Narrative as cultural representation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahiko Minami
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Cultural Representation ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
Oral Narratives ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Appropriate Use ◽  
Content Structure ◽  
Cognition And Culture

Abstract This paper addresses issues related to narrative, cognition, and culture within the framework of foreign- or second-language (L2) narrative discourse, using a methodology of connecting the story- and language-related qualities of narrative discourse. The term “coherence” refers to whether or not a text makes sense at a global level, whereas “cohesion” describes the linguistic relationships among clauses in a narrative, such as how its surface linguistic elements are linked together at a local level. The paper (1) examines oral narratives, (2) reveals how both coherence and cohesion serve as the twin engines of narrative, and (3) emphasizes the significance of noting not only the narrative content/structure but also the appropriate use of linguistic devices, to identify language-specific ways of expressing affective elements in narrative. That is, the paper suggests the importance of developing conceptual understanding of L2 forms (e.g., grammatical variables) and their stylistic significance.

Do You Want to See the Tree? Ignore the Forest

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Poirel ◽  
Claire Sara Krakowski ◽  
Sabrina Sayah ◽  
Arlette Pineau ◽  
Olivier Houdé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Recognition ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Information ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Global Information ◽  
Focus Attention ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Hierarchical Stimuli ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
The One

The visual environment consists of global structures (e.g., a forest) made up of local parts (e.g., trees). When compound stimuli are presented (e.g., large global letters composed of arrangements of small local letters), the global unattended information slows responses to local targets. Using a negative priming paradigm, we investigated whether inhibition is required to process hierarchical stimuli when information at the local level is in conflict with the one at the global level. The results show that when local and global information is in conflict, global information must be inhibited to process local information, but that the reverse is not true. This finding has potential direct implications for brain models of visual recognition, by suggesting that when local information is conflicting with global information, inhibitory control reduces feedback activity from global information (e.g., inhibits the forest) which allows the visual system to process local information (e.g., to focus attention on a particular tree).

Diagnosis of embankment dam distresses using Bayesian networks. Part I. Global-level characteristics based on a dam distress database

2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 1630-1644 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.M. Zhang ◽  
Y. Xu ◽  
J.S. Jia ◽  
C. Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Networks ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Companion Paper ◽  
General Information ◽  
Dam Safety ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Embankment Dam ◽  
The Public ◽  
Embankment Dams ◽  
Level Performance

Dam safety has drawn increasing attention from the public. To ensure dam safety, it is essential to diagnose any dam distresses and their causes properly. The main objective of this paper is to develop a robust probability-based tool using Bayesian networks for the diagnosis of embankment dam distresses at the global level based on past dam distress data. A database of 993 distressed in-service embankment dams in China has been compiled, including general information on the dams, distresses, and causes. Based on the database, general characteristics of embankment dam distresses are studied using Bayesian networks, which can tackle not only the multiplicity of dam distresses and causes, but also the complex interrelations among them. Common patterns and causes of distresses are identified. The interrelations among the dam distresses and their causes are quantified using conditional probabilities determined based on the historical frequencies from the dam distress database. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted to identify and rank the most important factors that cause the distresses. With the prior information of common characteristics extracted from the database, Bayesian networks are further used to diagnose a specific distressed dam at the local level by combining global-level performance records and project-specific evidence in a systematic structure, which is presented in a companion paper.

Local-Level and Global-Level Form Characteristics in Apparent-Motion Correspondence

Perception ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 1233-1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Palmer ◽  
Ovid J L Tzeng ◽  
Sheng He
Keyword(s):  
Apparent Motion ◽  
Motion Detection ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The Other ◽  
Correspondence Problem ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Global Precedence ◽  
Detection Mechanism ◽  
Motion Display ◽  
Motion Correspondence

