scholarly journals Children’s non-adultlike interpretations of telic predicates across languages

Linguistics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 1447-1500
Author(s):  
Fabienne Martin ◽  
Hamida Demirdache ◽  
Isabel García del Real ◽  
Angeliek van Hout ◽  
Nina Kazanina

AbstractThe acquisition literature has documented several different types of misinterpretations of telic sentences by children, yet a comprehensive analysis of these child interpretations has not been attempted and a crosslinguistic perspective is lacking. This task is not easy, for, on the surface, children’s non-adultlike interpretations appear to be scattered and even contradictory across languages. Several cognitive biases have been proposed to explain given patterns (children initially adhere to a Manner bias, or alternatively a Result bias). Reviewing a wide range of studies on the acquisition of telic sentences in relation to tense-aspect markers, we show that children’s non-adultlike interpretations fall into three different patterns. We conclude that the diversity of non-adultlike interpretations that is found across child languages is incompatible with accounts that rely on these cognitive, language-independent principles, but instead is triggered by language-specific properties. Analyzing these patterns in detail, it appears that child learners across languages have problems with tense-aspect forms with variable meanings, in contrast to forms with a one-to-one form/meaning mappings which are acquired earlier. While adults use a context-sensitive interpretation of forms with multiple meanings, various semantic-pragmatic sources can explain children’s difficulties with interpreting such forms. All explanations that we identify across child languages rely on children’s immature command of pragmatic reasoning, albeit in very different ways for the three different patterns. Thus, by taking a crosslinguistic semantic approach and integrating detailed insights from the tense-aspect semantics of specific languages with universal pragmatic effects, we explain the non-adultlike interpretation of telic sentences in a variety of child languages in a comprehensive way.

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana P. dos Santos ◽  
Tamara G. de Araújo ◽  
Gandhi Rádis-Baptista

Venom-derived peptides display diverse biological and pharmacological activities, making them useful in drug discovery platforms and for a wide range of applications in medicine and pharmaceutical biotechnology. Due to their target specificities, venom peptides have the potential to be developed into biopharmaceuticals to treat various health conditions such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and chronic pain. Despite the high potential for drug development, several limitations preclude the direct use of peptides as therapeutics and hamper the process of converting venom peptides into pharmaceuticals. These limitations include, for instance, chemical instability, poor oral absorption, short halflife, and off-target cytotoxicity. One strategy to overcome these disadvantages relies on the formulation of bioactive peptides with nanocarriers. A range of biocompatible materials are now available that can serve as nanocarriers and can improve the bioavailability of therapeutic and venom-derived peptides for clinical and diagnostic application. Examples of isolated venom peptides and crude animal venoms that have been encapsulated and formulated with different types of nanomaterials with promising results are increasingly reported. Based on the current data, a wealth of information can be collected regarding the utilization of nanocarriers to encapsulate venom peptides and render them bioavailable for pharmaceutical use. Overall, nanomaterials arise as essential components in the preparation of biopharmaceuticals that are based on biological and pharmacological active venom-derived peptides.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nihar Ranjan Biswal

Background: Surfactant adsorption at the interfaces (solid–liquid, liquid–air, or liquid–liquid) is receiving considerable attention from a long time due to its wide range of practical applications. Objective: Specifically wettability of solid surface by liquids is mainly measured by contact angle and has many practical importances where solid–liquid systems are used. Adsorption of surfactants plays an important role in the wetting process. The wetting behaviours of three plant-based natural surfactants (Reetha, Shikakai, and Acacia) on the glass surface are compared with one widely used nonionic synthetic surfactant (Triton X-100) and reported in this study. Methods: The dynamic contact angle study of three different types of plant surfactants (Reetha, Shikakai and Acacia) and one synthetic surfactant (Triton X 100) on the glass surface has been carried out. The effect of two different types of alcohols such as Methanol and amyl alcohol on wettability of shikakai, as it shows little higher value of contact angle on glass surface has been measured. Results: The contact angle measurements show that there is an increase in contact angle from 47° (pure water) to 67.72°, 65.57°, 68.84°, and 68.79° for Reetha, Acacia, Shikakai, and Triton X-100 respectively with the increase in surfactant concentration and remain constant at CMC. The change in contact angle of Shikakai-Amyl alcohol mixtures are slightly different than that of methanol-Shikakai mixture, mostly there is a gradual increase in contact angle with the increasing in alcohol concentration. Conclusion: There is no linear relationship between cos θ and inverse of surface tension. There was a linear increase in surface free energy results with increase in concentration as more surfactant molecules were adsorbing at the interface enhancing an increase in contact angle.


