bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multi-channel lock-in amplifier assisted femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence non-collinear optical parametric amplification spectroscopy with efficient rejection of superfluorescence background
Authors: Mao Pengcheng , Wang Zhuan , Dang Wei , Weng Yuxiang
Published: December 2015

Superfluorescence appears as an intense background in femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence noncollinear optical parametric amplification spectroscopy, which severely interferes the reliable acquisition of the time-resolved fluorescence spectra especially for an optically dilute sample. Superfluorescence originates from the optical amplification of the vacuum quantum noise, which would be inevitably concomitant with the amplified fluorescence photons during the optical parametric amplification process. Here, we report the development of a femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence non-collinear optical parametric amplification spectrometer assisted with a 32-channel lock-in amplifier for efficient rejection of the superfluorescence background. With this spectrometer, the superfluorescence background signal can be significantly reduced to 1/300–1/100 when the seeding fluorescence is modulated. An integrated 32-bundle optical fiber is used as a linear array light receiver connected to 32 photodiodes in one-to-one mode, and the photodiodes are further coupled to a home-built 32-channel synchronous digital lock-in amplifier. As an implementation, time-resolved fluorescence spectra for rhodamine 6G dye in ethanol solution at an optically dilute concentration of 10−5M excited at 510 nm with an excitation intensity of 70 nJ/pulse have been successfully recorded, and the detection limit at a pump intensity of 60 μJ/pulse was determined as about 13 photons/pulse. Concentration dependent redshift starting at 30 ps after the excitation in time-resolved fluorescence spectra of this dye has also been observed, which can be attributed to the formation of the excimer at a higher concentration, while the blueshift in the earlier time within 10 ps is attributed to the solvation process.
Effects of local field and inherent strain in reflectance anisotropy spectra of AIIIBV semiconductors with naturally oxidized surfaces
Authors: Berkovits V. L. , Kosobukin V. A. , Gordeeva A. B.
Published: December 2015

Reflectance anisotropy (RA) spectra of naturally oxidized (001) surfaces of GaAs and InAs crystals are measured for photon energies from 1.5 up to 5.5 eV. The differential high-accuracy RA spectra reveal features substantially different from those caused by either a reconstruction of clean surface or a built-in near-surface electric field. Models of atomic structure with anisotropic transition layers of excess arsenic atoms specific for GaAs(001)/oxide and InAs(001)/oxide interfaces are proposed. In conformity with these models, a general theory of reflectance anisotropy is developed for semiconductor/oxide interfaces within the Green's function technique. The theory takes into account the combined effect of local field due to interface dipoles and of intrinsic near-surface strain of the crystal. Measured RA spectra are analyzed in the model of valence-bond dipoles occupying a rectangular lattice in a multilayer medium. Comparing the measured and calculated spectra, we conclude that RA spectra of oxidized GaAs(001) and InAs(001) surfaces are simultaneously influenced by interface and near-surface anisotropies. The former is responsible for the broad-band spectral features which are associated with polarizability of the valence bonds attached to As atoms at the crystal/oxide interface. The near-surface anisotropy is due to inherent uniaxial straining the near-surface region of crystal. The effect of strain on RA spectra is experimentally and theoretically substantiated for GaAs crystal wafers undergone a uniaxial applied stress. Basically, this work results in the following. It establishes the physical nature of different levels of RA spectra observed in a majority of papers, but never analyzed. It demonstrates how the studied features of RA spectra could be applied for optical characterization of strained interfaces and atomic layers.
A microfluidic platform for size-dependent generation of droplet interface bilayer networks on rails
Authors: Carreras P. , Elani Y. , Law R. V. , Brooks N. J. , Seddon J. M. , Ces O.
Published: December 2015

Droplet interface bilayer (DIB) networks are emerging as a cornerstone technology for the bottom up construction of cell-like and tissue-like structures and bio-devices. They are an exciting and versatile model-membrane platform, seeing increasing use in the disciplines of synthetic biology, chemical biology, and membrane biophysics. DIBs are formed when lipid-coated water-in-oil droplets are brought together—oil is excluded from the interface, resulting in a bilayer. Perhaps the greatest feature of the DIB platform is the ability to generate bilayer networks by connecting multiple droplets together, which can in turn be used in applications ranging from tissue mimics, multicellular models, and bio-devices. For such applications, the construction and release of DIB networks of defined size and composition on-demand is crucial. We have developed a droplet-based microfluidic method for the generation of different sized DIB networks (300–1500 pl droplets) on-chip. We do this by employing a droplet-on-rails strategy where droplets are guided down designated paths of a chip with the aid of microfabricated grooves or “rails,” and droplets of set sizes are selectively directed to specific rails using auxiliary flows. In this way we can uniquely produce parallel bilayer networks of defined sizes. By trapping several droplets in a rail, extended DIB networks containing up to 20 sequential bilayers could be constructed. The trapped DIB arrays can be composed of different lipid types and can be released on-demand and regenerated within seconds. We show that chemical signals can be propagated across the bio-network by transplanting enzymatic reaction cascades for inter-droplet communication.
Measurements of DNA barcode label separations in nanochannels from time-series data
Authors: Sheats Julian , Reifenberger Jeffrey G. , Cao Han , Dorfman Kevin D.
Published: December 2015

