Pragmatic Goal Research Articles

Genre System of English Language Restaurant Online Discourse

The article basing on the case study of English-language websites of British restaurants and taking into account such discursive parameters as the goal of communication, content, addresser and addressee factors, communicative strategies, and linguistic features deals thoroughly with genre organization of restaurant online discourse. The authors establish the stages and the criteria for its hyper-genre and sub-genre levels. They show that genres systems of virtual communication adjusted to achieving the goals of the restaurant business become system-forming for this type of restaurant discourse practice. The authors also establish the factors of a communicative and pragmatic goal, institutionally based typical interactions, and the addresser and addressee factors as the most important ones of its formation. They point out communicative strategies realized by a set of tactics and dominant linguistic means as the most important communicative and pragmatic means of achieving the goal of a restaurant.

COGNITIVE AND PRAGMATIC ASPECTS OF FOOD REPRESENTATION IN THE BRITISH AND RUSSIAN MEDIA DISCOURSES

The present article is devoted to the problem of representing food in the British and Russian media discourses. The author analyzes social and linguistic factors of food representation in the media discourse, in particular, the ideas and social factors that influence the journalists as well as peculiarities of the linguistic forms of food representation. Particular attention is paid to the cognitive aspects: the author analyzes realization of a specific cognitive model within the media text. The author also studies the cognitive model components, which are foregrounded in the media texts, and the linguistic means used for this purpose. The reasons for this process are also investigated. The connection between cognitive model realization and the journalists pragmatic goal is also studied in the paper. The author comes to a conclusion that a new cognitive model is formed and fixed in the recipients mind, because its components contain information confirmed by data in the media text. The new model can be fixed only if a journalist manages to persuade the recipient using the factual data. We suppose that introduction and placement of a new cognitive model into the recipients mind results in changing his/her attitude towards British food. This can be viewed as a change in social reality, i.e. construction of new social reality, because the recipient in this case acquires a new feature new attitude towards British food that affects his/her actions in real life. The author comes to a conclusion that the process of food representation in the British media discourse is determined by the aim of constructing a specific identity of the British nation, which differs from the identity that has existed before. The author also analyzes the process of constructing a new cognitive model within the Russian media discourse; this model is aimed at assessing the current market trends and economic and social situation in Russia.

LEXICAL PECULIARITIES OF TERRORIST'S SPEECH IN ISIS VIDEO MESSAGES

The article describes lexical features of the speech pronounced by a terrorist on the basis of propaganda videos of ISIS members. The goal of the article is to identify lexical means used by the speaker to produce emotional effect, often implicit, on the listener. Terrorists use a wide range of stylistic means to manipulate: metaphors, hyperboles, synecdoche, periphrasis, lexical repetition and antithesis. Contemporary studies prove the importance of these stylistic devices to manipulate the listener’s view, especially in discourses of suggestive nature, for instance in political, legal or advertising discourses. This statement is supported by the researchers who argue that stylistically colored vocabulary is used by the speaker to persuade as it allows to add expressiveness and emotional coloring to the utterance and helps terrorists intimidate their listeners and propagate their ideology. Parts of speech analysis revealed the verb dominance among other notional words, in other words much attention in terrorist’s speech is given to actions, which is quite natural due to the pragmatic goal of the speaker - to intimidate the listener with the help of threats. Most frequent are the verbs denoting violent acts. The features of pronouns used in terrorist’s videos are also analyzed; pronouns help to contrast the terrorist organization and the Western countries.

Walk the Talk: Financial Fairness in European Club Football

UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations represent the most restrictive regulatory intervention European club football has ever seen. Put simply, it demands from clubs to operate on the basis of their own football-related incomes. While the policy has attracted considerable attention from the economic and social sciences, very few contributions systematically investigate it from a philosophical-ethical perspective. The present paper fills this research gap by posing questions on FFP in relation to fair play as a normative concept. We draw on sport economic assessments concerning potential outcomes of FFP and argue that the policy should go beyond the mere pragmatic goal of promoting financial sustainability and truly aim for creating a level playing field, otherwise it should not be labeled ‘fair play’.

