Grain properties of rock fragments from shelf bottom sediments of the Sea of Okhotsk

Grain size, shape and roundness of rock fragments, texture, composition of bottom sediments from the Sea of Okhotsk are under study. These data are compared with parameters of modern lithodynamic conditions of the sea and genetic types of deposits are identified. These criteria are used for partition of Holocene and Upper Pleistocene sediment series and for identifying conditions of their formation. Dependence of structure of different genetic types of deposits on intensity of hydrodynamic processes, of terrigenous contribution, and on direction consedimentational tectonic movements is under consideration.

Generating Adaptive Presentations of Hydrologic Behavior

This paper describes a knowledge-based approach for summarizing and presenting the behavior of hydrologic networks. This approach has been designed for visualizing data from sensors and simulations in the context of emergencies caused by floods. It follows a solution for event summarization that exploits physical properties of the dynamic system to automatically generate summaries of relevant data. The summarized information is presented using different modes such as text, 2D graphics and 3D animations on virtual terrains. The presentation is automatically generated using a hierarchical planner with abstract presentation fragments corresponding to discourse patterns, taking into account the characteristics of the user who receives the information and constraints imposed by the communication devices (mobile phone, computer, fax, etc.). An application following this approach has been developed for a national hydrologic information infrastructure of Spain.

A Comparative Analysis of Hedging in a Corpus of Two Written Legal Discourse Genres

Esta tesis doctoral, que es la culminación de mis estudios de doctorado impartidos por el Departamento de Lingüística Aplicada a la Ciencia y a la Tecnología de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, aborda el análisis del uso de la matización (hedging) en el lenguaje legal inglés siguiendo los postulados y principios de la análisis crítica de género (Bhatia, 2004) y empleando las herramientas de análisis de córpora WordSmith Tools versión 6 (Scott, 2014). Como refleja el título, el estudio se centra en la descripción y en el análisis contrastivo de las variedades léxico-sintácticas de los matizadores del discurso (hedges) y las estrategias discursivas que con ellos se llevan a cabo, además de las funciones que éstas desempeñan en un corpus de sentencias del Tribunal Supremo de EE. UU., y de artículos jurídicos de investigación americanos, relacionando, en la medida posible, éstas con los rasgos determinantes de los dos géneros, desde una perspectiva socio-cognitiva. El elemento innovador que ofrece es que, a pesar de los numerosos estudios que se han podido realizar sobre los matizadores del discurso en el inglés general (Lakoff, 1973; Hübler, 1983; Clemen, 1997; Markkanen and Schröder, 1997; Mauranen, 1997; Fetzer 2010; y Finnegan, 2010 entre otros) académico (Crompton, 1997; Meyer, 1997; Skelton, 1997; Martín Butragueňo, 2003) científico (Hyland, 1996a, 1996c, 1998c, 2007; Grabe and Kaplan, 1997; Salager-Meyer, 1997 Varttala, 2001) médico (Prince, 1982; Salager-Meyer, 1994; Skelton, 1997), y, en menor medida el inglés legal (Toska, 2012), no existe ningún tipo de investigación que vincule los distintos usos de la matización a las características genéricas de las comunicaciones profesionales. Dentro del lenguaje legal, la matización confirma su dependencia tanto de las expectativas a macro-nivel de la comunidad de discurso, como de las intenciones