Deviations in the Zipf and Heaps laws in natural languages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bochkarev, Vladimir V; Lerner, Eduard Yu; Shevlyakova, Anna V

2014-01-01

This paper is devoted to verifying of the empirical Zipf and Hips laws in natural languages using Google Books Ngram corpus data. The connection between the Zipf and Heaps law which predicts the power dependence of the vocabulary size on the text size is discussed. In fact, the Heaps exponent in this dependence varies with the increasing of the text corpus. To explain it, the obtained results are compared with the probability model of text generation. Quasi-periodic variations with characteristic time periods of 60-100 years were also found

NHEG mechanics: laws of near horizon extremal geometry (thermo)dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hajian, K.; Seraj, A.; Sheikh-Jabbari, M.M.

2014-01-01

Near Horizon Extremal Geometries (NHEG) are solutions to gravity theories with SL(2,ℝ)×U(1) N (for some N) symmetry, are smooth geometries and have no event horizon, unlike black holes. Following the ideas by R. M. Wald, we derive laws of NHEG dynamics, the analogs of laws of black hole dynamics for the NHEG. Despite the absence of horizon in the NHEG, one may associate an entropy to the NHEG, as a Noether-Wald conserved charge. We work out “entropy” and “entropy perturbation” laws, which are respectively universal relations between conserved Noether charges corresponding to the NHEG and a system probing the NHEG. Our entropy law is closely related to Sen’s entropy function. We also discuss whether the laws of NHEG dynamics can be obtained from the laws of black hole thermodynamics in the extremal limit

Development of a Language for International Law: The Experience of Esperanto.

Science.gov (United States)

Harry, Ralph L.

1989-01-01

Recounts the history of interest in developing Esperanto as a lingua franca for international law and diplomacy, beginning with Zamenhof's development of Esperanto and proceeding through the development of a lexicon for the language and through its application to legal issues. Prospects for the future of Esperanto are discussed. (DJD)

The Three Laws of Thought, Plus One: The Law of Comparisons

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas L. Saaty

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The rules of logic are nearly 2500 years old and date back to Plato and Aristotle who set down the three laws of thought: identity, non-contradiction, and excluded middle. The use of language and logic has been adequate for us to develop mathematics, prove theorems, and create scientific knowledge. However, the laws of thought are incomplete. We need to extend our logical system by adding to the very old laws of thought an essential yet poorly understood law. It is a necessary law of thought that resides in our biology even deeper than the other three laws. It is related to the rudiments of how we as living beings, and even nonliving things, respond to influences as stimuli. It helps us discriminate between being ourselves and sensing that there is something else that is not ourselves that even amoebas seem to know. It is the intrinsic ability to sense and distinguish. This fourth law is the law of comparisons. Although it has been missing from our logical deductions it underlies the other three laws of thought because without it we cannot know what is and what is not.

Darkness and near work: myopia and its progression in third-year law students.

Science.gov (United States)

Loman, Jane; Quinn, Graham E; Kamoun, Layla; Ying, Gui-Shuang; Maguire, Maureen G; Hudesman, David; Stone, Richard A

2002-05-01

To evaluate myopia prevalence, myopia progression, and various potential myopia risk factors in third-year law students. Cross-sectional study and survey. One hundred seventy-nine third-year law students at the University of Pennsylvania. We administered a questionnaire to assess the prevalence of myopia, myopia progression, and risk factors, including near work, family history, and daily light/dark exposure. We conducted a screening eye examination to ascertain myopia status. Myopia was defined as the mean spherical equivalent of the two eyes of school. (1) prevalence of myopia, (2) progression of myopia. Seventy-nine percent of the class participated (n = 179, two were excluded for amblyopia leaving 177 students). Fifty-eight percent were male, 75% were Caucasian, and the mean age was 27 years. Seventy-nine percent reported parental myopia. The mean amount of near work was 7.4 hours/day; mean sleep was 7.9 hours/day; mean darkness was 5.3 hours/day. Sixty-six percent of the students were myopic. Of 96 participants myopic before law school, myopia increased in 83 (86%) during law school. Among 75 students not myopic at the beginning of law school, 14 (19%) became myopic. The onset of myopia could not be determined for 6 patients. There were trends for higher myopia prevalence among those with a parental myopia history (P = 0.14) and for increased myopia progression among those reporting more daily near work (P = 0.18). Students with 5.6 hours of darkness per day (95% vs. 80%, P = 0.07). To account for possible confounding effects of risk factors with myopia progression, logistic regression with categorization of the continuous exposure variables (hours of near work, sleep, and darkness) above or below median values weakened the near work association (odds ratio 1.8, 95% confidence interval 0.5-6.7, P = 0.35) but continued to identify darkness association with daily hours of darkness (odds ratio 4.8, 95% confidence interval 1.0 >/= 23.3, P students with myopia

Mathematics and the Laws of Nature Developing the Language of Science (Revised Edition)

CERN Document Server

Tabak, John

2011-01-01

Mathematics and the Laws of Nature, Revised Edition describes the evolution of the idea that nature can be described in the language of mathematics. Colorful chapters explore the earliest attempts to apply deductive methods to the study of the natural world. This revised resource goes on to examine the development of classical conservation laws, including the conservation of momentum, the conservation of mass, and the conservation of energy. Chapters have been updated and revised to reflect recent information, including the mathematical pioneers who introduced new ideas about what it meant to

From language to society: An analysis of interpreting quality and the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Since Zimbabwe was a British colony, colonial policies ensured the entrenchment of English as the language of sports, education, records and law. English is spoken mainly as a second or even third language by the majority of Zimbabweans. Even for those who speak English fluently, or with near fluency, the technical ...

The Voice of the Law in Transition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafiqa Qurrata A'yun

2015-08-01

Full Text Available It is no doubt that the law has a tight relation with the language. We can see how language works in law since it comes from the idea, being enacted, and enforced. That is why language has a significant role along the legal process. This article will review the book written by Ab Massier which assumes at least three aspect of linguistic job in law: doing law is acting by means of language into a lingual activity, which is based on texts, and is resulting in texts. The main issue in this book is based on the problems of Indonesian language of the law which has replaced the Dutch language. Massier criticize instrumental approach to language and the impact of Dutch in Indonesian law language. His analysis refers to James Boyd White's statement about a translation of authoritative texts as the primary feature to define law itself. It is the perspective of doing law as a lingual activity that consists of communicating, speaking, and writing. Almost all legal processes produce texts, and therefore the text means the authority of the law.

Analyzing the Various Approaches of Plain Language Laws. CDC Technical Report No. 29.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, B. A.; And Others

Noting that plain language laws--designed to put the consumer on a more equal footing with business and industry when signing business contracts--have become an important new kind of legislation, this paper traces the development of such legislation and the need to evaluate its effectiveness. The first section of the paper describes the federal…

Zipf's Law of Abbreviation and the Principle of Least Effort: Language users optimise a miniature lexicon for efficient communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanwal, Jasmeen; Smith, Kenny; Culbertson, Jennifer; Kirby, Simon

2017-08-01

The linguist George Kingsley Zipf made a now classic observation about the relationship between a word's length and its frequency; the more frequent a word is, the shorter it tends to be. He claimed that this "Law of Abbreviation" is a universal structural property of language. The Law of Abbreviation has since been documented in a wide range of human languages, and extended to animal communication systems and even computer programming languages. Zipf hypothesised that this universal design feature arises as a result of individuals optimising form-meaning mappings under competing pressures to communicate accurately but also efficiently-his famous Principle of Least Effort. In this study, we use a miniature artificial language learning paradigm to provide direct experimental evidence for this explanatory hypothesis. We show that language users optimise form-meaning mappings only when pressures for accuracy and efficiency both operate during a communicative task, supporting Zipf's conjecture that the Principle of Least Effort can explain this universal feature of word length distributions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

UNIVERSALITY OF THE NEAR-INFRARED EXTINCTION LAW BASED ON THE APOGEE SURVEY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Shu; Jiang, B. W., E-mail: shuwang@mail.bnu.edu.cn, E-mail: bjiang@bnu.edu.cn [Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China)

2014-06-10

Whether the near-infrared (NIR) extinction law is universal has long been a debated topic. Based on the APOGEE H-band spectroscopic survey, a key project of SDSS-III, the intrinsic colors of a large number of giant stars are accurately determined from the stellar effective temperature. Taking advantage of this and using a sample of 5942 K-type giants, the NIR extinction law is carefully revisited. The color excess ratio E(J – H)/E(J – K {sub S}), representative of the NIR extinction law, shows no dependence on the color excess when E(J – K {sub S}) changes from ∼0.3 to ∼4.0, which implies a universal NIR extinction law from diffuse to dense regions. The constant value of E(J – H)/E(J – K {sub S}), 0.64, corresponds to a power law index of 1.95. The other two ratios, E(H – K {sub S})/E(J – K {sub S}) and E(J – H)/E(H – K {sub S}), are 0.36 and 1.78, respectively. The results are consistent with the MRN dust size distribution.

Object-oriented Programming Laws for Annotated Java Programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel Falconieri Freitas

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Object-oriented programming laws have been proposed in the context of languages that are not combined with a behavioral interface specification language (BISL. The strong dependence between source-code and interface specifications may cause a number of difficulties when transforming programs. In this paper we introduce a set of programming laws for object-oriented languages like Java combined with the Java Modeling Language (JML. The set of laws deals with object-oriented features taking into account their specifications. Some laws deal only with features of the specification language. These laws constitute a set of small transformations for the development of more elaborate ones like refactorings.

Online Law Dictionaries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Sandro

2012-01-01

Online dictionaries that assist users in writing legal texts in English as a foreign language are important lexicographic tools. They can help law students bridge the factual and linguistic gaps between the two legal universes involved. However, existing online law dictionaries with English...... as the target language primarily focus on terms, but students also need to write the remainder of the texts in factually and linguistically correct English. It is therefore important to have a sound theoretical foundation before embarking on a dictionary project that aims to help law students communicate...... in English as a foreign language. The function theory of lexicography offers an appropriate basis as it focuses on three key concepts: user needs, user competences, and user situations. It is proposed that online dictionaries should be designed to satisfy the lexicographically relevant user needs...

Does verbatim sentence recall underestimate the language competence of near-native speakers?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith eSchweppe

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Verbatim sentence recall is widely used to test the language competence of native and non-native speakers since it involves comprehension and production of connected speech. However, we assume that, to maintain surface information, sentence recall relies particularly on attentional resources, which differentially affects native and non-native speakers. Since even in near-natives language processing is less automatized than in native speakers, processing a sentence in a foreign language plus retaining its surface may result in a cognitive overload. We contrasted sentence recall performance of German native speakers with that of highly proficient non-natives. Non-natives recalled the sentences significantly poorer than the natives, but performed equally well on a cloze test. This implies that sentence recall underestimates the language competence of good non-native speakers in mixed groups with native speakers. The findings also suggest that theories of sentence recall need to consider both its linguistic and its attentional aspects.

The Legal Recognition of Sign Languages

Science.gov (United States)

De Meulder, Maartje

2015-01-01

This article provides an analytical overview of the different types of explicit legal recognition of sign languages. Five categories are distinguished: constitutional recognition, recognition by means of general language legislation, recognition by means of a sign language law or act, recognition by means of a sign language law or act including…

Recurrence spectroscopy of atoms in electric fields: Failure of classical scaling laws near bifurcations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaw, J.A.; Robicheaux, F.

1998-01-01

The photoabsorption spectra of atoms in a static external electric field shows modulations from recurrences: electron waves that go out from and return to the vicinity of the atomic core. Closed-orbit theory predicts the amplitudes and phases of these modulations in terms of closed classical orbits. A classical scaling law relates the properties of a closed orbit at one energy and field strength to its properties at another energy and field strength at fixed scaled energy ε=EF -1/2 . The scaling law states that the recurrence strength of orbits along the electric field axis scale as F 1/4 . We show how this law fails near bifurcations when the effective Planck constant ℎ≡ℎF 1/4 increases with increasing field at fixed ε. The recurrences of orbits away from the axis scale as F 1/8 in accordance with the classical prediction. These deviations from the classical scaling law are important in interpreting the recurrence spectra of atoms in current experiments. This leads to an extension of the uniform approximation developed by Gao and Delos [Phys. Rev. A 56, 356 (1997)] to complex momenta. copyright 1998 The American Physical Society

Language Policy and Corporate Law in Norway

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sanden, Guro Refsum

to the Norwegian language version, 36.2 % of the companies presented their financial statements in Norwegian only, while 18.9 % of the companies had been granted dispensation from the Norwegian Directorate of Taxes to deviate from the language requirement of the Accounting Act and presented their financial...... of Norway (2005) the paper investigates how the 500 largest companies in Norway comply with the language requirement of the Norwegian Accounting Act for the financial year of 2015. The results show that 44.9 % of the companies presented their financial statements in one or more foreign language in addition...

Menzerath-Altmann law for distinct word distribution analysis in a large text

Science.gov (United States)

Eroglu, Sertac

2013-06-01

The empirical law uncovered by Menzerath and formulated by Altmann, known as the Menzerath-Altmann law (henceforth the MA law), reveals the statistical distribution behavior of human language in various organizational levels. Building on previous studies relating organizational regularities in a language, we propose that the distribution of distinct (or different) words in a large text can effectively be described by the MA law. The validity of the proposition is demonstrated by examining two text corpora written in different languages not belonging to the same language family (English and Turkish). The results show not only that distinct word distribution behavior can accurately be predicted by the MA law, but that this result appears to be language-independent. This result is important not only for quantitative linguistic studies, but also may have significance for other naturally occurring organizations that display analogous organizational behavior. We also deliberately demonstrate that the MA law is a special case of the probability function of the generalized gamma distribution.

Detecting resting-state functional connectivity in the language system using functional near-infrared spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yu-Jin; Lu, Chun-Ming; Biswal, Bharat B.; Zang, Yu-Feng; Peng, Dan-Lin; Zhu, Chao-Zhe

2010-07-01

Functional connectivity has become one of the important approaches to understanding the functional organization of the human brain. Recently, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was demonstrated as a feasible method to study resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in the sensory and motor systems. However, whether such fNIRS-based RSFC can be revealed in high-level and complex functional systems remains unknown. In the present study, the feasibility of such an approach is tested on the language system, of which the neural substrates have been well documented in the literature. After determination of a seed channel by a language localizer task, the correlation strength between the low frequency fluctuations of the fNIRS signal at the seed channel and those at all other channels is used to evaluate the language system RSFC. Our results show a significant RSFC between the left inferior frontal cortex and superior temporal cortex, components both associated with dominant language regions. Moreover, the RSFC map demonstrates left lateralization of the language system. In conclusion, the present study successfully utilized fNIRS-based RSFC to study a complex and high-level neural system, and provides further evidence for the validity of the fNIRS-based RSFC approach.

Expropriation law in France

OpenAIRE

Melot, Romain

2015-01-01

In this publication, the editors present the first comparative overview of expropriation law in Europe covering 15 different jurisdictions. For many of the countries represented, this publication is the first English-language description of their national expropriation law. This survey provides a lot of information for all practitioners in the field of expropriation of land.

On Some of the Aspects of the Linguistic Theory of Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andruszkiewicz Marta

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The article analyses the approach to the study of the sphere of language between theory of law and the philosophy of language. The aim of the paper is to study the range of applicability of philosophical and linguistic conceptions in theory of law. Law theory reflects certain movements and controversies that have been significant in linguistic sciences. The analyses, which, so far, have been conducted in theory of law, concentrated mainly on the use of the results of such achievements made by the representatives of the philosophy of language and linguistics as formal languages theories, transformational-generative theories, structuralism, formalism, pragmalinguistics. In this article, it is claimed that contemporary changes in the humanities justify the expansion of the range of jurisprudence integration to some other approaches, different from formalistic and pragmatic ones.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE SHAPES OF INTERSTELLAR EXTINCTION CURVES. VI. THE NEAR-IR EXTINCTION LAW

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fitzpatrick, E. L.; Massa, D.

2009-01-01

We combine new observations from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera of Survey with existing data to investigate the wavelength dependence of near-IR (NIR) extinction. Previous studies suggest a power law form for NIR extinction, with a 'universal' value of the exponent, although some recent observations indicate that significant sight line-to-sight line variability may exist. We show that a power-law model for the NIR extinction provides an excellent fit to most extinction curves, but that the value of the power, β, varies significantly from sight line to sight line. Therefore, it seems that a 'universal NIR extinction law' is not possible. Instead, we find that as β decreases, R(V) ≡ A(V)/E(B - V) tends to increase, suggesting that NIR extinction curves which have been considered 'peculiar' may, in fact, be typical for different R(V) values. We show that the power-law parameters can depend on the wavelength interval used to derive them, with the β increasing as longer wavelengths are included. This result implies that extrapolating power-law fits to determine R(V) is unreliable. To avoid this problem, we adopt a different functional form for NIR extinction. This new form mimics a power law whose exponent increases with wavelength, has only two free parameters, can fit all of our curves over a longer wavelength baseline and to higher precision, and produces R(V) values which are consistent with independent estimates and commonly used methods for estimating R(V). Furthermore, unlike the power-law model, it gives R(V)s that are independent of the wavelength interval used to derive them. It also suggests that the relation R(V) = -1.36 E(K-V)/(E(B-V)) - 0.79 can estimate R(V) to ±0.12. Finally, we use model extinction curves to show that our extinction curves are in accord with theoretical expectations, and demonstrate how large samples of observational quantities can provide useful constraints on the grain properties.

Notes on Mathematical Language: Development Strings, Development Patterns, String Theory and Conditions Language

CERN Document Server

Struck, James T

2003-01-01

Mathematics, according to Lancelot Hogben, is the language of size, shape, and order. This note adds two words to the language of mathematics. First, a verb, develop or develops, is introduced to describe a development pattern or development string. These are patterns of development with examples from fibrillation, spread of electric changes in muscles and nerves, and matter changing into energy. The relevance of this idea to the idea in physics called String Theory is discussed. A critical comment on the use of the String, rather than other objects like circles, boxes, or spheres is made. Second, an adjective or adverb called conditions language is introduced. Equations like E=mc2, Coulomb's law, Newton's law of Gravitation, the equation for the definition of pie and the path to peace and war are discussed with relevance to the idea of conditions language. Conditions language is nothing more than including the relevant conditions where the equation works or when it applies in parentheses with the equation. V...

Teaching and learning cinema and visual languages through economics-business studies and law in high school: An experimental interdisciplinary approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Poli

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In Italy, little is being done to promote cinema studies and the ability to analyse films and/or multimedia works among high school students. Although Italian legislation provides guidelines on specific learning objectives, activities and content to be included in high school courses, film and media language is still not encouraged in schools. The pilot introduction of cinema at the C. Tenca High School in Milan had the aim of demonstrating the value of film as an educational and epistemological resource and fostering the development of innovative interdisciplinary teaching strategies. Themes related to cinematographic language, Economics-Business Studies and law were introduced and analysed via the exploration of early films (late 1800s and early 1900s. The students investigated the topics of advertising, building a brand name, online marketing and the role of the media in shaping public opinion. In order to enhance students’ skills in analysing interactive communications, we introduced the themes of data journalism and fact-checking. The results are discussed in terms of a possible role for Cinema in the study of Economics-Business Studies and Law and of how cinema might become an interdisciplinary resource for other school subjects.

Languages: The Next Generation. The Final Report and Recommendations of the Nuffield Languages Inquiry.

Science.gov (United States)

Nuffield Foundation, London (England).

This report examines the United Kingdom's (UK) capability in foreign languages and reports on what the nation should do to improve the situation. It is argued that despite the fact that English is rapidly becoming an even more dominant language in the world--it is clearly the international language of science, law, banking, business,…

Rights to Language

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Phillipson, Robert

This work brings together cutting-edge scholarship in language, education and society from all parts of the world. Celebrating the 60th birthday of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, it is inspired by her work in minority, indigenous and immigrant education; multilingualism; linguistic human rights; and global...... language and power issues. Drawn from all parts of the world, the contributors are active in a range of scientific and professional areas including bilingual education; sociolinguistics; the sociology of education, law and language; economics and language; linguistics; sign language; racism; communication......; discourse analysis; language policy; minority issues; and language pedagogy. The book situates issues of minorities and bilingual education in broader perspectives of human rights, power and the ecology of language. It aims at a distillation of themes that are central to an understanding of language rights...

THE BECOMING-OTHER OF LAW: PRELIMINARIES FOR A CITIZEN'S CONCEPTUALIZATION OF LAW

OpenAIRE

Miranda, Ricardo

2017-01-01

Abstract: The author's hypothesis is that modern legal theories view law solely from the standpoint of ruling class or, in Hartian language, from the external point of view. Why? In sume because legal philosophers have implicitly accepted law as the exclusive domain of government and partisan politics. This approach, however, has been disrupted by poststructuralist political developments, which serve as a powerful impetus to modify prevailing concepts. This analysis begins with Benjamín Ardit...

Noninvasive determination of language dominance using functional MRI and near-infrared spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ota, Takahiro; Kamada, Kyousuke; Saito, Nobuhito

2009-01-01

Identification of the language dominant hemisphere is important in cases necessary for partial encephalotomy due to epilepsy and tumor. Functional MRI (fMRI) essentially detects oxy-Hb/deoxy-Hb ratio in the brain region resulted from blood flow change and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), the Hb level change in the tissue, in which the image can be detected by light-receiving proves of NIR-light (780-1500 nm wavelength) irradiated and passed through the tissues. This paper describes the comparison of the two methods for determination of language dominance with reference to that identified by Wada test, a gold standard but inconvenient for both operators and patients. Subjects are 11 brain tumor and 11 epilepsy patients (M 10/F 12, av. age of 36.7 y, 19 right-handed), whose dominances are successfully determined previously by Wada test. fMRI is conducted with 3T machine (General Electric, USA) with phased-array coil in patients receiving various language tasks, and data are processed by Dr. View (Asahi Kasei) to calculate the laterality index for the dominance. NIRS is conducted with Hitachi-Medico ETG-4000 with 695 and 830 nm IR in patients receiving other different language tasks, on whose frontotemporal region of head surface 12-channel probes are equipped. Data are processed by the equipped software to calculate the difference of oxy-Hb change rates between the two hemispheres for the dominance determination. Consistency of fMRI in determining the dominance with Wada test is found 86.3% and of NIRS, 72.7%, which suggests the latter can be only supplementary to the former. However, NIRS is noted to be useful in atypical cases like those with right or bilateral dominance. (K.T.)

A universal model for languages and cities, and their lifetimes

OpenAIRE

Tuncay, Caglar

2007-01-01

Present human languages display slightly asymmetric log-normal (Gauss) distribution for size [1-3], whereas present cities follow power law (Pareto-Zipf law)[4]. Our model considers the competition between languages and that between cities in terms of growing (multiplicative noise process)[5] and fragmentation [6]; where, relevant parameters are (naturally) different for languages and cities. We consider lifetime distribution for old and living languages and that for old and living cities. We...

[Bioethical language in the law and jurisprudence about bioethical problems].

Science.gov (United States)

Corral García, Eduardo

2013-01-01

The impact is analyzed that on the Spanish Law relative to questions bioethics--as the Law on artificial reproduction, the Law of biomedical investigation, and the Law on sexual and reproductive health--can have the conception of human embryo enunciated by the Court of Justice of the European Union in his judgment of October 18, 2011, considering it to be any ovum fertilized with independence of the degree of reached development.

Audience Perception of Hate Speech and Foul Language in the Social Media in Nigeria: Implications for Morality and Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Terfa T. Alakali

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper examined the phenomenon of hate speech and foul language on social media platforms in Nigeria, and assessed their moral and legal consequences in the society and to journalism practice. It used both quantitative and qualitative methodology to investigate the phenomenon. In the first place, the paper employed the survey research methodology to sample 384 respondents using questionnaire and focus group discussion as instruments for data collection. Findings from the research indicate that promoting hate speech and foul language on social media have moral and legal consequences in the society and to journalism practice. Findings also show that although, the respondents understand that hate speech and foul language attract legal consequences, they do not know what obligations are created by law against perpetrators of hate speech and foul language in Nigeria. The paper therefore, adopted the qualitative, doctrinal and analytical methodology to discuss the legal consequences and obligations created against perpetrators of hate speech and foul language in Nigeria. The paper concluded based on the findings that hate speech and foul language is prevalent on social media platforms in Nigeria and that there are adequate legal provisions to curb the phenomenon in Nigeria. It recommends among others things that the Nigerian government and NGOs should sponsor monitoring projects like the UMATI in Kenya to better understand the use of hate speech and that monitoring agencies set up under the legal regime should adopt mechanisms to identify and remove hate speech content on social media platforms in Nigeria.

Unity in Diversity. The Language Policy of the European Union

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the connections between the law and language in the European Union. The paper concerns the language policy of the European Union (EU and English language priority. The EU faces challenges of finding a common ground for respecting the diversity of its members. So many different states are gathered in one organisation which establishes the law for diversified legal orders. The research question is - which language(s is or should be used in the EU? Does English become lingua franca of the EU?

Foreign Languages and Careers

Science.gov (United States)

Honig, Lucille J.; Brod, Richard I.

1974-01-01

Gives employment opportunity information in the following fields where foreign language can be used as an auxiliary skill: 1) Business, Industry, Commerce; 2) Civil Service; 3) Education; 4) Law; 5) Library Science; 6) Media; 7) Science; 8) Service; 9) Social Sciences; 10) Travel, Tourism. The fields of foreign language teaching and interpretation…

Stellar population samples at the galactic poles. III. UBVRI observations of proper motion stars near the south pole and the luminosity laws for the halo and old disk populations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eggen, O.J.

1976-01-01

Some 1200 UBV and 650 R, I observations of 1050 stars, mostly with annual proper motion greater than 0.096'', brighter than visual magnitude 15, and within 10 0 of the south galactic pole, are presented and discussed. The M-type stars (B -- V greater than + 1.15 mag) in the sample are discussed in a current article in The Astrophysical Journal, Part I. The bluer stars indicate that the slopes of the luminosity laws for old disk and halo stars are fairly similar to M/sub v/ near +6 mag, the old-disk-population law has an inflection point near M/sub v/ = +7 mag, the halo-population law may peak near M/sub v/ = +9 mag on a broad plateau that continues to beyond +10 mag and drops to zero near +13 mag, and the upper limit for the mass density of the halo population near the Sun is near 9 x 10 -4 M/sub mass/ pc -3 . Many stars of particular interest in the sample are briefly discussed. These include several possible red subluminous stars, one of which may be a very close solar neighbor; some halo-population giants; and one unique flare star with an amplitude near 0.5 mag in R

THE ELITISM OF LEGAL LANGUAGE AND THE NEED OF SIMPLIFICATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Escandiel de Souza

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents the results of the research project entitled “Simplification of legal language: a study on the view of the academic community of the University of Cruz Alta”. It is a qualitative nature study on simplifying the legal language as a means of democratizing/pluralize access to justice, in the view of scholars and Law Course teachers. There is great difficulty by society in the understanding of legal terms, which hinders access to justice. Similarly, the legal field is not far, of their traditional formalities, which indicates the existence of a parallel where, on one hand, is society, with its problems of understanding, and the other the law, its inherent and intrinsic procedures. However, the company may not have access to the judiciary hampered on account of formalities arising from the law and its flowery language. Preliminary results indicate simplification of legal language as essential to real democratization of access to Law/Justice.

Near-infrared spectroscopic study and the Wada test for presurgical evaluation of expressive and receptive language functions in glioma patients: with a case report of dissociated language functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Sato, Yosuke; Uzuka, Takeo; Aoki, Hiroshi; Natsumeda, Manabu; Oishi, Makoto; Fukuda, Masafumi; Fujii, Yukihiko

2012-02-29

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has proven to be useful for the evaluation of language lateralization in healthy subjects, infants, and epileptic patients. This study for the first time investigated the expressive and receptive language functions separately, using NIRS in presurgical glioma patients. We also describe a special case with dissociated pattern of language functions. Ten glioma patients were examined. Using NIRS, the hemodynamic changes during a verb generation task or story listening task were measured in the cerebral hemisphere on either side covering the language areas. Following the NIRS study, the Wada test was performed in all the patients. The NIRS study revealed increases of oxyhemoglobin and decreases of deoxyhemoglobin in the language areas elicited by both tasks. In 9 patients, who were all right-handed, the expressive and receptive language functions were lateralized to the left hemisphere. The results of the NIRS study were completely consistent with those of the Wada test. In the remaining 1 patient with a right sided insular glioma, who was right-handed, the NIRS study revealed stronger activation of the right inferior frontal region during the verb generation task, and stronger activation of the left superior temporal region during the story listening task. This dissociated language function was validated by the Wada test and the postoperative neurological course. These results demonstrate that a NIRS study using our technique is extremely valuable for preoperative assessment of the language functions and exemplifies how a preoperative NIRS study can allow detection of unforeseen language lateralization. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Legal Language – a Cultural Ambassador. A Language for Various Purposes, not only a Language for Specific Purposes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cancino, Rita

2014-01-01

to another. It means also overcoming the typical blindness to one’s own culture. The Spanish-Danish Legal Language course introduces Danish language students to a new world of cultural knowledge, as they generally have insignificant knowledge of Danish law and the Danish legal system. Furthermore, they have......KONFERENCE SINGAPORE Culture-related competence Courses in comparative Spanish -Danish legal language: A cultural Kinder egg? Learning comparative legal language is not only a question of linguistic competence, but it is also cultural training in which the students achieve culture......-related competences as culture is implicitly embedded in many legal terms in the shape of historical, societal and legal knowledge from two different worlds. Students need to understand these legal terms, fixed expressions, metaphors, collocations, etc. in order to be able to translate from one legal language/culture...

The epochs of international law

CERN Document Server

Grewe, Wilhelm G

2000-01-01

A theoretical overview and detailed analysis of the history of international law from the Middle Ages through to the end of the twentieth century (updated from the 1984 German language edition). Wilhelm Grewe's "Epochen der Völkerrechtsgeschichte" is widely regarded as one of the classic twentieth century works of international law. This revised translation by Michael Byers of Oxford University makes this important book available to non-German readers for the first time. "The Epochs of International Law" provides a theoretical overview and detailed analysis of the history of international law from the Middle Ages, to the Age of Discovery and the Thirty Years War, from Napoleon Bonaparte to the Treaty of Versailles and the Age of the Single Superpower, and does so in a way that reflects Grewe's own experience as one of Germany's leading diplomats and professors of international law. A new chapter, written by Wilhelm Grewe and Michael Byers, updates the book to 1998, making the revised translation of interest ...