Planning runtime software adaptation through pragmatic goal model

Adaptivity is a capability that enables a system to choose amongst various alternatives to satisfy or maintain the satisfaction of certain requirements. The criteria of requirements satisfaction could be pragmatic and context-dependent. Contextual Goal Models (CGM) capture the power of context on banning or allowing certain alternatives to reach requirements (goals) and also deciding the quality of those alternatives with regards to certain quality measures (softgoals). It is used to depict facets of the decision making strategy and rationale of an adaptive system at the preliminary level of requirements. In this paper we argue the case for pragmatic requirements and extend the CGM with additional constructs to capture them and allow their analysis. We also develop an automated analysis which aids the planning and scheduling of tasks execution to meet pragmatic goals. Moreover, we evaluate our modelling and analysis regarding correctness and performance. Such an evaluation showed the applicability of the approach and its usefulness in aiding sensible decisions. It has also shown its capability to do so in a time short enough to suit run-time adaptation decision making.

"Así lo que me gusta": notas sobre la interfaz sintaxis-pragmática en el español paraguayo

En el presente trabajo nos centramos en un conjunto de estructuras focalizadoras presentes en el español paraguayo, que difieren del estándar peninsular y americano, como Así lo que me gusta o ¿Quién lo que llora? Estas construcciones tienen la intención pragmática de resaltar cierto elemento del discurso, a partir de una estrategia propia de las cláusulas hendidas, esto es, por medio de la separación de dos elementos con la forma invariable lo que.Para analizar esta construcción, contrastamos los datos del español paraguayo con las hendidas del español general (Fue Eva quien llamó / Eva fue quien llamó / Quien llamó fue Eva) y las galicadas (Ahí es que nos vamos a reunir, Fue Juan que lo dijo). También comparamos los datos con los análogos en guaraní, lengua con la que el español paraguayo mantiene un intenso contacto debido al bilingüismo actual y a los siglos de coexistencia en la región. Para el análisis puntual de la construcción nos basamos en el trabajo ya clásico, dentro de la gramática generativa, de Rizzi (1997), quien propone descomponer el Sintagma de Complementante en tres proyecciones básicas relativas a la estructura informacional de la oración: el Sintagma de Foco, el Sintagma de Tópico y el Sintagma de Fuerza, que determina el tipo semántico de la cláusula (interrogativo, imperativo, etc.).

Institutional argumentation and conflict prevention: The case of the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner

By focusing on a case study of institutional argumentation in the sector of data protection and transparency, this paper offers a view on the role of institutional argumentative discourse aimed at conflict prevention in public organizations. In particular, the context we are analyzing is that of a Swiss institutional role named Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC). Among other tasks, the person who serves as a FDPIC has the right to monitor data protection in the whole territory of the Swiss Confederation, with the possibility of issuing recommendations to subjects who are found in violation of the law on this matter. The FDPIC's role appears similar to that of ombudsmen; his or her recommendations are not binding for the parties, but they represent powerful argument-based warnings that serve the function of preventing escalation to a court proceeding. The specific nature of this type of recommendation is explored in this paper both at the level of a semantic–pragmatic analysis of the speech act “to recommend”, and at the level of argumentation. Integrating an argumentative level is necessary to fully explain the intended effect of this specific type of speech act of recommendation in this context. Argumentation is also advanced by the FDPIC to support his decision: by devising a comprehensive, convincing and well-structured argumentative discourse, the FDPIC pursues the ultimate pragmatic goal of preventing the emergence of conflicts between citizens and legal authorities.

The changing nature of children's health development: new challenges require major policy solutions.

The epidemiology and social context of American childhood are rapidly changing. Adverse social, economic, and child-rearing conditions are loading children down with preventable illness, physical and behavioral disability, and dysfunction. This new epidemiology of childhood is swamping the capacity of the nation's health care system, schools, juvenile justice facilities, and child protective services to respond to the needs of those they serve. This low-performing system not only jeopardizes the health of children, it also jeopardizes the health of the adults they will become. In this article we review the science of life-course health development, a new field that provides a powerful explanatory framework for understanding how poor health and social adversity during childhood can affect lifelong health. We then present five ambitious policy recommendations to integrate educational, health, social, and economic initiatives designed to enhance health. Our bold but pragmatic goal is that by 2025, US children will have the highest levels of health among industrialized nations, instead of where US children currently rank-among the worst.

