bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The conceptualization of ido ‘eye’ in Hausa
Authors: Shehu Ahmadu
Published: March 2020

The human body has been found to be an extremely productive source domain for the expression of various linguistic concepts in diverse languages and cultures of the world. Although previous research on many languages shows that the eyes are one of those body parts terms that are frequently used as a source domain for the conceptualization of other abstract domains, the Hausa ido is yet to be studied from the cognitive perspective. Based on the cognitive linguistics framework, this paper analyzes the conceptualization of the Hausa ido ‘eye’ and its extension into various target domains, as well as the metaphors and metonymies used in these conceptualizations. The data for this study was collected from a mini-corpus (Will, 2005) and Hausa dictionaries, from which over 150 expressions involving the term ido ‘eye’ were elicited and analyzed. Based on the usage, the term ido was found to be extensively used in various domains including sight, knowledge, attention, decision-making, emotions, character traits, and so on.
The moral taste of food
Authors: Drescher Martina
Published: March 2020

This paper analyses discussions about vegetarianism and
veganism in francophone social media groups where moral statements
play an important role. It sketches a communicative conception of
morality as ‘doing ethics’ that zooms in on how
morality emerges and is negotiated in interaction by concentrating
on linguistic practices that key morality. Based on two case
studies, it examines controversies about moral values of food which
offer insights in the more general machinery of moral discourse. The
data reveal different linguistic techniques which are frequent in,
although not specific to, moral discourse. In particular, these are
evaluations, pejorative or upgrading lexicon, deontic modality,
generalisations, typical speech acts like advice or instruction as
well as semantic and structural forms of intensification.
Language in transnational communities of consumption
Authors: Schneider Britta
Published: March 2020

In this chapter, I discuss ethnographic and interview data
on language ideologies regarding English in a transnational cultural
setting that is based on the production and consumption of specialty
coffee. In the terminology of the setting, the community is referred
to as Third Wave Coffee Culture and the chapter
introduces its history and cultural ideologies before analyzing
language-related data from its localization in Berlin. Main results
are that in this specific setting, English indexes belonging to the
cultural community of Third Wave Coffee Culture, irrespective of the
national background of speakers, which is tied to the construction
of transnational (post-)class positioning. The study overall
emphasizes the relevance of studying language use in communities
based on consumption in late capitalism.
(Un)healthy food discourses
Authors: Declercq Jana
Published: March 2020

This chapter addresses the central role of health in food
discourses and identities as emerging during the production of a TV
show about food. Food fulfils a range of socio-cultural functions
which are essential for the construction of national, regional,
ethical, gender, health, and many more identities. This chapter
focuses on the dimension of health, as this becomes increasingly
important in eating discourses because of the current moral
imperative to live a healthy life and take individual
responsibility. The analysis shows, however, that health-oriented
identities and discourses are in conflict with other food discourses
and identities, such as being a food lover or a sociable person who
is not preachy about eating. In sum, talking about food must be
understood as a multi-dimensional, often contradictory
socio-cultural practice.
Dinner for One
Authors: Rüdiger Sofia
Published: March 2020

In this chapter, I investigate discursive practices in
eating shows, so-called Mukbang, on YouTube.
Originally a South Korean phenomenon, the object of this study are
the globalized, Anglophone, and asynchronous instantiations of these
shows. Based on a corpus of English-language eating shows, I
demonstrate how the Mukbang performers construct their discourse as
a conversation over food which resembles but is also different from
traditional face-to-face dinner/lunch conversations. In order to do
so, the YouTubers draw on a range of linguistic strategies, such as
imperatives, questions, terms of address and nicknames, pronouns,
topical choices, and the characteristics of delayed interaction.
“Tell me about food and I tell you who you are”
Authors: Diemer Stefan , Brunner Marie-Louise
Published: March 2020

The paper presents the construction of two types of expert
identity in conversations about food: cultural expertise and
culinary expertise. The study is based on data from a corpus of
informal dyadic conversations between international speakers of
English as a Lingua Franca via Skype. Both cultural and culinary
expertise are established and negotiated in a broader identity
context. The study shows that the discursive construction of expert
identity is a complex dynamic phenomenon that takes place on
multiple levels, ranging from lexical choice and the organization of
discourse to the employment of pragmatic strategies and negotiation
processes. The paper illustrates the key role food plays in identity
creation in an online video-mediated setting.
Formality and informality in cooking shows
Authors: Mühleisen Susanne
Published: March 2020

Televised cooking shows have emerged as a genre with an
established format in the entertainment industry. This chapter will
look at cooking shows as a communicative event with a predictable
sequence of acts and a set overt (instruction) and covert
(entertainment) goal. This highly focussed and
potentially formal communicative event (Irvine 1979) typically relies on
strategies of informality, that by now have become a convention of
the genre, in order to distract from its directive ‘lesson’
character. In a comparison of several cooking shows by US Southern celebrity
chef Paula Deen, I will pay attention to changes in conventions of
formality and informality which can be observed over time.
Particular emphasis will also be placed on the linguistic features
which are indexical to Paula Deen’s US Southern persona.
Naming practices in Singapore’s hawker centres
Authors: Leimgruber Jakob R.E.
Published: March 2020

