Contact Situations Research Articles

Maximal and explosive strength normative data for handgrip test according to gender: international standardization approach

PurposeIn daily living, hands are the basic organs for manipulative tasks of the human body, and they are specialized for various motor tasks with different physical object contact situations. Insufficient strength during aging constitutes a key component of sarcopenia and is associated with subsequent disability and mortality. The simplest and very valid test for assessing general strength is the handgrip test, and the need for international standards for grip strength seems very essential. The study aimed to set normative data for different handgrip strength dimensions in an international healthy adult community.MethodsThe maximal muscle force and maximal explosive muscle force for dominant and non-dominant hand were examined across 838 subjects from 11 countries. The result values were compared with the internationally published findings for external validation.ResultsThe mean value for both hands maximal strength in an adult male was 997 ± 176 N for the absolute and 11.78 ± 1.95 N/kg for the relative measure; in females, the respective values equalled 550 ± 110 N and 8.49 ± 1.79 N/kg. The mean value for maximal explosive strength in an adult male was 6473 ± 1420 N/s for the absolute and 76.47 ± 16.22 N/s/kg for the relative measure; in adult females, the respective values equalled 3506 ± 915 N/s and 54.13 ± 14.38 N/s/kg.ConclusionsThe normative reference values provided in this study may serve as an international guide for interpreting maximal and explosive handgrip strength measurements obtained from healthy adult individuals of both genders.

SOCIOLINGUISTIC REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING LINGUISTIC CHARCTERISTICS OF UKRAINIAN, RUSSIAN AND SURZHYK IN UKRAINIAN MEDIA DISCOURSE

This article examines the widespread social perception of the linguistic characteristics of Ukrainian, Russian languages and Surzhyk, which is commonly known as a mixed language of the two. The aim of this article is to establish a common interpretation of their forms and uses from a sociolinguistic perspective to clarify their perceived valuation in the situation of language contact. We rely especially on the theories of sociolinguistic representations and language majoration and minoration, elaborated in the French sociolinguistics, which allows us to have a clear view of the dynamic system within the multilingual communities. This study gives a detailed analysis of journalistic articles dedicated to language issues in Ukraine published on the internet, for gaining a broad and topical sets of data. Our results show that there exists a complex relation between the mixed language and the two languages, where on the one hand Surzhyk is interpretated to be constructed from the Ukrainian and Russian languages, while on the other hand, the illiterateness of its speakers is emphasized. Furthermore, we see that speaking Surzhyk could in fact be more negatively perceived than speaking Russian, since it has the potential to pose a threat to the existence of the Ukrainian language.

The Role of Prosody and Morphology in the Mapping of Information Structure onto Syntax

The mapping of information structure onto morphology or intonation varies greatly crosslinguistically. Agglutinative languages, like Inuktitut or Quechua, have a rich morphological layer onto which discourse-level features are mapped but a limited use of intonation. Instead, English or Spanish lack grammaticalized morphemes that convey discourse-level information but use intonation to a relatively large extent. We propose that the difference found in these two pairs of languages follows from a division of labor across language modules, such that two extreme values of the continuum of possible interactions across modules are available as well as combinations of morphological and intonational markers. At one extreme, in languages such as Inuktitut and Quechua, a rich set of morphemes with scope over constituents convey sentence-level and discourse-level distinctions, making the alignment of intonational patterns and information structure apparently redundant. At the other extreme, as in English and to some extent Spanish, a series of consistent alignments of PF and syntactic structure are required to distinguish sentence types and to determine the information value of a constituent. This results in a complementary distribution of morphology and intonation in these languages. In contact situations, overlap between patterns of module interaction are attested. Evidence from Quechua–Spanish and Inuktitut–English bilinguals supports a bidirectionality of crosslinguistic influence; intonational patterns emerge in non-intonational languages to distinguish sentence types, whereas morphemes or discourse particles emerge in intonational languages to mark discourse-level features.

São Tomé and Príncipe’s toponymy

gabrielaraujo@um.edu.mo
 ABSTRACT. This study describes the toponymic profile of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe (STP), a former Portuguese colony. Here, we consider (i) its linguistic contact situation, reflected in the toponyms of non-Portuguese etyma (mainly from national languages), and (ii) the structure of the toponymic syntagma in Portuguese. Toponyms are created according to a place's geographic, social, historical, and linguistic reality. Therefore, STP's toponyms are the locus of the Santomean linguistic ecology and memory. Due to its linguistic diversity, the study of Santomean toponymy is transdisciplinary. It contributes to understanding different languages that share São Tomé and Príncipe's ethnicity and linguistic heritage, including multilingual synchronic and/or diachronic conjunctures and the political importance of Portuguese. STP's toponymy expresses a multilingual conjuncture common to the country since the arrival of the Portuguese and (mainly) enslaved Africans from different regions of Africa. Although the Portuguese language and culture have influenced most local toponymy, the Santomean toponymic profile contains endemic linguistic and cultural specificities. Thus, natural phenomena, along with political and historical events, among others, play a role in forming toponyms and characterizing the local toponymy as unique.