A reappraisal of the quantitative relationship between sugar intake and dental caries: the need for new criteria for developing goals for sugar intake.

BackgroundThere is a clear relation between sugars and caries. However, no analysis has yet been made of the lifetime burden of caries induced by sugar to see whether the WHO goal of 10% level is optimum and compatible with low levels of caries. The objective of this study was to re-examine the dose-response and quantitative relationship between sugar intake and the incidence of dental caries and to see whether the WHO goal for sugar intake of 10% of energy intake (E) is optimum for low levels of caries in children and adults.MethodsAnalyses focused on countries where sugar intakes changed because of wartime restrictions or as part of the nutritional transition. A re-analysis of the dose-response relation between dietary sugar and caries incidence in teeth with different levels of susceptibility to dental caries in nationally representative samples of Japanese children. The impact of fluoride on levels of caries was also assessed.ResultsMeticulous Japanese data on caries incidence in two types of teeth show robust log-linear relationships to sugar intakes from 0%E to 10%E sugar with a 10 fold increase in caries if caries is assessed over several years’ exposure to sugar rather than only for the first year after tooth eruption. Adults aged 65 years and older living in water fluoridated areas where high proportions of people used fluoridated toothpastes, had nearly half of all tooth surfaces affected by caries. This more extensive burden of disease in adults does not occur if sugar intakes are limited to <3% energy intake.ConclusionsThere is a robust log-linear relationship of caries to sugar intakes from 0%E to 10%E sugar. A 10%E sugar intake induces a costly burden of caries. These findings imply that public health goals need to set sugar intakes ideally <3%E with <5%E as a pragmatic goal, even when fluoride is widely used. Adult as well as children’s caries burdens should define the new criteria for developing goals for sugar intake.

Government Support, FDI Clustering and Semiconductor Sustainability in China: Case Studies of Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi in the Yangtze Delta

With reference to the case studies of Shanghai, Suzhou, and Wuxi, in the Yangtze Delta, China, this paper demonstrates the local possibilities and various development paths for developing an indigenous semiconductor industry, using the government support within foreign direct investment (FDI)-dominated clusters for the New Industrializing Countries (NICs). Two important policy lessons are identified. The first is that the government may attract FDI and develop high-tech clustering by using policy support, but it does not necessarily provide conducive and positive influences on the sustainable development of domestic semiconductors. The second lesson is that the sustainability of the domestic semiconductor industry in the FDI cluster may start from three connected elements: (1) a pragmatic goal of government support; (2) complementarities of the domestic semiconductors with international leading firms in the market, technology and equipment linkages; and (3) a sustainable capacity of technical learning to drive local developments.

Japanese pediatric guideline for the treatment and management of bronchial asthma 2012.

A new version of the Japanese pediatric guideline for the treatment and management of bronchial asthma was published in Japanese at the end of 2011. The guideline sets the pragmatic goal for clinicians treating childhood asthma as maintaining a "well-controlled level" for an extended period in which the child patient can lead a trouble-free daily life, not forgetting the ultimate goal of obtaining remission and/or cure. Important factors in the attainment of the pragmatic goal are: (i) appropriate use of anti-inflammatory drugs; (ii) elimination of environmental risk factors; and (iii) educational and enlightening activities for the patient and caregivers regarding adequate asthma management in daily life. The well-controlled level refers to a symptom-free state in which no transient coughs, wheezing, dyspnea or other symptoms associated with bronchial asthma are present, even for a short period of time. As was the case in the previous versions of the guideline, asthmatic children younger than 2 years of age are defined as infantile asthma patients. Special attention is paid to these patients in the new guideline: they often have rapid exacerbation and easily present chronic asthmatic conditions after the disease is established.