A hawker is an itinerant salesperson, formerly typically
ubiquitous in most urban environments. Despite the popular and
useful services they provide, they are often viewed with suspicion.
Starting in the 1960s, the government of Singapore has begun to
sedentarise the trade into purpose-built ‘hawker centres’ that house
individual stalls of foods in a covered area fitted with electrical,
gas, and water connections as well as seating space and sanitary
facilities. This food hygiene drive has resulted in a permanent
immobilisation of the hawker trade. This chapter considers the
naming practices of 211 hawker stalls in four centres to reveal
patterns (in the use of languages, scripts, and geographical
references) that challenge the imposed immobility and evoke memories
of actual hawking.
Naming food in English in multilingual Cameroon
Authors: Anchimbe Eric A.
Published: March 2020

Naming food in a nativised variety of English in a
densely multilingual context like Cameroon is a complex phenomenon.
This is because certain foods or dishes carry sociocultural
significations that may be lost or altered if their original names
are translated or abandoned for others. Using data from the food
blog , this paper explains the word
formation processes used and the social meanings embedded in food
names in Cameroon English (CamE). Borrowing and compounding emerge
as the most common processes, although there are a few cases of
metaphorical extension. The data is analysed using the competition
and selection hypothesis (Mufwene 2001) and the framework of filtration processes
(Anchimbe 2006),
both anchored in the World Englishes paradigm.
An early start in primary EFL education and the role of teacher qualification and teaching quality
Authors: Wilden Eva , Porsch Raphaela , Schurig Michael
Published: March 2020

This study investigates the receptive L2 proficiency of early and late starters in primary EFL education in the
German context. Thus, the L2 reading and listening proficiency of primary EFL learners was assessed at the end of primary
schooling in year 4 in two German federal states with different ages of onset. A special focus of the study is on indicators of
teaching quality as well as teacher qualification. The study did not find significant differences in the receptive L2 proficiency
between early starters and late startes. When controlling for teaching quality or teacher qualification the earlier age of onset
or increased amount of exposure did not explain variance in learners’ receptive EFL skills. However, supportive climate as an
aspect of teaching quality correlates positively and significantly with learners’ EFL proficiency. In addition, there is a small
advantage for children taught by teachers with a major in EFL.
Collaborative writing and feedback
Authors: Luquin María , García Mayo María del Pilar
Published: March 2020

Research on collaborative writing and models as a form of written corrective feedback has been conducted with
adult participants but research with children is scarce despite the growth of early EFL learning in school settings in the past
twenty years. The aim of the present exploratory study was to analyze what EFL primary school children noticed and incorporated
during a three-stage task and completed in collaboration. The participants were 12 children (11–12 years old) divided into a
treatment group, which received a model, and a control group, which self-edited their texts. The findings showed that what
children noticed at Stage 1 were mostly grammar LREs, whereas at Stage 2 both groups focused most of their attention on content
and lexical LREs, with statistically significant differences between the treatment group and the control group. Significant
differences were also found between Stage 1 and 3 regarding lexical LREs in the treatment group. Pedagogical recommendations will
also be discussed in light of these findings.
Child EFL learners’ attitudes towards a collaborative writing task
Authors: Calzada Asier , García Mayo María del Pilar
Published: March 2020

The way learners engage with tasks can crucially impact on learning opportunities and, therefore, more attention
is now being devoted to task affect. This study examines the attitudes of an underresearched population, child EFL learners,
towards a collaborative dictogloss task. Thirty-two Spanish EFL children (ages 11–12) completed the task in pairs and small groups
at their school, and an attitude questionnaire one week after. Results show that learners had a positive attitude towards L1 and
L2 writing, collaboration in the classroom, and the task itself, regardless of their grouping condition. Although these children
did not mention in their responses any explicit grammar gains as a result of the task, they considered the blend of the written
and oral mode and the opportunities for peer assistance to be beneficial. These results are encouraging for the promotion of
collaborative writing tasks with young learners in communicative contexts.
Genetic affiliation
Authors: Rubin Aaron D.
Published: March 2020

The chapter opens with a description of “the Semitic family of languages”, then describes
characteristically Semitic facets of Hebrew morphology with reference to the consonantal root, the pronominal,
nominal, and verbal systems, and the lexicon. It concludes
with comments on the controversial status of MH, viewed by some as an independent “Ísraeli” as against a language
still closely affiliated with its Semitic roots.
Sociolinguistics of Modern Hebrew
Authors: Henkin Roni
Published: March 2020

