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Different Sorts (different + sort)
Selected AbstractsInput and SLA: Adults' Sensitivity to Different Sorts of Cues to French GenderLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue S1 2005Susanne E. Carroll All second language (L2) learning theories presuppose that learners learn the target language from the speech signal (or written material, when learners are reading), so an understanding of learners' ability to detect and represent novel patterns in linguistic stimuli will constitute a major building block in an adequate theory of second language acquisition (SLA) input. Pattern detection, a mainstay of current connectionist modeling of language learning, presupposes a sensitivity to particular properties of the signal. Learning abstract grammatical knowledge from the signal presupposes, as well, the capacity to map phonetic properties of the signal onto properties of another type (segments and syllables, morpheme categories, and so on). Thus, even seemingly "simple" grammatical phenomena may embody complex structural knowledge and be instantiated by a plethora of diverse cues. Moreover, cues have no a priori status; a phenomenon of a given sort takes on a value as a cue when acquisition of the grammatical system reveals it to be useful. My study deals with initial sensitivity to cues to gender attribution in French. Andersen (1984) asked: "What's gender good for anyway?" One answer comes from a number of studies, done mostly in the last 20 years, of gender processing by both monolingual and bilingual speakers (among many others, Bates, Devescovi, Hernandez, & Pizzamiglio, 1996; Bates & Liu, 1997; Friederici & Jacobsen, 1990; Grosjean, Dommergues, Cornu, Guillemon, & Besson, 1994; Guillemon & Grosjean, 2001; Taft & Meunier, 1998). These studies provide evidence that in monolinguals and early (but not late) L2 learners, prenominal morphosyntactic exponents of gender prime noun activation and speed up noun recognition. Over the same period, a growing number of studies detailing the course of L2 gender acquisition for a variety of different target languages and learner types (e.g., Bartning, 2000; Chini, 1995; Dewaele & Véronique, 2000; Granfeldt, 2003; Hawkins & Franceschina, 2004) have provided support for the hypothesis that developmental paths differ for early and later learners of gender. Yet despite its obvious importance to SLA theorizing, few studies have dealt directly with adult learners' ability to detect and analyze potential cues to gender at the initial stage of exposure to the L2 (and this despite considerable discussion in recent years of the nature of the "initial state" of L2 learning). The study reported on in this article, which was actually conducted in the late 1980s, was an attempt to shed some light on what the beginning learner can do with the gender attribution problem. This study was, at that time, and is even now, an anomaly; most research dealing with "input" provided descriptions of what people say to learners, not what learners can perceive and represent. Indeed, most studies that shed light on the initial analytical capacities of absolute beginners were concerned with "perceptual" learning, that is, with the acquisition of phonetic or phonological distinctions (e.g., Broselow, Hurtig, & Ringen's [1987] study of tone learning or various studies on the perception of the /r/ vs. /l/ phonemes in American English by Japanese speakers). In this update, it is therefore worth mentioning Rast's (2003) dissertation and Rast and Dommergues (2003), which is based on it, which examined the results of the first 8 hr of instructed learning of Polish by francophone adults. My study asked if anglophone adults, with little or no prior exposure to French, given auditory stimuli, were equally sensitive to phonological, morphosyntactic, or semantic cues to French gender classes. The issue of what learners can detect in the signal and encode is an empirical one. I presented 88 adult English speakers with highly patterned data in list form, namely, auditory sequences of [Det + N]French + translation equivalentEnglish forms. The patterns, all true generalizations, were drawn from linguistic descriptions of French. These cues are believed by grammarians of the language to be "psychologically real" to native speakers. I then measured in 3 different ways what my participants had acquired. Given the extreme limitations on the input (no visual supports to identify referents of names), the participants performed pretty well. Moreover, they proved to be highly sensitive to "natural" semantic and morphological patterns and could generalize accurately from learned instances to novel exemplars. These patterns, however, are not directly instantiated in the speech signal; they are abstractions imposed on the stimuli by human linguistic cognition. Moreover, although it would be inaccurate to describe the learning patterns as "transfer"(because English nouns have no gender feature), prior knowledge seemed to be implicated in the results. Above all, these Anglophones appear to perceive the gender learning problem as a semantic one and to