We analyzed time-series data for fluctuations of intramolecular segments of barcoded E. coli genomic DNA molecules confined in nanochannels with sizes near the persistence length of DNA. These dynamic data allowed us to measure the probability distribution governing the distance between labels on the DNA backbone, which is a key input into the alignment methods used for genome mapping in nanochannels. Importantly, this dynamic method does not require alignment of the barcode to the reference genome, thereby removing a source of potential systematic error in a previous study of this type. The results thus obtained support previous evidence for a left-skewed probability density for the distance between labels, albeit at a lower magnitude of skewness. We further show that the majority of large fluctuations between labels are short-lived events, which sheds further light upon the success of the linearized DNA genome mapping technique. This time-resolved data analysis will improve existing genome map alignment algorithms, and the overall idea of using dynamic data could potentially improve the accuracy of genome mapping, especially for complex heterogeneous samples such as cancer cells.
Parallel database search and prime factorization with magnonic holographic memory devices
Authors: Khitun Alexander
Published: December 2015

In this work, we describe the capabilities of Magnonic Holographic Memory (MHM) for parallel database search and prime factorization. MHM is a type of holographic device, which utilizes spin waves for data transfer and processing. Its operation is based on the correlation between the phases and the amplitudes of the input spin waves and the output inductive voltage. The input of MHM is provided by the phased array of spin wave generating elements allowing the producing of phase patterns of an arbitrary form. The latter makes it possible to code logic states into the phases of propagating waves and exploit wave superposition for parallel data processing. We present the results of numerical modeling illustrating parallel database search and prime factorization. The results of numerical simulations on the database search are in agreement with the available experimental data. The use of classical wave interference may results in a significant speedup over the conventional digital logic circuits in special task data processing (e.g., √n in database search). Potentially, magnonic holographic devices can be implemented as complementary logic units to digital processors. Physical limitations and technological constrains of the spin wave approach are also discussed.
Large magnetocaloric effect in hexagonal Yb1−xHoxMnO3
Authors: Sattibabu Bhumireddi , Bhatnagar A. K. , Vinod K. , Mani Awadhesh , Das D.
Published: December 2015

Magnetocaloric properties of polycrystalline hexagonal Yb1−xHoxMnO3 (x = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3) compounds are studied through magnetization measurements. Temperature dependence of Zero Field Cooled magnetic moment measurements shows Néel temperature (TN1) of ∼83 K, corresponding to the Mn3+ antiferromagnetic ordering. At low temperatures (TN2 ∼ 5 K), all compounds show ferromagnetic ordering due to alignment of the Yb moments and the field induced magnetic transition is observed in the isothermal magnetization measurements. The maximum entropy change |ΔSMmax| and the relative cooling power (RCP) of Yb1−xHoxMnO3 are 3.75 ± 0.78 J/(mol K) and 90.0 ± 27 J/mol for x = 0.3 at ΔH = 100 kOe. Values of both |ΔSMmax| and RCP found to increase with increasing Ho content.
An efficient matrix product operator representation of the quantum chemical Hamiltonian
Authors: Keller Sebastian , Dolfi Michele , Troyer Matthias , Reiher Markus
Published: December 2015

We describe how to efficiently construct the quantum chemical Hamiltonian operator in matrix product form. We present its implementation as a density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm for quantum chemical applications. Existing implementations of DMRG for quantum chemistry are based on the traditional formulation of the method, which was developed from the point of view of Hilbert space decimation and attained higher performance compared to straightforward implementations of matrix product based DMRG. The latter variationally optimizes a class of ansatz states known as matrix product states, where operators are correspondingly represented as matrix product operators (MPOs). The MPO construction scheme presented here eliminates the previous performance disadvantages while retaining the additional flexibility provided by a matrix product approach, for example, the specification of expectation values becomes an input parameter. In this way, MPOs for different symmetries — abelian and non-abelian — and different relativistic and non-relativistic models may be solved by an otherwise unmodified program.
Fast Thermal Helium Beam diagnostic for measurements of edge electron profiles and fluctuations
Authors: Agostini M. , Scarin P. , Cavazzana R. , Carraro L. , Grando L. , Taliercio C. , Franchin L. , Tiso A.
Published: December 2015

