bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Health technology assessment in Catalonia: An overview of past and future perspectives
Authors: de Solà-Morales Oriol , Granados Alicia 
Published: June 2009

Objectives:The current and past situation of health technology assessment (HTA) in Catalonia is presented in this study.Methods:The approach used here is a historical review of facts and landmarks.Results:Spain has undergone radical change in many aspects, but the changes in healthcare provision have been major indeed. Catalonia has had the ability to benefit from these changes and has been able to build upon professionals' experience and expertise to development a consistent HTA network and continuous evaluation paradigm. The early involvement of the Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment (CAHTA) in several relevant HTA international initiatives and the relationship of CAHTA and Research with other HTA agencies in Spain is also stressed.Conclusions:HTA is currently of common use in Catalonia for decision making at different levels. Now emphasis has to be put on the coming challenges that the HTA community will have to face in the coming years: uncontrolled demand, capacity scarcity, a rapidly evolving knowledge frontier, and insufficient input from the economic sphere into evaluations.
Ice sheet mass balance and sea level
Authors: Allison I. , Alley R.B. , Fricker H.A. , Thomas R.H. , Warner R.C. 
Published: June 2009

AbstractDetermining the mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (GIS and AIS) has long been a major challenge for polar science. But until recent advances in measurement technology, the uncertainty in ice sheet mass balance estimates was greater than any net contribution to sea level change. The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR4) was able, for the first time, to conclude that, taken together, the GIS and AIS have probably been contributing to sea level rise over the period 1993–2003 at an average rate estimated at 0.4 mm yr-1. Since the cut-off date for work included in AR4, a number of further studies of the mass balance of GIS and AIS have been made using satellite altimetry, satellite gravity measurements and estimates of mass influx and discharge using a variety of techniques. Overall, these studies reinforce the conclusion that the ice sheets are contributing to present sea level rise, and suggest that the rate of loss from GIS has recently increased. The largest unknown in the projections of sea level rise over the next century is the potential for rapid dynamic collapse of ice sheets.
Contraction of negatives as evidence of variance in register-specific interactive rules
Authors: Yaeger-Dror Malcah 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the contraction of negatives in a carefully chosen corpus of discourse and writing, to permit comparison of the relative influences of various linguistic and social parameters on contraction. Evidence is presented that negative contraction is conditioned by interactional and other register variables. The point is made that the pragmatic as well as morphological interpretation of negatives entails that negative contraction and auxiliary contraction should be distinguished from each other. Although a Cognitive Prominence Principle predicts noncontraction when the negative conveys semantically focal information, a Social Agreement Principle predicts contraction. This is because it would be face-threatening (and, therefore, in conversation analysis terms “dispreferred”) to focus on disagreement, which is most often the semantic information conveyed by negatives. This hypothesis is examined using corpora which differ along several dimensions. The most important of these (for this study) appear to be the interactional versus informational register dimensions (Finegan, 1994). Data from instructional (workshop presentations), confrontational (political debates), and casual conversational material are contrasted with comparable reading style materials. The following general results are predicted. The Cognitive Prominence Principle will take over in informational contexts when disagreement is acceptable or neutralized. The Social Agreement Principle will take over in more interactional contexts where disagreement is not acceptable. The results are of interest to the student of focus, the sociolinguist concerned with dialect, register, and style variation, and even the speech technician.
Optimality Theory and variable word-final deletion in Faetar
Authors: Nagy Naomi , Reynolds Bill 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTWe examine a pattern of end-of-word deletion in Faetar, a Francoprovençal dialect spoken in southern Italy, considering synchronic variants like [brókələ] ˜ [brókəl] ˜ [brókə] ˜ [brok] ‘fork’. We use the word “deletion” as a synchronic description of the facts; speakers do not always phonetically produce everything in the input form, assuming that the input form is the longest form ever produced. Optimality Theory accounts for this type of variation by positing different rankings of the constraint hierarchy, each of which produces a different optimal output. The predication of alternate constraint rankings within a single dialect, however, poses problems for Optimality Theory as it has been formulated, necessitating numerous grammars for each speaker. We propose floating constraints (Reynolds, 1994), whereby some particular constraint within a single grammar may be represented as falling anywhere within a designated range in the ranking hierarchy. In a previous study (Reynolds & Nagy, 1994) we showed that this model accounts for the distribution of types of output forms produced. Here, we analyze a corpus of 624 tokens from 40 speakers and show that the pattern of distribution of tokens is accounted for as well: the number of rankings that produce each output form is closely correlated to the number of output forms that occur in the data set.