Variation of Zipf's exponent in one hundred live languages: A study of the Holy Bible translations

Science.gov (United States)

Mehri, Ali; Jamaati, Maryam

2017-08-01

Zipf's law, as a power-law regularity, confirms long-range correlations between the elements in natural and artificial systems. In this article, this law is evaluated for one hundred live languages. We calculate Zipf's exponent for translations of the holy Bible to several languages, for this purpose. The results show that, the average of Zipf's exponent in studied texts is slightly above unity. All studied languages in some families have Zipf's exponent lower/higher than unity. It seems that geographical distribution impresses the communication between speakers of different languages in a language family, and affect similarity between their Zipf's exponent. The Bible has unique concept regardless of its language, but the discrepancy in grammatical rules and syntactic regularities in applying stop words to make sentences and imply a certain concept, lead to difference in Zipf's exponent for various languages.

Transitions in state public health law: comparative analysis of state public health law reform following the Turning Point Model State Public Health Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Meier, Benjamin Mason; Hodge, James G; Gebbie, Kristine M

2009-03-01

Given the public health importance of law modernization, we undertook a comparative analysis of policy efforts in 4 states (Alaska, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Nebraska) that have considered public health law reform based on the Turning Point Model State Public Health Act. Through national legislative tracking and state case studies, we investigated how the Turning Point Act's model legal language has been considered for incorporation into state law and analyzed key facilitating and inhibiting factors for public health law reform. Our findings provide the practice community with a research base to facilitate further law reform and inform future scholarship on the role of law as a determinant of the public's health.

Why do We Speak of Laws of Nature?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huefner, J.

2010-01-01

The concept of a law of nature has origins which date back several millennia. The idea of a divine law-giver is found in the Mesopotamian, Jewish and Christian religions. Hellenistic scientists did not speak of laws, but used mathematical terms to describe their discoveries. The religious and scientific traditions would not converge, however, until Descartes and Newton laid the foundations of modern science and shaped the modern concept of a law of nature. It seems that during the 20 th century this notion gradually comes out of use at least in the scientific language. (author)

RECEPTION OF SPOKEN ENGLISH. MISHEARINGS IN THE LANGUAGE OF BUSINESS AND LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HOREA Ioana-Claudia

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Spoken English may sometimes cause us to face a peculiar problem in respect of the reception and the decoding of auditive signals, which might lead to mishearings. Risen from erroneous perception, from a lack in understanding the communication and an involuntary mental replacement of a certain element or structure by a more familiar one, these mistakes are most frequently encountered in the case of listening to songs, where the melodic line can facilitate the development of confusion by its somewhat altered intonation, which produces the so called mondegreens. Still, instances can be met in all domains of verbal communication, as proven in several examples noticed during classes of English as a foreign language (EFL taught to non-philological subjects. Production and perceptions of language depend on a series of elements that influence the encoding and the decoding of the message. These filters belong to both psychological and semantic categories which can either interfere with the accuracy of emission and reception. Poor understanding of a notion or concept combined with a more familiar relation with a similarly sounding one will result in unconsciously picking the structure which is better known. This means ‘hearing’ something else than it had been said, something closer to the receiver’s preoccupations and baggage of knowledge than the original structure or word. Some mishearings become particularly relevant as they concern teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP. Such are those encountered during classes of Business English or in English for Law. Though not very likely to occur too often, given an intuitively felt inaccuracy - as the terms are known by the users to need to be more specialised -, such examples are still not ignorable. Thus, we consider they deserve a higher degree of attention, as they might become quite relevant in the global context of an increasing work force migration and a spread of multinational companies.

KEBERADAAN KONSEP RULE BY LAW (NEGARA BERDASARKAN HUKUM DIDALAM TEORI NEGARA HUKUM THE RULE OF LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Made Hendra Wijaya

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This research titled, the existence of the concept of rule by law (state law within thestate theories of law the rule of law, which is where the first problem: How can theadvantages of Rule by Law in the theory of law Rule of Law?, How is the dis advantages of aconcept of Rule by law in the theory of law Rule of Law.This research method using the method of normative, legal research that examines thewritten laws of the various aspects, ie aspects of the theory, history, philosophy, comparative,structure and composition, scope, and content, consistent, overview, and chapter by chapter,formality, and the binding force of a law, and the legal language used, but did not examine orimlementasi applied aspects. By using this approach of Historical analysis and approach oflegal conceptual analysis.In this research have found that the advantages of the concept of Rule by Law lies in theproviding of certainty, can also be social control for the community, thus ensuring all citizensin good order at all reciprocal relationships within the community. And Disadvantages of theconcept of Rule by Law if the Law which legalized state action is not supported by democracyand human rights, and the principles of justice, there will be a denial of human rights,widespread poverty, and racial segregation, and if the law is only utilized out by theauthorities as a means to legalize all forms of actions that violate human can inflicttotalitarian nature of the ruling

Ray Tracing for Dispersive Tsunamis and Source Amplitude Estimation Based on Green's Law: Application to the 2015 Volcanic Tsunami Earthquake Near Torishima, South of Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Sandanbata, Osamu; Watada, Shingo; Satake, Kenji; Fukao, Yoshio; Sugioka, Hiroko; Ito, Aki; Shiobara, Hajime

2018-04-01

Ray tracing, which has been widely used for seismic waves, was also applied to tsunamis to examine the bathymetry effects during propagation, but it was limited to linear shallow-water waves. Green's law, which is based on the conservation of energy flux, has been used to estimate tsunami amplitude on ray paths. In this study, we first propose a new ray tracing method extended to dispersive tsunamis. By using an iterative algorithm to map two-dimensional tsunami velocity fields at different frequencies, ray paths at each frequency can be traced. We then show that Green's law is valid only outside the source region and that extension of Green's law is needed for source amplitude estimation. As an application example, we analyzed tsunami waves generated by an earthquake that occurred at a submarine volcano, Smith Caldera, near Torishima, Japan, in 2015. The ray-tracing results reveal that the ray paths are very dependent on its frequency, particularly at deep oceans. The validity of our frequency-dependent ray tracing is confirmed by the comparison of arrival angles and travel times with those of observed tsunami waveforms at an array of ocean bottom pressure gauges. The tsunami amplitude at the source is nearly twice or more of that just outside the source estimated from the array tsunami data by Green's law.

Spanish as a Second Language when L1 Is Quechua: Endangered Languages and the SLA Researcher

Science.gov (United States)

Kalt, Susan E.

2012-01-01

Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Quechua is the largest indigenous language family to constitute the first language (L1) of second language (L2) Spanish speakers. Despite sheer number of speakers and typologically interesting contrasts, Quechua-Spanish second language acquisition is a nearly untapped research area,…

Peering through the veil: near-infrared photometry and extinction for the Galactic nuclear star cluster. Accurate near infrared H, Ks, and L' photometry and the near-infrared extinction-law toward the central parsec of the Galaxy

Science.gov (United States)

Schödel, R.; Najarro, F.; Muzic, K.; Eckart, A.

2010-02-01

Context. The nuclear star cluster of the Galaxy is an important template for understanding its extragalactic counterparts, which can currently not be resolved into individual stars. Important drawbacks of observations of the Galactic center are, however, the presence of strong and spatially highly variable interstellar extinction and extreme crowding of the sources, which makes the use of adaptive optics techniques necessary. Both points pose serious obstacles to precise photometry that is needed for analyzing the stellar population. Aims: The aims of this work are to provide accurate photometry in multiple near-infrared broadband filters, to determine the power-law index of the extinction-law toward the central parsec of the Galaxy, to provide measurements of the absolute extinction toward the Galactic center, and finally to measure the spatial variability of extinction on arcsecond scales. Methods: We use observations of the central parsec of the Milky Way that were obtained with the near-infrared camera and adaptive optics system NAOS/CONICA at the ESO VLT unit telescope 4. The photometric method takes into account anisoplanatic effects and limits the corresponding systematic uncertainties to ≲2%. Absolute values for the extinction in the H, Ks, and L'-bands as well as of the power-law indices of the H to Ks and Ks to L' extinction-laws are measured based on the well-known properties of red clump stars. Extinction maps are derived based on H-Ks and Ks-L' colors. Results: We present Ks-band photometry for ~7700 stars, and additionally photometry for stars detected in the H and/or L'-bands. From a number of recently published values we compute a mean distance of the Galactic center of R0=8.03±0.15 kpc, which has an uncertainty of just 2%. Based on this R0 and on the RC method, we derive absolute mean extinction values toward the central parsec of the Galaxy of AH=4.48±0.13 mag, AKs=2.54±0.12 mag, and AL'=1.27±0.18 mag. We estimate values of the power-law

LIFTING THE DUSTY VEIL WITH NEAR- AND MID-INFRARED PHOTOMETRY. II. A LARGE-SCALE STUDY OF THE GALACTIC INFRARED EXTINCTION LAW

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zasowski, G.; Majewski, S. R.; Indebetouw, R.

2009-01-01

We combine near-infrared (Two Micron All Sky Survey) and mid-infrared (Spitzer-IRAC) photometry to characterize the IR extinction law (1.2-8 μm) over nearly 150 deg. of contiguous Milky Way midplane longitude. The relative extinctions in five passbands across these wavelength and longitude ranges are derived by calculating color excess ratios for G and K giant red clump stars in contiguous midplane regions and deriving the wavelength dependence of extinction in each one. Strong, monotonic variations in the extinction law shape are found as a function of angle from the Galactic center, symmetric on either side of it. These longitudinal variations persist even when dense interstellar regions, known a priori to have a shallower extinction curve, are removed. The increasingly steep extinction curves toward the outer Galaxy indicate a steady decrease in the absolute-to-selective extinction ratio (R V ) and in the mean dust grain size at greater Galactocentric angles. We note an increasing strength of the 8 μm extinction inflection at high Galactocentric angles and, using theoretical dust models, show that this behavior is consistent with the trend in R V . Along several lines of sight where the solution is most feasible, A λ /A K s as a function of Galactic radius (R GC ) is estimated and shown to have a Galactic radial dependence. Our analyses suggest that the observed relationship between extinction curve shape and Galactic longitude is due to an intrinsic dependence of the extinction law on Galactocentric radius.

Descriptions of Selected Career-Related College Language Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Knodel, Arthur J.; And Others

1977-01-01

Seven courses or programs at different colleges emphasizing specific career applications of languages are described. They include: Technical French; Spanish for Law Enforcement and Correctional Personnel; Executive German; Proyecto Desarrollo Economico; Spanish for Medical Professions; Elements of Foreign Language, and Business French and Business…

Functional MRI in Patients with Intracranial Lesions near Language Areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Hakyemez, B; Erdogan, C; Yildirim, N; Bora, I; Bekar, A; Parlak, M

2006-06-30

We aimed to depict Broca's area and Wernicke's area by word generation and sentence formation paradigms in patients with various intracranial lesions adjacent to language areas using functional MRI technique and to evaluate the ability of functional MRI to lateralize the hemispheric dominance for language. Twenty-three right-handed patients were included in this study. Lesions were classified as low-grade glioma (n=8), high-grade glioma (n=9), metastasis (n=1), meningioma (n=1), arteriovenous malformation (n=2) and mesial temporal sclerosis (n=2). We performed blood-oxygenated-level-dependant functional MRI using a 1.5-T unit. Word generation and sentence formation tasks were used to activate language areas. Language areas were defined as Brodmann 44, 45 (Broca's area) and Brodmann 22 area (Wernicke's area). Laterality index was used to show the dominant hemisphere. Two poorly cooperative patients showed no activation and were excluded from the study. Broca's area was localized in 21 patients (100 %). Wernicke's area, on the other hand, could only be localized in eight of the 21 patients (38 %).The left hemisphere was dominant in 86% of patients while atypical language lateralization (right or bilateral) was demonstrated in 14% of the patients. Bilateral activation areas were shown in 10% of those patients while right cerebral hemisphere was dominant in 4% of the patients. Word generation and sentence formation tasks are especially helpful in localizing Broca's area. Wernicke's area could also be demonstrated in some of the cases. Functional MRI can be used as an important and useful means of demonstrating language areas in patients with lesions adjacent to those areas and depicting the hemispheric dominance.

Water, law, science

Science.gov (United States)

Narasimhan, T. N.

2008-01-01

SummaryIn a world with water resources severely impacted by technology, science must actively contribute to water law. To this end, this paper is an earth scientist's attempt to comprehend essential elements of water law, and to examine their connections to science. Science and law share a common logical framework of starting with a priori prescribed tenets, and drawing consistent inferences. In science, observationally established physical laws constitute the tenets, while in law, they stem from social values. The foundations of modern water law in Europe and the New World were formulated nearly two thousand years ago by Roman jurists who were inspired by Greek philosophy of reason. Recognizing that vital natural elements such as water, air, and the sea were governed by immutable natural laws, they reasoned that these elements belonged to all humans, and therefore cannot be owned as private property. Legally, such public property was to be governed by jus gentium, the law of all people or the law of all nations. In contrast, jus civile or civil law governed private property. Remarkably, jus gentium continues to be relevant in our contemporary society in which science plays a pivotal role in exploiting vital resources common to all. This paper examines the historical roots of modern water law, follows their evolution through the centuries, and examines how the spirit of science inherent in jus gentium is profoundly influencing evolving water and environmental laws in Europe, the United States and elsewhere. In a technological world, scientific knowledge has to lie at the core of water law. Yet, science cannot formulate law. It is hoped that a philosophical understanding of the relationships between science and law will contribute to their constructively coming together in the service of society.

Eurochemic and the law of the host country

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Busekist, O. von

1984-01-01

The problematics of the convention on the constitution of Eurochemic and the statute of the Company, the commercial law, the fiscal regime, the language problem as well as the labour relations are discussed. (AF)

Water, law, science

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Narasimhan, T.N.

2007-10-17

In a world with water resources severely impacted bytechnology, science must actively contribute to water law. To this end,this paper is an earth scientist s attempt to comprehend essentialelements of water law, and to examine their connections to science.Science and law share a common logical framework of starting with apriori prescribed tenets, and drawing consistent inferences. In science,observationally established physical laws constitute the tenets, while inlaw, they stem from social values. The foundations of modern water law inEurope and the New World were formulated nearly two thousand years ago byRoman jurists who were inspired by Greek philosophy of reason.Recognizing that vital natural elements such as water, air, and the seawere governed by immutable natural laws, they reasoned that theseelements belonged to all humans, and therefore cannot be owned as privateproperty. Legally, such public property was to be governed by jusgentium, the law of all people or the law of all nations. In contrast,jus civile or civil law governed private property. Remarkably, jusgentium continues to be relevant in our contemporary society in whichscience plays a pivotal role in exploiting vital resources common to all.This paper examines the historical roots of modern water law, followstheir evolution through the centuries, and examines how the spirit ofscience inherent in jus gentium is profoundly influencing evolving waterand environmental laws in Europe, the United States and elsewhere. In atechnological world, scientific knowledge has to lie at the core of waterlaw. Yet, science cannot formulate law. It is hoped that a philosophicalunderstanding of the relationships between science and law willcontribute to their constructively coming together in the service ofsociety.

Contracting for Computer Software in Standardized Computer Languages

OpenAIRE

Brannigan, Vincent M.; Dayhoff, Ruth E.

1982-01-01

The interaction between standardized computer languages and contracts for programs which use these languages is important to the buyer or seller of software. The rationale for standardization, the problems in standardizing computer languages, and the difficulties of determining whether the product conforms to the standard are issues which must be understood. The contract law processes of delivery, acceptance testing, acceptance, rejection, and revocation of acceptance are applicable to the co...

English Law Terms: Optimizing Education Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra G. Anisimova

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article focuses on the terminology of English law as a system. It deals with the main specific characteristics of the English legal terminology and studies the systemic nature of the terminology of Criminal Law. Nowadays, an increasing role of the study of professional language (Language for Specific Purposes is obvious since it is a means of dissemination and exchange of professional information and a means of communication in the professional discourse. It is a system of terms that constitutes the core of the Language for Specific Purposes. The study of terminology is of paramount importance for the legal sphere of human activity where the accuracy of interpretation plays a very substantial part. Legal terms have a number of specific characteristics, such as: abstract nature of legal notions; introduction of new terms by regulatory organizations; an important role of judicial interpretation in constituting shades of meaning of a legal terminological unit; and the fact that a legal term may belong to a particular area of Law, which makes it possible to refer it to the category of general legal, branch-wise, or inter-branch vocabulary. Every term has its particular place among other elements of a system and is related to them in a particular way. A terminological system should be considered as a whole, and there are particular hierarchical relations between its elements. Within a terminological system, it is possible to seta hierarchy of generic and specific terms that can form the so-called semantic field. One of the features demonstrating the systemic links within a terminology is the existence of some typical structural models, according to which terms are coined. An important criterion is the predominance ofterminological word-combinations of a certain type. For example, in the terminology of Criminal Law the models Noun + Preposition + Noun and Adjective + Noun are the most common structural models. Another important criterion of a

Linguistic Policies, Linguistic Planning, and Brazilian Sign Language in Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

de Quadros, Ronice Muller

2012-01-01

This article explains the consolidation of Brazilian Sign Language in Brazil through a linguistic plan that arose from the Brazilian Sign Language Federal Law 10.436 of April 2002 and the subsequent Federal Decree 5695 of December 2005. Two concrete facts that emerged from this existing language plan are discussed: the implementation of bilingual…

Energy law '90

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-01-01

The International Bar Association's Section on Energy and Natural Resources Law selected eight key topics for discussion at their ninth seminar in the Netherlands in 1990. Only two papers specifically related to nuclear power and these were within the topic of environmental issues facing the energy industries. Both papers dealt with the legal aspects of nuclear plants sited near national borders and covered international law and the need for standardized regulations and agreements on issues such as environmental impacts, safety, radiological protection, public information and emergency plans in case of accidents. (UK)

A weak zero-one law for sequences of random distance graphs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhukovskii, Maksim E [M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Moscow (Russian Federation)

2012-07-31

We study zero-one laws for properties of random distance graphs. Properties written in a first-order language are considered. For p(N) such that pN{sup {alpha}}{yields}{infinity} as N{yields}{infinity}, and (1-p)N{sup {alpha}} {yields} {infinity} as N {yields} {infinity} for any {alpha}>0, we succeed in refuting the law. In this connection, we consider a weak zero-one j-law. For this law, we obtain results for random distance graphs which are similar to the assertions concerning the classical zero-one law for random graphs. Bibliography: 18 titles.

Contracting for Computer Software in Standardized Computer Languages

Science.gov (United States)

Brannigan, Vincent M.; Dayhoff, Ruth E.

1982-01-01

The interaction between standardized computer languages and contracts for programs which use these languages is important to the buyer or seller of software. The rationale for standardization, the problems in standardizing computer languages, and the difficulties of determining whether the product conforms to the standard are issues which must be understood. The contract law processes of delivery, acceptance testing, acceptance, rejection, and revocation of acceptance are applicable to the contracting process for standard language software. Appropriate contract language is suggested for requiring strict compliance with a standard, and an overview of remedies is given for failure to comply.

Linguistic Pluralism or Prescriptivism? A CDA of Language Ideologies in "Talento," Peru's Official Textbook for the First-Year of High School

Science.gov (United States)

de los Heros, Susana

2009-01-01

Educational Reforms in Peru indicate a shift toward a more tolerant view of language diversity. For instance, the Education Law #28044 (Ministry of Education, 2005) establishes the teaching of respect for indigenous languages and language diversity as a main goal in the area of language. This law is important, but it does not imply a real…

Competing Desires and Realities: Language Policies in the French-Language Classroom

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Giovanangeli

2009-03-01

Full Text Available French language policy has historically centred on ways French can be considered a dominant and influential language. It has done this since the Middle Ages, by allowing the French language to serve as a political tool. On an international level, language was a way of subjugating conquered peoples (former colonies. It promoted France’s international status (by the 18th century French was the diplomatic language of Europe. On a national level, the French language was one of the ways governments were able to centralise political power (suppression of regional languages. One of the ways French language authorities have promoted the use of language has been through education policies and the way language is taught in schools. For example, the French language was imposed on the colonised territories of France through teaching in missionary schools. Within France, stringent laws were adopted, in particular during the nineteenth century, allowing the French language to replace local languages in schools. In France today, language policies continue to exist and to have an influence on the way we view language and society. One of the main priorities of French language policy is to protect the status of the national language in particular with respect to the increasing use of English as a global dominant language in areas such as science, technology, tourism, entertainment and the media (Nunan: 2007, 178. Consequently, France has adopted policies to respond to this linguistic climate. This has implications on the way the French language is taught both within France as well as outside of France. This paper will examine some of the policies and agencies created over recent years that affect the French language. It will also identify some of the consequences these policies have on the teaching of language. Finally it will argue that a space has been created within the language classroom that attempts to find a compromise between the language policies of

Clausius’ Disgregation: A Conceptual Relic that Sheds Light on the Second Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilio Marco Pellegrino

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The present work analyzes the cognitive process that led Clausius towards the translation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics into mathematical expressions. We show that Clausius’ original formal expression of the Second Law was achieved by making extensive use of the concept of disgregation, a quantity which has subsequently disappeared from the thermodynamic language. Our analysis demonstrates that disgregation stands as a crucial logical step of such process and sheds light on the comprehension of such fundamental relation. The introduction of entropy—which occurred three years after the first formalization of the Second Law—was aimed at making the Second Law exploitable in practical contexts. The reasons for the disappearance of disgregation, as well as of other “pre-modern” quantities, from the thermodynamics language are discussed.

Law and language in a multilingual society | Harms | Potchefstroom ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 15, No 2 (2012) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Natural language modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sharp, J.K. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

1997-11-01

This seminar describes a process and methodology that uses structured natural language to enable the construction of precise information requirements directly from users, experts, and managers. The main focus of this natural language approach is to create the precise information requirements and to do it in such a way that the business and technical experts are fully accountable for the results. These requirements can then be implemented using appropriate tools and technology. This requirement set is also a universal learning tool because it has all of the knowledge that is needed to understand a particular process (e.g., expense vouchers, project management, budget reviews, tax, laws, machine function).

Indigenous Language in the Preservation

African Journals Online (AJOL)

his strange home but this was impacted through language and communication from ... maintain intact for future use and to keep things as it is in its original state. .... law and order, truth, trustworthiness and a whole number of them have been ...

Applications of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in Studying Cognitive Development: The Case of Mathematics and Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Soltanlou, Mojtaba; Sitnikova, Maria A; Nuerk, Hans-Christoph; Dresler, Thomas

2018-01-01

In this review, we aim to highlight the application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a useful neuroimaging technique for the investigation of cognitive development. We focus on brain activation changes during the development of mathematics and language skills in schoolchildren. We discuss how technical limitations of common neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have resulted in our limited understanding of neural changes during development, while fNIRS would be a suitable and child-friendly method to examine cognitive development. Moreover, this technique enables us to go to schools to collect large samples of data from children in ecologically valid settings. Furthermore, we report findings of fNIRS studies in the fields of mathematics and language, followed by a discussion of the outlook of fNIRS in these fields. We suggest fNIRS as an additional technique to track brain activation changes in the field of educational neuroscience.

Nearly Cyclic Pursuit and its Hierarchical variant for Multi-agent Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iqbal, Muhammad; Leth, John-Josef; Ngo, Trung Dung

2015-01-01

The rendezvous problem for multiple agents under nearly cyclic pursuit and hierarchical nearly cyclic pursuit is discussed in this paper. The control law designed under nearly cyclic pursuit strategy enables the agents to converge at a point dictated by a beacon. A hierarchical version of the nea......The rendezvous problem for multiple agents under nearly cyclic pursuit and hierarchical nearly cyclic pursuit is discussed in this paper. The control law designed under nearly cyclic pursuit strategy enables the agents to converge at a point dictated by a beacon. A hierarchical version...

Language Officialization in Puerto Rico: Group-Making Discourses of Protectionism and Receptivity

Science.gov (United States)

Shenk, Elaine

2011-01-01

This article applies social constructionism and groupism theory to discourses on language officialization in Puerto Rico. It examines three argumentative texts presented prior to the passage of Law #4 in 1991 making Spanish the sole official language of the island. Grounded critical discourse theory maintains that language form and content are…

Notions and Concepts in Family Law. Discrepancy Between Polish Family Law and Social Reality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bagan-Kurluta Katarzyna

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Modern times are an arena for two opposing trends: the liberalization of mores and laws, and the distancing of changes and adoption of a conservative position against those that occur. Polish family law clearly fails to keep pace with the changes taking place and does not perceive new phenomena. Is this an intentional act of the legislator leading to the preservation of traditional values, or the expression of disapproval and belief in the transitoriness of new phenomena? It comes together with the introduction of new terminology or new interpretations of already existing concepts. Hence the meaning of some of the current concepts in everyday language differs significantly from their meaning arising from legal instruments. The article is an attempt to deal with this problem.

Multi-language naming game

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Jianfeng; Lou, Yang; Chen, Guanrong; Tang, Wallace K. S.

2018-04-01

Naming game is a simulation-based experiment used to study the evolution of languages. The conventional naming game focuses on a single language. In this paper, a novel naming game model named multi-language naming game (MLNG) is proposed, where the agents are different-language speakers who cannot communicate with each other without a translator (interpreter) in between. The MLNG model is general, capable of managing k different languages with k ≥ 2. For illustration, the paper only discusses the MLNG with two different languages, and studies five representative network topologies, namely random-graph, WS small-world, NW small-world, scale-free, and random-triangle topologies. Simulation and analysis results both show that: 1) using the network features and based on the proportion of translators the probability of establishing a conversation between two or three agents can be theoretically estimated; 2) the relationship between the convergence speed and the proportion of translators has a power-law-like relation; 3) different agents require different memory sizes, thus a local memory allocation rule is recommended for saving memory resources. The new model and new findings should be useful for further studies of naming games and for better understanding of languages evolution from a dynamical network perspective.

AUSTRALIA AND CATALONIA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PROTECTION OF MINORITY LANGUAGES FROM A LEGAL STANDPOINT. EDUCATION IN THE MOTHER TONGUE. IS THE LANGUAGE A FACTOR OF INTEGRATION OR A BARRIER?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessia Vacca

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This article is a comparative study of the education system in minority languages between Catalonia and Australia from a legal standpoint. Catalonia has a complex legislation: National Constitution, Statute of Autonomy, Regional Laws, a strong legal framework, a language always alive as a political instrument to get the power. Australia has not a legal framework in this area and has a confused planning system. In Europe, the Council of Europe has been in charge of the protection of human rights. Australia signed and ratified some International Conventions which are not a strong legal basis to claim an education system in aborigines’ languages. The Catalan Law on Linguistic Normalization n. 7 of 1983, replaced by the Law on Linguistic Policy n. 1 of 1998, has, among the other purposes, also that to stimulate the use of Catalan as language of education in all levels of teaching. The school has a fundamental importance for the transmission of the culture of minorities. If the educational systems didn’t have any regime of teaching in the mother tongue all policies are not efficient.

Near-threshold infrared photodetachment of Al-: A determination of the electron affinity of aluminum and the range of validity of the Wigner law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calabrese, D.; Covington, A.M.; Thompson, J.S.; Marawar, R.W.; Farley, J.W.

1996-01-01

The relative photodetachment cross section of Al - has been measured in the wavelength range 2420 endash 2820 nm (0.440 endash 0.512 eV), using a coaxial ion-laser beams apparatus, in which a 2.98-keV Al - beam is merged with a beam from an F-center laser. The cross-section data near the 3 P 0,1,2 → 2 P 1/2,3/2 photodetachment threshold have been fitted to the Wigner threshold law and to the zero-core-contribution theory of photodetachment. The electron affinity of aluminum was determined to be 0.44094(+0.00066/-0.00048) eV, after correcting the experimental threshold for unresolved fine structure in the ground states of Al - and Al. The new measurement is in agreement with the best previous measurement (0.441±0.010 eV) and is 20 times more precise. The Wigner law agrees with experiment within a few percent for photon energies within 3% of threshold. A proposed leading correction to the Wigner law is discussed. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

A brief review on the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) for language imaging studies in human newborns and adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Quaresima, Valentina; Bisconti, Silvia; Ferrari, Marco

2012-05-01

Upon stimulation, real time maps of cortical hemodynamic responses can be obtained by non-invasive functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) which measures changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin after positioning multiple sources and detectors over the human scalp. The current commercially available transportable fNIRS systems have a time resolution of 1-10 Hz, a depth sensitivity of about 1.5 cm, and a spatial resolution of about 1cm. The goal of this brief review is to report infants, children and adults fNIRS language studies. Since 1998, 60 studies have been published on cortical activation in the brain's classic language areas in children/adults as well as newborns using fNIRS instrumentations of different complexity. In addition, the basic principles of fNIRS including features, strengths, advantages, and limitations are summarized in terms that can be understood even by non specialists. Future prospects of fNIRS in the field of language processing imaging are highlighted. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spreading law of non-Newtonian power-law liquids on a spherical substrate by an energy-balance approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Iwamatsu, Masao

2017-07-01

The spreading of a cap-shaped spherical droplet of non-Newtonian power-law liquids, both shear-thickening and shear-thinning liquids, that completely wet a spherical substrate is theoretically investigated in the capillary-controlled spreading regime. The crater-shaped droplet model with the wedge-shaped meniscus near the three-phase contact line is used to calculate the viscous dissipation near the contact line. Then the energy balance approach is adopted to derive the equation that governs the evolution of the contact line. The time evolution of the dynamic contact angle θ of a droplet obeys a power law θ∼t^{-α} with the spreading exponent α, which is different from Tanner's law for Newtonian liquids and those for non-Newtonian liquids on a flat substrate. Furthermore, the line-tension dominated spreading, which could be realized on a spherical substrate for late-stage of spreading when the contact angle becomes low and the curvature of the contact line becomes large, is also investigated.

Participation of Second Language and Second Dialect Speakers in the Legal System.

Science.gov (United States)

Eades, Diana

2003-01-01

Overviews current theory and practice and research on second language and second dialect speakers and the language of the law. Suggests most of the studies on the topic have analyzed language in courtrooms, where access to data is much easier than in other legal settings, such as police interviews, mediation sessions, or lawyer-client interviews.…

Students' Perspective on the First Programming Language: C-Like or Pascal-Like Languages?

Science.gov (United States)

Xinogalos, Stelios; Pitner, Tomáš; Ivanovic, Mirjana; Savic, Miloš

2018-01-01

The choice of the first programming language (FPL) has been a controversial issue for several decades. Nearly everyone agrees that the FPL is important and affects students' subsequent education on programming. The study presented in this article investigates the suitability of various C-like and Pascal-like programming languages as a FPL.…

"Actions for Slander"-Defamation in English Law, Language, and History

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, W. R.

1971-01-01

A survey of the various meanings and interpretations of defamation in medieval and early modern English law-ecclesiastical, royal, Roman, municipal and manorial-which includes many of the defamatory words and phrases. (AF)

English Language Learners: Development and Intervention--An Introduction

Science.gov (United States)

McCardle, Peggy; Leung, Christy Y.Y.

