Linguistic Restrictions Research Articles

Learners restrict their linguistic generalizations using preemption but not entrenchment: Evidence from artificial-language-learning studies with adults and children.

A central goal of research into language acquisition is explaining how, when learners generalize to new cases, they appropriately restrict their generalizations (e.g., to avoid producing ungrammatical utterances such as *the clown laughed the man; "*" indicates an ungrammatical form). The past 30 years have seen an unresolved debate between statistical preemption and entrenchment as explanations. Under preemption, the use of a verb in a particular construction (e.g., *the clown laughed the man) is probabilistically blocked by hearing that other verb constructions with similar meanings only (e.g., the clown made the man laugh). Under entrenchment, such errors (e.g., *the clown laughed the man) are probabilistically blocked by hearing any utterance that includes the relevant verb (e.g., by the clown made the man laugh and the man laughed). Across five artificial-language-learning studies, we designed a training regime such that learners received evidence for the (by the relevant hypothesis) ungrammaticality of a particular unattested verb/noun + particle combination (e.g., *chila + kem; *squeako + kem) via either preemption only or entrenchment only. Across all five studies, participants in the preemption condition (as per our preregistered prediction) rated unattested verb/noun + particle combinations as less acceptable for restricted verbs/nouns, which appeared during training, than for unrestricted, novel-at-test verbs/nouns, which did not appear during training, that is, strong evidence for preemption. Participants in the entrenchment condition showed no evidence for such an effect (and in 3/5 experiments, positive evidence for the null). We conclude that a successful model of learning linguistic restrictions must instantiate competition between different forms only where they express the same (or similar) meanings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Human-related lean practices for manufacturing SMEs’ lean transformation: a systematic literature review

PurposeDemanding and highly competitive business environment has stimulated small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to restructure their manufacturing practices. Lean manufacturing (LM), a comprehensive alternative, is now being adopted, notably by manufacturing organizations, to increase business effectiveness and performance through a variety of lean approaches. Lean implementation, however, ran into a number of difficulties, which showed that non-technical factors such as human-related practices must also be integrated if lean is to be successful. This study aims to examine a thorough overview of the various human-related lean practices (HRLP) mentioned in recent literature and to determine which of them is more pertinent to a successful LM implementation in SMEs.Design/methodology/approachA total of 193 publications published in 45 journals between 2013 and 2023 and based on the 4 reputable publishers, namely, Science Direct, Emerald Online, Taylor and Francis and Springer Link, were gathered based on a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles in LM.FindingsThe amount of research on human resource management and lean management that has been conducted has increased dramatically during the past few years. The outcome of this study will offer a thorough analysis of soft lean practices found in the LM literature that manufacturing SMEs should take into account while implementing lean.Research limitations/implicationsThe scope of this research is restricted to a survey of scholarly works using the terms “Lean manufacturing” or “Lean production” as well as “human” or “people” or “soft-lean practices” in the title. Furthermore, only works published in scholarly publications that have undergone peer review were included. Also, due to the authors’ linguistic restrictions, only English articles were used. The HRLP linked to a smooth lean transition are described in this research. Thus, it can be used to assist the production and human resource departments in raising an organization’s long-term performance.Originality/valueThe study gives researchers a better grasp of the direction the subject is taking and what gaps still exist, which aids them in focusing their research on HRLP in small- and medium-sized businesses.

Chagas Heart Disease: Beyond a Single Complication, from Asymptomatic Disease to Heart Failure.

Chagas cardiomyopathy (CC), caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in developing countries. It is estimated that 6 to 7 million people worldwide are infected, and it is predicted that it will be responsible for 200,000 deaths by 2025. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers Chagas disease (CD) as a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD), which must be acknowledged and detected in time, as it remains a clinical and diagnostic challenge in both endemic and non-endemic regions and at different levels of care. The literature on CC was analyzed by searching different databases (Medline, Cochrane Central, EMBASE, PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCO) from 1968 until October 2022. Multicenter and bioinformatics trials, systematic and bibliographic reviews, international guidelines, and clinical cases were included. The reference lists of the included papers were checked. No linguistic restrictions or study designs were applied. This review is intended to address the current incidence and prevalence of CD and to identify the main pathogenic mechanisms, clinical presentation, and diagnosis of CC.

