Converse Situation Research Articles

Dynamic emergence of situational willingness to communicate in a second language

Abstract This article reports on a qualitative study that shows how situational willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language (L2) can dynamically emerge and fluctuate during a conversation situation. From inductive analysis of data from interviews, videotaped conversations, and stimulated recalls, it was found that situational WTC in L2 emerged from the joint effect of three interacting psychological conditions of excitement, responsibility, and security, each of which was co-constructed by interacting situational variables such as topic, interlocutors, and conversational context. Based on the findings, I propose a multilayered construct of situational WTC and a new definition of WTC in L2, in which WTC is suggested as a dynamic situational concept that can change moment-to-moment, rather than a trait-like predisposition. I also present pedagogical implications, suggesting ways in which situational variables can be controlled to create L2 learners’ situational WTC.

Verb Agreement and Disagreement

This multiregister corpus study investigates the social factors affecting concord variation found in existential there + be (ETB) constructions in present-day American English. The study questions previous work in this area, which suggests that a lack of concord is reflective of informal, conversational situations of use. The five registers analyzed (conversation, academic lectures, academic writing, fiction, and chat language) showed that the two spoken registers resulted in the greatest number of variation in agreement. A comparison of the linguistic contexts of ETBs in the two spoken registers finds both similarities and differences of function across two spoken registers. The article concludes by adopting the position that the contracted ETB construction is an unanalyzed chunk or formulaic sequence of language.

Aufklärungs- und Informationsgespräche im Krankenhaus

The aim of this descriptive study was to identify the situation of conversation between hospital nurses and physicians and their patients about diagnosis and illness and to unweave the structure of communication in the interdisciplinary team that influences the personel's behaviour in the conversation. The rate of rebound in this postal debriefing amounted to 42 percent. 144 nurses from nursing and 46 medical staff participated. The examination showed that there are influencing factors, shown as formal (ward round, committing conversations, team conversations and documentation systems) and informal (colleagues and flair) structure of communication. In consequence of the non-homogenous structure of communication the hospital staff is not homogenous informed about the awareness of patients concerning diagnosis and illness. That's why hospital staff is without self-confidence in conversations with patients and avoids talks. Furthermore, a lack in teaching communication skills was revealed both in medical and nursing education and it became evident that nursing staff are not yet informed about juridical aspects of information talks. A documentation of patient's information status enables a congruent and authentic contact between staff and patient.

Simbolismo sonoro do PB: o estudo dos ideofones

[Introduction] The studies about ideophones in Brazilian Portuguese (PB) reveal that in the Portuguese system the ideophones are typically formed by bilabial sounds (CRUZ, 2000a). [aim] The main aim of this study is to verify if this is a typical feature of the PB or a resource of the sound symbolic expressivity. [methodology] In this study we observed the ideophones phenomenon in three kinds of varieties of Portuguese: (i) Afro-brazilian – ABP (CRUZ, 2000a), Brazilian dialect spoken in Amazonian by the maroon community; (ii) Amazonie Portuguese – AM (TRINDADE, 1992; CRUZ, 2000a; CASSIQUE, 1995) and (iii) standard Brazilian Portuguese – PB (OLIVEIRA, 2000; BORGES, 1991). We considered other data too: a) data collected through direct observation of different conversational situations and b) the data selected from cartoons. Particularly, we will analyse two aspects: the phonetic feature of the sounds found in the ideophones and the association of the meanings established. [results] The study of the Brazilian Portuguese ideophones show us: a) a tendency to bilabiail sounds, b) a tendency to expression links to emition of the sound and c) ideophones are not dialectal features of ABP. [conclusion] The results indicate a necessity to study more the PB.

