596 research outputs found
Stato e società a Taiwan in una prospettiva gramsciana: il caso studio del movimento dei lavoratori
No full textL’istruzione politico-ideologica in Cina. Il difficile rapporto fra il partito e gli studenti
No full textIndependent Developers: The invisible urban regenerators
No full textMost of today’s urban development and regeneration is being provided by the private
sector. Cities are being regenerated and redeveloped by institutional developers with
projects that can change entire neighbourhoods and city centres. The majority of these
developers are interested primarily in institutional properties and other buildings that are
large enough to generate the required returns and revenues without bearing too much risks.
There are also areas and neighbourhoods that do not experience institutional development
and investment because their developmental values and sites are not encouraging to them.
Nevertheless, some of these areas gained economic growth and were regenerated without
any institutional developers being involved. These kinds of regenerations are either a result
of community development or they are the outcome of independent development. This type
of development culture is not much studied yet. Independent developers are the invisibles
working in the shadows of the big institutional property developers that are often covered in
the media and literature. Hardly anybody notices and writes about these small and
independent developers that, although developing smaller projects, still have an impact on
and are important for urban regeneration. This analysis of independent developers and their
projects will provide information on their approach to property development. The report will
discuss the major differences between institutional and independent development and how
they each address topics like location, market, intervention and funding. By drawing on
examples from interviews, literature and other publications, the report will examine
independent property developers in more detail and try to analyse their role and their
contribution to urban regeneration
Periodic leg movements during sleep and cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular morbidity
No full textPurpose of Review To evaluate if periodic leg movements during sleep (PLMS) may be associated with increased cardiovascular or cerebrovascular morbidity Recent Findings PLMS are accompanied by rises in hear rate and blood pressure and by important transient EEG changes indicating sleep fragmentation; in addition, PLMS have been related to elevated levels of inflammatory markers that are associated with increased cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk and several reports have suggested that PLMS may play an important role in increasing cardiovascular risk, resulting in hypertension, cardiac ischemic disease, and cerebrovascular disease. Summary Although a body of evidence suggests that PLMS are involved in increasing cardiovascular risk, additional studies are needed to establish the contributory role of PLMS to cardiovascular homeostasis and morbidity in patients with and without RLS, and to evaluate the role of the specific PLMS treatment to reduce the risk
The clinical importance of periodic leg movements in sleep
No full textPeriodic leg movements during sleep (PLMS) are commonly found in patients with restless leg syndrome (RLS), but they may occur in other sleep disorders and several medical conditions. Their prevalence increases with age, but they can also be observed in children. During the last decades, very active research has been devoted to determine and understand the pathophysiology, associated events, and clinical significance of PLMS. This chapter tries to sum up the most relevant PLMS-related findings, focusing on the relationship between PLMS and the cardiovascular system, in order to understand the clinical implication of this complex motor phenomenon. PLMS have been associated with sympathetic overactivity, namely surges in nocturnal blood pressure and heart rate, without modification in global autonomic balance. Also, PLMS have been related to inflammatory cellular pathways, with elevated level of inflammatory markers, which are associated with cardiovascular risk. The PLMS-related modulation of the autonomic system and of inflammation may increase cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk in subjects with frequent PLMS. Moreover, also, comorbidities associated with PLMS may play a synergic role in worsening the cardiovascular risk and the consequent mortality and morbidity. Furthermore, little is known about pathophysiological correlates in children with PLMS and their chronic implication on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. A few studies have suggested that treating PLMS with dopaminergic drugs may reduce their associated sympathetic overactivity and modify disease progression. Definitely, further research is needed to assess the clinical impact of PLMS, associated or not with RLS, and above all the long-term impact of treating PLMS on cardiovascular risk, morbidity, and mortality
L’istruzione politico-ideologica in Cina. Il difficile rapporto tra il partito e gli studenti
No full textThe role of language typology on L2 acquisition and learning, Special Issue
No full textThis special issue of the I-LanD Journal aims to explore the role of
language typology on second language acquisition (SLA) and learning.
The contributions to this special issue address the question as to
whether and in which ways typological contrasts of languages play a
crucial role in how events are expressed in adult second language (L2).
In this regard, Slobin (1996), by means of his Thinking for Speaking
hypothesis, argues that differences across languages predispose native
speakers to view and to talk about events differently and this seems to
have important consequences in discourse conceptualisation and
production even at very advanced levels of L2 proficiency.
