The invisible opponent: a hidden discussion in a linguistic popular science article

This article is devoted to the description of the linguistic means by which the author of a popular science article introduces into it the position of an “inexperienced reader”. Six popular science articles on linguistic topics were used as a source of material for the research. With the methods of studies of reference, semantic syntax and poetics of a literary text, the techniques of introducing an ordinary worldview of the “invisible opponent” of the author-scientist (or a knowledgeable journalist) were analyzed, in which the author represents a potential inexperienced reader of the article. As a result of the study, it was found that the authors use various means of implicitness, including presuppositions, implicit change of point of view, games with the reference of pronouns and nouns, in order to solve a complex collision of the “addressee factor”: criticizing the views that form the reader's everyday picture of the world, do not present explicit the reader himself as his opponent.

German Profit Taxes

In this book you will find compact, up-to-date basic knowledge about German income tax, German corporate income tax and German trade tax (legal status 1.1.2018). The textbook, which has already been published in its sixth German edition, has now been translated into English language. It clearly presents the basics of German profit taxes and introduces even the previously inexperienced reader to the world of income tax, corporate income tax and trade tax. As in the previous German editions, the focus is not on individual tax-related recommendations for action or detailed regulations, but on the fundamental systematics of the subject matter. The book is therefore the ideal companion for targeted preparation for examinations in the Bachelor's and Master's programmes at universities that are oriented towards business taxation or tax law. It is also ideally suited for self-study. Target groups are therefore students, lecturers in the field of business taxation and tax law. The book is also suitable for English-speaking practitioners (including those from abroad) who wish to develop basic knowledge of German profit taxes useful for everyday professional life. Assistants in tax consulting, tax clerks as well as landlords specialising in tax and not least also tax advisers are addressed here.

Evaluation of the effect of computer aided diagnosis system on breast ultrasound for inexperienced radiologists in describing and determining breast lesions

Aim: To investigate the effect of a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system on breast ultrasound (US) for inexperienced radiologists in describing and determining breast lesions.Materials and methods: Between October 2015 to January 2017, 500 suspicious or probable benign lesions in 413 patients were reviewed. Five experienced readers retrospectively reviewed for each of 100 lesions according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) lexicon and category, with CAD system (S-detectTM). The readers then made final decisions by combining CAD results to their US results. Using the nested experiment design, five inexperienced readers were asked to select the appropriate BI-RADS lexicons, categories, CAD results, and combination results for each of the 100 lesions, retrospectively. Diagnostic performance of experienced and inexperienced radiologists and CAD were assessed. For each case, agreements in the lexicons and categories were analyzed among the experienced reader, inexperienced reader and CAD.Results: Indicators of the diagnostic performance for breast malignancy of the experienced group (AUC=0.83, 95%CI [0.80, 0.86]) were similar or higher than those of CAD (AUC = 0.79, 95%CI[0.74, 0.83], p=0.101), except for specificity. Conversely, indicators of diagnostic performance of inexperienced group (AUC=0.65, 95%CI[0.58, 0.71]) did not differ from or were lower than those of CAD(AUC=0.73, 95%CI[0.67, 0.78], p=0.013). Also, the diagnostic performance of the inexperienced group after combination with the CAD result was significantly improved (0.71, 95% CI [0.65, 0.77], p=0.001), whereas that of the experienced group did not change after combination with the CAD result, except for specificity and positive predictive value (PPV). Kappa values for the agreement of the categorization between CAD and each radiologist group were increased after applying the CAD result to their result of general US. Especially, the increase of the Kappa value was higher in the inexperienced group than in the experienced group. Also, for all the lexicons, the Kappa values between the experienced group and CAD were higher than those between the inexperienced group and CAD.Conclusion: By using the CAD system for classification of breast lesions, diagnostic performance of the inexperienced radiologists for malignancy was significantly improved, and better agreement was observed in lexicons between the experienced group and CAD than between the inexperienced group and CAD. CAD may be beneficial and educational for the inexperienced group.

The role of MRI-derived depth of invasion in staging oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma: inter-reader and radiological–pathological agreement

Background The 8th edition of tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) classification incorporates depth of invasion evaluation in the staging of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma, since it is a predictor of nodal metastasis and an independent prognostic factor. Although the histopathological definition of depth of invasion is clear, an accurate method for its radiological assessment has not yet been validated. Purpose To investigate the role of MRI-derived depth of invasion evaluation in staging oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma and to assess the inter-reader agreement and the radiological–pathological correlation. Material and Methods We retrospectively reviewed 43 patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma who underwent preoperative MRI. The MRI-derived depth of invasion was measured by two radiologists, each with a different degree of experience in head and neck imaging. The pathological depth of invasion was recorded from histopathological reports. The inter-reader and the radiological–histopathological correlations for the depth of invasion were evaluated with Bland–Altman plots, the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and the paired samples test; agreements for T staging were assessed using the Kappa coefficient. Results Inter-reader reliability was excellent for the MRI-derived depth of invasion (ICC = 0.91), very good between MRI-derived depth of invasion and pathological depth of invasion (ICC = 0.89 for the experienced reader, 0.86 for the inexperienced reader). Both readers reached a good agreement regarding T staging (kappa value = 0.70). Furthermore, the agreement between radiological and pathological T staging was good (kappa value = 0.74 for the experienced reader, 0.60 for the inexperienced reader). Conclusion MRI-derived depth of invasion should be measured in the pretreatment assessment of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma as it has an excellent inter-reader reliability and nearly excellent radiological–pathological correlation.

Move Beyond the Text

Reading is a complex skill which is indispensable in order to be successful in pursuing a scientific career. While reading specialist texts, it is necessary to go through the literal, inferential and creative-evaluative levels of comprehension. For an inexperienced reader, who is already familiar with the basic terminology in a relevant field, specialist texts may pose difficulty since they need critical approach. It means using experience and knowledge beyond the text, and also the ability to ask adequate questions. Moving beyond the text gives the reader an opportunity to have an insight into the problem. Two examples used in the workshop show how teachers may prepare students to read specialist texts.

What Makes a Good Piece of Poetry: an Attempt at Subjective Analysis

One of the factors in the popularity of Michael Swan’s poetry is a unique combination of a comparatively simple form and deep, subtle meanings that even an inexperienced reader cannot but sense. In linguistics, the phenomenon is dubbed implicitness. In Michael Swan’s poetic texts, implicit meanings are generated through the violation of the maxims of the co-operative principle (conversational implicature) and/or through the use of specific techniques: simplicity of outward form, tropes, irony, attention to detail, contrast and opposition, repetition, punch line, the effect of the author’s presence in the text or distancing from the content