bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nascent SecM chain interacts with outer ribosomal surface to stabilize translation arrest
Authors: Muta Mikihisa , Iizuka Ryo , Niwa Tatsuya , Guo Yuanfang , Taguchi Hideki , Funatsu Takashi
Published: January 2020

SecM, a bacterial secretion monitor protein, posttranscriptionally regulates downstream gene expression via translation elongation arrest. SecM contains a characteristic amino acid sequence called the arrest sequence at its C-terminus, and this sequence acts within the ribosomal exit tunnel to stop translation. It has been widely assumed that the arrest sequence within the ribosome tunnel is sufficient for translation arrest. We have previously shown that the nascent SecM chain outside the ribosomal exit tunnel stabilizes translation arrest, but the molecular mechanism is unknown. In this study, we found that residues 57–98 of the nascent SecM chain are responsible for stabilizing translation arrest. We performed alanine/serine-scanning mutagenesis of residues 57–98 to identify D79, Y80, W81, H84, R87, I90, R91, and F95 as the key residues responsible for stabilization. The residues were predicted to be located on and near an α-helix-forming segment. A striking feature of the α-helix is the presence of an arginine patch, which interacts with the negatively charged ribosomal surface. A photocross-linking experiment showed that Y80 is adjacent to the ribosomal protein L23, which is located next to the ribosomal exit tunnel when translation is arrested. Thus, the folded nascent SecM chain that emerges from the ribosome exit tunnel interacts with the outer surface of the ribosome to stabilize translation arrest.
Treating Deficits in Auditory Processing Abilities
Authors: Barker Matthew D. , Hicks Candace Bourland
Published: January 2020

Background

The relationship between auditory processing (AP) test results and reading has shown significant correlations in the literature; however, whether the relationship is more coincidental or more causal is uncertain. Improving AP deficits is also not well understood, especially regarding its impacts on real-world benefits such as with reading and language.

Purpose

This study investigates the efficacy of two deficit-specific AP therapy programs and compares them to a control therapy program on behavioral AP measures. It also investigates relationships between the improved AP skills and related real-world skills, particularly reading ability.

Method

From three school regions, 335 children were tested using the Feather Squadron Diagnostic Assessment AP test and, if qualified, given a deficit-specific AP therapy (either Insane Earplane or Zoo Caper Skyscraper) or placed in a control therapy group. After therapy, AP abilities were measured again and compared across groups. For one region, pre- and posttherapy reading abilities were also compared across groups.

Results

Both experimental therapies were significantly efficacious for the AP areas in which they claimed to target, whereas the control therapy group was not. One experimental therapy revealed significant improvement (
p <
.01) and the other approached significant improvement (
p
< .02) of the reading ability of the participants, whereas the control group did not.

Conclusions

The current study found significant improvements for both AP skills and real-world skills compared to the control group. This information provides evidence that bottom-up, deficit-specific therapy approaches are beneficial for the targeted areas and can have associated benefits as well. One of the schools in the study was a special school for children with known speech and language disorders. Of the children tested at this special speech and language school, 83% of them qualified for an AP deficit-specific therapy, indicating a very strong relationship between AP and speech/language difficulties.
Small Bodies: Near and Far Database for thermal infrared observations of small bodies in the Solar System
Authors: Szakáts Róbert , Müller Thomas , Alí-Lagoa Víctor , Marton Gábor , Farkas-Takács Anikó , Bányai Evelin , Kiss Csaba
Published: January 2020

In this paper, we present the Small Bodies: Near and Far Infrared Database, an easy-to-use tool intended to facilitate the modelling of thermal emission of small bodies of the Solar System. Our database collects measurements of thermal emissions for small Solar System targets that are otherwise available in scattered sources and provides a complete description of the data, including all information necessary to perform direct scientific analyses and without the need to access additional external resources. This public database contains representative data of asteroid observations of large surveys (e.g. AKARI, IRAS, and WISE) as well as a collection of small body observations of infrared space telescopes (e.g. the Herschel Space Observatory) and provides a web interface to access this data. We also provide an example for the direct application of the database and show how it can be used to estimate the thermal inertia of specific populations, e.g. asteroids within a given size range. We show how different scalings of thermal inertia with heliocentric distance (i.e. temperature) may affect our interpretation of the data and discuss why the widely-used radiative conductivity exponent (α = –3/4) might not be adequate in general, as suggested in previous studies.
A stellar census in globular clusters with MUSE
Authors: Husser Tim-Oliver , Latour Marilyn , Brinchmann Jarle , Dreizler Stefan , Giesers Benjamin , Göttgens Fabian , Kamann Sebastian , Roth Martin M. , Weilbacher Peter M. , Wendt Martin
Published: January 2020

Aims. We use the spectra of more than 30 000 red giant branch (RGB) stars in 25 globular clusters (GC), obtained within the MUSE survey of Galactic globular clusters, to calibrate the Ca II triplet metallicity relation and derive metallicities for all individual stars. We investigate the overall metallicity distributions as well as those of the different populations within each cluster.