a micro-nivel del escritor de la comunicación, variando en función de los propósitos comunicativos del género ya sean éstos educativos, pedagógicos, interpersonales u operativos. El estudio pone de relieve el uso predominante de los verbos modales epistémicos y de los verbos léxicos como matizadores del discurso, estos últimos divididos en cuatro tipos (Hyland 1998c; Palmer 1986, 1990, 2001) especulativos, citativos, deductivos y sensoriales. La realización léxico-sintáctica del matizador puede señalar una de cuatro estrategias discursivas particulares (Namsaraev, 1997; Salager-Meyer, 1994), la indeterminación, la despersonalización, la subjectivisación, o la matización camuflada (camouflage hedging), cuya incidencia y función varia según género. La identificación y cuantificación de los distintos matizadores y estrategias empleados en los diferentes géneros del discurso legal puede tener implicaciones pedagógicos para los estudiantes de derecho no nativos que tienen que demostrar una competencia adecuada en su uso y procesamiento. ABSTRACT This doctoral thesis, which represents the culmination of my doctoral studies undertaken in the Department of Linguistics Applied to Science and Technology of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, focusses on the analysis of hedging in legal English following the principles of Critical Genre Analysis (Bhatia, 2004), and using WordSmith Tools version 6 (Scott, 2014) corpus analysis tools. As the title suggests, this study centers on the description and contrastive analysis of lexico-grammatical realizations of hedges and the discourse strategies which they can indicate, as well as the functions they can carry out, in a corpus of U.S. Supreme Court opinions and American law review articles. The study relates realization, incidence and function of hedging to the predominant generic characteristics of the two genres from a socio-cognitive perspective. While there have been numerous studies on hedging in general English (Lakoff, 1973; Hübler, 1983; Clemen, 1997; Markkanen and Schröder, 1997; Mauranen, 1997; Fetzer 2010; and Finnegan, 2010 among others) academic English (Crompton, 1997; Meyer, 1997; Skelton, 1997; Martín Butragueňo, 2003) scientific English (Hyland, 1996a, 1996c, 1998c, 2007; Grabe and Kaplan, 1997; Salager-Meyer, 1997 Varttala, 2001) medical English (Prince, 1982; Salager-Meyer, 1994; Skelton, 1997), and, to a lesser degree, legal English (Toska, 2012), this study is innovative in that it links the different realizations and functions of hedging to the generic characteristics of a particular professional communication. Within legal English, hedging has been found to depend on not only the macro-level expectations of the discourse community for a specific genre, but also on the micro-level intentions of the author of a communication, varying according to the educational, pedagogical, interpersonal or operative purposes the genre may have. The study highlights the predominance of epistemic modal verbs and lexical verbs as hedges, dividing the latter into four types (Hyland, 1998c; Palmer, 1986, 1990, 2001): speculative, quotative, deductive and sensorial. Lexical-grammatical realizations of hedges can signal one of four discourse strategies (Namsaraev, 1997; Salager-Meyer, 1994), indetermination, depersonalization, subjectivization and camouflage hedging, as well as fulfill a variety of functions. The identification and quantification of the different hedges and hedging strategies and functions in the two genres may have pedagogical implications for non-native law students who must demonstrate adequate competence in the production and interpretation of hedged discourse.

