323,781 research outputs found
Sir Archibald Garrod and Malta: a historical occasion recalled
No full textThis article features a brief biography of Sir Archibald Garrod (1857-1936), a well known English physician, deeply interested in the chemical and metabolic processes which take place in the healthy and in the diseased human body. He is certainly the honorary graduate of the University of Malta whose ideas and work have had the most far-reaching influence and application in medical science. At the outbreak of First World War, he served as a Consulting Physician to the army and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George for his devoted services. Garrod's early publications were mainly clinical in character and they included several case reports and a small book on the use of the laryngoscope. He is best known, however, for his absorbing studies on alkaptonuria. In 1916 the University of Malta conferred the honorary degree of M.D. on Garrod, "in recognition of the high qualifications possessed and of the special services rendered by the same eminent professors in the cause of humanity during the war".peer-reviewe
Vers la construction d‘un modèle psychologique de la compréhension du langage écrit
No full textSanford Anthony J., Garrod S. Vers la construction d‘un modèle psychologique de la compréhension du langage écrit. In: Bulletin de psychologie, tome 35 n°356, 1982. Langage et compréhension. pp. 643-648
Commentary on Pickering & Garrod (In press).
No full textPickering and Garrod's theory of dialog production cannot completely explain recent data showing that when interactants in referential communication tasks have different views of a physical space, they accommodate their language to their partners' view rather than mimicking their partner's expression. Instead, these data are consistent with the hypothesis that interactants are taking the perspective of their conversational partners. FULL TEXT We applaud Pickering and Garrod's attempt to explain one of the most basic features of human language---its dialog structure. They provide a thought-provoking theory of dialogue in which coordination in message production occurs when interactants generate their messages from similar situation models and mimic their partner's production at the syntactic, semantic, lexical, phonological, and phonetic levels, based on primitive priming mechanisms. They argue that these alignment processes plus techniques for repairing misalignments are sufficient to explain most cases of what others have considered evidence of a deeper type of perspective-taking, in which speakers take their partners' mental states into account in forming their own speech. We believe, however, that Pickering and Garrod's theory of dialog production cannot completely explain recent data about language production. In our own work, for example, we find evidence across several experiments that when interactants in referential communication tasks have different views of a physical space, they accommodate their language to their partners' view rather than mimicking their partner's expressions (e.g., Fussell, Kraut, & Siegel, 2000; Fussell, Setlock, & Kraut, 2003; Kraut, Fussell, & Siegel, 2003; Kraut, Gergle, & Fussell, 2002). These data are consistent with the hypothesis t..
Mechanisms of learning, alignment and routinization in dialogue
No full textThe most natural and basic form of language use is dialogue, in which two or more interlocutors are engaged in both production and comprehension. But psycholinguistics focuses on the isolated comprehension or production of language, using paradigms such as reading or picture naming. In contrast, the researchers shall conduct a series of experiments that draws on the interactive-alignment model (Pickering & Garrod, 2004, Behavioral and Brain Sciences), in which interlocutors come to a common understanding by aligning their words, choice of grammatical forms, and so on. A confederate and an experimental participant take turns to describe pictures to each other and determine whether the descriptions match their pictures. The experiments vary the form and content of the confederate's description and investigate its effects on the participant's subsequent descriptions. It is known that participants are much more likely to use a particular grammatical form (eg, a passive) immediately after the confederate has used that form rather than an alternative form (eg, an active). Specific experiments manipulate whether the participant's description immediately follows the confederate's description or not; whether both descriptions involve some of the same words or not; and whether those words have the same meaning or not
Exploring the cognitive infrastucture of communication.