Frequency effects and the study of Limon’s Spanish copulas: ser and estar

This paper presents a brief but comprehensive review of what has been done regarding the Spanish copula. It explores how frequency effects can help account for the unexplained variance found in the different proposed models, based on the Exemplar Model. This is done to propose a theoretical framework for the study of the Spanish copula in contact situations that include frequency as a variable to understand whether change is ongoing or stable, and whether the change of estar is extending to the contexts of ser, ser is extending to the contexts of estar, or both phenomena is taking place. I explore how each of the schema components interacts with each other, how these interactions fit into the traditional description of copula choice, and move away from the generative view of language as a set of rules to begin looking at it as a system highly affected by the frequency of use of its components. I then propose a procedure on how to explain copula behavior in Spanish that includes a multi-level analysis of this phenomenon.

INFLUENCE OF PLYOMETRIC TRAINING ON THE EXPLOSIVE POWER OF SENIOR RUGBY SEVENS PLAYERS

Rugby is a team sport in which physical contact with the opponent is direct. A fundamental feature of today’s rugby game indicates total physical involvement with the opponent, focusing on the contact struggle that takes place in both the individual and collective confrontation. Rugby sevens (7s) players engage in contact situations similar to rugby union and rugby league, such as tackling, rucking, carrying the ball into contact, mauling and scrummaging, which require strength and explosive power. Since plyometrics can significantly improve speed, strength and explosive power, this type of training can be recommended for rugby players. The present research was conducted on a group of 20 senior rugby players, professional athletes of the CS Politehnica Iași Women’s Rugby 7s team. The purpose of the research was to implement an eight-week programme (with two sessions per week) for the development of explosive power using the plyometric method. The tests consisted of the countermovement jump, free jump and squat jump, which were applied at the beginning of the training period for the championship return and at the end of the championship. The test results were entered into the SPSS (version 23) database, processed and analysed with the bilateral dependent t-test to compare the results. The study shows that plyometrics can be an effective training method to improve the explosive power of rugby sevens players. In conclusion, we can say that the explosive power of the lower limbs is an essential component that conditions sports performance in the game of rugby sevens.

Assessment of the release of metals from cigarette butts into the environment.

Cigarette butts are known to contain toxic metals which pose a potential threat to the environment and human health. The seriousness of this threat is largely determined by the leachability of these toxic metals when the butts are exposed to aqueous solutions in the environment. The aims of this study were to determine the presence and mobility of toxic and non-toxic elements found in discarded cigarette butts; to relate this mobility to two different contact situations with leaching liquids: tumbling and trampling (batch test) and percolation in a static position (column test); and finally, to verify possible variations in solubility by simulating different environmental systems. Five leachants with different pH values were used to simulate various environmental conditions The concentrations of the solubilized metals were determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). CH3COOH pH 2.5 showed the greatest capacity to dissolve many elements. On the contrary, weakly acidic or alkaline environments did not favor the leachability of the elements. The best extraction capacity of the column with respect to the batch is statistically significant (p <0.05) for the elements Al, Fe, Ni and Zn, while the batch for P, Si, S. Pb, Cd, As were not detectable in cigarette butts, while Hg had an average concentration of 0.0502 μg/g. However, Hg was < LOD in all different leachants.

Studying the Role of Media in the Diffusion of English Words Into the Kashmiri Language: A Linguistic Overview

Studying the predominant occurrence and existence of English lexicon in other languages in contact with English has emerged out to be of immense interest among the researchers of sociolinguistics and theoretical linguistics. The present study is devoted to demonstrate various English-Kashmiri language contact situations and the subsequent diffusion/ flow of English words into the Kashmiri language. The study attempts to explore the significant role of media in its different forms in enhancing and determining the transport of English words into the speech of Kashmiri speakers. The study seeks to address the motivation and inspiration of Kashmiri speakers behind the English-Kashmiri linguistic shift, and the influence of the prevailing circumstances on this English-Kashmiri linguistic diffusion. The liberality of the English language in handing over such an enormously huge amount of word treasure to the Kashmiri language, and the receptivity of the Kashmiri language in accepting this vocabulary treasure from English at a very large scale has been thrown light on in the study. In the present study, an attempt has been made to display a comprehensive list of English words used in various domains of social life of the Kashmiri speech community.