The edge of fusion experiments is a region where strong gradients develop, together with the presence of strong fluctuations due to turbulence. The thermal helium beam diagnostic developed for the RFX-mod experiment allows the measurements with a single diagnostic of both low frequency time evolution of the edge radial profiles of electron density and temperature (tens of hertz), and the high frequency fluctuations (hundreds of kHz). To maximize the collected light, the three HeI lines necessary to be measured for the evaluation of ne and Te are separated with a spectrograph, and multianode photomultipliers are used as light detectors. The paper describes the diagnostic setup, with the interface hardware with the machine and the optical layout, and the characterization of its performances.
Development of a compact magnetic proton recoil spectrometer for measurement of deuterium-tritium neutrons
Authors: Zhang Jianfu , Ouyang Xiaoping , Qiu Suizheng , Zhang Guoguang , Ruan Jinlu , Zhang Xiaodong , Zhang Xianpeng , Yang Shaohua , Song Jiwen , Liu Linyue , Li Hongyun
Published: December 2015

A new compact magnetic proton recoil (MPR) neutron spectrometer has been designed for precise measurement of deuterium-tritium (DT) neutrons. This design is presented emphasizing the magnetic analyzing system, which is based on a compact quadrupole-dipole (QD) electromagnet. The focal plane detector (FPD) is also discussed with respect to application for the next step. The characteristics of the MPR spectrometer were calculated by using Monte Carlo simulation. A preliminary experiment was performed to test the magnetic analyzing system and the proton images of the FPD. Since the QD electromagnet design allows for a larger foil thickness and solid angle to be utilized, the MPR spectrometer defined in this paper can achieve neutron detection efficiency more than 5 × 10−7 at an energy resolution of 1.5% for measuring DT neutrons.
Response to “Comment on ‘Exploring the potential energy landscape of the Thomson problem via Newton homotopies”’ [J. Chem. Phys. 143, 247101 (2015)]
Authors: Mehta Dhagash , Chen Tianran , Morgan John W. R. , Wales David J.
Published: December 2015

The comment notes that the Newton homotopy (NH) and Newton trajectory (NT) methods are related. By describing recent implementations of the NH method, we clarify the similarities and differences between the two approaches. The possible synergy between NH, NT and other flow methods could suggest further developments in mathematics and chemistry.
Elastocapillary powered manipulation of liquid plug in microchannels
Authors: George D. , Anoop R. , Sen A. K.
Published: December 2015

We report the manipulation of a liquid plug inside a rectangular microchannel, when one of the channel walls is a deformable membrane, which adjoins another parallel microchannel. Elastocapillary flow of a driving liquid (DL) through the adjoining microchannel, when approaches the plug, tries to pull the membrane near the plug, which is initially deflected into the plug, towards the DL. The plug is transported due to a differential pressure that develops across the plug owing to the increase in the radius of curvature of the trailing meniscus of the plug. A theoretical model is proposed to predict the plug velocity, which depends on a parameter J and plug length L̃. The predictions of the theoretical model show good agreement with experimental data. The dynamic behaviour of the plug and DL is presented and discussed.
Auger recombination in long-wave infrared InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattices
Authors: Olson B. V. , Grein C. H. , Kim J. K. , Kadlec E. A. , Klem J. F. , Hawkins S. D. , Shaner E. A.
Published: December 2015

The Auger lifetime is a critical intrinsic parameter for infrared photodetectors as it determines the longest potential minority carrier lifetime and consequently the fundamental limitations to their performance. Here, Auger recombination is characterized in a long-wave infrared InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattice. Auger coefficients as small as 7.1×10−26 cm6/s are experimentally measured using carrier lifetime data at temperatures in the range of 20 K–80 K. The data are compared to Auger-1 coefficients predicted using a 14-band K·p electronic structure model and to coefficients calculated for HgCdTe of the same bandgap. The experimental superlattice Auger coefficients are found to be an order-of-magnitude smaller than HgCdTe.
Design of modified Magnus wind rotors using computational fluid dynamics simulation and multi-response optimization
Authors: Lopez Neil , Mara Brian , Mercado Brian , Mercado Luigi , Pascual Miguel , Promentilla Michael Angelo
Published: December 2015

Concerns on climate change and dwindling fossil fuel supply have renewed interest on alternative ways of harnessing renewable energy. Using rotating cylinders to generate lift from a fluid stream, a Magnus rotor can produce up to 10 times more lift compared to an airfoil. However, it is also producing more drag. Recent studies have demonstrated improvement on the aerodynamic efficiency of a Magnus rotor through the application of surface modifications such as grooves, bumps, dimples, and even changing the shape of the cylinder into a frustum. However, it is unknown which is most desirable among those modifications; moreover, if some may be combined for even better performance. This present study seeks to fill the mentioned research gap with the aid of computer simulation tool ANSYS CFX. Simulation results showed that modifying cylinder shape into a frustum generates the most lift force. However, it is also increasing the drag on the cylinder. Interestingly, a helical groove may be employed around the frustum cylinder to mitigate the increase in drag, making the two modifications a promising combination. Multiple response surface analysis using desirability function was used to investigate the sensitivity of the rotor design to the different modifications. Furthermore, a new perspective is introduced wherein the rotor may be able to withstand more drag in exchange for more lift. For lift generation purposes, bumps are not desirable. Finally, the aerodynamic performances of the modified rotors are compared against other published results by means of a drag polar plot.
Communication: Local energetic analysis of the interfacial and surface energies of graphene from the single layer to graphite
Authors: Kocherlakota Lakshmi S. , Krajina Brad A. , Overney René M.
Published: December 2015

