bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modeling of residual thermal stresses for aluminum nitride crystal growth by sublimation
Authors: Lee R. G. , Idesman A. , Nyakiti L. , Chaudhuri J.
Published: September 2007

Residual thermal stress distribution in AlN single crystal, grown on tungsten as a crucible material, was investigated using a numerical study. It has been demonstrated that a three-dimensional, instead of a two-dimensional, formulation predicts significantly greater values of stress. Dimensionless coordinates were used to essentially simplify the stress analysis and reduce the number of calculations. In addition, thermoelasticity approach simplifies the study of stresses for a nonstationary temperature field. The stress in the AlN film along the thickness or [0001] growth direction is essentially zero but the in-plane stress is large. The stress at the corner of the film is much higher due to stress concentration and could cause formation of microcracks. The stress in the film is tensile while that in the substrate is compressive, which causes a reversal of the stress across the interface. Separation or delamination of the film from the substrate could occur due to this reversal of the stress at the interface. The stress decreases as the thickness of the film increases or the thickness of the substrate decreases. Thus, formation of microscopic cracks in the film could be avoided by using a thinner substrate. The analysis on interaction of neighboring islands in order to simulate coalescence of island growth indicates stress concentration at the boundaries of the islands, which could produce threading dislocations and hence polycrystalline growth. The analysis of the effect of misorientation of the neighboring grains on the residual thermal stress in the film has shown that a large stress can develop at the grain boundary and can lead to grain boundary cracking.
Effect of nitrogen ion implantation on the optical and structural characteristics of CR-39 polymer
Authors: Sharma Tanu , Aggarwal Sanjeev , Sharma Annu , Kumar S. , Kanjilal D. , Deshpande S. K. , Goyal P. S.
Published: September 2007

The effect of nitrogen ion implantation has been examined in transparent surfaces of CR-39 polymer. Samples were implanted with 100keV N+ ions to various doses ranging from 1014to1017cm−2. The chemical and structural changes in the implanted specimens were performed using Raman spectroscopy and glancing angle x-ray diffraction. Ultraviolet-visible absorption analysis indicates a drastic decline in optical band gap from 3.50eV in virgin sample to 0.80eV at an implantation dose of 1017ionscm−2.
Structure, magnetic, and transport properties of sputtered Fe∕Ge multilayers
Authors: Liu Y. W. , Mi W. B. , Jiang E. Y. , Bai H. L.
Published: September 2007

The structure, magnetic, and transport properties, especially the Hall effect, of Fe∕Ge multilayers fabricated by magnetron sputtering were investigated. Structure characterization indicates a periodic modulated structure with alternately deposited polycrystalline Fe and amorphous Ge layers. The room-temperature magnetic measurements reveal that the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy Ku of the Fe∕Ge multilayers with a period of 5.2nm is 2.27×103J∕m3. The temperature coefficient of resistivity of all the films is positive at room temperature but turns to be negative at low temperatures due to the weak localization effect. The Fe∕Ge multilayers show anomalous Hall effect and the Hall sensitivity KH is independent of the temperature, showing that Fe∕Ge multilayers have the potential applications in the field of magnetic sensors. When the period Λ is 5.2nm, the anomalous Hall coefficient Rs reaches its largest value of 1.8×10−7Ωm∕T, which is three orders of magnitude larger than that of the bulk Fe material.
CPT and Lorentz violation effects in hydrogenlike atoms
Authors: Kharlanov O. G. , Zhukovsky V. Ch.
Published: September 2007

Within the framework of Lorentz-violating extended electrodynamics, the Dirac equation for a bound electron in an external electromagnetic field is considered assuming the interaction with a CPT-odd axial vector background bμ. The quasirelativistic Hamiltonian is obtained using a 1∕c-series expansion. Relativistic Dirac eigenstates in a spherically symmetric potential are found accurate up to the second order in b0. b0-induced CPT-odd corrections to the electromagnetic dipole moment operators of a bound electron are calculated that contribute to the anapole moment of the atomic orbital and may cause a specific asymmetry of the angular distribution of the radiation of a hydrogen atom.
A search accelerated correct intensity Fourier transform microwave spectrometer with pulsed laser ablation source
Authors: Grubbs Garry S. , Dewberry Christopher T. , Etchison Kerry C. , Kerr Katherine E. , Cooke Stephen A.
Published: September 2007

The ablation of metal surfaces in the presence of a precursor gas produces reaction products which are often difficult to predict and highly dependent on ablation conditions. This article describes the successful development and implementation of a laser ablation source-equipped Fourier transform microwave spectrometer capable of observing 4GHz regions of spectra in a single data acquisition event. The dramatically increased speed with which regions may be searched, when compared to other high resolution microwave techniques, allows the source conditions to be the prime variable in laser ablation microwave spectroscopic studies. A second feature of the technique is that observed spectral features have correct relative intensities. This is advantageous when assigning observed spectra. The study of two metal chlorides, AgCl and AuCl, illustrate the instrument’s benefits.
Terahertz emission from vertically aligned InN nanorod arrays
Authors: Ahn H. , Ku Y.-P. , Wang Y.-C. , Chuang C.-H. , Gwo S. , Pan Ci-Ling
Published: September 2007