Bone tumors of the foot and ankle - A protocol for systematic review

Bone tumors arising from the foot and ankle are relatively rare. The correct diagnosis is commonly ignored, and the potential risk of these tumors is often underestimated. Due to the rarity and particularities of the presentation, there is a lack of evidence on epidemiological data related to the distribution of bone tumors of the foot and ankle by age group, gender and location. As far as we know, no systematic review or meta-analysis was performed on the grouping of bone tumors in this region. The objective of this protocol is to design a systematic review of the evidence to verify these data. Systematic literature research will be carried out in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase (by CAPES JOURNALS) and LILACS databases, without time and linguistic restrictions in the search strategy. The reference lists of the included articles will be evaluated to detect unidentified studies. Two evaluators will independently select the articles, extract the data and assess the risk of bias in the selected studies. If applicable, meta-analysis will be carried out, extracting data for the number of events and total patients to perform proportion meta-analysis using the R software, with the "meta" package (version 4.9–6), the "metaprop function" for aspect ratio data. The results of this review will be added to the existing literature, providing convincing information on the epidemiology of these neoplasms, important data that will support future research and help in possible diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic measures. This protocol will provide a reliable theoretical basis for the research that will follow.

Providing an Expert System to Manage Energy Consumption in Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Industries Using Soft Computing

The increasing growth of electricity consumption, the need for its continuous supply, and the impossibility of storing this vital energy are among the primary and essential reasons for preventing any interruption in supply and proper planning regarding energy consumption management, especially in industry. The innovation of this research is the design of a decision‐making system to help decision‐making in energy management in small‐ and medium‐sized industries using the knowledge of experts in small‐ and medium‐sized industries and the electricity industry in the field of energy consumption management and extracting relevant expertise rules to create a knowledge base. Therefore, the main advantage of the research is to provide an expert system for the correct management of energy consumption in small and medium industries using soft computing. Another advantage of the research is the use of uncertain decision‐making variables in this field; instead of using words and linguistic restrictions in this research, modeling them in the system using the principles of fuzzy logic is used. The main objectives of this research include determining the effective variables in determining the amount of energy production for small and medium industries, explaining the existing tacit knowledge and turning it into explicit knowledge, and providing an expert system for managing energy consumption in this field. Based on the results of field studies and the research literature, effective variables in determining the amount of electricity generation were identified. By extracting the knowledge of industry experts, the tacit knowledge available as explicit knowledge in the storage knowledge base and the system was designed to manage electrical charge consumption. One of the achievements of this system is its creation and measurement using various data and results obtained from small and medium industries. Finally, the results obtained from the expert system in comparing the output of expert opinions and the system’s performance in managing the amount of energy production showed that the usefulness of the expert system was designed. The system uses the knowledge base to make decisions such as an expert human. According to the main results of the research based on comparing the performance of the system with the Bayesian inference networks, it showed that there is an acceptable correlation between the data and the prediction system. Also, to evaluate the acquisition of data using a statistical test, it has been determined that the total number of blackout hours in different areas of Tehran in the base year was more than the current year.

Efficacy and safety of DOACs in patients with peripheral arterial disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in patients with peripheral arterial disease are not completely understood. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore the effects of DOACs in this population. We systematically searched the PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science till April 2020 for relevant randomized controlled trials and observational studies, with no linguistic restrictions. The efficacy outcomes were cardiovascular death, stroke, myocardial infraction, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), acute limb ischemia, amputation, and target lesion revascularization. The safety outcome was major bleeding events. Random effects risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. A total four randomized controlled trials were included in this meta-analysis. Among peripheral arterial disease patients, DOACs did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular death (RR = 1.02 95%CI 0.75-1.37, P = 0.92), stroke (RR = 0.73 95%CI 0.46-1.14, P = 0.16), myocardial infraction (RR = 0.85 95%CI 0.70-1.03, P = 0.10), MACE (RR = 0.73 95%CI 0.46-1.14, P = 0.16), or amputation (RR = 0.73 95%CI 0.46-1.14, P = 0.16) compared with control. However, DOACs were associated with reduction in acute limb ischemia (RR = 0.67 95%CI 0.55-0.80, P < 0.01) and target lesion revascularization (RR = 0.89 95%CI 0.81-0.99, P = 0.02) at the expense of major bleeding events (RR = 1.43 95%CI 1.16-1.77, P < 0.01) compared with control. Based on current evidence, no significant difference in cardiovascular death, stroke, myocardial infraction, MACE, and amputation was found when DOACs were compared to antiplatelet monotherapy. The benefits of preventing target lesion revascularization and acute limb ischemia were balanced by amplified risk of major bleeding. Larger randomized controlled trials are needed to figure out the uncertainty around efficacy and safety of medications for peripheral arterial disease.

