Search results for "Linguistics"

2018

This study aims to identify the histological basis for the extraordinary, fast movement of the style in Marantaceae. Although this explosive pollination mechanism was subject of many studies, quantitative measurements to document volumetric changes have never been conducted. Based on physical parameters and limitations (poroelastic time), the movement itself is by far too fast to be explained by turgor changes solely. Therefore, we address the hypothesis that the style contains elastic structures to store energy allowing the fast movement. We provide an experimental approach in Goeppertia bachemiana to identify histological differences of styles in various states, i.e., steady, unreleased, …

Music style not only modulates the auditory cortex, but also motor related areas

2021

The neuroscience of music has recently attracted significant attention, but the effect of music style on the activation of auditory-motor regions has not been explored. The aim of the present study is to analyze the differences in brain activity during passive listening to non-vocal excerpts of four different music genres (classical, reggaeton, electronic and folk). A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment was performed. Twenty-eight participants with no musical training were included in the study. They had to passively listen to music excerpts of the above genres during fMRI acquisition. Imaging analysis was performed at the whole-brain-level and in auditory-motor regions …

Study of the polysemic term of minerality in wine: Segmentation of consumers based on their textual responses to an open-ended survey

2016

International audience; Over the past 20 years, the word "minerality" has been increasingly used in the description of wines. However, a precise definition of the concept of minerality appears to be inexistent, and no consensual meaning, even among wine professionals, can be identified. Although this word usage seems to spread out from wine professionals to consumers, research on what consumers assume about minerality is scarce. This paper aims to study the various concepts about minerality held-by consumers by using an open-ended questionnaire.A total of 1697 French-speaking consumers responded to an, online survey and their free answers were analysed using statistical textual methods. The…

First Nations Healing: From Traditional Medicine to Experimental Ethnopharmacology

2020

Abstract Focusing on First Nations traditional medicine, we investigated whether traditional knowledge of medicinal plants can be validated by modern scientific methods of molecular and cellular pharmacology and whether this information is of value for improving current therapy options. Based on two projects on medicinal plants of the Gwich’in – a First Nations group on the Canadian North West Coast – we found that extracts from several plants traditionally used medically were able to kill tumor cells, including otherwise multidrug-resistant cells. Investigating medicinal plants from Indigenous communities raises questions about ownership, appropriation, and commercial use. At the same time…

2021

Scholarly journals are often blamed for a gender gap in publication rates, but it is unclear whether peer review and editorial processes contribute to it. This article examines gender bias in peer review with data for 145 journals in various fields of research, including about 1.7 million authors and 740,000 referees. We reconstructed three possible sources of bias, i.e., the editorial selection of referees, referee recommendations, and editorial decisions, and examined all their possible relationships. Results showed that manuscripts written by women as solo authors or coauthored by women were treated even more favorably by referees and editors. Although there were some differences between…

Building an Optimal WSD Ensemble Using Per-Word Selection of Best System

2006

In Senseval workshops for evaluating WSD systems [1,4,9], no one system or system type (classifier algorithm, type of system ensemble, extracted feature set, lexical knowledge source etc.) has been discovered that resolves all ambiguous words into their senses in a superior way. This paper presents a novel method for selecting the best system for target word based on readily available word features (number of senses, average amount of training per sense, dominant sense ratio). Applied to Senseval-3 and Senseval-2 English lexical sample state-of-art systems, a net gain of approximately 2.5 – 5.0% (respectively) in average precision per word over the best base system is achieved. The method c…

Defining sensory descriptors: towards writing rules based on terminology

2007

International audience; Descriptive analysis relies upon the use of sensory descriptors. They are words generally associated to a definition aimed at helping their understanding. However, the writing rules for such definitions remain implicit. The present work is a collaborative attempt from sensory analysts and linguists to get further insight into how definitions are elaborated.Definition formulations were analyzed according to linguistic criteria, syntactic (type and number of nouns, verbs and adjectives) as well as semantic ones (relations of synonymy, metaphor or analogy between the descriptors and their definitions). Such a linguistic analysis was performed on one hundred descriptor d…

Double validation of translated questionnaires in international studies

2018

Background Study questionnaires developed in one country can be translated and used for similar studies in other countries. The main problem of this process is that people speaking different languages can understand the meaning of some questions differently due to disparate mentalities and backgrounds. To avoid a misunderstanding, to perform correct conclusions in accordance to the mentality of each country, and to permit the comparison of results in different countries, the intellectual validation of questionnaires is widely used. The main problem of such a validation is its qualitative nature that can be biased by the subjective approach of the investigator. Therefore, there is a necessit…

Stressing the Stress or the Complexity of the Human Factor: Psychobiological Consequences of Distress

2017

Work stress is a complex process that takes place during the interaction between work demands and workers’ abilities. Karasek’s conceptualization of job stress (job demands-control model) predominates over other models of work stress. Job strain appears if there is an imbalance between demands and control. However, this parsimonious model is quite complex, mainly in the control dimension. Control is defined as the ability to cope with job demands; however, control is an ambiguous term that includes personal and job abilities and decision processes. Therefore, stress (or job strain) is a complex process that involves many different human resources to cope with job demands. In this context, i…

Simplification Of Painting Images For Tactile Perception By Visually Impaired Persons

2018

The access to artworks by visually impaired people requires a simplified tactile representation of paintings. This paper presents the difficulties of direct transcription of artworks and the test results of simplification of the paintings done by Australian Aborigines which don't have purely visual elements such as shadows or perspective. The implemented methodology is bottom-up: it starts with tactile representation of basic elements relevant to the understanding of the whole painting, then their association into more complex concepts. The context of associations is explained through audio-description. The results of the tests with visually impaired persons are analyzed and explained.