative sequence model to analyze the correlation of M
&
A performance and influencing factors, and finds key influencing factors which affect the performance of M
&
A. The conclusion can provide policy guidance for the improvement of M
&
A performance in the future.
Positive risk-taking: from rhetoric to reality
Authors: Morgan Steve , Andrews Nick
Published: May 2016

Purpose

– For health and social care services to become truly person-centred requires a fundamentally positive mindset from professionals and care workers, and a willingness to take some risks. The purpose of this paper is to explore how this will apply to delivering dementia services, where almost all of the initial impressions are of deficits, disability and disadvantage.

Design/methodology/approach

– The co-authors combine their knowledge and experience of supporting and developing staff working in dementia services. The concept of positive risk-taking is explored within the legislative framework of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Safeguarding and the Care Act 2014.

Findings

– Practitioners face a range of challenges when it comes to supporting people living with dementia to take risks through exercising personal choices and making their own decisions. However, the concept of positive risk-taking applies equally to people living with dementia who have or who lack mental capacity in relation to their decision making.

Originality/value

– This paper places positive risk-taking within a context of strengths-based, values-based and relationship-based working. Practical tips are offered for putting positive risk-taking into practice.