Recent advances in scanning probe methods that provide direct access to the surface free energy of inorganic layered materials in terms of the Hamaker constant yield energetic values for monolayer graphene that differ substantially, by a factor of around 0.4, from bulk graphite. The onset of bulk deviating energy values was observed at a multilayer slab thickness of ∼3 nm, corresponding to a layer number of 10. The findings, complemented with extractions from water contact angle measurements and calculated interlayer binding energies, find short-range ordinary van der Waals interactions to be most prominently affected by dimensional constraints and many-body interactions.
Tunable two-photon correlation in a double-cavity optomechanical system
Authors: Feng Zhi-Bo , Zhang Jian-Qi
Published: December 2015

Correlated photons are essential sources for quantum information processing. We propose a practical scheme to generate pairs of correlated photons in a controllable fashion from a double-cavity optomechanical system, where the variable optomechanical coupling strength makes it possible to tune the photon correlation at our will. The key operation is based on the repulsive or attractive interaction between the two photons intermediated by the mechanical resonator. The present protocol could provide a potential approach to coherent control of the photon correlation using the optomechanical cavity.
Simultaneous effects of radial magnetic field and wall properties on peristaltic flow of Carreau-Yasuda fluid in curved flow configuration
Authors: Hayat T. , Tanveer A. , Alsaadi F.
Published: December 2015

The objective of present article is to address the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) peristaltic flow of Carreau-Yasuda fluid in a curved geometry. The channel boundaries satisfy wall slip and compliant properties. The fluid is electrically conducting through an applied magnetic field in the radial direction. Heat transfer is also studied. Governing equation comprised the viscous dissipation effects. The non-linear expressions are first obtained and then approximated using long wavelength and low Reynolds number considerations. The resulting systems are solved for the series solutions. The expressions of velocity, temperature, heat transfer coefficient and stream function are obtained and analyzed via graphical illustrations.
IFT20 controls LAT recruitment to the immune synapse and T-cell activation in vivo
Authors: Vivar Omar I. , Masi Giulia , Carpier Jean-Marie , Magalhaes Joao G. , Galgano Donatella , Pazour Gregory J. , Amigorena Sebastian , Hivroz Claire , Baldari Cosima T.
Published: December 2015

Significance

The immune synapse (IS), the site of cell–cell contact between T cells and antigen-presenting cells, plays a crucial role in the mounting of an immune response. Although IFT20 (intraflagellar transport protein 20), a component of the intraflagellar transport system, regulates polarized traffic to the IS, its role in T-cell activation in vivo is unknown. Here we show that in the absence of IFT20, T-cell receptor (TCR)-mediated signaling and recruitment of the signaling adaptor LAT to the immune synapse are impaired, leading to defective CD4
+
T-cell activation and proliferation. IFT20-defective mice fail to mount effective antigen-specific T-cell responses, and their T cells do not induce disease in a T-cell-adoptive transfer model of colitis.
Structurally conserved erythrocyte-binding domain in
Plasmodium
provides a versatile scaffold for alternate receptor engagement
Authors: Gruszczyk Jakub , Lim Nicholas T. Y. , Arnott Alicia , He Wen-Qiang , Nguitragool Wang , Roobsoong Wanlapa , Mok Yee-Foong , Murphy James M. , Smith Katherine R. , Lee Stuart , Bahlo Melanie , Mueller Ivo , Barry Alyssa E. , Tham Wai-Hong
Published: December 2015

Significance

Plasmodium vivax
is responsible for the most widely distributed recurring human malaria infections whereas
Plasmodium falciparum
inflicts the most mortality and morbidity in human populations. Malaria parasites enter our blood cells by making proteins that recognize and bind to their cognate receptors on the red blood cell surface. Our research describes, to our knowledge, the first crystal structure of PvRBP2a, an erythrocyte-binding protein from
P. vivax,
which revealed a structural scaffold similar to that of PfRh5, the essential erythrocyte-binding protein in
P. falciparum
. Structural comparisons between PvRBP2a and PfRh5 provide an important foundation toward understanding how
P. vivax
and
P. falciparum
parasites use a homologous erythrocyte-binding protein family to engage alternate erythrocyte receptors and ultimately govern host cell specificity.
Evolution of maternal effect senescence
Authors: Moorad Jacob A. , Nussey Daniel H.
Published: December 2015

Significance

Evolutionary theory underpins our understanding of the aging process. The many aspects of reproduction that decline with maternal age in animals include number of offspring born, offspring size, and neonatal survival. Current theories of aging ignore potential differences in the evolutionary pressures on these traits. Here, we combine two important branches of evolutionary theory to allow consideration of age-dependent selection at both offspring and maternal levels. We show that we should actually expect the rates of age-related decline in female fertility and offspring performance to diverge under selection. Our model has the potential to significantly improve our understanding of the evolution of reproductive senescence and, more generally, the variability of aging patterns in nature.
Professor Sibata’s haha and other sociolinguistic insights
Authors: Chambers J.K.
Published: December 2015