Political Magazines on Twitter During the US Presidential Election 2012

This study offers a content analysis of Twitter activity by 16 American political opinion magazines during the month before the 2012 presidential election. The study attempts to operationalize aspects of tweets that may contribute to frame alignment processes and mobilization among Twitter users. The analysis identifies these components and examines how political magazines’ Twitter activity may demonstrate aspects of this process. These magazines must consider both the normative goal of achieving specific political gains by mobilizing readers and the pragmatic goal of remaining sustainable as publishing enterprises. The degree to which their Twitter usage reflects frame alignment processes may not only reinforce political mobilization, but also affect the longevity of their publications. This analysis offers practical and theoretical insights into the changing role of political magazines in an increasingly digital era of political engagement.

A Comparison of Methods for Representing and Aggregating Uncertainties Involving Sparsely Sampled Random Variables - More Results

This paper discusses the treatment of uncertainties corresponding to relatively few samples of random-variable quantities. The importance of this topic extends beyond experimental data uncertainty to situations involving uncertainty in model calibration, validation, and prediction. With very sparse samples it is not practical to have a goal of accurately estimating the underlying variability distribution (probability density function, PDF). Rather, a pragmatic goal is that the uncertainty representation should be conservative so as to bound a desired percentage of the actual PDF, say 95% included probability, with reasonable reliability. A second, opposing objective is that the representation not be overly conservative; that it minimally over-estimate the random-variable range corresponding to the desired percentage of the actual PDF. The presence of the two opposing objectives makes the sparse-data uncertainty representation problem an interesting and difficult one. In this paper the performance of five uncertainty representation techniques is characterized on twenty-one test problems (over thousands of trials for each problem) according to these two opposing objectives and other performance measures. Two of the methods exhibit significantly better overall performance than the others according to the objectives and performance measures emphasized.

Developing a reflective practice in instructional design

It is generally accepted as true that nobody is an expert from the very first try. However, most people expect that an adequate amount of years of experience result in building expertise. They may be right, especially if those years were spent not only acting and experimenting, but also reflecting on the actions and learning from these reflections. This study, grounded in the author's everyday practice, is aiming to explore how instructional designers of online courses can be supported by using Web 2.0 tools to develop a reflective practice, and to form a community where they can exchange ideas, confront theories, identify problems and find solutions. The group is formed by people with backgrounds more or less connected to education, such as former trainers, school counsellors, psychologists, project managers, technical writers, graduates in public administration, etc. Having neither formal training in instructional design, nor experience in such a domain, they have no other choice than learn on the job. The approach taken is insider action research (AR), as the author has a responsibility concerning the work quality and productivity of instructional designers. Each AR cycle builds on the findings from the previous one, and enlarges the scale of the study while focusing the investigation. The pragmatic goal of the project is to succeed in building a community of practitioners that is autonomous, and has a core that is solid enough to integrate newcomers. The first action research cycle was exploratory and identified early issues of interest. The second cycle is currently in the analysis phase. The third cycle will run in 2012 based on the findings of the current one. The contribution this study seeks to make is to place knowledge about collective reflection, public vs. personal theories, and use of blogs as learning journals into the context of workplace learning and professional development with the goal to improve practice. Through this study, I aim to: (1) improve my understanding of the process of developing as a professional in the workplace, particularly on developing reflective skills, (2) analyse the impact of support actions and select the ones that facilitate the formation of a community of practice among instructional designers, and (3) identify potential differences of approach in offering and receiving support according to personal factors such as personal experience and other factors that may emerge.

Mapping the Landscape of Human‐Level Artificial General Intelligence

We present the broad outlines of a roadmap toward human‐level artificial general intelligence (henceforth, AGI). We begin by discussing AGI in general, adopting a pragmatic goal for its attainment and a necessary foundation of characteristics and requirements. An initial capability landscape will be presented, drawing on major themes from developmental psychology and illuminated by mathematical, physiological, and information‐processing perspectives. The challenge of identifying appropriate tasks and environments for measuring AGI will be addressed, and seven scenarios will be presented as milestones suggesting a roadmap across the AGI landscape along with directions for future research and collaboration.

