Different Areas Of Inquiry Research Articles

From emotional signals to symbols.

The quest for the origins of language is a diverse enterprise, where research from a variety of disciplines brings area-specific ideas and area-specific terminology to bear. This variety often results in misunderstandings and misconceptions about communication in various species. In the present paper, we argue for focus on emotional systems as the primary motivators for social signals in animals in general. This focus can help resolve discrepancies of interpretation among different areas of inquiry and can illuminate distinctions among different social signals as well as their phylogenetic origins in animals and especially in humans. We advocate, following Jaak Panksepp, a view wherein the Seeking System, the endogenous tendency to search and explore, is the most fundamental emotional motivation. The Seeking System forms the basis for flexible, voluntary, and exploratory control of motor systems and makes much of learning possible. The relative lack of vocal learning and expression in nonhuman primates contrasted with extensive vocal learning and expression in humans began, we propose, with the evolution in ancient hominins of a necessary foundation for the many subsequent capabilities required for language. That foundation was, according to the reasoning, naturally selected in the form of neurological connections between the Seeking System and mechanisms of glottal/phonatory control. The new connections allowed ancient hominins to develop flexible, endogenous vocal fitness signals produced at very high rates and including large numbers of discrete syllables, recombinable to form syllable combinations with many prosodic variations. The increasing sociality of hominins supported evolution of massive expansion in the utilization of these flexible vocal forms to allow development of words and sentences.

The Role of Regulatory Agencies in Agenda-Setting Processes: Insights from the Italian Response to the COVID-19 Infodemic.

International organizations such as the WHO have worked to raise awareness of the massive infodemic that accompanied the COVID‐19 outbreak and made it hard for people to find trustworthy sources of information and reliable guidance for their decisions. Our contribution focuses on the Italian case, where the Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) was able to act as first mover in its field so as to strategically frame the problem of disinformation in the absence of a pre‐existing policy intervention. An emerging body of research shows that the activity of formally independent regulators is not necessarily limited to the implementation of delegated regulatory competencies. We discuss the implications of the activity of independent regulators for the fight against disinformation during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We find that as a political actor in its own right, the Italian media regulator claimed control over sectoral expertise in order to shape the crucial first steps of the response to the infodemic.

Body Image Development within the Family: Attachment Dynamics and Parental Attitudes in Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studies

Context: Body image is the subjective representation of one’s own body and has different component. Body dissatisfaction is linked to low self-esteem and unhealthy behaviors and it is recognized to be at the core of eating disorders psychopathology, therefore many studies search for its determinants. Family is the critical environment where early development and psychological maturation occur and family dynamics seem to play a significant role in body image development. Objective and methods: The scope of this mini-review is to offer a general understanding of the recent research on body image and family functioning. Papers from 2000 and 2017 were selected to represent the different areas of inquiry on the subject, mainly parental attitudes and attachment. Results and conclusion: Many studies seem to indicate a definite role for the relationships within the family in buffering negative environmental pressures and promoting body image satisfaction. Family interactions can have lasting effects on body image which are understood in attachment theory by mean of the internalization of stable working models. Treatment and prevention program for body image concern should emphasize the relevance of positive early interactions and the detrimental effect of the focus on idealized body standards.

Just Don’t Call it Trip Hop: Reconciling the Bristol sound style with the trip hop genre

Trip hop music emerged in the early 1990s, however, as a label the term ‘trip hop’ has always been problematic. Portishead, Massive Attack and Tricky, the artists frequently credited with creating trip hop, have unanimously rejected the label, claiming their music has nothing to do with trip hop. Despite the artists’ objections, music industrialists, fans and academics continually label their music trip hop or its alternate term ‘Bristol sound’, though specifics are never given as to what, if anything, distinguishes the two terms. This article seeks to mediate the discussion between opposing viewpoints by describing the Bristol sound as a style that relates to the trip hop genre. Following the introduction, the second section discusses the controversy surrounding the term ‘trip hop’ and suggests possible reasons behind the artists’ rejection of the label. The third section addresses the terms ‘genre’ and ‘style’ and outlines their similar points of reference while also highlighting their different areas of inquiry. The final section analyses several trip hop songs and identifies common elements that relate to the trip hop genre, before identifying explicit differences that distinguish the Bristol sound style. The analysis of style focuses on the spectral quality of the works and draws from Smalley’s (1997) theory of spectromorphology.