make use of "top-down" information in solving it. It follows that the pattern detection that they can do when listening to speech is clearly biased by what they already know. These results, therefore, provide support for hypotheses that the initial state is to be defined in terms of the transfer of first language (L1) grammatical knowledge and/or the transfer of L1-based processing procedures. [source] Relativism, Absolutism, and ToleranceMETAPHILOSOPHY, Issue 4 2003Hye-Kyung Kim Abstract: A common view is that relativism requires tolerance. We argue that there is no deductive relation between relativism and tolerance, but also that relativism is not incompatible with tolerance. Next we note that there is no standard inductive relation between relativism and tolerance,no inductive enumeration, argument to the best explanation, or causal argument links the two. Two inductive arguments of a different sort that link them are then exposed and criticized at length. The first considers relativism from the objective point of view ,of the universe', the second from the subjective point of view of the relativist herself. Both arguments fail. There is similarly no deductive relation between absolutism and tolerance,neither entails the other,and no inductive connection of any sort links the two. We conclude that tolerance, whether unlimited or restricted, is independent of both relativism and absolutism. A metaethical theory that says only that there is one true or valid ethical code, or that there is a plurality of equally true or valid ethical codes, tells us nothing about whether we should be tolerant, much less how tolerant we should be. [source] Glycopeptide dendrimers, Part III,a review: Use of glycopeptide dendrimers in immunotherapy and diagnosis of cancer and viral diseasesJOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE, Issue 5 2008Petr Niederhafner Abstract Glycopeptide dendrimers containing different types of tumor associated-carbohydrate antigens (TN, TF, sialyl-TN, sialyl-TF, sialyl-Lex, sialyl-Lea etc.) were used in diagnosis and therapy of different sorts of cancer. These dendrimeric structures with incorporated T-cell epitopes and adjuvants can be used as antitumor vaccines. Best results were obtained with multiantigenic vaccines, containing, e.g. five or six different TAAs. The topic of TAAs and their dendrimeric forms at molecular level are reviewed, including structure, syntheses, and biological activities. Use of glycopeptide dendrimers as antiviral vaccines against HIV and influenza is also described. Their syntheses, physico-chemical properties, and biological activities are given with many examples. Copyright © 2008 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Generalization Across Segments in Second Language Consonant IdentificationLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 1 2009Kenneth J. De Jong This article examines the extent of differences between second language (L2) learners in their abilities to identify L2 consonants and provides evidence for linguistic generalization from one consonant to other consonants. It distinguishes among different sorts of models of the relationship between segments: (a) segmentally specific models in which each segment is treated separately and (b) generalized featural models in which segments that share features are treated as a group. It also examines (c) ordered models in which one segment might rely on another previously existing one. The article presents the results of an experiment with 40 Korean learners of English identifying English obstruents in different prosodic locations, and it examines the pattern of variation in perceptual accuracy across the listeners. Results indicate that manner perception varies from person to person as a unit, regardless of the segment, suggesting a single generalized featural skill. Voicing identification, however, does not vary as a unit across the different prosodic positions, suggesting different skills that are applicable to different prosodic positions and are acquired separately. There is also evidence for an implicational relationship between pairs of segments that differ in markedness, providing some evidence for an ordered model; however, such patterns are not pervasive across different contrasts. [source] What's Wrong With Infinite Regresses?METAPHILOSOPHY, Issue 5 2001Daniel Nolan It is almost universally believed that some infinite regresses are vicious, and also almost universally believed that some are benign. In this paper I argue that regresses can be vicious for several different sorts of reasons. Furthermore, I claim that some intuitively vicious regresses do not suffer from any of the particular aetiologies that guarantee viciousness to regresses, but are nevertheless so on the basis of considerations of parsimony. The difference between some apparently benign and some apparently vicious regresses, then, turns out to be a matter of a more general assessment of costs and benefits, making viciousness of regresses in some cases less of a local matter than is usually thought. [source] The Curious Role of Natural Kind TermsPACIFIC PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2002Michael P. Wolf The semantics of natural kind terms has recently been seen as a problem of reference. Kripke and Putnam have suggested that their meaning begins with rigid designation, with any further implications emerging after empirical study. I part ways with this approach and instead offer an account that focuses on the contribution that these terms make to the inferential roles of different sorts of sentences. I note that natural kind terms play an odd array of grammatical roles, both as subject and as parts of predicates, and explain why this dual role contributes something pragmatically significant to explanations of natural phenomena. [source] Electronic Security Systems and Active Implantable Medical DevicesPACING AND CLINICAL ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 8 2002WERNER IRNICH IRNICH, W.: Electronic Security Systems and Active Implantable Medical Devices. How do active implantable medical devices react in the presence of strong magnetic fields in the frequency range between extremely low frequency (ELF) to radiofrequency (RF) as they are emitted by electronic security systems (ESS)? There are three different sorts of ESSs: electronic article surveillance (EAS) devices, metal detector (MDS) devices, and radiofrequency identification (RFID) systems. Common to all is the production of magnetic fields. There is an abundance of literature concerning interference by ESS gates with respect to if there is an influence possible and if such an influence can bear a risk for the AIMD wearers. However, there has been no attempt to study the physical mechanism nor to develop a model of how and under which conditions magnetic fields can influence pacemakers and defibrillators and how they could be disarmed by technological means. It is too often assumed that interference of AIMD with ESS is inevitable. Exogenous signals of similar intensity and rhythm to heart signals can be misinterpreted and, thus, confuse the implant. Important for the interference coupling mechanism is the differentiation between a "unipolar" and a "bipolar" system. With respect to magnetic fields, the left side implanted pacemaker is the most unfavorable case as the lead forms approximately a semicircular area of maximum 225 cm2 into which a voltage can be induced. This assumption yields an interference coupling model that can be expressed by simple mathematics. The worst-case conditions for induced interference voltages are a coupling area of 225 cm2 that is representative for a large human, a homogeneous magnetic field perpendicular to the area formed by the lead, and a unipolar ventricular pacemaker system that is implanted on the left side of the thorax and has the highest interference sensitivity. In bipolar systems the fields must be 17 times larger when compared to a unipolar system to have the same effect. The magnetic field for interfering with ICDs must be 1.7 stronger than that of the most sensitive unipolar pacemaker. The lowest interference thresholds measured over the last 10 years in the low frequency range (16 2/3 Hz,24 kHz) together with thresholds > 24 kHz that were supplied by the CETECOM study are listed. Both sets of data together with the coupling model, allow for judging which fields of ESSs could influence AIMDs. From measurements at gate antennas, it is possible to derive a "maximum allowed field" curve over the whole frequency range, below which no interference will occur. Comparison of data from literature with these maximum allowed fields confirm the correctness of the calculations. Thus, it is possible to predict interference situations in gates if the magnetic field is known. If all future pacemakers were to have the immunity against interference of the better 50% of today's pacemakers, the magnetic field ceiling values could be at least four times higher. The same is true if the ventricular sensitivity is routinely set at 7 mV. Pacemaker manufacturers should consider filter improvement with modern technology, but gate manufacturers should not claim the privilege of being out of bounds. [source] Structure, Agency and Power in Political Analysis: Beyond Contextualised Self-InterpretationsPOLITICAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 2 2008Jason Glynos This article evaluates Mark Bevir and Rod Rhodes' interpretive approach to political analysis by examining their account of social change. Their work is significant because they have endeavoured to construct a distinctive approach which strikes a productive balance between philosophical reflection and analytical attention to the empirical domain. Moreover, in elaborating their approach, Bevir and Rhodes wage a war along a number of fronts: positivism, institutionalism and post-structuralism, and so an analysis of their work enables us to take stock of a range of contemporary methods and approaches. In considering their underlying presuppositions and commitments, we pay particular attention to their account of human agency and its relationship to social structures and political power. While we agree with much of their critique of positivism, naturalism, realism and institutionalism, we