RESEARCH OF LINGUOCULTURAL ASPECTS OF THE TERMINOLOGY OF INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL TOURISM

The issue of the relationship and interconnection of language and culture has always aroused considerable interest of many linguists, who, despite the originality of approaches to this issue, consider culture and language in interaction. Modern linguistics seeks to comprehend the cultural consciousness of a single nation through linguistic means. International tourism continues to grow and diversify exponentially, creating situations of intense language contact and giving rise to unexpected sociolinguistic dynamics and phenomena.

The development of the encoding of deictic motion in the Bantu language Rangi: grammaticalisation and change

AbstractThe close cross-linguistic relation between the domains of space and time has been well described. The frequent emergence of Tense-Aspect-Mood (TAM) markers from deictic motion verbs in particular, has also been extensively detailed in the literature. This paper focusses on the less well-known link between associated motion, a category of functional morphemes expressing (deictic) motion events, and TAM, in a language contact situation. Specifically, it provides a synchronic and diachronic description of three associated motion prefixes,joo-,tóó-andkoo-, found in the Tanzanian Bantu language Rangi, spoken in an area of high linguistic diversity. It proposes that the prefixjoo-encodes movement towards a deictic centre,tóó-encodes movement towards a goal which is not the deictic centre, andkoo-encodes movement away from a deictic centre. It further contends that whiletóó-andkoo-have maintained a purely deictic function,joo-has grammaticalised to assume an additional function whereby it encodes future tense, possibly aided by the absence of a dedicated future tense marker in the language. This three-way morphological encoding of spatial relations on the verb form is not a common characteristic of East African Bantu languages. However, this paper proposes that the system in Rangi can be accounted for on the basis of cross-linguistically widely attested pathways of grammatical change.

The implementation of protective and hygienic measures in day care centres in Germany

Abstract Background Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, day care centres in Germany needed to implement protective and hygiene measures (e.g., care of children in fixed groups). Our research questions are: To which extent can day care centres implement protective measures in daily practice? Which difficulties and needs regarding the implementation of these measures do they report? Methods We draw on data from a nationwide survey (October 2020-June 2021) of approximately 3,000 centre managers in Germany. Measures are clustered in four categories: reducing (1) contact opportunities, (2) airborne transmission (where social interaction cannot be avoided), (3) contact transmission, and (4) handling (the lack of) symptoms. To analyse implementation of protective measures in daily practice, we compute indices for different contact situations based on the persons involved: contact situations between (1) staff and parents), (2) staff and children of own group, (3) staff and children of other groups, and (4) the different groups of children. Results Day care centres increasingly implemented protective measures during the second wave. Yet, all four categories showed room for improvement, especially reduction of contact opportunities and handling (the lack of) symptoms. Our data suggests higher implementation of protective measures in contact situations among adults compared to contact situations between staff and children. Additionally, staff report high uncertainty regarding the attendance of children with mild symptoms (e.g., head cold), difficulties regarding the parental acceptance of the new organizational rules and a need of training. Conclusions Implementing protective measures between staff and children is seemingly difficult, likely due to pedagogical and developmental reasons. Staff's and parents' compliance with protective measures becomes all the more important within day care settings.

A morphosyntactic approach to language contact in African varieties of English

ABSTRACT This study aims to widen our knowledge of substrate influence and language transfer in World Englishes through the study of the verb complementation system of REGRET in four African postcolonial varieties. An examination of the most widely spoken substrates in each variety does not seem to explain the different tendencies in the distribution of finite and nonfinite complementation patterns across varieties, since English varieties with different complementation systems in their substrate languages, Kenyan English and Nigerian English, for example, show similar distributions in their use of English complementation. Such differences in the distribution seem to be the result of other factors playing an essential role in language contact situations, namely, the tendency towards transparency in second language varieties, the geographical proximity of the English varieties, and the evolution of the varieties measured in terms of the Dynamic Model (Schneider 2007).