Research on typological variation across languages has been
conducted for decades and important advances have been made in the
domain. For instance, it is well known that Germanic vs Romance
native speakers differ in the ways they conceptualise and verbalise
events. Consequently, speakers diverge in the preferred perspective
selected with respect to conceptual domains such as aspect, time,
motion, modality, both at the sentence level (von Stutterheim 2003)
and at discourse level (Klein/von Stutterheim 2002; Carroll/Lambert
2006) and this is partly due to the typological properties of languages.
Most studies show the challenges adult L2 learners face in restructuring
these patterns in the process of acquisition of another language with a
different set of patterns. This hard task for learners implies full or
partial crosslinguistic influence (CLI, cf. McManus 2022 for a more
recent overview). The latter, often used interchangeably with transfer
(cf. Odlin 1989, 2003, 2005), refers to the search for similarities/
differences between one’s prior linguistic knowledge (from the L1 or
any other previously acquired languages) and learning, knowledge
and use of the new language (Jarvis/Pavlenko 2010: 1). CLI is a key
component of the L2 learning process, and it seems particularly
relevant when learners try to map L2 words into the concepts of their
L1. In this sense, SLA can be seen as cognitive restructuring (HijazoGascón 2021: 2), since learners can experience a cognitive dissonance
between the L2 lexical items and the L1 notions. The question of
whether L1 typological properties may be transferred or not in the L2
discourse has been largely explored for the cognitive domains of time
(e.g. von Stutterheim 2003 for ongoingness vs boundness; McManus/
Marsden 2017, Giuliano/Anastasio 2021a for time and aspect) and
Introduction: The Role
of Language Typology
on L2 Acquisition and Learning
Simona Anastasio
University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France
[email protected]
Patrizia Giuliano
University of Naples ‘Federico II’, Italy
[email protected]
DOI: 10.26379/IL2022002_000
4 I-LanD Journal. The role of language typology on L2 acquisiti on and learning · n. 2/2022 · eISSN 2532-764X
Simona Anastasio - Patrizia Giuliano
space (e.g. Cadierno/Ruiz 2006; Hendriks et al. 2008; Carroll et al.
2012; Hijazo-Gascón 2021) and, to a lesser extent, for syntax (e.g.
Giuliano/Anastasio 2021b). More recently, research has also focused
on the co-speech gestures in the expression of events. As such, the
literature shows that the ways L2 learners’ gestures can reveal how
they keep on gesturing as in their L1 rather than in the L2 native-like
manner (e.g. Gullberg 2009; Stam 2018, 2023).
In spite of the evident role of inter-typological contrasts during the
process of SLA (along with other important variables such as the L2
input exposure, the L2 proficiency level, individual factors) in terms of
CLI, there is little research that focuses on the impact of intratypological variation, i.e. typological differences or similarities
between languages of the same type (except for Ibarretxe-Antuñano
2009, 2015; Anastasio 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022). Additionally, the
impact of language typology is still far from being fully understood
and this is due to several reasons: a) native speakers’ preferences go
beyond the clear-cut typological classification when encoding the
intended message (Slobin 2006; von Stutterheim et al. 2009; Beavers
etal. 2010); b) most studies look at learners with an L1/L2 combination
belonging to different genetic and typological families and very few
consider the impact of the L1 when the learners’ languages in contact
are typologically close (except for Benazzo/Andorno 2017; Anastasio
2019, 2021, 2022; Saturno 2020; Hijazo-Gascón 2021) and can,
however, lack equivalent form-function categories.
This special issue brings together recent empirical research on
inter- and intratypological contrasts and their role on L2 acquisition
and learning. Specifically, drawing upon a functional perspective, this
special issue aims to add to the SLA field by offering recent empirical
studies relying on original data, involving: different types of tasks;
quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods approaches; learners at
all stages of learning.
The key themes under focus explore morphological, syntactic, and
semantics differences between languages with their consequences for
framing events in L1 as well as in L2. In particular, three main domains
are investigated: a) affectedness; b) differential object marking; c)
space (static and dynamic location events). The data collected
represent a diversified selection of L1-L2 pairs: a) learners whose L1
and L2 are typologically and genetically closely-related (Isabel Repiso;
Jacopo Saturno); b) learners with an L1-L2 combination considered as
typologically distant (Christina Piot, Maria Hellerstedt); c) learners
whose L1 and L2 belong to different typological types but present
similarities in the linguistic devices for conveying events (Delia
Airoldi).