Terahertz emission from indium nitride (InN) nanorods and InN film grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates has been investigated. Terahertz emission from InN nanorods is at least three times more intense than that from InN film and depends strongly on the size distribution of the nanorods. Surface electron accumulation at the InN nanorods effectively screens out the photo-Dember field in the accumulation layer formed under the surface. The nanorods with considerably large diameter than the thickness of accumulation layer are found to be dominant in the emission of terahertz radiation from InN nanorod arrays.
Highly strained InGaAs∕GaAs multiwatt vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser emitting around 1170nm
Authors: Fan Li , Hessenius Chris , Fallahi Mahmoud , Hader Jörg , Li Hongbo , Moloney Jerome V. , Stolz Wolfgang , Koch Stephan W. , Murray James T. , Bedford Robert
Published: September 2007

We develop and demonstrate a multiwatt highly strained InGaAs∕GaAs vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser with a free lasing wavelength of around 1170nm. This laser can be tuned from ∼1147to∼1197nm. This low-cost compact wavelength agile laser can potentially provide high-power coherent light in a wide yellow-orange band by the intracavity frequency doubling.
Edge effects in buckled thin films on elastomeric substrates
Authors: Koh C. T. , Liu Z. J. , Khang D.-Y. , Song J. , Lu C. , Huang Y. , Rogers J. A. , Koh C. G.
Published: September 2007

Buckled thin films on elastomeric substrates have many applications. Films of this type exhibit periodic, sinusoidal “wavy” relief profiles, except near edges that lie perpendicular to the wavevector associated with waves. In these locations, the amplitudes of the waves steadily decrease until the films become completely flat, in a manner that can be used to advantage in applications. This paper quantitatively describes the mechanics of this phenomenon. The finite element analysis shows that the edge effect results from the traction-free boundary condition. The edge-effect length is proportional to the thin-film thickness, and decreases with the increasing prestrain and substrate modulus.
Conductivity of single ZnO nanorods after Ga implantation in a focused-ion-beam system
Authors: Weissenberger D. , Dürrschnabel M. , Gerthsen D. , Pérez-Willard F. , Reiser A. , Prinz G. M. , Feneberg M. , Thonke K. , Sauer R.
Published: September 2007

ZnO nanorods were implanted with Ga+ ions in a combined scanning-electron-microscope/focused-ion-beam system with doses from 1011to1017cm−2. Electrical resistance measurements performed on single ZnO nanorods yield first an increase of the resistance due to defect formation which lowers the electron mobility. Implantation doses exceeding 1015cm−2 yield a strong decrease of the resistance to values significantly below the resistance before Ga+-ion implantation. Low specific resistivities of about 3×10−3Ωcm are reached without additional annealing treatment after high-dose implantation.
Exchange shift of stripe domains in antiferromagnetically coupled multilayers
Authors: Kiselev N. S. , Dragunov I. E. , Rößler U. K. , Bogdanov A. N.
Published: September 2007

Antiferromagnetically coupled multilayers with perpendicular anisotropy, such as [CoPt]∕Ru, Co∕Ir, and Fe∕Au, display ferromagnetic stripe phases as the ground states. It is theoretically shown that the antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange causes a relative shift of domains in adjacent layers. This “exchange shift” is responsible for several recently observed effects: an anomalous broadening of domain walls, the formation of the so-called “tiger-tail” patterns, and a “mixed state” of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic domains in [CoPt]∕Ru multilayers. The derived analytical relations between the values of the shift and the strength of antiferromagnetic coupling provide an effective method for a quantitative determination of the interlayer exchange interactions.
Ge
∕
Si
heteronanocrystal floating gate memory
Authors: Li Bei , Liu Jianlin , Liu G. F. , Yarmoff J. A.
Published: September 2007

Metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor memories with Ge∕Si heteronanocrystals (HNCs) as floating gate were fabricated and characterized. Ge∕Si HNCs with density of 5×1011cm−2 were grown on n-type Si (100) substrate with thin tunnel oxide on the top. Enhanced device performances including longer retention time, faster programming speed, and higher charge storage capability are demonstrated compared with Si nanocrystal (NC) memories. The erasing speed and endurance performance of Ge∕Si HNC memories are similar to that of Si NC devices. The results suggest that Ge∕Si HNCs may be an alternative to make further floating gate memory scaling down possible.
Yield performance and adaptation of some Australian-grown rice varieties through multivariate analysis
Authors: Sivapalan Siva , Batten Graeme , Goonetilleke Ashantha , Kokot Serge
Published: September 2007

