Ignorance and Indifference: Epistemic Indefinites in Slovak

This thesis investigates epistemic indefinites (EIs), elements noteworthy for their grammaticalized ignorance implicature, i.e. inability to provide further information about the identity of the expression's referent. This work contributes to the effort of finding a unified account of the cross-linguistic repertoire of EIs. It comprises a corpus survey and a semantic analysis of Slovak voľa- and -si, EI items not studied until now. First, the following hypothesis was tested: the semantic/syntactic functions expressed by an indefinite will fall into contiguous areas on an implicational map (Haspelmath 1997). The results of the corpus analysis revealed that the map does not entirely capture the Slovak EIs' functional distribution and interpretations. Secondly, the semantic analysis was developed within the alternatives-and-exhaustification framework (Chierchia 2013). I show that some of the EIs' behavior can be explained as a consequence of an assumed sensitivity to parameters proposed by Chierchia. I situate voľa- and -si with respect to the framework’s typology and offer a critical assessment of this theoretical perspective.

Comparativa entre dues BD semàntiques : OWLIM-Lite i Virtuoso

L'objectiu fonamental d'aquest treball és estudiar els conceptes bàsics de la web semàntica mitjançant l'estudi de dos sistemes de gestió de bases de dades (SGBD) utilitzats en el context de la web semàntica, OWLIM-Lite i Virtuoso, que ens permetran dissenyar i implementar una ontologia.

LinkedOpenData, el futur de la catalogació

Introducció al LOD. Evolució tecnològica de la última dècada i repàs dels principals conceptes relacionats fins a arribar a la web semàntica i les dades enllaçables en obert. Evolució en l'àmbit bibliotecari i els catàlegs: tendències encaminades cap a la millora de l’accés, el web 2.0 i l’accés a la informació a text complet. Per què i com participar en el moviment LOD. Iniciatives en el món bibliotecari: Què s’està fent a nivell internacional en el món dels catàlegs i la catalogació?. Com seran doncs els catàlegs del futur, i finalment, com es concreta a la pràctica.

Análisis del doblaje de Alicia en el País de las Maravillas

Resum: En estas páginas se recogen y analizan los fragmentos más interesantes del doblaje al castellano de Alicia en el País de las Maravillas desde una perspectiva teórica y descriptiva. Se descubren así la domesticación y adaptación como principales técnicas de traducción y la ausencia de un único método de traducción.

Análisis de los verbos prefijados con re- y su aplicación a la lexicografía

En este trabajo se estudia la relación entre la morfología y la lexicografía mediante el análisis de seis verbos prefijados con re-. Se comparan sus definiciones en tres diccionarios y se proponen nuevas definiciones siguiendo el modelo de entrada lexicográfica del Diccionario de Aprendizaje de Español como Lengua Extranjera.

Interpretaciones de la atenuación en artículos de revisión de Odontología

Este trabajo analiza cómo interpretan la atenuación 25 estudiantes universitarios venezolanos de Odontología, de nuevo ingreso, al responder a dos cuestionarios luego de leer un artículo de revisión. En el primero, con preguntas abiertas, debían interpretar algunas expresiones atenuadas preseleccionadas; en el segundo, debían elegir entre varias interpretaciones cerradas de los mismos fragmentos. Clasificamos sus respuestas en las siguientes categorías: reconocimiento, supresión y aumento de la atenuación, en el primer cuestionario; identificación de aproximadores, escudos, deícticos y construcciones impersonales, en el segundo. En los resultados predomina la identificación de atenuadores asociados a la dimensión semántica: el 30% reconoció la atenuación tal como fue usada en el original, el 30% aumentó su valor y el 40% no la logró identificar. Los estudiantes identificaron con mayor frecuencia los aproximadores, a diferencia de los escudos, las construcciones impersonales y los deícticos temporales. Estos resultados sugieren que es necesario formar a losestudiantes en el uso especializado de las dimensiones pragmática y sociocognitiva de la atenuación, en cursos de lectura y escritura académica. Solo este conocimiento específico permitirá que los estudiantes dominen el discurso científico prototípico de la Odontología.

The adjective petit 'small, little' in French acquisition data: an example of the relationship between pragmatics and morphosyntactic development

In French the adjective petit 'small, little' has a special status: it fulfills various pragmatic functions in addition to semantic meanings and it is thus highly frequent in discourse. Résumé: This study, based on the data of two children, aged 1;6 to 2;11, argues that petit and its pragmatic meanings play a specific role in the acquisition of French adjectives. In contrast to what is expected in child language, petit favours the early development of a pattern of noun phrase with prenominal attributive adjective. The emergence and distribution of petit in the children's production is examined and related to its distribution in the input, and the detailed pragmatic meanings and functions of petit are analysed. Prenominal petit emerges early as the preferred and most productive adjective. Pragmatic meanings of petit appear to be predominant in this early age and are of two main types: expressions of endearment (in noun phrases) and mitigating devices whose scope is the entire utterance. These results, as well as instances of children's pragmatic overgeneralizations, provide new evidence that at least some pragmatic meanings are prior to semantic meanings in early acquisition.