Canadian raising in a midwestern U.S. city
Authors: Dailey-O'Cain Jennifer 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTThis article provides evidence from a small city in the northern United States for Canadian raising, the raising of /au/ and /ai/ to [AU] and [Ai]. As hypothesized, /ai/-raising is much more frequent and regular, but /au/-raising also occurs. Speech style is statistically significant only for /ai/-raising. The raising of /ai/ is not significant for gender or age, but /au/-raising seems to be led by young women. This evidence suggests that, while /ai/-raising has been fully entrenched in this phonological system for some time, /au/-raising is a new and separate change in progress. The /au/-diphthong is also often fronted when raised, a finding similar to several Canadian studies (Chambers, 1981a; Hung, Davison, & Chambers, 1993). This suggests that the Canadian varieties studied may not, as previously suggested (Chambers, 1981b), be conforming to the U.S. norm, but instead that the two varieties are converging.
Mechanism of sound change in Optimality Theory
Authors: Zubritskaya Katya 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTIn this article I examine the ongoing loss of palatalization assimilation in Modern Standard Russian within the framework of Optimality Theory (OT) (McCarthy & Prince, 1993a; Prince & Smolensky, 1993) and show that this theory offers new, meaningful explanations for the role of markedness and naturalness in the mechanism of a sound change. I also argue that OT provides new possibilities for relating quantitative patterns to the formal principles of grammatical organization. In particular, in OT, suggested cross-linguistically invariant relations between phonological factors predict a general pattern of influence that these factors have on the quantitative outcome of a change. I suggest that a change operates as a gradual weakening or strengthening of whole subhierarchies of constraints with universally fixed rankings (constraint families, which implement markedness scales in OT). In an examination of variable data, I argue that the major differences in quantitative patterns mirror the fixed constraint ranking within such constraint families and constraint violation/nonviolation in OT grammar. I also discuss the problem of modeling variable data within OT, which, like other formal phonological theories, permits no output variation. I examine a grammar competition model explored in OT literature and argue instead for constraint competition with constraint weight in production.
Solving the actuation problem: Merger and immigration in eastern Pennsylvania
Authors: Herold Ruth 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTData from fieldwork and a telephone survey is used to demonstrate that the merger of the vowels in words such ascotandcaught, traditionally considered a defining characteristic of the speech of western Pennsylvania, is well established in the former anthracite mining towns of eastern Pennsylvania. Demographic and linguistic data indicate that the merger arose independently in the anthracite towns as a result of massive in-migration of speakers of Polish and other non-Germanic languages around the turn of the century. Having identified the proximate cause of the merger makes it possible to predict the presence or absence of the merger in various towns using demographic data alone.
Hitting a moving target: Acquisition of sound change in progress by Philadelphia children
Authors: Roberts Julie 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTRecent work in the acquisition of dialect has shown that children acquire patterns of stable variation and completed sound changes at a very early age. The present study looks at the acquisition of new sound changes by 3- and 4-year-old children. The results were consistent with previous findings in that, with critical exceptions, the children had acquired the changes. These results underscore the point that the dialect transmission period begins early – before the age of maximal peer group influence. In addition, as Labov (1994) suggested, one possible explanation for the frequent finding that women lead in changes from below is the asymmetry of the early childcare situation, which could advance female-dominated changes. The finding that children begin to learn their community norms at a very early age supports the possibility that this childcare asymmetry affects the progress of sound changes over time.
The variable deletion of unstressed vowels in Faialense Portuguese
Authors: Silva David James 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTTo verify anecdotal claims regarding the nature of unstressed vowel deletion in Azorean (European) Portuguese, conversational data from a native speaker of the island of Faial have been analyzed to determine the segmental and prosodic contexts favoring elision. Results of a quantitative analysis indicate that unstressed [u] and schwa are the most likely vowels to be deleted; moreover, deletion is highly favored when the unstressed vowel occurs in word-final position at the end of an utterance. Factors such as rhythmic preservation, syllable structure, and functional load are discounted in the analysis, suggesting that vowel deletion is essentially a word-based variable process in the language.