Rice breeders are involved in developing new varieties for a diverse range of production environments to increase average yields. Interpretation of performance of several varieties evaluated in a broad range of environments is usually affected by variety × environment interactions. Application of multivariate analyses, especially multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods in variety × environment interaction studies can benefit interpretation of yield performance and adaptation of varieties in response to different environments. The case study discussed in this paper highlights the significant advantages of using MCDM methods to overcome constraints imposed by having to investigate a large number of variables inherent in such analysis.
The grain yield of 13 rice varieties with varying characteristics, grown in 4 different regions in southern New South Wales (NSW), Australia, during the 2000–06 growing seasons was analysed using classification techniques and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) analysis. Significant variety × environment interaction was found to influence the yield performance of individual varieties across a range of environmental conditions. Classification of environments and geometrical analysis for interactive aid (GAIA) plot of PROMETHEE analysis identified the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) and Coleambally Irrigation Area (CIA) as higher yielding regions compared with the Eastern Murray Valley (EMV) and Western Murray Valley (WMV). Turbid water and cold weather conditions are suggested to explain the lower yield obtained in the WMV environment.
In terms of varieties, Amaroo and Opus were identified as widely adaptable to most of the environments, while Jarrah was the least adaptable. Illabong can be considered as best adapted to the EMV or WMV regions, while Paragon and Reiziq can be regarded as best adapted to the MIA and CIA regions. Partial and complete ranking showed the interrelationships between the varieties for their yield performance and adaptation across all environments. Amaroo, Illabong, and Opus were ranked as the most preferred varieties, while Koshihikari, Kyeema, and Jarrah were ranked as the least preferred ones. Partial pre-order with 13 classes from PROMETHEE I analysis identified varieties with similar characteristics and aided the selection of suitable alternative varieties. The outcomes from the analyses reported here allow rice varieties or genotypes to be rated for yield stability for a specific or a range of different environments.
Introduction, growth and persistence in situ of orchid mycorrhizal fungi
Authors: Hollick Penelope S. , McComb Jen A. , Dixon Kingsley W.
Published: September 2007

The introduction, growth and persistence of orchid mycorrhizal fungi in situ were studied by using a seed-baiting method. A mycorrhizal fungus from the carousel spider orchid, Caladenia arenicola (Hopper & A.P.Br.), was introduced to sites within an area from which the orchid and fungus were absent, adjacent to a natural population of C. arenicola. In the first growing season, the fungus grew up to 50 cm from its introduction point, usually persisted over the summer drought into the second season and even into the third season, stimulating germination and growth to tuber formation of the seeds in the baits. Watering the inoculated areas significantly increased seed germination. This suggests that it is possible to reintroduce the mycorrhizal fungi either before or together with seeds of orchid species needing re-establishment in an area.
Colonisation of jarrah forest bauxite-mine rehabilitation areas by orchid mycorrhizal fungi
Authors: Collins Margaret , Brundrett Mark , Koch John , Sivasithamparam Krishnapillai
Published: September 2007

Orchids require mycorrhizal fungi for germination of seed and growth of seedlings. The colonisation of bauxite-mine rehabilitation areas by orchids is therefore dependent on the availability of both seed and mycorrhizal fungi. Orchid mycorrhizal fungi baiting trials were carried out in rehabilitation areas that were 1, 10 and 26 years old (established in 2001, 1992 and 1976) and adjacent unmined jarrah forest areas at Jarrahdale, Western Australia. Fungal baits consisted of buried six-chambered nylon-mesh packets containing seed of six jarrah forest orchid taxa, Caladenia flava subsp. flava R.Br., Disa bracteata Sw., Microtis media subsp. media R.Br., Pterostylis recurva Benth., Pyrorchis nigricans (R.Br.) D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. and Thelymitra crinita Lindl. Detection of orchid mycorrhizal fungi was infrequent, especially at the youngest rehabilitation sites where only mycorrhizal fungi associated with P. recurva were detected. Mycorrhizal fungi of the other orchid taxa were widespread but sparsely distributed in older rehabilitation and forest areas. Detection of mycorrhizal fungi varied between taxa and baiting sites for the two survey years (2002 and 2004). Caladenia flava subsp. flava and T. crinita mycorrhizal fungi were the most frequently detected. The presence of C. flava mycorrhizal fungi was correlated with leafy litter cover and maximum depth, and soil moisture at the vegetation type scale (50 × 5 m belt transects), as well as tree and litter cover at the microhabitat scale (1-m2 quadrats). The presence of T. crinita mycorrhizal fungi was positively correlated with soil moisture in rehabilitation areas and low shrub cover in forest. The frequency of detection of orchid mycorrhizal fungi both at rehabilitated sites (15–25% of baits) and in unmined forest (15–50% of baits) tended to increase with rehabilitation age as vegetation recovered. The failure of some orchid taxa to reinvade rehabilitation areas is unlikely to be entirely due to absence of the appropriate mycorrhizal fungi. However, since the infrequent detection of fungi suggests that they occur in isolated patches of soil, the majority of dispersed orchid seeds are likely to perish, especially in recently disturbed habitats.
Seed morphology and ultrastructure in Citrus garrawayi (Rutaceae) in relation to germinability
Authors: Hamilton Kim N. , Ashmore Sarah E. , Drew Rod A. , Pritchard Hugh W.
Published: September 2007

