Meanings of Tones and Tunes

2020 ◽  
pp. 442-453
Author(s):  
Matthijs Westera ◽  
Daniel Goodhue ◽  
Carlos Gussenhoven
Keyword(s):  
Focal Point ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Intonational Meaning

Theories of intonational meaning can be organized into two broad categories. Specialist theories aim to capture the meaning of a particular type of intonation contour, or even just a particular usage of that contour, typically using tools from formal semantics. By contrast, generalist theories aim to capture the meanings of a broader range of contours, typically by assigning more basic, underspecified meanings to a larger set of prosodic morphemes. Both strands have yielded important insights, but neither is entirely satisfactory: specialist theories have limited empirical scope and explanatory potential, and generalist theories have not readily yielded concrete, testable predictions from their basic meanings. In recent years, following developments in formal pragmatics, partial but promising attempts have been made to combine the strengths of both. With this goal as a focal point, the current chapter provides an overview of theoretical and empirical work on intonational meaning.

The Pleasure Deficit

Camming ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 19-40
Author(s):  
Angela Jones
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Social Experiences ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Sacrifice

Pleasure has been a focal point of both theoretical and empirical work across a wide range of disciplines for millennia. Surprisingly, however, sociology has had very little to say about the importance of pleasure in shaping social action, the ways that society constructs what pleasure is, and how we experience pleasure. We desperately need a sociological theory of pleasure to unpack the ways that pleasure both motivates human behavior and mediates social interactions. Pleasure refers to infinitely different sets of gratifying social experiences. Pleasure is a social experience controlled by regulatory forces, and the routine sacrifice of pleasure is a hallmark of social life. The sacrifices of pleasure provide structure and order to society and its institutions; yet the sacrifice of pleasure is embedded with power, and in this process, human freedom is limited and people are subjugated. This chapter raises the question, What would it look like for sociologists, generalists, and those individuals in various sociological subfields to place pleasure at the center of their analyses? This chapter offers readers a distinctively sociological theory of pleasure, which lays the groundwork for an entirely new subfield in sociology—the sociology of pleasure.

Middle-Class Territory? Some Remarks on the Use of Class Analysis in Rural Studies

1995 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1213-1230 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Murdoch
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Class Formation ◽  
General Character ◽  
Class Analysis ◽  
Rural Studies ◽  
Rural Space

Class analysis per se seems to have fallen out of favour in rural studies. In this paper the way in which it might usefully be reinstated as a unitary perspective on rural change is examined. The middle class is used as a focal point for the analysis. First, a short review of recent developments in class analysis within sociology is presented, and it is argued that class should be considered as an outcome of the various processes of collective action contributing to class formation. Second, some recent examples of class analysis in rural studies in the United Kingdom are considered. It is argued that these have been insufficiently attentive to the ways in which the processes of class formation unfold in the rural arena and the constitutive role of rural space. Yet rural England provides a particularly fruitful context in which to study middle-class collective action, for collective action is increasingly dominated by this class. Other forms of action associated with other attributes, such as race, ethnicity, and gender, are only likely to be successfully asserted if they reinforce the general character of this class context. In conclusion, the argument is made for a symmetrical use of class analysis, one which is in a subtle and complex relationship both with empirical work and with other forms of interpretation and analysis. It is proposed that the performative definition which underlies this paper provides such a symmetry.

Integrating perspectives: How the development of second-personal competence lays the foundation for a second-personal morality

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Corbit ◽  
Chris Moore
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Personal Competence ◽  
Triadic Interactions ◽  
Personal Morality ◽  
Integrative Process

Abstract The integration of first-, second-, and third-personal information within joint intentional collaboration provides the foundation for broad-based second-personal morality. We offer two additions to this framework: a description of the developmental process through which second-personal competence emerges from early triadic interactions, and empirical evidence that collaboration with a concrete goal may provide an essential focal point for this integrative process.

CBED Shadow Images and Cs:Aberration Measurement

1982 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 696-697
Author(s):  
R. W. Carpenter ◽  
I.Y.T. Chan ◽  
J. M. Cowley
Keyword(s):  
Focal Point ◽  
Spherical Aberration ◽  
Optic Axis ◽  
Wide Angle ◽  
Caustic Surface ◽  
Convergent Beam

Wide-angle convergent beam shadow images(CBSI) exhibit several characteristic distortions resulting from spherical aberration. The most prominent is a circle of infinite magnification resulting from rays having equal values of a forming a cross-over on the optic axis at some distance before reaching the paraxial focal point. This distortion is called the tangential circle of infinite magnification; it can be used to align and stigmate a STEM and to determine Cs for the probe forming lens. A second distortion, the radial circle of infinite magnification, results from a cross-over on the lens caustic surface of rays with differing values of ∝a, also before the paraxial focal point of the lens.