Violable is variable: Optimality theory and linguistic variation
Authors: Guy Gregory R. 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTOptimality theory (OT) (McCarthy & Prince, 1993; Prince & Smolensky, 1993) has been proposed as a constraint-based theory of phonology in which the phonological facts of each language are accounted for by a language-specific ordering of a universal inventory of constraints. The constraints, expressing desirable (i.e., optimal) phonological states, evaluate possible candidate forms, selecting the optimal output. Any constraint may be violated by a surface form if it is overridden by a higherranked constraint; the ordinal sequence of constraints provides a weak quantification of constraint effects. Variability has been treated within OT by varying constraint orders. This model is analogous in several important respects to the variable rule model (VR) of Labov (1969) and Cedergren and Sankoff (1974). In VR, variable constraints express desirable phonological states which are variably realized on the surface, when not overridden by other constraints; constraints are probabilistically quantified. This article compares the OT and VR models, arguing that the VR model is superior on theoretical and empirical grounds: constraint effects in VR are stable, transparent, and learnable. Moreover, the probabilistic treatment of constraint effects allows VR to model successfully cases in which multiple violations of a single constraint lead to a cumulative reduction in likelihood of a form; such cases cannot be efficiently treated in OT.
Variable deletion of French /l/: linguistic, social and stylistic factors
Authors: Armstrong Nigel 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTThis article considers variable /l/-deletion in the French definite articles, subject clitic pronouns and in one frequent phono-lexical context, exemplified bytable‘table’ andronfle‘snore’. It reports the treatment of /l/ by a sample of secondary schoolchildren from Lorraine in north-eastern France. The definite articles and subject clitics are considered on the one hand in relation to the linguistic constraints which influence /l/-deletion, and on the other to the extra-linguistic variables of age, sex and speech style. Variable /l/-deletion in the phono-lexical context referred to above is examined principally in relation to the lexical input which influences /l/-deletion. Finally, we consider whether the sociolinguistic patterns reported here are indicative of linguistic change in progress, or whether the effects observed are revelatory rather of attitudes to non-standard linguistic forms inculcated in speakers by normative French pedagogy.
Les malentendus communicatifs dans les conversations exolingues
Authors: Causa Maria 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTL'étude de la gestion des malentendus dans une situation de communication exolingue permet de suivre le développement de la compétence linguistique et communicative du locuteur non natif en langue cible et, plus particulièrement, d'observer les stratégies dont disposent les interactants pour (rè)ajuster leur discours et continuer ainsi la conversation. La mise en oeuvre de ces stratégies est fortement médiatisée par un ensemble de facteurs – externes et internes – qui constituent lc contexte interactionnel. L'analyse que nous proposons dans cet article ést elaborée à partir de malentendus produits pendant des entretiens entre locuteur natif (francophone) et locuteurs non natifs (italophones) enregistrés en France sur unc période de six mois.
Urban growth and royal interventionism in late medieval Castile
Authors: Valdivieso Isabel Del Val 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTThroughout the late Middle Ages, Castilian towns underwent a process of rapid economic and political growth which the monarchy sought to control. Accordingly, the monarchy reoriented its policies towards the towns. It attempted to impose the figure of the ‘corregidor’, the representative and defender of royal interests; it intervened wherever possible in the appointment of local government offices; it played its part in urban conflicts, alternately supporting opposing factions in an effort to take advantage of the situation and secure its own interests; and finally, the state established regulations governing economic activity. The process of royal intervention culminated under the Catholic monarchs (1474–1504) with what can be considered as a royal triumph.
Changing home and workplace in Victorian London: the life of Henry Jaques, shirtmaker
Authors: Pooley Colin G. , Turnbull Jean 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTThe paper uses unusually rich evidence from a manuscript life history written in 1901 from personal diaries to explore the changing relationship between home and workplace in Victorian London. The life history of Henry Jaques demonstrates the way in which decisions about employment and residence were related both to each other and to stages of the family life course. The uncertainty of work, lack of income to support a growing family, rising aspirations, the constant threat of illness, the ease of moving between rented property, close ties between home and workplace, the stresses produced by home working, and the attractions of suburbanization all interacted to shape the residential and employment history of Jaques and his family. The themes exemplified by this detailed life history were also relevant to many other people. Evidence collected from a large-scale project on lifetime residential histories is used to place the experiences of Henry Jaques in a broader context, and to show how they related to the changing social and economic structure of Victorian London.
The structure of elite power in the early twentieth-century city: Norwich, 1900–35
Authors: Doyle Barry M. 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTThrough a study of middle-class power in Norwich in the first third of the twentieth century, this paper tests a number of hypotheses concerning the behaviour of British urban elites. Analysis of networks (freemasons, business organizations and family) assesses the level of social unification among the middle class; elite involvement in chapel, charities and voluntary organizations addresses the question of social leadership; whilst elite politics is considered through three questions: did they become unified behind a single anti-socialist stance? Did the more important members of the elite leave urban politics? And did they abandon faith in grand civic projects? Its conclusions suggest that the power and involvement of the elite continued into the 1930s, maintaining a positive approach to the scope and function of municipal authority.