Sarcasm, Deception, and Stating the Obvious: Planning Dialogue without Speech Acts

This paper presents an alternative to the ‘speech acts with STRIPS’ approach to implementing dialogue a fully implemented AI planner which generates and analyses the semantics of utterances using a single linguistic act for all contexts. Using this act, the planner can model problematic conversational situations, including felicitous and infelicitous instances of bluffing, lying, sarcasm, and stating the obvious. The act has negligible effects, and its precondition can always be proved. ‘Speaker maxims’ enable the speaker to plan to deceive, as well as to generate implicatures, while ‘hearer maxims’ enable the hearer to recognise deceptions, and interpret implicatures. The planner proceeds by achieving parts of the constructive proof of a goal. It incorporates an epistemic theorem prover, which embodies a deduction model of belief, and a constructive logic.

Sarcasm, Deception, and Stating the Obvious: Planning Dialogue without Speech Acts

This paper presents an alternative to the ‘speech acts with STRIPS’ approach to implementing dialogue a fully implemented AI planner which generates and analyses the semantics of utterances using a single linguistic act for all contexts. Using this act, the planner can model problematic conversational situations, including felicitous and infelicitous instances of bluffing, lying, sarcasm, and stating the obvious. The act has negligible effects, and its precondition can always be proved. ‘Speaker maxims’ enable the speaker to plan to deceive, as well as to generate implicatures, while ‘hearer maxims’ enable the hearer to recognise deceptions, and interpret implicatures. The planner proceeds by achieving parts of the constructive proof of a goal. It incorporates an epistemic theorem prover, which embodies a deduction model of belief, and a constructive logic.

Effects of anandamide on the binding and signaling properties of M 1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors

This study investigated the effects of the endocannabinoid, anandamide, on M 1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. In the presence of anandamide, [ 3H] N-methylscopolamine ([ 3H]NMS) inhibition binding was characterized by Hill coefficients greater than 1 while saturation binding isotherms were characterized by a reduction in radioligand B max. Anandamide did not affect the potency of classic agonists, antagonists or allosteric modulators to inhibit [ 3H]NMS binding, indicating that the site of anandamide action did not involve receptor regions recognized by these compounds. Although the mode of binding of anandamide was reversible, the order of ligand addition was important; the inhibitory effect was greatest when anandamide was equilibrated with the receptor prior to radioligand addition, and weakest in the converse situation. Interestingly, the inhibitory potency of anandamide was reduced on pre-equilibration with non-transfected CHO cell membranes, prior to addition of M 1 mAChR-transfected membranes. In phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis assays, anandamide significantly reduced the maximal response to acetylcholine, but at higher concentrations than those needed to fully inhibit radioligand binding. Studies utilizing a range of agonists with varying intrinsic activities showed that the inhibitory effects of anandamide on agonist function were most pronounced with the lowest efficacy agonists. These findings suggest that the mechanism of action of anandamide at the M 1 mAChR involves perturbation of the receptor via the membrane in a manner that is sensitive to the conformation of the receptor (occupied versus vacant).

Cholesterol metabolism and therapeutic targets: rationale for targeting multiple metabolic pathways.

The liver is the major regulator of the plasma low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration because it is not only the site of formation of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL), the precursors of most LDL in the circulation, but it is also the organ where the bulk of receptor-mediated clearance of LDL takes place. The liver also initially clears all the cholesterol that is absorbed from the small intestine. The absorption of excess cholesterol can potentially increase the amount of cholesterol stored in the liver. This, in turn, can result in increased VLDL secretion, and hence LDL formation, and also downregulation of hepatic LDL receptor activity. Such events will potentially increase plasma LDL-C levels. The converse situation occurs when cholesterol absorption is inhibited. Cholesterol enters the lumen of the small intestine principally from bile and diet. The major steps involved in the absorption process have been characterized. On average, about half of all cholesterol entering the intestine is absorbed, but the fractional absorption rate varies greatly among individuals. While the basis for this variability is not understood, it may partly explain why some patients respond poorly or not at all to statins and other classes of lipid-lowering drugs. There are few data relating to racial differences in cholesterol absorption. One study reported a significantly higher rate in African Americans compared with non-African Americans. Multiple lipid-lowering drugs that target pathways involving the absorption, synthesis, transport, storage, catabolism, and excretion of cholesterol are available. Ezetimibe selectively blocks cholesterol absorption and lowers plasma LDL-C levels by an average of 18%. When ezetimibe is coadministered with lower doses of statins, there is an additive reduction in LDL-C level, which equals the reduction achieved with maximal doses of statins alone. Dual inhibition of cholesterol synthesis and absorption is an effective new strategy for treating hypercholesterolemia.