The chapter characterizes Modern Hebrew as having developed in a highly multilingual setting. This evolved,
initially, from a century of Jewish immigrations starting in the 1880s, bringing languages from Europe, the Balkans,
the Middle East, and North Africa. Subsequently, late 20th-century immigrations from the former Soviet Union and
Ethiopia and an influx of global languages further increased multilingualism in the small area of what was known
formerly as Palestine (or Eretz Yisrael ‘the Land of Israel’) and, since 1948, as Israel. The impact of these incoming languages on Modern Hebrew is described
as depending on varying sociolinguistic factors of languages-in-contact, including an asymmetric interaction pattern
that evolved between Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic which, together with more general socio-historical factors, created
a multitude of communal varieties, and different registers, genres, styles, and codes of usage. The chapter also
briefly considers issues of language, gender, and power as well as language policy and planning in this complex
sociolinguistic setting, concluding with general comments on the current linguistic landscape of Modern Hebrew.
Parts of speech categories in the lexicon of Modern Hebrew
Authors: Bolozky Shmuel , Berman Ruth A.
Published: March 2020

Parts of speech in Modern Hebrew are analyzed in relation to three categories:
Open Class items (Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives), Closed Class paradigmatically organized
grammatical items (e.g., Pronouns, Case-Markers, Conjunctions), and Intermediate elements
lying between the two (e.g., Prepositions, Adverbs, Floating Operators). The chapter
considers what is meant by “a word” in Hebrew, taking into account the contrast between
older and more current items as well as between conventional dictionaries and the mental
lexicon, and the critical role of morphology in the Hebrew lexicon. The verb lexicon is
characterized by types of consonantal roots (full versus defective) and the
binyan conjugation patterns or prosodic templates. Nouns and adjectives
are described as morphologically less restricted than verbs, including loan words that are
partially integrated into the Hebrew phonological system, generally not constructed by the
nominal morphological patterns (miškalim ‘weights’). So-called “function
words”, traditionally grouped together under the label particles and
analyzed here as members of either closed or intermediate classes of items, are also
typically morphologically non-derived. The chapter concludes by summarizing current trends
in lexical innovation in relation to productivity in the MH lexicon.
Transitivity and valence
Authors: Halevy Rivka
Published: March 2020

The study explores a range of transitive constructions of varying
prototypicality in Modern Hebrew (MH) referring to causal and non-causal events, including
complex predicates, semi-transitive and lexicalized constructions, with transitivity
analyzed as a morpho-syntactic category rather than a semantic concept. The chapter
describes various types of alternations and variations in case-frame and argument structure
in MH transitive constructions, noting the growing tendency towards labile alternation
(ambitransitivity), particularly in the prototypical causative morphological pattern of the
hif’il verb-template (e.g., hilbin ‘whiten’ serves both
as causative ‘make white’ and inchoative ‘become white’). In such cases, a
change in the valence-frame of the verb does not necessarily involve change in the
verb-morphology, yielding the claim that transitivity in MH does not depend exclusively on
the semantic frame or morpho-phonological nature of the verb-pattern, but instead on the
overall syntactic properties of the construction, which in turn is dependent on discourse
requirements. Avoidance in discourse of the core O (object) argument is shown to occur even
in highly transitive constructions, in which reader-hearers resolve the unrealized argument
by context-based inferences and/or based on their communicative competence in conversational
discourse.
Genitive (smixut) constructions in Modern Hebrew
Authors: Berman Ruth A.
Published: March 2020

The chapter concerns the morpho-syntactic structure and usage-based properties
of MH constructions involving two nominal constituents, an initial head and following
modifier. Focus is on the three smixut ‘adjacency’ or ‘dependency’
constructions: (i) “construct-state” compounds in the form N^ N(P), where a caret indicates
the relation between an initial bound head N and its free-form modifier; (ii) free, analytic
N(P) šel (N)P constructions with the genitive marker šel
‘of’; and (iii) doubly marked N1pro2

šel N2 genitives. Usage-based analyses of alternations between
these three options for expressing possession and other genitive relations reveal
conflicting results, leading to the conclusion that text-type (genre, medium of expression,
level of usage, and communicative setting) plays a major role in choice of construction.
The chapter also considers two other binominal constructions – construct-state Adj^ Noun and
Noun + Denominal Adjective phrases – and concludes by noting more general properties of
Modern Hebrew reflected in current use of these constructions.1
A usage-based typology of Modern Hebrew syntax
Authors: Nir Bracha
Published: March 2020

The chapter considers how findings from Modern Hebrew syntax shed light on the
usage-based domain of contemporary linguistic typology, defined as concerned with the
synchronic and diachronic interrelations between function and grammar. To do so, it provides
illustrations from well-discussed syntactic features marking inter-clausal relations, and
compares these features with those found in Biblical Hebrew prose, with special emphasis on
bi-clausal constructions. The conclusion is that Hebrew syntax to this day reflects
constructions that are attested at earlier periods in the history of the language, including
early as well as late Biblical Hebrew, accompanied by functional and
frequency distributions that have changed in current usage.
Spelling normalisation of Late Modern English
Authors: Schneider Gerold
Published: March 2020