Takesi Sibata, the pioneer of sociolinguistic dialectology, anticipated several developments that we now apply internationally in the discipline of sociolinguistics. I outline Professor Sibata’s accomplishments from a Western perspective, but I am mainly interested in promoting wider appreciation of his work in the study of language variation. To do that, I review some of his analyses and show how Professor Sibata developed concepts that persist in contemporary sociolinguistics. I show that, for instance, about fifteen years before the inception of Western sociolinguistics, Professor Sibata was already engaged in studying sound change in apparent time, identifying linguistic innovators, eliciting folk concepts about dialects, and seeking empirical evidence for the critical period in dialect acquisition, as well as other pursuits that are now integral to our discipline.
Not obligatory
Authors: Meakins Felicity
Published: December 2015

This is the first quantitative study of bound pronoun variation in an Australian language. Bound pronouns in Gurindji and Bilinarra (Ngumpin-Yapa, Pama-Nyungan) are obligatory for first and second persons, categorically absent for the third person minimal, and used 73% of the time to cross-reference third person non-minimal referents and minimal third person oblique referents. A total of 1095 tokens of referents were coded for three predictors: the grammatical relation of the referent, whether the referent was human and whether a co-referential nominal was also present in the clause. A number of properties of the referent significantly decreased the appearance of a bound pronoun including if the referent was non-human, non-human and an object, or also cross-referenced by a nominal. This variation has a number of implications for the function of bound pronouns in discourse and characterisations of non-configurational languages.
Differentiating ‘dialect’ and ‘language’ in sign languages
Authors: Sze Felix , Isma Silva , Suwiryo Adhika Irlang , Wijaya Laura Lesmana , Bharato Adhi Kusumo , Satryawan Iwan
Published: December 2015

The distinction between languages and dialects has remained a controversial issue in literature. When such a distinction is made, it often has far-reaching implications in top-down language promotion and preservation policies that tend to favor only those varieties that are labelled as ‘languages’. This issue is of critical importance for the survival of most sign language varieties in the world from a socio-political point of view. Against this background, this paper discusses how the notions of ‘dialect’ and ‘language’ have been applied in classifying sign languages in the past few decades. In particular, the paper reports on two recent studies which provide linguistic evidence that the signing varieties used by Deaf signers in Jakarta and Yogyakarta in Indonesia should be regarded as distinct sign languages rather than mutually intelligible dialects of Indonesian Sign Language. The evidence comes from significant differences in the lexicon, preferred word order for encoding transitive events, and use of mouth actions. Our result suggests that signing varieties within a country can be significantly different from each other, thus calling for more concerted efforts in documenting and recognizing these differences if the linguistic needs of the signing communities are to be met.
Conceptual autonomy and dependence in Chinese lexical semantic analysis
Authors: Lu Wei-lun
Published: December 2015

The present study addresses the rate of conceptual autonomy and dependence in Chinese lexical semantic analysis, presenting an analysis of how image-schema, domains and co-text interact in the [v]–[shang] construction as an example. Following a Principled Polysemy methodology, I identify the semantic prototype and four metaphorical senses of the construction. I also show the co-textual characteristics associated with each sense, which opens up further discussion of how image-schema and conceptual domains collaborate to produce the various senses. Based on these findings, I further establish a hierarchy of influence from co-text, where the semantics of an RVC depends first of all on its collocating verb and secondarily on a collocating noun phrase. This paper aims to show in some detail how image-schema, conceptual domains and patterns of co-text co-contribute to the polysemy of RVCs. It moreover proposes a novel way of analyzing Chinese lexical semantics in terms of conceptual autonomy and dependence.
Tunes of different speech styles in Cantonese
Authors: Zhang Ling
Published: December 2015

Different speech styles come with different tunes. This paper reports the first empirical study of the tunes of different speech styles; namely, opera speaking versus opera singing, opera speaking versus normal speaking, and normal speaking versus normal singing. In all these speech styles, Cantonese lexical tones are well preserved. The data analyses show that speaking and singing differ mainly in pitch slope. Speaking styles are associated with a declining intonation, while singing styles show a slightly ascending tendency. The acoustic data also indicate that a higher pitch register is usually employed when a speech type is considered more conspicuous, such as opera speaking (compared with normal speaking) and normal singing (compared with normal speaking).
New poetics in China
Authors: Francis Norbert
Published: December 2015

A new study of modern Chinese poetry has been published that deserves the attention of linguists working in both the applied and theoretical fields. The focus of the book is experimental and avant-garde literature, and as such it raises questions that are different than the ones we are accustomed to considering in the field of poetics. This review essay considers proposals for understanding poetic ability and sensibility from the point of view of applications of cognitive science.
TheZhuangzi, hermeneutics and (philological) corpus linguistics
Authors: Teubert Wolfgang
Published: December 2015