Combinational traits of seed size and seed-coat hardness in Citrus garrawayi (F.M.Bailey) (syn. of Microcitrus garrowayi) were investigated as markers for estimation of seed morphological and physiological maturity. Seed size (length) and coat hardness correlated well with changes in seed coat and embryo morphological development, dry-weight accumulation, decreases in moisture content and a significant increase in germinability. Seed moisture content decreased from 82 ± 1% in immature seeds to 40 ± 1% at seed maturation. The outer integument of immature seeds consisted of thin-walled epidermal fibres from which outgrowths of emerging protrusions were observed. In comparison, mature seed coats were characterised by the thickening of the cell walls of the epidermal fibres from which arose numerous protrusions covered by an extensive mucilage layer. Immature seeds, with incomplete embryo and seed-coat histodiffereniation, had a low mean germination percentage of 4 ± 4%. Premature seeds, with a differentiated embryonic axis, were capable of much higher levels of germination (51 ± 10%) before the attainment of mass maturity. Mature seeds, with the most well differentiated embryonic axis and maximum mean dry weight, had the significantly highest level of germination (88 ± 3%).
Phenotyping cotton ovule fibre initiation with spatial statistics
Authors: Lovell David , Wu Yingru , White Rosemary , Machado Adriane , Llewellyn Danny J. , Dennis Elizabeth S. , Anderssen Robert S.
Published: September 2007

Yield in cultivated cotton (Gossypium spp.) is affected by the number and distribution of fibres initiated on the seed surface but, apart from simple statistical summaries, little has been done to assess this phenotype quantitatively. Here we use two types of spatial statistics to describe and quantify differences in patterning of cotton ovule fibre initials (FI). The following five different species of Gossypium were analysed: G. hirsutum L., G. barbadense L., G. arboreum, G. raimondii Ulbrich. and G. trilobum (DC.) Skovsted. Scanning electron micrographs of FIs were taken on the day of anthesis. Cell centres for fibre and epidermal cells were digitised and analysed by spatial statistics methods appropriate for marked point processes and tessellations. Results were consistent with previously published reports of fibre number and spacing. However, it was shown that the spatial distributions of FIs in all of species examined exhibit regularity, and are not completely random as previously implied. The regular arrangement indicates FIs do not appear independently of each other and we surmise there may be some form of mutual inhibition specifying fibre-initial development. It is concluded that genetic control of FIs differs from that of stomata, another well studied plant idioblast. Since spatial statistics show clear species differences in the distribution of FIs within this genus, they provide a useful method for phenotyping cotton.
The fluxes through glycolytic enzymes in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
are predominantly regulated at posttranscriptional levels
Authors: Daran-Lapujade Pascale , Rossell Sergio , van Gulik Walter M. , Luttik Marijke A. H. , de Groot Marco J. L. , Slijper Monique , Heck Albert J. R. , Daran Jean-Marc , de Winde Johannes H. , Westerhoff Hans V. , Pronk Jack T. , Bakker Barbara M.
Published: September 2007

Metabolic fluxes may be regulated “hierarchically,” e.g., by changes of gene expression that adjust enzyme capacities (
V
max
) and/or “metabolically” by interactions of enzymes with substrates, products, or allosteric effectors. In the present study, a method is developed to dissect the hierarchical regulation into contributions by transcription, translation, protein degradation, and posttranslational modification. The method was applied to the regulation of fluxes through individual glycolytic enzymes when the yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
was confronted with the absence of oxygen and the presence of benzoic acid depleting its ATP. Metabolic regulation largely contributed to the ≈10-fold change in flux through the glycolytic enzymes. This contribution varied from 50 to 80%, depending on the glycolytic step and the cultivation condition tested. Within the 50–20% hierarchical regulation of fluxes, transcription played a minor role, whereas regulation of protein synthesis or degradation was the most important. These also contributed to 75–100% of the regulation of protein levels.
Prepositional semantics and metaphoric extensions
Authors: Guarddon Anelo Carmen
Published: September 2007

In this paper we analyze the semantics of the Spanish preposition desde. This analysis is developed within the cognitive linguistics framework. First, we establish the central uses of this category, using a corpus created from examples provided by Spanish speakers. Then, we examine the uses of this preposition that respond to a metaphoric extension. According to my working hypothesis, these metaphoric uses are derived from the topological schema that underlies all the uses of this preposition. The metaphoric extensions of this preposition have been gradually and only partially accepted by the ‘Real Academia de la Lengua’ and other linguistic authorities. However, there exits a use based on a metaphoric transfer which is ignored by traditional treatments. Furthermore, this use is explicitly defined as incorrect by the dictionary of the Spanish language Clave. We will show that this use is consistent with the topological schema that has given rise to the rest of the metaphoric uses of desde and thus should be treated as another valid use of this category.
Language convergence and bilingual acquisition
Authors: Chen Ee San
Published: September 2007