To be able to profit from natural language
processing (NLP) tools for analysing historical text, an important
step is spelling normalisation. We first compare and second combine
two different approaches: on the one hand VARD, a rule-based system
which is based on dictionary lookup and rules with non-probabilistic
but trainable weights; on the other hand a language-independent
approach to spelling normalisation based on statistical machine
translation (SMT) techniques. The rule-based system reaches the best
accuracy, up to 94% precision at 74% recall, while the SMT system
improves each tested period. We obtain the best system by combining
both approaches. Re-training VARD on specific time-periods and
domains is beneficial, and both systems benefit from a language
sequence model using collocation strength.
A far from simple matter revisited
Authors: Brinton Laurel J. , Inoue Tohru
Published: March 2020

In Present-day English far from
belongs to a class of constructions (close to, near to, next
to) which have undergone grammaticalization and/or
constructionalization. The present corpus-based, diachronic study
shows that the development of far from appears to
be a clear case of grammaticalization, with quite significant
changes in the Late Modern English period, including the extension
of the downtoner to attributive contexts and the development of the
emphasizer function. More importantly, the claim that “a well-known
trajectory” (Méndez-Naya
2008a: 215) is from degree adjunct to degree modifier is
not borne out in this case. What we see here is a change from degree
modifier to degree adjunct, a change consistent with Athanasiadou’s (2007)
argument for an increase in subjectivity from degree modifier to
emphasizer.
Being Wilde
Authors: Nevala Minna , Nurmi Arja
Published: March 2020

This article focuses on the news reporting on
Oscar Wilde during the 1895 trials in which he was accused of sodomy
and gross indecency. We discuss the positive and negative labelling
associated with Wilde during and after the trials. Our data are
drawn from the British Library Newspapers,
consisting of over 1,500 articles from a variety of both rural and
metropolitan British newspapers. Our results demonstrate that during
the course of the trials, the reference to Wilde shows not only
variation, but also change: his public persona changes from a
well-known author to an accused criminal.
“I am desired (…) to desire”
Authors: Włodarczyk Matylda
Published: March 2020

Historical pragmatic analyses have underlined
the discourse dependence and pragmatic sensitivity of speech acts.
As a result, researchers’ attention has shifted from form, structure
and tokenisation of utterances to interactive frameworks. This paper
follows suit and argues that speech acts in historical
correspondence – in this paper, the letters of the British Colonial
Office on the Cape Colony – bear a close resemblance to speech
events, interactional moves or speech actions. It presents a
qualitative approach to speech act identification and classification
that relies on the routines of power and the notion of macro-speech
act. In the process of speech act identification, co-textual
features and outcomes (perlocutionary effects) serve as crucial
reference points. The findings confirm the significance of the
status differentials for an early nineteenth-century specialised
discourse domain of institutional correspondence.
Nominalized constructions with argument functions in the languages of the Chaco
Authors: Golluscio Lucía A. , Hasler Felipe , de Reuse Willem
Published: March 2020

The complementation strategies attested in two well-known areas, the Andean area and the Amazonian area are compared with those existing in Chaco languages, which possibly constitute a linguistic area as well. The Chaco languages examined belong to the Guaycuruan, Lule-Vilela, Mataguayan, Tupi-Guarani and Zamucoan families. While nominalization is marked grammatically in Andean and Amazonian languages, a more general dependency marker is typically used in the Chaco languages. Also, unlike nominalizers in Andean and Amazonian languages, Chaco language subordinators are not involved in lexical nominalization. Finally, parataxis is documented as an extended complementation strategy among the Chacoan languages.
Life of =ti: Use and grammaticalization of a clausal nominalizer in Yurakaré
Authors: Gipper Sonja , Yap Foong Ha
Published: March 2020

In this paper, we investigate the uses of the clausal nominalizer =ti in Yurakaré, a linguistic isolate spoken in Bolivia. Clauses nominalized with =ti can serve a variety of functions: filling an argument position, relativization, forming the complement of a complement-taking verb, and expressing adverbial modification. On the basis of synchronic spoken corpus data, we propose a grammaticalization path for =ti. We argue that its most plausible source is the demonstrative ati, thus suggesting that =ti is a demonstrative-based nominalizer. Further, we show that =ti has developed a range of insubordinate uses, indicating ‘intersubjective commitment’. We propose that from there, =ti is currently on its way toward becoming a stance marker, contrasting with other clause-final enclitics of Yurakaré.
Form and functions of nominalization in Wampis
Authors: Peña Jaime
Published: March 2020

This paper examines the main morphosyntatic and functional properties of nominalization in Wampis, a Jivaroan (or Chicham) language spoken in Peru. In addition to having derivational properties, nominalized structures are used extensively in Wampis for a variety of functions, including relativization and complementation. This paper also shows that nominalized stems are expanding their functions to those equivalent to predicating structures, such that they are able to predicate on their own and receive finite verbal morphology.
Nominalization in Harakmbut
Authors: Van linden An
Published: March 2020