The classical Chinese textZhuangzitells us that the meaning of a word, or a text, is not fixed, but consists of the many perspectives offered in debate. Each new contribution interprets what has been said and thus adds to its meaning. This is akin to the approach of modern hermeneutics. What a text means is determined by its intertextual links to previous texts, and by the traces it leaves in its subsequent interpretations. The practical approach of philology and the methodology of corpus linguistics provide the foundation of the task of interpretation, by establishing the textual evidence on which interpretation has to rest. My paper exemplifies theZhuangzi’s strategy in moving on from the textual evidence to their manifold interpretations, thus interweaving corpus linguistics, philology and hermeneutics.
Nonverbal interaction patterns in the Delhi Metro
Authors: Aranguren Martin
Published: December 2015

The aim of the article is to describe the nonverbal communication patterns that passengers of the Delhi Metro use to manage density-induced territorial intrusions, and to identify some of the contextual variables that affect their deployment. After introducing the notion of “interrogative look” and the dataset, the following section depicts the techniques that passengers were observed to employ in order to solve the problem of territorial intrusion without breaking anonymity. The bulk of the analysis deals with the structure and function of “interrogative looks”, an objectively defined pattern of nonverbal behavior that the touched uses to signal her discontent to the toucher. The rest of the section describes a less frequent pattern whereby passengers contagiously signal the playful character of their mischiefs. Next is examined if and how density, i.e., the number of individuals per surface unit, influences as a contextual variable the occurrence of interrogative looks. The closing discussion considers the main findings from the standpoint of their local specificity.
Plain English
Authors: Linse Caroline , van Vlack Stephen
Published: December 2015

Schools attempting to engage with the families of all learners, including those with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds recognize the importance of oral and written communication that is written using understandable English. Using the basic principles of plain English coupled with speech act theory we began to investigate different aspects of text and functional intent. This exploratory research examined exemplar pieces of written school generated communication, using different forms of linguistic analysis to determine whether the communication contained elements recognized to facilitate or impede the comprehensibility of each piece of communication. Additionally, a text assessment tool which can help schools to analyze the written text communication they send to families was developed and refined.
Assessing vocabulary size through multiple-choice formats
Authors: Gyllstad Henrik , Vilkaitė Laura , Schmitt Norbert
Published: December 2015

In most tests of vocabulary size, knowledge is assessed through multiple-choice formats. Despite advantages such as ease of scoring, multiple-choice tests (MCT) are accompanied with problems. One of the more central issues has to do with guessing and the presence of other construct-irrelevant strategies that can lead to overestimation of scores. A further challenge when designing vocabulary size tests is that of sampling rate. How many words constitute a representative sample of the underlying population of words that the test is intended to measure? This paper addresses these two issues through a case study based on data from a recent and increasingly used MCT of vocabulary size: the Vocabulary Size Test. Using a criterion-related validity approach, our results show that for multiple-choice items sampled from this test, there is a discrepancy between the test scores and the scores obtained from the criterion measure, and that a higher sampling rate would be needed in order to better represent knowledge of the underlying population of words. We offer two main interpretations of these results, and discuss their implications for the construction and use of vocabulary size tests.
Discourse functions of subject left dislocation in Old Occitan
Authors: Donaldson Bryan
Published: December 2015

This paper reports an empirical study of the discourse-pragmatic functions of subject left dislocation (LD) in Old Occitan. Data come from the complete troubadour biographies, in which the most common manifestation of subject LD is a nominal subject + sentence adverbsi + verb, as in “Bertrans de Born si fo uns castellans” [Bertran de Born was a nobleman]. Whereas previous accounts fail to integrate syntax with discourse-pragmatic function, these results reveal the importance of both in explaining the occurrence of subject LD. Using recent approaches to the clausal left periphery (e.g., Benincà 2006), I distinguish LD subjects from conventional (i.e., non-dislocated) pre-verbal subjects. Next, following Fleischman’s (1991) analysis ofsiin Old French, I illustrate how subject LD structures the flow of information in discourse. In particular, subject LD marks a constituent as a discourse topic and can also introduce a new referent into the discourse and thereby mark it as topical.
Parenthetical “I say (you)” in Late Medieval Greek vernacular
Authors: Soltic Jorie
Published: December 2015