Author(s):  
_______ Archana ◽  
Charu Datta ◽  
Pratibha Tiwari

Degradation of environment is one of the most serious challenges before the mankind in today’s world. Mankind has been facing a wide range of problem arising out of the degradation of environment. Not only the areas under human inhabitation, but the areas of the planet without human population have also been suffering from these problems. As the population increase day by day, the amenities are not improved simultaneously. With the advancement of science and technologies the needs of human beings has been changing rapidly. As a result different types of environmental problems have been rising. Environmental degradation is a wide- reaching problem and it is likely to influence the health of human population is great. It may be defined the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water, and soil. The destruction of ecosystem and extinction of wildlife. Environmental degradation has occurred due to the recent activities in the field of socio-economic, institute and technology. Poverty still remains a problem as the root of several environmental problems to create awareness among the people about the ill effect of environmental pollution. In the whole research it is clear that all factors of environmental degradation may be reduced through- Framing the new laws on environmental degradation, Environment friend policy, Controlling all the ways and means of noise, air, soil and water pollution, Through growing more and more trees and by adapting the proper sanitation policy.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 3209
Author(s):  
Karla R. Borba ◽  
Didem P. Aykas ◽  
Maria I. Milani ◽  
Luiz A. Colnago ◽  
Marcos D. Ferreira ◽  
...  

Portable spectrometers are promising tools that can be an alternative way, for various purposes, of analyzing food quality, such as monitoring in a few seconds the internal quality during fruit ripening in the field. A portable/handheld (palm-sized) near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer (Neospectra, Si-ware) with spectral range of 1295–2611 nm, equipped with a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMs), was used to develop prediction models to evaluate tomato quality attributes non-destructively. Soluble solid content (SSC), fructose, glucose, titratable acidity (TA), ascorbic, and citric acid contents of different types of fresh tomatoes were analyzed with standard methods, and those values were correlated to spectral data by partial least squares regression (PLSR). Fresh tomato samples were obtained in 2018 and 2019 crops in commercial production, and four fruit types were evaluated: Roma, round, grape, and cherry tomatoes. The large variation in tomato types and having the fruits from distinct years resulted in a wide range in quality parameters enabling robust PLSR models. Results showed accurate prediction and good correlation (Rpred) for SSC = 0.87, glucose = 0.83, fructose = 0.87, ascorbic acid = 0.81, and citric acid = 0.86. Our results support the assertion that a handheld NIR spectrometer has a high potential to simultaneously determine several quality attributes of different types of tomatoes in a practical and fast way.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1598
Author(s):  
Chih-Yu Chung ◽  
Yu-Ju Chen ◽  
Chia-Hui Kang ◽  
Hung-Yun Lin ◽  
Chih-Ching Huang ◽  
...  

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are emerging novel nanomaterials with a wide range of applications and high biocompatibility. However, there is a lack of in-depth research on whether CQDs can cause acute or long-term adverse reactions in aquatic organisms. In this study, two different types of CQDs prepared by ammonia citrate and spermidine, namely CQDAC and CQDSpd, were used to evaluate their biocompatibilities. In the fish embryo acute toxicity test (FET), the LD50 of CQDAC and CQDSpd was about 500 and 100 ppm. During the stage of eleutheroembryo, the LD50 decreased to 340 and 55 ppm, respectively. However, both CQDs were quickly eliminated from embryo and eleutheroembryo, indicating a lack of bioaccumulation. Long-term accumulation of CQDs was also performed in this study, and adult zebrafish showed no adverse effects in 12 weeks. In addition, there was no difference in the hatchability and deformity rates of offspring produced by adult zebrafish, regardless of whether they were fed CQDs or not. The results showed that both CQDAC and CQDSpd have low toxicity and bioaccumulation to zebrafish. Moreover, the toxicity assay developed in this study provides a comprehensive platform to assess the impacts of CQDs on aquatic organisms in the future.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 513
Author(s):  
Anna Rabajczyk ◽  
Maria Zielecka ◽  
Krzysztof Cygańczuk ◽  
Łukasz Pastuszka ◽  
Leszek Jurecki

A recent trend in the field of membrane research is the incorporation of nanoparticles into polymeric membranes, which could produce synergistic effects when using different types of materials. This paper discusses the effect of the introduction of different nanometals such as silver, iron, silica, aluminum, titanium, zinc, and copper and their oxides on the permeability, selectivity, hydrophilicity, conductivity, mechanical strength, thermal stability, and antiviral and antibacterial properties of polymeric membranes. The effects of nanoparticle physicochemical properties, type, size, and concentration on a membrane’s intrinsic properties such as pore morphology, porosity, pore size, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity, membrane surface charge, and roughness are discussed, and the performance of nanocomposite membranes in terms of flux permeation, contaminant rejection, and antifouling capability are reviewed. The wide range of nanocomposite membrane applications including desalination and removal of various contaminants in water-treatment processes are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 193896552110335
Author(s):  
John W. O’Neill ◽  
Jihwan Yeon