Tenements to bungalows: class and the growth of home ownership before ‘World War II’
Authors: O'Carroll Annette 
Published: June 2009

ABSTRACTWhich social groups were moving into owner occupation in Britain before the Second World War is a matter of controversy, with opposing claims that this involved mainly white-collar or skilled manual workers. Although reliable figures showing the growth of home ownership in this period are rare, data are available for Edinburgh which indicate that tenure development in the city probably resembled that of England and Wales rather than the rest of Scotland. The relationship between income and the cost of home ownership is examined and this suggests that the main social group to move into owner occupation were probably white-collar workers. However, an analysis of occupational information from housing across a range of values in the city shows that this movement also affected manual workers and that there was a strong association between the proportions in each social class and the average rateable value of areas of housing.
Definition of three somatic adult cell nuclear transplant methods in zebrafish (Danio rerio): before, during and after egg activation by sperm fertilization
Authors: Pérez-Camps M. , Cardona-Costa J. , Francisco-Simao M. , García-Ximénez F. 
Published: June 2009

SummaryZebrafish somatic nuclear transplant has only been attempted using preactivated eggs. In this work, three methods to carry out the nuclear transplant using adult cells before, during and after the egg activation/fertilization were developed in zebrafish with the aim to be used in reprogramming studies. The donor nucleus from somatic adult cells was inserted: (method A) in the central region of the egg and subsequently fertilized; (method B) in the incipient animal pole at the same time that the egg was fertilized; and (method C) in the completely defined animal pole after fertilization. Larval and adult specimens were obtained using the three methods. Technical aspects related to temperature conditions, media required, egg activation/fertilization, post-ovulatory time of the transplant, egg aging, place of the donor nucleus injection in each methodology are presented. In conclusion, the technical approach developed in this work can be used in reprogramming studies.
The role of ongoing dendritic oscillations in single-neuron dynamics
Authors: Remme Michiel , Lengyel Mate , Gutkin Boris 
Published: June 2009

AbstractThe dendritic tree contributes significantly to the elementary computations a neuron performs while converting its synaptic inputs into action potential output. Traditionally, these computations have been characterized as temporally local, near-instantaneous mappings from the current input of the cell to its current output, brought about by somatic summation of dendritic contributions that are generated in spatially localized functional compartments. However, recent evidence about the presence of oscillations in dendrites suggests a qualitatively different mode of operation: the instantaneous phase of such oscillations can depend on a long history of inputs, and under appropriate conditions, even dendritic oscillators that are remote may interact through synchronization. Here, we develop a mathematical framework to analyze the interactions of local dendritic oscillations, and the way these interactions influence single cell computations. Combining weakly coupled oscillator methods with cable theoretic arguments, we derive phase-locking states for multiple oscillating dendritic compartments. We characterize how the phase-locking properties depend on key parameters of the oscillating dendrite: the electrotonic properties of the (active) dendritic segment, and the intrinsic properties of the dendritic oscillators. As a direct consequence, we show how input to the dendrites can modulate phase-locking behavior and hence global dendritic coherence. In turn, dendritic coherence is able to gate the integration and propagation of synaptic signals to the soma, ultimately leading to an effective control of somatic spike generation. Our results suggest that dendritic oscillations enable the dendritic tree to operate on more global temporal and spatial scales than previously thought.
Requirements for a single cell mechanism of entorhinal "grid field" activity: role of dendritic oscillators and coupling
Authors: Remme Michiel , Lengyel Máté , Gutkin Boris 
Published: June 2009

AbstractThe responses of rat medial entorhinal cortical neurons form characteristic grid patterns as a function of the animal’s position. A recent model of grid fields proposes a mechanism based on intrinsic single cell properties. It relies on interference patterns emerging from multiple distinct and independent oscillations maintained in the dendritic tree of the cell. Here we examine the requirements necessary to implement this idealized mechanism in a biophysically realistic model. We find that appropriate grid field-formation by a single cell is exquisitely sensitive to intra-dendritic interactions. Mathematical analysis shows how these effects depend on properties of the dendritic oscillators and the (active) membrane segments that connect them. We provide requirements on the ion channel distributions that would be necessary for grid-fields. We implement these requirements in a compartmental model of a spiny stellate cell. We find that with realistic cell properties the intra-dendritic coupling is insufficiently weak to maintain grid field activity. Rather, the cell acts as a single oscillator as opposed to maintaining several independent oscillators. This work gives explicit requirements for a single cell implementation of grid-field activity and hints at a possible circuit level origin for grid pattern formation.