Gene Ontology Function prediction in Mollicutes using Protein-Protein Association Networks

Abstract Background: Many complex systems can be represented and analysed as networks. The recent availability of large-scale datasets, has made it possible to elucidate some of the organisational principles and rules that govern their function, robustness and evolution. However, one of the main limitations in using protein-protein interactions for function prediction is the availability of interaction data, especially for Mollicutes. If we could harness predicted interactions, such as those from a Protein-Protein Association Networks (PPAN), combining several protein-protein network function-inference methods with semantic similarity calculations, the use of protein-protein interactions for functional inference in this species would become more potentially useful. Results: In this work we show that using PPAN data combined with other approximations, such as functional module detection, orthology exploitation methods and Gene Ontology (GO)-based information measures helps to predict protein function in Mycoplasma genitalium. Conclusions: To our knowledge, the proposed method is the first that combines functional module detection among species, exploiting an orthology procedure and using information theory-based GO semantic similarity in PPAN of the Mycoplasma species. The results of an evaluation show a higher recall than previously reported methods that focused on only one organism network.

An efficient algorithm to perform multiple testing in epistasis screening

Background: Research in epistasis or gene-gene interaction detection for human complex traits has grown over the last few years. It has been marked by promising methodological developments, improved translation efforts of statistical epistasis to biological epistasis and attempts to integrate different omics information sources into the epistasis screening to enhance power. The quest for gene-gene interactions poses severe multiple-testing problems. In this context, the maxT algorithm is one technique to control the false-positive rate. However, the memory needed by this algorithm rises linearly with the amount of hypothesis tests. Gene-gene interaction studies will require a memory proportional to the squared number of SNPs. A genome-wide epistasis search would therefore require terabytes of memory. Hence, cache problems are likely to occur, increasing the computation time. In this work we present a new version of maxT, requiring an amount of memory independent from the number of genetic effects to be investigated. This algorithm was implemented in C++ in our epistasis screening software MBMDR-3.0.3. We evaluate the new implementation in terms of memory efficiency and speed using simulated data. The software is illustrated on real-life data for Crohn’s disease. Results: In the case of a binary (affected/unaffected) trait, the parallel workflow of MBMDR-3.0.3 analyzes all gene-gene interactions with a dataset of 100,000 SNPs typed on 1000 individuals within 4 days and 9 hours, using 999 permutations of the trait to assess statistical significance, on a cluster composed of 10 blades, containing each four Quad-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2352 2.1 GHz. In the case of a continuous trait, a similar run takes 9 days. Our program found 14 SNP-SNP interactions with a multiple-testing corrected p-value of less than 0.05 on real-life Crohn’s disease (CD) data. Conclusions: Our software is the first implementation of the MB-MDR methodology able to solve large-scale SNP-SNP interactions problems within a few days, without using much memory, while adequately controlling the type I error rates. A new implementation to reach genome-wide epistasis screening is under construction. In the context of Crohn’s disease, MBMDR-3.0.3 could identify epistasis involving regions that are well known in the field and could be explained from a biological point of view. This demonstrates the power of our software to find relevant phenotype-genotype higher-order associations.

The Learning Affect Monitor (LAM) - A computer-based system integrating quantitative and qualitative assessment of affective states in daily life.

The Learning Affect Monitor (LAM) is a new computer-based assessment system integrating basic dimensional evaluation and discrete description of affective states in daily life, based on an autonomous adapting system. Subjects evaluate their affective states according to a tridimensional space (valence and activation circumplex as well as global intensity) and then qualify it using up to 30 adjective descriptors chosen from a list. The system gradually adapts to the user, enabling the affect descriptors it presents to be increasingly relevant. An initial study with 51 subjects, using a 1 week time-sampling with 8 to 10 randomized signals per day, produced n = 2,813 records with good reliability measures (e.g., response rate of 88.8%, mean split-half reliability of .86), user acceptance, and usability. Multilevel analyses show circadian and hebdomadal patterns, and significant individual and situational variance components of the basic dimension evaluations. Validity analyses indicate sound assignment of qualitative affect descriptors in the bidimensional semantic space according to the circumplex model of basic affect dimensions. The LAM assessment module can be implemented on different platforms (palm, desk, mobile phone) and provides very rapid and meaningful data collection, preserving complex and interindividually comparable information in the domain of emotion and well-being.