This study concerns the simultaneous acquisition of conditional constructions in Chinese-English bilingual preschool children in Singapore. Cross-sectional data are obtained from subjects ranging from 2;10 to 6;06. The target languages are Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) and Singapore Colloquial Mandarin (SCM), both of which are contact varieties that are representative of the Low varieties in a diglossic situation. The bilingual acquisition of structural features of conditionals is investigated by adopting the Head-marking and Dependent-marking typological framework (Nichols 1986). Two elicited imitation experiments were conducted, with Experiment 1 aimed at examining if the structural convergence between SCE and SCM that is evident at a societal level is also represented in the developing linguistic repertoires of the bilingual preschool children. Experiment 2 is a follow-up study designed to investigate if convergence between the two languages is also evident at an individual level. Results obtained in Experiment 1 suggest that convergence between the two developing linguistic systems is indeed apparent. Also evident is the influence of Chinese on SCE, while the influence of English on SCM is less apparent. At the individual level, however, a general lack of convergence between the two developing grammars within a single subject is observed in Experiment 2: the marking preferences for SCE and SCM conditionals tend not to coincide for a particular subject, suggesting that the two languages are represented as distinct grammatical systems for the bilingual children.
Proportion Quantifier Interpretations of Indefinites and Endocentric Relevance Relations
Authors: Merin Arthur
Published: September 2007

We show how evidential relevance relations between restrictor predicates N and attribute predicates induce proportion quantifier interpretations of indefinite Det N. A paradigmsetting role is played by ‘Protagorean’ determiners, many and few, which intuitively designate large and small quantities, but equally express positive and negative relevance. The thesis is explicated and demonstrated within a Decision-Theoretic Semantics (Merin 1999a) and extends Mostowski's (1957) Generalized Quantifier [GQ] framework. Some puzzles about monotonicity of natural language GQs are solved, and several theses about such GQs are advanced and verified.
Getting three out of two
Authors: Song Jae Jung
Published: September 2007

This article examines the development of the three-participant construction from the two-participant construction in Oceanic languages. This development involves the use of possessive classifiers for recipient or beneficiary marking. Arguments will be put forward in support of the change as an instance of grammaticalization. The change has its origins in pragmatic inferencing: the possessor is construed as a recipient or a beneficiary. Moreover, the change from possession to reception or benefaction is regarded, in terms of reduced structural autonomy, as a shift from a less grammatical to a more grammatical status: the relation between the recipient/beneficiary and the verb is much tighter than that between the possessor and the verb. Evidence will also be brought to bear to demonstrate the grammaticalization of possessive classifiers as recipient or beneficiary markers. In Kusaiean and Mokilese, the grammatical change has resulted in newly created recipient or beneficiary NPs moving into different sentence positions. In Kusaiean and Mokilese, the use of possessive classifiers for beneficiary marking has been extended from transitive to intransitive clauses (i.e. clauses without direct object NPs). In Lenakel, one of the multiple possessive classifiers, all used to express possession, has been chosen and pressed into the service of encoding benefaction.
Cross-fostered chimpanzees modulate signs of American Sign Language
Authors: Chalcraft Valerie J. , Gardner R. Allen
Published: September 2007

Evolutionary and developmental (Evo-Devo) biologists study the interaction between genetic endowment and developmental environment (Lewontin, 2001; Robert, 2004). Cross-fostering is a powerful tool for studying Evo-Devo. Chimpanzees lived under conditions very similar to the conditions of human children with human foster families who used American Sign Language (ASL) exclusively in their presence. In this environment, cross-fostered chimpanzees acquired and used signs as human children do. Intensive analyses of extensive video records of casual conversation show that Tatu at 46–48 months directionally modulated action signs to indicate actor and instrument as human signers do. Tatu directionally modulated action signs in responses to Wh-questions such as “Who?” but directional modulations failed to appear in responses to What Demonstrative questions such as “What that?” These results confirm and extend previous results for Dar at 37–48 months. Further analyses show that Tatu also quantitatively modulated all types of signs to indicate intensity as human signers do.
The link (and differences) between deixis and symbols in children’s early gestural-vocal system
Authors: Antinoro Pizzuto Elena , Capobianco Micaela
Published: September 2007

This study aims to contribute to a clearer understanding of children’s developing gesture-speech system examining the interrelation between deictic and representational elements of gestural and vocal types. We analyze the spontaneous productions of six children, observed longitudinally from 12 to 24 months during the transition from one- to two- and multielement vocal utterances. We focus on children’s gestural and vocal repertoires, and one- and two-element utterances encoding different information within and across modalities. Results indicate that deictic and representational elements are unevenly distributed in the gestural vs. the vocal modality, and in one vs. two-element utterances, with patterns that differ from those observed in the adult gesture-speech system. In these early stages speech and gesture are interrelated primarily through deictic gestures, and representational abilities appear to be markedly more constrained in the gestural as compared to the vocal modality.
The challenges of joint attention
Authors: Kaplan Frédéric , Hafner Verena V.
Published: September 2007