The Nested Model of Well-Being: A Unified Approach

Although well-being is a central topic in psychology in general and positive psychology in particular, it remains somewhat nebulous and more work is required to foster conceptual clarity that will in turn lead to empirical advances. The article outlines the Nested Model (NM) of well-being, which is conceptually grounded in a new unified theory of psychology ( Henriques, 2011 ) that maps the construct into 4 related but also separable nested domains: (a) the subjective domain, which includes the first person phenomenological state of being; (b) the biological and psychological health and functioning of the individual; (c) the material and social environmental context; and (d) the values and ideology of the evaluator. By recognizing these elements and how they combine to form a holistic concept of well-being, theorists, practitioners and researchers from many different areas of inquiry will be able to coordinate their efforts with much greater effectiveness.

“How do I apply narrative theory?”

Since the publication ofTranslation and Conflict: A Narrative Account(Baker 2006), there has been a growing interest in applying socio-narrative theory to Translation Studies, with Baker’s ideas extended and applied to several different areas of inquiry. This article gives a brief overview of these projects, and discusses in more depth the example of my own application and development of narrative theory. This includes a revised typology of narratives, the combination of narratological and sociological approaches, an intratextual model of analysis, and a new emphasis on the importance of narrators and temporary narrators in the (re)configuration of narratives. The article ends with a brief discussion on further topics within Translation and Interpreting Studies to which narrative theory might be applied.

Levi's Challenge and Peirce's Theory/Practice Distinction

Isaac Levi (1980) targets an implicit tension in C.S. Peirce's epistemology, one that exists between the need to always be open-minded and aware of our propensity to make mistakes so that we do not "block the road of inquiry," and the need to treat certain beliefs as infallible and to doubt only in a genuine way so that inquiry can proceed in the first place. Attempts at alleviating this tension have typically involved interpreting Peirce as ascribing different normative standards to different areas of inquiry. I argue here that such "double-standard" interpretations face significant problems. I offer instead an interpretation of Peirce on which the differences between different areas of inquiry are descriptive rather than normative. Such a view resolves Levi's tension while interpreting Peirce as consistently subscribing to one normative standard for all inquiry.

Getting Started in Text Mining: Part Two

Getting Started in Text Mining: Part Two

Mechanotransduction – a field pulling together?

Mechanical stresses are ever present in the cellular environment, whether through external forces that are applied to tissues or endogenous forces that are generated within the active cytoskeleton. Despite the wide array of studies demonstrating that such forces affect cellular signaling and function, it remains unclear whether mechanotransduction in different contexts shares common mechanisms. Here, I discuss possible mechanisms by which applied forces, cell-generated forces and changes in substrate mechanics could exert changes in cell function through common mechanotransduction machinery. I draw from examples that are primarily focused on the role of adhesions in transducing mechanical forces. Based on this discussion, emerging themes arise that connect these different areas of inquiry and suggest multiple avenues for future studies.

Becoming Integrative in Science: Re-building Contemporary Psychology through Interdisciplinary and International Collaboration

Our Journal enters into a new stage of its development with this issue. It is marked by a small change in its name—from Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science (IPBS) to the present new focus on psychology. That name change goes along with the development of the behavioral sciences. The behavioral science of the twentieth century was characterized by a narrow focus on relationships of behavior with their physiological bases. Of course there were some notable exceptions—such as Vladimir Bekhterev’s efforts to build general theory of associative reflexes (Bekhterev 2001), but the main focus in the study of behavioral phenomena has remained narrow in both its theoretical and empirical realms. We face now a more elaborate set of tasks in understanding the complexity of relationships within which behavioral phenomena are embedded in the twenty-first century. These include both behavior’s “downward” ties with the physiological, neuronal, and genetic levels, and its “upward” ties with social units of organization of life—be it in groups of animals, or with communities, identities, and consumer fashions in human society. Human culture is solidly based on its biological foundations—but not explainable solely by those. We can see how in phylogeny new levels of organization of the ways of living emerge—language and other semiotic systems dramatically change the ways human beings—and some talking apes such as Kanzi—make sense of their own (and others’) behavior. All these levels are mutually related—yet how these relations work is not yet known. Contemporary sciences—both biological and social—have paid lip service to the notion of integration, while in reality they have continued along the lines of their specific ways of creating knowledge within their disciplinary confines. Much important work has emerged in the different areas of inquiry—in a way, the fragmentation and segregation has its positive facet for our knowledge. The Journal’s past provides a good example—in its past has been characterized by high quality experimental work in the best laboratory traditions of the heritage of Ivan P. Pavlov

U.S. Women Writers and the Discourses of Colonialism, 1825-1861 (review)