2006-01-01

Nearly one in five Americans speaks a language other than English at home; among Americans speaking languages other than English, the largest single language group is Spanish speaking (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2004). The increase in the total group of language minority individuals has been dramatic, with their proportion in the U.S. population…

Annual meeting on nuclear technology '88. Technical session on focal points of the atomic energy law and the radiation protection law in 1988

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1988-06-01

This issue of Annual Meeting on Nuclear Technology reports presents the papers of the technical session on 'Focal points of the atomic energy law and the radiation protection law in 1988'. The titles are: Is there a binding link between decisions of the atomic energy authority and criminal law? Conclusions to be drawn from the Alkem case court decision. - Recent developments in atomic energy law. - Current radiation protection law. - Codetermination at plant level in a nuclear installation. - The legal position of foreigners from neigbour countries in the field of atomic energy law. The licensing of nuclear installations near the border. (RST) [de

The word “No”. Color, absence and law in Kaddish for an unborn child, by Imre Kertész

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Felipe Navarro Martínez

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the novel by Imre Kertész Kaddish for an unborn child, focusing on the relations between memory, absence and law. Some of the perspectives that the Theories of the Color of Newton and Goethe offer to trace symmetries with a possible Human Rights Color Theory and define, within this theory, white as a color associated with absence, mourning, the impossibility of the emergence of law, a color that is neither illuminated nor transformable in others. The Holocaust is associated with absolute black – not illuminated by law –, which produces the impossibility of memory, the denial of the continuation of the personal stories. The eventual new legal compact that is built after the Holocaust should offer an additional clause: the need to continue with the Law as if. The continuity in the Law now requires including the obligation not to forget the consequences and to contemplate the language of the stories and of the Law itself as an expelled language, which even served to generate a perverted justifiable discourse, and which we can now see as an exiled language which supports the burden of memory and those who can never have a voice.

ELSIE: The Quick Reaction Spoken Language Translation (QRSLT)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Montgomery, Christine

2000-01-01

The objective of this effort was to develop a prototype, hand-held or body-mounted spoken language translator to assist military and law enforcement personnel in interacting with non-English-speaking people...

An Application for Descriptive Nearness: Iris Recognition

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Polat Kadirhan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Near Set Theory has various applications in the literature. In this paper, using the concept descriptive nearness, we show how to perform iris recognition. This process has a few algorithms given via Mathematica Script Language.

Mathematics and the laws of nature

CERN Document Server

Tabak, John

2004-01-01

Examining the pioneering ideas, works, and applications that have made math the language of science, Mathematics and the Laws of Nature looks at the many ways in which so-called ''''pure'''' math has been used in the applied sciences. For example, the volume explores how mathematical theories contributed to the development of Kepler''s laws of planetary motion, as well as to that of combustion modeling and hydrodynamics. Offering many examples showing how nature can be described mathematically and how the physical sciences and math are connected, this attention-holding and easy-to-understand volume gives students an insight into the ways that math is used to explain the world around them.

Power-law-lapse time gauges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jantzen, R.T.

1988-01-01

The choice of time function for cosmological solutions of gravitational field equations is related to the action of the group of independent scale transformations of the unit of length along orthogonal spatial directions. This is accomplished by the introduction of lapse functions which depend explicitly on the spatial metric in an appropriately defined power-law fashion. The resulting power-law-lapse time gauges are the key to producing nearly all exact solutions of the class of models for which the field equations reduce to ordinary differential equations

Conjuring the universe the origins of the laws of nature

CERN Document Server

Atkins, Peter

2018-01-01

The marvellous complexity of the Universe emerges from several deep laws and a handful of fundamental constants that fix its shape, scale, and destiny. There is a deep structure to the world which at the same time is simple, elegant, and beautiful. Where did these laws and these constants come from? And why are the laws so fruitful when written in the language of mathematics? Peter Atkins considers the minimum effort needed to equip the Universe with its laws and its constants. He explores the origin of the conservation of energy, of electromagnetism, of classical and quantum mechanics, and of thermodynamics, showing how all these laws spring from deep symmetries. The revolutionary result is a short but immensely rich weaving together of the fundamental ideas of physics. With his characteristic wit, erudition, and economy, Atkins sketches out how the laws of Nature can spring from very little. Or arguably from nothing at all.

EU Law Autonomy Versus European Fundamental Rights Protection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Storgaard, Louise Halleskov

2015-01-01

In the recently issued Opinion 2/13, the EU Court of Justice ruled that EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights on the basis of the current Draft Accession Agreement would be incompatible with the EU Treaties. This article examines the impact of Opinion 2/13 on European fundamental...... rights protection. It argues that the concerns for EU law autonomy expressed in the Opinion for the most part are unwarranted and that the Court, through the use of classic constitutionalist language, seeks to position EU law as the superior European fundamental rights regime. The article furthermore...

Cyberbullying and the Law: Implications for Professional School Counselor

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford, Sherrionda; Doss, Kanessa Miller; Babel, Korrinne H.; Bush, Holly

2017-01-01

Cyberbullying or the use of technology to intimidate, harass, or bully has become increasingly problematic. School Counselors are in a unique position to provide prevention and intervention services concerning acts of cyberbullying, however varying state laws and confusing legal language has created ambiguity regarding the "reach" and…

Freedom in the free world: the extimate becomes the law

OpenAIRE

Aristodemou, Maria

2016-01-01

My article takes Robert Burt's piece as a starting point to highlight how a lacanian analysis of law differs from the one Robert Burt (rightly) rejected and from the alternative psychotherapeutic scenario Burt develops. I focus on what I consider to be the novel characteristics of a lacanian analysis, particularly its insistence on the castration of the human subject by language, a castration that problematizes our understanding of “freedom” and “free speech”, and, in turn, on Law's own castr...

European Criminal Law a! er the Lisbon Treaty, or Europeanization of European law, under the co-responsibility of the Member States

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Arif Riza

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Same as EU Law, that presents a new area of law and that it is still in progress, the EU Criminal Law is developing. The development of EU criminal law, of course, is dictated by the development of European Law itself, or the EU itself. Depending on it, the EU will be a supranational structure, or will undergo changes and become a Federal State, or another unified form. Taking into consideration the importance of this area of law, which is created for cooperation among states to combat organized crime, and especially terrorism, we can have a Criminal Code European and a European code of Criminal Procedure certainly in the near future, namely, a codification of European criminal field. This paper aims to discuss the development of European criminal law, until the Treaty of Lisbon.

Weber's law, the magnitude effect and discrimination of sugar concentrations in nectar-feeding animals.

Science.gov (United States)

Nachev, Vladislav; Stich, Kai Petra; Winter, York

2013-01-01

Weber's law quantifies the perception of difference between stimuli. For instance, it can explain why we are less likely to detect the removal of three nuts from a bowl if the bowl is full than if it is nearly empty. This is an example of the magnitude effect - the phenomenon that the subjective perception of a linear difference between a pair of stimuli progressively diminishes when the average magnitude of the stimuli increases. Although discrimination performances of both human and animal subjects in various sensory modalities exhibit the magnitude effect, results sometimes systematically deviate from the quantitative predictions based on Weber's law. An attempt to reformulate the law to better fit data from acoustic discrimination tasks has been dubbed the "near-miss to Weber's law". Here, we tested the gustatory discrimination performance of nectar-feeding bats (Glossophaga soricina), in order to investigate whether the original version of Weber's law accurately predicts choice behavior in a two-alternative forced choice task. As expected, bats either preferred the sweeter of the two options or showed no preference. In 4 out of 6 bats the near-miss to Weber's law provided a better fit and Weber's law underestimated the magnitude effect. In order to test the generality of this observation in nectar-feeders, we reviewed previously published data on bats, hummingbirds, honeybees, and bumblebees. In all groups of animals the near-miss to Weber's law provided better fits than Weber's law. Furthermore, whereas the magnitude effect was stronger than predicted by Weber's law in vertebrates, it was weaker than predicted in insects. Thus nectar-feeding vertebrates and insects seem to differ in how their choice behavior changes as sugar concentration is increased. We discuss the ecological and evolutionary implications of the observed patterns of sugar concentration discrimination.

Weber's law, the magnitude effect and discrimination of sugar concentrations in nectar-feeding animals.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladislav Nachev

Full Text Available Weber's law quantifies the perception of difference between stimuli. For instance, it can explain why we are less likely to detect the removal of three nuts from a bowl if the bowl is full than if it is nearly empty. This is an example of the magnitude effect - the phenomenon that the subjective perception of a linear difference between a pair of stimuli progressively diminishes when the average magnitude of the stimuli increases. Although discrimination performances of both human and animal subjects in various sensory modalities exhibit the magnitude effect, results sometimes systematically deviate from the quantitative predictions based on Weber's law. An attempt to reformulate the law to better fit data from acoustic discrimination tasks has been dubbed the "near-miss to Weber's law". Here, we tested the gustatory discrimination performance of nectar-feeding bats (Glossophaga soricina, in order to investigate whether the original version of Weber's law accurately predicts choice behavior in a two-alternative forced choice task. As expected, bats either preferred the sweeter of the two options or showed no preference. In 4 out of 6 bats the near-miss to Weber's law provided a better fit and Weber's law underestimated the magnitude effect. In order to test the generality of this observation in nectar-feeders, we reviewed previously published data on bats, hummingbirds, honeybees, and bumblebees. In all groups of animals the near-miss to Weber's law provided better fits than Weber's law. Furthermore, whereas the magnitude effect was stronger than predicted by Weber's law in vertebrates, it was weaker than predicted in insects. Thus nectar-feeding vertebrates and insects seem to differ in how their choice behavior changes as sugar concentration is increased. We discuss the ecological and evolutionary implications of the observed patterns of sugar concentration discrimination.

The Use of Official Languages Act : Diversity Affirmed? | Pretorius ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad ... The Act represents a very limited normative appreciation of this constitutional ... the use of official languages not being reserved for the legislative process, but ...

Criminal law aspects of assisted human reproduction in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samardžić Stefan

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Numerous shortcomings of the Law on Infertility Treatment by Biomedically Assisted Fertilization culminate in provisions defining criminal offences. A question is raised regarding the possibility and results of the application of such criminal provisions due to the legislative technique used in the process of their creation, language, qualified forms of the offences, span of criminal sanctions, as well as having in mind the overlapping of such criminal offences with some of the misdemeanors punishable by the same Law. A possibility to provide for a criminal law protection in this highly sensitive area is put into question due to a very courageous action of the legislator reflected in the attempt to introduce criminal offences, punishable by long prison sentences.

Power-law relaxation in human violent conflicts

Science.gov (United States)

Picoli, Sergio; Antonio, Fernando J.; Itami, Andreia S.; Mendes, Renio S.

2017-08-01

We study relaxation patterns of violent conflicts after bursts of activity. Data were obtained from available catalogs on the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. We find several examples in each catalog for which the observed relaxation curves can be well described by an asymptotic power-law decay (the analog of the Omori's law in geophysics). The power-law exponents are robust, nearly independent of the conflict. We also discuss the exogenous or endogenous nature of the shocks. Our results suggest that violent conflicts share with earthquakes and other natural and social phenomena a common feature in the dynamics of aftershocks.

SCIENTIFIC PARADIGM SHIFT AS THE BACKGROUND OF LANGUAGE EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. D. Tabanakova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Recently, there has been a cardinal restructuring of university preparation. Linguistic education takes up nearly the last position in the new model of the higher school dictated by economic interests. Investments in linguistic projects are considered as unprofitable today. The linguistic component in educational programs of a bachelor degree is reduced to a minimum, and focused on language knowledge promoting as communication technologies.The aim of the work purposes to trace how the scientific and the linguistic paradigm shift have an impact on the domestic linguistic education system, and to show the unrealized potential capacity of linguistic knowledge.Methodology and research methods. The methodology of the offered research is based, on the one hand, upon the domestic periodical press review on the linguistic education problems for the last 15 years, on the other – on the philosophical analysis of science historical forms which change has caused the past, the present and the future of linguistics and linguistic education. The inductive methods to integrate different approaches are also used.Theoretical significance. The author emphasizes the need to consider the problems of higher education in philosophical aspect, through the interaction of a scientific and educational paradigm.Results and scientific novelty. At a time of global changes in domestic higher education the linguistic education is considered to be a display of the convergence process of natural sciences, technology and humanities. The philosophical study of the scientific paradigms – classical, non-classical and post-non-classical has revealed the regularities of the linguistic scientific paradigms – structural, communicative and cognitive. Each of the paradigms was traced in the frame of linguistic education functions alternation and constantly changing academic programs.A new take on the U-turn of a centrifugal vector in science has obviously demonstrated

Predictors of Language Service Availability in U.S. Hospitals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melody K. Schiaffino

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Background Hispanics comprise 17% of the total U.S. population, surpassing African-Americans as the largest minority group. Linguistically, almost 60 million people speak a language other than English. This language diversity can create barriers and additional burden and risk when seeking health services. Patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP for example, have been shown to experience a disproportionate risk of poor health outcomes, making the provision of Language Services (LS in healthcare facilities critical. Research on the determinants of LS adoption has focused more on overall cultural competence and internal managerial decision-making than on measuring LS adoption as a process outcome influenced by contextual or external factors. The current investigation examines the relationship between state policy, service area factors, and hospital characteristics on hospital LS adoption. Methods We employ a cross-sectional analysis of survey data from a national sample of hospitals in the American Hospital Association (AHA database for 2011 (N= 4876 to analyze hospital characteristics and outcomes, augmented with additional population data from the American Community Survey (ACS to estimate language diversity in the hospital service area. Additional data from the National Health Law Program (NHeLP facilitated the state level Medicaid reimbursement factor. Results Only 64%of hospitals offered LS. Hospitals that adopted LS were more likely to be not-for-profit, in areas with higher than average language diversity, larger, and urban. Hospitals in above average language diverse counties had more than 2-fold greater odds of adopting LS than less language diverse areas [Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR: 2.26, P< 0.01]. Further, hospitals with a strategic orientation toward diversity had nearly 2-fold greater odds of adopting LS (AOR: 1.90, P< 0.001. Conclusion Our findings support the importance of structural and contextual factors as they relate to

Translingualism and Second Language Acquisition: Language Ideologies of Gaelic Medium Education Teachers in a Linguistically Liminal Setting

Science.gov (United States)

Knipe, John

2017-01-01

Scottish Gaelic, among the nearly 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, is endangered. In the 1980s the Gaelic Medium Education (GME) movement emerged with an emphasis on teaching students all subjects via this ancient tongue with the hope of revitalizing the language. Concomitantly, many linguists have called for problematizing traditional…

Gelada vocal sequences follow Menzerath’s linguistic law

Science.gov (United States)

Gustison, Morgan L.; Semple, Stuart; Ferrer-i-Cancho, Ramon; Bergman, Thore J.

2016-01-01

Identifying universal principles underpinning diverse natural systems is a key goal of the life sciences. A powerful approach in addressing this goal has been to test whether patterns consistent with linguistic laws are found in nonhuman animals. Menzerath’s law is a linguistic law that states that, the larger the construct, the smaller the size of its constituents. Here, to our knowledge, we present the first evidence that Menzerath’s law holds in the vocal communication of a nonhuman species. We show that, in vocal sequences of wild male geladas (Theropithecus gelada), construct size (sequence size in number of calls) is negatively correlated with constituent size (duration of calls). Call duration does not vary significantly with position in the sequence, but call sequence composition does change with sequence size and most call types are abbreviated in larger sequences. We also find that intercall intervals follow the same relationship with sequence size as do calls. Finally, we provide formal mathematical support for the idea that Menzerath’s law reflects compression—the principle of minimizing the expected length of a code. Our findings suggest that a common principle underpins human and gelada vocal communication, highlighting the value of exploring the applicability of linguistic laws in vocal systems outside the realm of language. PMID:27091968

Radiation Entropy and Near-Field Thermophotovoltaics

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhuomin M.

2008-08-01

Radiation entropy was key to the original derivation of Planck's law of blackbody radiation, in 1900. This discovery opened the door to quantum mechanical theory and Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Thermal radiation plays an important role in incandescent lamps, solar energy utilization, temperature measurements, materials processing, remote sensing for astronomy and space exploration, combustion and furnace design, food processing, cryogenic engineering, as well as numerous agricultural, health, and military applications. While Planck's law has been fruitfully applied to a large number of engineering problems for over 100 years, questions have been raised about its limitation in micro/nano systems, especially at subwavelength distances or in the near field. When two objects are located closer than the characteristic wavelength, wave interference and photon tunneling occurs that can result in significant enhancement of the radiative transfer. Recent studies have shown that the near-field effects can realize emerging technologies, such as superlens, sub-wavelength light source, polariton-assisted nanolithography, thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems, scanning tunneling thermal microscopy, etc. The concept of entropy has also been applied to explain laser cooling of solids as well as the second law efficiency of devices that utilize thermal radiation to produce electricity. However, little is known as regards the nature of entropy in near-field radiation. Some history and recent advances are reviewed in this presentation with a call for research of radiation entropy in the near field, due to the important applications in the optimization of thermophotovoltaic converters and in the design of practical systems that can harvest photon energies efficiently.

Leibniz, Lefebvre and the spatial turn in law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isolde de Villiers

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This contribution takes as its point of departure the spatial turn in law and the notion of spatial justice. It traces the term ‘spatial justice’ as introduced through the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act and it looks at the underlying view of space that has influenced the spatial turn in law. It furthermore investigates the ways in which the spatial turn in law has been influenced by the thinking of Henri Lefebvre, who relies on a Leibnizian conception of space. Lastly the link between Leibniz and legal positivism is considered in order to reach the final conclusion in the form of a caution against merely adding the language of spatial justice to an approach to space that remains caught up in abstract space. This will only further entrench existing fault lines in society. For this conclusion the work of Roger Berkowitz is central. Berkowitz argues convincingly that the work of Leibniz was central in the development of legal positivism, despite Leibniz in general being considered as a natural law thinker. The same applies to spatial justice theory, where the work of Leibniz is central: it may present the possibilities of another law – the law as it ought to be. The law conceptualised as ‘ought’ instead of ‘is’ would promote reconciliation. Alternatively, spatial justice can simply present the law as it ‘is’ and reconfirm and deepen the chasms in our world.

The molecular concept of law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hendrik Gommer

2011-04-01

Full Text Available In his famous work The Concept of Law Hart asked himself the question 'what is law?' Hart makes a very strict distinction between rules and morals: morals are rooted in biology, rules source back to society. Hart's sociological truisms have proven to be untrue, because modern evolutionary biology is not about the survival of the individual (or even of a species but about the spreading of genes. This knowledge changes the fundamentals of Hart's theory and therefore his theory as a whole. In addition, my theory captures vital insights of Dworkin, legal realism, Posner and CLS, while at the same time forming a significant improvement upon them.In essence, the biological theory of law presented in this article is based on fractal patterns. Macroscale patterns recur in microscale patterns. The spreading of genes depends on important characteristics of genes: they are stable, they replicate, they need nutrients to replicate and they can cooperate. Superficially, genes, cells, organisms and groups may seem to act purposefully, but it is merely a pattern, with genes as generators, that brings structure to chaos. Human desires are in fact the needs of their genes. Thanks to language, morals can be put in words and become rules. To keep everyone working together, we need an ingenious device - like the law - to maintain that complex situations can continue to be judged on the basis of the simple principle of stability and reciprocity. To a degree, therefore, law itself can be derived from unconscious emotions and morals.

Which Second Language Learning Theories Underlie Language Courses Offered by Slovene Private Language Schools

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Marša Meznarič

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with language courses offered by private language schools in Slovenia. It examines who the people in charge of the language schools are, what criteria new teachers have to meet to become an employee of a school, whether the methodology applied (if any has been carefully chosen, what the teaching techniques are and who chooses them. Second language method discoveries have been subjected to perennial criticism and scepticism over the last half of century. Teachers around the globe have been confused by the constant shifts in the popularity of different methods. The article examines the con sequences of the abovementioned circumstances. The 15 interviews conducted with private language schools’ managers have generated valuable information on the level of professionalism in this area of business. The results have shown that most of the randomly chosen schools are managed by language professionals or by economists who employ a linguist for controlling the teaching and learning processes and that the majority of schools does adopt a particular approach or method of teaching. Teacher trainees receive a lot of support and guidance prior to teaching in a school. In most cases, teachers are free to choose techniques of teaching according to their preferences, providing the techniques are not in conflict with the general schools’ principles. The criteria for employment vary considerably. Nearly all managers would employ a professional language teacher with experience only, but others demand that the teacher be a native speaker regardless of his/her education. Several stress the importance of personal characteristics and would consider employing only lighthearted and energetic teachers. Teachers’ work and students’ progress are often evaluated.

Can mathematics explain the evolution of human language?

Science.gov (United States)

Witzany, Guenther

2011-09-01

Investigation into the sequence structure of the genetic code by means of an informatic approach is a real success story. The features of human language are also the object of investigation within the realm of formal language theories. They focus on the common rules of a universal grammar that lies behind all languages and determine generation of syntactic structures. This universal grammar is a depiction of material reality, i.e., the hidden logical order of things and its relations determined by natural laws. Therefore mathematics is viewed not only as an appropriate tool to investigate human language and genetic code structures through computer science-based formal language theory but is itself a depiction of material reality. This confusion between language as a scientific tool to describe observations/experiences within cognitive constructed models and formal language as a direct depiction of material reality occurs not only in current approaches but was the central focus of the philosophy of science debate in the twentieth century, with rather unexpected results. This article recalls these results and their implications for more recent mathematical approaches that also attempt to explain the evolution of human language.

New laws on population urged.

Science.gov (United States)

1976-12-03

A workshop on ''Population and the Law'' sponsored by the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines and the International Planned Parenthood Federation recommended the following changes in Philippine law to implement family planning: legalization of abortion for women whose life or health are endangered by pregnancy and those who become pregnant despite contraceptives; delaying age of marriage to 18; extension of family planning incentives and maternity leave to women in government service; allow trained nurses and midwives to dispense contractives; legalize sterilization; include sterilization in medicare benefits; specify by law which contraceptive drugs may be dispensed by nonphysicians and nonpharmacists in rural areas; legalize premarital family planning counseling; declare family planning materials tax exempt; encourage reluctant doctors to practice sterilization through professional regulatory agencies; extend industrial family planning services to women living near the plant; launch massive information drives to advise young people of the hazards of premarital sex; strict enforcement of abortion laws in areas where illegal abortion still exists; grant women equal rights in area of consent for sterilization; and eliminate the stigma of illegitimacy for those born out of wedlock.

Conceptualisation of rights and meta-rule of law for the web of data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pompeu Casanovas

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This article deals with some regulatory and legal problems of the Web of Data. Data and metadata are defined. Digital Rights Management (DRM and Rights Expression Languages (REL are introduced. Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL, Licensed Linked Data Resources (LLDR and Creative Commons Licenses are referred. The development of REL by means of Ontology Design Patterns such as LLDR, or Open Licenses sustained by Policy Models such as ODRL, situates the discussion on metadata at the regulatory level. With the development of the Web of Data the Rule of Law needs to evolve to a Meta-Rule of Law, incorporating tools to regulate and monitor the semantic layer of the Web. This means reflecting on the construction of a new public dimension space for the exercise of rights.

Predicting and understanding law-making with word vectors and an ensemble model.

Science.gov (United States)

Nay, John J

2017-01-01

Out of nearly 70,000 bills introduced in the U.S. Congress from 2001 to 2015, only 2,513 were enacted. We developed a machine learning approach to forecasting the probability that any bill will become law. Starting in 2001 with the 107th Congress, we trained models on data from previous Congresses, predicted all bills in the current Congress, and repeated until the 113th Congress served as the test. For prediction we scored each sentence of a bill with a language model that embeds legislative vocabulary into a high-dimensional, semantic-laden vector space. This language representation enables our investigation into which words increase the probability of enactment for any topic. To test the relative importance of text and context, we compared the text model to a context-only model that uses variables such as whether the bill's sponsor is in the majority party. To test the effect of changes to bills after their introduction on our ability to predict their final outcome, we compared using the bill text and meta-data available at the time of introduction with using the most recent data. At the time of introduction context-only predictions outperform text-only, and with the newest data text-only outperforms context-only. Combining text and context always performs best. We conducted a global sensitivity analysis on the combined model to determine important variables predicting enactment.

The origin of the Vogel-Fulcher law near the liquid-glass transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kitamura, T.

1999-01-01

Taking into account the scattering processes due to random eigenfrequencies and random hopping matrices, we calculate the correlation functions of density fluctuations associated with the particle-hole pairs in the intraband and interband. The correlation functions for the intraband yield sound velocity (proportional to the mean atomic velocity) and diffusion (equal to the relaxation time of atoms multiplied by square of the sound velocity). Those for the interband yield phonons and viscosity (equal to the Maxwell relaxation time multiplied by square of the phonon velocity). The relaxation times and the transport coefficients are governed by the Vogel-Fulcher law through the hopping matrices. Phonons exist in both phases, but sound disappears below the freezing point. The Stokes' law between diffusion and viscosity holds at higher temperatures, but breaks at lower temperatures. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

Autistic symptomatology and language ability in autism spectrum disorder and specific language impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Loucas, Tom; Charman, Tony; Pickles, Andrew; Simonoff, Emily; Chandler, Susie; Meldrum, David; Baird, Gillian

2008-11-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI) are common developmental disorders characterised by deficits in language and communication. The nature of the relationship between them continues to be a matter of debate. This study investigates whether the co-occurrence of ASD and language impairment is associated with differences in severity or pattern of autistic symptomatology or language profile. Participants (N = 97) were drawn from a total population cohort of 56,946 screened as part of study to ascertain the prevalence of ASD, aged 9 to 14 years. All children received an ICD-10 clinical diagnosis of ASD or No ASD. Children with nonverbal IQ > or =80 were divided into those with a language impairment (language score of 77 or less) and those without, creating three groups: children with ASD and a language impairment (ALI; N = 41), those with ASD and but no language impairment (ANL; N = 31) and those with language impairment but no ASD (SLI; N = 25). Children with ALI did not show more current autistic symptoms than those with ANL. Children with SLI were well below the threshold for ASD. Their social adaptation was higher than the ASD groups, but still nearly 2 SD below average. In ALI the combination of ASD and language impairment was associated with weaker functional communication and more severe receptive language difficulties than those found in SLI. Receptive and expressive language were equally impaired in ALI, whereas in SLI receptive language was stronger than expressive. Co-occurrence of ASD and language impairment is not associated with increased current autistic symptomatology but appears to be associated with greater impairment in receptive language and functional communication.

The criminal law as an instrument under environmental law in the Netherlands. A survey of the basic legal principles and instruments and their application. Das niederlaendische Umweltstrafrecht. Eine Untersuchung zu den dogmatischen Grundlagen und zur praktischen Anwendung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Waling, C.

1991-01-01

This book is published in the German language in order to give non-Dutch speaking readers access to and insight into the criminal law applicable in the Netherlands for enforcement of the environmental law. This very comprehensive study discusses the substantive criminal environmental law, its enforcement in practice, and the international criminal law of the Netherlands. Emphasis is placed on the critical evaluation and comparison of the law and day-to-day practice, with this part of the study including a comparison with the situation in the Federal Republic of Germany. The authoress presents recommendations for improving the efficiency of the criminal law system available in the Netherlands for environmental matters. (orig./HP).

How age of bilingual exposure can change the neural systems for language in the developing brain: a functional near infrared spectroscopy investigation of syntactic processing in monolingual and bilingual children.

Science.gov (United States)

Jasinska, K K; Petitto, L A

2013-10-01

Is the developing bilingual brain fundamentally similar to the monolingual brain (e.g., neural resources supporting language and cognition)? Or, does early-life bilingual language experience change the brain? If so, how does age of first bilingual exposure impact neural activation for language? We compared how typically-developing bilingual and monolingual children (ages 7-10) and adults recruit brain areas during sentence processing using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging. Bilingual participants included early-exposed (bilingual exposure from birth) and later-exposed individuals (bilingual exposure between ages 4-6). Both bilingual children and adults showed greater neural activation in left-hemisphere classic language areas, and additionally, right-hemisphere homologues (Right Superior Temporal Gyrus, Right Inferior Frontal Gyrus). However, important differences were observed between early-exposed and later-exposed bilinguals in their earliest-exposed language. Early bilingual exposure imparts fundamental changes to classic language areas instead of alterations to brain regions governing higher cognitive executive functions. However, age of first bilingual exposure does matter. Later-exposed bilinguals showed greater recruitment of the prefrontal cortex relative to early-exposed bilinguals and monolinguals. The findings provide fascinating insight into the neural resources that facilitate bilingual language use and are discussed in terms of how early-life language experiences can modify the neural systems underlying human language processing. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

30 Allomorphs in the Igbo Language: An Optimality Theory ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Tracie1

Allomorphs are any two or more morphemes that have different forms but perform the same ... as law of vowel harmony which says that in the word formation, all the vowels in .... optimality theory following the phonological rule of the language.

Moral Consideration Regarding the Arizona Tax Credit Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anthony G. Rud

2000-08-01

Full Text Available I begin by commenting on the language used, both by the Arizona tax credit law, and by our commentators, and then turn to a discussion of a factor I believe fuels the impetus for sectarian education. I end with a consideration of questions related to the social, cognitive, and moral costs of such privatization, in contrast to a democratic commitment to education.

Doctoral Degrees Granted in Foreign Languages in the United States: 1993.

Science.gov (United States)

Benseler, David P.; Lannoch, Martha Calvert

1994-01-01

Findings are reported from the annual survey of doctoral degrees granted in foreign languages, literatures, cultures, linguistics, and foreign language education in the following categories: African, Asian, French, Germanic, Italian, Near and Middle Eastern, Slavic, and Spanish languages/literatures; classics; comparative literature; theoretical…

Power-law scaling of extreme dynamics near higher-order exceptional points

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Q.; Christodoulides, D. N.; Khajavikhan, M.; Makris, K. G.; El-Ganainy, R.

2018-02-01

We investigate the extreme dynamics of non-Hermitian systems near higher-order exceptional points in photonic networks constructed using the bosonic algebra method. We show that strong power oscillations for certain initial conditions can occur as a result of the peculiar eigenspace geometry and its dimensionality collapse near these singularities. By using complementary numerical and analytical approaches, we show that, in the parity-time (PT ) phase near exceptional points, the logarithm of the maximum optical power amplification scales linearly with the order of the exceptional point. We focus in our discussion on photonic systems, but we note that our results apply to other physical systems as well.