Methods. The Ca II triplet in the near-infrared at 8498, 8542, and 8662 Å is visible in stars with spectral types between F and M and can be used to determine their metallicities. In this work, we calibrate the relation using average cluster metallicities from literature and MUSE spectra, and extend it below the horizontal branch – a cutoff that has traditionally been made to avoid a non-linear relation – using a quadratic function. In addition to the classic relation based on V − VHB, we also present calibrations based on absolute magnitude and luminosity. The obtained relations were used to calculate metallicities for all the stars in the sample and to derive metallicity distributions for different populations within a cluster, which have been separated using so-called “chromosome maps” based on HST photometry.

Results. We show that despite the relatively low spectral resolution of MUSE (R = 1900 − 3700) we can derive single star metallicities with a mean statistical intra-cluster uncertainty of ∼0.12 dex. We present metallicity distributions for the RGB stars in 25 GCs and investigate the different metallicities of the populations P3 (and higher) in so-called metal-complex or Type II clusters, finding metallicity variations in all of them. We also detected unexpected metallicity variations in the Type I cluster NGC 2808 and confirm the Type II status of NGC 7078.
Determination of backscattered neutrons/gammas from open beam port of a research reactor
Authors: Jazbec Anže , Kos Bor , Radulović Vladimir , Ambrožič Klemen , Snoj Luka
Published: January 2020

Neutron and gamma dose rate calculations were carried out around horizontal beam tube no. 5 at the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) TRIGA Mark II research reactor. Results were compared to the experimental measurements in order to verify the computation model. In addition, another set of calculations and measurements was carried out, where an additional shield made out of concrete and paraffin was installed. With that configuration, we were able to study neutron and gamma scattering.
QUANTOM® − Optimization of the online neutron flux measurement system
Authors: Schumann Olaf J. , Köble Theo , Havenith Andreas , Fu Bo , Coquard Laurent
Published: January 2020

For the final disposal of radioactive waste, the waste packages have to meet the acceptance requirements defined by national licensing and supervisory authorities. Nondestructive methods are very much preferred over destructive methods for the qualification or re-qualification. Existing nondestructive methods as integral or segmented gamma scanning or neutron counting only determine the isotope specific activity but do not allow quantifying other non-radioactive hazardous substances. These should have been documented during creation, conditioning, and packaging of the waste. But especially for legacy waste, this documentation is often poor or even missing. This gap is to be filled by the QUANTOM® measurement device that will determine the mass fraction of elements within a 200-l-drum using the Prompt- and Delayed- Gamma-Neutron-Activation-Analysis. In order to obtain a spatially resolved characterization, it will employ a segmented scanning approach. For the determination of the absolute mass fractions, the neutron flux inside the drum has to be known accurately. As the waste itself will alter the neutron distribution and flux, it is not possible to calculate the latter a priori from the gamma measurement. Hence the neutron flux has to be measured simultaneously with the gamma radiation. In this presentation, we will introduce the system for measuring the thermal neutron flux surrounding the waste drum from which the flux within the waste package has to be reconstructed. We performed a simulation study to score several possible detector placements for an improved reconstruction performance. We will show the outcome of these calculations and present the final design of the detector arrangement.
IAEA Nuclear Science and Instrumentation Laboratory: Support to IAEA Member States and Recent Developments
Authors: Foulon F. , Ben Abdelouahed H. , Bogovac M. , Charisopoulos S. , Matos M. , Migliori A. , Padilla-Alvarez R. , Pessoa Barradas N. , Ridikas D. , Simon A. , Skukan N. , Sladek P. , Swainson I.
Published: January 2020

As part of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Physics Section, the Nuclear Science and Instrumentation Laboratory (NSIL) helps Member States (MSs) to establish, operate and maintain various nuclear instrumentation and spectrometry techniques in support of a wide range of applications such as health care, food, agriculture, environment, forensics, cultural heritage, and materials science. NSIL is contributing to capacity building, transfer of knowledge and expertise sharing, including the development of instruments and validation of analytical methodologies. This paper describes NSIL's key activities and provides an overview of the recent developments and achievements, including the commissioning and utilization of an end-station at one of the beam lines in Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste (EST, Italy), the upgrade of an ultralight radiation monitoring system onboarded on a drone, as well as the development of a full field X-ray fluorescence analytical system for forensic applications and characterization of valuable art/archaeological objects.
Determination of thermophysical properties and density volume fractions of Al2O3/Y-ZrO2 layered composite materials using transient thermography and two-stage inverse nonlinear heat conduction analysis
Authors: Kooshki Sahar , Mandelis Andreas , Khodadad Mahmoud , Khosravifard Amir , Melnikov Alexander
Published: January 2020

