Aspect construal in Mandarin: a usage-based constructionist perspective on LE

Despite extensive research efforts to explain the Mandarin Chinese particle le, confusion persists in the absence of a unitary theory and sufficient empirical evidence. This study provides a unitary account of le by adopting a usage-based constructionist approach, one that liberates grammatical aspect from, and is able to accommodate, lexical aspect. We argue that le participates in two distinct family resemblance constructions of aspect construal associated with two distinct sentential positions. The clause-internal le construction construes the closing or final boundary of an event and the clause-final le construction construes the opening or initial boundary of an event. Corpus analysis showed that the two aspect constructions have distinct patterns in natural language uses that are consistent with the proposed construals. Results from elicited response data showed that native speakers paid attention to construction-level formal and semantic cues in making family resemblance judgments about tokens of the two constructions. This study has both theoretical and methodological implications for crosslinguistic research on grammatical aspect in relation to lexical aspect and for usage-based constructionist approaches to grammatical categories beyond aspect.

Annihilation diagram contribution to charmonium masses

In this work, we generate gauge configurations with $N_f=2$ dynamical charm quarks on anisotropic lattices. The mass shift of $1S$ and $1P$ charmonia owing to the charm quark annihilation effect can be investigated directly in a manner of unitary theory. The distillation method is adopted to treat the charm quark annihilation diagrams at a very precise level. For $1S$ charmonia, the charm quark annihilation effect almost does not change the $J/\psi$ mass, but lifts the $\eta_c$ mass by approximately 3-4 MeV. For $1P$ charmonia, this effect results in positive mass shifts of approximately 1 MeV for $\chi_{c1}$ and $h_c$, but decreases the $\chi_{c2}$ mass by approximately 3 MeV. We have not obtain a reliable result for the mass shift of $\chi_{c0}$. In addition, it is observed that the spin averaged mass of the spin-triplet $1P$ charmonia is in a good agreement with the $h_c$, as expected by the non-relativistic quark model and measured by experiments. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Article funded by SCOAP3 and published under licence by Chinese Physical Society and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science and the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd.

Is the Theory of Karman the Solution to the Problem of Evil? Some Thoughts from Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta

Several scholars have discussed various versions of the theory of karman as offering a convincing solution to the problem of evil. Arthur Herman even thinks that the theory of karman is the ultimate theodicy (1976). Such scholars tend to imagine that a unitary theory of karman can be reconstructed as the backbone of most of Sanskrit philosophy of religion and ethics. In this article, I discuss the role of the theory of karman and the problem of evil in one of the schools of Sanskrit philosophy which is still alive and thriving, namely Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta. Is karman really the central key to theodicy in this school? Additionally, does the school’s theory of karman correspond to what Herman, Chadha, Trakakis, Sharma and others discuss?

THE PARADIGM OF CONTEMPORARY UNITARISM IN UKRAINE: ISSUES OF FORMATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Aim. The article aims to investigate the essential and content characteristics of unitarism as a phenomenon of contemporary constitutional law. The synergistic connection between the doctrine of modern unitarism, the principles of unitarity of the state territory and the fundamental institutions of political-legal and state-administrative life of modern unitary states is shown. It proves that the unitary system is not only one of the important components of the process of accomplishing the tasks, goals and functions of most modern states, but also an immanent feature and strategic element of the mechanism of exercising their sovereign rights. Methods. The methodological basis encompasses philosophico-ideological, general scientific principles and approaches and special scientific methods of inquiry for constitutional and legal phenomena and processes. The philosophico-ideological basis of the study is the position of dialectics, on the basis of which the causes and factors of the evolution of unitarism are thoroughly investigated. In general, the research was conducted on the basis of a combination of ontological, epistemological and axiological analysis of contemporary unitarism. Results. The complexity, importance and relatively widespread use of unitarity as a form of government is causing a lively and ever-growing scientific interest in it throughout the world. The unique capability of unitarism to take into account the specific features of a particular condition allows it to manifest itself in each case in a new way. That is why it is important to analyze the mutual influence of unitary theory and practice, to explore and take into account the peculiarities of national unitarism. The problem of unitarism and the unitary form of the territorial structure of the state and the status of its constituents is one of the least studied in domestic constitutional law. Modern scholars studying constitutional law, as a rule, are limited to consideration of individual issues of the territory, in particular, the features of the territorial organization of state power and local self-government, problems of state sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability, etc. To a large extent, the problem has not been studied exhaustively in contemporary Ukraine which causes difficulties in understanding such interrelated but not identical phenomena as unitarism and unitarity, regionalism and regionalization, municipalism and municipalization, decentralization and deconcentration, etc. It should be noted that in modern literature related to problems of state territory, territorial organization of state power, and other issues of the status of territory, the complex, multidimensional nature of unitarism, as a constitutional category, is not always taken into account. Conclusions. Unitarism is proved to be a multidimensional socio-political and constitutional phenomenon: it is an idea, a theory, a scientific direction as well as a global social constitutional practice and a constitutional form of the existence and functioning of territorial communities, it is the historical condition of national statehood and Ukrainian regional civilization and the form of realization of the national identity and civic consciousness, etc.