This article discusses the concept of joint attention and the different skills underlying its development. Research in developmental psychology clearly states that the development of skills to understand, manipulate and coordinate attentional behavior plays a pivotal role for imitation, social cognition and the development of language. However, beside the fact that joint attention has recently received an increasing interest in the robotics community, existing models concentrate only on partial and isolated elements of these phenomena. In the line of Tomasello’s research, we argue that joint attention is much more than simultaneous looking because it implies a shared intentional relation to the world. This requires skills for attention detection, attention manipulation, social coordination and, most importantly, intentional understanding. After defining joint attention and its challenges, the current state-of-the-art of robotic and computational models relevant for this issue is discussed in relation to a developmental timeline drawn from results in child studies. From this survey, we identify open issues and challenges that still need to be addressed to understand the development of the various aspects of joint attention and conclude with the potential contribution of robotic models.
Semiotic symbols and the missing theory of thinking
Authors: Clowes Robert
Published: September 2007

This paper compares the nascent theory of the ‘semiotic symbol’ in cognitive science with its computational relative. It finds that the semiotic symbol as it is understood in recent practical and theoretical work does not have the resources to explain the role of symbols in cognition. In light of this argument, an alternative model of symbol internalisation, based on Vygotsky, is put forward which goes further in showing how symbols can go from playing intersubjective communicative roles to intrasubjective cognitive ones. Such a formalisation restores the symbol’s cognitive and communicative dimensions to their proper roles.
Korean and American Companies in Cyberspace
Authors: Park Dong-Jin , Berger Bruce K.
Published: September 2007

This study compares public relations models reflected in the Web sites of Korea’s 100 largest companies and 100 randomly selected Fortune 500 companies. The literature suggests that Korean public relations practices and models are more craft oriented, while those of U.S. companies may be more professionally oriented. However, this study of Web site menu items (information, function, activity) found few differences, and many similarities, between public relations models reflected in the Web sites of both groups of companies. Korean Web sites were more interactive and used multimedia approaches far more often than American Web sites, suggesting that new technologies may be spurring development of professional public relations practices in Korea.
Academic language and literacy socialization through project-based instruction
Authors: Beckett Gulbahar H.
Published: September 2007

Project-based instruction has been heralded as a most promising activity that can socialize students into academic language and literacy skills (e.g., Beckett, 1999; Stoller, 1997). However, there is scanty research on project-based instruction in general and fewer still on ESL students’ perceptions of it (Thomas, 2000); furthermore, the few available studies show conflicting results (see Beckett, 2002). This article reports the findings of part of a larger research study conducted to understand how secondary school immigrant ESL students were socialized (taught) to acquire academic language and literacy skills in a public school in Vancouver, Canada. The findings of the study confirm the findings of earlier studies that ESL learners actively construct meaning from project-based instruction, and that some clash exists between language policy, teacher perceptions, and ESL students’ perceptions of this activity. I conclude by taking the discussion of clashes between teachers and students beyond the current cultural model and by making recommendations for further research and practice.
Emerging English-speaking business discourses in Japan
Authors: Tanaka Hiromasa
Published: September 2007

Taking an ethnographic approach, this research investigates workplace interaction in English in a Japanese chemical company, a subsidiary of American multinational corporation. While previous research on business communication has focused on specific linguistic or rhetorical features, this study offers new insight through the incorporation of socio-economic, historical, and cultural elements in the analysis, and by taking a dynamic view of language, human beings and organisations. The researcher collaborated with the human resource manager of the participating corporation as a hired consultant in an intra-organisational communication development project. The data was collected through interviews, observations, and email exchanges. Initial analysis showed that the dominant Discourse in the company was based on western business values. Further analysis unveiled the changing nature of the Discourse as it is influenced by the local and American education systems, human resource ideologies, learners’ learning, and transformation business philosophies.
An analysis of the (u)-variation in the “Town Speech” of Lishui
Authors: Guo Jun
Published: September 2007

This sociolinguistic study focuses on a phonological variation of [u] in the “Town Speech” of Lishui County (Jiangsu Province, China) in the apparent-time paradigm with four age cohorts. The (u)-variation in the Town Speech of Lishui is a change-in-progress toward Putonghua and is unevenly distributed in the phonological and the lexical systems and across age cohorts. As a change-in-progress, it redistributes high-back vowels and glides in some word classes. While no Putonghua phonemes have been imported, the changes have been going through a series of approximations toward the phonological system of Putonghua. Consequently, the changes are transforming the Town Speech of Lishui into a localized Putonghua, or more precisely, a Putonghua-like dialect. It is an intermediate variety closer to the original local dialect than to Putonghua on a scale with Putonghua on one extreme and the dialect on the other.
Goading, ritual discord and the deflection of blame
Authors: Tolmie Jane
Published: September 2007