In the present study, transient thermography, a nondestructive imaging technique, is applied to evaluate the transient temperature response in a graded medium without the use of embedded thermocouples. A layered composite sample was fabricated from Al2O3 and Y-ZrO2 powders using powder metallurgy (PM). This sample was irradiated on one side with a direct current laser while the transient temperature was measured along its depth by a midinfrared camera. Also, a MATLAB code based on the truly meshless radial point interpolation method (t-RPIM) was developed and implemented to solve the problem of quasilinear transient heat transfer in PM solids. In the t-RPIM formulation, the Cartesian transformation method and the Crank-Nicolson scheme were used for the evaluation of domain integrals and time discretization, respectively, thereby yielding a truly mesh-free technique. In the conducted experiment, the thermophysical properties were assumed to be independent of temperature because of the small amount of temperature increase. These properties and the volume fractions of the constituent powders were determined using a combination of the t-RPIM and the damped Gauss-Newton method in an inverse analysis. Good agreement was found between the measured temperature and the reconstructed temperature profile using the identified thermal parameters and volume fractions, thus validating the accuracy and ability of the applied t-RPIM as a tool in an inverse scheme to solve the inverse transient heat conduction problem in nonhomogeneous media.
Multilayer modeling of adoption dynamics in energy demand management
Authors: Iacopini Iacopo , Schäfer Benjamin , Arcaute Elsa , Beck Christian , Latora Vito
Published: January 2020

Due to the emergence of new technologies, the whole electricity system is undergoing transformations on a scale and pace never observed before. The decentralization of energy resources and the smart grid have forced utility services to rethink their relationships with customers. Demand response (DR) seeks to adjust the demand for power instead of adjusting the supply. However, DR business models rely on customer participation and can only be effective when large numbers of customers in close geographic vicinity, e.g., connected to the same transformer, opt in. Here, we introduce a model for the dynamics of service adoption on a two-layer multiplex network: the layer of social interactions among customers and the power-grid layer connecting the households. While the adoption process—based on peer-to-peer communication—runs on the social layer, the time-dependent recovery rate of the nodes depends on the states of their neighbors on the power-grid layer, making an infected node surrounded by infectious ones less keen to recover. Numerical simulations of the model on synthetic and real-world networks show that a strong local influence of the customers’ actions leads to a discontinuous transition where either none or all the nodes in the network are infected, depending on the infection rate and social pressure to adopt. We find that clusters of early adopters act as points of high local pressure, helping maintaining adopters, and facilitating the eventual adoption of all nodes. This suggests direct marketing strategies on how to efficiently establish and maintain new technologies such as DR schemes.
Study on instability of circular liquid jets at subcritical to supercritical conditions using dynamic mode decomposition
Authors: Ayyappan Dhanesh , S Ajith Kumar , Vaidyanathan Aravind , K Nandakumar
Published: January 2020

The thermodynamic and fluid-dynamic properties associated with the injectant jet significantly influence its fluid dynamic characteristics. In most of the earlier studies on the behavior of liquid jet at high pressure and supercritical environment, the liquid jet is often injected at subcritical initial temperature. In the present study, the effect of variation in the fluid and flow properties of the injecting jet on the nature of instabilities and mixing behavior is investigated. The fluid properties of the injected jet are varied by preheating. High-speed imaging techniques are used to capture the jet behavior. To gain further insight into the instability nature of the jet, linear instability analysis was performed. Dynamic mode decomposition analysis was applied to the obtained high-speed images to extract and understand the relevant dynamic features.
Electrokinetic transport of a non-conducting liquid droplet in a polyelectrolyte medium
Authors: Barman Sirsendu Sekhar , Bhattacharyya Somnath
Published: January 2020

A numerical study on the electrophoresis of a liquid droplet embedded in a polyelectrolyte hydrogel medium is made by considering the full set of governing equations based on the conservation principle. The surface of the droplet is considered to be charged, and the liquid filling the droplet is non-conducting. The dielectric polarization of the non-conducting droplet is also addressed in the present study. The impact of the surface conduction, double layer polarization, and relaxation effects on the electrophoresis of the non-conducting polarizable uniformly charged droplet is elucidated for a wide range of the gel volume charge density, Debye length, and drop viscosity and size. The presence of the gel immobile charge and slip velocity at the droplet surface leads to a stronger surface conduction, which precludes consideration of a simplified model based on the thin-layer assumption. Our numerical solutions at a low ζ—potential corresponding to a droplet of large viscosity, for which surface conduction is negligible—agree well with the existing analytic solutions for a rigid colloid. The strong electroosmotic flow driven by the immobile charges of the gel medium creates a negatively charged drop in the hydrogel medium to translate along the direction of the applied field. Entrapment of the charged drop can be made by regulating the Debye length and volume charge density of the gel. The charged gel medium is found to be efficient in size-based sorting of the liquid drops.
Sample extraction and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method development and validation for the quantitative detection of cyanobacterial hepatotoxins and neurotoxins in Singapore's reservoirs
Authors: Abbas Feras , Porojan Cristina , Mowe Maxine A. D. , Lehane Mary , Mitrovic Simon M. , Lim Richard P. , Yeo Darren C. J. , Furey Ambrose
Published: January 2020