Notes about the «Wackernagel’s Law of lengthening»

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José A. Berenguer-Sánchez

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Against the traditional explanation of the initial vowel’s lengthening in second member of compound, the so called «Wackernagel’s Law of lengthening», it is possible a different proposal, already suggested in some places to try to explain the law. According to this analysis, a process of elision or glide formation and compensatory lengthening, instead of, or alongside, the primitive vowel contraction and subsequent analogical extension of its result proposed by Wackernagel should be recognized. This process of vowel hiatus resolution has parallels in other languages, and allows a more suitable study of the available examples.

Vietnamese Language Education in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Anh

2008-01-01

Vietnamese, like other immigrant languages, experiences decline in various forms from the time that its speakers first arrive in the US, a process that gathers pace in the second generation, and often leads to a near-complete loss of the language in the third generation. The article deals with the ways in which Vietnamese-Americans have attempted…

Behaviour of turbulence models near a turbulent/non-turbulent interface revisited

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferrey, P.; Aupoix, B.

2006-01-01

The behaviour of turbulence models near a turbulent/non-turbulent interface is investigated. The analysis holds as well for two-equation as for Reynolds stress turbulence models using Daly and Harlow diffusion model. The behaviour near the interface is shown not to be a power law, as usually considered, but a more complex parametric solution. Why previous works seemed to numerically confirm the power law solution is explained. Constraints for turbulence modelling, i.e., for ensuring that models have a good behaviour near a turbulent/non-turbulent interface so that the solution is not sensitive to small turbulence levels imposed in the irrotational flow, are drawn

New Area Law in General Relativity.

Science.gov (United States)

Bousso, Raphael; Engelhardt, Netta

2015-08-21

We report a new area law in general relativity. A future holographic screen is a hypersurface foliated by marginally trapped surfaces. We show that their area increases monotonically along the foliation. Future holographic screens can easily be found in collapsing stars and near a big crunch. Past holographic screens exist in any expanding universe and obey a similar theorem, yielding the first rigorous area law in big bang cosmology. Unlike event horizons, these objects can be identified at finite time and without reference to an asymptotic boundary. The Bousso bound is not used, but it naturally suggests a thermodynamic interpretation of our result.

EM NOME DA LEI: DIREITO, ESCRITURA E DESCONSTRUÇÃO IN THE NAME OF THE LAW: LAW, WRITING AND DECONSTRUCTIONES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DANIEL GOMES MACHADO

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Resumo: Na medida em que se impõe ao pensamento, a desconstrução pode ser vista como uma lei, a Lei mesma. A desconstrução do direito implica em situá-lo no contexto da escritura, para enxergar sua submissão à différance, ao jogo de remetimentos da linguagem. A lei da desconstrução atua na desconstrução da lei, revelando aporias e fragilidades da ordem jurídica, bem como dos conceitos tradicionais de direito natural e direitos humanos. A desconstrução do direito faz emergir a justiça como indecidibilidade, o dever de decidir pelo justo, mesmo quando não se pode afirmar pela presença da justiça. Direito, escritura e desconstrução convergem, enfim, na noção de uma hospitalidade sem restrições.Abstract: Since it is imposed to thinking, deconstruction can be seen as a law, the Law itself. Deconstruction of law is to put it in the context of writing, to notice its submission to the différance, to the play in the language. The law of deconstruction acts in the deconstruction of law, revealing paradoxes and fragilities of juridical order, as well as concepts of natural law and human rights. Finally, deconstruction of law brings with it justice as undecidability, such as the obligation to make fair decisions, even when it is not possible to state the presence of justice. Law, writing and deconstruction converge then to justice, understood as the hospitality.

Language dominance shapes non-linguistic rhythmic grouping in bilinguals.

Science.gov (United States)

Molnar, Monika; Carreiras, Manuel; Gervain, Judit

2016-07-01

To what degree non-linguistic auditory rhythm perception is governed by universal biases (e.g., Iambic-Trochaic Law; Hayes, 1995) or shaped by native language experience is debated. It has been proposed that rhythmic regularities in spoken language, such as phrasal prosody affect the grouping abilities of monolinguals (e.g., Iversen, Patel, & Ohgushi, 2008). Here, we assessed the non-linguistic tone grouping biases of Spanish monolinguals, and three groups of Basque-Spanish bilinguals with different levels of Basque experience. It is usually assumed in the literature that Basque and Spanish have different phrasal prosodies and even linguistic rhythms. To confirm this, first, we quantified Basque and Spanish phrasal prosody (Experiment 1a) and duration patterns used in the classification of languages into rhythm classes (Experiment 1b). The acoustic measurements revealed that regularities in phrasal prosody systematically differ across Basque and Spanish; by contrast, the rhythms of the two languages are only minimally dissimilar. In Experiment 2, participants' non-linguistic rhythm preferences were assessed in response to non-linguistic tones alternating in either intensity (Intensity condition) or in duration (Duration condition). In the Intensity condition, all groups showed a trochaic grouping bias, as predicted by the Iambic-Trochaic Law. In the Duration Condition the Spanish monolingual and the most Basque-dominant bilingual group exhibited opposite grouping preferences in line with the phrasal prosodies of their native/dominant languages, trochaic in Basque, iambic in Spanish. The two other bilingual groups showed no significant biases, however. Overall, results indicate that duration-based grouping mechanisms are biased toward the phrasal prosody of the native and dominant language; also, the presence of an L2 in the environment interacts with the auditory biases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Intermittency and scaling laws for wall bounded turbulence

OpenAIRE

Benzi, R.; Amati, G.; Casciola, C. M.; Toschi, F.; Piva, R.

1998-01-01

Well defined scaling laws clearly appear in wall bounded turbulence, even very close to the wall, where a distinct violation of the refined Kolmogorov similarity hypothesis (RKSH) occurs together with the simultaneous persistence of scaling laws. A new form of RKSH for the wall region is here proposed in terms of the structure functions of order two which, in physical terms, confirms the prevailing role of the momentum transfer towards the wall in the near wall dynamics.

Medical marijuana laws, traffic fatalities, and alcohol consumption

OpenAIRE

Anderson, D. Mark; Rees, Daniel I.

2011-01-01

To date, 16 states have passed medical marijuana laws, yet very little is known about their effects. Using state-level data, we examine the relationship between medical marijuana laws and a variety of outcomes. Legalization of medical marijuana is associated with increased use of marijuana among adults, but not among minors. In addition, legalization is associated with a nearly 9 percent decrease in traffic fatalities, most likely to due to its impact on alcohol consumption. Our estimates pro...

Simultaneous invention and the patent law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Howells, John

inventions they often find this to challenge the idea that patent law (which rewards only the first inventor with exclusive rights) is needed to encourage invention and innovation. We review the empirical evidence alleged to show that simultaneous invention is prevalent for important inventions. In general...... is typical of important pioneer inventions in both survey evidence and alleged illustrative cases of simultaneous invention. We show this in the cases of Edison, the Wright brothers, the Selden automobile patent vis a vis Ford, Watt and the steam engine. We then point out that patent law inherently ensures...... that patent protection is not extended to near simultaneous inventions. There remain a number of simultaneous inventions discovered through interference proceedings but we find the number too small to mount a serious challenge to the general operation of patent law....

A baseline understanding of state laws governing e-cigarettes.

Science.gov (United States)

Gourdet, C K; Chriqui, J F; Chaloupka, F J

2014-07-01

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been available for purchase in the USA since 2007, and have grown rapidly in popularity. Currently, there are no federal restrictions on e-cigarettes; therefore, any regulations are under the purview of state and/or local governments. This study examines state laws governing e-cigarettes through youth access restrictions, smoke-free air requirements and/or excise taxation. Codified statutory and administrative laws, attorney general opinions, executive orders, and revenue notices and rulings effective as of 15 November 2013 for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, were compiled using Boolean searches in Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw. All laws were analysed by two study authors to determine the presence and components of relevant provisions. Two categories of laws were identified; (1) explicit e-cigarette laws and (2) laws focused on tobacco-derived and/or nicotine-containing products. Thirty-four states' laws address e-cigarettes either explicitly or as part of language applying to tobacco-derived or nicotine-containing products. Laws explicitly addressing e-cigarettes primarily focus on youth access (22 states) or smoke-free air (12 states); only Minnesota imposes an excise tax on e-cigarettes. Similarly, tobacco-derived or nicotine-containing products are primarily regulated through youth access restrictions (6 states), smoke-free air laws (5 states), or excise taxation (2 states). In the current absence of federal law governing e-cigarettes, more than one-half of the states have taken the initiative to regulate these products. The opportunity exists for the remaining states to incorporate e-cigarette-related restrictions into their pre-existing tobacco control laws. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Negation in Near-Native French: Variation and Sociolinguistic Competence

Science.gov (United States)

Donaldson, Bryan

2017-01-01

This study investigated how adult second language (L2) speakers of French with near-native proficiency realize verbal negation, a well-known sociolinguistic variable in contemporary spoken French. Data included 10 spontaneous informal conversations between near-native speakers of French and native speakers (NSs) closely acquainted with them.…

Law in Transition Biblioessay: Globalization, Human Rights, Environment, Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Marien

2012-04-01

Full Text Available As globalization continues, many transformations in international and domestic laws areunderway or called for. There are too many laws and too few, too much law that is inadequateor obsolete, and too much law-breaking. This biblioessay covers some 100 recentbooks, nearly all recently published, arranged in four categories. 1 International Lawincludes six overviews/textbooks on comparative law, laws related to warfare and security,pushback against demands of globalization, and gender perspectives; 2 Human Rightsencompasses general overviews and normative visions, several books on how some statesviolate human rights, five items on how good laws can end poverty and promote prosperity,and laws regulating working conditions and health rights; 3 Environment/Resources coversgrowth of international environmental law, visions of law for a better environmental future,laws to govern genetic resources and increasingly stressed water resources, two books onprospects for climate change liability, and items on toxic hazards and problems of compliance;4 Technology, Etc. identifies eight books on global crime and the failed war on drugs,books on the response to terrorism and guarding privacy and mobility in our high-tech age,seven books on how infotech is changing law and legal processes while raising intellectualproperty questions, biomedical technologies and the law, and general views on the need forupdated laws and constitutions. In sum, this essay suggests the need for deeper and timelyanalysis of the many books on changes in law.

DAISY, the best way to author sign language publications

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Olivrin, G

2009-09-01

Full Text Available /detail.shtml?i=41 Eberius, Wolfram (2008): Multimodale Erwiterung Und Distribution Von Digital Talking Books. Germany: Technische universität Dresden. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (2008): Laws of the Game 2008/2009. Switzerland: FIFA... are further discussed that will influence the design of future DAISY standards. 2.1 Creation of Sign Language Content To create a full-text/full-audio and full-text/full-video DAISY test-book, the original content of “Laws of the Game 2008/2009” (FIFA...

Language and Communication-Related Problems of Aviation Safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Cushing, Steven

A study of the problems posed by the use of natural language in various aspects of aviation is presented. The study, part of a larger investigation of the feasibility of voice input/output interfaces for communication in aviation, looks at representative real examples of accidents and near misses resulting from language confusions and omissions.…

Modular rate laws for enzymatic reactions: thermodynamics, elasticities and implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Liebermeister, Wolfram; Uhlendorf, Jannis; Klipp, Edda

2010-06-15

Standard rate laws are a key requisite for systematically turning metabolic networks into kinetic models. They should provide simple, general and biochemically plausible formulae for reaction velocities and reaction elasticities. At the same time, they need to respect thermodynamic relations between the kinetic constants and the metabolic fluxes and concentrations. We present a family of reversible rate laws for reactions with arbitrary stoichiometries and various types of regulation, including mass-action, Michaelis-Menten and uni-uni reversible Hill kinetics as special cases. With a thermodynamically safe parameterization of these rate laws, parameter sets obtained by model fitting, sampling or optimization are guaranteed to lead to consistent chemical equilibrium states. A reformulation using saturation values yields simple formulae for rates and elasticities, which can be easily adjusted to the given stationary flux distributions. Furthermore, this formulation highlights the role of chemical potential differences as thermodynamic driving forces. We compare the modular rate laws to the thermodynamic-kinetic modelling formalism and discuss a simplified rate law in which the reaction rate directly depends on the reaction affinity. For automatic handling of modular rate laws, we propose a standard syntax and semantic annotations for the Systems Biology Markup Language. An online tool for inserting the rate laws into SBML models is freely available at www.semanticsbml.org. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Positron annihilation near fractal surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lung, C.W.; Deng, K.M.; Xiong, L.Y.

1991-07-01

A model for positron annihilation in the sub-surface region near a fractal surface is proposed. It is found that the power law relationship between the mean positron implantation depth and incident positron energy can be used to measure the fractal dimension of the fractal surface in materials. (author). 10 refs, 2 figs

Language choice, language alternation and code-switching in the Mercator-Hondius Atlas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksi Mäkilähde

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The atlas of Gerardus Mercator (Gerard de Cremer, or the Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura, is one of first modern atlases and one of the most famous of those compiled in the Netherlands. The first (unfinished edition was published in 1595, but the copperplates were later acquired by Jodocus Hondius (Joost de Hondt and his business associates. The revised Mercator-Hondius Atlas was published for the first time in 1606 with added maps and texts. The texts printed on verso of the maps were written by Petrus Montanus (Pieter van den Berg, who was a brother-in-law of Hondius and a Latin teacher. Many subsequent editions of the atlas were produced in the years that followed. The first editions were in Latin, but versions in European vernaculars such as French, German and Italian were produced later as well. The present article focuses on the multilingual nature of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas (1613, editio quarta by discussing language choice, language alternation and code-switching patterns in different parts of the atlas. The dominant language of the descriptive texts is Latin, but there are also switches into many other languages, including Greek (written in Greek script and several vernaculars. Furthermore, the map pages tend to indicate the names of different types of area (e.g. cities, seas, and oceans in different languages. The aim of the present article is to provide a preliminary exploration of the possibilities of approaching the atlas with the aid of concepts and ideas derived from modern code-switching studies. I demonstrate how these concepts can be used to describe the language choice patterns in the text and discuss some of the challenges the data poses for a linguistic approach.

Predictors of Language Gains Among School-Age Children With Language Impairment in the Public Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Justice, Laura M; Jiang, Hui; Logan, Jessica A; Schmitt, Mary Beth

2017-06-10

This study aimed to identify child-level characteristics that predict gains in language skills for children with language impairment who were receiving therapy within the public schools. The therapy provided represented business-as-usual speech/language treatment provided by speech-language pathologists in the public schools. The sample included 272 kindergartners and first-graders with language impairment who participated in a larger study titled "Speech-Therapy Experiences in the Public Schools." Multilevel regression analyses were applied to examine the extent to which select child-level characteristics, including age, nonverbal cognition, memory, phonological awareness, vocabulary, behavior problems, and self-regulation, predicted children's language gains over an academic year. Pratt indices were computed to establish the relative importance of the predictors of interest. Phonological awareness and vocabulary skill related to greater gains in language skills, and together they accounted for nearly 70% of the explained variance, or 10% of total variance at child level. Externalizing behavior, nonverbal cognition, and age were also potentially important predictors of language gains. This study significantly advances our understanding of the characteristics of children that may contribute to their language gains while receiving therapy in the public schools. Researchers can explore how these characteristics may serve to moderate treatment outcomes, whereas clinicians can assess how these characteristics may factor into understanding treatment responses.

Second Law, Landauer's Principle and Autonomous Information ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

law dates back to nearly 150 years, when Maxwell proposed his famous thought ... ure 1), the demon allows it pass to the right side by opening the door, while the demon closes ..... stored in a piece of paper or a hard-disk, etc. Landauer shed ...

Asymptotic behaviour near extinction of continuous-state branching processes

OpenAIRE

Berzunza, Gabriel; Pardo, Juan Carlos

2016-01-01

In this note, we study the asymptotic behaviour near extinction of (sub-) critical continuous state branching processes. In particular, we establish an analogue of Khintchin's law of the iterated logarithm near extinction time for a continuous state branching process whose branching mechanism satisfies a given condition and its reflected process at its infimum.

A Pattern Language for the Evolution of Component-based Software Architectures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahmad, Aakash; Jamshidi, Pooyan; Pahl, Claus

2013-01-01

Modern software systems are prone to a continuous evolution under frequently varying requirements. Architecture-centric software evolution enables change in system’s structure and behavior while maintaining a global view of the software to address evolution-centric tradeoffs. Lehman’s law...... evolution problems. We propose that architectural evolution process requires an explicit evolution-centric knowledge – that can be discovered, shared, and reused – to anticipate and guide change management. Therefore, we present a pattern language as a collection of interconnected change patterns......) as a complementary and integrated phase to facilitate reuse-driven architecture change execution (pattern language application). Reuse-knowledge in the proposed pattern language is expressed as a formalised collection of interconnected-patterns. Individual patterns in the language build on each other to facilitate...

Struggling Authorial Identity of Second Language University Academic Writers in Mexico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Troy Crawford

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the different factors that appear to affect the on-going construction of second language authorial identity in a professional academic environment in Mexico. Through narrative research methodology from a qualitative paradigm, the everyday struggles of two university professors to maintain their professional status in second language writing are explored. The areas of study for these two are chemistry and penal law. With data the learning processes of entering into a community of second language writers are studied as well as the problems they faced and how they resolved them. Finally, the process of negotiating an authorial identity in a second language seems to be a constant underlying struggle composed of a variety of psychological factors.

Nuclear Energy Law and Arbo Law/Safety Law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eijnde, J.G. van den

1986-01-01

The legal aspects of radiation protection in the Netherlands are described. Radiation protection is regulated mainly in the Nuclear Energy Law. The Arbo Law also has some sections about radiation protection. The interaction between both laws is discussed. (Auth.)

Philippine and North Bornean Languages: Issues in Description, Subgrouping, and Reconstruction

Science.gov (United States)

Lobel, Jason William

2013-01-01

The Philippines, northern Sulawesi, and northern Borneo are home to two or three hundred languages that can be described as Philippine-type. In spite of nearly five hundred years of language documentation in the Philippines, and at least a century of work in Borneo and Sulawesi, the majority of these languages remain grossly underdocumented, and…

The Art of Perception: Museums Breaking Ground in Law Enforcement Training

Science.gov (United States)

Herman, Amy E.

2011-01-01

The Art of Perception is a professional development program that uses the analysis of works of art to help participants re-examine their responsibilities in various agencies of law enforcement, refresh their sense of inquiry, and reinvigorate the language they use to communicate on the job. "The Art of Perception: Museums Breaking Ground in Law…

Comment on the modified Beer-Lambert law for scattering media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sassaroli, Angelo; Fantini, Sergio

2004-01-01

We present a concise overview of the modified Beer-Lambert law, which has been extensively used in the literature of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) of scattering media. In particular, we discuss one form of the modified Beer-Lambert law that is commonly found in the literature and that is not strictly correct. However, this incorrect form of the modified Beer-Lambert law still leads to the correct expression for the changes in the continuous wave optical signal associated with changes in the absorption coefficient of the investigated medium. Here we propose a notation for the modified Beer-Lambert law that keeps the typical form commonly found in the literature without introducing any incorrect assumptions. (note)

Comment on the modified Beer-Lambert law for scattering media.

Science.gov (United States)

Sassaroli, Angelo; Fantini, Sergio

2004-07-21

We present a concise overview of the modified Beer-Lambert law, which has been extensively used in the literature of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) of scattering media. In particular, we discuss one form of the modified Beer-Lambert law that is commonly found in the literature and that is not strictly correct. However, this incorrect form of the modified Beer-Lambert law still leads to the correct expression for the changes in the continuous wave optical signal associated with changes in the absorption coefficient of the investigated medium. Here we propose a notation for the modified Beer-Lambert law that keeps the typical form commonly found in the literature without introducing any incorrect assumptions.

Genetic Algorithm Optimizes Q-LAW Control Parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seungwon; von Allmen, Paul; Petropoulos, Anastassios; Terrile, Richard

2008-01-01

A document discusses a multi-objective, genetic algorithm designed to optimize Lyapunov feedback control law (Q-law) parameters in order to efficiently find Pareto-optimal solutions for low-thrust trajectories for electronic propulsion systems. These would be propellant-optimal solutions for a given flight time, or flight time optimal solutions for a given propellant requirement. The approximate solutions are used as good initial solutions for high-fidelity optimization tools. When the good initial solutions are used, the high-fidelity optimization tools quickly converge to a locally optimal solution near the initial solution. Q-law control parameters are represented as real-valued genes in the genetic algorithm. The performances of the Q-law control parameters are evaluated in the multi-objective space (flight time vs. propellant mass) and sorted by the non-dominated sorting method that assigns a better fitness value to the solutions that are dominated by a fewer number of other solutions. With the ranking result, the genetic algorithm encourages the solutions with higher fitness values to participate in the reproduction process, improving the solutions in the evolution process. The population of solutions converges to the Pareto front that is permitted within the Q-law control parameter space.

[Again on language of biology].

Science.gov (United States)

Morchio, di Renzo

2004-01-01

Some time ago I proposed in an Editorial in this journal some considerations on the language of biology. I concluded that, to realize an autonomy of such a language (and therefore of biology), we have to develop a valid language for biology. In such a context, it seemed to me that the term "metaphors" referred to the concepts concerning the information carried by genetic code, was a reasonable one. However, Barbieri's article in this issue of Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum calls for a reply. Of course, we do not know very much in this field, even if we have some evidence that a sequence of bases on a DNA is not determined only by chance. In any case we can exclude that nature in this occasion has "invented" a code. Nature doesn't "invent" anything: it only follows its rules, that we name "laws of nature". Barbieri quotes the Morse code, but forgets to say that such a code is "conventional" in the sense that it is valid only because it is the result of an "agreement" between Morse and the users of that code. There is nothing more unnatural than a "code": with whom nature should actually have to "reach an agreement"? As a matter of fact, we interpret as "information" what happens by law of nature. Also Barbieri's thesis that genes and proteins are molecular artifacts, assembled by external agents, whereas generally molecules are determined by their bonds, i.e. by internal factors, is a disputable one. It is examined how much an external structure plays a role in ordinary chemical reactions. The "information" of physics is not a semantic information. For such information we can refer to history of literature, telegraphic offices, genetics or biochemistry.

The generalized Ohm's law in collisionless magnetic reconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai, H.J.; Lee, L.C.

1997-01-01

The generalized Ohm close-quote s law and the force balance near neutral lines in collisionless magnetic reconnection is studied based on two-dimensional full particle simulations in which the ion endash electron mass ratio is set to be 1836. The off-diagonal elements of a plasma pressure tensor are found to be responsible for the breakdown of the frozen-in condition in collisionless reconnection. While the off-diagonal elements of the electron pressure tensor are dominant terms in the generalized Ohm close-quote s law near neutral lines, the ion off-diagonal pressure terms are of significant importance when ions are main current carriers. The spatial scale of electron off-diagonal pressure term P xy (e) is also found to be proportional to the Dungey length scale, (m e E y /eβ 2 ) 1/3 , where β=∂B z /∂x. copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics

Truncated Wigner dynamics and conservation laws

Science.gov (United States)

Drummond, Peter D.; Opanchuk, Bogdan

2017-10-01

Ultracold Bose gases can be used to experimentally test many-body theory predictions. Here we point out that both exact conservation laws and dynamical invariants exist in the topical case of the one-dimensional Bose gas, and these provide an important validation of methods. We show that the first four quantum conservation laws are exactly conserved in the approximate truncated Wigner approach to many-body quantum dynamics. Center-of-mass position variance is also exactly calculable. This is nearly exact in the truncated Wigner approximation, apart from small terms that vanish as N-3 /2 as N →∞ with fixed momentum cutoff. Examples of this are calculated in experimentally relevant, mesoscopic cases.

Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice: Language Policy in Multilingual Organisations

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Chris Allen

2008-01-01

A number of language policy researchers have discussed language needs of business, while nearly all of the scant literature on what a corporate language policy would look like has been conducted by human resource management scholars and published in management journals. This lack of attention in the academic literature is surprising, since…

The symbolic constitution of addiction: language, alienation, ambivalence.

Science.gov (United States)

Kemp, Ryan

2012-07-01

The author offers an articulation of addiction, via existential-phenomenology and Lacanian psychoanalysis, where it is argued that the addicted subject is constituted via a symbolic structuring evolving from societal practices, laws and the effects of language. Language carries a heritage, which bears on the knowledge and practices of designated subjects and practitioners of that discourse. Addiction, as one particular form of embodied existence and knowledgeable practice, finds expression through the speech and habits of the addict. Addiction, it is argued, is symbolically saturated with ambivalence and alienation. Also the addict is described as the complete modern technocratic subject, consumed by the ideology of consumption. The clinical implications are briefly explored where it is noted that two major approaches to addiction, namely 12-step fellowships and motivational interviewing, both attend to language as a critical component of their treatment approach.

Iceland as a western country. How to classify medieval church law in the vernacular

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lára Magnúsardóttir

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Iceland’s subjection to the king of Norway in 1262-64 was followed by a legislation in which a law book for Church and spiritual matters was composed in the vernacular for each country. Such law was implemented in Iceland in 1275 along with a separate secular law book in 1281. Both books remained in force until the middle of the 16th century. A church law that was separate, both from the secular law and that of Roman Church appears to set Iceland apart from other Western European countries where spiritual matters were governed according to the Latin law of the Roman Church. This has been viewed as an indication of constant rivalry between the religious and secular authorities, usually presenting the Church as an overreaching and even oppressive institution against which laity struggled. But a comparison of Icelandic Church law with the Latin Canon law shows that the Church in Iceland submitted entirely to the authority of the Roman Church and thus shows that the Icelandic Church law was, despite its obscure language, a specific representation of the law of the Roman Church. A Norwegian concordat from 1277 shows the king’s recognition of separate spiritual and temporal jurisdictions. This cooperation is readily apparent in later court cases.

The Influence of MUET Score and First Language towards English as a Second (ESL Learners’ Self-Confidence

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Zulaikha Khairuddin

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Speaking skill is an important skill among the four English skills and it is also known as expressive skill.  Hence, it is important for students to speak in English confidently and using speaking strategies in order to avoid anxiousness. The two objectives of this study are to identify level of confidence when speaking among Law students and to determine if there is any significant difference in level of confidence when speaking among Law students based on their demographic details (MUET result, first language respectively. This study employed a purely quantitative study. The instrument used in this study was questionnaire and 380 respondents which consisted of Law students from four local universities in Malaysia participated in this study The result from this study indicated the level of self-confidence among Law students was above average and it was also portrayed that there was a significant difference in terms of Law students’ level of self-confidence based on their MUET result and first language correspondingly. Thus, from the results of the study, it is recommended for the stakeholders which are lecturers, the Faculty of Law, the universities and the policy maker to develop more authentic materials and environment for the students.

A Quantum of Solace: Guzman on the Classical Mechanics of International Law - Book Review: Andrew Guzman, How International Law Works. A Rational Choice Theory (2008

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Matthias Goldmann

2009-02-01

Full Text Available

Patterns of Stuttering Comparing two Languages: A Case Report

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Janeth Hernández-Jaramillo

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In bilinguals, specific patterns of stuttering in each one of the languages may be different. This study reports on the case of a bilingual adult who speaks Spanish and English simultaneously and whose dominant language is Spanish. Speech and language testing was performed in both languages. The samples chosen for the analysis of speech corpus were: spontaneous speech, de­scription of the picture and reading. Some differences in the stuttering distribution were found. Of the disfluent instants, 61.39 % of the total was presented in English and the other remaining 38.61 % in Spanish. In both languages, stuttering by word type was more frequent in function words (i.e. prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, particles and infinitive forms than in content words (i.e. verbs, nouns, adjectives. As observed, dysfluency types were similar in Spanish and English, with the greatest percentage being word repetition, followed by phonemic prolongations. These were more frequent in English than in Spanish. Although it is possible to find similari­ties in the stuttering pattern suggesting general stuttering laws, differences associated not only with language-specific idiosyncrasies but also with the individual’s bilingualism characteristics were also found.

Reconsidering Written Language

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Gopal P. Sarma

2015-07-01

Full Text Available A number of elite thinkers in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries pursued an agenda which historian Paolo Rossi calls the “quest for a universal language,” a quest which was deeply interwoven with the emergence of the scientific method. From a modern perspective, one of the many surprising aspects of these efforts is that they relied on a diverse array of memorization techniques as foundational elements. In the case of Leibniz’s universal calculus, the ultimate vision was to create a pictorial language that could be learned by anyone in a matter of weeks and which would contain within it a symbolic representation of all domains of contemporary thought, ranging from the natural sciences, to theology, to law. In this brief article, I explore why this agenda might have been appealing to thinkers of this era by examining ancient and modern memory feats. As a thought experiment, I suggest that a society built entirely upon memorization might be less limited than we might otherwise imagine, and furthermore, that cultural norms discouraging the use of written language might have had implications for the development of scientific methodology. Viewed in this light, the efforts of Leibniz and others seem significantly less surprising. I close with some general observations about cross-cultural origins of scientific thought.

LEXICAL FEATURES OF THE MODERN ENGLISH DISCOURSE OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM

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Teneneva Irina Vitalyevna

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of a study of terminological units and discourse formulas which constitute the lexical basis of the discourse of the English law enforcement system. Due to the current expanding cooperation of Russian law enforcement units with their foreign partners the area addressed is of great interest to those involved in teaching foreign languages for specific purposes at law faculties and schools, yet has not received an adequate treatment to this point. The article reveals an interdisciplinary character of the law enforcement terminology, which accounts for numerous transterms used in it. The study identifies the reasons for the integration of the law enforcement terminology with other terminological systems and also names the main sources of transterms. Other highly productive methods of concept nomination in the area include syntactic and morphosyntactic term formation. This enriches the law enforcement terminology with multicomponent terms and their abbreviated and elliptical variants. The analysis of discourse formulas suggests syntactic heterogeneity of these structures, their stylistic neutrality, monosemy and semantic transparency. This layer of the law enforcement discourse is also characterized by information compression by means of abbreviations and digital encoding. The results of the research can be applied in English textbook and translation dictionary designing.

English Language Teachers' Attitudes to the Promotion of the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Against the backdrop of the near-impossibility of attaining a native-like command of the English in a second language situation, which is one of the major factors found to be militating against Nigerian learners of the English language, this study examines the prospects of promoting the Standard Nigerian English to end the ...

Global and local confinement scaling laws of NBI-heated gas-puffing plasmas on LHD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamazaki, K.; Miyazawa, J.; Sakakibara, S.; Yamada, H.; Narihara, K.; Tanaka, K.; Osakabe, M.

2003-01-01

The relation between global confinement scaling laws and local transport characteristics is evaluated on the Large Helical Device (LHD). Previous 'new LHD' global scaling laws are revised using the precise plasma edge definition and the recent LHD data of 4th, 5th and 6th experimental campaigns. Strong Gyro-Bohm-like feature of global confinement is reconfirmed. The magnetic field dependence and geometrical scale dependence are stronger than the conventional scaling laws. Using same database of LHD data, the radial profiles of transport coefficients are evaluated, and it is reconfirmed that the local transport in the core is Gyro-Bohm-like, and that near the boundary is strong Gyro-Bohm-like. The global confinement property is consistent with effective transport coefficient near the edge. (author)

The diffusion and impact of clean indoor air laws.