The first paper of this special issue deals with a still underexplored
domain in SLA functional approach, i.e. affectedness within Romance
languages. Specifically, Isabel Repiso examines the syntactic and
morphological realisation of affected arguments across two
typologically and genetically-related languages, French and Spanish,
and in L2 French of Spanish learners (A2-B2 levels of CEFR). The
crosslinguistic findings show different morpho-syntactic preferences
in French and Spanish productions to mark affectedness. As to L2
I-LanD Journal. The role of language typology on L2 acquisiti on and learning · n. 2/2022 · eISSN 2532-764X 5
Introduction: The Role of Language Typology on L2 Acquisition and Learning
results, CLI arises in terms of under/overuse of non-native like use of
L2 structures especially at less advanced stage. The author hypothesises
that, when confronting to the L2 verbalisation of a universal domain,
learners tend to rely on L2 constructions similar to those of the L1 as
a strategy to compensate lack of knowledge regarding TL uses.
Jacopo Saturno’s contribution also explores the morphosyntax
domain, by focusing on the differential object marking in nominal
morphology in L2 Polish of East Slavic learners (L1: Belorussian,
Russian, Ukrainian) of A1-B1 proficiency (CEFR). By means of a
quantitative study, the author confirms that CLI and universal
tendencies, such as markedness, may coexist as explanatory factors in
the differential object marking in an intercomprehension situation.
The subsequent three papers concern the role of typological
diversity in the expression of space in language. Christina Piot focuses
on multimodality in motion event construal. She first examines how
native speakers (French vs Dutch) express the same motion events in
their speech and co-speech gestures and then to what extent
multimodal and inter-/intralinguistic differences impact performances
of CLIL French learners of L2 Dutch (A1-B2 proficiency levels).
Participants were recruited in Belgium, whose context is not
particularly favourable for monolingual speakers, since it offers three
official languages: Flemish/Dutch speaking; Walloon/French speaking;
and, to a lesser extent, Ostbelgien German speaking. Analysis of
language use and gesture by native speakers shows not only
prototypical features of typological classifications, but also patterns
which are less typical of their language-category. As for L2 performance,
learners have their own thinking-for-speaking pattern which is inbetween the French and the Dutch tendencies. Moreover, the study
also highlights that gestures give information on event
conceptualisation.
With respect to a different language combination, Delia Airoldi’s
contribution also focuses on the expression of motion. Specifically, the
author compares the productions of native speakers of Italian and
German to the productions of German learners of L2 Italian
(intermediate and advanced) by using different types of stimuli. The
aim is to study inter- and intra-linguistic differences between German
and Italian and to see whether learners’ productions are target-like in
L2 motion event construal or still influenced by the L1 patterns.
In the final paper, Maria Hellerstedt discusses two types of space:
location and caused motion, as described by French and Swedish
native speakers and by intermediate and advanced French learners of
L2 Swedish. The larger goal is to investigate the semantic components
selected to describe static and dynamic location in L2 Swedish, namely
by means of posture verbs, and to identify learners’ strategies
(avoidance, over-using) justifying learners’ linguistic choices. On the
one hand, the paper shows the developmental trajectory of L2 Swedish
learners in the use of posture verbs in spatial events. On the other
hand, it highlights traces of CLI and other interlanguage strategies in
producing idiomatic posture verbs.
Taken together, the above contributions bring a timely update within
the research field of typology and L2 acquisition and learning by
6 I-LanD Journal. The role of language typology on L2 acquisiti on and learning · n. 2/2022 · eISSN 2532-764X
Simona Anastasio - Patrizia Giuliano
building on and complementing previous literature on the subject. In
particular, these papers provide empirical studies on different
linguistic domains, while offering new avenues for future research on
the issues under investigation in this special issue
The Electromyographic Diagnosis of REM Sleep Without Atonia and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder
No full textSleep, Sleep Structure and Sleep Disorders in a Cohort of Patients Affected by ALS
No full textAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease, mostly due to progressive loss of motor neurons, with poor prognosis. Although motor involvement is predominant, other systems may be altered, and, among these, also sleep. The aim of this study is to evaluate sleep in a cohort of patients affected by ALS. We consecutively enrolled 48 patients, whom underwent to clinical and instrumental evaluation, including a full night video-PSG. They were compared to 15 control subjects. Respect to controls, patients had fragmented sleep, with poor sleep efficiency, higher amount of WASO and N1 sleep stage, and lower percentage of N2 and REM sleep stages, despite they perceived a sleep of good quality. Moreover, 33% of patients underwent video-PSG was diagnosed with OSAS, and 14, 28% with nocturnal respiratory insufficiency. Start NIV early is known to raise QOL, prolong life expectancy, and improve compliance to subsequent 24h NIV and tracheal ventilation. Furthermore, sleep of bad quality is a cardiovascular risk factor. In conclusion, in patients with ALS, instrumental assessment of sleep in early stages of the disease should be mandatory
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