No full textde Ruiter J, Noordzij M, Newman-Norlund S, et al. Exploring the cognitive infrastucture of communication. In: Galantucci B, Garrod S, eds. Experimental Semiotics. Studies on the emergence and evolution of human communication. Amsterdam: John Benjamins; 2012: 51-77
The alpha isoform of protein kinase C is involved in signaling the response of desmosomes to wounding in cultured epithelial cells
No full textInitiation of reepithelialization upon wounding is still poorly understood. To enhance this understanding, we focus here on changes in the adhesive state of desmosomes of cultured Madin-Darby canine kidney cells in response to wounding of confluent cell sheets. Previous results show that desmosomal adhesion in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells changes from a calcium-dependent state to calcium independence in confluent cell sheets. We show that this change, which requires culture confluence to develop, is rapidly reversed upon wounding of confluent cell sheets. Moreover, the change to calcium dependence in wound edge cells is propagated to cells hundreds of micrometers away from the wound edge. Rapid transition from calcium independence to calcium dependence also occurs when cells are treated with phorbol esters that activate PKC. PKC inhibitors, including the conventional isoform inhibitor Gö6976, cause rapid transition from calcium dependence to calcium independence, even in subconfluent cells. The cellular location of the isoform of PKC correlates with the calcium dependence of desmosomes. Upon monolayer wounding, PKC translocates rapidly to the cell periphery, becomes Triton X-100 insoluble, and also becomes concentrated in lamellipodia. The PKC translocation upon wounding precedes both the increase in PKC activity in the membrane fraction and the reversion of desmosomes to calcium dependence. Specific depletion of PKC with an antisense oligonucleotide increases the number of cells with calcium-independent desmosomes. These results show that PKC participates in a novel signaling pathway that modulates desmosomal adhesion in response to wounding
Experimental Semiotics: A Review
No full textIn the last few years a new line of research has appeared in the literature. This line of research, which may be referred to as experimental semiotics (ES; Galantucci, 2009; Galantucci and Garrod, 2010), focuses on the experimental investigation of novel forms of human communication. In this review we will (a) situate ES in its conceptual context, (b) illustrate the main varieties of studies thus far conducted by experimental semioticians, (c) illustrate three main themes of investigation which have emerged within this line of research, and (d) consider implications of this work for cognitive neuroscience
Diffusive author(s), cohesive author: Analysis of S/N (1994)
No full textThis study indicates the ways in which various aspects of the author(s) are brought forth in Dumb type’s performance art, the S/N production. Previous research has suggested a non-hierarchical organization of Dumb type and the absence of a “privileged author” in Dumb type’s collaborative work, S/N. However, the results that I have investigated from member’s interviews on the creative process of S/N along with my analysis of the recorded images of S/N, indicate a different aspect of the author(s). First, S/N was created through, so to speak, the collective ideas of the members of Dumb type. Further, S/N has at least nine quotations from previous performances, installations, and printed writings, besides the work-in-progress technique. Explicating one of the “author functions” as given by Michel Foucault, each text has plural subjects of the author. However, it has been revealed from members’ interviews that Teiji Furuhashi had a decision-making role in selecting the members’ ideas within the performance. Since then, S/N has had plural subjects of creation; however, Furuhashi is one of the subjects of creation along with the “privileged author.” S/N has plural authors (diffusive authors) yet at the same time, it has a “privileged author,” Teiji Furuhashi (cohesive author)
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Valuing animal genetic resources: a choice modeling application to indigenous cattle in Kenya
No full textIn an effort to improve productivity and profits, many farmers have replaced traditional livestock breeds with higher yielding alternatives. While such changes may bring about short-term economic gains, the loss of traditional livestock breeds could result in the loss of an important genetic resource as a variety of important genetic traits adapted to local conditions gradually become less common in the population. This is a particular problem in Africa, where livestock make a substantial contribution to human livelihoods. Using the example of cattle in Kenya's pastoral livestock markets this study uses a choice experiment approach to investigate buyers' preferences for indigenous breeds such as the Maasai Zebu. The analysis employs a latent class approach to characterize heterogeneity in valuations both within and across respondents buying cattle for breeding, slaughter, or resale. The results show that there are at least three classes of buyers with distinct preferences for cattle traits and that most buyers favor exotic rather than indigenous breeds. Such preferences have implications for the conservation of indigenous cattle in Kenya and in other developing countries and suggest that some form of intervention may be required to ensure the preservation of this important animal genetic resource. Copyright 2008 International Association of Agricultural Economists.
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