This paper focusses on verb-based nominalization in Harakmbut (isolate, Peru), which falls into two formal types on the basis of the prefix used. The first type, using the nominalizing prefix wa(ʔ)-, is restricted to participant nominalization and is predominantly used to produce nouns for NP-use. The second type, using the nominalizing prefix e(ʔ)-, is mainly used for event nominalization and typically produces multi-word nominalizations. Depending on the constructions they occur in and additional suffixation they take, nominalizations with e(ʔ)- can serve complementation as well as adverbial functions. Across the two formal types, multi-word nominalizations combine NP-like external syntax with verb-like internal syntax. The two nominalizing prefixes also serve a basic function in noun-based nominalization, lending independent status to obligatorily bound nouns.
Nominalization in Shawi/Chayahuita
Authors: Rojas-Berscia Luis Miguel
Published: March 2020

This paper deals with the Shawi nominalizing suffixes -su’~-ru’~-nu’ ‘general nominalizer’, -napi/-te’/-tun‘performer/agent nominalizer’, -pi’‘patient nominalizer’, and -nan ‘instrument nominalizer’. The goal of this article is to provide a description of nominalization in Shawi. Throughout this paper I apply the Generalized Scale Model (GSM) (Malchukov, 2006) to Shawi verbal nominalizations, with the intention of presenting a formal representation that will provide a basis for future areal and typological studies of nominalization. In addition, I dialogue with Shibatani’s model to see how the loss or gain of categories correlates with the lexical or grammatical nature of nominalizations. strong nominalization in Shawi correlates with lexical nominalization, whereas weak nominalizations correlate with grammatical nominalization. A typology which takes into account the productivity of the nominalizers is also discussed.
Lexicalized nominalized clauses in Matses (Panoan)
Authors: Fleck David W.
Published: March 2020

Nominalization is ubiquitous in the Matses language. Many functions that are performed by relative and adverbial clauses in other languages are accomplished by nominalization in Matses. Verbs are nominalized by attaching one of 27 different suffixes to the verb stem in place of inflectional morphology, creating either a word that falls into the noun lexical category, or a multi-word nominalizations which I call here a “nominalized clause.” Matses nominalized clauses, rather than being noun phrases built up around a de-verbalized noun, have essentially main-clause syntax, including main-clause case-marking frame. The present paper describes the internal and external syntax of Matses nominalized clauses in comparison to simple lexicalized nominalized words. Of particular interest is that nominalized clauses can become lexicalized.
Research status and development of magnesium matrix composites
Authors: Ma Guohong , Xiao Hao , Ye Jia , He Yinshui
Published: March 2020

Magnesium and its alloys, as the metal materials with the lowest density among structural materials, have attracted much attention due to their excellent properties such as high specific stiffness, good electromagnetic shielding properties and good vibration damping effects. However, its low strength, inherent brittleness and poor corrosion resistance limit its application in various industries. By adding a reinforcing phase to the magnesium matrix, a magnesium-based composite material having excellent properties has become one of the effective ways to realise the industrial application of magnesium alloys. This article reviews the recent research progress of magnesium-based composites, including the reinforcing phases and preparation methods of magnesium-based composites, and looks forward to the future development and research directions of magnesium-based composites.
Particle production via strings and baryon stopping within a hadronic transport approach
Authors: Mohs J , Ryu S , Elfner H
Published: March 2020

The stopping of baryons in heavy ion collisions at beam momenta of p
lab = 20–160A GeV is lacking a quantitative description within theoretical calculations. Heavy ion reactions at these energies are experimentally explored at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and will be studied at future facilities such as FAIR and NICA. Since the net baryon density is determined by the amount of stopping, this is the pre-requisite for any investigation of other observables related to structures in the QCD phase diagram such as a first-order phase transition or a critical endpoint. In this work we employ a string model for treating hadron–hadron interactions within a hadronic transport approach (SMASH, Simulating Many Accelerated Strongly-interacting Hadrons). Free parameters of the string excitation and decay are tuned to match experimental measurements in elementary proton–proton collisions, where some mismatch in the x

F
distribution of protons is still present. Afterwards, the model is applied to heavy ion collisions, where the experimentally observed change of the shape of the proton rapidity spectrum from a single peak structure to a double peak structure with increasing beam energy is reproduced. Heavy ion collisions provide the opportunity to study the formation process of string fragments in terms of formation times and reduced interaction cross-sections for pre-formed hadrons. A good agreement with the measured rapidity spectra of protons and pions is achieved while insights on the fragmentation process are obtained. In the future, the presented approach can be used to create event-by-event initial conditions for hybrid calculations.
Low-cost limit of classical communication with restricted quantum measurements
Authors: Kunz Ludwig , Jarzyna Marcin , Zwoliński Wojciech , Banaszek Konrad
Published: March 2020