Associative and segregative interactions between gelatin and low-methoxy pectin. Part 3. Quantitative analysis of co-gel moduli

The experimental moduli ( G′ at 5 °C) reported in the preceding paper for gelatin–calcium pectinate co-gels (pH 3.9; 1.0 wt% pectin; stoichiometric Ca 2+; 0–10 wt% gelatin) formed in the presence or absence of 1 M NaCl have been analysed using a single adjustable parameter, p, to characterise partition of solvent. The analysis of samples incorporating 1 M NaCl assumed complete segregation of calcium pectinate into dispersed particles in a continuous gelatin matrix, with p defined as the ratio of water/polymer in the gelatin phase divided by the corresponding ratio for the pectin phase. Relative phase volumes at each trial value of p were used to determine the polymer concentration in each phase, and the corresponding moduli were obtained from standard calibration curves. For solvent distributions where the calculated modulus of the continuous gelatin phase was higher than that of the dispersed calcium pectinate phase, co-gel moduli were derived using the Takayanagi isostrain model, and the isostress model was used for the converse situation. The p factors required to give perfect agreement with the moduli observed experimentally were tightly grouped around a single value ( p=1.21) for all concentrations of gelatin studied, indicating that the assumption of complete segregation is reasonably valid. Calculated moduli for the gelatin phase were in good agreement with experimental values obtained by melting the gelatin network, centrifuging to sediment the dispersed calcium pectinate particles, and re-gelling the gelatin supernatant. The same p factor (1.21) was used to derive calculated moduli for co-gels formed in the absence of NaCl, where the mixed solutions remain monophasic, by application of the relationship proposed by Davies for bicontinuous composites. The modulus of the calcium pectinate gel, which is already present when the gelatin network forms, was calculated (i) on the assumption of dynamic cross-linking (i.e. using the concentration-dependence of G′ for calcium pectinate alone), and (ii) for permanent cross-linking (by application of deswelling theory). The experimental moduli moved from close agreement with the former model to close agreement with the latter as the gelatin concentration increased from 0 to 10 wt%, consistent with a progressive increase in the extent of rearrangement of the calcium pectinate network required to accommodate the compression introduced by gelation of gelatin.

Developmental factors associated with risk for atopic disease: implications for vaccine strategies in early childhood

There is growing interest in the potential interactions between infant vaccination and risk for development of atopic disease. The aspect of this issue which has dominated this debate concerns suggestions that infant vaccination may stimulate allergic sensitisation. These suggestions derive from retrospective epidemiological analyses and will remain speculative unless they can be confirmed in prospective studies, particularly as conflicting findings have been reported. However, there is a potentially more important issue surfacing in this debate, which entails the converse situation, i.e. that genetic risk for atopy influences capacity to respond to vaccination during infancy. Support for the latter possibility comes from recent studies on the role of developmental factors which determine immune competence during infancy, and attendant risk for inflammatory and infectious diseases. The relevant findings are reviewed briefly below.