Less Than One Language: Typographic Multilingualism and Post-Anglophone Fiction

What comes after the language model of literary history? This essay considers that question by turning to works of contemporary fiction that operate at the edges of our most dominant language: English. These works use experiments with orthography, typeface, and design to dramatize the visual and aural culture of words, histories of language contact, and the apparatus of literary circulation. Words are there to be seen and heard as well as read, and what we see and hear alters how we read. Whereas multilingual works have typically added, elaborated, or combined languages, these works tend to block or restrict languages. They are therefore postlingual as well as post-anglophone. This is not a matter of narrowing and corralling what English can do. For writers in dominant languages, linguistic restriction is a necessary condition of literary cosmopolitanism.

Should concurrent infections be treated before performing hip arthroplasty for hip fracture?

AimsA systematic literature review focusing on how long before surgery concurrent viral or bacterial infections (respiratory and urinary infections) should be treated in hip fracture patients, and if there is evidence for delaying this surgery.MethodsA total of 11 databases were examined using the COre, Standard, Ideal (COSI) protocol. Bibliographic searches (no chronological or linguistic restriction) were conducted using, among other methods, the Patient, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome (PICO) template. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for flow diagram and checklist. Final reading of the complete texts was conducted in English, French, and Spanish. Classification of papers was completed within five levels of evidence (LE).ResultsThere were a total of 621 hits (526 COre; 95 Standard, Ideal) for screening identification, and 107 records were screened. Overall 67 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, and 21 articles were included for the study question. A total of 46 full-text articles were excluded with reasons. No studies could be included in quantitative synthesis (meta-analyses), and there were many confounding variables including surgeons’ experience, prosthesis models used, and surgical technique.ConclusionPatients with hip fracture and with a viral infection in the upper respiratory tract or without major clinical symptoms should be operated on as soon as possible (LE: I-III). There is no evidence that patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) should be treated differently. In relation to pneumonia, its prevention is a major issue. Antibiotics should be administered if surgery is delayed by > 72 hours or if bacterial infection is present in the lower respiratory tract (LE: III-V). In patients with hip fracture and urinary tract infection (UTI), delaying surgery may provoke further complications (LE: I). However, diabetic or immunocompromised patients may benefit from immediate antibiotic treatment.Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2020;9(12):884–893.

Towards the Natural Language Processing as Spelling Correction for Offline Handwritten Text Recognition Systems

The increasing portability of physical manuscripts to the digital environment makes it common for systems to offer automatic mechanisms for offline Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR). However, several scenarios and writing variations bring challenges in recognition accuracy, and, to minimize this problem, optical models can be used with language models to assist in decoding text. Thus, with the aim of improving results, dictionaries of characters and words are generated from the dataset and linguistic restrictions are created in the recognition process. In this way, this work proposes the use of spelling correction techniques for text post-processing to achieve better results and eliminate the linguistic dependence between the optical model and the decoding stage. In addition, an encoder–decoder neural network architecture in conjunction with a training methodology are developed and presented to achieve the goal of spelling correction. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this new approach, we conducted an experiment on five datasets of text lines, widely known in the field of HTR, three state-of-the-art Optical Models for text recognition and eight spelling correction techniques, among traditional statistics and current approaches of neural networks in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). Finally, our proposed spelling correction model is analyzed statistically through HTR system metrics, reaching an average sentence correction of 54% higher than the state-of-the-art method of decoding in the tested datasets.

The storying of birth.

Birth narratives have been found to provide women with the most accessible and often utilised means for giving voice to their exploration of meaning in their births. The stories women tell of their birth come out of their pre- and post-experience bodies, reproducing society through the sharing of cultural meanings. I recruited a selection of 20 birth stories from a popular ‘mums’ Internet forum in the United Kingdom. Using structural and thematic analyses, I set out to explore how women tell the story of their body in childbirth. This project has contributed evidence to the discussion of women’s experiences of subjectivity in the discursive landscape of birth, while uncovering previously unacknowledged sites of resistance. The linguistic restrictions, sustained by the neoliberal control mechanisms on society and the self, act to shape the reality, feelings, and expressions of birthing women. Naming these silencing strategies, as I have done through the findings of this project, and celebrating women’s discourse on birth, as the explosion of birth stories across the Internet are doing, offer bold moves to challenge the muting status quo of women in birth. Reclaiming women’s language for birth and working to create a new vocabulary encapsulating the experiences of birthing women will also present opportunities for the issue of birth and women’s experiences of it to occupy greater political space with a confident and decisive voice.