This article brings some of the discourses of contemporary frame analysis to bear on female incitement — often called goading or whetting (from hvetja ‘to whet’) — in feud structures within several well-known medieval Icelandic family sagas. Broadly speaking, female goading in saga literature is a form of dialogic exchange in which women urge men to perform particular tasks, often seemingly against their will. These tasks mainly revolve around blood-vengeance and legal action, the twin obsessions of saga literature; in neither area is it simple for saga women to participate officially or directly. The article’s approach is similar to Marcel Bax’s (2000) approach to moments of ritual discord in sixteenth-century Dutch plays in that it considers specific historical framing practices as forms of ritual language.
A retrospective on address in Portugal (1982–2002)
Authors: de Oliveira Sandi Michele
Published: September 2007

This article presents changes (1982–2002) in the way Portuguese speakers have attributed importance to individual address forms and to the factors important in their selection, as well as differences in pragmatic interpretation. While laypersons cite a lack of respect and generalized use of tu, the data (observations, interviews, questionnaires) contradict these statements. Over time, the number of factors cited as “most important” by significant numbers of informants has fallen, with “Respect” being the most important in 2002. In the same period the number of forms informants consider “very important” has increased. Power and Solidarity appear to be more closely tied to a particular type of interaction rather than to a fixed relationship between speakers. Two planes of interaction are presented, one loosely tied to Power, the other to Solidarity, along with a mechanism for demonstrating how one plane can become more salient than the other in communicative events.
“Clean and green — That’s the way we like it”
Authors: Teo Peter
Published: September 2007

This paper focuses on the discursive strategies used by the Singapore government to construct national identity and solidarity on the basis of a ‘clean and green’ environment. By analysing the slogans used in the Clean and Green Week campaign in terms of the use of pronouns and the pragmatic notion of ‘politeness’, the paper shows that the people of Singapore are not only persuaded to ‘buy’ the idea of environmentalism, but also to buy into the ideology of national identity and unity being derived (in part) from the proper management and conservation of Singapore’s scarce resources and limited physical space. The paper concludes with a discussion on how national campaigns such as the Clean and Green Week constitutes a form of political discourse, where public educational discourse becomes a veiled medium through which socio-political ideologies are produced and propagated. With the government treading the fine line between information and manipulation where ‘greening’ a country becomes a scaffolding for building a nation, a study like this offers interesting insights into the interplay between the language of politics and the politics of language.
Encouraging language diversity on the Internet using an intelligent URL search engine
Authors: Wong Shun Ha Sylvia , Beaumont Anthony J. , Konečný Michal
Published: September 2007

Recent research on sociolinguistics has shown that while the Internet is potentially a multilingual environment where users from different parts of the world can communicate and share information, the way that the Internet is structured makes access more difficult for users who are unfamiliar with the Roman alphabet. To promote language equality within Cyberspace and to encourage such people to use the Internet, a proposal for internationalised domain names (IDN) has been developed. We examine how far this and other proposals meet the needs of all types of Internet users. In the light of our findings, we describe an alternative approach which uses an intelligent URL search engine to enable users to access the Internet using their own language. We have tested our implemented prototype on a small sample of data. The results suggest that our approach provides a viable means of encouraging language diversity on the Internet by overcoming the language barrier posed by conventional Internet addresses.
Basilects in Creole Literatures: Examples from Sranan, Capeverdian Crioulo and Antillean Kréyol
Authors: Lang George
Published: September 2007

Language and dialect choice are frequently thematized in creole literature, notably in Alfred Parépou's 1885 Guianese novelAtipa. The concept of the basilect has accordingly played an important role in creole writing, critical thinking, and polemic. Given the assimilative pressure exerted by the superstrate, writers and critics often argue that the ideal creole literary dialect should be as divergent from it as possible. During the 1980s the P.A.I.C.V. government in Cape Verde tried to promote a revolutionary literature in what was described as the deep, original dialect of Crioulo, that of the hinterland of Santiago Island. Of particular interest were the agency of theInstitutu Kauberdianu di Livruin Praia and the intellectual work of Manuel Veiga, especially hisDikrison Strutural di Lingua Kabuverdianu. Around the same time, writers in Martinique, most prominently Raphaël Confiant, embraced the vision of a literary basilect ‘maximally deviant’ from standard French, which Jean Bernabé defined as a ‘nuclear creole.’ This article concludes with an extract from one of Confiant's novels in which ‘hyper-acrolectal’ French is humorously contrasted with the author's figuration of deep Kréyol.
Pragmatics, Pittsburgh style
Authors: Laurier Daniel
Published: September 2007

I give a rough outline of Brandom’s scorekeeping account of conceptual content. The account is meant to be phenomenalist, normativist, expressively complete and non-circular; the question is how and to what extent it succeeds in meeting these goals.
Categorization and technology innovation
Authors: Stibel Jeffrey M.
Published: September 2007