We consider a communication scenario where classical information is encoded in an ensemble of quantum states that admit a power series expansion in a cost parameter and converge to a single zero cost state with vanishing cost. For a given measurement scheme, we derive an approximate expression for mutual information in the leading order of the cost parameter. The general results are applied to selected problems in optical communication, where coherent states of light are used as input symbols and the cost is quantified as the average number of photons per symbol. We show that for an arbitrary individual measurement on phase shift keyed (PSK) symbols, the photon information efficiency is upper bounded by 2 nats of information per photon in the low-cost limit, which coincides with the conventional homodyne detection bound. The presented low-cost approximation facilitates a systematic analysis of few-symbol measurements that exhibit superadditivity of accessible information. For the binary PSK alphabet of coherent states, we present designs for two- and three-symbol measurement schemes based on linear optics, homodyning, and single photon detection that offer respectively 2.49% and 3.40% enhancement relative to individual measurements. We also show how designs for scalable superadditive measurement schemes emerge from the introduced low-cost formalism.
Power, Knowledge, and the Epistemic Contract on Age: The Case of Colonial India
Authors: Pande Ishita
Published: March 2020

This article scrutinizes the implementation of age-of-consent legislation in high courts across colonial India to foreground some of its quirky and unstudied effects, and to consider alternative juridical notions of consent conceptualized without the logic of chronological age. Breaking open the naturalized relationship between age and consent, it shows that the use of age standards to measure all humans can be traced to the history of liberal law and its colonial career, just as the standard measures of age are tied to its forensic technologies and rules of evidence. By drawing attention to the provincial—or liberal juridical—roots of age as a measure of legal capacity, this article questions the use of age as a way of accounting for human subjects, and for governing intimate relations, that is meaningful, necessary, or desirable in all historical contexts. Suggesting that a juridical understanding of age continues to circumscribe social-scientific analysis, this article calls for a more explicit, as well as a more cautious and reflexive, use of age as a category of analysis in writing histories for South Asia, and elsewhere.
Julius Scott’s Masterless Caribbean and the Force of Its Common Wind
Authors: Soriano Cristina
Published: March 2020

The 2018 publication of Julius S. Scott’s The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution inspired a renewed focus on the reverberations of the Haitian Revolution. Here, six scholars of the Atlantic World and the Age of Revolutions consider the historiographical implications of The Common Wind and remind us how the Haitian upheaval belongs at the very center of the ripples of modernity that spread across the globe from the revolutionary Atlantic.
Exploration profiles drive activity patterns and temporal niche specialization in a wild rodent
Authors: Gharnit Elouana , Bergeron Patrick , Garant Dany , Réale Denis
Published: March 2020

Individual niche specialization can have important consequences for competition, fitness, and, ultimately, population dynamics and ecological speciation. The temporal window and the level of daily activity are niche components that may vary with sex, breeding season, food supply, population density, and predator’s circadian rhythm. More recently, ecologists emphasized that traits such as dispersal and space use could depend on personality differences. Boldness and exploration have been shown to correlate with variation in foraging patterns, habitat use, and home range. Here, we assessed the link between exploration, measured from repeated novel environment tests, activity patterns, and temporal niche specialization in wild eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus). Intrinsic differences in exploration should drive daily activity patterns through differences in energy requirements, space use, or the speed to access resources. We used collar-mounted accelerometers to assess whether individual exploration profiles predicted: 1) daily overall dynamic body acceleration, reflecting overall activity levels; 2) mean activity duration and the rate of activity sequences, reflecting the structure of daily activity; and 3) patterns of dawn and dusk activity, reflecting temporal niche differentiation. Exploration and overall activity levels were weakly related. However, both dawn activity and rate of activity sequences increased with the speed of exploration. Overall, activity patterns varied according to temporal variability in food conditions. This study emphasizes the role of intrinsic behavioral differences in activity patterns in a wild animal population. Future studies will help us understand how yearly seasonality in reproduction, food abundance, and population density modulate personality-dependent foraging patterns and temporal niche specialization.
Exploring Formal Care Providers’ Perspectives of the Support Needs of Older Male Spousal Care-givers: A Focus Group Study
Authors: Fee Anne , McIlfatrick Sonja , Ryan Assumpta
Published: March 2020

Formal support comprises services provided by health, social care and community-based agencies (CBAs), including charities. Evidence indicates poor uptake of formal support by older male care-givers who often fail to accept help until a crisis point is reached. Given the growing recognition of caregiving as gendered, there is a need for an enhanced understanding of how support providers can assess and address the needs of this caregiving sub-group. The aim of this study was to explore formal care providers’ perspectives of support for older male spousal care-givers through focus group interviews. The study was conducted in a region in the United Kingdom (UK) with four CBAs (participants: n = 33), and five statutory healthcare providers (participants: n = 51). Thematic data analysis resulted in the identification of three themes: Service Priorities, Engaging Men, Assessment of Need. Findings revealed that service flexibility was key to providing support; difficulties in engaging men in support and low take-up of carers’ assessments were potential barriers to support. Social workers should have an in-depth understanding of how caregiving is gendered and how this may influence the support needs of older male spousal care-givers. Enhanced carers’ assessment training, which highlights collaboration in planning and delivery of tailored support, may result in support that enables older male care-givers to sustain their caregiving role.
Predictive Value of 3 Clinical Criteria for Sepsis (Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment, Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, and National Early Warning Score) With Respect to Short-term Mortality in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipients With Suspected Infections
Authors: Lind Margaret L , Phipps Amanda I , Mooney Stephen , Liu Catherine , Fohner Alison , Patel Kevin , Ueda Masumi , Pergam Steven A
Published: March 2020

Background

Sepsis disproportionately affects allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients and is challenging to define. Clinical criteria that predict mortality and intensive care unit end-points in patients with suspected infections (SIs) are used in sepsis definitions, but their predictive value among immunocompromised populations is largely unknown. Here, we evaluate 3 criteria among allogeneic HCT recipients with SIs.