Electrostatic optics and aberration correction in the 1940s and today

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Gertrude F. Rempfer
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Focal Length ◽  
High Vacuum ◽  
Electron Optics ◽  
Applied Physics ◽  
Electrostatic Lenses ◽  
Commercial Instrument ◽  
The University ◽  
Theory And Experiment

I became involved in electron optics in early 1945, when my husband Robert and I were hired by the Farrand Optical Company. My husband had a mathematics Ph.D.; my degree was in physics. My main responsibilities were connected with the development of an electrostatic electron microscope. Fortunately, my thesis research on thermionic and field emission, in the late 1930s under the direction of Professor Joseph E. Henderson at the University of Washington, provided a foundation for dealing with electron beams, high vacuum, and high voltage.At the Farrand Company my co-workers and I used an electron-optical bench to carry out an extensive series of tests on three-electrode electrostatic lenses, as a function of geometrical and voltage parameters. Our studies enabled us to select optimum designs for the lenses in the electron microscope. We early on discovered that, in general, electron lenses are not “thin” lenses, and that aberrations of focal point and aberrations of focal length are not the same. I found electron optics to be an intriguing blend of theory and experiment. A laboratory version of the electron microscope was built and tested, and a report was given at the December 1947 EMSA meeting. The micrograph in fig. 1 is one of several which were presented at the meeting. This micrograph also appeared on the cover of the January 1949 issue of Journal of Applied Physics. These were exciting times in electron microscopy; it seemed that almost everything that happened was new. Our opportunities to publish were limited to patents because Mr. Farrand envisaged a commercial instrument. Regrettably, a commercial version of our laboratory microscope was not produced.

A confocal laser scanning microscope for fluorescence and reflection at video rates

1989 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 134-135
Author(s):  
P.M. Houpt ◽  
A. Draaijer
Keyword(s):  
Light Source ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope ◽  
Confocal Laser ◽  
Point Light Source ◽  
Volume Of Interest ◽  
Ion Laser ◽  
Point Light ◽  
Point Detector

In confocal microscopy, the object is scanned by the coinciding focal points (confocal) of a point light source and a point detector both focused on a certain plane in the object. Only light coming from the focal point is detected and, even more important, out-of-focus light is rejected.This makes it possible to slice up optically the ‘volume of interest’ in the object by moving it axially while scanning the focused point light source (X-Y) laterally. The successive confocal sections can be stored in a computer and used to reconstruct the object in a 3D image display.The instrument described is able to scan the object laterally with an Ar ion laser (488 nm) at video rates. The image of one confocal section of an object can be displayed within 40 milliseconds (1000 х 1000 pixels). The time to record the total information within the ‘volume of interest’ normally depends on the number of slices needed to cover it, but rarely exceeds a few seconds.

Do Work Characteristics Mediate the Negative Effect of Transformational Leadership on Impaired Well-Being?

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 167-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Vincent-Höper ◽  
Sabine Gregersen ◽  
Albert Nienhaus
Keyword(s):  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Leadership Behavior ◽  
Workplace Health Promotion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Related Factor ◽  
Work Characteristics ◽  
Role Clarity

Abstract: In recent years, transformational leadership as a health-related factor has become a focal point of interest in research and practice. However, the pathways and mechanisms underlying this association are not yet well understood. In order to gain knowledge on how or why transformational leadership and employee well-being are associated, we investigated the mediating effect of the work characteristics role clarity and predictability. The study was carried out on 618 employees working in the health-care sector in Germany. We tested the mediator effect using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that role clarity and predictability fully mediate the relation between transformational leadership and negative indicators of well-being. These results give credit to the notion that work characteristics play an important role in identifying health-relevant aspects of leadership behavior. Our findings advance the understanding of how to enhance employee well-being and have implications for the design of leadership-related interventions of workplace health promotion.

Trust in Management Information Systems (MIS)

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Meeßen ◽  
Meinald T. Thielsch ◽  
Guido Hertel
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Management Information Systems ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Management Information ◽  
Trust In Management ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Trust In Technology ◽  
The Internet Of Things

Abstract. Digitalization, enhanced storage capacities, and the Internet of Things increase the volume of data in modern organizations. To process and make use of these data and to avoid information overload, management information systems (MIS) are introduced that collect, process, and analyze relevant data. However, a precondition for the application of MIS is that users trust them. Extending accounts of trust in automation and trust in technology, we introduce a new model of trust in MIS that addresses the conceptual ambiguities of existing conceptualizations of trust and integrates initial empirical work in this field. In doing so, we differentiate between perceived trustworthiness of an MIS, experienced trust in an MIS, intentions to use an MIS, and actual use of an MIS. Moreover, we consider users’ perceived risks and contextual factors (e. g., autonomy at work) as moderators. The introduced model offers guidelines for future research and initial suggestions to foster trust-based MIS use.

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