Effects of a Narrative HPV Vaccination Intervention Aimed at Reaching College Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This longitudinal study reports on the development and evaluation of a narrative intervention aimed at increasing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among college women. The prevention of HPV is a public health priority due to its pervasiveness and relationship to cervical cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. Pilot work utilizing culture-centric narrative theory guided development of the intervention content. Exemplification theory led to hypotheses comparing communication sources of the narrative messages (peer only, medical expert only, or a combination of the two source types) in a four-arm randomized controlled trial (N = 404; 18-26year olds). The combined peer-expert narrative intervention nearly doubled vaccination compared to controls (22% vs. 12%). The pragmatic goal of increasing HPV vaccination and the theoretical predictions about message source were supported. As predicted, the inclusion of peer and medical expert sources plays a critical role in promoting HPV vaccination among college women. Furthermore, the intervention increased HPV vaccination by increasing vaccine self-efficacy and intent. Theoretical and practical implications for designing effective HPV vaccine messages are discussed.

Response: Infant EEG activity as a biomarker for autism: A promising approach or a false promise?

Response: Infant EEG activity as a biomarker for autism: A promising approach or a false promise?

A contribuição da psicologia cognitiva para o design de instruções de procedimentos cognitivos, recomendações do design, instruções de procedimentos, trabalhos técnicos

Este trabalho objetiva demonstrar como a psicologia cognitiva pode ajudar escritores de assuntos tcnicos a melhorar o design das instrues de procedimentos. Para tanto, a primeira parte do trabalho compara as caractersticas destas instrues a outros tipos de texto. Tais caractersticas referem-se a seu objetivo pragmtico, complexidade de uso (com o mecanismo de interao do usurio - documento) e restries quanto eficincia. A segunda parte apresenta as consideraes tericas e os resultados da pesquisa no que se referem aos processos cognitivos humanos implicados no processamento deste tipo especfico de informao, tais como propsitos de leitura, compreenso, programa de ao, inferncias. Com base nestas caractersticas, a terceira parte deste trabalho prope solues de design que possam vir a melhorar a qualidade das instrues de procedimentos, tais como a introduo de fotos no texto, para auxiliar a elaborao de modelos mentais, obedincia a um princpio de uso-pedido, para melhorar o programa de ao, uso de lista de instrues numeradas, para facilitar a troca de atividades e reduzir a carga cognitiva e uso de cabealhos ou fotos, para ajudar na execuo de atividades controladas. E, por fim, a concluso, onde se considera a necessidade de um teste de usurio na complementao destas recomendaes a fim de se obter uma documentao de qualidade.[ Download ]

The Relationship Between Second Language Acquisition Theory and Computer‐Assisted Language Learning

The point of departure for this article is the contrast between the theoretical landscape within view of language teaching professionals in 1991 and that of today. I argue that the pragmatic goal of computer‐assisted language learning (CALL) developers and researchers to create and evaluate learning opportunities pushes them to consider a variety of theoretical approaches to second language acquisition (SLA), which have developed, in part, in response to the need to theorize the role of instruction in SLA. To illustrate connections between SLA and CALL, I touch on multiple theoretical perspectives grouped into four general approaches: cognitive linguistic (Universal Grammar, autonomous induction theory, and the concept‐oriented approach); psycholinguistic (processibility theory, input processing theory, interactionist theory); human learning (associative–cognitive CREED, skill acquisition theory); and language in social context (sociocultural, language socialization, conversation analysis, systemic–functional, complexity theory). I suggest that such theoretical approaches can be useful in the development and evaluation of CALL materials and tasks. Finally, I propose that the expanding use of technology changes the nature of communicative competence theory, challenges SLA theory, and increases the number of consumers for SLA research.

Endoscopic Therapy for Barrett's Esophagus

Recent retrospective cohort data and a prospective randomized sham controlled trial have clearly documented the impact of endoscopic ablation therapy on dysplasia and Barrett's esophagus (BE). The clinical indications for ablation of BE includes high-grade dysplasia and intramucosal adenocarcinoma. The techniques of resection of mucosal irregularities and of ablation are reviewed, primarily thermal and photodynamic ablation. Ablation of BE with neoplasia has appropriately entered the clinical arena.