Cyanobacterial blue–green algal toxins are produced by harmful algal blooms (HABs). Most species of phytoplankton are not harmful, but excessive amounts of certain HAB taxa can cause harm to human and animal health, aquatic ecosystems and local economies. To investigate the prevalence of cylindrospermopsin (CYN) and anatoxin-a (ANA) in Singapore’s reservoirs, a hazard analysis was initiated to profile the CYN and ANA levels present. Water samples from 17 reservoirs were monitored monthly over a 12-month period (November 2012–October 2013). Analyses were conducted by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) using a triple-stage quadrupole mass spectrometer with a turbo-assisted ion spray source. CYN was more prevalent than ANA. Intracellular CYN concentrations exceeded 0.4μgL–1 in 6 of 17 man-made reservoirs surveyed, and slightly exceeded the provisional CYN drinking water guidelines of 1μgL–1 (National Health and Medical Research Council and National Resource Management Ministerial Council 2011) on one occasion (1.1μgL–1, July 2013) in one reservoir. The dominant cyanobacteria genera during that period were Cylindrospermopsis, Planktolyngbya, Pseudanabaena and Microcystis. For ANA, all 17 reservoirs had concentrations below 0.1μgL–1. Based on random forest analysis, the most important environmental factors affecting CYN concentrations were total nitrogen (most important), nitrate, total phosphorus and Cylindrospermopsis counts (least important). The findings of this study indicate that reducing total nitrogen concentrations may be useful in minimising CYN concentrations in tropical reservoirs.
Effect of stingray (Hemitrygon akajei) foraging on a ghost shrimp population (Nihonotrypaea harmandi) on an intertidal sandflat, western Kyushu, Japan
Authors: Tamaki Akio , Harada Kazuyuki , Sogawa Yoshinobu , Takeuchi Seiji
Published: January 2020

Callianassid shrimp residing in deep burrows have large bioturbating effects on marine soft-bottom communities. A few predators that excavate deep pits could have substantial effects on shrimp populations, as well as knock-on effects. Processes and consequences of such effects on shrimp populations are poorly understood. On a 300-m-wide intertidal sandflat area between tide marks in western Kyushu between 1989 and 1994, shrimp population densities were stable, reaching >1300individualsm–2. Dasyatid stingray feeding pits reaching depths up to 20cm occurred abruptly in large numbers in 1994, after which shrimp densities decreased yearly to hundreds of individuals per square metre in 2001. The densities of ray feeding pits formed per day were monitored every or every other spring tide between 2000 and 2001. Schools of rays were enclosed during submerged times and their body sizes recorded alive to determine size-frequency distribution. The body-size frequency distributions of shrimp were compared among the gut contents of several rays, ray feeding pits and intact sandflat. Reductions in the shrimp density per ray feeding bout compared with the density on the intact sandflat were recorded. A model of daily predation at different seasonal rates was used to simulate the yearly change in shrimp density. The result was consistent with the actual change.
Insights into a new paradigm in translation
Authors: Aksoy Nüzhet Berrin
Published: January 2020

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the reflection and recreation of the physical landscape in
literary texts and in their translations; to explore in what ways nature is represented and, secondly, to discuss aspects of this
process in the light of the translational norms proposed by Toury. The focus is the idea that language and culture, the core of
literature, are to be transferred to other linguistic and cultural mediums during translation, and constitute the ecological
environment of the text. This undertaking assigns to the translator the task of selecting, adapting and recreating this material
in the foreign environment. An ecocritical approach will be adopted to explore how and how far this task is materialized by
studying a Turkish author Yaşar Kemal’s novel Ortadirek translated as The Wind from the Plain.
Yaşar Kemal is regarded as the most ecologically-minded author of Turkish literature and his novels portray nature as the mental
landscapes of man, a force under which the constituents of the text are recreated at every linguistic and culture-bound effort of
the author. Hence, the main endeavour of this study will be to bring to the surface, with an eco-critical approach, the
translational preferences of the translator of Ortadirek and their significance in the recreation of Kemal’s
ecological vision in the translation.
The New Spanishes in the context of contact linguistics
Authors: Winford Donald
Published: January 2020

Weinreich
(1953) argued that a comprehensive model of language
contact must integrate linguistic, sociolinguistic and
psycholinguistic approaches. This paper discusses how such a model
can be applied to the contact languages that arose in the Spanish
colonies as a result of contact between Spanish and various other
languages. These contact languages include close approximations to
Peninsular Spanish, Afro-Hispanic varieties, “indigenized” varieties
and of course creoles. I argue that all these contact varieties
should be amenable to description and analysis within the same
framework. To this end, I discuss the ways in which Weinreich’s
model of an integrated approach can be linked to a naturalistic
second language acquisition (NSLA) account of the formation of the
contact varieties of Spanish.
Chocó Spanish
Authors: Sessarego Sandro
Published: January 2020