Methods

We evaluated Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS), quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA), and National Early Warning Score (NEWS) in relation to short-term mortality among recipients transplanted between September 2010 and July 2017. We used cut-points of ≥ 2 for qSOFA/SIRS and ≥ 7 for NEWS and restricted to first SI per hospital encounter during patients’ first 100 days posttransplant.

Results

Of the 880 recipients who experienced ≥ 1 SI, 58 (6.6%) died within 28 days and 22 (2.5%) within 10 days of an SI. In relation to 10-day mortality, SIRS was the most sensitive (91.3% [95% confidence interval {CI}, 72.0%–98.9%]) but least specific (35.0% [95% CI, 32.6%–37.5%]), whereas qSOFA was the most specific (90.5% [95% CI, 88.9%–91.9%]) but least sensitive (47.8% [95% CI, 26.8%–69.4%]). NEWS was moderately sensitive (78.3% [95% CI, 56.3%–92.5%]) and specific (70.2% [95% CI, 67.8%–72.4%]).

Conclusions

NEWS outperformed qSOFA and SIRS, but each criterion had low to moderate predictive accuracy, and the magnitude of the known limitations of qSOFA and SIRS was at least as large as in the general population. Our data suggest that population-specific criteria are needed for immunocompromised patients.
Effect of chronic exercise in healthy young male adults: a metabolomic analysis
Authors: Koay Yen Chin , Stanton Kelly , Kienzle Vivian , Li Mengbo , Yang Jean , Celermajer David S , O’Sullivan John F
Published: March 2020

Aims

To examine the metabolic adaptation to an 80-day exercise intervention in healthy young male adults where lifestyle factors such as diet, sleep, and physical activities are controlled.

Methods and results

This study involved cross-sectional analysis before and after an 80-day aerobic and strength exercise intervention in 52 young, adult, male, newly enlisted soldiers in 2015. Plasma metabolomic analyses were performed using liquid chromatography, tandem mass spectrometry. Data analyses were performed between March and August 2019. We analysed changes in metabolomic profiles at the end of an 80-day exercise intervention compared to baseline, and the association of metabolite changes with changes in clinical parameters. Global metabolism was dramatically shifted after the exercise training programme. Fatty acids and ketone body substrates, key fuels used by exercising muscle, were dramatically decreased in plasma in response to increased aerobic fitness. There were highly significant changes across many classes of metabolic substrates including lipids, ketone bodies, arginine metabolites, endocannabinoids, nucleotides, markers of proteolysis, products of fatty acid oxidation, microbiome-derived metabolites, markers of redox stress, and substrates of coagulation. For statistical analyses, a paired t-test was used and Bonferroni-adjusted P-value of <0.0004 was considered to be statistically significant. The metabolite dimethylguanidino valeric acid (DMGV) (recently shown to predict lack of metabolic response to exercise) tracked maladaptive metabolic changes to exercise; those with increases in DMGV levels had increases in several cardiovascular risk factors; changes in DMGV levels were significantly positively correlated with increases in body fat (P = 0.049), total and LDL cholesterol (P = 0.003 and P = 0.007), and systolic blood pressure (P = 0.006). This study was approved by the Departments of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs Human Research Ethics Committee and written informed consent was obtained from each subject.

Conclusion

For the first time, the true magnitude and extent of metabolic adaptation to chronic exercise training are revealed in this carefully designed study, which can be leveraged for novel therapeutic strategies in cardiometabolic disease. Extending the recent report of DMGV’s predictive utility in sedentary, overweight individuals, we found that it is also a useful marker of poor metabolic response to exercise in young, healthy, fit males.
Resection of the irradiated esophagus: the impact of lymph node yield on survival
Authors: Esposito V R , Yerokun B A , Mulvihill M S , Cox M L , Andrew B Y , Yang C J , Choi A Y , Moore C , D’Amico T A , Tong B C , Hartwig M G
Published: March 2020