Reviewed by: U.S. Women Writers and the Discourses of Colonialism, 1825-1861 Carla Mulford (bio) U.S. Women Writers and the Discourses of Colonialism, 1825-1861. By Etsuko Taketani. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2003. Pp. x, 236. Illustrations. Cloth, $30.00.) In a project directed toward students of American literary history, Etsuko Taketani has engaged the interstices among several different areas of inquiry in her study of women writers—predominantly of New England—and their writings both on and of colonialism during the early republic. As literary history, Taketani's study follows in a line of scholarship on women writers fostered primarily by Nina Baym (in Woman's Fiction: A Guide to Novels by and about Women in America, 1820–1870 [1978, 1993]; Feminism and American Literary History [1992]; and American Women Writers and the Work of History, 1790–1860 [1995]) but also by Mary Suzanne Schriber (in Writing Home: American Women Abroad, 1830–1920 [1997]) and Malini Johar Schueller (U.S. Orientalisms: Race, Nation, and Gender in Literature, 1790–1890 [1998]). As historical theoretical inquiry and postcolonial critique, the study works out a space to explore ambivalences and uncertainties regarding imperialist gestures left somewhat unexamined by scholars such as John Carlos Rowe (in Literary Culture and U.S. Imperialism: From the Revolution to World War II [2000] and Post-Nationalist American Studies [2000]), Donald E. Pease (in National Identities and Post-Americanist Narratives [1994]), and Amy Kaplan in her award-winning essay, "Manifest Domesticity," published in the journal American Literature in 1998. Taketani is attempting to articulate an extension (and evaluative critique) of Kaplan's work and work like Kaplan's, which, Taketani claims, "subsume[s] women's works in the hegemonic and patriarchal history of Manifest Destiny and expansionism" (86). Taketani's goal is to position the writers "in an 'alternative' history of U.S. imperialism," that is, "a history that attends to what happened on foreign soil as a consequence" (87) of U.S. imperialist attitudes both on and off U.S. shorelines. But Taketani wishes to remain attentive to a position about U.S. imperialism that enables her to treat it (employing the term "colonialism") as an intracontinental (in North America) and extracontinental (in Liberia, China, India, and Burma) interrogation of relations between those who considered themselves superior (North Americans of European descent) and those held in subjugated positions as a result of U.S. cultural and trade imperialism. Her primary question for the examination seems to be this: "To what extent were women writers crucial to the formation and [End Page 516] subversion of colonialism, particularly in the United States, which was without formal colonies?" (3). A related question is "How are we to understand women's complicity with colonialism, and their resistance to it, as seen in their texts?" (3). Taketani's answers—with regard to the limited number of eastern, New England-oriented women whom she can cover—are related in a complex rendering of how these writers, almost with a kind of fascination, both supported colonialism and critiqued its faulty, racialized, sexualized, and oppressive practices. Phrased differently, the writers Taketani explores at once take advantage of U.S. obsessions with children, slavery, oppression, sexuality, and drugs (alcohol and opium) by explicitly and allegorically writing about them and then, sometimes, critique the cultural, political, and marketing system that allows for exploitation of children, women, and persons whose descent lines lie outside U.S. borders. U.S. Women Writers and the Discourses of Colonialism is broken into two sections, correlated around Taketani's theme of women's establishment and critique of hierarchies "crucial to the formation of colonialism in women's literary culture." In Part 1, Taketani analyzes what she calls a "symbiotic" relationship emergent when women write for children or engage in teaching young people. Because children's education was "one of the few public institutions of power accessible to women of the day" (7), Taketani argues, women could use education both to inculcate their "belief in racial distinctions and white supremacy" (7) and to represent and, in effect, regulate heterosocial and heteronormal expectation. In Taketani's discussion, children are colonized and controlled, as the groups designed to assist them (including...

Inside Out: In Defense of Form

Three case studies show a consistent preoccupation with a similar formal problem within different areas of inquiry. The problem is the relation of inside to outside. The areas are genre criticism, speech act theory, and sovereignty theory. Genre, an external feature of a text, is a topic discussed within Latin poetry. Poets can assert their poetry's power in the world only through poetry. The sovereign, who is subject to the law, also lies outside it in his ability to suspend it. In each case, the power to determine reality and the power to represent it are in competition. The personal voice in this paper responds to Lowell Edmunds' questions about methodology.

Fourth Critique

In 1983 the Royal Institute of Philosophy organized a conference for teachers of Liberal Studies, designed to help them to develop critical skills in their Sixth Form and Further Education pupils. The announcement said that the conference would ‘explore the competing claims of objectivity and relativism in different areas of inquiry, asking in each case to what extent there are objective ways of assessing competing views’. The event was innocently advertised under the title ‘Critical Thinking’. The innocence was in the intention more than in the effect. One transatlantic visitor, though he expressed himself with New World courtesy, accused the organ-isers of something between bad faith and false pretences. Unknown to Gordon Square, the phrase ‘critical thinking’ had by then (to speak with Old World candour) been hijacked by a new movement and taken out of the main current of its currency, like ‘peace’ and ‘gay’ and ‘anti-Nazi’ before it.