This paper presents sociohistorical and
linguistic data to cast light on the origin and nature of Chocó
Spanish (CS), an Afro-Hispanic dialect spoken in the Pacific
lowlands of Colombia. This research suggests that neither the
Decreolization Hypothesis (Granda, 1977; Schwegler, 1991a, 1991b) nor the Afrogenesis Hypothesis (McWhorter, 2000) can
account for the phenomena encountered in contemporary CS.
Conversely, the present study indicates that the grammatical
elements found in this dialect may be better analyzed as the result
of advanced second language acquisition strategies, which were
conventionalized at the community level in a sociohistorical context
in which black captives had relatively good access to the colonial
language.
Social change and /s/ variation in Concepción, Chile and Lima,
Peru
Authors: Rogers Brandon M.A. , Klee Carol A.
Published: January 2020

This study compares /s/ variation in the Spanish
of Concepción, Chile, and Lima, Peru in the context of sociolectal
and dialect contact. Results for the Chilean data stand in stark
contrast to previous studies in Chile, revealing an overwhelming
tendency for elision in all social groups and providing support for
the hypothesis that in Chile sociolectal leveling is occurring. In
contrast, in Lima, where Andean migrants encounter overt
discrimination and where virtually exclusive use of [s] indexes
Andean speech, there is an increase in /s/ weakening across the
second and third generations of migrants, whose production
approximates coastal norms. Thus, in contrast to Chile, /s/
reduction in Lima continues to serve as a marker of dialectally and
sociolectally salient differences.
First person singular subject expression in Caribbean heritage
speaker Spanish oral production
Authors: de Prada Pérez Ana
Published: January 2020

Research on contact effects on subject pronoun
expression in the U.S. has largely focused on Spanish in the U.S.
Southwest and New York City (NYC). The conflicting results reported
in this literature could be due to the differences in the
distribution of varieties in these U.S. regions. To test this
hypothesis, this paper offers a variationist analysis of first
person singular (1sg) data from eleven Caribbean heritage
speakers (HS) divided into two proficiency groups and who were
raised in Florida, where the distribution of varieties is similar to
that in NYC. Results are consistent with a lack of contact effects
in the higher proficiency group, while contact effects are attested
in the lower proficiency group.
Use of the Present Perfect Indicative in New York Dominican
Spanish
Authors: Corbett Cecily , Reyes Juanita , Sayahi Lotfi
Published: January 2020

Several studies have examined the functional
distribution of the Present Perfect (PP) in Peninsular and Latin
American Spanish. This study contributes to this line of research
through examination of the morphology and function of PP in New York
Dominican Spanish. The objective is to examine the degrees of
diffusion and frequency of use of this tense in the speech of
bilingual speakers. We also examine the functions of all PP
occurrences in interviews with 23 speakers and explore any
innovative uses. Results show that the majority of participants use
PP especially for events that occurred in the indefinite past or
continue to have current relevance, which is the normative context
in which PP is used (Comrie,
1976).
Portuguese-Spanish contacts in Misiones, Argentina
Authors: Lipski John M.
Published: January 2020

The present study reports on spontaneous
Portuguese-Spanish mixing as produced by L2 and balanced bilinguals
in various communities along the Brazilian border, as well as three
interactive tasks conducted with fluent bilinguals in Misiones
province, Argentina. Taken together the results reveal a residue of
permeable but grammatically-grounded constraints even between
morphosyntactically and lexically cognate sibling languages and
among individuals who do not routinely code-switch. These
constraints are more robustly maintained among fluent bilinguals but
are sometimes contravened by L2 speakers. The data also demonstrate
that code-switching does not emerge automatically in bilingual
settings involving highly congruent languages.
Real perception or perceptive accommodation?
Authors: Ortiz López Luis A. , Martínez Pedraza Cristina
Published: January 2020

Dominicans in Puerto Rico have opted for closed
spaces due to their social marginalization. Nonetheless, their
interactions with Puerto Ricans has facilitated a Domini-Rican
continuum. This research examines speech data, to compare dialect
recognition and linguistic perceptions of Puerto Ricans toward the
varieties in this continuum. During a verbal-guise task, 24 Puerto
Ricans listened to five stimuli of the Domini-Rican continuum and
answered items about extralinguistic variables: nationality, social
class, educational level, intelligence and speech affability.
Results support that linguistic production (i) allows individuals to
distinguish dialects and (ii) facilitates the acceptance criteria of
immigrants and their descendants. The data suggests that perceptions
and attitudes are correlated with the characteristics of both
stimuli and participants, mainly the perception of nationality.
Andean Spanish and Provinciano identity
Authors: Salcedo Arnaiz Daniela
Published: January 2020

The present perception study provides an
approach to the language attitudes and ideologies that both Limeños
and Andean migrants have towards a selection of (stigmatized)
morphosyntactic features from Andean Spanish, in order to propose a
definition for Provinciano identity. I collected
data using a Matched-Guise task. The findings show that people
perceive Andean Spanish as an ‘incorrect’ Spanish spoken mostly by
Andean migrants, which allegedly share stereotypical characteristics
such as a low level of education, indigenous race and poverty. Both
the relevant literature and my fieldwork research indicate that
(Andean) identity is undeniably conditioned by location, ethnicity,
level of education, and race, as well as all the processes,
relationships and social interactions that take place in Lima.
On the effects of Catalan contact in the variable expression of
Spanish future tense
Authors: Enrique-Arias Andrés , Guerrero Beatriz Méndez
Published: January 2020