In recent years, short-term rental platforms in the lodging sector, including Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway, have received extensive attention and emerged as potentially alternative suppliers of services traditionally provided by established commercial accommodation providers, that is, hotels. Short-term rentals have dramatically increased the available supply of rooms for visitors to multiple international destinations, potentially siphoning demand away from hotels to short-term rental businesses. In a competitive market, an increase in supply with constant demand would negatively influence incumbent service providers. In this article, we examine the substitution effects of short-term rental supply on hotel performance in different cities around the world. Specifically, we comprehensively investigate the substitution effects of short-term rental supply on hotel performance based on hotel class, location type, and region. Furthermore, we segment the short-term rental supply based on its types of accommodations, that is, shared rooms, private rooms, and entire homes, and both examine and quantify the differential effects of these types of short-term rentals on different types of hotels. This study offers a comprehensive analysis regarding the impact of multiple short-term rental platforms on hotel performance and offers both conceptual and practical insights regarding the nature and extent of the effects that were identified.


2021 ◽  
pp. 088391152199784
Author(s):  
Nipun Jain ◽  
Shashi Singh

Development of an artificial tissue by tissue engineering is witnessed to be one of the long lasting clarified solutions for the damaged tissue function restoration. To accomplish this, a scaffold is designed as a cell carrier in which the extracellular matrix (ECM) performs a prominent task of controlling the inoculated cell’s destiny. ECM composition, topography and mechanical properties lead to different types of interactions between cells and ECM components that trigger an assortment of cellular reactions via diverse sensing mechanisms and downstream signaling pathways. The polysaccharides in the form of proteoglycans and glycoproteins yield better outcomes when included in the designed matrices. Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains present on proteoglycans show a wide range of operations such as sequestering of critical effector morphogens which encourage proficient nutrient contribution toward the growing stem cells for their development and endurance. In this review we discuss how the glycosylation aspects are of considerable importance in everyday housekeeping functions of a cell especially when placed in a controlled environment under ideal growth conditions. Hydrogels made from these GAG chains have been used extensively as a resorbable material that mimics the natural ECM functions for an efficient control over cell attachment, permeability, viability, proliferation, and differentiation processes. Also the incorporation of non-mammalian polysaccharides can elicit specific receptor responses which authorize the creation of numerous vigorous frameworks while prolonging the low cost and immunogenicity of the substance.


Author(s):  
Gaojian Huang ◽  
Christine Petersen ◽  
Brandon J. Pitts

Semi-autonomous vehicles still require drivers to occasionally resume manual control. However, drivers of these vehicles may have different mental states. For example, drivers may be engaged in non-driving related tasks or may exhibit mind wandering behavior. Also, monitoring monotonous driving environments can result in passive fatigue. Given the potential for different types of mental states to negatively affect takeover performance, it will be critical to highlight how mental states affect semi-autonomous takeover. A systematic review was conducted to synthesize the literature on mental states (such as distraction, fatigue, emotion) and takeover performance. This review focuses specifically on five fatigue studies. Overall, studies were too few to observe consistent findings, but some suggest that response times to takeover alerts and post-takeover performance may be affected by fatigue. Ultimately, this review may help researchers improve and develop real-time mental states monitoring systems for a wide range of application domains.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 1893
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Mancuso ◽  
Grazia Federica Bencresciuto ◽  
Stevo Lavrnić ◽  
Attilio Toscano

The implementation of nature-based solutions (NBSs) can be a suitable and sustainable approach to coping with environmental issues related to diffuse water pollution from agriculture. NBSs exploit natural mitigation processes that can promote the removal of different contaminants from agricultural wastewater, and they can also enable the recovery of otherwise lost resources (i.e., nutrients). Among these, nitrogen impacts different ecosystems, resulting in serious environmental and human health issues. Recent research activities have investigated the capability of NBS to remove nitrogen from polluted water. However, the regulating mechanisms for nitrogen removal can be complex, since a wide range of decontamination pathways, such as plant uptake, microbial degradation, substrate adsorption and filtration, precipitation, sedimentation, and volatilization, can be involved. Investigating these processes is beneficial for the enhancement of the performance of NBSs. The present study provides a comprehensive review of factors that can influence nitrogen removal in different types of NBSs, and the possible strategies for nitrogen recovery that have been reported in the literature.


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