画像処理 会話シーンにおけるロボットと複数ユーザとの共同注意の形成

The ability to interact with multiple users as well as to recognize the ways in which people are interacting is essential for a robot participating in society. Forming shared attention is regarded as fundamental in improving the flexibility of human-robot interaction. This paper proposes an algorithm that enables shared attention between a robot and speakers in alternative conversational situations. We firstly present a microphone array technique and a method to combine auditory and visual information for estimating the physical location of the sound source. Secondly, the speaker is detected according to the linear combination of the result of sound source localization and the likelihood map representing the distribution of pixels having skin color. Finally, in the conversational situations, the speaker's focus of attention is alternatively detected and shared by the robot for upcoming communication based on the proposed algorithm. Several experimental results are presented that demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Efficiency of the forebrain commissures: memory for stimuli seen by the other hemisphere

How well will one cerebral hemisphere recognize items viewed initially via the other? Nonverbalizable images or words were presented to one visual field and memory for them tested in the same or the other visual field. The initially viewing hemisphere subsequently had no secure advantage in accuracy, and only for images was there a 30-ms (ca 3%) penalty in reaction time for viewing with the "other" hemisphere. Interhemispheric mnemonic communication is thus highly reliable. At longer retention intervals (1-2 min vs. 4-30 s, with accumulating added stimuli), however, recognition of words was asymmetric as to hemisphere, in that initial viewing via the right hemisphere was subsequently (and paradoxically) much better recognized via the left (other) hemisphere than was the converse situation. This suggests that the initial engram with right hemispheric viewing of words ultimately becomes established in the left, and that the right has less accurate access to previous "left hemispheric view".

Speakers’ experiences and audience design: knowing when and knowing how to adjust utterances to addressees

In this paper, we develop an account of the types of experiences through which speakers learn to design their utterances for particular addressees. We argue that there are two important aspects of conversational situations relevant to considerations of audience design. First, speakers must become aware that audience design is necessary in the current setting. Second, they must frequently overcome other tendencies toward consistency and brevity of expression. To assess the impact of both of these factors, we conducted a referential communication experiment in which Directors described arrays of picture cards for two independent Matchers. In the early rounds, both Matchers were present and each possessed a different subset of the Directors’ cards. In later rounds, only one of the two Matchers was present at a time and worked with the entire set of cards. We evaluated the degree to which Directors’ descriptions showed evidence of audience design by focusing on critical rounds when the Directors described cards that the current Matcher had not previously shared. Directors generally appeared sensitive to the distinction between shared and nonshared items. Additionally, there was more evidence of adjustment at the second partner change, suggesting that the Directors had learned something about the kinds of descriptions required in this situation. Our results suggest that it is important to consider the nature of speakers’ experiences of interacting in a particular situation when making claims about the presence or absence of audience design.

The Effect of Knowledge About the L1 on Foreign Language Skills and Grammar

Cummins´s (1978, 1979) Developmental Interdependence hypothesis states that a learner's competence in a second language is partly dependent on the level of competence already achieved in the first language. Likewise, this author's Common Underlying Proficiency model of bilingualism (Cummins, 1980) suggests that a bilingual or multilingual person's thoughts that accompany reading, writing, talking and listening stem from a common underlying proficiency or central operating system. Therefore it can be concluded that there is one integrated source of thought, irrespective of the language in which the bilingual/multilingual person is functioning. However, it has been observed (Cummins, 2000) that it takes considerably longer to attain a higher level of competence in academic language tasks than in everyday conversational situations. With these theories in mind, this paper examines the effect of knowledge about language on the learning of foreign language skills and grammar. The data were collected through a questionnaire, a metalinguistic awareness test, Raven's Progressive Matrices Test, a linguistic creativity test, and English tests completed by 252 students. It was hypothesised that: (1) student's knowledge about language would have a significant effect on the writing, reading and grammar English tests, and (2) the effect of this knowledge will lessen as regards the listening and speaking tests.

On the generation of coherent dialogue

A dialogue game is presented that enables us to generate coherent elementary conversational sequences at the speech act level. Central to this approach is the fact that the cognitive states of players change as a result of the interpretation of speech acts and that these changes provoke the production of a subsequent speech act. The rules of the game are roughly based on the Gricean maxims of co-operation — i.e., agents are forbidden to put forward information they do not believe and are forbidden to ask anything they already believe; the Gricean maxim of relevance is determined by a so-called imbalance in the players’ belief and desire states. As in realistic conversational situations, it is assumed that the information needed to answer a question can be present in a distributed manner. Consequently, the structure of the dialogues may become rather complex, and may result in the generation of counter-questions and sub-dialogues. It will be shown that the structure and the coherence of conversational units do not necessarily have to be the product of a complex planning process or a speech act grammar, but can be based on elementary generation rules that take only into account the local context. As a result, the conversational game does not suffer from the same computational complexity as existing planning models for speech act generation. Although simple in its basic form, the framework enables us to produce abstract conversations with some properties that agree strikingly with dialogue properties found in Conversation Analysis.