Science.gov (United States)

Eriksen, Michael P; Cerak, Rebecca L

2008-01-01

Over the past quarter century, primarily as a result of scientific discovery, citizen advocacy, and legislative action, comprehensive clean indoor air laws have spread rapidly throughout the world. Laws that establish completely smoke-free indoor environments have many relative advantages including being low cost, safe, effective, and easy to implement. The diffusion of these laws has been associated with a dramatic and rapid reduction in population levels of serum cotinine among nonsmokers and has also contributed to a reduction in overall cigarette consumption among smokers, with no adverse economic impact, except to the tobacco industry. Currently, nearly half of the U.S. population lives in jurisdictions with some combination of completely smoke-free workplaces, restaurants, or bars. The diffusion of clean indoor air laws is spreading rapidly throughout the world, stimulated by the first global health treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Sign Language Planning in the Netherlands between 1980 and 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Schermer, Trude

2012-01-01

This article discusses several aspects of language planning with respect to Sign Language of the Netherlands, or Nederlandse Gebarentaal (NGT). For nearly thirty years members of the Deaf community, the Dutch Deaf Council (Dovenschap) have been working together with researchers, several organizations in deaf education, and the organization of…

Towards a seascape typology. I. Zipf versus Pareto laws

Science.gov (United States)

Seuront, Laurent; Mitchell, James G.

Two data analysis methods, referred to as the Zipf and Pareto methods, initially introduced in economics and linguistics two centuries ago and subsequently used in a wide range of fields (word frequency in languages and literature, human demographics, finance, city formation, genomics and physics), are described and proposed here as a potential tool to classify space-time patterns in marine ecology. The aim of this paper is, first, to present the theoretical bases of Zipf and Pareto laws, and to demonstrate that they are strictly equivalent. In that way, we provide a one-to-one correspondence between their characteristic exponents and argue that the choice of technique is a matter of convenience. Second, we argue that the appeal of this technique is that it is assumption-free for the distribution of the data and regularity of sampling interval, as well as being extremely easy to implement. Finally, in order to allow marine ecologists to identify and classify any structure in their data sets, we provide a step by step overview of the characteristic shapes expected for Zipf's law for the cases of randomness, power law behavior, power law behavior contaminated by internal and external noise, and competing power laws illustrated on the basis of typical ecological situations such as mixing processes involving non-interacting and interacting species, phytoplankton growth processes and differential grazing by zooplankton.

Federal Recognition of the Rights of Minority Language Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Leibowitz, Arnold H.

Federal laws, policies, and court decisions pertaining to the civil rights of minority language groups are reviewed, with an emphasis on political, legal, economic, and educational access. Areas in which progress has been made and those in which access is still limited are identified. It is argued that a continuing federal role is necessary to…

Near-field excitation exchange between motionless point atoms located near the conductive surface

Science.gov (United States)

Kuraptsev, Aleksei S.; Sokolov, Igor M.

2018-04-01

On the basis of quantum microscopic approach we study the excitation dynamics of two motionless point atoms located near the perfectly conducting mirror. We have analyzed the spontaneous decay rate of individual atoms near the mirror as well as the strength of dipole-dipole interaction between different atoms. It is shown that the spontaneous decay rate of an excited atom significantly depends on the distance from this atom to the mirror. In the case when the interatomic separation is less or comparable with the wavelength of resonant radiation, the spontaneous decay dynamics of an excited atom is described by multi-exponential law. It depends both the interatomic separation and the spatial orientation of diatomic quasimolecule.

Gedanken experiments on nearly extremal black holes and the third law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chirco, Goffredo; Liberati, Stefano; Sotiriou, Thomas P.

2010-01-01

A gedanken experiment in which a black hole is pushed to spin at its maximal rate by tossing into it a test body is considered. After demonstrating that this is kinematically possible for a test body made of reasonable matter, we focus on its implications for black hole thermodynamics and the apparent violation of the third law (unattainability of the extremal black hole). We argue that this is not an actual violation, due to subtleties in the absorption process of the test body by the black hole, which are not captured by the purely kinematic considerations.

Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death

Science.gov (United States)

Petersen, Alexander M.; Tenenbaum, Joel; Havlin, Shlomo; Stanley, H. Eugene

2012-03-01

We analyze the dynamic properties of 107 words recorded in English, Spanish and Hebrew over the period 1800-2008 in order to gain insight into the coevolution of language and culture. We report language independent patterns useful as benchmarks for theoretical models of language evolution. A significantly decreasing (increasing) trend in the birth (death) rate of words indicates a recent shift in the selection laws governing word use. For new words, we observe a peak in the growth-rate fluctuations around 40 years after introduction, consistent with the typical entry time into standard dictionaries and the human generational timescale. Pronounced changes in the dynamics of language during periods of war shows that word correlations, occurring across time and between words, are largely influenced by coevolutionary social, technological, and political factors. We quantify cultural memory by analyzing the long-term correlations in the use of individual words using detrended fluctuation analysis.

The Globalisation of (Educational) Language rights

Science.gov (United States)

Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove

2001-07-01

Languages are today being murdered faster than ever before in human history: 90% of the world's oral languages may be dead or moribund (no longer learned by children) in a hundred years' time. The media and the educational systems are the most important direct agents in language murder. Behind them are the real culprits, the global economic, military and political systems. Linguistic human rights might be one way of promoting conflict prevention and self-determination, preventing linguistic genocide, and maintaining linguistic diversity and biodiversity (which are correlationally and also causally related). The most basic linguistic human rights for maintenance of linguistic diversity, specifically the right to mother tongue medium education, are not protected by the present provisions in human rights law. Linguistically, formal education is today often 'forcibly transferring children of one group to another group' (one of the definitions of genocide in the UN Genocide Convention). Human rights are supposed to act as correctives to the 'free market'. Despite good intentions, forces behind economic globalisation have instead given brutal market forces free range.

Colloquium on the Past, Present and Future of the Nuclear Law Committee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Echavarri, Luis; Schwartz, Julia; Dussart-Desart, Roland; Pelzer, Norbert; Leger, Marc

2007-01-01

The NEA Nuclear Law Committee (NLC) celebrated its 50. anniversary in February 2007. To mark the occasion, a colloquium was organised on 6 February 2007 in conjunction with the committee's regular meeting in Paris, France. Those attending included nearly all former NLC chairs and former heads of NEA Legal Affairs. This document brings together the available presentations given at this colloquium: 1 - Welcoming Address (Luis Echavarri); 2 - The Nuclear Law Committee - A Historical Perspective (Julia Schwartz); 3 - The NEA Nuclear Law Committee - From the Viewpoint of a Committee Member (Norbert Pelze); 4 - Memorable Moments from Special guests; 5 - The Prospects for Nuclear Law (Marc Leger); 6 - Concluding Remarks (Roland Dussart-Desart)

Stability of Language and Literacy Profiles of Children With Language Impairment in the Public Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Tambyraja, Sherine R; Schmitt, Mary Beth; Farquharson, Kelly; Justice, Laura M

2015-08-01

The present study focused on the identification and stability of language and literacy profiles of primary school children receiving school-based language therapy over the course of one academic year. Participants included 272 early elementary school-age children (144 boys, 128 girls) who had been clinically identified as having a language impairment. A latent profile analysis was used to identify distinct profiles on the basis of a battery of language and literacy assessments in the fall and spring of the academic year. Four profiles were identified in both fall and spring that could be best described as representing high, average, and low overall abilities. Two average groups were identified that differentiated according to phonological awareness abilities. Children's profile membership was variable from fall to spring with nearly 60% of children shifting into a higher profile. The results of t tests comparing children who shifted into higher profiles from those who remained stable in profile membership revealed group differences regarding language severity, socio-economic status, and proportion of therapy sessions received in the classroom. These results provide further evidence regarding the heterogeneity of children with language impairment served in the public schools, indicating that differences may be best conceptualized along a continuum of severity.

Reduced Language Connectivity in Pediatric Epilepsy

Science.gov (United States)

Leigh N., Sepeta; Louise J., Croft; Lauren A., Zimmaro; Elizabeth S., Duke; Virginia K., Terwilliger; Benjamin E., Yerys; Xiaozhen., You; Chandan J., Vaidya; William D., Gaillard; Madison M., Berl

2014-01-01

Objective Functional connectivity (FC) among language regions is decreased in adults with epilepsy compared to controls, but less is known about FC in children with epilepsy. We sought to determine if language FC is reduced in pediatric epilepsy, and examined clinical factors that associate with language FC in this population. Methods We assessed FC during an age-adjusted language task in children with left-hemisphere focal epilepsy (n=19) compared to controls (n=19). Time series data were extracted for three left ROIs and their right homologues: inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and Wernicke's area (WA) using SPM8. Associations between FC and factors such as cognitive performance, language dominance, and epilepsy duration were assessed. Results Children with epilepsy showed decreased interhemispheric connectivity compared to controls, particularly between core left language regions (IFG, WA) and their right hemisphere homologues, as well as decreased intrahemispheric right frontal FC. Increased intrahemispheric FC between left IFG and left WA was a positive predictor of language skills overall, and naming ability in particular. FC of language areas was not affected by language dominance, as the effects remained when only examining study participants with left language dominance. Overall FC did not differ according to duration of epilepsy or age of onset. Significance FC during a language task is reduced in children, similar to findings in adults. In specific, children with left focal epilepsy demonstrated decreased interhemispheric FC in temporal and frontal language connections and decreased intrahemispheric right frontal FC. These differences were present near the onset of epilepsy. Greater FC between left language centers is related to better language ability. Our results highlight that connectivity of language areas has a developmental pattern and is related to cognitive ability. PMID:25516399

Towards a well-being focussed language pedagogy: enabling arts-based, multilingual learning spaces for young people with refugee backgrounds

OpenAIRE

Frimberger, K

2016-01-01

The following article explores the conceptual background and pedagogical realities of establishing a well-being focussed language pedagogy in the context of an informal educational event called ‘Language Fest’. The event was organised as part of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded large grant project ‘Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the State’ – for the UK’s ‘Being Human Festival’ 2014. The event aimed to celebrate the multiple languages...

Freedom in the free world: The extimate becomes the law.

Science.gov (United States)

Aristodemou, Maria

My article takes Robert Burt's piece as a starting point to highlight how a lacanian analysis of law differs from the one Robert Burt (rightly) rejected and from the alternative psychotherapeutic scenario Burt develops. I focus on what I consider to be the novel characteristics of a lacanian analysis, particularly its insistence on the castration of the human subject by language, a castration that problematizes our understanding of "freedom" and "free speech", and, in turn, on Law's own castration. The gradual peeling away of the claims made on behalf of the subject by ego psychologists, enables us to arrive at what a lacanian analysis would ideally uncover, that is the subject's extimate core. I illustrate this with the film The Act of Killing, a documentary which displays not only the extimate core at the heart of the subject but the extimate as the Law itself. The encounter between law and psychoanalysis, I conclude, far from leading to mutual understanding, leads to the dissolution of the analysand's pretenses, and, in turn, to the withdrawal of psychoanalysis from the scene altogether. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Indian English Evolution and Focusing Visible Through Power Laws

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vineeta Chand

2017-11-01

Full Text Available New dialect emergence and focusing in language contact settings is difficult to capture and date in terms of global structural dialect stabilization. This paper explores whether diachronic power law frequency distributions can provide evidence of dialect evolution and new dialect focusing, by considering the quantitative frequency characteristics of three diachronic Indian English (IE corpora (1970s–2008. The results demonstrate that IE consistently follows power law frequency distributions and the corpora are each best fit by Mandelbrot’s Law. Diachronic changes in the constants are interpreted as evidence of lexical and syntactic collocational focusing within the process of new dialect formation. Evidence of new dialect focusing is also visible through apparent time comparison of spoken and written data. Age and gender-separated sub-corpora of the most recent corpus show minimal deviation, providing apparent time evidence for emerging IE dialect stability. From these findings, we extend the interpretation of diachronic changes in the β coefficient—as indicative of changes in the degree of synthetic/analytic structure—so that β is also sensitive to grammaticalization and changes in collocational patterns.

Qanun raqam 68 li-sanat 1968 fi sha'n al-ta'lim al-am (Law No. 68 of 1968 Concerning General Education).

Science.gov (United States)

United Arab Republic.

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) of a law passed by the UAR legislation covering elementary, preparatory, and secondary education. This law covers general regulations common to all three stages of education, the objectives of which are defined as the general intellectual, physical, moral, civic and national…

Discovery of Kolmogorov Scaling in the Natural Language

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Maurice H. P. M. van Putten

2017-05-01

Full Text Available We consider the rate R and variance σ 2 of Shannon information in snippets of text based on word frequencies in the natural language. We empirically identify Kolmogorov’s scaling law in σ 2 ∝ k - 1 . 66 ± 0 . 12 (95% c.l. as a function of k = 1 / N measured by word count N. This result highlights a potential association of information flow in snippets, analogous to energy cascade in turbulent eddies in fluids at high Reynolds numbers. We propose R and σ 2 as robust utility functions for objective ranking of concordances in efficient search for maximal information seamlessly across different languages and as a starting point for artificial attention.

Inequity between male and female coverage in state infertility laws.

Science.gov (United States)

Dupree, James M; Dickey, Ryan M; Lipshultz, Larry I

2016-06-01

To analyze state insurance laws mandating coverage for male factor infertility and identify possible inequities between male and female coverage in state insurance laws. We identified states with laws or codes related to infertility insurance coverage using the National Conference of States Legislatures' and the National Infertility Association's websites. We performed a primary, systematic analysis of the laws or codes to specifically identify coverage for male factor infertility services. Not applicable. Not applicable. Not applicable. The presence or absence of language in state insurance laws mandating coverage for male factor infertility care. There are 15 states with laws mandating insurance coverage for female factor infertility. Only eight of those states (California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia) have mandates for male factor infertility evaluation or treatment. Insurance coverage for male factor infertility is most specific in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, yet significant differences exist in the male factor policies in all eight states. Three states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York) exempt coverage for vasectomy reversal. Despite national recommendations that male and female partners begin infertility evaluations together, only 8 of 15 states with laws mandating infertility coverage include coverage for the male partner. Excluding men from infertility coverage places an undue burden on female partners and risks missing opportunities to diagnose serious male health conditions, correct reversible causes of infertility, and provide cost-effective treatments that can downgrade the intensity of intervention required to achieve a pregnancy. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Environmental law in Thuringia. Text collection with introduction. Pt. 1. Waste law, nuclear, radiation and energy law, soil protection law and land reparcelling, forestry law, fishing and hunting law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneider, Matthias Werner

2015-01-01

The volume 1 of the collection on the Thuringian Environmental Law contains additional to a detailed introduction: - Waste management - Nuclear, radiation and energy law - Soil protection law and land reparcelling - Forestry, fishery and hunting law. [de

The fallacy of choice in the common law and NHS policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteman, Ingrid

2013-06-01

Neither the English courts nor the National Health Service (NHS) have been immune to the modern mantra of patient choice. This article examines whether beneath the rhetoric any form of real choice is endorsed either in law or in NHS policy. I explore the case law on 'consent', look at choice within the NHS and highlight the dilemmas that a mismatch of language and practice poses for clinicians. Given the variance in interpretation and lack of consistency for the individual patient I argue for a semantic change that obviates the use of 'choice', focussing instead on the options for treatment that are available and accessible, with due acknowledgement of individual patient preferences, without raising unfettered and false expectations.

Business Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Föh, Kennet Fischer; Mandøe, Lene; Tinten, Bjarke

Business Law is a translation of the 2nd edition of Erhvervsjura - videregående uddannelser. It is an educational textbook for the subject of business law. The textbook covers all important topic?s within business law such as the Legal System, Private International Law, Insolvency Law, Contract law......, Instruments of debt and other claims, Sale of Goods and real estate, Charges, mortgages and pledges, Guarantees, Credit agreements, Tort Law, Product liability and Insurance, Company law, Market law, Labour Law, Family Law and Law of Inheritance....

Research on Difficulty in Indonesia Students Learning Chinese Language

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lydia Anggreani

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Chinese has become the world’s second language. Each language has its own law, as is the Chinese. Indonesian students have difficulty in learning Chinese which are are not surprising. Every language has various characteristics, so do Chinese and Bahasa Indonesia. Article analyzes difficulties to learn Chinese, especially for Indonesian students, those are tone, grammar, sounds of “er hua” such as Alice retroflex. The respondents are 100 Indonesian students who are randomly selected for testing samples analyzed. Since there is no tone in Bahasa Indonesia, it makes a lot of Indonesian students in the learning process often appear in Chinese foreign accent phenomenon. This article expects to explore the problem by studying the formation of the causes and solutions. Indonesian students learning Chinese was designed to provide some teaching and learning strategies.

Generalized Stefan-Boltzmann Law

Science.gov (United States)

Montambaux, Gilles

2018-03-01

We reconsider the thermodynamic derivation by L. Boltzmann of the Stefan law and we generalize it for various different physical systems whose chemical potential vanishes. Being only based on classical arguments, therefore independent of the quantum statistics, this derivation applies as well to the saturated Bose gas in various geometries as to "compensated" Fermi gas near a neutrality point, such as a gas of Weyl Fermions. It unifies in the same framework the thermodynamics of many different bosonic or fermionic non-interacting gases which were until now described in completely different contexts.

A real-time spoken-language system for interactive problem-solving, combining linguistic and statistical technology for improved spoken language understanding

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Robert C.; Cohen, Michael H.

1993-09-01

Under this effort, SRI has developed spoken-language technology for interactive problem solving, featuring real-time performance for up to several thousand word vocabularies, high semantic accuracy, habitability within the domain, and robustness to many sources of variability. Although the technology is suitable for many applications, efforts to date have focused on developing an Air Travel Information System (ATIS) prototype application. SRI's ATIS system has been evaluated in four ARPA benchmark evaluations, and has consistently been at or near the top in performance. These achievements are the result of SRI's technical progress in speech recognition, natural-language processing, and speech and natural-language integration.

Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitchen, Andrew; Ehret, Christopher; Assefa, Shiferaw; Mulligan, Connie J

2009-08-07

The evolution of languages provides a unique opportunity to study human population history. The origin of Semitic and the nature of dispersals by Semitic-speaking populations are of great importance to our understanding of the ancient history of the Middle East and Horn of Africa. Semitic populations are associated with the oldest written languages and urban civilizations in the region, which gave rise to some of the world's first major religious and literary traditions. In this study, we employ Bayesian computational phylogenetic techniques recently developed in evolutionary biology to analyse Semitic lexical data by modelling language evolution and explicitly testing alternative hypotheses of Semitic history. We implement a relaxed linguistic clock to date language divergences and use epigraphic evidence for the sampling dates of extinct Semitic languages to calibrate the rate of language evolution. Our statistical tests of alternative Semitic histories support an initial divergence of Akkadian from ancestral Semitic over competing hypotheses (e.g. an African origin of Semitic). We estimate an Early Bronze Age origin for Semitic approximately 5750 years ago in the Levant, and further propose that contemporary Ethiosemitic languages of Africa reflect a single introduction of early Ethiosemitic from southern Arabia approximately 2800 years ago.

International Investment Law and EU Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

regional economic integration agreements, International Competition Law, International Investment Regulation, International Monetary Law, International Intellectual Property Protection and International Tax Law. In addition to the regular annual volumes, EYIEL Special Issues routinely address specific...... current topics in International Economic Law. The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty entails sweeping changes with respect to foreign investment regulation. Most prominently, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) now contains in its Article 207 an explicit competence...... for the regulation of foreign direct investment as part of the Common Commercial Policy (CCP) chapter. With this new competence, the EU will become an important actor in the field of international investment politics and law. The new empowerment in the field of international investment law prompts a multitude...

Language continuity despite population replacement in Remote Oceania.

Science.gov (United States)

Posth, Cosimo; Nägele, Kathrin; Colleran, Heidi; Valentin, Frédérique; Bedford, Stuart; Kami, Kaitip W; Shing, Richard; Buckley, Hallie; Kinaston, Rebecca; Walworth, Mary; Clark, Geoffrey R; Reepmeyer, Christian; Flexner, James; Maric, Tamara; Moser, Johannes; Gresky, Julia; Kiko, Lawrence; Robson, Kathryn J; Auckland, Kathryn; Oppenheimer, Stephen J; Hill, Adrian V S; Mentzer, Alexander J; Zech, Jana; Petchey, Fiona; Roberts, Patrick; Jeong, Choongwon; Gray, Russell D; Krause, Johannes; Powell, Adam

2018-04-01

Recent genomic analyses show that the earliest peoples reaching Remote Oceania-associated with Austronesian-speaking Lapita culture-were almost completely East Asian, without detectable Papuan ancestry. However, Papuan-related genetic ancestry is found across present-day Pacific populations, indicating that peoples from Near Oceania have played a significant, but largely unknown, ancestral role. Here, new genome-wide data from 19 ancient South Pacific individuals provide direct evidence of a so-far undescribed Papuan expansion into Remote Oceania starting ~2,500 yr BP, far earlier than previously estimated and supporting a model from historical linguistics. New genome-wide data from 27 contemporary ni-Vanuatu demonstrate a subsequent and almost complete replacement of Lapita-Austronesian by Near Oceanian ancestry. Despite this massive demographic change, incoming Papuan languages did not replace Austronesian languages. Population replacement with language continuity is extremely rare-if not unprecedented-in human history. Our analyses show that rather than one large-scale event, the process was incremental and complex, with repeated migrations and sex-biased admixture with peoples from the Bismarck Archipelago.

Unpacking the Right to plain and understandable Language in the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philip N Stoop

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 came into effect on 1 April 2011. The purpose of this Act is, among other things, to promote fairness, openness and respectable business practice between the suppliers of goods or services and the consumers of such good and services. In consumer protection legislation fairness is usually approached from two directions, namely substantive and procedural fairness. Measures aimed at procedural fairness address conduct during the bargaining process and generally aim at ensuring transparency. Transparency in relation to the terms of a contract relates to whether the terms of the contract terms accessible, in clear language, well-structured, and cross-referenced, with prominence being given to terms that are detrimental to the consumer or because they grant important rights. One measure in the Act aimed at addressing procedural fairness is the right to plain and understandable language. The consumer’s right to being given information in plain and understandable language, as it is expressed in section 22, is embedded under the umbrella right of information and disclosure in the Act. Section 22 requires that notices, documents or visual representations that are required in terms of the Act or other law are to be provided in plain and understandable language as well as in the prescribed form, where such a prescription exists. In the analysis of the concept “plain and understandable language” the following aspects are considered in this article: the development of plain language measures in Australia and the United Kingdom; the structure and purpose of section 22; the documents that must be in plain language; the definition of plain language; the use of official languages in consumer contracts; and plain language guidelines (based on the law of the states of Pennsylvania and Connecticut in the United States of America.

Atomic energy law after the opt-out. Alive and fascinating. Report about the 14th German atomic energy law symposium 2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leidinger, Tobias

2013-01-01

Atomic energy law remains a living, fascinating subject matter. Nearly 200 participants were convinced of this impression at the 14 th German Atomic Energy Law Symposium held in Berlin on November 19-20, 2012. Under the scientific chairmanship of Professor Dr. Martin Burgi, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), after an interruption of 5 years, again organized a scientific conference about practice-related topics of atomic energy and radiation protection law. Atomic energy law once again proved to be a reference area for sophisticated issues of constitutional law and administrative law above and beyond its technical confines. The agenda of the 14 th German Atomic Energy Law Symposium featured a broad spectrum of topics ranging from backfitting of nuclear power plants to European atomic energy and radiation protection law, to challenges facing national legal systems in the execution of atomic energy law, to legal issues connected with decommissioning and waste management, and on to the topical subject of finding a repository site. The 14 th German Atomic Energy Law Symposium, on the whole, again demonstrated that an open discourse between science and practice is able to furnish important contributions to the implementation of laws in a balanced way rooted in practice. Especially the contributions dealing with the independence of public authorities and their organization, the doctrine of the reservation of functions of the executive branch, and planning by laws contain additional provisions able to influence the continued development of administrative law also above and beyond atomic energy law. The BMU also referred to a decision just heard from Brussels to the effect that a new European Safety Directive would be published as early as in 2013. As a consequence of the nuclear stress tests conducted EU-wide, the Directive is to lay down provisions about transparency

Environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bender, B.; Sparwasser, R.

1988-01-01

Environmental law is discussed exhaustively in this book. Legal and scientific fundamentals are taken into account, a systematic orientation is given, and hints for further information are presented. The book covers general environmental law, plan approval procedures, protection against nuisances, atomic law and radiation protection law, water protection law, waste management law, laws on chemical substances, conservation law. (HSCH) [de

Hunting, law enforcement, and African primate conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

N'Goran, Paul K; Boesch, Christophe; Mundry, Roger; N'Goran, Eliezer K; Herbinger, Ilka; Yapi, Fabrice A; Kühl, Hjalmar S

2012-06-01

Primates are regularly hunted for bushmeat in tropical forests, and systematic ecological monitoring can help determine the effect hunting has on these and other hunted species. Monitoring can also be used to inform law enforcement and managers of where hunting is concentrated. We evaluated the effects of law enforcement informed by monitoring data on density and spatial distribution of 8 monkey species in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire. We conducted intensive surveys of monkeys and looked for signs of human activity throughout the park. We also gathered information on the activities of law-enforcement personnel related to hunting and evaluated the relative effects of hunting, forest cover and proximity to rivers, and conservation effort on primate distribution and density. The effects of hunting on monkeys varied among species. Red colobus monkeys (Procolobus badius) were most affected and Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli) were least affected by hunting. Density of monkeys irrespective of species was up to 100 times higher near a research station and tourism site in the southwestern section of the park, where there is little hunting, than in the southeastern part of the park. The results of our monitoring guided law-enforcement patrols toward zones with the most hunting activity. Such systematic coordination of ecological monitoring and law enforcement may be applicable at other sites. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

The promotion and control functions of atomic energy law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roser, T.

1998-01-01

The question about the purpose of atomic energy law may sound superfluous in Germany, a country where a highly differential legal framework for the peaceful utilization of nuclear power has existed for nearly 40 years in the Basic Law, the Atomic Energy Act, and its ordinances, and a comprehensive body of case laws. Yet, it is justified in view of the declared intention of the German federal government to establish an environmental code into which atomic energy law, hitherto an independent branch of the law, would be integrated, and it is justified also in view of persistent complaints that the present rules and regulations stifled investment activities. A look into some codes of law may help answer the question. Already in 1959, the authors of the Atomic Energy Act outlined the purposes of the legislation in relatively clear terms in Section 1. Besides the two foreign policy aspects of security and loyalty under treaties, which do not concern us in this connection, the key purposes of atomic energy law are stated there as promotion and protection. The protection purpose, which implies the need to protect life, health, and property from the hazards of nuclear energy and harmful effects of ionizing radiation, ranks second in the Act. In accordance with the ruling in 1972 of the Federal Administrative Court, however, it should rank at the top. (orig.) [de

Environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ketteler, G.; Kippels, K.

1988-01-01

In section I 'Basic principles' the following topics are considered: Constitutional-legal aspects of environmental protection, e.g. nuclear hazards and the remaining risk; European environmental law; international environmental law; administrative law, private law and criminal law relating to the environment; basic principles of environmental law, the instruments of public environmental law. Section II 'Special areas of law' is concerned with the law on water and waste, prevention of air pollution, nature conservation and care of the countryside. Legal decisions and literature up to June 1988 have been taken into consideration. (orig./RST) [de

Ghana language-in-education policy: The survival of two South Guan minority dialects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ansah, Mercy Akrofi

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The paper investigates the survival of two South-Guan minority dialects, Leteh and Efutu, in the context of the Ghana language-in-education policy. The study is done from the perspective of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights (1996. In every multilingual state, the formulation of policies concerning language use has always presented challenges. The government has to decide which of the languages need to be promoted and for what purposes. In Ghana, since the introduction of formal education, English has indubitably been the language of education, trade, law, media, government and administration. However, there has always been a debate surrounding the language-in-education policy, especially at the basic level of education. The argument has always been whether English should be emphasised or Ghanaian languages. For purposes of formal education, the government of Ghana has promoted nine languages known as government-sponsored languages. These are languages which have literary tradition and can be used as media of instruction in schools. This decision was to the detriment of some Ghanaian languages; languages which are often described as minority languages, and which are not government-sponsored. The paper argues that, if language and culture are intertwined, and the culture of a people must be preserved, then language policymakers need to consider the linguistic rights of speakers of the so-called minority languages. Data for the study were sourced from language surveys and observation.

Language Teachers' Target Language Project: Language for Specific Purposes of Language Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Korenev, Alexey; Westbrook, Carolyn; Merry, Yvonne; Ershova, Tatiana

2016-01-01

The Language Teachers' Target Language project (LTTL) aims to describe language teachers' target language use domain (Bachman & Palmer 2010) and to develop a language test for future teachers of English. The team comprises four researchers from Moscow State University (MSU) and Southampton Solent University.

China’s Selection of Foreign Laws for Succession in the Late Qing Dynasty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhongqiu Zhang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This article studies the selection of a target country for succession of foreign laws by China of the late Qing Dynasty as well as the channels and approaches based on documentation in the Chinese language. According to this article, the selection was mostly limited by information, the national situation and political system, objectives, international environment, legal tradition as well as human and material resources, of which the national situation, political system and objectives serve as key factors. In this case, historically, China of the late Qing Dynasty looked at the United States, Britain, France and Germany before settling on Japan as the target country for the succession of foreign laws; and with respect to the channels and approaches for the succession, several relatively effective channels and approaches, such as studying aboard, translating foreign texts, making survey trips and hiring foreign experts, were employed. Such selection by China of the late Qing Dynasty for the purpose of succession of foreign laws provide us with useful references for thinking about law succession and the current exchange of laws and cultures b etween China and foreign countries.