Respeto o vampirización. El arte como"almacén" inagotable de ideas creativas al alcance de la publicidad

Since the begínning ofAdvertising, art has been a source ofinexhaustible inspiration for the advertising creative, who have used or misused it with any limits. With more or less direct references to artists, pieces or art movements, to references to the act ofart creation itself and certain aesthetic categories. Taking into account the various semantic versions that art offers, with multiple connotative lectures, this use has not been much profitable in many occasions, not as much as it could have been. However, in other circumstances, thís use has been vampirizing, only preoccupied for the audience impact ofa well knowll reference, but despising it and reducing it to a mere reclaim. In the case ofGiocconda by Leonardo da Vinci or the Birth ofVenus by Bottícelli are significant examples ofthis use, maybe popular, ofthe art productíon. That is to say that the depository was used as a source ofreferences to enrich the lectures ofthe advertising pieces (for instance, the excellent Citroen Xsara Picasso advertisement with the fordism mass production chain) or ¡ust to allow a higher t1Otoriety (like the Chupa-Chups advertisement where the Mona Lisa heartily sucks one ofthe mythical sweets with a stick). Thanks to a selected advertising pieces, graphical and audiovisual, we will be able to go through this kind ofadvertising creation logistics, from the moment that this one decided to call out these art references that were sleeping dreamingly Oll the fair in a depository until this strictly cultural moment came.

Fiesta peninsular y holiday estadounidense: dos visiones

Este artículo parte de la hipótesis de que la palabra fiesta posee un peso semántico mayor que su correspondiente holiday norteamericana y que esta desigualdad se puede corroborar en el ámbito de la antropología, la literatura, la lexicografía y la semántica lingüística. La falta de equivalencia semántica de ambos vocablos puede ocasionar dificultades en encuentros interculturales, ya que la traducción literal no consigue transmitir las diversas connotaciones semánticas de la fiesta. Convendría, pues, evitar tanto que el estudiante hispanohablante vuelque en el sustantivo estadounidense sus nociones culturales festivas, como que el estudiante norteamericano de español reduzca el término lingüístico al colorismo de una celebración lúdica o incluso taurina.

Ontologia de Twitter : El primer pas per inferir informació dels tweets

La web semàntica ens pot facilitar i agilitzar l'aprenentatge o recerca d'informació a través de les relacions de conceptes que ens aporta gràcies a la utilització de les ontologies. Per a la creació de la nostra ontologia hem utilitzat el programa Protégé. Per al disseny de l'ontologia ens hem basat en les funcionalitats bàsiques del Twitter.

Textual autocorrelation : formalism and illustrations

Abstract Textual autocorrelation is a broad and pervasive concept, referring to the similarity between nearby textual units: lexical repetitions along consecutive sentences, semantic association between neighbouring lexemes, persistence of discourse types (narrative, descriptive, dialogal...) and so on. Textual autocorrelation can also be negative, as illustrated by alternating phonological or morpho-syntactic categories, or the succession of word lengths. This contribution proposes a general Markov formalism for textual navigation, and inspired by spatial statistics. The formalism can express well-known constructs in textual data analysis, such as term-document matrices, references and hyperlinks navigation, (web) information retrieval, and in particular textual autocorrelation, as measured by Moran's I relatively to the exchange matrix associated to neighbourhoods of various possible types. Four case studies (word lengths alternation, lexical repulsion, parts of speech autocorrelation, and semantic autocorrelation) illustrate the theory. In particular, one observes a short-range repulsion between nouns together with a short-range attraction between verbs, both at the lexical and semantic levels. Résumé: Le concept d'autocorrélation textuelle, fort vaste, réfère à la similarité entre unités textuelles voisines: répétitions lexicales entre phrases successives, association sémantique entre lexèmes voisins, persistance du type de discours (narratif, descriptif, dialogal...) et ainsi de suite. L'autocorrélation textuelle peut être également négative, comme l'illustrent l'alternance entre les catégories phonologiques ou morpho-syntaxiques, ou la succession des longueurs de mots. Cette contribution propose un formalisme markovien général pour la navigation textuelle, inspiré par la statistique spatiale. Le formalisme est capable d'exprimer des constructions bien connues en analyse des données textuelles, telles que les matrices termes-documents, les références et la navigation par hyperliens, la recherche documentaire sur internet, et, en particulier, l'autocorélation textuelle, telle que mesurée par le I de Moran relatif à une matrice d'échange associée à des voisinages de différents types possibles. Quatre cas d'étude illustrent la théorie: alternance des longueurs de mots, répulsion lexicale, autocorrélation des catégories morpho-syntaxiques et autocorrélation sémantique. On observe en particulier une répulsion à courte portée entre les noms, ainsi qu'une attraction à courte portée entre les verbes, tant au niveau lexical que sémantique.

Creació d'una aplicació col·laborativa orientada a web semàntica

L'objectiu d'aquest projecte es la creació d'una plataforma que ofereix un nou format per a presentar aquest tipus d'informació, i que a mes permet la integració d'ontologies per a poder classificar les diferents noticies que s'afegeixin al sistema.