This study addressed the ‘correspondence’ problem of apparent-motion (AM) perception in which parts of a scene must be matched with counterparts separated in time and space. Given evidence that AM correspondence can be mediated by two distinct processes—one based on a low-level motion-detection mechanism (the Reichardt process), the other involving the tracking of objects by visual attention (the attention-based process)—the present study explored how these processes interact in the perception of apparent motion between hierarchically structured figures. In three experiments, hierarchical figures were presented in a competition motion display so that, across frames, figures were identical at either the local or the global level. In experiment 1 it was shown that AM occurred between locally identical figures. Furthermore, with the Reichardt AM component eliminated in experiments 3 and 4, no preference was obtained for either level. While evidence from previous studies suggests that form extraction for hierarchically structured figures proceeds from the global to the local level, the present results indicate the irrelevance of such a global precedence in AM correspondence. In addition, it is suggested that Reichardt AM correspondence between local elements constrains attention-based AM correspondence between global figures so that both components move in the same direction. It is argued that this constraining process represents an elegant means of achieving AM correspondence between objects undergoing complex transformations.

scholarly journals Combat as an Interpersonal Synergy: An Ecological Dynamics Approach to Combat Sports

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 1825-1836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Krabben ◽  
Dominic Orth ◽  
John van der Kamp
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Control Parameters ◽  
Combat Sports ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Interactive Approach ◽  
Ecological Dynamics ◽  
Skilled Performance ◽  
Initial Support ◽  
And Control

Abstract In combat sports, athletes continuously co-adapt their behavior to that of the opponent. We consider this interactive aspect of combat to be at the heart of skilled performance, yet combat sports research often neglects or limits interaction between combatants. To promote a more interactive approach, the aim of this paper is to understand combat sports from the combined perspective of ecological psychology and dynamic systems. Accordingly, combat athletes are driven by perception of affordances to attack and defend. Two combatants in a fight self-organize into one interpersonal synergy, where the perceptions and actions of both athletes are coupled. To be successful in combat, performers need to manipulate and take advantage of the (in)stability of the system. Skilled performance in combat sports therefore requires brinkmanship: combatants need to be aware of their action boundaries and purposefully act in meta-stable regions on the limits of their capabilities. We review the experimental literature to provide initial support for a synergetic approach to combat sports. Expert combatants seem able to accurately perceive action boundaries for themselves and their opponent. Local-level behavior of individual combatants has been found to lead to spatiotemporal synchronization at the global level of a fight. Yet, a formal understanding of combat as a dynamic system starting with the identification of order and control parameters is still lacking. We conclude that the ecological dynamics perspective offers a promising approach to further our understanding of skilled performance in combat sports, as well as to assist coaches and athletes to promote optimal training and learning.

Manufacturing Social Responsibility Benchmarks in the Competitive Intelligence Age

2011 ◽  
pp. 173-188
Author(s):  
James Douglas Orton
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Competitive Strategy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Competitive Intelligence ◽  
Global Level ◽  
The Us ◽  
Economic Warfare ◽  
Rational Standard

The themes explored elsewhere in this volume, on the intersection between information technology and social responsibility, take on new shapes when considered in the context of competitive intelligence. Using the (probably) apocryphal Thomson-Raytheon story as a launching point, this chapter will explore the emergence of social responsibility benchmarks in the competitive intelligence age. This analysis is heavily flavored by my own experiences trying to understand the French approach to competitive intelligence. The paper reviews attempts by competitive intelligence agents in the US and France to manufacture Social Responsibility benchmarks in the contexts of covert operations, competitive strategy, corporate intelligence, economic security, economic intelligence, and economic warfare. The conclusion of the paper will argue that the construction of social responsibility is a local-level human accomplishment, not a global-level rational standard. Furthermore, the paper implies that the burden of social responsibility lies more heavily on the successful economic oppressor than the unsuccessful economic resistance.