Early Sign Language Exposure and Cochlear Implantation Benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

Geers, Ann E; Mitchell, Christine M; Warner-Czyz, Andrea; Wang, Nae-Yuh; Eisenberg, Laurie S

2017-07-01

Most children with hearing loss who receive cochlear implants (CI) learn spoken language, and parents must choose early on whether to use sign language to accompany speech at home. We address whether parents' use of sign language before and after CI positively influences auditory-only speech recognition, speech intelligibility, spoken language, and reading outcomes. Three groups of children with CIs from a nationwide database who differed in the duration of early sign language exposure provided in their homes were compared in their progress through elementary grades. The groups did not differ in demographic, auditory, or linguistic characteristics before implantation. Children without early sign language exposure achieved better speech recognition skills over the first 3 years postimplant and exhibited a statistically significant advantage in spoken language and reading near the end of elementary grades over children exposed to sign language. Over 70% of children without sign language exposure achieved age-appropriate spoken language compared with only 39% of those exposed for 3 or more years. Early speech perception predicted speech intelligibility in middle elementary grades. Children without sign language exposure produced speech that was more intelligible (mean = 70%) than those exposed to sign language (mean = 51%). This study provides the most compelling support yet available in CI literature for the benefits of spoken language input for promoting verbal development in children implanted by 3 years of age. Contrary to earlier published assertions, there was no advantage to parents' use of sign language either before or after CI. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Law Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. P. Tolstopiatenko

2014-01-01

Full Text Available At the origin of the International Law Department were such eminent scientists, diplomats and teachers as V.N. Durdenevsky, S.B. Krylov and F.I. Kozhevnikov. International law studies in USSR and Russia during the second half of the XX century was largely shaped by the lawyers of MGIMO. They had a large influence on the education in the international law in the whole USSR, and since 1990s in Russia and other CIS countries. The prominence of the research of MGIMO international lawyers was due to the close connections with the international practice, involving international negotiations in the United Nations and other international fora, diplomatic conferences and international scientific conferences. This experience is represented in the MGIMO handbooks on international law, which are still in demand. The Faculty of International Law at MGIMO consists of seven departments: Department of International Law, Department of Private International and Comparative Law; Department of European Law; Department of Comparative Constitutional Law; Department of Administrative and Financial Law; Department of Criminal Law, Department Criminal Procedure and Criminalistics. Many Russian lawyers famous at home and abroad work at the Faculty, contributing to domestic and international law studies. In 1947 the Academy of Sciences of the USSR published "International Law" textbook which was the first textbook on the subject in USSR. S.B. Krylov and V.N. Durdenevsky were the authors and editors of the textbook. First generations of MGIMO students studied international law according to this textbook. All subsequent books on international law, published in the USSR, were based on the approach to the teaching of international law, developed in the textbook by S.B. Krylov and V.N. Durdenevsky. The first textbook of international law with the stamp of MGIMO, edited by F.I. Kozhevnikov, was published in 1964. This textbook later went through five editions in 1966, 1972

Approximate spacetime symmetries and conservation laws

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harte, Abraham I [Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)], E-mail: harte@uchicago.edu

2008-10-21

A notion of geometric symmetry is introduced that generalizes the classical concepts of Killing fields and other affine collineations. There is a sense in which flows under these new vector fields minimize deformations of the connection near a specified observer. Any exact affine collineations that may exist are special cases. The remaining vector fields can all be interpreted as analogs of Poincare and other well-known symmetries near timelike worldlines. Approximate conservation laws generated by these objects are discussed for both geodesics and extended matter distributions. One example is a generalized Komar integral that may be taken to define the linear and angular momenta of a spacetime volume as seen by a particular observer. This is evaluated explicitly for a gravitational plane wave spacetime.

ExtLaw_H18: Extinction law code

Science.gov (United States)

Hosek, Matthew W., Jr.; Lu, Jessica R.; Anderson, Jay; Do, Tuan; Schlafly, Edward F.; Ghez, Andrea M.; Clarkson, William I.; Morris, Mark R.; Albers, Saundra M.

2018-03-01

ExtLaw_H18 generates the extinction law between 0.8 - 2.2 microns. The law is derived using the Westerlund 1 (Wd1) main sequence (A_Ks 0.6 mag) and Arches cluster field Red Clump at the Galactic Center (A_Ks 2.7 mag). To derive the law a Wd1 cluster age of 5 Myr is assumed, though changing the cluster age between 4 Myr - 7 Myr has no effect on the law. This extinction law can be applied to highly reddened stellar populations that have similar foreground material as Wd1 and the Arches RC, namely dust from the spiral arms of the Milky Way in the Galactic Plane.

Regulating Listed Companies: Between Company Law and Financial Market Law in Danish Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Nis Jul

2011-01-01

The article discusses different elements and aspects of the regulation of listed companies in particular whether such regulation should be placed in company law or in financial marked law.......The article discusses different elements and aspects of the regulation of listed companies in particular whether such regulation should be placed in company law or in financial marked law....

The Laws of Nature and the Effectiveness of Mathematics

Science.gov (United States)

Dorato, Mauro

In this paper I try to evaluate what I regard as the main attempts at explaining the effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences, namely (1) Antinaturalism, (2) Kantism, (3) Semanticism, (4) Algorithmic Complexity Theory. The first position has been defended by Mark Steiner, who claims that the "user friendliness" of nature for the applied mathematician is the best argument against a naturalistic explanation of the origin of the universe. The second is naturalistic and mixes the Kantian tradition with evolutionary studies about our innate mathematical abilities. The third turns to the Fregean tradition and considers mathematics a particular kind of language, thus treating the effectiveness of mathematics as a particular instance of the effectiveness of natural languages. The fourth hypothesis, building on formal results by Kolmogorov, Solomonov and Chaitin, claims that mathematics is so useful in describing the natural world because it is the science of the abbreviation of sequences, and mathematically formulated laws of nature enable us to compress the information contained in the sequence of numbers in which we code our observations. In this tradition, laws are equivalent to the shortest algorithms capable of generating the lists of zeros and ones representing the empirical data. Along the way, I present and reject the "deflationary explanation", which claims that in wondering about the applicability of so many mathematical structures to nature, we tend to forget the many cases in which no application is possible.

Connective processing by bilingual children and monolinguals with specific language impairment : distinct profiles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mak, W.M.; Tribushinina, E.; Lomako, Julia; Gagarina, N.; Abrosova, Ekaterina; Sanders, T.J.M.

2017-01-01

Production studies show that both Russian-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) and bilingual children for whom Russian is a non-dominant language have difficulty distinguishing between the near-synonymous connectives i ‘and’ and a ‘and/but’. I is a preferred connective when

Criminal Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langsted, Lars Bo; Garde, Peter; Greve, Vagn

<> book contains a thorough description of Danish substantive criminal law, criminal procedure and execution of sanctions. The book was originally published as a monograph in the International Encyclopaedia of Laws/Criminal Law....... book contains a thorough description of Danish substantive criminal law, criminal procedure and execution of sanctions. The book was originally published as a monograph in the International Encyclopaedia of Laws/Criminal Law....

Left Hemisphere Regions Are Critical for Language in the Face of Early Left Focal Brain Injury

Science.gov (United States)

Beharelle, Anjali Raja; Dick, Anthony Steven; Josse, Goulven; Solodkin, Ana; Huttenlocher, Peter R.; Levine, Susan C.; Small, Steven L.

2010-01-01

A predominant theory regarding early stroke and its effect on language development, is that early left hemisphere lesions trigger compensatory processes that allow the right hemisphere to assume dominant language functions, and this is thought to underlie the near normal language development observed after early stroke. To test this theory, we…

Civil law

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hesselink, M.W.; Gibbons, M.T.

2014-01-01

The concept of civil law has two distinct meanings. that is, disputes between private parties (individuals, corporations), as opposed to other branches of the law, such as administrative law or criminal law, which relate to disputes between individuals and the state. Second, the term civil law is

World law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harold J. Berman

1999-03-01

Full Text Available In the third millennium of the Christian era, which is characterised by the emergence of a world economy and eventually a world society, the concept of world law is needed to embrace not only the traditional disciplines of public international law, and comparative law, but also the common underlying legal principles applicable in world trade, world finance, transnational transfer of technology and other fields of world economic law, as well as in such emerging fields as the protection of the world's environment and the protection of universal human rights. World law combines inter-state law with the common law of humanity and the customary law of various world communities.

Internationalization of law globalization, international law and complexity

CERN Document Server

Dias Varella, Marcelo

2014-01-01

The book provides an overview of how international law is today constructed through diverse macro and microprocesses that expand its traditional subjects and sources, with the attribution of sovereign capacity and power to the international plane (moving the international toward the national). Simultaneously, national laws approximate laws of other nations (moving among nations or moving the national toward the international) and new sources of legal norms emerge, independent of states and international organisations. This expansion occurs in many subject areas, with specific structures: commercial, environmental, human rights, humanitarian, financial, criminal and labor law contribute to the formation of post national law with different modes of functioning, different actors and different sources of law that should be understood as a new complexity of law.

The familiar strangeness of ancient names and the Law of the public use of Slovene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maja Sunčič

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The paper discusses the alien or familiar quality of ancient names in the naming of Slovene enterprises in view of the Law of the Public Use of Slovene (LPUS and a detailed study by Alenka Gložančev. While the law tries to banish all non-Slovene elements from public use with a special focus on the naming of enterprises, it surprisingly overlooks the issue of ancient names in public use, focusing primarily on English ones. Gložančev rightly points out that foreign names represent the key issue for the language-conscious public, whereas other, more important language questions are largely ignored. The LPUS and the study by Gložančev focus on English words and names, which are considered to be highly undesirable despite globalisation and Slovenia's accession to the European Union in May 2004. The use of ancient names, which are by definition foreign, in the naming of enterprises and venues proves to be a much more difficult issue, since ancient names are often dissociated from the context or signify nothing familiar to the consumer. Can it be expected that, in the name of defending the Slovene language and cultural heritage, the restrictions enforced by the LPUS on the use of foreign names will contribute to the disappearance of antiquity from contemporary everyday life?

Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT Project)

Data.gov (United States)

World Wide Human Geography Data Working Group — The Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT Project) monitors the world's broadcast, print, and web news from nearly every corner of every country in...

Environmental law and nuclear law: a growing symbiosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ennerechts, S.

2008-01-01

This article is divided in two parts. The first part deals with the interrelationship between environmental law and nuclear law. It specifically addresses selective topics which the author considers as substantial proof that environmental law is in evidence in the nuclear field. These topics are access to nuclear information, public participation in nuclear decision-making and prevention and compensation of environmental damage caused by nuclear incidents. Environmental law will be considered in its narrow sense, meaning the law that seeks to protect nature such as soil, water, air and biodiversity. The position of the author is that the importance of environmental law for nuclear activities is increasing and may lead to a growing symbiosis with nuclear law. Environmental law and nuclear law share the same objectives: protection against mitigation of and compensation for damage to the environment. In the second part a specific problem that touches upon the extra-territorial effect of environmental legislation in the nuclear field will be examined. At the beginning of the 21. century, it can be expected that vendors of nuclear facilities will spare no efforts in trying to enter new markets all over the world. Countries with more developed environmental requirements on the construction of nuclear facilities by their national vendors in customer countries. This part of the article will analyse whether public international laws to the construction of nuclear facilities abroad. The author believes that there may well be a legal basis under customary international law justifying the application of national environmental law to the construction of nuclear facilities and the performance of work on nuclear facilities in foreign countries, but there would appear to be none permitting the enforcement of these laws in the absence of an agreement with the foreign country. (N.C.)

Environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kloepfer, M.

1989-01-01

This comprehensive reference book on environmental law and practice also is a valuable textbook for students specializing in the field. The entire law on pollution control and environmental protection is presented in an intelligent system, covering the latest developments in the Federal and Land legislation, public environmental law, and the related provisions in the fields of civil law and criminal law. The national survey is rounded up by information concerning the international environmental law, environmental law of the European Communities, and of other foreign countries as e.g. Austria and Switzerland. The author also reviews conditions in neighbouring fields such as technology and labour law, environmental economy, environmental policy. Special attention is given to current topics, as e.g. relating to genetic engineering, disused landfills or industrial sites, soil protection, transport of hazardous goods, liability for damage to forests, atomic energy law, and radiation protection law. The latest publishing dates of literature and court decisions considered in the book are in the first months of 1989. (RST) [de

School Transportation Issues, Laws and Concerns: Implications for Future Administrators

Science.gov (United States)

Durick, Jody M.

2010-01-01

Nearly all building administrators are confronted with a variety of transportation issues. Challenges, concerns and questions can arise from various aspects, including student misbehaviors, transportation laws and its implications at the school level, to importance and implementation of a school bus safety program. As new and upcoming future…

Evaluation of uncertainty in the measurement of sense of natural language constructions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bisikalo Oleg V.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The task of evaluating uncertainty in the measurement of sense in natural language constructions (NLCs was researched through formalization of the notions of the language image, formalization of artificial cognitive systems (ACSs and the formalization of units of meaning. The method for measuring the sense of natural language constructions incorporated fuzzy relations of meaning, which ensures that information about the links between lemmas of the text is taken into account, permitting the evaluation of two types of measurement uncertainty of sense characteristics. Using developed applications programs, experiments were conducted to investigate the proposed method to tackle the identification of informative characteristics of text. The experiments resulted in dependencies of parameters being obtained in order to utilise the Pareto distribution law to define relations between lemmas, analysis of which permits the identification of exponents of an average number of connections of the language image as the most informative characteristics of text.

Introduction of a pet food safety law in Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katsuaki Sugiura

2009-06-01

Full Text Available In response to a growing concern among Japanese people over the safety of pet food marketed in Japan, a Pet Food Safety Law was approved by the Diet in June 2008 and will be enforced in June 2009. The law obliges manufacturers and importers of pet food to observe the standards for production methods and labelling and compositional specifications set by the Ministry of the Environment (MoE and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF. The law also obliges manufacturers, importers and distributors (excluding retailers of pet food to keep records of the name and quantity of pet food manufactured, imported and distributed. Within the compositional specifications, maximum residue limits have been established for aflatoxin B1 and certain organophosphorus pesticides and chemical preservatives. The establishment of standards for other mycotoxins, heavy metals, organochloride pesticides and other additives is scheduled for the near future.

Case - Case-Law - Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sadl, Urska

2013-01-01

Reasoning of the Court of Justice of the European Union – Constr uction of arguments in the case-law of the Court – Citation technique – The use of formulas to transform case-law into ‘law’ – ‘Formulaic style’ – European citizenship as a fundamental status – Ruiz Zambrano – Reasoning from...

Constraints on Negative Prefixation in Polish Sign Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomaszewski, Piotr

2015-01-01

The aim of this article is to describe a negative prefix, NEG-, in Polish Sign Language (PJM) which appears to be indigenous to the language. This is of interest given the relative rarity of prefixes in sign languages. Prefixed PJM signs were analyzed on the basis of both a corpus of texts signed by 15 deaf PJM users who are either native or near-native signers, and material including a specified range of prefixed signs as demonstrated by native signers in dictionary form (i.e. signs produced in isolation, not as part of phrases or sentences). In order to define the morphological rules behind prefixation on both the phonological and morphological levels, native PJM users were consulted for their expertise. The research results can enrich models for describing processes of grammaticalization in the context of the visual-gestural modality that forms the basis for sign language structure.

Language variety, language hierarchy, and language choice in the international university

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haberland, Hartmut; Mortensen, Janus

2012-01-01

Introduction to thematic issue on Language variety, language hierarchy, and language choice in the international university......Introduction to thematic issue on Language variety, language hierarchy, and language choice in the international university...

Strong gun laws are not enough: the need for improved enforcement of secondhand gun transfer laws in Massachusetts.

Science.gov (United States)

Braga, Anthony A; Hureau, David M

2015-10-01

Research suggests that an overwhelming majority of crime guns were transferred by private sellers before recovery by law enforcement. Unfortunately, most states do not regulate these transactions. This study examines whether analyses of state-level private transfer data could be used to develop interventions to reduce the supply of handguns to violent criminals. Traced Boston crime handguns first sold at Massachusetts license dealers were matched to state secondhand gun transfer data. Logistic regression and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the characteristics of recovered crime guns and in-state primary and secondary market transaction patterns. For crime handguns with records of secondary market transactions in Massachusetts, many rapidly move from private transfer to recovery by the police. Unfortunately, important transaction data on the in-state sources of nearly 63% of recovered handguns were not readily available to law enforcement agencies. Data on private transfers of guns could be used to prevent violent injuries by reducing criminal access. However, the passage of strong private transfer gun laws needs to be accompanied by investments in the vigorous enforcement of reporting requirements. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Health care law versus constitutional law.

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Mark A

2013-04-01

National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court's ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is a landmark decision - both for constitutional law and for health care law and policy. Others will study its implications for constitutional limits on a range of federal powers beyond health care. This article considers to what extent the decision is also about health care law, properly conceived. Under one view, health care law is the subdiscipline that inquires how courts and government actors take account of the special features of medicine that make legal or policy issues especially problematic - rather than regarding health care delivery and finance more generically, like most any other economic or social enterprise. Viewed this way, the opinions from the Court's conservative justices are mainly about general constitutional law principles. In contrast, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissenting opinion for the four more liberal justices is just as much about health care law as it is about constitutional law. Her opinion gives detailed attention to the unique features of health care finance and delivery in order to inform her analysis of constitutional precedents and principles. Thus, the Court's multiple opinions give a vivid depiction of the compelling contrasts between communal versus individualistic conceptions of caring for those in need, and between health care and health insurance as ordinary commodities versus ones that merit special economic, social, and legal status.

Near-Surface Seismic Velocity Data: A Computer Program For ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A computer program (NESURVELANA) has been developed in Visual Basic Computer programming language to carry out a near surface velocity analysis. The method of analysis used includes: Algorithms design and Visual Basic codes generation for plotting arrival time (ms) against geophone depth (m) employing the ...

Decentralisation, Distrust & Fear of the Body:The Worrying Rise of Crypto-Law

OpenAIRE

Cunningham, Alan

2016-01-01

The increasing collective use of distributed application software platforms, programming languages and crypto-currencies around the blockchain concept for general transactions may have radical implications for the way in which society conceptualizes and applies trust and trust-based social systems such as law. By exploring one iteration of such generalized blockchain systems – Ethereum – and the historical lineage of such systems, it will be argued that indeed their ideological basis is large...

Environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1980-01-01

This pocketbook contains major federal regulations on environmental protection. They serve to protect and cultivate mankind's natural foundations of life, to preserve the environment. The environmental law is devided as follows: Constitutional law on the environment, common administrative law on the environment, special administrative law on the environment including conservation of nature and preservation of rural amenities, protection of waters, waste management, protection against nuisances, nuclear energy and radiation protection, energy conservation, protection against dangerous substances, private law relating to the environment, criminal law relating to the environment. (HSCH) [de

Wind Energy Potential and Power Law Indexes Assessment for Selected Near-Coastal Sites in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aliashim Albani

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper investigated the wind energy potential by analysing a certain amount of gathered 10-min measured data at four stations located at coastal sites in Malaysia, i.e., Kudat, Mersing, Kijal, and Langkawi. The wind data are collected from a total of four new wind measurement masts with sensors mounted at various heights on the tower. The measured data have enabled the establishment of wind resource maps and the power law indexes (PLIs analysis. In addition, the dependence of PLI upon surface temperature and terrain types is studied, as they are associated to the form of exponential fits. Moreover, the accuracy of exponential fits is assessed by comparing the results with the 1/7 law via the capacity factor (CF discrepancies. In order to do so, the wind turbine with a hub-height similar to the maximum height of the measured data at each site is selected to simulate energy production. Accordingly, the discrepancy of CF based on the extrapolated data by employing 1/7 laws and exponential fits, in spite of being computed using measured data, is determined as well. Furthermore, the large discrepancy of the wind data and the CF, which has been determined with the application of 1/7, is compared to the exponential fits. This is because; discrepancy in estimation of vertical wind speed could lead to inaccurate CF computation. Meanwhile, from the energy potential analysis based on the computed CF, only Kudat and Mersing display a promising potential to develop a medium capacity of wind turbine power, while the other sites may be suitable for wind turbines at a small scale.

DEBT SECURITIES, SECURITIES IN THE NEW CODE OF CIVIL LAW – THE NEED OF JUDICIAL DISAMBIGUATION

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Eugenia Florescu

2012-11-01

Full Text Available A large part of the wealth is invested in securities, which circulate through documents or specific scriptural records that are located in the memory of the computer. These magnetic or paper-made „supports”, received different names, in law and in doctrine: debt securities, securities, negotiable instruments or commercial securities, equity securities, bearer bonds, financial instruments, transferable securities, stocks, bonds, bill, promissory note, check, et al. These expressions used by the New Code of Civil Law were assumed tale quale from the specialized language of commercial law, without any concern for explaining the foundation and judicial meaning of these legal institutions, and eliminate the ambiguity in this matter. Under such conditions, the analysis is to identify the criteria under which the judicial genre will separate from the judicial species in relation to the law and jurisprudence of the European Union and/or to the regulations specially adopted at national level, over time.

Troll, a Language for specifying Dice-rolls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mogensen, Torben Ægidius

2009-01-01

Dice are used in many games, and often in fairly complex ways that make it difficult to unambiguously describe the dice-roll mechanism in plain language. Many role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, use a formalised notation for some instances of dice-rolls. This notation, once explained...... natural language to describe rolls. Even Dungeons & Dragons use formal notation only for some of the dice-roll methods used in the game. Hence, a more complete notation is in this paper proposed, and a tool for pseudo-random rolls and (nearly) exact probability calculations is described. The notation...... is called "Troll", combining the initial of the Danish word for dice ("terninger") with the English word "roll". It is a development of the language Roll described in an earlier paper. The present paper describes the most important features of Troll and its implementation....

The Delinquencies of Juvenile Law: A Natural Law Analysis

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Ellis Washington

2010-07-01

Full Text Available This article is a substantive analysis tracing the legal, philosophical, social, historical, jurisprudence and political backgrounds of juvenile law, which is an outgrowth of the so-calledProgressive movement - a popular social and political movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. I also trace how this socio-political cause célèbre became a fixture in Americanculture and society due to existential child labor abuses which progressive intellectuals used as a pretext to codify juvenile law in federal law and in statutory law in all 50 states by 1925. Moreover the dubious social science and Machiavellian political efforts that created the juvenile justice system out of whole cloth has done much more harm to the Constitution and to the children it was mandated to protect than any of the Progressive ideas initially envisioned rooted in Positive Law (separation of law and morals. Finally, I present am impassioned argument for congressional repeal of all juvenile case law and statutes because they are rooted in Positive Law, contrary to Natural Law (integration of law and morals, the original intent of the constitutional Framers and are therefore patently unconstitutional.

Identifying the Dimensionality of Oral Language Skills of Children with Typical Development in Preschool through Fifth Grade

Science.gov (United States)

Lonigan, Christopher J.; Milburn, Trelani F.

2017-01-01

Purpose: Language is a multidimensional construct from prior to the beginning of formal schooling to near the end of elementary school. The primary goals of this study were to identify the dimensionality of language and to determine whether this dimensionality was consistent in children with typical language development from preschool through 5th…

Language Planning and Planned Languages: How Can Planned Languages Inform Language Planning?

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Humphrey Tonkin

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The field of language planning (LP has largely ignored planned languages. Of classic descriptions of LP processes, only Tauli (preceded by Wüster suggests that planned languages (what Wüster calls Plansprache might bear on LP theory and practice. If LP aims "to modify the linguistic behaviour of some community for some reason," as Kaplan and Baldauf put it, creating a language de novo is little different. Language policy and planning are increasingly seen as more local and less official, and occasionally more international and cosmopolitan. Zamenhof's work on Esperanto provides extensive material, little studied, documenting the formation of the language and linking it particularly to issues of supranational LP. Defining LP decision-making, Kaplan & Baldauf begin with context and target population. Zamenhof's Esperanto came shortly before Ben-Yehuda's revived Hebrew. His target community was (mostly the world's educated elite; Ben-Yehuda's was worldwide Jewry. Both planners were driven not by linguistic interest but by sociopolitical ideology rooted in reaction to anti-Semitism and imbued with the idea of progress. Their territories had no boundaries, but were not imaginary. Function mattered as much as form (Haugen's terms, status as much as corpus. For Zamenhof, status planning involved emphasis on Esperanto's ownership by its community - a collective planning process embracing all speakers (cf. Hebrew. Corpus planning included a standardized European semantics, lexical selectivity based not simply on standardization but on representation, and the development of written, and literary, style. Esperanto was successful as linguistic system and community language, less as generally accepted lingua franca. Its terminology development and language cultivation offers a model for language revival, but Zamenhof's somewhat limited analysis of language economy left him unprepared to deal with language as power.

Notes from the Field: Lolak--Another Moribund Language of Indonesia, with Supporting Audio

Science.gov (United States)

Lobel, Jason William; Paputungan, Ade Tatak

2017-01-01

This paper consists of a short multimedia introduction to Lolak, a near-extinct Greater Central Philippine language traditionally spoken in three small communities on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. In addition to being one of the most underdocumented languages in the area, it is also spoken by one of the smallest native speaker populations…

The Grammatical Universe and the Laws of Thermodynamics and Quantum Entanglement

Science.gov (United States)

Marcer, Peter J.; Rowlands, Peter

2010-11-01

The universal nilpotent computational rewrite system (UNCRS) is shown to formalize an irreversible process of evolution in conformity with the First, Second and Third Laws of Thermodynamics, in terms of a single algebraic creation operator (ikE+ip+jm) which delivers the whole quantum mechanical language apparatus, where k, i, j are quaternions units and E, p, m are energy, momentum and rest mass. This nilpotent evolution describes `a dynamic zero totality universe' in terms of its fermion states (each of which, by Pauli exclusion, is unique and nonzero), where, together with their boson interactions, these define physics at the fundamental level. (The UNCRS implies that the inseparability of objects and fields in the quantum universe is based on the fact that the only valid mathematical representations are all automorphisms of the universe itself, and that this is the mathematical meaning of quantum entanglement. It thus appears that the nilpotent fermion states are in fact what is called the splitting field in Quantum Mechanics of the Galois group which leads to the roots of the corresponding algebraic equation, and concerns in this case the alternating group of even permutations which are themselves automorphisms). In the nilpotent evolutionary process: (i) the Quantum Carnot Engine (QCE) extended model of thermodynamic irreversibility, consisting of a single heat bath of an ensemble of Standard Model elementary particles, retains a small amount of quantum coherence / entanglement, so as to constitute new emergent fermion states of matter, and (ii) the metric (E2-p2m2) = 0 ensures the First Law of the conservation of energy operates at each nilpotent stage, so that (iii) prior to each creation (and implied corresponding annihilation / conserve operation), E and m can be postulated to constitute dark energy and matter respectively. It says that the natural language form of the rewrite grammar of the evolution consists of the well known precepts of the Laws of

The Grammatical Universe and the Laws of Thermodynamics and Quantum Entanglement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marcer, Peter J.; Rowlands, Peter

2010-01-01

The universal nilpotent computational rewrite system (UNCRS) is shown to formalize an irreversible process of evolution in conformity with the First, Second and Third Laws of Thermodynamics, in terms of a single algebraic creation operator (ikE+ip+jm) which delivers the whole quantum mechanical language apparatus, where k, i, j are quaternions units and E, p, m are energy, momentum and rest mass. This nilpotent evolution describes 'a dynamic zero totality universe' in terms of its fermion states (each of which, by Pauli exclusion, is unique and nonzero), where, together with their boson interactions, these define physics at the fundamental level. (The UNCRS implies that the inseparability of objects and fields in the quantum universe is based on the fact that the only valid mathematical representations are all automorphisms of the universe itself, and that this is the mathematical meaning of quantum entanglement. It thus appears that the nilpotent fermion states are in fact what is called the splitting field in Quantum Mechanics of the Galois group which leads to the roots of the corresponding algebraic equation, and concerns in this case the alternating group of even permutations which are themselves automorphisms). In the nilpotent evolutionary process: (i) the Quantum Carnot Engine (QCE) extended model of thermodynamic irreversibility, consisting of a single heat bath of an ensemble of Standard Model elementary particles, retains a small amount of quantum coherence / entanglement, so as to constitute new emergent fermion states of matter, and (ii) the metric (E 2 -p 2 m 2 ) = 0 ensures the First Law of the conservation of energy operates at each nilpotent stage, so that (iii) prior to each creation (and implied corresponding annihilation / conserve operation), E and m can be postulated to constitute dark energy and matter respectively. It says that the natural language form of the rewrite grammar of the evolution consists of the well known precepts of the Laws

Efficient Calculation of Near Fields in the FDTD Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Franek, Ondrej

2011-01-01

When calculating frequency-domain near fields by the FDTD method, almost 50 % reduction in memory and CPU operations can be achieved if only E-fields are stored during the main time-stepping loop and H-fields computed later. An improved method of obtaining the H-fields from Faraday's Law is prese...

Time-series surveys and pulsating stars: The near-infrared perspective

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Matsunaga Noriyuki

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this review is to discuss the advantages and problems of nearinfrared surveys in observing pulsating stars in the Milky Way. One of the advantages of near-infrared surveys, when compared to optical counterparts, is that the interstellar extinction is significantly smaller. As we see in this review, a significant volume of the Galactic disk can be reached by infrared surveys but not by optical ones. Towards highly obscured regions in the Galactic mid-plane, however, the interstellar extinction causes serious problems even with near-infrared data in understanding the observational results. After a review on previous and current near-infrared surveys, we discuss the effects of the interstellar extinction in optical (including Gaia to near-infrared broad bands based on a simple calculation using synthetic spectral energy distribution. We then review the recent results on classical Cepheids towards the Galactic center and the bulge, as a case study, to see the impact of the uncertainty in the extinction law. The extinction law, i.e. the wavelength dependency of the extinction, is not fully characterized, and its uncertainty makes it hard to make the correction. Its characterization is an urgent task in order to exploit the outcomes of ongoing large-scale surveys of pulsating stars, e.g. for drawing a map of pulsating stars across the Galactic disk.

Can CCM law properly represent all extinction curves?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geminale, Anna; Popowski, Piotr

2005-01-01

We present the analysis of a large sample of lines of sight with extinction curves covering wavelength range from near-infrared (NIR) to ultraviolet (UV). We derive total to selective extinction ratios based on the Cardelli, Clayton and Mathis (1989, CCM) law, which is typically used to fit the extinction data both for diffuse and dense interstellar medium. We conclude that the CCM law is able to fit most of the extinction curves in our sample. We divide the remaining lines of sight with peculiar extinction into two groups according to two main behaviors: a) the optical/IR or/and UV wavelength region cannot be reproduced by the CCM formula; b) the optical/NIR and UV extinction data are best fit by the CCM law with different values of R v . We present examples of such curves. The study of both types of peculiar cases can help us to learn about the physical processes that affect dust in the interstellar medium, e.g., formation of mantles on the surface of grains, evaporation, growing or shattering

What Do Transgender Women’s Experiences Tell Us about Law? Towards an Understanding of Law as Legal Complex

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Esen Ezgi Tascioglu

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Based on ethnographic study conducted in Istanbul, this thesis investigates the effects of law and legal operations on transgender women’s sex work and daily lives, and seeks to disentangle the multidimensional ways through which they and their conduct are governmentalized by law in Turkey. The first part of the thesis discusses the legal dynamics surrounding transgender sex work and delineates how transgender women are expulsed from regulated sex work by the interaction of the socially produced desire around their bodies and law. Led to work outside the regulated sex trade, transgender women navigate spaces which are regulated in an ambivalent manner yet which have the net effect of drawing transgender women into street sex work. The second part shows that these legal practices on sex work do not apply to all sex workers but to nearly all transgender women, depriving them from their most basic rights. Overall my analysis demonstrates that transgender women find themselves in a multitude of legal and institutional practices that are borne out of the interaction of their social contexts, their bodily performances and legal texts and their application, and that this is done through various regulatory agents. I argue that such an examination demonstrates law’s multiplicity and heterogeneity against the unitary and sovereigntist understandings of law which prevail in popular discourse as well as scholarly and activist thinking in Turkey and abroad. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1730260

Language of the Legal Process: An Analysis of Interactions in the "Syariah" Court

Science.gov (United States)

Hashim, Azirah; Hassan, Norizah

2011-01-01

This study examines interactions from trials in the Syariah court in Malaysia. It focuses on the types of questioning, the choice of language and the linguistic resources employed in this particular context. In the discourse of law, questioning has been a prominent concern particularly in cross-examination and can be considered one of the key…

Biolinguistics or Physicolinguistics? Is the Third Factor Helpful or Harmful in Explaining Language?

