The principle of least effort within the hierarchy of linguistic preferences: external evidence from English

The thesis is an investigation of the principle of least effort (Zipf 1949 [1972]). The principle is simple (all effort should be least) and universal (it governs the totality of human behavior). Since the principle is also functional, the thesis adopts a functional theory of language as its theoretical framework, i.e. Natural Linguistics. The explanatory system of Natural Linguistics posits that higher principles govern preferences, which, in turn, manifest themselves as concrete, specific processes in a given language. Therefore, the thesis’ aim is to investigate the principle of least effort on the basis of external evidence from English. The investigation falls into the three following strands: the investigation of the principle itself, the investigation of its application in articulatory effort and the investigation of its application in phonological processes. The structure of the thesis reflects the division of its broad aims. The first part of the thesis presents its theoretical background (Chapter One and Chapter Two), the second part of the thesis deals with application of least effort in articulatory effort (Chapter Three and Chapter Four), whereas the third part discusses the principle of least effort in phonological processes (Chapter Five and Chapter Six). Chapter One serves as an introduction, examining various aspects of the principle of least effort such as its history, literature, operation and motivation. It overviews various names which denote least effort, explains the origins of the principle and reviews the literature devoted to the principle of least effort in a chronological order. The chapter also discusses the nature and operation of the principle, providing numerous examples of the principle at work. It emphasizes the universal character of the principle from the linguistic field (low-level phonetic processes and language universals) and the non-linguistic ones (physics, biology, psychology and cognitive sciences), proving that the principle governs human behavior and choices. Chapter Two provides the theoretical background of the thesis in terms of its theoretical framework and discusses the terms used in the thesis’ title, i.e. hierarchy and preference. It justifies the selection of Natural Linguistics as the thesis’ theoretical framework by outlining its major assumptions and demonstrating its explanatory power. As far as the concepts of hierarchy and preference are concerned, the chapter provides their definitions and reviews their various understandings via decision theories and linguistic preference-based theories. Since the thesis investigates the principle of least effort in language and speech, Chapter Three considers the articulatory aspect of effort. It reviews the notion of easy and difficult sounds and discusses the concept of articulatory effort, overviewing its literature as well as various understandings in a chronological fashion. The chapter also presents the concept of articulatory gestures within the framework of Articulatory Phonology. The thesis’ aim is to investigate the principle of least effort on the basis of external evidence, therefore Chapters Four and Six provide evidence in terms of three experiments, text message studies (Chapter Four) and phonological processes in English (Chapter Six). Chapter Four contains evidence for the principle of least effort in articulation on the basis of experiments. It describes the experiments in terms of their predictions and methodology. In particular, it discusses the adopted measure of effort established by means of the effort parameters as well as their status. The statistical methods of the experiments are also clarified. The chapter reports on the results of the experiments, presenting them in a graphical way and discusses their relation to the tested predictions. Chapter Four establishes a hierarchy of speakers’ preferences with reference to articulatory effort (Figures 30, 31). The thesis investigates the principle of least effort in phonological processes, thus Chapter Five is devoted to the discussion of phonological processes in Natural Phonology. The chapter explains the general nature and motivation of processes as well as the development of processes in child language. It also discusses the organization of processes in terms of their typology as well as the order in which processes apply. The chapter characterizes the semantic properties of processes and overviews Luschützky’s (1997) contribution to NP with respect to processes in terms of their typology and incorporation of articulatory gestures in the concept of a process. Chapter Six investigates phonological processes. In particular, it identifies the issues of lenition/fortition definition and process typology by presenting the current approaches to process definitions and their typology. Since the chapter concludes that no coherent definition of lenition/fortition exists, it develops alternative lenition/fortition definitions. The chapter also revises the typology of phonological processes under effort management, which is an extended version of the principle of least effort. Chapter Seven concludes the thesis with a list of the concepts discussed in the thesis, enumerates the proposals made by the thesis in discussing the concepts and presents some questions for future research which have emerged in the course of investigation. The chapter also specifies the extent to which the investigation of the principle of least effort is a meaningful contribution to phonology.