Non-Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants Versus Warfarin in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Peripheral Artery Disease: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The efficacy and safety of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) compared with warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and peripheral artery disease (PAD) remain largely unknown. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore the effects of NOACs versus warfarin in this population. We systematically searched the PubMed and Embase databases, with no linguistic restrictions, until December 2019 for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies. A random-effects model using an inverse variance method was selected to pool the risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of six studies (three post hoc analyses of RCTs and three cohort studies) were included in this meta-analysis. Among AF patients treated with NOACs and warfarin, individuals with PAD had increased rates of all-cause death (RR = 1.26, 95% CI 1.07-1.48) and cardiovascular death (RR = 1.32, 95% CI 1.06-1.64) compared with those without PAD. In AF patients with PAD, we observed a similar risk of thromboembolic events, bleeding, and death with NOACs as with warfarin. In addition, there were no interactions between PAD and non-PAD subgroups regarding any of the reported outcomes of NOACs versus warfarin in AF patients (all Pinteraction > 0.05). Based on current evidence, AF patients with PAD are at a higher risk of death than those without PAD. Efficacy and safety outcomes with NOACs are comparable to those with warfarin, suggesting that the use of NOACs has effects similar to warfarin in AF patients with concomitant PAD.

Uma abordagem sociolinguística da concordância nominal de número no falar dos moradores do município de Fonte Boa (Amazonas)

Este artigo, à luz da Sociolinguística Variacionista, propõe-se a refletir sobre a variação na concordância nominal de número na fala de dez moradores da cidade de Fonte Boa, um dos nove municípios pertencentes à microrregião do Alto Solimões (AM), a partir de resultados de Martins (2013). Para este estudo foram descritos e analisados 1.356 dados, submetidos ao programa estatístico Goldvarb2001. Desses dados, 754 foram da variante “presença de marcas de plural” (55% dos dados) e 602 foram da variante “ausência de marcas de plural” (45% dos dados). Apesar desse baixo índice de concordância nominal, os resultados mostram que a marcação na concordância é favorecida em Fonte Boa pelas mesmas restrições linguísticas de outras regiões brasileiras. Quanto às variáveis sociais, ‘escolaridade’ segue o padrão de comportamento geral, e ‘sexo’ revela o homem como favorecedor de marcação, um comportamento particularizado (semelhante ao de zonas menos urbanas), de uma localidade em que os papeis de mulheres e homens ainda são conservadores, sendo a mulher menos sensível à variável ‘mercado de trabalho’.

Proof Theory of Paraconsistent Weak Kleene Logic

Paraconsistent Weak Kleene Logic (PWK) is the 3-valued propositional logic defined on the weak Kleene tables and with two designated values. Most of the existing proof systems for PWK are characterised by the presence of linguistic restrictions on some of their rules. This feature can be seen as a shortcoming. We provide a cut-free calculus (a hybrid between a natural deduction calculus and a sequent calculus) for PWK that is devoid of such provisos. Moreover, we introduce a Priest-style tableaux calculus for PWK.