Word-order variation in a contact setting: A corpus-based investigation of Russian spoken in Daghestan

AbstractThis paper deals with word-order variation in a situation of language contact. We present a corpus-based investigation of word order in the variety of Russian spoken in Daghestan, focusing specifically on noun phrases with a genitive modifier. In Daghestanian Russian, the nonstandard word order GEN+N (prepositive or left genitive) often occurs. At first glance, this phenomenon might be easily explained in terms of syntactic calquing from the speakers’ left-branching L1s. However, the order GEN+N does not occur with the same frequency in all types of genitive noun phrases but is affected by several lexicosemantic and formal features of both the head and the genitive modifier. Therefore, we are not dealing with simple pattern borrowing. Rather, L1 influence strengthens certain universal tendencies that are not motivated by contact. The comparison with monolinguals’ Russian, in which prepositive genitives sporadically occur too, supports this hypothesis.

Caenorhabditis elegans Multi-Tracker Based on a Modified Skeleton Algorithm.

Automatic tracking of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. egans) in standard Petri dishes is challenging due to high-resolution image requirements when fully monitoring a Petri dish, but mainly due to potential losses of individual worm identity caused by aggregation of worms, overlaps and body contact. To date, trackers only automate tests for individual worm behaviors, canceling data when body contact occurs. However, essays automating contact behaviors still require solutions to this problem. In this work, we propose a solution to this difficulty using computer vision techniques. On the one hand, a skeletonization method is applied to extract skeletons in overlap and contact situations. On the other hand, new optimization methods are proposed to solve the identity problem during these situations. Experiments were performed with 70 tracks and 3779 poses (skeletons) of C. elegans. Several cost functions with different criteria have been evaluated, and the best results gave an accuracy of 99.42% in overlapping with other worms and noise on the plate using the modified skeleton algorithm and 98.73% precision using the classical skeleton algorithm.

Helical plating – a novel technique to increase stiffness in defect fractures

Single-plate fixation bridging bone defects provokes nonunion and risks plate-fatigue failure due to under- dimensioned implants. Adding a helical plate to bridge the fracture increases stiffness and balances load sharing. This study compares the stiffness and plate surface strain of different constructs in a transverse contact and gap femoral shaft fracture model. Eight groups of six synthetic femora each were formed: intact femora; intact femora with lateral locking plate; contact and gap transverse shaft osteotomies each with lateral locking plate, lateral locking plate and helical locking plate, and long proximal femoral nail. Constructs underwent non-destructive quasi-static axial and torsional loading. Plate surface strain evaluation was performed under 200 N axial loading. Constructs with both lateral and helical plates demonstrated similar axial and torsional stiffness- independent of the contact or gap situations - being significantly higher compared to lateral plating (p < 0.01). Torsional stiffness of the constructs, with both lateral and helical plates in the gap situation, was significantly higher compared to this situation stabilised by a nail (p < 0.01). Plate surface strain dropped from 0.3 % in the gap situation with a lateral plate to < 0.1 % in this situation with both a lateral and a helical plate. Additional helical plating increases axial and torsional construct stiffness in synthetic bone and seems to provide well-balanced load sharing. Its use should be considered in very demanding situations for gap or defect fractures, where single-plate osteosynthesis provides inadequate stiffness for fracture healing and induces nonunion.

Gender-Based Conversation Topic of Indonesian Speakers in Japanese Conversations with Japanese Native Speakers at The First Meeting

Without a topic, conversation will not occur. However, the choice of conversation topic also needs to be considered, especially if the speech partner is a speaker with a different cultural and linguistic background. This study aimed to identify what conversation topics are raised by Indonesian-speaking Japanese learners in conversations with contact situations at the first meeting. The participants of this study were divided into male and female participants. The data was taken through roleplay conversation with the participants being 20 Indonesian speaking students and 20 Japanese speaking students. Roleplay conversations were carried out in two different settings, namely the setting of cultural exchange events at universities in Indonesia and the setting of conversations on trains in Indonesia. From the results of data analysis, it is known that for both male and female Indonesian speakers, both in the setting of cultural exchange events at universities in Indonesia and meetings on trains in Indonesia, the category of conversation topics that is most often raised is the category of personal information of the speakers and speech partners and categories of Indonesian and Japanese cultures and situations. Seeing these results, it can be concluded that both male and female Indonesian speakers have a greater desire to build deeper interpersonal relationships with Japanese speakers. This information was known from the fact that there were many occurrences of topics related to extracting information related to speech partners in all conversation groups.

A Flexible Multimodal Sole Sensor for Legged Robot Sensing Complex Ground Information during Locomotion.