argue that Bevir and Rhodes risk overplaying the role of interpreting the individual beliefs and desires of relevant actors to the detriment of a wider net of social practices and logics. Moreover, in challenging their understanding of the post-structuralist approach to political analysis we develop its resources to enrich the possibilities of a critical interpretivism, moving beyond concepts like tradition, dilemma and situated agency. Put more precisely, we argue that the radical contingency of social structures and human agency , their structural incompleteness , discloses new ways of understanding both their character and their mutual intertwining. For example, we develop the categories of lack, dislocation and political identification to think human agency and its relation to wider social structures. More broadly, we argue that an approach developed around different sorts of logics , social, political and fantasmatic , goes some way to steering a different course between a pure thick descriptivism that focuses principally on individual beliefs and desires on the one hand, and a concern with causal laws and mechanisms on the other. [source] Teaching Genres: A Bakhtinian ApproachANTHROPOLOGY & EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2000Professor Elsie Rockwell This article accentuates the cultural/historical nature of teaching. Drawing on Bakhtin's theory of speech genres, it approaches classroom discourse as a composite genre that reflects the history of teaching in each locality. The analysis of a lesson observed in a rural school in Mexico shows how genres drawn from a variety of sources convey different sorts of knowledge as they are woven into ongoing classroom conversation. [source] Lost Works of Art: the problem and a case studyART HISTORY, Issue 3 2000Ed Lilley This article, which is presented in two parts, aims to raise awareness of the position of lost works in art-historical practice. The first section seeks to question the status of the information which can exist regarding work of art that are no longer extant. Without claiming to be comprehensive, it details examples of the different sorts of material that may exist (photographs, engravings, explanatory texts, etc.) and considers these in relation to the original object. The secondary sources are considered individually, as being nearer to, or further from, the original, but they are also seen together as ,traces'. It is explicitly stated that these traces cannot provide access to the meaning of the original but that they may help to elucidate its ,message' (its historical, political or social significance). The second part focuses on two lost paintings by Leclerc which were shown, as pendants, at the 1756 exhibition of the Académie de Saint-Luc in Paris and which are now known only from a single critical text. One of them was a history painting, while the other was a genre scene. The latter, according to the textual source, depicted women in eighteenth-century dress disrobing on the banks of a stream. It is argued that such an immodest scene would not normally have been thought fit for public exhibition in eighteenth-century Paris and reasons are sought for its production and its exposure. The mid-eighteenth century saw doubts cast on frivolous erotic mythology (such as is seen in Leclerc's other painting) as being suitable for artistic depiction. Later events show that the loves of the gods were eclipsed by moral tales from ancient history (the rise of neoclassicism, in a word). It is suggested here, however, that Leclerc perhaps sought to provide an alternative. As his history picture and his genre scene were presently explicitly as pendants, he perhaps aimed to suggest that the way forward might be an acceptance of contemporary sexuality as a suitable subject in art. The paper is exploratory in every sense. It seeks to put the question of lost works on the agenda, to provide the first, rather than the last, word on the subject. In the final analysis, it is even suggested, not entirely frivolously, that Leclerc's paintings may never have existed. But even if they did not, a text describing possible pictures does, and this is of itself an important intervention in the thinking about suitable themes for depiction in eighteenth-century France. [source] Desired Outcomes for Children and Adolescents with Autistic Spectrum DisordersCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 1 2007Bryony Beresford Within children's services, frameworks for assessing outcomes have been developed in the absence of consultation with children with autistic spectrum disorders and their parents. The research reported here worked with parents, other key adults and children with autistic spectrum disorders to identify desired outcomes. It found similarities with non-autistic children in terms of the broad types of outcomes desired. However, the presence of autism meant either new or different sorts of outcomes were reported. Implications in terms of the ways outcomes for autistic children are defined and measured, and the role of services in achieving outcomes is discussed. © 2006 The Author(s). [source] | ||||||||||