Variable CD7 Expression on T Cells in the Leukemic Phase of Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma (Sézary Syndrome)

CD7, a molecule normally expressed on 90% of normal CD4+ T cells, is often deficient on the malignant T cells of cutaneous T cell lymphoma. To investigate the clinical and biologic implications of CD7 expression, blood lymphocytes from 42 patients with the leukemic phase of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CD4/CD8 ratio of 10 or more with evidence of a T cell clone in the blood) were analyzed for level of expression of CD7 by flow cytometry. CD7 expression by cells did not clearly segregate into two distinct subgroups that are either CD7 positive or CD7 negative as generally thought; however, nine of 17 patients with a predominantly CD4+CD7+ tumor population on early studies became CD4+CD7- over time whereas the converse situation was not observed. In addition, of three patients with evidence of large tumor cells in the blood coexisting with smaller cells, discordant CD7 expression was observed in one instance. In lymph node specimens, the percentage of cells expressing CD7 and other T cell markers did not correlate with histologic evidence of involvement. CD7 expression on blood lymphocytes also did not correlate with patients' survival nor to serum IgE levels or blood eosinophil counts, a finding suggesting that this marker does not identify functional cell subsets that produce serum interleukin-4 or -5, respectively. We speculate that the level of CD7 expression on malignant T cells may be the effect of sustained antigen stimulation in vivo analogous to what has been proposed to occur with normal T cells during aging.

The use of nitrogen fertilizer on alternative grassland feeding refuges for pink‐footed geese in spring

Summary Intensive agriculture often reduces biodiversity on farmed land, but the converse situation, of wildlife damaging agriculture, is also important. A striking example is agricultural damage by increasing populations of wild geese. Alternative feeding refuges, designed to reduce damage, will be most effective if the grass swards are made as attractive to geese as possible. This paper describes an explicitly experimental study in north‐east Scotland during 1990–93, which investigated the effectiveness of different rates of application of nitrogenous fertilizer on the amount of grazing by pink‐footed geese in spring, compared split‐application with single‐application of spring fertilizer, and evaluated the use of slow‐release fertilizer in winter. The amount of goose grazing, measured from cumulative dropping density, increased with application rates of spring fertilizer, up to around 80 kg N ha−1, in parallel with a similar increase in grass production. Beyond this level there was little further increase, and cost‐effectiveness, measured as the percentage increase in dropping density per kg N ha−1 applied, was greatly reduced. Dropping density and grass production did not differ significantly between split‐application and single‐application of spring fertilizer. Split‐application should reduce the risk of nitrogen leaching in cold wet seasons, but the cost of application would be double that of single‐application. Overall, cumulative dropping density and grass production in late May were not significantly greater in plots treated over the winter with slow‐release fertilizer than in untreated plots. Dropping density was, however, higher in treated plots than in untreated ones during a short mild period in early spring. Slow‐release fertilizer may be of benefit in mild winters, but is more expensive than conventional nitrogenous fertilizer. This study has shown that nitrogenous fertilizer can greatly increase goose grazing on sacrificial grassland refuges in spring and is a useful tool in reducing conflict between farmers and increasing goose populations.

