Incremental processing in head-final child language: online comprehension of relative clauses in Turkish-speaking children and adults

The present study investigates the parsing of pre-nominal relative clauses (RCs) in children for the first time with a realtime methodology that reveals moment-to-moment processing patterns as the sentence unfolds. A self-paced listening experiment with Turkish-speaking children (aged 5–8) and adults showed that both groups display a sign of processing cost both in subject and object RCs at different points through the flow of the utterance when integrating the cues that are uninformative (i.e., ambiguous in function) and that are structurally and probabilistically unexpected. Both groups show a processing facilitation as soon as the morphosyntactic dependencies are completed and parse the unbounded dependencies rapidly using the morphosyntactic cues rather than waiting for the clause-final filler. These findings show that five-year-old children show similar patterns to adults in processing the morphosyntactic cues incrementally and in forming expectations about the rest of the utterance on the basis of the probabilistic model of their language.

Syntactic complexity in the comprehension of wh-questions and relative clauses in typical language development and autism

This study investigates effects of syntactic complexity operationalised in terms of movement, intervention and (NP) feature similarity in the development of A’ dependencies in 4-, 6-, and 8-year old typically developing (TD) French children and children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Children completed an off-line comprehension task testing eight syntactic structures classified in four levels of complexity: Level 0: No Movement; Level 1: Movement without (configurational) Intervention; Level 2: Movement with Intervention from an element which is maximally different or featurally ‘disjoint’ (mismatched in both lexical NP restriction and number); Level 3: Movement with Intervention from an element similar in one feature or featurally ‘intersecting’ (matched in lexical NP restriction, mismatched in number). The results show that syntactic complexity affects TD children across the three age groups, but also indicate developmental differences between these groups. Movement affected all three groups in a similar way, but intervention effects in intersection cases were stronger in younger than older children, with NP feature similarity affecting only 4-year olds. Complexity effects created by the similarity in lexical restriction of an intervener thus appear to be overcome early in development, arguably thanks to other differences of this intervener (which was mismatched in number). Children with ASD performed less well than the TD children although they were matched on non-verbal reasoning. Overall, syntactic complexity affected their performance in a similar way as in their TD controls, but their performance correlated with non-verbal abilities rather than age, suggesting that their grammatical development does not follow the smooth relation to age that is found in TD children.

Concepção de small clauses nominais amalgamadas nas estruturas predicativas complexas do português brasileiro

Esta dissertação faz uma análise prévia da predicação complexa no modelo da Gramática Tradicional; aponta, em seguida, o enfoque das estruturas predicativas complexas à luz da Gramática Gerativa modelo de Princípios & Parâmetros (Chomsky, 1981, 1986). Ressalta que as estruturas sintáticas são projetadas a partir do léxico e correspondem a várias construções de predicação complexa. Mostra que os predicados complexos formados por APs e DPs predicativos apresentam características sintáticas e semânticas diferentes. Focaliza que essas construções superficialmente semelhantes são, em essência, diferentes, porque cada uma delas possui um processo próprio de estruturação interna, do qual decorre um sentido específico. Aponta, essencialmente, dois tipos de estruturas complexas: predicados secundários e miniorações complementos. Os predicados secundários se dividem, ainda, em predicados secundários orientados para o sujeito de [DP IP], predicados secundários orientados para o objeto de [DP VP] e predicados resultativos de [DP VP]. Os predicados secundários de [DP IP] e de [DP VP] e os predicados resultativos de [DP VP] constituem as Small Clauses adjuntas de predicados secundários. Apresenta que é possível encontrar evidências que as estruturas predicativas complexas do PB estão amalgamadas na concepção de Small Clauses nominais. Postula que as estruturas predicativas complexas do PB e as estruturas de Small Clauses nominais são em essência semelhantes. Tais estruturas possuem um mesmo processo de estruturação interna, que são analisadas conforme as configurações das representações sintáticas de cada sentença.