Asymptotic scattering and duality in the one-dimensional three-state quantum Potts model on a lattice

We determine numerically the single-particle and the two-particle spectrum of the three-state quantum Potts model on a lattice by using the density matrix renormalization group method, and extract information on the asymptotic (small momentum) S-matrix of the quasiparticles. The low energy part of the finite size spectrum can be understood in terms of a simple effective model introduced in a previous work, and is consistent with an asymptotic S-matrix of an exchange form below a momentum scale p*. This scale appears to vanish faster than the Compton scale, mc, as one approaches the critical point, suggesting that a dangerously irrelevant operator may be responsible for the behaviour observed on the lattice.

A (In)visibilidade do Conselho Geral

Este estudo teve como principal objetivo determinar as causas que levam à invisibilidade do Conselho Geral(CG). Este, conjuntamente com o Diretor, o Conselho Pedagógico e o Conselho Administrativo, constituem os órgãos de gestão e administração dos Agrupamentos de Escolas ou escolas não Agrupadas (AE/E). O CG representa o órgão de maior poder na hierarquia formalmente definida para a gestão e administração dos AE/E, pelo que devia ser conhecido por toda a comunidade escolar. Foi desenvolvido em três AE/E do concelho de Matosinhos, tendo sido inquiridos professores, alunos e assistentes operacionais/técnicos na tentativa de averiguar o (re)conhecimento do órgão em estudo e das suas competências. Foram ainda entrevistados os Diretores e os presidentes dos Conselhos Gerais de cada escola de forma aferir o tipo de relação que se estabelece entre eles. Fizeram ainda parte da nossa amostra Conselheiros, grupo privilegiado quer a nível de conhecimento das competências do Conselho Geral quer no reconhecimento do tipo de relação que se estabelece entre Diretor e Conselho Geral. Os resultados por nós obtidos mostram que o Conselho Geral é um órgão pouco conhecido da comunidade escolar. No cômputo geral, a comunidade escolar mais restrita desconhece o seu funcionamento bem como as suas competências. Face aos resultados foi por nós elaborado um Plano de Ação que visa melhorar o conhecimento que a comunidade tem relativamente ao Conselho Geral, e com ele melhorar a gestão estratégica dos AE/E.

Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process in healthcare research: A systematic literature review and evaluation of reporting

Background: The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), developed by Saaty in the late 1970s, is one of the methods for multi-criteria decision making. The AHP disaggregates a complex decision problem into different hierarchical levels. The weight for each criterion and alternative are judged in pairwise comparisons and priorities are calculated by the Eigenvector method. The slowly increasing application of the AHP was the motivation for this study to explore the current state of its methodology in the healthcare context. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted by searching the Pubmed and Web of Science databases for articles with the following keywords in their titles or abstracts: "Analytic Hierarchy Process," "Analytical Hierarchy Process," "multi-criteria decision analysis," "multiple criteria decision," "stated preference," and "pairwise comparison." In addition, we developed reporting criteria to indicate whether the authors reported important aspects and evaluated the resulting studies' reporting. Results: The systematic review resulted in 121 articles. The number of studies applying AHP has increased since 2005. Most studies were from Asia (almost 30 %), followed by the US (25.6 %). On average, the studies used 19.64 criteria throughout their hierarchical levels. Furthermore, we restricted a detailed analysis to those articles published within the last 5 years (n = 69). The mean of participants in these studies were 109, whereas we identified major differences in how the surveys were conducted. The evaluation of reporting showed that the mean of reported elements was about 6.75 out of 10. Thus, 12 out of 69 studies reported less than half of the criteria. Conclusion: The AHP has been applied inconsistently in healthcare research. A minority of studies described all the relevant aspects. Thus, the statements in this review may be biased, as they are restricted to the information available in the papers. Hence, further research is required to discover who should be interviewed and how, how inconsistent answers should be dealt with, and how the outcome and stability of the results should be presented. In addition, we need new insights to determine which target group can best handle the challenges of the AHP. © 2015 Schmidt et al.

Discrete breathers in a two-dimensional hexagonal Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice

We consider a two-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) lattice with hexagonal symmetry. Using asymptotic methods based on small amplitude ansatz, at third order we obtain a eduction to a cubic nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation (NLS) for the breather envelope. However, this does not support stable soliton solutions, so we pursue a higher-order analysis yielding a generalised NLS, which includes known stabilising terms. We present numerical results which suggest that long-lived stationary and moving breathers are supported by the lattice. We find breather solutions which move in an arbitrary direction, an ellipticity criterion for the wavenumbers of the carrier wave, symptotic estimates for the breather energy, and a minimum threshold energy below which breathers cannot be found. This energy threshold is maximised for stationary breathers, and becomes vanishingly small near the boundary of the elliptic domain where breathers attain a maximum speed. Several of the results obtained are similar to those obtained for the square FPU lattice (Butt \& Wattis, {\em J Phys A}, {\bf 39}, 4955, (2006)), though we find that the square and hexagonal lattices exhibit different properties in regard to the generation of harmonics, and the isotropy of the generalised NLS equation.