This paper aims to test the influence of
Catalan-Spanish bilingualism in the variable distribution of the
morphological future (MF) cantaré and the
periphrastic variant (PF) voy a cantar in Spanish.
As Catalan does not have a PF, it has been suggested that in the
areas where Spanish coexists with Catalan the MF is relatively more
used. A contrastive study of a bilingual community (Palma de
Mallorca) and a Spanish monolingual one (Alcalá de Henares) confirms
this hypothesis: the frequency of use of the MF among bilinguals is
double what it is in a non-contact setting. At the same time,
however, the two speech communities yield similar results in regard
to the semantic values associated to each of the forms.
The emergence and routinization of complex
syntactic patterns formed with
ajatella ‘think’ and
tietää ‘know’ in Finnish
talk-in-interaction
Authors: Laury Ritva , Helasvuo Marja-Liisa
Published: January 2020

Our paper concerns two Finnish cognitive
verbs, ajatella ‘think’, and
tietää ‘know’. We show that both
verbs are most likely to occur in the first person
singular form but behave differently with respect to
polarity: tietää occurs most
commonly in the negated form (56%), while
ajatella is only rarely negated
(less than 4%). The verbs also differ with respect
to their sequential emergence and complementation,
with tietää ‘to know’ occurring
nearly half of the time in responsive position and
without complements. Each of the most common formats
of the verbs builds or projects a specific social
action. The patterns of clause combining, in this
case, complementation or lack of it, are closely
connected to the locally contingent employment of
action.
The insubordinate – subordinate continuum
Authors: Maschler Yael
Published: January 2020

This chapter examines the continuum
stretching between Hebrew syntactically integrated
and unintegrated (‘insubordinate’)
she-‘that/which/who’-clauses
produced following final/continuing intonation
contours in naturally-occurring interaction. Leaving
aside modal insubordinate
she-clauses, I show that in all of
these cases she- ties back to an
immediately prior stretch of interaction – verbal
and/or embodied – and projects an elaboration or
evaluation of it, without much concern about which
particular type of complex construction – relative,
complement, or adverbial (if any) – is being
created. The data suggest that rather than viewing
insubordinate clauses as imperfect realizations of
the canonical ‘subordinate’ variety resulting from
the disintegration of complex syntactic patterns,
canonical, syntactically integrated varieties of
Hebrew relative, complement, and adverbial clauses
may be regarded as grammaticizations from
syntactically less integrated varieties.
Emergent patterns of predicative clauses in spoken
Hebrew discourse
Authors: Polak-Yitzhaki Hilla
Published: January 2020

This study focuses on the Hebrew
construction ha'emet (hi) she- ‘the
truth (is) that’ in a corpus of informal audio and
video conversation. Taking an interactional
linguistics approach, I argue that the construction
serves as a metalingual fragment constituting a
projecting construction. Its employment is fixed and
formulaic, it occurs at a moment of shift in the
discourse and is used to project talk which does
three kinds of social work: displaying the speaker’s
stance; setting the record straight regarding the
speaker’s personal world; and revealing delicate
information. Each function emerges in a
context-sensitive manner, revealing the relationship
between the construction and its sequential
position. Employment of the construction illustrates
the ways grammar evolves from the interactions among
conversational participants.
From matrix clause to turn expansion
Authors: Wang Wei , Tao Hongyin
Published: January 2020

One way complex clauses manifest themselves
is through a combination of a matrix clause and a
complement clause. However, matrix clauses as
represented by constructions such as I
think have been widely reported to
undergo grammaticization, whereby they become a
marker indicating the speaker’s epistemic stance.
This has also been identified for Mandarin Chinese.
In this chapter, however, we report that wo
juede ‘I feel/think’ in Mandarin has
developed a conversation interactional function that
extends turns-at-talk – a phenomenon that has not
yet received much attention in the Chinese
literature on talk in interaction. By providing an
account for the link between the
epistemic/evaluative uses and the turn-expansion
function of the erstwhile matrix clause, this paper
brings in an extended, interactional dimension to
the study of clause-combining.
Consecutive clause combinations in instructing
activities
Authors: Lindström Jan , Lindholm Camilla , Grahn Inga-Lill , Huhtamäki Martina
Published: January 2020