Hints of gravitational ergodicity: Berry’s ensemble and the universality of the semi-classical Page curve

Recent developments on black holes have shown that a unitarity-compatible Page curve can be obtained from an ensemble-averaged semi-classical approximation. In this paper, we emphasize (1) that this peculiar manifestation of unitarity is not specific to black holes, and (2) that it can emerge from a single realization of an underlying unitary theory. To make things explicit, we consider a hard sphere gas leaking slowly from a small box into a bigger box. This is a quantum chaotic system in which we expect to see the Page curve in the full unitary description, while semi-classically, eigenstates are expected to behave as though they live in Berry’s ensemble. We reproduce the unitarity-compatible Page curve of this system, semi-classically. The computation has structural parallels to replica wormholes, relies crucially on ensemble averaging at each epoch, and reveals the interplay between the multiple time-scales in the problem. Working with the ensemble averaged state rather than the entanglement entropy, we can also engineer an information “paradox”. Our system provides a concrete example in which the ensemble underlying the semi-classical Page curve is an ergodic proxy for a time average, and not an explicit average over many theories. The questions we address here are logically independent of the existence of horizons, so we expect that semi-classical gravity should also be viewed in a similar light.

The Unitary Executive

This chapter examines the theory of the unitary executive and its deployment in the Trump presidency afgainst the specter of a Deep State. The theory asserts that the president possesses all the executive power, that the incumbent alone is the executive branch. The idea is that anything less than complete control over administration by that individual risks an obfuscation of responsibility, clouding the judgments on presidential performance that “the people” get to deliver retrospectively in the next election. This reading of the Constitution is often joined to a strikingly plebiscitary conception of American democracy. This chapter takes up two issues of special interest. The first is an alternative “republican reading” of the Constitution which anticipates inter-branch collaboration in the control of administrative power. The second is the relationship between the vesting clause of Article II, on which the unitary theory is based, and the selection procedure, which has changed radically since its original constitutional formulation. The chapter concludes by pointing to the distortions of constitutional meaning introduced by joining an expansive reading of the vesting clause to contemporary selection mechanisms.

Recasting the Treadmills of Production and Destruction

We revisit and recast two prominent theories of environmental degradation: the treadmill of production and the treadmill of destruction. This recasting is guided by critical realism, focused on theorizing generative mechanisms that produce and shape empirical events. Our theorization is informed by Marxist and Weberian insights into environmental sociology contributions. In this critical realist recasting, the treadmill of production and the treadmill of destruction are conceived of as generative mechanisms. A treadmill refers to a process in which powerful organizations appropriate nature to amass power and capital. These organizations degrade the environment, and they suppress and distort information about the environmental damage they cause. The macrosocial context, the organizations at the center of them, and the elites that command these organizations make these treadmills distinct. A treadmill spans the biophysical and the social/cultural realms. Whereas the biophysical is necessary for the social/cultural realm to exist, it exists independent of human knowledge of this realm. As such, historical contingency and social change are at the center of analysis when studying the waxing, waning, transformation, and demise of treadmills. Adopting a critical realist stance, future theorization and research can and should engage a wide range of theories advanced in environmental sociology. The goal is not to establish the single best unitary theory, but to identify and gain insight into the generative mechanisms that shape and constrain human interactions with the environment.

A Conversation Between Dual and Triple System Theories and Social Reproduction Theory

This article attempts to understand if we can speak of a transition from Feminist Marxism to Feminist Materialism and Social Reproduction Theory, using a critical apparatus consisting of theorists such as Silvia Federici, Heidi Hartmann, as well as SRT feminists like Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharaya, Nancy Fraser, and Susan Ferguson. Starting from the proponents of the “Wages for Housework” campaign, I will make a short incursion into dual and triple system theory, to the unitary theory of Social Reproduction.

New Horizons: Novel Approaches to Enhance Healthspan Through Targeting Cellular Senescence and Related Aging Mechanisms

The elderly population is increasing faster than other segments of the population throughout the world. Age is the leading predictor for most chronic diseases and disorders, multimorbidity, geriatric syndromes, and impaired ability to recover from accidents or illnesses. Enhancing the duration of health and independence, termed healthspan, would be more desirable than extending lifespan merely by prolonging the period of morbidity toward the end of life. The geroscience hypothesis posits that healthspan can be extended by targeting fundamental aging mechanisms, rather than attempting to address each age-related disease one at a time, only so the afflicted individual survives disabled and dies shortly afterward of another age-related disease. These fundamental aging mechanisms include, among others, chronic inflammation, fibrosis, stem cell/ progenitor dysfunction, DNA damage, epigenetic changes, metabolic shifts, destructive metabolite generation, mitochondrial dysfunction, misfolded or aggregated protein accumulation, and cellular senescence. These processes appear to be tightly interlinked, as targeting any one appears to affect many of the rest, underlying our Unitary Theory of Fundamental Aging Mechanisms. Interventions targeting many fundamental aging processes are being developed, including dietary manipulations, metformin, mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) inhibitors, and senolytics, which are in early human trials. These interventions could lead to greater healthspan benefits than treating age-related diseases one at a time. To illustrate these points, we focus on cellular senescence and therapies in development to target senescent cells. Combining interventions targeting aging mechanisms with disease-specific drugs could result in more than additive benefits for currently difficult-to-treat or intractable diseases. More research attention needs to be devoted to targeting fundamental aging processes.