Tradução comentada do conto “Petrosinella” de Giambattista Basile

Trata-se da tradução literária do conto de fadas “Petrosinella”, presente no livro Lo cunto de li cunti ovvero lo trattenemiento de peccerille (O conto dos contos ou o entretenimento dos garotinhos), também chamado de Pentamerone ossia la fiaba delle fiabe (Pentamerão, ou seja, a fábula das fábulas), obra-prima do escritor italiano Giambattista Basile, original de Nápoles, que viveu entre 1575-1632. Lo cunto de li cunti é uma antologia composta por quarenta e nove contos maravilhosos narrados durante cinco dias ou jornadas e enquadrados por uma narrativa que é também um conto maravilhoso, totalizando cinquenta deles articulados entre si para compor a obra. Essa coletânea foi publicada póstuma e originalmente em dialeto napolitano, língua falada na porção meridional da Itália, na região de Nápoles, fato que dificultou a divulgação da obra de Basile no restante da península e na Europa, por conta da restrição linguística ligada ao dialeto. Assim, a obra prima do autor napolitano permaneceu, durante muito tempo, desconhecida do público literário em geral. Foi somente em 1925 que a obra foi traduzida para o italiano standard, recebeu o nome Pentamerone, título atribuído pelo filósofo e crítico literário Benedetto Croce, que realizou tal tradução em alusão à estrutura narrativa empregada no Decamerone, de Giovanni Boccaccio. Contudo, antes mesmo dos italianos em geral terem contato com a obra, os bibliotecários, escritores e filólogos alemães Jacob e Wilhelm Grimm conheceram-na por intermédio do amigo Clemens Brentano (de família com origem italiana), fato que impulsionou a tradução da obra para a língua germânica, em 1846 pelo estudioso Félix Liebrecht, para a qual os irmãos Grimm escreveram um prefácio. Em virtude desse dado, atestado pelo pesquisador Andrea Lombardi (2015), e da confluência entre seus enredos, é possível afirmar que “Petrosinella”, primeiro conto maravilhoso narrado na segunda jornada do Pentamerone, pode ser o texto-fonte de “Rapunzel”, conhecidíssimo conto de fadas pela versão dos Grimm, que legou à Literatura Infantil e ao imaginário popular a figura da famosa personagem de longuíssimos cabelos, reclusa durante muitos anos numa alta torre. Em outras palavras, a personagem “donzela da torre”, forma pela qual a bela Rapunzel é identificada pelos folcloristas. Com isso, chegamos à conclusão de que é inegável a contribuição de Basile para o nascer da Literatura infantil. Nesse sentido, com o objetivo de alargar o escopo de autores europeus estudados nesse campo de pesquisa em nosso país, acreditamos ser relevante propor para o público brasileiro a leitura da versão infantojuvenil do conto em italiano, agora traduzida para o português e acompanhada de notas explicativas a respeito de questões que envolvem aspectos culturais e tradutórios. A intenção é tanto a de promover uma leitura em português quanto de contribuir para que a obra de Basile seja mais conhecida no Brasil.&#x0D;

Prevalence of respiratory bacterial infections in people with lower respiratory tract infections in Africa: the BARIAFRICA systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

IntroductionThe burden of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) is a substantial public health concern. However, the epidemiology of LRTI and its bacterial aetiologies are poorly characterised, particularly in the African...

The fate of neurons after traumatic spinal cord injury in rats: A systematic review.

Objective(s):To reach an evidence-based knowledge in the context of the temporal-spatial pattern of neuronal death and find appropriate time of intervention in order to preserve spared neurons and promote regeneration after traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI).Materials and Methods:The study design was based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA)-guided systematic review. PubMed and EMBASE were searched (24 October, 2015) with no temporal or linguistic restrictions. Hand-search was performed in the bibliographies of relevant articles. Non-interventional animal studies evaluating time-dependent neuronal death following acute mechanical trauma to the spinal cord were included. We separately evaluated the fate of various populations of neurons including propriospinal neurons, ventral motor neurons, Clarke’s column neurons, and supraspinal neurons.Results:We found 11,557 non-duplicated studies. Screening through the titles and abstracts led to 549 articles, 49 of which met the inclusion criteria. Both necrotic and apoptotic neuronal deaths occur after TSCI, though necrosis is the prominent mechanism. There are differences in the responses of intrinsic neurons of the spinal cord to the TSCI. Also, the extent of neuronal death in the supraspinal neurons depends on the anatomical location of their axons.Conclusion:In order to develop new therapies, selection of the injury model and time of intervention has a crucial role in the efficacy of therapy. In addition, examining the safety and efficacy of an intervention by reliable methods not confounded by the injury-related changes would promote translation of therapies to the clinical application.