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Sverker Johansson

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Noam Chomsky (2005 proposed that a ‘third factor’, consisting of general principles and natural laws, may explain core properties of language in a principled manner, minimizing the need for either genetic endowment or experience. But the focus on third-factor patterns in much recent bio-linguistic work is misguided for several reasons: First, ‘the’ third factor is a vague and disparate collection of unrelated components, useless as an analytical tool. Second, the vagueness of the third factor, together with the desire for principled explanations, too often leads to sweeping claims, such as syntax “coming for free, directly from physics”, that are unwarranted without a case-by-case causal analysis. Third, attention is diverted away from a proper causal analysis of language as a biological feature. The point with biolinguistics is to acknowledge the language faculty as a biological feature. The best way forward towards an understanding of language is to take the biology connection seriously, instead of dabbling with physics.

THE USE OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT: DIVERSITY AFFIRMED?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

JL (Loot Pretorius

2013-04-01

Full Text Available SUMMARYA full sixteen years after the coming into force of the 1996 Constitution, Parliament responded to the constitutional obligation to regulate and monitor, by legislative and other means, the use of official languages by adopting the Use of Official Languages Act 12 of 2012. The Act represents a very limited normative appreciation of this constitutional instruction. The official language clause of the Constitution expresses a normative commitment regarding the positive affirmation of linguistic diversity, which is directly informed by and closely aligned to the core normative values of the Constitution. The Constitution’s positive evaluation of difference, including linguistic difference, inter alia, flows from the values of substantive equality, equal citizenship, dignity and proportionality. However, the way in which the Act institutionalises the promotion of inclusive linguistic diversity does not reflect an unambiguous recognition of this obligation being normatively embedded in the foundational value structure of the Constitution. The real responsibility for decisions regarding official language use is located in the policy-making competence of non-independent administrative bodies. The Act itself is devoid of instructive standards of its own to guide administrative decision-making regarding official language use. This results in the responsibility for making the most important normative choices regarding the use of official languages not being reserved for the legislative process, but entrusted to non-independent advisory administrative bodies. The nature of the Act confirms that it never was the intention of the government to be bound by legislation in this respect. This modus operandi is democratically deficient and compromises both the separation of powers and the principle of legal certainty as fundamental tenets of the rule of law.

Inequalities in the Provision of Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy Services across London Boroughs

Science.gov (United States)

Pring, Tim

2016-01-01

Background: The inverse-care law suggests that fewer healthcare resources are available in deprived areas where health needs are greatest. Aims: To examine the provision of paediatric speech and language services across London boroughs and to relate provision to the level of deprivation of the boroughs. Methods & Procedures: Information on the…

Speech and Language Disturbances in Neurology Practice

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Oğuz Tanrıdağ

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Despite the well-known facts discerned from interesting cases of speech and language disturbances over thousands of years, the scientific background and the limitless discussions for nearly 150 years, this field has been considered one of the least important subjects in neurological sciences. In this review, we first analyze the possible causes for this “stepchild” attitude towards this subject and we then summarize the practical aspects concerning speech and language disturbances. Our underlying expectation with this review is to explain the facts concerning those disturbances that might offer us opportunities to better understand the nervous system and the affected patients

Investigating the little rip and other future singularities of the universe, and validity of the second law of thermodynamics in F(R theory

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M Aghaei Abchouyeh

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The future singularities are possible in a universe that is described by F(R theory. In previous studies the occurrence of the singularities in F(R theory have been considered by using a special function for the Hubble parameter and calculating the F(R function for each of the singularities. Using the specified Hubble parameter causes some difficulties in the study of the second law of thermodynamics. In this paper by using the scale factor, the behavior of F(R function near each type of the singularities is considered. We can check the validity of the second law of thermodynamics near the singularities. At first we study the Little Rip and then the other types of singularities are considered. The results show that the second law of thermodynamics is satisfied near the singularity type (I with some special conditions and is violated with some other conditions. it is satisfied near the Little Rip, type (II, (III and (IV singularities

The incorporation of public international law into municipal law and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Monism and dualism represent two different approaches towards the relationship between public international law and municipal law. While the former views public international law and municipal law as a single legal system, the latter regards these two areas of law as separate and distinct legal systems that exist ...

A 'Scottish Poor Law of Lunacy'? Poor Law, Lunacy Law and Scotland's parochial asylums.

Science.gov (United States)

Farquharson, Lauren

2017-03-01

Scotland's parochial asylums are unfamiliar institutional spaces. Representing the concrete manifestation of the collision between two spheres of legislation, the Poor Law and the Lunacy Law, six such asylums were constructed in the latter half of the nineteenth century. These sites expressed the enduring mandate of the Scottish Poor Law 1845 over the domain of 'madness'. They were institutions whose very existence was fashioned at the directive of the local arm of the Poor Law, the parochial board, and they constituted a continuing 'Scottish Poor Law of Lunacy'. Their origins and operation significantly subverted the intentions and objectives of the Lunacy Act 1857, the aim of which had been to institute a public district asylum network with nationwide coverage.

Resonance tuning due to Coulomb interaction in strong near-field coupled metamaterials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy Chowdhury, Dibakar; Xu, Ningning; Zhang, Weili; Singh, Ranjan

2015-01-01

Coulomb's law is one of the most fundamental laws of physics that describes the electrostatic interaction between two like or unlike point charges. Here, we experimentally observe a strong effect of Coulomb interaction in tightly coupled terahertz metamaterials where the split-ring resonator dimers in a unit cell are coupled through their near fields across the capacitive split gaps. Using a simple analytical model, we evaluated the Coulomb parameter that switched its sign from negative to positive values indicating the transition in the nature of Coulomb force from being repulsive to attractive depending upon the near field coupling between the split ring resonators. Apart from showing interesting effects in the strong coupling regime between meta-atoms, Coulomb interaction also allows an additional degree of freedom to achieve frequency tunable dynamic metamaterials

The role of angular momentum conservation law in statistical mechanics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I.M. Dubrovskii

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Within the limits of Khinchin ideas [A.Y. Khinchin, Mathematical Foundation of Statistical Mechanics. NY, Ed. Dover, 1949] the importance of momentum and angular momentum conservation laws was analyzed for two cases: for uniform magnetic field and when magnetic field is absent. The law of momentum conservation does not change the density of probability distribution in both cases, just as it is assumed in the conventional theory. It is shown that in systems where the kinetic energy depends only on particle momenta canonically conjugated with Cartesian coordinates being their diagonal quadric form,the angular momentum conservation law changes the density of distribution of the system only in case the full angular momentum of a system is not equal to zero. In the gas of charged particles in a uniform magnetic field the density of distribution also varies if the angular momentum is zero [see Dubrovskii I.M., Condensed Matter Physics, 2206, 9, 23]. Two-dimensional gas of charged particles located within a section of an endless strip filled with gas in magnetic field is considered. Under such conditions the angular momentum is not conserved. Directional particle flows take place close to the strip boundaries, and, as a consequence, the phase trajectory of the considered set of particles does not remain within the limited volume of the phase space. In order to apply a statistical thermodynamics method, it was suggested to consider near-boundary trajectories relative to a reference system that moves uniformly. It was shown that if the diameter of an orbit having average thermal energy is much smaller than a strip width, the corrections to thermodynamic functions are small depending on magnetic field. Only the average velocity of near-boundary particles that form near-boundary electric currents creating the paramagnetic moment turn out to be essential.

International law

CERN Document Server

Shaw, Malcolm N

2017-01-01

International Law is the definitive and authoritative text on the subject, offering Shaw's unbeatable combination of clarity of expression and academic rigour and ensuring both understanding and critical analysis in an engaging and authoritative style. Encompassing the leading principles, practice and cases, and retaining and developing the detailed references which encourage and assist the reader in further study, this new edition motivates and challenges students and professionals while remaining accessible and engaging. Fully updated to reflect recent case law and treaty developments, this edition contains an expanded treatment of the relationship between international and domestic law, the principles of international humanitarian law, and international criminal law alongside additional material on international economic law.

Source-intrinsic near-infrared properties of Sgr A*: Total intensity measurements

OpenAIRE

Witzel, G.; Eckart, A.; Bremer, M.; Zamaninasab, M.; Shahzamanian, B.; Valencia-S., M.; Schödel, R.; Karas, V.; Lenzen, R.; Marchili, N.; Sabha, N.; Garcia-Marin, M.; Buchholz, R. M.; Kunneriath, D.; Straubmeier, C.

2012-01-01

We present a comprehensive data description for Ks-band measurements of Sgr A*. We characterize the statistical properties of the variability of Sgr A* in the near-infrared, which we find to be consistent with a single-state process forming a power-law distribution of the flux density. We discover a linear rms-flux relation for the flux-density range up to 12 mJy on a timescale of 24 minutes. This and the power-law flux density distribution implies a phenomenological, formally non-linear stat...

Representing and computing regular languages on massively parallel networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, M.I.; O' Sullivan, J.A. (Electronic Systems and Research Lab., of Electrical Engineering, Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (US)); Boysam, B. (Dept. of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (US)); Smith, K.R. (Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville, IL (US))

1991-01-01

This paper proposes a general method for incorporating rule-based constraints corresponding to regular languages into stochastic inference problems, thereby allowing for a unified representation of stochastic and syntactic pattern constraints. The authors' approach first established the formal connection of rules to Chomsky grammars, and generalizes the original work of Shannon on the encoding of rule-based channel sequences to Markov chains of maximum entropy. This maximum entropy probabilistic view leads to Gibb's representations with potentials which have their number of minima growing at precisely the exponential rate that the language of deterministically constrained sequences grow. These representations are coupled to stochastic diffusion algorithms, which sample the language-constrained sequences by visiting the energy minima according to the underlying Gibbs' probability law. The coupling to stochastic search methods yields the all-important practical result that fully parallel stochastic cellular automata may be derived to generate samples from the rule-based constraint sets. The production rules and neighborhood state structure of the language of sequences directly determines the necessary connection structures of the required parallel computing surface. Representations of this type have been mapped to the DAP-510 massively-parallel processor consisting of 1024 mesh-connected bit-serial processing elements for performing automated segmentation of electron-micrograph images.

Facing the Challenge of Improving the Legal Writing Skills of Educationally Disadvantaged Law Students in a South African Law School

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Angela Diane Crocker

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Many first-year students in the School of Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College, who have been disadvantaged by a poor primary and secondary education, exhibit poor legal writing skills. Over a period of four years, in order to address this urgent need for legal writing instruction, the School of Law introduced two successive legal writing interventions. The first intervention was the Concise Writing Programme, followed by the Integrated Skills in Context Programme. The Concise Writing Programme focused on English writing skills and grammar in the hope that first-year law students would be able to transfer these generic writing skills to the more specific legal discourse within which they were learning to operate. The Law School reviewed the success of this initial programme and found that students who took part in the programme not only lacked the motivation to learn generic English writing skills, but that they also did not find it easy to transfer these skills to the more specific legal writing environment. The Law School then implemented a second legal writing intervention – The Integrated Skills in Context Programme. This programme acknowledged the fact that legal writing has a multi-faceted nature, encompassing legal analysis and application, as well as logical sequencing and argument, all of which could not be taught in a vacuum, particularly when most of the student base was largely unfamiliar with any form of legal discourse and many had English as a second language. This paper recognises that there is no silver bullet to improving the legal writing skills of these students. The reality is that it will take hard work as well as financial incentives to make a difference to these students' legal writing skills. Our students need intensive one-on-one attention by qualified academics, and this means that those doing the instruction must be recognised and adequately compensated.

The Existence of Customary Law in the Polemics of Positive Law – a Study From the Perspective of Constitutional Law

OpenAIRE

Saleh, M

2013-01-01

As a member of the law family, the Adat law is one form of positive law which plays particular role and contribution in the making process of the whole positive law in Indonesia. Existence of Adat law in the constitutional of Indonesia painted its own color. As one of the oldest customary law in the life of local community Adat law has become the seed and formatting idea of Indonesia's national law where Adat Law has widely influenced other positive law.

International law and United Nations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Savić Matej

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Along with centuries-lasting open military pretensions of world superpowers, modern diplomacy has developed, as beginning a war, as well as coming to peace demanded political activity which resulted, first in signing, and then coming into effect of international documents, on the basis of which, a foundation for the modern international order has been cast. Further on, by the formation of international organizations, codification has been allowed, as well as a progressive development of international law. Additionally, in the sense of preserving international peace and security, first the League of Nations was formed, and following the ending of World War II, the UN. Generally, the functioning of the United Nation's organs, has been regulated by legal rules, however political goals, tendencies, and mechanisms which the member states are using determine greatly the activity above all of the Security Council, but furthermore of the General Assembly, as a plenary organ. Nevertheless, the achieved results of the Commission for International Law in the meaning of creation of international conventions, as well as state adhering to the same, present unassailable achievements in the sense of development of international law. On the other hand, tendencies of motion of international relationships are aimed at establishing a multi-polar system in the international community. Today, the political scene is assuming a new appearance, by which the nearly built international system is already awaiting further progressive development.

THE INTERFERENCE OF EUROPEAN UNION LAW WITH PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ROXANA-MARIANA POPESCU

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The European Union Law is an unique legal phenomenon developed in the process of European integration within the framework of the European Communities and the European Union; a result of the implementation of the supranational authority of the European institutions. The European Union law is a specific legal system having independent sources and principles that developed at the border-line of international law and domestic law of the EU’s Member States. The authonomy of the European Union law is affirmed by a case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.The European Union has its own legal order which is separate from international law and forms an integral part of the legal systems of the Member States. The legal order of the Union is founded on various different sources of law. The different nature of these sources has imposed a hierarchy among them. At the pinnacle of this hierarchy we find primary law, represented by the Treaties and general legal principles, followed by international treaties concluded by the Union and secondary law founded on the Treaties.

Icelandic: A Lesser-Used Language in the Global Community

Science.gov (United States)

Holmarsdottir, Halla B.

2001-07-01

A small nation in the middle of the North Atlantic, Iceland currently has a population of 265,000 (1996). The Iceland language has changed very little since the island was settled some 11 centuries ago. Despite the relatively small number of people who speak the language and irrespective of the globalisation efforts by the international community, which includes the ever-increasing influence of English worldwide, the Icelandic language and culture are stronger than ever. The current volume and variety of publications of Icelandic works in all areas have never been as great. Icelandic is a living and growing language. Growth in vocabulary, in response to recent phenomena like the introduction of new technology, has primarily come about with the development of new words from the language's roots. The near absence of Latin, Greek and, more recently, English or Danish words in Icelandic, is striking. Iceland's language policy is not only a governmental policy. It is a policy that comes from the grassroots with the government and official institutions viewing their job as one of service to the people of Iceland. Icelanders are very proud of their language and are extremely determined to continually develop and preserve it for future generations.

Europeanisation of private law and English law

OpenAIRE

Beale, Hugh

2003-01-01

To what extent is English Private Law being affected by the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union? I think we can try to answer this at three levels: (i) The United Kingdom’s compliance with EU legislation; (ii) the influence of European ideas on English Private Law; (iii) the attitude in England towards greater harmonisation or possible unification of European Private Law

Law across nations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

of participants keen to work together to promote research and policy development in such a lively forum." - Professor Steve Saxby PhD, Cert Ed., MBCS Professor of IT Law and Public Policy, Solicitor, Deputy Head of School (Research), Faculty of Business and Law, University of Southampton, Editor...... not only the original themes of Legal, Security and Privacy Issues in IT Law and International Law and Trade but more recently two new conferences on International Public and Private Law. The papers in this volume then represent the contributions to all these fields and reflect the strong desire......-in-Chief, The Computer Law & Security Review - The International Journal of Technology Law and Practice (Elsevier), www.elsevier.com/locate/clsr, Editor, The Encyclopedia of Information Technology Law (Sweet & Maxwell), Director ILAWS - Institute for Law and the Web - School of Law, Southampton University, www...

THE LANGUAGE OF MEDICAL ADVERTISING MATERIALS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Birutė Briaukienė

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Increasingly audacious steps in advertising are made to affect the customer and to encourage them to buy the advertised goods. Advertising is highly important in gaining a foothold in the business environment. Usually, the advertising texts fail to meet the norms of the standard Lithuanian language. The aim of this article is to compare the language of the advertising booklets of two pharmacies. The linguistic analysis of the advertising booklets of Camelia and Euro Pharmacy for March 2014 showed that in terms of language errors the booklets of the two pharmacies were similar, and the character of the errors was identical in both cases. The advertising booklets of both pharmacies contained lexical, syntactic, morphological, and logical errors. The advertising booklet of the Camelia pharmacy presents 121 items, which advertising descriptions contain 55.3% of language errors. The advertising booklet of the Euro Pharmacy presents advertising descriptions of 103 items, where language errors comprise 57.2%. The majority of the errors detected in the advertising booklets of the two pharmacies are lexical (Camelia – 33.8%, and Euro Pharmacy – 37.3% or syntactic (Camelia – 27.9%, and Euro Pharmacy – 37.3%. Both publications contain nearly equal numbers of lexical errors (Camelia – 17.6%, and Euro Pharmacy – 18.7%. The greatest difference was observed in the number of morphological errors (Camelia – 20.7%, and Euro Pharmacy – 5.7%. In addition to that, the name of the Camelia pharmacy is in conflict with the norms of both Lithuanian and Latin languages.

Law Commissions – What is the essence of their law reform role?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil Faris

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Article by Neil Faris (Solicitor and a former Commissioner at the Northern Ireland Law Commission reflecting on the nature of law reform as carried out by law commissions. This is in the context of the author’s experience in the Northern Ireland Law Commission. The paper assesses the importance of independence in any law reform body and the particular impact which law commissioners may bring to the law reform process. The paper looks at the history of law reform in Northern Ireland leading to the establishment of the Commission with a brief overview of the work of the Commission. The conclusion is that there is a role for effective law reform driven by commissioner led independent law commissions. The author makes a strong case for the need for independent law commissions to promote high quality law reform. His article gives an idea about how law reform works in practice with law commissions providing one route for reforming the law.

The language of the protein universe.

Science.gov (United States)

Scaiewicz, Andrea; Levitt, Michael

2015-12-01

Proteins, the main cell machinery which play a major role in nearly every cellular process, have always been a central focus in biology. We live in the post-genomic era, and inferring information from massive data sets is a steadily growing universal challenge. The increasing availability of fully sequenced genomes can be regarded as the 'Rosetta Stone' of the protein universe, allowing the understanding of genomes and their evolution, just as the original Rosetta Stone allowed Champollion to decipher the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. In this review, we consider aspects of the protein domain architectures repertoire that are closely related to those of human languages and aim to provide some insights about the language of proteins. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

RECENT CJEU CASE LAW TRENDS IN COMPETITION LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virgilijus Valančius

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this article is to present the most significant recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU related to the competition law. Firstly, focus is given to some recent CJEU case law in the antitrust area, i.e. the judgments dealing with the application of Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU. A special attention is paid to the most recent CJEU case law analyzing the distinction between the object and effect of the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition. Secondly, some significant State aid cases are dealt with, i.e. the cases related to the application of Article 107 TFEU. Although the CJEU case law has not recently undergone major changes in the competition law field, the article reflects the main trends towards the current jurisprudence and what challenges may be expected in the future.

Superconducting Material - A study on the near field of a superconducting antenna

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Soon Chil; Lee, Seung Chul; Doe, Joong Hoe; Hoe, Mi Ra [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1996-07-01

The pulse spectroscopy in combination with piezoelectric resonance makes an ideal non-disturbing tool for the measurement of electric field near an antenna. This new field sensing technique was used to investigate the field of a ring antenna the near field of which is widely used such as the plasma generation and NMR. The superconducting wire also have the dominant capacitive AC field in near regions, meaning that the net charge on the ring surface is not due to the ohm`s law as in DC. 23 refs., 8 figs. (author)

The growing interrelationship between nuclear law and environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bourdon, Pierre

2015-01-01

With the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, a great deal of attention is being given to low-carbon energy technologies and policies that could help the world limit the global temperature increase to 2 deg. Celsius. Among these technologies, nuclear energy, which remains the largest source of low-carbon electricity in OECD countries and the second largest source of electricity at the global level after hydropower, can play a key role. The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident heightened public concern over the safety of nuclear energy in many countries. Because of the potentially far-reaching consequences of the use of nuclear energy on the environment in the case of an accident, it is commonly thought that nuclear law and environmental law are not entirely compatible or do not necessarily share the same objectives. Nuclear law may be defined as 'the body of special legal norms created to regulate the conduct of legal or natural persons engaged in activities related to fissionable materials, ionizing radiation and exposure to natural sources of radiation', while environmental law can be defined as 'the body of law that contains elements to control the human impact on the Earth and on public health'. These two areas of law were considered independently in the past, since the initial focus of nuclear law, which was developed before environmental law, was to protect people and property, without explicitly referring to the environment. However, the 1986 Chernobyl accident and increasing environmental concerns during that same decade led to a growing emphasis on environmental protection in the field of nuclear activities. On the one hand, nuclear law, as 'lex specialis', aims to ensure that nuclear activities are carried out in a manner that is safe for both the public and the environment. On the other hand, the expansion of the realm of environmental law has given rise to the application of environmentally focused

Challenges imposed by International Environmental Law to Classical International Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabian Augusto Cárdenas Castañeda

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The emergence of international environmental law has produced important challenges to the very foundations of public international law. Traditional concepts such as state sovereignty, subjects of international law, and the early perspectives of national security are being transformed. The needs of the contemporary international society differ from the ones of the Wesphalian conception, situations which clearly explains the raise of alternative views for the understanding of the current dynamics of international law, where concepts like res communis, common concerns and simply “commons” take a privileged place in the study of international law. The foregoing has been strengthened by the international development of the so called erga ommnes obligations, label which is being used by international environmental law as the perfect explanation of its own existence. This academic article presents and studies the abovementioned concepts trying to compare what international law used to be before the emergence of international environmental law and what it is and what it should be in order to attend the developments and challenges imposed by the contemporary international society, particularly by international environmental law, a new fi eld of the corpus juris of public international law.

Tenancy Law Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edlund, Hans Henrik

2003-01-01

Report on Danish Tenancy Law. Contribution to a research project co-financed by the Grotius Programme for Judicial Co-Operation in Civil Matters. http://www.iue.it/LAW/ResearchTeaching/EuropeanPrivateLaw/Projects.shtml......Report on Danish Tenancy Law. Contribution to a research project co-financed by the Grotius Programme for Judicial Co-Operation in Civil Matters. http://www.iue.it/LAW/ResearchTeaching/EuropeanPrivateLaw/Projects.shtml...

German Language Proficiency among Students of Business and Management in the Czech Republic and its Perception: The Importance of German Language Skills on the Labour Market and the Role of Universities in Foreign Language Training

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zinecker Marek

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of an empirical study designed to map German language proficiency among students at Czech universities of business and management. The results of this empirical survey can be summarised as follows. First, the ability of students at Czech universities of business and management to communicate in German is poor, and exceeds the general German language proficiency of the Czech population only to an insignificant extent. Second, the school environment (the opportunity to learn the language, compulsory subject, language study motivation has a decisive influence on the respondents’ ability to communicate in German. Third, nearly three-quarters of the respondents perceive German as a language that is very or rather important for their profession and career growth. Fourth, almost two-thirds of the respondents consider the role played by a university of business and management in the improvement of German language proficiency rather or very important. In conclusion, the study proposes directions for the potential development of the national educational system in the area of German language proficiency of university graduates in business and management in the Czech Republic, with an emphasis on the concept of content and language integrated learning (CLIL. We believe that the survey results are also very important from the point of view of enterprises operating in the Czech Republic because of the very close economic relations between the Czech Republic and German-speaking countries.

Religious law versus secular law The example of the get refusal in Dutch, English and Israeli law

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blois, M. de

2010-01-01

The tension between religious law and secular law in modern democracies is illustrated in this article by a discussion of the different approaches to the get (a bill of divorce) refusal (based on Jewish law) under Dutch, English and Israeli law. These legal orders share many characteristics, but

Preschool language interventions for latino dual language learners with language disorders: what, in what language, and how.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon-Cereijido, Gabriela

2015-05-01

About a quarter of young children in the United States are dual language learners. The large majority are Latino children who are exposed to Spanish in their homes. The language needs of Latino dual language preschoolers are different from the needs of monolingual English-speaking children. As a group, they are likely to live in environments that put them at risk of delays in language development. This situation is direr for dual language preschoolers with language impairment. Recent findings from studies on interventions for Spanish-English preschoolers with language impairment suggest that a bilingual approach does not delay English vocabulary and oral language learning and promotes Spanish maintenance. Targets and strategies for different language domains are described. The effects of pullout versus push-in interventions for this population are preliminarily explored. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Is Law science? | Roos | Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The question this contribution sets out to address is whether or not law can be regarded as a science. This notion is readily accepted by many, yet it is submitted that a proper theoretical justification for such an assumption is usually missing. The traditional primary sources of law, South African case law and legislation, ...

Hanford immobilized LAW product acceptance: Initial Tanks Focus Area testing data package

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

JD Vienna; A Jiricka; BP McGrail; BM Jorgensen; DE Smith; BR Allen; JC Marra; DK Peeler; KG Brown; IA Reamer; WL Ebert

2000-03-08

The Hanford Site's mission has been to produce nuclear materials for the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors. A large inventory of radioactive and mixed waste, largely generated during plutonium production, exists in 177 underground single- and double-shell tanks. These wastes are to be retrieved and separated into low-activity waste (LAW) and high-level waste (HLW) fractions. The total volume of LAW requiring immobilization will include the LAW separated from the tank waste, as well as new wastes generated by the retrieval, pretreatment, and immobilization processes. Per the Tri-Party Agreement (1994), both the LAW and HLW will be vitrified. It has been estimated that vitrification of the LAW waste will result in over 500,000 metric tons or 200,000 m{sup 3} of immobilized LAW (ILAW) glass. The ILAW glass is to be disposed of onsite in a near-surface burial facility. It must be demonstrated that the disposal system will adequately retain the radionuclides and prevent contamination of the surrounding environment. This report describes a study of the impacts of systematic glass-composition variation on the responses from accelerated laboratory corrosion tests of representative LAW glasses. A combination of two tests, the product consistency test and vapor-hydration test, is being used to give indictations of the relative rate at which a glass could be expected to corrode in the burial scenario.

Hanford immobilized LAW product acceptance: Initial Tanks Focus Area testing data package

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

JD Vienna; A Jiricka; BP McGrail; BM Jorgensen; DE Smith; BR Allen; JC Marra; DK Peeler; KG Brown; IA Reamer; WL Ebert

2000-01-01

The Hanford Site's mission has been to produce nuclear materials for the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors. A large inventory of radioactive and mixed waste, largely generated during plutonium production, exists in 177 underground single- and double-shell tanks. These wastes are to be retrieved and separated into low-activity waste (LAW) and high-level waste (HLW) fractions. The total volume of LAW requiring immobilization will include the LAW separated from the tank waste, as well as new wastes generated by the retrieval, pretreatment, and immobilization processes. Per the Tri-Party Agreement (1994), both the LAW and HLW will be vitrified. It has been estimated that vitrification of the LAW waste will result in over 500,000 metric tons or 200,000 m 3 of immobilized LAW (ILAW) glass. The ILAW glass is to be disposed of onsite in a near-surface burial facility. It must be demonstrated that the disposal system will adequately retain the radionuclides and prevent contamination of the surrounding environment. This report describes a study of the impacts of systematic glass-composition variation on the responses from accelerated laboratory corrosion tests of representative LAW glasses. A combination of two tests, the product consistency test and vapor-hydration test, is being used to give indictations of the relative rate at which a glass could be expected to corrode in the burial scenario

Comparative law as method and the method of comparative law

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hage, J.C.; Adams, M.; Heirbaut, D.

2014-01-01

This article addresses both the justificatory role of comparative law within legal research (comparative law as method) and the method of comparative law itself. In this connection two questions will be answered: 1. Is comparative law a method, or a set of methods, for legal research? 2. Does

Language

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sanden, Guro Refsum

2016-01-01

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the consequences of globalisation in the area of corporate communication, and investigate how language may be managed as a strategic resource. Design/methodology/approach: – A review of previous studies on the effects of globalisation on corporate...... communication and the implications of language management initiatives in international business. Findings: – Efficient language management can turn language into a strategic resource. Language needs analyses, i.e. linguistic auditing/language check-ups, can be used to determine the language situation...... of a company. Language policies and/or strategies can be used to regulate a company’s internal modes of communication. Language management tools can be deployed to address existing and expected language needs. Continuous feedback from the front line ensures strategic learning and reduces the risk of suboptimal...

International Treaties Tax Law in Brazilian Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Zampieri Sellmann

2016-06-01

Full Text Available International agreements are the primary source of obligations internationally, whi- ch generate reflections in national law. They have been extremely used in tax harvest because they avoid double taxation and reduce tax burden in international trade. They are formal sources of tax law, which the legislature is expressly recognized in Article 96 of the National Tax Code to set the “tax legislation” expression. Article 98 of the Code determines the supremacy of international tax agreements over national law. Against the odds, international tax agreements do not revoke or modify the national legislation, just limit the effectiveness of national law incompatible with them, with supra-legal hierarchy and infra-constitution. They are above national law, either after or before it is created, and are below the Federal Constitution, so agreements incompatible with it should not be approved by Congress and, if so, they will be subject to declaration of unconstitutionality by the Supreme Court. It is a reporting case the international agreement’s unconstitutio- nality after it is celebrated.

The importance of domestic law to international arms control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehman, R.F. II.