This chapter investigates the formatting of
instructions in physical training with personal
trainers or physiotherapists. Instructions occur in
multimodal activities where invitations to action,
compliances with them, and accounts for them emerge
through grammatical, prosodic and embodied
resources. We identified a two-part pattern
[directive & account] that accomplishes a
complex structural and pragmatic unit in trainers’
instructions. The instructions are grammatically
formed of consecutive clause combinations in which
the directive part is a declarative or an
imperative. These combinations emerge in interactive
sequences and are a designed, rather than a
contingent feature in the making of instructions.
Nevertheless, there is variation in their sequential
emergence and grammatical and prosodic composition,
from tight packages to projected or expanded
clause/action combinations.
The assessment of signed languages
Authors: Herman Ros , Grove Nicola , Haug Tobias , Mann Wolfgang , Prinz Philip
Published: January 2020

Despite the large number of assessments available to measure spoken language acquisition, until relatively recently no assessments were available that could be used to evaluate deaf children’s sign language acquisition. This is despite the fact that sign language has been used with deaf children in educational contexts for many years, and that deaf children are widely acknowledged to be at risk for language development. However, development of sign language assessments presents unique methodological challenges, due to factors such as our relatively limited knowledge of language acquisition in sign, and also to the nature and size of the Deaf community – the latter presenting specific challenges when standardising measures. This chapter will present two current areas of research related to sign language assessment, drawing on expertise from the UK, USA and Germany.
Evaluation of Safety Management and Leadership Training Using Mobile Technologies among Logging Supervisors
Authors: Berumen-Flucker  , Rodriguez  , Cienega  , Casanova  , Pompeii  , Gimeno Ruiz de Porras  , Douphrate
Published: January 2020

Background: Logging is recognized as one of the most dangerous industries in the United States (US), ranking among those with the highest occupational injury and fatality rates. Although logging operations in the Southeastern US have lower rates of injuries and fatalities compared
to other regions of the US, due in part to the use of large machinery to fell timber as opposed to chainsaw felling, safety hazards continue to persist. The hazards present in the logging cut sites in which loggers operate may result in worker injury, illness, or fatality. Our objective was
to develop, deliver, and evaluate a safety management and leadership training among logging contractors and supervisors using mobile tablets as a personal learning environment.Methods: A safety leadership and management training vignette was developed based on previously collected
focus group needs assessment data. A non-random sample of 31 male logging supervisors received the safety leadership and management training on a mobile tablet. Kirkpatrick Levels 1, 2, and 3 training effectiveness evaluations were performed.Results: A statistically significant
large effect size suggests safety knowledge was gained among training participants when comparing post-test scores to pre-test scores (Level-2). Participants rated their training experience favorably (Level-1), and applied knowledge gained from the training throughout their weekly work activities
three months after training (Level-3).Conclusion: Our findings suggest the utilization of mobile learning techniques can be an effective means to deliver safety management and leadership training content to logging contractors and supervisors. Future trainings should be linguistically
and literacy-level appropriate, as well as comprehensive in nature, including meaningful and relevant content. Our observations support the use of mobile devices as just one component of a more comprehensive health and safety management program for workers in the logging industry.
Work-Related Musculoskeletal Symptoms among Loggers in the Ark-La-Tex Region
Authors: Rodriguez  , Casanova  , Levin  , Gimeno Ruiz de Porras  , Douphrate
Published: January 2020

Background: The U.S. logging sector is among the most dangerous industrial sectors, with high fatality and non-fatal injury rates. Limited research has addressed work-related musculoskeletal disorders among logging machine operators (LMOs). The purpose of this study was to estimate
the 12-month prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and the associated work-related risk factors among LMOs in the Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas (Ark-La-Tex) logging region.Methods: A self-administered 93-item questionnaire with six different sections: (1) demographics, (2) lifestyle
and medical background, (3) work experience, (4) job training, (5) occupational heat-related stress, and (6) occupational injuries and MSS was administered to LMOs (n = 88) using Qualtrics Mobile Survey Software®. Poisson regression models were used to estimate crude prevalence
ratios (PR), adjusted PR [aPR], and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).Results: Regarding organizational, ergonomic, and handling equipment occupational factors and 12-month MSS prevalence, the adjusted model controlled for age, BMI, smoking status, and drinking status.
For organizational, the most problematic factors for the lower back were performing a task over and over (63.2%) and working very fast, for short periods (60.0%). For ergonomics, the most problematic factor for the lower extremities was awkward or cramped conditions (58.1%) and for the lower
back was bending/twisting back awkward (55.9%). Last, for handling equipment, the most problematic for both the lower back and lower extremities was handling or grasping small objects (57.1%).Conclusion: Our findings revealed associations between work-related MSS and specific job
factors (e.g., organizational, ergonomic, handling equipment, etc.), extreme environmental conditions or environmental, and personal risk factors. In particular, study findings suggest lower back and lower extremities MSS are associated with the a majority of job-related risk factors, lower
extremities with extreme environmental conditions, and neck and upper back with personal risk factors.
Spin–orbit coupling in the presence of strong atomic correlations
Authors: Usui Ayaka , Fogarty Thomás , Campbell Steve , Gardiner Simon A , Busch Thomas
Published: January 2020