Complementation of plant mutants with large genomic DNA fragments by a transformation-competent artificial chromosome vector accelerates positional cloning

To accelerate gene isolation from plants by positional cloning, vector systems suitable for both chromosome walking and genetic complementation are highly desirable. Therefore, we developed a transformation-competent artificial chromosome (TAC) vector, pYLTAC7, that can accept and maintain large genomic DNA fragments stably in both Escherichia coli and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Furthermore, it has the cis sequences required for Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer into plants. We cloned large genomic DNA fragments of Arabidopsis thaliana into the vector and showed that most of the DNA fragments were maintained stably. Several TAC clones carrying 40- to 80-kb genomic DNA fragments were transferred back into Arabidopsis with high efficiency and shown to be inherited faithfully among the progeny. Furthermore, we demonstrated the practical utility of this vector system for positional cloning in Arabidopsis. A TAC contig was constructed in the region of the SGR1 locus, and individual clones with ca. 80-kb inserts were tested for their ability to complement the gravitropic defects of a homozygous mutant line. Successful complementation enabled the physical location of SGR1 to be delimited with high precision and confidence.

The Vernacular Discourse of the "Arab Spring:" An Analysis of the Visual, the Embodied, and the Textual Rhetorics of the Karama Revolution

The Vernacular Discourse of the "Arab Spring" is a project that bridges the divide between the East and the West by offering new readings to Arab subjectivities. Through an analysis of the "Arab Spring" through the lens of vernacular discourse, it challenges the Euro-Americo-centric legacies of Orientalism in Western academia and the new wave of extremism in the Arab world by offering alternative representations of Arab bodies and subjectivities. To offer this new reading of the "Arab Spring," it explores the foundations of critical rhetoric as a theory and a practice and argues for a turn towards a critical vernacular discourse. The turn towards critical vernacular discourse is important as it urges the analyses of different artifacts produced by marginalized groups in order to understand their perspectives that have largely been foreclosed in traditional cultural studies research. Building on embodied/performative critical rhetoric, the vernacular discourses of the Arab revolutionary body examines other forms of knowledge productions that are not merely textual; more specifically, through data gathered in the Lhbib Bourguiba, Tunisia. This analysis of the political revolutionary body unveils the complexity underlining the discussion around issues of identity, agency and representation in the Middle East and North Africa, and calls for a critical study towards these issues in the region beyond the binary approach that has been practiced and applied by academics and media analysts. Hence, by analyzing vernacular discourse, this research locates a method of examining and theorizing the dialectic between agency, citizenry, and subjectivity through the study of how power structure is recreated and challenged through the use of the vernacular in revolutionary movements, as well as how marginalized groups construct their own subjectivities through the use of vernacular discourse. Therefore, highlighting the political prominence of evaluating the Arab Spring as a vernacular discourse is important in creating new ways of understanding communication in postcolonial/neocolonial settings.

Sylva : or, a discourse of forest trees /

"Books published by the author of this discourse": v.1, p.[ci]

The dictionary historical and critical of Mr. Peter Bayle.

partic________________________________________________________________

The discourses of Epictetus ; with the Encheiridion and fragments /

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The dynamics of power and resistance in police interview discourse

This is a study of police interviewing using an integrated approach, drawing on CA, CDA and pragmatics. The study focuses on the balance of power and control, finding that in particular the institutional status of the participants, the discursive roles assigned to them by the context, and their relative knowledge, are significant factors affecting the dynamics of the discourse. Four discursive features are identified as particularly significant, and a detailed analysis of the complex interplay of these features shows that power and control are constantly under negotiation, and are always open to challenge and resistance. Further it is shown that discursive dominance is not necessarily advantageous to participants, due to the specific goals and purposes of the police interview context. A wider consideration of the context illustrates the contribution that linguistics can make to the use of police interview data as evidence in the UK criminal justice system.

The development of discourse in a discourse of development:a case study of a group constructing a new discourse.

This thesis is a qualitative case study drawing on discourse analysis and ethnographic traditions. The aim of the study is to provide a description of the discourse consciously constructed by a group of six TESOL professionals in the interests of their own development. Once a week, the group met for one hour and took turns to act as 'Speaker'. The other five individuals acted as Understanders. The extra space given to the Speaker allowed a fuller articulation of a problem or focus than would normally be possible in other professional talk. The Understanders contributed moves to support this articulation. The description covers a two-year period (1998-2000) of this constructed discourse. Data, collected during this period, are drawn from several different sources: recordings, interviews, diaries and critical incident journals. The main recordings are of the actual Group Development Meetings (GDMs). Discussion of six transcribed GDMs demonstrates which discourse choices and decisions were important. In particular, the study looks at the key role played by 'Reflection' in this process. It is argued that Reflection is the key element in supporting the Speaker. The analysis of Reflection, which is considered from four perspectives (values, purpose, form and outcomes) draws on data from the featured cases. Issues relating to the transfer to other groups of this discourse-based approach to professional development are considered.