The psycholinguistics of developing text construction

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUTH A. BERMAN
Keyword(s):  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Linguistic Expression ◽  
Developmental Patterns ◽  
Complex Syntax ◽  
Text Organization

ABSTRACTThis paper outlines functionally motivated quantifiable criteria for characterizing different facets of discourse – global-level principles, categories of referential content, clause-linking complex syntax, local linguistic expression and overall discourse stance – in relation to the variables of development, genre and modality. Concern is with later, school-age language development, in the conviction that the long developmental route of language acquisition can profitably be examined in the context of extended discourse. Findings are reviewed from a cross-linguistic project that elicited narrative and expository texts in both speech and writing at four age groups: (9–10 years, 12–13, 16–17 and adults). Clear developmental patterns emerge from middle childhood to adulthood, with significant shifts in adolescence; global-level text organization is mastered earlier in narratives than in expository essays, but the latter promote more advanced use of local-level lexicon and syntax; and spoken texts are more spread out than their denser written counterparts in clause-linkage, referential content and lexical usage. These and other findings are discussed in terms of the growth and reorganization of knowledge about types of discourse and text-embedded language use.

Modelling vehicle emissions using the TEMIS program: Part 2: Case studies

1998 ◽  
Vol 212 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Saleh ◽  
J D Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Air Emissions ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Ozone Layer Depletion ◽  
Technical Advances ◽  
Fuel Consumption And Emissions

Many challenges are associated with the ever increasing level of energy consumption and the damage to the environment caused by the pollutants from all sectors, On the local level the problem is associated with matters such as noise and air pollution, while on the global level the problems are associated with acid rain, ozone layer depletion and the greenhouse effect (global warming). The transport sector is a major contributor in this respect. The use of appropriate decision-making tools to assist in the assessment of alternative transport policies is required urgently. One such tool is the TEMIS program which was described in Part 1 of this investigation, where the methodology for the enhancement of TEMIS was reported. The enhanced version of TEMIS has subsequently been used to model the effects of different transport scenarios in order to improve future fuel economy and the adverse effects of air emissions as well as the greenhouse gases. In the present paper, three main case studies have been considered to test the effect of different scenarios (in terms of alternative fuels and technical advances) on energy consumption and emissions: firstly, the switch to alternative fuels, through investigating the effects of switching from petrol to diesel, secondly, the effects of switching from diesel to bio-diesel (for buses) and, finally, the effects of technical advances (three-way catalytic converters) and the effects on fuel consumption and emissions are considered.

scholarly journals A search-set model of path tracing in graphs

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 308-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Q. Dawson ◽  
Tamara Munzner ◽  
Joanna McGrenere
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Model ◽  
Shortest Path ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Common Path ◽  
Path Tracing ◽  
Visual Encoding ◽  
Preliminary Validation ◽  
Edge Crossings

We present a predictive model of human behaviour when tracing paths through a node-link graph, a low-level abstract task that feeds into many other visual data analysis tasks that require understanding topological structure. We introduce the idea of a search set, namely, the set of paths that users are most likely to search, as a useful intermediate level for analysis that lies between the global level of the full graph and the local level of the shortest path between two nodes. We present potential practical applications of a predicted search set in the design of visual encoding and interaction techniques for graphs. Our predictive model is based on extensive qualitative analysis from an observational study, resulting in a detailed characterization of common path-tracing behaviours. These include the conditions under which people stop following paths, the likely directions for the first hop people follow, the tendency to revisit previously followed paths and the tendency to mistakenly follow apparent paths in addition to true topological paths. The algorithmic implementation of our predictive model is robust to a broad range of parameter settings. We provide a preliminary validation of the model through a hierarchical multiple regression analysis comparing graph readability factors computed on the predicted search set to factors computed at the global level and the local shortest path solution. The tested factors included edge–edge crossings, node–edge crossings, path continuity and path length. Our approach provides modest improvements for predictions of RT and error using search-set factors.

The acquisition of connectors in French L2 narrative discourse

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betsy Kerr-Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
Oral Narratives

AbstractThe article examines the use of connectors in oral narratives of 27 adult American learners of French, who are classified in four groups according to length of instruction and type of learning environment, i.e. classroom or immersion or mixed. The patterns of acquisition are found to be in general quite similar to those of child LI French learners, including a routinised use of one or more markers which serve as pause fillers. Surprisingly, even very proficient learners show overgeneralisation of some connectors, in particular of transitional connectors (alors, donc) and discourse-structuring particles (eh bien, bon), whose functions are relatively opaque.

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