Recent achievements in the field of computer vision, reinforcement learning, and locomotion control have largely extended legged robots’ maneuverability in complex natural environments. However, little research focuses on sensing and analyzing the physical properties of the ground, which is crucial to robots’ locomotion during their interaction with highly irregular profiles, deformable terrains, and slippery surfaces. A biomimetic, flexible, multimodal sole sensor (FMSS) designed for legged robots to identify the ontological status and ground information, such as reaction force mapping, contact situation, terrain, and texture information, to achieve agile maneuvers was innovatively presented in this paper. The FMSS is flexible and large-loaded (20 Pa–800 kPa), designed by integrating a triboelectric sensing coat, embedded piezoelectric sensor, and piezoresistive sensor array. To evaluate the effectiveness and adaptability in different environments, the multimodal sensor was mounted on one of the quadruped robot’s feet and one of the human feet then traversed through different environments in real-world tests. The experiment’s results demonstrated that the FMSS could recognize terrain, texture, hardness, and contact conditions during locomotion effectively and retrain its sensitivity (0.66 kPa−1), robustness, and compliance. The presented work indicates the FMSS’s potential to extend the feasibility and dexterity of tactile perception for state estimation and complex scenario detection.

Differential oil accumulation and its controlling factors for CFD6-4 oilfield at the steep slope belt on the southern margin of Shijiutuo Uplift in Bohai Sea

Biomarkers and stable carbon isotopes suggest that oils accumulated in CFD6-4 oilfield are mixed type by oils derived from source rocks of the third (Es3) and first (Es1) members of Shahejie formation, except the ones from the reservoirs in the third member (Ed3) of Dongying formation of Well A5, which are Es3-derived. Fluid inclusion and basin modeling analyses elaborate two charging periods in CFD6-4 oilfield. The first period initiates at about 7.5 Ma driven by hydrocarbon generating and expelling of source rocks, and another one occurred at about 5.0–2.0 Ma caused by the Neo-tectonic activity in Bohai Sea. The Paleogene fan deltas and their direct contact with source rocks define oil horizontal accumulations in CFD6-4 Oilfield. Due to the poor continuities of fan deltas, oils mainly accumulate near source, leading to oils rich in the east with poor in the west. And oil vertical accumulations in CFD6-4 oilfield depend on fault activity during Neo-tectonic activity in Bohai Sea and sandstone carrier bed of the Guantao (Ng) formation. Oil accumulations in the Paleogene and Neogene strata lies on the activity rate of fault connecting the Paleogene oil favorably accumulating reservoir and the Ng sandstone carrier, because it moved at 5 and 25 m/Ma during Neo-tectonic activity and could be both barrier to and avenue of oils. Furthermore, the oil accumulations in the Neogene strata are restrained by the structural features of the Ng sandstone carrier. Therefore, in order to improve the exploration success rate at the steep slope zones in Bohai Sea, the distribution of fan deltas in the Paleogene strata, thveir contact situations with oil source rocks, and the activity rate of connecting faults during the Neo-tectonic activity should be taken into account.

Usage-Based Contact Linguistics: Effects of Frequency and Similarity in Language Contact

Abstract The influence of usage frequency, and particularly of linguistic similarity on human linguistic behavior and linguistic change in situations of language contact are well documented in contact linguistics literature. However, a theoretical framework capable of unifying the various explanations, which are usually couched in either structuralist, sociolinguistic, or psycholinguistic parlance, is still lacking. In this introductory article we argue that a usage-based approach to language organization and linguistic behavior suits this purpose well and that the study of language contact phenomena will benefit from the adoption of this theoretical perspective. The article sketches an outline of usage-based linguistics, proposes ways to analyze language contact phenomena in this framework, and summarizes the major findings of the individual contributions to the special issue, which not only demonstrate that contact phenomena are usefully studied from the usage-based perspective, but document that taking a usage-based approach reveals new aspects of old phenomena.

Dichotomie de Culture dans la Communication Interculturelle

The concept of intercultural communication is based on the idea that all human behaviour and thought depend on paradigms: liquid, solid and a Janussian idea of the culture of individuals (Holliday, 2011; Hofstede, 2011). However, in a situation of contact with another language or another culture, intercultural communication triggers the process of selfsolidification and alteriterization, with regard to the foreign culture, as well as a reflection on proper behaviour and culture (Vikan; 1999). In fact, in the context of international mobility for student(s), the concept of intercultural communication includes, on the one hand, the empathy, which means the ability of identification with others, acceptance of ambiguity and tolerance. On the other hand, it includes the antipathy, that is, judgment and prejudices as well as the feeling of rejecting the other's culture.