There is debate surrounding the appropriate threshold for lymph node harvest during esophagectomy in patients with esophageal cancer, specifically for those receiving preoperative radiation. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of lymph node yield on survival in patients receiving preoperative chemoradiation for esophageal cancer. The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was utilized to identify patients with esophageal cancer that received preoperative radiation. The cohort was divided into patients undergoing minimal (<9) or extensive (≥9) lymph node yield. Demographic, operative, and postoperative outcomes were compared between the groups. Kaplan–Meier analysis with the log rank test was used to compare survival between the yield groups. Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine the association between lymph node yield and survival. In total, 886 cases were included: 349 (39%) belonging to the minimal node group and 537 (61%) to the extensive group. Unadjusted 5-year survival was similar between the minimal and extensive groups, respectively (37.3% vs. 38.8%; P > 0.05). After adjustment using Cox regression, extensive lymph node yield was associated with survival (hazard ratio 0.80, confidence interval 0.66–0.98, P = 0.03). This study suggests that extensive lymph node yield is advantageous for patients with esophageal cancer undergoing esophagectomy following induction therapy. This most likely reflects improved diagnosis and staging with extensive yield.
Phase Transitions on C*-Algebras from Actions of Congruence Monoids on Rings of Algebraic Integers
Authors: Bruce Chris
Published: March 2020

We compute the KMS (equilibrium) states for the canonical time evolution on C*-algebras from actions of congruence monoids on rings of algebraic integers. We show that for each $\beta \in [1,2]$, there is a unique KMS$_\beta $ state, and we prove that it is a factor state of type III$_1$. There are phase transitions at $\beta =2$ and $\beta =\infty $ involving a quotient of a ray class group. Our computation of KMS and ground states generalizes the results of Cuntz, Deninger, and Laca for the full $ax+b$-semigroup over a ring of integers, and our type classification generalizes a result of Laca and Neshveyev in the case of the rational numbers and a result of Neshveyev in the case of arbitrary number fields.
Development and evaluation of a national gentamicin and vancomycin quality improvement programme
Authors: Semple Yvonne , Bennie Marion , Sneddon Jacqueline , Cockburn Alison , Seaton R Andrew , Thomson Alison H
Published: March 2020

Background

Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG) recommendations to reduce broad-spectrum antimicrobial use led to an increase in gentamicin and vancomycin prescribing. In 2009, SAPG introduced national guidance to standardize dosage regimens, reduce calculation errors and improve the monitoring of these antibiotics. Studies conducted in 2010 and 2011 identified limitations in guideline implementation.

Objectives

To develop, implement and assess the long-term impact of quality improvement (QI) resources to support gentamicin and vancomycin prescribing, administration and monitoring.

Methods

New resources, comprising revised guidelines, online and mobile app dose calculators, educational material and specialized prescribing and monitoring charts were developed in collaboration with antimicrobial specialists and implemented throughout Scotland during 2013–16. An online survey in 2017 evaluated the use of these resources and a before (2011) and after (2018) point prevalence study assessed their impact.

Results

All 12 boards who responded to the survey (80%) were using the guidance, electronic calculators and gentamicin prescription chart; 8 used a vancomycin chart. The percentage of patients who received the recommended gentamicin dose increased from 44% to 89% (OR 10.99, 95% CI = 6.37–18.95) between 2011 and 2018. For vancomycin, the correct loading dose increased from 50% to 85% (OR = 5.69, CI = 2.76–11.71) and the correct maintenance dose from 55% to 90% (OR = 7.17, CI = 3.01–17.07).

Conclusions

This study demonstrated improvements in the national prescribing of gentamicin and vancomycin through the development and coordinated implementation of a range of QI resources and engagement with local and national multidisciplinary teams.
Rice F-bZIP transcription factors regulate the zinc deficiency response
Authors: Lilay Grmay H , Castro Pedro Humberto , Guedes Joana G , Almeida Diego M , Campilho Ana , Azevedo Herlander , Aarts Mark G M , Saibo Nelson J M , Assunção Ana G L
Published: March 2020

The F-bZIP transcription factors bZIP19 and bZIP23 are the central regulators of the zinc deficiency response in Arabidopsis, and phylogenetic analysis of F-bZIP homologs across land plants indicates that the regulatory mechanism of the zinc deficiency response may be conserved. Here, we identified the rice F-bZIP homologs and investigated their function. OsbZIP48 and OsbZIP50, but not OsbZIP49, complement the zinc deficiency-hypersensitive Arabidopsis bzip19bzip23 double mutant. Ectopic expression of OsbZIP50 in Arabidopsis significantly increases plant zinc accumulation under control zinc supply, suggesting an altered Zn sensing in OsbZIP50. In addition, we performed a phylogenetic analysis of F-bZIP homologs from representative monocot species that supports the branching of plant F-bZIPs into Group 1 and Group 2. Our results suggest that regulation of the zinc deficiency response in rice is conserved, with OsbZIP48 being a functional homolog of AtbZIP19 and AtbZIP23. A better understanding of the mechanisms behind the Zn deficiency response in rice and other important crops will contribute to develop plant-based strategies to address the problems of Zn deficiency in soils, crops, and cereal-based human diets.
Pollen–stigma interactions in Brassicaceae: complex communication events regulating pollen hydration
Authors: Bosch Maurice , Wang Ludi
Published: March 2020

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