We explore the influence of contact interactions on a synthetically spin–orbit coupled system of two ultracold trapped atoms. Even though the system we consider is bosonic, we show that a regime exists in which the competition between the contact and spin–orbit interactions results in the emergence of a ground state that contains a significant contribution from the anti-symmetric spin state. This ground state is unique to few-particle systems and does not exist in the mean-field regime. The transition to this state is signalled by an inversion in the average momentum from being dominated by centre-of-mass momentum to relative momentum and also affects the global entanglement shared between the real- and pseudo-spin spaces. Indeed, competition between the interactions can also result in avoided crossings in the ground state which further enhances these correlations. However, we find that correlations shared between the pseudo-spin states are strongly depressed due to the spin–orbit coupling and therefore the system does not contain spin–spin entanglement.
The Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous Radiofrequency After Liposuction: A New Application for Face and Neck Skin Tightening
Authors: Han Xuefeng , Yang Mingxia , Yin Bo , Cai Lei , Jin Shaodong , Zhang Xinyu , Li Facheng
Published: January 2020

Background

Minimally invasive or noninvasive skin-tightening procedures have become trends in facial and neck rejuvenation. Radiofrequency-assisted liposuction (RFAL) is a new choice for the treatment of skin relaxation that is more effective than noninvasive surgery without surgical incision.

Objectives

The authors recommend a 2-step method in which radiofrequency is applied after appropriate liposuction is performed. This approach is safer and more effective than traditional RFAL, and the authors detail the safety guidelines, operative techniques, postoperative satisfaction results, and complications.

Methods

A total of 227 patients with lower face and neck skin laxity underwent RFAL between April 2012 and June 2019. The following data were collected: age, body mass index, operative duration, volume of fat aspirated, amount of energy delivered, and number and type of complications. Patient satisfaction was surveyed postoperatively and assessed by third-party surgeons at 3 and 6 months.

Results

At 6 months after operation, 78.8% of patients considered the results moderate to excellent, whereas 21.2% of the patients considered the results to be poor or thought there was no change. The photograph evaluation performed by independent plastic surgeons showed moderate to excellent results in 89.1% of patients. There were no major complications that required further medical or surgical intervention.

Conclusions

This 2-step method is a safe and effective improvement in the application of radiofrequency for face and neck skin tightening. Patients can achieve significant contour correction via minimally invasive surgery with a lower risk of side effects.

Level of Evidence: 4
Siân Prosser: RAS Librarian and Archivist
Authors: Johnson Paul
Published: January 2020

The RAS's collection of historical books and artefacts will be key to the Society's bicentenary – the woman in charge of them has a busy year ahead. Interview by Paul Johnson.
pyBedGraph: a python package for fast operations on 1D genomic signal tracks
Authors: Zhang Henry B , Kim Minji , Chuang Jeffrey H , Ruan Yijun
Published: January 2020

Motivation

Modern genomic research is driven by next-generation sequencing experiments such as ChIP-seq and ChIA-PET that generate coverage files for transcription factor binding, as well as DHS and ATAC-seq that yield coverage files for chromatin accessibility. Such files are in a bedGraph text format or a bigWig binary format. Obtaining summary statistics in a given region is a fundamental task in analyzing protein binding intensity or chromatin accessibility. However, the existing Python package for operating on coverage files is not optimized for speed.

Results

We developed pyBedGraph, a Python package to quickly obtain summary statistics for a given interval in a bedGraph or a bigWig file. When tested on 12 ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, RNA-seq and ChIA-PET datasets, pyBedGraph is on average 260 times faster than the existing program pyBigWig. On average, pyBedGraph can look up the exact mean signal of 1 million regions in ∼0.26 s and can compute their approximate means in <0.12 s on a conventional laptop.

Availability and implementation

pyBedGraph is publicly available at https://github.com/TheJacksonLaboratory/pyBedGraph under the MIT license.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity in circadian rhythms in an armed beetle, Gnatocerus cornutus (Tenebrionidae)
Authors: Matsumura Kentarou , Abe Masato S , Sharma Manmohan D , Hosken David J , Yoshii Taishi , Miyatake Takahisa
Published: January 2020

Circadian rhythms, their free-running periods and the power of the rhythms are often used as indicators of biological clocks, and there is evidence that the free-running periods of circadian rhythms are not affected by environmental factors, such as temperature. However, there are few studies of environmental effects on the power of the rhythms, and it is not clear whether temperature compensation is universal. Additionally, genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity in biological clocks are important for understanding the evolution of biological rhythms, but genetic and plastic effects are rarely investigated. Here, we used 18 isofemale lines (genotypes) of Gnatocerus cornutus to assess rhythms of locomotor activity, while also testing for temperature effects. We found that total activity and the power of the circadian rhythm were affected by interactions between sex and genotype or between sex, genotype and temperature. The males tended to be more active and showed greater increases in activity, but this effect varied across both genotypes and temperatures. The period of activity varied only by genotype and was thus independent of temperature. The complicated genotype–sex–environment interactions we recorded stress the importance of investigating circadian activity in more integrated ways.