Theories on categorization have led to numerous technical innovations. Starting with artificial intelligence and neural models, scientists have leveraged psychological theories to drive forward innovative technology. More recently, software companies and Internet firms have implemented high technology software developed from cognitive theory. One class of systems rooted in the philosophical tradition stresses the importance of explanation and function. Another focuses on feature similarity and rule-based reasoning. Both approaches have had modest success and solve fundamental problems, but neither has achieved the higher-levels of categorization found in humans. The current paper critically analyzes the various theories of categorization and their collective impact on recent technology innovations.
Crime scene investigation as distributed cognition
Authors: Baber Chris , Smith Paul , Cross James , Hunter John E. , McMaster Richard
Published: September 2007

Crime scene investigation is a form of Distributed Cognition. The principal concept we explore in this paper is that of ‘resource for action’. It is proposed that crime scene investigation employs four primary resources-for-action: (a.) the environment, or scene itself, which affords particular forms of search and object retrieval; (b.) the retrieved objects, which afford translation into evidence; (c.) the procedures that guide investigation, which both constrain the search activity and also provide opportunity for additional activity; (d.) the narratives that different agents within the system produce to develop explanatory models and formal accounts of the crime. For each aspect of distributed cognition, we consider developments in technology that could support activity.
Experimental pragmatics
Authors: Garrett Merrill , Harnish Robert M.
Published: September 2007

Grice proposed to investigate ‘the total signification of the utterance’. One persistent criticism of Grice’s taxonomy of signification is that he missed an important category of information. This content, and/or the process of providing it, goes by a variety of labels: ‘generalized implicature’, ‘explicature’, ‘unarticulated constituents’, ‘default heuristics’, ‘impliciture’. In this study we first take a sample of such phenomena and, from the point of view of pure pragmatics, survey the central descriptions of the content expressed and the mechanisms that might deliver these contents. We then, from the point of view of experimental pragmatics, focus on two accounts: Levinson’s I-heuristic, and Bach’s standardization. We find experimental evidence for the existence of such implicitures, and for the use of language specific standardizations over language neutral background ­information.
Grammar writing for a grammar-reading audience
Authors: Noonan Michael
Published: September 2007

Thousands of languages are currently in danger of extinction without having been adequately documented by linguists. This fact represents a tragedy for communities in which endangered languages are spoken, for linguistics as a discipline and for all of humanity. One major role of the field of linguistics is to describe languages accurately and thoroughly for the benefit of all concerned. This paper presents the results of an informal survey of major users of grammatical descriptions and gives lists of dos and don’ts for those contemplating a descriptive study of one of the many endangered languages of the world. Concrete suggestions are provided that will help grammar writers produce user-friendly, thorough and useful grammatical descriptions.
A grammar as a communicative act
Authors: Payne Thomas E.
Published: September 2007

A descriptive grammar is a document that is intended to communicate important and complex patterns of knowledge within a speech community. Previous conceptions of linguistic grammars have emphasized a metaphor in which the internal grammar of a language is perceived as a “machine” that transforms thoughts into language structure. Written grammars were conceived as schematic representations of such machines. The present paper argues for a different metaphor. Because a grammar is primarily an act of communication, a good grammar possesses qualities known to hold of other communicative acts. The paper invokes recent work in linguistic pragmatics to help potential grammar writers conceptualize and present their work as an efficient and engaging act of communication.
Section I
Authors: Miller Christopher
Published: September 2007

Since the original Stokoe notation, many new variants and transcription systems have been proposed: currently, HamNoSys and Stokoe derivatives are most widespread. Sign language research is in real need of a standard of its own. Exchanging data in a standard notation should save authors the time and effort needed to produce photographs, drawings or video captures illustrating data and should allow researchers to present in an explicit form the aspects of the data that are truly relevant for their purposes. Since a notation extracts from the raw data what is of interest to the researcher, it is bound to reflect certain analytical assumptions and prejudices. To maximize a notation’s usefulness, a permanent process of discussion and revision is thus necessary. Particular issues that must be dealt with in designing a sign language notation system include the distinction “internal” vs. “external” descriptions, non-manuals and simultaneous use of two hands.
Encoding and capturing productive morphology
Authors: Brennan Mary
Published: September 2007

This article discusses the ways in which a multi-media database can facilitate the analysis of ‘the productive lexicon’ within signed language. The database can free us, at least to some extent, from over-reliance on glossing. Analysis of productive forms is dependent upon accurate identification of these forms and consistent categorization of the component morphemes. Relevant categories of morphemes may include classifiers, nonmanual morphemes, metaphors and vocational morphemes. While questions may be raised about the status of each of these categories, the database can allow us to analyse and re-categorize, thus allowing different types of patterning to emerge. This should ultimately allow us to recognize the most linguistically efficient form of categorization. It is also suggested here that visual motivation has a triggering effect on sign production. By marking the different types of visual motivation, we can chart their significance within the language.