Discrete breathers in a two-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice

Using asymptotic methods, we investigate whether discrete breathers are supported by a two-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice. A scalar (one-component) two-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice is shown to model the charge stored within an electrical transmission lattice. A third-order multiple-scale analysis in the semi-discrete limit fails, since at this order, the lattice equations reduce to the (2+1)-dimensional cubic nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation which does not support stable soliton solutions for the breather envelope. We therefore extend the analysis to higher order and find a generalised $(2+1)$-dimensional NLS equation which incorporates higher order dispersive and nonlinear terms as perturbations. We find an ellipticity criterion for the wave numbers of the carrier wave. Numerical simulations suggest that both stationary and moving breathers are supported by the system. Calculations of the energy show the expected threshold behaviour whereby the energy of breathers does {\em not} go to zero with the amplitude; we find that the energy threshold is maximised by stationary breathers, and becomes arbitrarily small as the boundary of the domain of ellipticity is approached.

Antonio Peña Guajardo: “Toda situación del presente procede de un proceso histórico. No podemos entender el presente si no tenemos esa capacidad de ver hacia el pasado.”

Catedrático de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, este joven historiador fallecido prematuramente, desarrolló su labor de investigación sobre temas regionales, en etapas posteriores al triunfo de la República y el comienzo del Porfiriato. Primer ganador del premio de investigación histórica “Israel Cavazos Garza”, en 2004, se le recuerda como un impulsor de jóvenes dentro del Colegio de Historia

Razón y jerarquía en la legimitación artística = Reason and hierarchy in artistic legitimization

Operativamente entenderemos la legitimación artística como el proceso por medio del cual una producción simbólico-cultural es reconocida en alguno de los ámbitos de lo artístico como obra de arte. Partimos de la idea de que las obras de arte son reconocidas como tales debido a procesos de validación que se dan en un campo institucional en el que operan muy diversas fuerzas y agentes que interactúan de manera compleja. Lo cual nos hace pensar que esta “institución artística” (Dickie, 2005) no se comporta de manera homogénea, ni es monolítica, sino que existen diversas fuerzas, unas con más intensidad que otras, que operan y que establecen valores que no todos aceptan, pero que dependiendo de qué agente de las institución establezca el valor, y del peso que éste tenga en la institución, será el grado de reconocimiento que obtenga la obra.

Sistematización de experiencias prácticas artísticas en la comparsa del año 2016

RESUMEN El seis de enero es una fecha en la que tradicionalmente en la ciudad de Cuenca se celebra el día de los santos inocentes, a pesar de corresponder según el calendario eclesiástico al día de reyes, dicha celebración ha venido desarrollándose hasta formar parte de sus tradiciones instituyéndose como Mascaradas de la ciudad de Cuenca, celebración que toma forma de un certamen, con un sistema de premiación otorgando reconocimientos en diferentes categorías. El presente trabajo documenta el proceso que se siguió en toda la elaboración de esculturas, escenografía-coreografías, vestuario y musicalización para las comparsas del seis de enero de 2016 en la que participó la Facultad de Artes de la Universidad de Cuenca. A lo largo de esta acción intervine en diferentes áreas desde la concreción de ideas para el tema planteado en diferentes reuniones de docentes y estudiantes hasta su ejecución y dirección dentro de un trabajo en equipo inter-facultad e inter-facultades, trabajo que se sustentó en conjunto con el departamento de vinculación y diferentes asociaciones de escuela. De estas reuniones se concertó lo siguiente: - El tema de la comparsa sería: “Pumataqui” - Se debía elaborar un conjunto escultórico conformado por seis unidades individuales que dieran razón de las características andinas relacionadas con el camino del puma, como símbolo de fortaleza y jerarquía del pueblo Cañari-Inca. Dentro de las obras se encuentra: el puma de proporciones monumentales con características mecánicas y con la capacidad de sostener a una persona sobre su espalda; un cóndor de 3.5 m de alto, una serpiente de 14 m. de largo, un maíz de 3.2 m de alto, la Pachamama con 3.5 m de alto, sumado a esto se encuentran los participantes con diferentes vestuarios acorde a las esculturas de gran formato. -El vestuario se trabajó en colaboración con una estudiante que posea experiencia en diseño y patronaje textil. -Para acrecentar el impacto de la comparsa se vincularía a estudiantes de las diferentes carreras que oferta la Universidad, por lo cual se optó por abrir el sistema de prácticas pre-profesionales y se realizaron las reuniones respectivas con representantes estudiantiles. Como resultado final la comparsa “Pumataqui” se desarrolló normalmente con todas las coreografías y propuestas escultóricas, obteniendo como reconocimiento el primer lugar en la categoría institucional y adicionalmente la “Máscara dorada” entregada a la mejor comparsa por parte jurado calificador.