Self-Representation

One way of implementing self-presentational goals in conversation can be termed self-representation (SR); that is, explicitly referring to attributes, actions, or qualities of the self. SR is studied as a form of self-disclosure. Studying spontaneous SR in natural discourse implies analyzing how the self is introduced into talk previously focused on another topic. Descriptive analyses of cases from the present corpus focus on describing SR sequences and explaining them according to the interactional circumstances of their production. Three forms are discussed: (a) elicited SR, where predetermined questions on the interview agenda lead to more talk about oneself; (b) emergent SR, which is a response to an unforeseen conversational situation; and (c) strategic SR, where self-talk can be attributed to a conversational goal on the part of the narrator. Discussion focuses on the nature of SR as a sensitive topic and related implications of the data for interview methodology.

Molecular Modeling and Substrate Specificity of Discrete Cruzipain-like and Cathepsin L-like Cysteine Proteinases of the Human Blood Fluke Schistosoma mansoni

Adult Schistosoma mansoni blood flukes express two discrete cysteine proteinases, SmCL1 and SmCL2, both of which are related to the cathepsin L-like enzymes of the C1 family of peptidases. Our previous phylogenetic analysis indicated that SmCL1 is more closely related to cruzipain from the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma cruzi than to human cathepsin L, whereas the converse situation applies with SmCL2. To characterize their catalytic subsites and substrate specificities, we have now developed three-dimensional (3D) homology models of SmCL1 and SmCL2 using the structure of cruzipain and cathepsin L. Eisenberg analysis of the 3D models revealed self-compatibility scores of 90.1 and 96.1 out of a possible score of 97.6 for SmCL1 and SmCL2, respectively, verifying the accuracy and utility of the models. Substrate preferences of recombinant SmCL1 and SmCL2 at positions P3, P2, and P1 conformed to the substrate specificity predicted by the models. In particular, SmCL1 and SmCL2 both exhibited high affinity (kcat/Km) for substrates with hydrophobic residues at P2 including Z-Leu-Arg-NHMec (773.4 and 548.5 mM−1 s−1, respectively), Boc-Val-Leu-Lys-NHMec (116.8 and 306.5 mM−1 s−1), and Z-Phe-Arg-NHMec (38.9 and 113.4 mM−1 s−1). SmCL1 exhibited only a low affinity for the cathepsin B diagnostic substrate Z-Arg-Arg-NHMec while SmCL2 failed to cleave this substrate. The substrate specificities of SmCL1 and SmCL2 were clearly differentiated with H-Leu-Val-Tyr-NHMec and Suc-Leu-Tyr-NHMec since SmCL1 cleaved both efficiently (kcat/Km values of 51.9 and 41.1 mM−1 s−1, respectively), whereas SmCL2 cleaved neither. The 3D models revealed that this difference in specificity was due to restrictions imposed on the S3 subsite of SmCL2 as a result of insertion of two amino acids vicinal to residue 60.

Carbohydrate regulation of leaf development: Prolongation of leaf senescence in Rubisco antisense mutants of tobacco.

Previous investigations have shown that increased source strength as a result of elevated CO(2) can alter the timing of the phases of change that occur in photosynthetic rates during dicot leaf ontogeny [Miller et al. (1997) Plant Physiol 115: 1195-1200]. To evaluate the converse situation of decreased source strength, we examined leaf development in rbcS antisense mutants of tobacco. These mutants have depressed Rubisco levels and decreased rates of carbohydrate production. We found that antisense leaves are longer-lived than wild type leaves and that this appeared to be due to a prolongation of the senescence phase of development, as monitored by photosynthetic rates, chlorophyll content, and the abundance and activity of Rubisco. Declines in these parameters during leaf ontogeny in both the wild type and mutant plants were generally accompanied by coordinate reductions in the levels of rbcS mRNA and rbcL mRNA, as well as by reductions in chloroplast rRNA, chloroplast DNA and total protein. We suggest that the prolongation of senescence in the antisense leaves is due to an impact of source strength on leaf developmental programming that occurs, at least in part, at the level of transcript abundance of nuclear and chloroplast genes for chloroplast rRNAs and proteins. We hypothesize that plants are capable of sensing a range of source strength conditions to initiate and modulate leaf developmental programming.