Hepatitis B/C in the countries of the EU/EEA: a systematic review of the prevalence among at-risk groups

BackgroundIn 2016, the World Health Organisation set a goal to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. Robust epidemiological information underpins all efforts to achieve elimination and this systematic review provides estimates of HBsAg and anti-HCV prevalence in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) among three at-risk populations: people in prison, men who have sex with men (MSM), and people who inject drugs (PWID).MethodsEstimates of the prevalence among the three risk groups included in our study were derived from multiple sources. A systematic search of literature published during 2005–2015 was conducted without linguistic restrictions to identify studies among people in prison and HIV negative/HIV sero-status unknown MSM. National surveillance focal points were contacted to validate the search results. Studies were assessed for risk of bias and high quality estimates were pooled at country level. PWID data were extracted from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) repository.ResultsDespite gaps, we report 68 single study/pooled HBsAg/anti-HCV prevalence estimates covering 23/31 EU/EEA countries, 42 of which were of intermediate/high prevalence using the WHO endemicity threshold (of ≥2%). This includes 20 of the 23 estimates among PWID, 20 of the 28 high quality estimates among people in prison, and four of the 17 estimates among MSM. In general terms, the highest HBsAg prevalence was found among people in prison (range of 0.3% - 25.2%) followed by PWID (0.5% - 6.1%) and MSM (0.0% - 1.4%). The highest prevalence of anti-HCV was also found among people in prison (4.3% - 86.3%) and PWID (13.8% - 84.3%) followed by MSM (0.0% - 4.7%).ConclusionsOur results suggest prioritisation of PWID and the prison population as the key populations for HBV/HCV screening and treatment given their dynamic interaction and high prevalence. The findings of this study do not seem to strongly support the continued classification of MSM as a high risk group for chronic hepatitis B infection. However, we still consider MSM a key population for targeted action given the emerging evidence of viral hepatitis transmission within this risk group together with the complex interaction of HBV/HCV and HIV.

Efectos de la interferencia lingüística en la adquisición y transferencia de discriminaciones condicionales con tareas de igualación de la muestra de primer y segundo orden

Studies on conditional discrimination (CD) in humans have pointed out that linguistic contact with the properties and criteria of the task is critical both for acquisition and transfer, especially in extra-relational and extra-dimensional tests. Recentempirical and conceptual analyses have challenged this assumption. Studies in the field have generally included linguisticcomponents, but the effect of linguistic restriction through tasks that compete with verbal activity regarding tasks, such aslinguistic interference, has not yet been systematically explored. Two experiments were conducted: the first one used first-order matching-to-sample tasks (FOMST) and the second used second-order matching-to-sample tasks (SOMST), aiming to evaluate the effect of a linguistic interference task on the acquisition of conditional discrimination and functional adjustment in transfer tests (extra-instance, extra-modal, extra-relational, and extra-dimensional). Both experiments used an n = 1 design. A total of 24 college students participated, 12 in each study, and the effects of two experimental conditions were tested(Interference and No Interference, with six participants in each condition per study). The findings suggest that interference inlinguistic contact does not affect the acquisition of CD in FOMST or in SOMST, but it does affect the adjustment in transfer tests. In these, differential effects, by type, were observed in FOMST and SOMST.

“To do something when something is forbidden” — The clean, the sacred and the forbidden in Synya Khanty culture

Khanty culture in its present state — in the process of language loss and acculturation — still offers a wide field for the examination of notions related to everyday and sacral purity and their embodiment. Earlier research has explored certain details of these notions (e.g., regulations related to animals of mythological role, nutrition taboos and linguistic restrictions), it seems, however, that the concept of purity is more complex than that: it is a fundamental system which plays a central role, encompassing the whole of the traditional Khanty world, which ultimately defines the order of the world. This fact about the Khanty culture has practically not yet been articulated. The present research aims to explore the intersections of notions of purity and order in Khanty culture and to analyze the individual sub-fields.

The language of leadership in Laos

This paper responds to recent calls in the leadership studies literature for anthropologically informed empirical research on leadership phenomena in non-Western and non-Anglophone settings. The authors have worked extensively on rural development projects in Laos and draw on ethnographic ‘observant-participation’ and interview data to explore how leadership is construed in a contested terrain where traditional concepts intersect with those of official government and international development agencies. A theoretical discussion of linguistic relativity and the socially constitutive nature of language in general is offered as background justification for studying the language of leadership in context. The anthropological distinction between etic and emic operations is also introduced to differentiate between various interpretative positions that can be taken in relation to the fieldwork and data discussed in this paper. The study shows how difficult it can be for native Lao speakers to find words to describe leadership or give designations to ‘leaders’ outside of officially sanctioned semantic and social fields. A key finding of the study is that, viewed from the perspective of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, authority and leadership are coextensive. This social fact is reflected in the linguistic restrictions on what can and cannot be described as leadership in Laos.