Los contestadores automáticos, toda una cultura : deje su mensaje después del piiiii

Fondo Margaritainés Restrepo

Lattice pulling effect and strain relaxation in axial (In, Ga)N/GaN nanowire heterostructures grown on GaN-buffered Si(111) substrate

Transmission electron microscopy and spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy have been applied to investigate the indium distribution and the interface morphology in axial (In,Ga)N/GaN nanowire heterostructures. The ordered axial (In,Ga)N/GaN nanowire heterostructures with an indium concentration up to 80% are grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaN-buffered Si(111) substrates. We observed a pronounced lattice pulling effect in all the nanowire samples given in a broad transition region at the interface. The lattice pulling effect becomes smaller and the (In,Ga)N/GaN interface width is reduced as the indium concentration is increased in the (In,Ga)N section. The result can be interpreted in terms of the increased plastic strain relaxation via the generation of the misfit dislocations at the interface.

Biblioteca Andrés C. Vázquez; índice de los libros empastados contenidos en ella sobre ajedrez, damas, tresillo, prestidigitación, ciencias recreativas, artes mágicas y toda clase de juegos.

Mode of access: Internet.

Lattice Boltzmann Modeling and Specialized Laboratory Techniques to Determine the Permeability of Megaporous Karst Rock

The Pleistocene carbonate rock Biscayne Aquifer of south Florida contains laterally-extensive bioturbated ooltic zones characterized by interconnected touching-vug megapores that channelize most flow and make the aquifer extremely permeable. Standard petrophysical laboratory techniques may not be capable of accurately measuring such high permeabilities. Instead, innovative procedures that can measure high permeabilities were applied. These fragile rocks cannot easily be cored or cut to shapes convenient for conducting permeability measurements. For the laboratory measurement, a 3D epoxy-resin printed rock core was produced from computed tomography data obtained from an outcrop sample. Permeability measurements were conducted using a viscous fluid to permit easily observable head gradients (~2 cm over 1 m) simultaneously with low Reynolds number flow. For a second permeability measurement, Lattice Boltzmann Method flow simulations were computed on the 3D core renderings. Agreement between the two estimates indicates an accurate permeability was obtained that can be applied to future studies.

Development of a Coupling Model for Fluid-Structure Interaction using the Mesh-free Finite Element Method and the Lattice Boltzmann Method

In the presented thesis work, the meshfree method with distance fields was coupled with the lattice Boltzmann method to obtain solutions of fluid-structure interaction problems. The thesis work involved development and implementation of numerical algorithms, data structure, and software. Numerical and computational properties of the coupling algorithm combining the meshfree method with distance fields and the lattice Boltzmann method were investigated. Convergence and accuracy of the methodology was validated by analytical solutions. The research was focused on fluid-structure interaction solutions in complex, mesh-resistant domains as both the lattice Boltzmann method and the meshfree method with distance fields are particularly adept in these situations. Furthermore, the fluid solution provided by the lattice Boltzmann method is massively scalable, allowing extensive use of cutting edge parallel computing resources to accelerate this phase of the solution process. The meshfree method with distance fields allows for exact satisfaction of boundary conditions making it possible to exactly capture the effects of the fluid field on the solid structure.

A measure of conductivity for lattice fermions at finite density

We study the linear response to an external electric field of a system of fermions in a lattice at zero temperature. This allows to measure numerically the Euclidean conductivity which turns out to be compatible with an analytical calculation for free fermions. The numerical method is generalizable to systems with dynamical interactions where no analytical approach is possible.