Three-dimensional finite element analysis of MHD duct flow by the penalty function formulation

A numerical scheme based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) is presented to calculate the full solution of a three-dimensional steady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow with moderately high Hartmann numbers and interaction parameters. An incompressible, viscous and electrically conducting liquid-metal is considered. Assuming a low magnetic Reynolds number, the solution method solves the coupled Navier-Stokes and Maxwell's equations through the use of a penalty function method. Results are presented for Hartmann numbers in the range 10(2)-10(3).

International arbitration based on investor-state dispute settlement clauses in international investment agreements: challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean

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Penalty-based nonlinear solver for optimal reactive power dispatch with discrete controls

The optimal reactive dispatch problem is a nonlinear programming problem containing continuous and discrete control variables. Owing to the difficulty caused by discrete variables, this problem is usually solved assuming all variables as continuous variables, therefore the original discrete variables are rounded off to the closest discrete value. This approach may provide solutions far from optimal or even unfeasible solutions. This paper presents an efficient handling of discrete variables by penalty function so that the problem becomes continuous and differentiable. Simulations with the IEEE test systems were performed showing the efficiency of the proposed approach. © 1969-2012 IEEE.

The expressibility of modality in representational complement clauses in Brazilian Portuguese

This paper deals with the (im)possibility of expressing a variety of modal categories within the context of the layering approach to complementation in Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG).Our hypothesis is that modal expressions in complement clauses only pertain to operator or modifier classes of the highest layer relevant for that type of embedded construction and for all lower levels. In order to test this hypothesis, occurrences of complement clauses in two databases of spoken Brazilian Portuguese are analyzed. The investigation of this hypothesis is restricted to representational complement clauses.

The Effects of High Pressure on the Point of No Return in Simulated Penalty Kicks

We investigated the effects of high pressure on the point of no return or the minimum time required for a kicker to respond to the goalkeeper's dive in a simulated penalty kick task. The goalkeeper moved to one side with different times available for the participants to direct the ball to the opposite side in low-pressure (acoustically isolated laboratory) and high-pressure situations (with a participative audience). One group of participants showed a significant lengthening of the point of no return under high pressure. With less time available, performance was at chance level. Unexpectedly, in a second group of participants, high pressure caused a qualitative change in which for short times available participants were inclined to aim in the direction of the goalkeeper's move. The distinct effects of high pressure are discussed within attentional control theory to reflect a decreasing efficiency of the goal-driven attentional system, slowing down performance, and a decreasing effectiveness in inhibiting stimulus-driven behavior.

Arbitrage-Free Conditions and Hedging Strategies for Markets with Penalty Costs on Short Positions

We consider a discrete-time financial model in a general sample space with penalty costs on short positions. We consider a friction market closely related to the standard one except that withdrawals from the portfolio value proportional to short positions are made. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the nonexistence of arbitrages in this situation and for a self-financing strategy to replicate a contingent claim. For the finite-sample space case, this result leads to an explicit and constructive procedure for obtaining perfect hedging strategies.

Augmented Lagrangian method with nonmonotone penalty parameters for constrained optimization

At each outer iteration of standard Augmented Lagrangian methods one tries to solve a box-constrained optimization problem with some prescribed tolerance. In the continuous world, using exact arithmetic, this subproblem is always solvable. Therefore, the possibility of finishing the subproblem resolution without satisfying the theoretical stopping conditions is not contemplated in usual convergence theories. However, in practice, one might not be able to solve the subproblem up to the required precision. This may be due to different reasons. One of them is that the presence of an excessively large penalty parameter could impair the performance of the box-constraint optimization solver. In this paper a practical strategy for decreasing the penalty parameter in situations like the one mentioned above is proposed. More generally, the different decisions that may be taken when, in practice, one is not able to solve the Augmented Lagrangian subproblem will be discussed. As a result, an improved Augmented Lagrangian method is presented, which takes into account numerical difficulties in a satisfactory way, preserving suitable convergence theory. Numerical experiments are presented involving all the CUTEr collection test problems.