In this paper, I argue that the first-person singular of the “ordinary” verb λέγω/λαλῶ (‘I say’) in the thirteenth- to fourteenth-century political verse narrativesChronicle of MoreaandWar of Troydoes not always carry its “normal”, representational content (‘I inform/assure [you]’). Frequently, λέγω/λαλῶ structures the discourse rather than conveying conceptual meaning and, thus, has procedural meaning. In this respect, the verb can be compared to modern discourse markers (i.e., semantically reduced items which abound in spoken language). An important − yet not decisive − criterion to distinguish the conceptual from the procedural use is the position of λέγω/λαλῶ: all “DM-like” examples are parenthetical. As for their precise pragmatic function, these forms are used, in particular, to signal a clarification towards the listener (“I mean”) or, more generally, to grab the attention of the audience. Applied to the modern binary distinction between interpersonal and textual discourse markers, they thus belong to the former category. Finally, I tentatively relate the observation that the procedural parenthetical examples show a marked preference for pre-caesural position to the concept of “filled pauses”, which makes sense given the adopted oral style of the Late Medieval Greek political verse narratives.
The rise of demonstrative-based first/second-person markers in the history of Japanese
Authors: Yamaguchi Toshiko
Published: December 2015

This paper explores the rise of demonstrative-based person markers in the history of Japanese and takes Ishiyama’s spatial semantic approach as its point of departure. Despite the claim that demonstrative-based person markers remained functionally demonstrative, I argue that they began to manifest the category of person from an early stage of their development; that is to say, thanks to speaker innovation, demonstratives underwent semantic re-analysis to become markers representing the speaker’s ego in the reality of discourse. This paper also pinpoints that two notions, distancing and dissimilarity, are not spelled out in Ishiyama’s framework. In conclusion, the substitution of the first-person marker for the second-person marker is analysed tentatively using Keller’s theory of linguistic signs.
“I hope you will write”
Authors: Moreton Emma
Published: December 2015

This paper examines the use of the pattern Pronoun + Verb + Pronoun (as in I hope you, you think I and she knows he) in a corpus of nineteenth-century Irish emigrant correspondence. The corpus contains 88 letters by four sisters (the Lough sisters), who emigrated from Ireland to America in the 1870s and 1880s. The study aims to investigate how these clauses — described as projection structures — function and how they contribute to the interactive nature of letters, helping to strengthen and maintain familial bonds over time and distance. Corpus methods are used first to identify and extract these patterns. A more qualitative investigation then examines the function of projection structures and how they construct and reflect author/recipient relationships.
Single episode analysis of extended conflict talk sequences in second language classroom discussion
Authors: Hosoda Yuri , Aline David
Published: December 2015

Numerous studies have examined conflict talk from an ethnomethodological perspective, scrutinizing development of conflict talk sequences (e.g., Coulter 1990; Maynard 1985a). We take up this strand of research to examine an extended episode of conflict talk in a second language (L2) classroom. Throughout this study, we conduct a detailed analysis of a single episode, applying previous research findings and using this analysis as a springboard into uncovering distinct aspects of conflict talk in this institutional context that may also be generalizable to other institutional contexts. The focus here is on an extended dispute occurring in a group discussion extracted from a larger corpus of L2 classroom interaction.
A case study of a Korean-American family’s code switching during conflict-related interaction
Authors: Flores-Ferrán Nydia , Suh Sora
Published: December 2015

The study explores how code switching (CS) manifests itself in adversarial episodes during meal time. In particular, it examines how CS emerges among members of a Korean American family as they wrangle, dispute, and argue in this intimate discursive setting. Several researchers have examined how arguments and disputes among children are realized (e.g., Boggs 1978; Brenneis and Lein 1977; Corsaro and Rizzo 1990; Eisenberg and Garvey 1981). Nonetheless, little is known about how bilingual children and their parents employ CS as a negotiating tool in conflict-related interactions. Among the findings, the study reveals that CS is manifested in the parents and children in slightly different ways although the family members skillfully maneuver the use of two languages and registers. The study uncovers how CS was employed as a strategy to attempt to achieve goals and how it intersected with stance taking. In general, CS also emerged as a discursive strategy that the interlocutors employed to explicate, challenge, mitigate, hedge, and plead during these episodes.
“There’s definitely gonna be some serious carnage in this house” or how to be genuinely impolite inBig BrotherUK
Authors: Sinkeviciute Valeria
Published: December 2015

Although it is quite easy to conceive of a number of conventionalised impoliteness formulae that, depending on context, do not lead to the hearer’s evaluations of impoliteness, there are many situations when the speaker aims to be genuinely impolite and does not try to mitigate his/her verbal behaviour. This paper reports the findings of an analysis of twenty-nine genuinely impolite verbal behaviours that occurred in theBig BrotherUK 2012 house. The main objective of this study is to examine the triggers for genuine impoliteness and determine which aspects of the hearer’s face and rights s/he claims for him/herself are targeted in such interactions. The results reveal that impoliteness among the housemates is triggered by previous impolite (non-)verbal behaviour, implied negativity or personal dislike of the target. The speaker, in his/her turn, tends to associate the target with a negative aspect or behaviour, question his/her mental, emotional state or knowledge, deny the freedom of expression or participation and, finally, warn or threaten the target.
The role of language processing in language acquisition
Authors: Phillips Colin , Ehrenhofer Lara
Published: December 2015