The operation of repair in L2 learner conversation, group work and classroom discourse

The present study is an empirical investigation into repair in spoken discourse, specifically focusing on L2 learner conversation, group work and teacher-fronted classroom interaction. The core of the investigation concentrates on identification of the problem type, classification of repair strategies and examination of interaction in the repair process. A comparison between Conversation (CS), Group Work (GW), and Teacher-fronted classroom interaction (CR) suggests that more repair is undertaken in CS. The results of the study suggest that the fundamental differences between CS, GW and CR are of two types: in the frequency of repair and in the nature of the repair itself. It has been found that other-initiation for production problem repair occurs mainly in CR, other-completion is characteristic of GW and self-repair is most frequent in CS. Factors affecting the occurrence of repair in CS, GW and CR are related to content and social and communicative features of context. Importantly, the study shows the frequency of repair in GW falls between that of CS and CR in most of repair strategies. This result lends support to the argument that group work can assist L2 learners to develop their communicative competence. It is suggested that the analysis of the repair process in CS, GW and CR can be useful in throwing light on the intricacies of spoken discourse in general and can be exploited by applied linguists for both theoretical and pedagogical purposes.

Common Scientific Lexicon for Automatic Discourse Analysis of Scientific and Technical Texts

The paper reports on preliminary results of an ongoing research aiming at development of an automatic procedure for recognition of discourse-compositional structure of scientific and technical texts, which is required in many NLP applications. The procedure exploits as discourse markers various domain-independent words and expressions that are specific for scientific and technical texts and organize scientific discourse. The paper discusses features of scientific discourse and common scientific lexicon comprising such words and expressions. Methodological issues of development of a computer dictionary for common scientific lexicon are concerned; basic principles of its organization are described as well. Main steps of the discourse-analyzing procedure based on the dictionary and surface syntactical analysis are pointed out.

On the F word:a corpus-based analysis of the media representation of feminism in British and German press discourse, 1990-2009

Research in social psychology has shown that public attitudes towards feminism are mostly based on stereotypical views linking feminism with leftist politics and lesbian orientation. It is claimed that such attitudes are due to the negative and sexualised media construction of feminism. Studies concerned with the media representation of feminism seem to confirm this tendency. While most of this research provides significant insights into the representation of feminism, the findings are often based on a small sample of texts. Also, most of the research was conducted in an Anglo-American setting. This study attempts to address some of the shortcomings of previous work by examining the discourse of feminism in a large corpus of German and British newspaper data. It does so by employing the tools of Corpus Linguistics. By investigating the collocation profiles of the search term feminism, we provide evidence of salient discourse patterns surrounding feminism in two different cultural contexts. © The Author(s) 2012.

MEN WRITING WOMEN: “THE WOMAN QUESTION” AND MALE DISCOURSE OF IRANIAN MODERNITY"

In this dissertation I explore “The Woman Question” in the discourse of Iranian male authors. A pro-modernity group, they placed women’s issues at the heart of their discourse. This dissertation follows the trajectory of the representation of “The Woman Question” as it is reflected in the male discourse over the course of a century. It discusses the production of a literature that was anchored in the idea of reform and concerned itself with issues pertaining to women. These men challenged lifelong patriarchal notions such as veiling, polygamy, gender segregation, and arranged marriages, as well as traditional roles of women and gender relations. This study is defined under the rubrics of “The Woman Question” and “The New Woman,” which I have borrowed from the Victorian and Edwardian debates of similar issues as they provide clearer delineations. Drawing upon debates on sexuality, and gender, this dissertation illustrates the way these men championed women was both progressive and regressive. This study argues that the desire for women’s liberation was couched in male ideology of gender relations. It further illustrates that the advancement of “The Woman Question,” due to its continuous and yet gradual shifting concurrent with each author’s nuanced perception of women’s issues, went through discernible stages that I refer to as observation, causation, remedy, and confusion. The analytical framework for this project is anchored in the “why” and the “how” of the Iranian male authors’ writings on women in addition to “what” was written. This dissertation examines four narrative texts—two in prose and two in poetry—entitled: “Lankaran’s Vizier,” “The Black Shroud,” “‘Arefnameh,” and “Fetneh” written respectively by Akhundzadeh, ‘Eshqi, Iraj Mirza, and Dashti. Chapter one outlines the historical background, methodology, theoretical framework, and literature review. The following chapters examine, the advocacy for companionate marriage and romantic love, women and nationalistic cause, veiling and unveiling, and the emerging figure of the New Iranian Woman as morally depraved.