Language processing research is changing in two ways that should make it more relevant to the study of grammatical learning. First, grammatical phenomena are re-entering the psycholinguistic fray, and we have learned a lot in recent years about the real-time deployment of grammatical knowledge. Second, psycholinguistics is reaching more diverse populations, leading to much research on language processing in child and adult learners. We discuss three ways that language processing can be used to understand language acquisition. Level 1 approaches (“Processing in learners”) explore well-known phenomena from the adult psycholinguistic literature and document how they play out in learner populations (child learners, adult learners, bilinguals). Level 2 approaches (“Learning effects as processing effects”) use insights from adult psycholinguistics to understand the language proficiency of learners. We argue that a rich body of findings that have been attributed to the grammatical development of anaphora should instead be attributed to limitations in the learner’s language processing system. Level 3 approaches (“Explaining learning via processing”) use language processing to understand what it takes to successfully master the grammar of a language, and why different learner groups are more or less successful. We examine whether language processing may explain why some grammatical phenomena are mastered late in children but not in adult learners. We discuss the idea that children’s language learning prowess is directly caused by their processing limitations (‘less is more’: Newport, 1990). We conclude that the idea is unlikely to be correct in its original form, but that a variant of the idea has some promise (‘less is eventually more’). We lay out key research questions that need to be addressed in order to resolve the issues addressed in the paper.
Interactions verbales et résolution de malentendus en français L2 entre locuteurs de L1 commune et différente
Authors: Guénette Danielle , Kennedy Sara , Allard Suzanne , Murphy Jacinthe
Published: December 2015

This study presents a review of the comprehension problems encountered by six pairs of adult speakers of French L2 during the completion of three communicative and interactive tasks with speakers from the same or different L1 language background. Excerpts of their interactions revealed that the problems encountered and the communication strategies used to solve these problems were not dependent on language background, but rather on the speakers’ proficiency level in the L2 and their knowledge of necessary vocabulary for task completion. Pedagogical and acquisitional implications that emerged from the analysis are presented, including the importance of explicitly teaching a repertoire of communication strategies related to specific difficulties.
Orthographic bias in L3 lexical knowledge
Authors: Veivo Outi , Suomela-Salmi Eija , Järvikivi Juhani
Published: December 2015

In this paper, we examine some of the factors that might influence the accessing of meanings of written and spoken L3 words. We tested learners of L3 French who had Finnish as their L1 and were highly competent in L2 English. They were presented with L3 French words in written and spoken form, and were asked to give a possible translation for the target word in L1 and to rate their level of confidence in the meaning given. Because of their instructional learning background, we expected orthographic forms to be more familiar than phonological ones. This hypothesis was confirmed. The meanings of the L3 words presented were accessed more easily and more accurately in the orthographic than in the phonological modality, although this asymmetry decreased with a higher level of proficiency. The confidence ratings were negatively affected by a similarity to L2 words. General implications for L3 lexical knowledge are discussed.
Introduction
Authors: Celle Agnès , Lansari Laure
Published: December 2015

This paper is an introduction to this special issue on the description and expression of surprise. In line with the ANR-funded project it is part of, this volume aims to bridge the gap between emotion, cognition and linguistics. It stresses the unique status of surprise among emotions, uncovering the link between surprise and epistemicity. Drawing upon the traditional distinction between the description and expression of emotions made by scholars of different persuasions, it argues for a better definition of expressivity as a category in its own right, possibly independent of the expression of spontaneous emotion. This paper also provides a presentation of the eight contributions the volume is made up of.
Grammatical evidentiality and the unprepared mind
Authors: Peterson Tyler
Published: December 2015

The aim of this paper is to investigate how evidentials are used to reflect the unprepared mind of the speaker. Lexical evidentials are typically used by speakers to encode the kinds of evidence they have for making statements about states, events and actions they did not personally witness or were a part of. However, under certain conditions evidentials can be used to express the surprise of the speaker. This is known in the literature under the label mirativity. The empirical factors that condition the mirative use of an evidential are first determined, and then using an information and schema-theoretic analysis it is shown that mirativity is the linguistic reflex of a series of mental events involving the processing of new information, coupled with other contextual factors involving speaker knowledge.
Surprise in the GRID
Authors: Soriano Salinas Cristina Maria , Fontaine Johnny R.J. , Scherer Klaus R.
Published: December 2015

This paper analyses surprise in the framework of the GRID paradigm as part of a research project on the meaning of emotion words across languages and cultures. Based on psychological component theories of emotion, an online instrument was designed to rate the meaning of 24 emotion terms on 142 features of emotion. Data was collected for 23 languages in 27 countries. The mean rates within and across languages offer a semantic profile of the emotion terms. Results are presented on the meaning of “surprise” across languages and in English and French. The data also indicate four dimensions are necessary to describe the emotion space: valence, power, arousal and novelty. Novelty captures variation in suddenness and expectedness and differentiates surprise from other emotions, as well as types of emotion within a family, revealing itself as a relevant aspect of emotion universally encoded in our affective lexicons.