1993-11-01

Studies of arms control and disarmament tend to focus on political, military, and diplomatic processes. Recently, in the context of the conversion of defense activities to civilian use, the economic aspects of arms control have also received renewed interest. The legal dimension, however, is in need of fresh examination. Both international and domestic law are sailing increasingly in uncharted waters. Recent arms control agreements and related developments in international peacekeeping have expanded the scope of international law and altered how one perceives certain fundamentals, including the principle of national sovereignty. Still, the nation state is largely unchallenged as the primary actor in international affairs. National governments retain near absolute sovereign rights and responsibilities even in an age of trans-national economic integration and codified international norms for human rights, freedom of the press, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. Indeed, the role of domestic law in arms control and disarmament may be more significant now than ever before. A brief review of relationships between arms control and domestic law should illustrate ways in which ones thinking has been underestimating the importance of domestic law. Hopefully, this survey will set the stage properly for the excellent, more detailed case studies by Elinor Hammarskjold and Alan Crawford. Toward that end, this paper will highlight a number of more general, and sometimes provocative, themes. These themes should be kept in mind when those two complementary presentations are considered

The importance of domestic law to international arms control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lehman, R.F. II

1993-11-01

Studies of arms control and disarmament tend to focus on political, military, and diplomatic processes. Recently, in the context of the conversion of defense activities to civilian use, the economic aspects of arms control have also received renewed interest. The legal dimension, however, is in need of fresh examination. Both international and domestic law are sailing increasingly in uncharted waters. Recent arms control agreements and related developments in international peacekeeping have expanded the scope of international law and altered how one perceives certain fundamentals, including the principle of national sovereignty. Still, the nation state is largely unchallenged as the primary actor in international affairs. National governments retain near absolute sovereign rights and responsibilities even in an age of trans-national economic integration and codified international norms for human rights, freedom of the press, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. Indeed, the role of domestic law in arms control and disarmament may be more significant now than ever before. A brief review of relationships between arms control and domestic law should illustrate ways in which ones thinking has been underestimating the importance of domestic law. Hopefully, this survey will set the stage properly for the excellent, more detailed case studies by Elinor Hammarskjold and Alan Crawford. Toward that end, this paper will highlight a number of more general, and sometimes provocative, themes. These themes should be kept in mind when those two complementary presentations are considered.

Small Schools Student Learning Objectives, 9-12: Mathematics, Reading, Reading in the Content Areas, Language Arts.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, JoAnne, Ed.; Hartl, David, Ed.

Designed by Washington curriculum specialists and secondary teachers to assist teachers in small schools with the improvement of curriculum and instruction and to aid smaller districts lacking curriculum personnel to comply with Washington's Student Learning Objectives Law, this handbook contains learning objectives in the areas of language arts,…

CATEGORY OF CIRCUMVENTION OF THE LAW IN RUSSIAN CIVIL LAW

OpenAIRE

Kamyshanskiy V. P.

2014-01-01

This article examines the concept of "circumvention of the law" with respect to Treaty law. The author finds that the direct loan category "circumvention of the law" in Treaty law can be estimated ambiguously. The specified category which is fragmentary reflected in the active Civil codex indicates a regulatory gap

Precise quantization of anomalous Hall effect near zero magnetic field

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bestwick, A. J. [Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fox, E. J. [Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Kou, Xufeng [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Pan, Lei [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Wang, Kang L. [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Goldhaber-Gordon, D. [Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

2015-05-04

In this study, we report a nearly ideal quantum anomalous Hall effect in a three-dimensional topological insulator thin film with ferromagnetic doping. Near zero applied magnetic field we measure exact quantization in the Hall resistance to within a part per 10,000 and a longitudinal resistivity under 1 Ω per square, with chiral edge transport explicitly confirmed by nonlocal measurements. Deviations from this behavior are found to be caused by thermally activated carriers, as indicated by an Arrhenius law temperature dependence. Using the deviations as a thermometer, we demonstrate an unexpected magnetocaloric effect and use it to reach near-perfect quantization by cooling the sample below the dilution refrigerator base temperature in a process approximating adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration.

Soft law in public international law : a pragmatic or a principled choice?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brus, Marcel M.T.

2017-01-01

This paper discusses the role of soft law in international law, in particular in the field of sustainable development law. Soft law is often regarded as non-law. However this qualification increasingly does not match the realities of the development of international law in which many legally

Harmonization of Islamic Law in National Legal System A Comparative Study between Indonesian Law and Malaysian Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yeni Salma Barlinti

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This article compares Indonesian legal system and Malaysian legal system. The government legalized Islamic law in national legislateions, which are in effect for Muslim people. To facilitate dispute settlement, there is a religious court to solve Islamic dispute based on Islamic Law. The exsistence of Islamic law in Indonesia and Malaysia has similarity and differentiation. The similarities among others are: the Muslim-majority in both countries pushes the government to put Islamic law into force, Islamic law must be written into constitution or legislation. It is needed to have legal basis when performing Islamic law, the existence of religious court is very important in dispute settlement related to Islamic law. The Influence of western legal system is very strong in national legal system. Nevertheless, the western legal system differ substantially from Islamic legal system, and Islamic law was implemented limitedly based upon western legislation. It was limited to family law. While the differentiation are: the way of implementation of western legal system into national legal system and the form of legislation Indonesia has one legislation, which is in effect to all of Indonesian people. On the contrary, Malaysia has many enactments, which are different from one to another in each negeri.

Dark Energy and the Hubble Law

Science.gov (United States)

Chernin, A. D.; Dolgachev, V. P.; Domozhilova, L. M.

The Big Bang predicted by Friedmann could not be empirically discovered in the 1920th, since global cosmological distances (more than 300-1000 Mpc) were not available for observations at that time. Lemaitre and Hubble studied receding motions of galaxies at local distances of less than 20-30 Mpc and found that the motions followed the (nearly) linear velocity-distance relation, known now as Hubble's law. For decades, the real nature of this phenomenon has remained a mystery, in Sandage's words. After the discovery of dark energy, it was suggested that the dynamics of local expansion flows is dominated by omnipresent dark energy, and it is the dark energy antigravity that is able to introduce the linear velocity-distance relation to the flows. It implies that Hubble's law observed at local distances was in fact the first observational manifestation of dark energy. If this is the case, the commonly accepted criteria of scientific discovery lead to the conclusion: In 1927, Lemaitre discovered dark energy and Hubble confirmed this in 1929.

International Law Studies. The War in Iraq: A Legal Analysis. Violume 86

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

ment in the Security Council debates concerning Iraq on a "strict constructionist " approach to thejus ad bellum. That is, the strict limits on the use...discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin. 73. DlNSTEIN, supra note 41, at 72. 74. Thomas Buergenthal, To...Bacteriological Methods ofWarfare, June 17, 1925, 26 U.S.T. 571, T.I.A.S. 8061, reprinted in DOCUMENTS ON THE LAWS OF WAR, supra, at 158 (Iraq made statements

Describing and optimizing reversible logic using a functional language

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Michael Kirkedal

2012-01-01

the recognisable inversion combinator f^(-1), which defines the inverse function of f using an efficient semantics. It is important to ensure that all circuits descriptions are reversible, and furthermore we must require this to be done statically. This is en- sured by the type system, which also allows...... the description of arbitrary sized circuits. The combination of the functional language and the restricted reversible model results in many arithmetic laws, which provide more possibilities for term rewriting and, thus, the opportunity for good optimisation....

Language Preference among Nigerian Undergraduates and the Future of English

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel B. Egbe

2014-12-01

Full Text Available What will be the future of English in Nigeria? Put more apprehensively, will the English language die in Nigeria in the near future? These questions are answered by reporting on the language preference at home of some Nigerian undergraduates in order to gauge the future of English in Nigeria. The investigation sought to determine the language(s most preferred for communication at home among Nigerian undergraduates. From a sample drawn from students in a private Nigerian university, 66.7% identified English as the most frequently used language at home while 64.1% indicated fluency in English against other languages spoken in Nigeria including the indigenous major Nigerian languages (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. On order of fluency among the languages sampled, 18.5% indicated an English-only fluency, which reveals that some section of young Nigerians are moving towards a monolingual English-only proficiency. This discovery has implications for the future of English in Nigeria. Several factors may account for this emerging trend. However, the premier position occupied by English in Nigeria and the expanding use of English world-wide clearly support the continuous growth and visibility of English as the language of choice among Nigerian undergraduates at home. This is without prejudice to several declarations and policy statements in favour of Mother Tongue education and usage in Nigeria. The paper concludes that the emergence of a new generation of Nigerians who use English as a first language in a non-host second language context is sowing the seed for further nativization and entrenchment of English in Nigeria.

RUSSIAN LAW SUBJECTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D.N. Bakhrakh

2006-03-01

Full Text Available The question about the subjects of law branches is concerning the number of most important and difficult in law science. Its right decision influences on the subject of law regulation, precise definition of addressees of law norms, the volume of their rights and duties, the limits of action of norms of Main part of the branch, its principles. Scientific investigations, dedicated to law subjects system, promote the development of recommendations for the legislative and law applying activity; they are needed for scientific work organization and student training, for preparing qualified lawyers.

China's Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Law: the law and the philosophy.

Science.gov (United States)

Lening Zhang; Jianhong Liu

2007-10-01

The present study introduces and discusses the Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Law of the People's Republic of China. The law was promulgated in the context of Chinese socioeconomic reforms and legal reforms in response to the rising delinquency since the early 1980s. The study explains the social and political background of the law with respect to the patterns of delinquency in China. The law has several main features that reflect the Chinese philosophical underpinnings of crime prevention and control, and the study discusses the connection between the law and the traditional Chinese philosophy and thinking. Finally, the study discusses the challenges to the enforcement of the law in Chinese society, which has lacked a legal tradition in its history.

Lindy's Law

Science.gov (United States)

Eliazar, Iddo

2017-11-01

Aging means that as things grow old their remaining expected lifetimes lessen. Either faster or slower, most of the things we encounter in our everyday lives age with time. However, there are things that do quite the opposite - they anti-age: as they grow old their remaining expected lifetimes increase rather than decrease. A quantitative formulation of anti-aging is given by the so-called ;Lindy's Law;. In this paper we explore Lindy's Law and its connections to Pareto's Law, to Zipf's Law, and to socioeconomic inequality.

Bayesian molecular design with a chemical language model

Science.gov (United States)

Ikebata, Hisaki; Hongo, Kenta; Isomura, Tetsu; Maezono, Ryo; Yoshida, Ryo

2017-04-01

The aim of computational molecular design is the identification of promising hypothetical molecules with a predefined set of desired properties. We address the issue of accelerating the material discovery with state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. The method involves two different types of prediction; the forward and backward predictions. The objective of the forward prediction is to create a set of machine learning models on various properties of a given molecule. Inverting the trained forward models through Bayes' law, we derive a posterior distribution for the backward prediction, which is conditioned by a desired property requirement. Exploring high-probability regions of the posterior with a sequential Monte Carlo technique, molecules that exhibit the desired properties can computationally be created. One major difficulty in the computational creation of molecules is the exclusion of the occurrence of chemically unfavorable structures. To circumvent this issue, we derive a chemical language model that acquires commonly occurring patterns of chemical fragments through natural language processing of ASCII strings of existing compounds, which follow the SMILES chemical language notation. In the backward prediction, the trained language model is used to refine chemical strings such that the properties of the resulting structures fall within the desired property region while chemically unfavorable structures are successfully removed. The present method is demonstrated through the design of small organic molecules with the property requirements on HOMO-LUMO gap and internal energy. The R package iqspr is available at the CRAN repository.

Recent publications on environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lohse, S.

1991-01-01

The bibliography contains references to publications covering the following subject fields: General environmental law; environmental law in relation to constitutional law, administrative law, procedural law, revenue law, criminal law, private law, industrial law; law of regional development; nature conservation law; law on water protection; waste management law; law on protection against harmful effects on the environment; atomic energy law and radiation protection law; law of the power industry and the mining industry; laws and regulations on hazardous material and environmental hygiene. (orig.) [de

Left hemisphere regions are critical for language in the face of early left focal brain injury

OpenAIRE

Raja Beharelle, Anjali; Dick, Anthony Steven; Josse, Goulven; Solodkin, Ana; Huttenlocher, Peter R.; Levine, Susan C.; Small, Steven L.

2010-01-01

A predominant theory regarding early stroke and its effect on language development, is that early left hemisphere lesions trigger compensatory processes that allow the right hemisphere to assume dominant language functions, and this is thought to underlie the near normal language development observed after early stroke. To test this theory, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activity during category fluency in participants who had sustained pre- or perinatal left h...

In the right words: addressing language and culture in providing health care.

Science.gov (United States)

2003-08-01

As part of its continuing mission to serve trustees, executives, and staff of health foundations and corporate giving programs, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) convened a group of experts from philanthropy, research, health care practice, and policy on April 4, 2003, to discuss the roles of language and culture in providing effective health care. During this Issue Dialogue, In the Right Words: Addressing Language and Culture in Providing Health Care, health grantmakers and experts from policy and practice participated in an open exchange of ideas and perspectives on language access and heard from fellow grantmakers who are funding innovative programs in this area. Together they explored ways to effectively support comprehensive language services, including the use of interpreters and translation of written materials. This Issue Brief synthesizes key points from the day's discussion with a background paper previously prepared for Issue Dialogue participants. It focuses on the challenges and opportunities involved with ensuring language access for the growing number of people who require it. Sections include: recent immigration trends and demographic changes; the effect of language barriers on health outcomes and health care processes; laws and policies regarding the provision of language services to patients, including an overview of public financing mechanisms; strategies for improving language access, including enhancing access in delivery settings, promoting advocacy and policy change, improving interpreter training, and advancing research; and roles for foundations in supporting improved language access, including examples of current activities. The Issue Dialogue focused mainly on activities and programs that ensure linguistic access to health care for all patients. Although language and culture are clearly inseparable, a full exploration of the field of cultural competence and initiatives that promote its application to the health care setting are beyond the scope

Recent publications on environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lohse, S.

1988-01-01

The bibliography contains 1235 references to publications covering the following subject fields: general environmental law; environmental law in relation to constitutional law, administrative law, procedural law, revenue law, criminal law, private law, industrial law; law of regional development; nature conservation law; law on water protection; waste management law; law on protection against harmful effects on the environment; atomic energy law and radiation protection law; law of the power industry and the mining industry; laws and regulations on hazardous material and environmental hygiene. (HP) [de

Recent publications on environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lohse, S.

1989-01-01

The bibliography contains 1160 references to publications covering the following subject fields: General environmental law; environmental law in relation to constitutional law, administrative law, procedural law, revenue law, criminal law, private law, industrial law; law of regional development; nature conservation law; law on water protection; waste management law; law on protection against harmful effects on the environment; atomic energy law and radiation protection law; law of the power industry and the mining industry; laws and regulations on hazardous material and environmental hygiene. (orig./HP) [de

Climate Justice: A Constitutional Approach to Unify the Lex Specialis Principles of International Climate Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Thorp

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Legal principles legitimise ubiquitous social values. They make certain social norms lawful and legitimate. Legal principles may act as governing vectors. They may give effect to a unified and legitimate constitutional framework insofar as a constitution unifies the fundamental principles on which a state or competent authority is governed.Concerning international climate law, however, there is a certain shortcoming. The failure to comprehend a unified constitutional framework of lex specialis principles could debilitate intra and inter-regime governance and lead to uncertainties. At one time, uncertainties incite the law-making process. At another time, they constrain it. Such a shortcoming may lead to inconsistencies in interpreting consequential climate norms. It may thwart dispute resolution and it may impede climate negotiations. To traverse this abyss, the inquiry uses instruments of legal philosophy (the philosophy of language, legal systematics (the study of legal systems, and legal hermeneutics (the legal practice of interpretation to delineate, distinguish and unify lex specialis principles that could form the foundations of a universal constitutional framework of international climate law. In doing so, it shows that climate justice is a function of the quality of the legal system.

Investigating Coulomb's Law.

Science.gov (United States)

Noll, Ellis; Koehlinger, Mervin; Kowalski, Ludwik; Swackhamer, Gregg

1998-01-01

Describes the use of a computer-linked camera to demonstrate Coulomb's law. Suggests a way of reducing the difficulties in presenting Coulomb's law by teaching the inverse square law of gravity and the inverse square law of electricity in the same unit. (AIM)

On Describing Human White Matter Anatomy: The White Matter Query Language

OpenAIRE

Wassermann, Demian; Makris, Nikos; Rathi, Yogesh; Shenton, Martha; Kikinis, Ron; Kubicki, Marek; Westin, Carl-Fredrik

2013-01-01

The main contribution of this work is the careful syntactical definition of major white matter tracts in the human brain based on a neuroanatomist’s expert knowledge. We present a technique to formally describe white matter tracts and to automatically extract them from diffusion MRI data. The framework is based on a novel query language with a near-to-English textual syntax. This query language allows us to construct a dictionary of anatomical definitions describing white matter tracts. The d...

Recent Case Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petz, Thomas; Sagaert, Vincent; Østergaard, Kim

2004-01-01

In this section authors from various European countries report the recent case law in their country on the field of private patrimonial law, that is decisions on the law of property, juridical acts, the law of obligations, contract law and prescription. The European Review of Private Law (ERPL......) started this section in 2003. The section aims to give our readers an overview of what is happening in the most recent European case law. We have asked the national reporters to report the juridical essence of the decisions given by the highest courts in their country. These national reports...... not relate the facts of the decision, nor the personal opinion of the reporter. One can find discussions on the most important decisions of European courts in ERPL’s case note section. The recent case law section gives overviews of decisions published in periods of four months. The period of January...

The planning of areas near nuclear power stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-01-01

During the past five years national physical planning has been initiated by the Swedish Parliament. Guidelines have been given to the communities how to consider national interests when drawing up local planning and how to produce maps and descriptions of the planning. For the planning of the areas near the nuclear power stations the municipalities have certain guidelines from The Nuclear Power Inspectorate and The National Institute of Radiation Protection. It is advised to keep a low population density near the power plants, to avoid the type of harbour or industry which could have disturbing effects on the power plant and also to avoid to concentrate people, who are difficult to move from the area in case of an accident (i.e., homes for old people, maternity homes and prisons). The plants on the East Coast, Forsmark and Oskarshamn, are located in wooded areas with a very low population density. On the West Coast, near Ringhals and Barsebaeck, the population density is higher, and there is one village with about 2,000 inhabitants, situated at a distance of two (2) km from the Ringhals power plant. The Control Boards are now reluctant to concentrate more people in this village, where schools and shops were earlier planned for 3,000 inhabitants. The building activity near power plants is regulated by law. New buildings are prohibited within a distance of two (2) km from the plants. Some exeptions can be granted by the County Administrative Board after guidance from the Central Board. In a zone reaching 10 kilometers from the power plants there are no regulations by law about new buildings, except the earlier mentioned guidelines from the Central Boards to maintain a low population. (L.E.)

Maximizing Student Learning through Enron: The Ultimate B-Law Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Sipe, Stephanie R.

2007-01-01

The Enron scandal has been described as "the corporate scandal of the century." Books have been written about it, its full-length documentary film was nominated for an Academy Award, it appears as an ethical case study in nearly every college business law textbook written since 2002, and for five years running, it has captivated the…

Evaluating the Effectiveness of France's Indoor Smoke-Free Law 1 Year and 5 Years after Implementation: Findings from the ITC France Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Fong, Geoffrey T; Craig, Lorraine V; Guignard, Romain; Nagelhout, Gera E; Tait, Megan K; Driezen, Pete; Kennedy, Ryan David; Boudreau, Christian; Wilquin, Jean-Louis; Deutsch, Antoine; Beck, François

2013-01-01

France implemented a comprehensive smoke-free law in two phases: Phase 1 (February 2007) banned smoking in workplaces, shopping centres, airports, train stations, hospitals, and schools; Phase 2 (January 2008) banned smoking in hospitality venues (bars, restaurants, hotels, casinos, nightclubs). This paper evaluates France's smoke-free law based on the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project in France (the ITC France Project), which conducted a cohort survey of approximately 1,500 smokers and 500 non-smokers before the implementation of the laws (Wave 1) and two waves after the implementation (Waves 2 and 3). Results show that the smoke-free law led to a very significant and near-total elimination of observed smoking in key venues such as bars (from 94-97% to 4%) and restaurants (from 60-71% to 2-3%) at Wave 2, which was sustained four years later (6-8% in bars; 1-2% in restaurants). The reduction in self-reported smoking by smoking respondents was nearly identical to the effects shown in observed smoking. Observed smoking in workplaces declined significantly after the law (from 41-48% to 18-20%), which continued to decline at Wave 3 (to 14-15%). Support for the smoke-free laws increased significantly after their implementation and continued to increase at Wave 3 (plaws, smoking in the home did not increase after the law was implemented and prevalence of smoke-free homes among smokers increased from 23.2% before the law to 37.2% 5 years after the law.

Language and Language-in-Education Planning in Multilingual India: A Minoritized Language Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Groff, Cynthia

2017-01-01

This article explores India's linguistic diversity from a language policy perspective, emphasizing policies relevant to linguistic minorities. The Kumaun region of Utterakhand provides a local, minority-language perspective on national-level language planning. A look at the complexity of counting India's languages reveals language planning…

INTERFERENCES OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW WITH THE URBAN LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena IFTIME

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Addressing the large, complex issue of influences that urbanization can have on the environment, requires first of all, some general considerations on the interferences between the urban law and the environmental law. The urban law investigates and regulates the affecting and planning of the urban space. Therefore, this type of regulations are at the interference with the environmental law , which, inter alia , deals with the protection and conservation of the environment in the urban settlements, in the built space and also the ecological deployment of the activities in this space. The interaction between the two is becoming increasingly important especially when the urban law is increasingly correlated with the environmental protection, the natural space and the ecological activities.

EU Labour Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Ruth

The focus in this book is upon EU labour law and its interaction with national and international labour law. The book provides an analysis of the framework and sources of European labour law. It covers a number of substantive topics, notably collective labour law, individual employment contracts......, discrimination on grounds of sex and on other grounds, free movement of persons, restructuring of enterprises, working environment and enforcement of rights derived from EU labour law....

Development of an online tool for public health: the European Public Health Law Network.

Science.gov (United States)

Basak, P

2011-09-01

The European Public Health Law Network was established in 2007 as part of the European Union (EU) co-funded Public Health Law Flu project. The aims of the website consisted of designing an interactive network of specialist information and encouraging an exchange of expertise amongst members. The website sought to appeal to academics, public health professionals and lawyers. The Public Health Law Flu project team designed and managed the website. Registered network members were recruited through publicity, advertising and word of mouth. Details of the network were sent to health organizations and universities throughout Europe. Corresponding website links attracted many new visitors. Publications, news, events and a pandemic glossary became popular features on the site. Although the website initially focused only on pandemic diseases it has grown into a multidisciplinary website covering a range of public health law topics. The network contains over 700 publications divided into 28 public health law categories. News, events, front page content, legislation and the francophone section are updated on a regular basis. Since 2007 the website has received over 15,000 views from 156 countries. Newsletter subscribers have risen to 304. There are now 723 followers on the associated Twitter site. The European Public Health Law Network has been a successful and innovative site in the area of public health law. Interest in the site continues to grow. Future funding can contribute to a bigger site with interactive features and pages in a wider variety of languages to attract a wider global audience. Copyright © 2011 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Obtaining Laws through Quantifying Experiments: Justifications of Pre-Service Physics Teachers in the Case of Electric Current, Voltage and Resistance

Science.gov (United States)

Mäntylä, Terhi; Hämäläinen, Ari

2015-01-01

The language of physics is mathematics, and physics ideas, laws and models describing phenomena are usually represented in mathematical form. Therefore, an understanding of how to navigate between phenomena and the models representing them in mathematical form is important for a physics teacher so that the teacher can make physics understandable…

Technology in Language Use, Language Teaching, and Language Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Chun, Dorothy; Smith, Bryan; Kern, Richard

2016-01-01

This article offers a capacious view of technology to suggest broad principles relating technology and language use, language teaching, and language learning. The first part of the article considers some of the ways that technological media influence contexts and forms of expression and communication. In the second part, a set of heuristic…

LAW OCRACY ELOPMENT LAW DEMOCRACY & DEVELOPMENT

African Journals Online (AJOL)

HP27975994114

head of traditional central government, the headman was the head of the ward, and the family head exercised leadership at family level.13 Accordingly, the nature of traditional governance in South Africa was that of an unspecialised legal system where the king or chief was creator of laws, the executor of laws and the judge ...

Hubble's Law Implies Benford's Law for Distances to Galaxies ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

in both time and space, predicts that conformity to Benford's law will improve as more data on distances to galaxies becomes available. Con- versely, with the logical derivation of this law presented here, the recent empirical observations may beviewed as independent evidence of the validity of Hubble's law. Key words.

Democratic contract law

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hesselink, M.W.

2015-01-01

This article discusses the normative relationship between contract law and democracy. In particular, it argues that in order to be legitimate contract law needs to have a democratic basis. Private law is not different in this respect from public law. Thus, the first claim made in this article will

THE PARADOX OF POSITIVISTIC VIEW AND PROGRESSIVE LAW OF CRIMINAL LAW ENFORCEMENT IN INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krismiyarsi Krismiyarsi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The paradox of positivistic view and progressive law in the criminal law enforcement happened because there is a difference among the law enforcement officer’s view and perception.  Our law education from the beginning until now still teaches the students the positivistic view so that after the students becoming law officers in running the law they still use positive law or positivistic view. The positivistic view is often far from the substantive justice and close to the formal justice. In order to functioning the progressive law in law enforcement especially the penal code constraint of positivistic view which rooted inside of the law enforcer’s mind, therefore it is need paradigm change by fixing the law system, law education, ethics and morality of law officers , and increasing religious consciousness.Keywords: paradox, law positivism, progressive law, criminal law enforcement

Spatio-temporal optimal law enforcement using Stackelberg games

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naja, R.; Mouawad, N.; Ghandour, A.

2017-01-01

Every year, road accidents claim the lives of around 1.2 million worldwide (USDOT-NHTSA,2012). Deploying speed traps helps bounding vehicles speed and reducing collisions. Nevertheless, deterministic speed traps deployment in both spatial and temporal domains, allow drivers to learn and anticipate covered areas. In thispaper, we present a novel framework that provides randomized speed traps deployment schedule. It uses game theory in order to model drivers and law enforcers behavior. In this context, Stackelberg security game is used to derive best strategies to deploy. The game optimal solution maximizes law enforcer utility. This research work aims to optimize the deployment of speed traps on Lebanese highways according to the accidents probability input data. This work complements the near real time accident map provided by the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research and designs an optimal speed trap map targeting Lebanese highways.(author)

NATIONAL PUBLIC LAW IS BACK, EUROPEAN LAW DISAPPEARS?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MARIUS VACARELU

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Analyzing the last two years main titles in daily press, we discover not only great economic problems inside the EU, but also big concerns about the future of EU, when a lot of states are victims of their public debt. For this big deficit, only national budget was good to help, at European level money are missing. In this idea, the concept: “EU with two speeds” really appears, and every government is forced today to have a position. But on this case, a good part of European laws are menaced by the national law coming back – it must be a legal system able to replace the holes, because every human situation must be regulated by a kind of law. In fact, last years discovered why a lot of political constructions are made only of “perfect papers”, not according with the reality. In this case, when integrationist plans are rejected by the reality, only the national states and the national public law are forced to intervene and to support the fury. Our text try to analyze where is the limit of EU law appliance in this case and how much national law will come back.

INDONESIAN SALVAGE LAW WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF CONTEMPORARY MARITIME LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dhiana Puspitawati

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Located in a strategic position, that is between two great oceans and two land masses have made Indonesia a centre of international trade and shipping. In fact, 90% of international trades are carried out through the ocean. It is therefore crucial to assure that the activities in carrying goods across the ocean are incident free. However, if accident happens, assistance from professionals to preserve items of property is desirable. In such, salvage law emerged. This paper discusses comprehensively Indonesian salvage law within the framework of contemporary maritime law. While Indonesian maritime law is mostly based on its national law on the carriage of goods by the sea, in fact, the development of maritime law is highly affected by international practices which are largely based on international conventions and regulations. This research finds that while Indonesian salvage law can be found in Book II Chapter VII article 545-568k Wetboek Van Koophandel or known as Kitab Undang-undang Hukum Dagang (KUHD, which focused narrowly on the value of salved property as the primary measures of success, yet Indonesian salvage law has not been developed in accordance with current international salvage law, which adopted a broader and more balanced approached in both commercial and environmental aspects. Although it is believed that such approached is “culturally unrecognized” in Indonesia, this research argued that since Indonesian waters are part of international waters, all process by waters including salvage should confirm the relevant international practices and regulations. While Indonesia has taken out salvage law from KUHD and regulates it within Act Number 17/2008 on navigation, however, such act only provides one article for salvage stating that salvage will be regulates further by Ministry Regulation. Untill this paper was written no such government regulation produced yet by Indonesia. Since Indonesian waters is the centre of international

Harmonising the Fragmented Law of Transport Through Soft Law?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

F.G.M. Smeele (Frank)

2016-01-01

textabstractThis contribution raises the question of whether it is possible to bridge the divide between the various unimodal regimes and to develop a general law of transport. It explores also the role that soft law, such as in the form of a project to draw up Principles of Transport Contract Law,

Law behind second law of thermodynamics - unification with cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nielsen, Holger B.; Ninomiya, Masao

2006-01-01

In an abstract setting of a general classical mechanical system as a model for the universe we set up a general formalism for a law behind the second law of thermodynamics, i.e. really for 'initial conditions'. We propose a unification with the other laws by requiring similar symmetry and locality properties

Language Nests and Language Acquisition: An Empirical Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Okura, Eve K.

2017-01-01

This dissertation presents the findings from interviews conducted with language nest workers, teachers, language nest coordinators, administrators of language revitalization programs, principals and directors of language immersion schools that work in close proximity with language nests, and linguists involved in language revitalization efforts.…

The "Global" Formulation of Thermodynamics and the First Law: 50 Years On

Science.gov (United States)

Gislason, Eric A.; Craig, Norman C.

2011-01-01

Nearly 50 years ago, Henry Bent published his groundbreaking article in this "Journal" introducing the "global" formulation of thermodynamics. In the following years, the global formulation was elaborated by Bent and by one of the present authors. The global formulation of the first law focuses on conservation of energy and the recognition that…

Non-Proliferation Community, Do We Really Speak the Same Language?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chatelus, R.; Janssens, W.A.M.; Michel, Q.; Viski, A.; Sevini, F.; Charatsis, C.; )

2015-01-01

The non-proliferation community, with its many different stakeholders, has issues with a number of terms and concepts which have different meanings, not only in different national languages but also for scientists, diplomats, engineers, law enforcement people, IAEA safeguards staff, and many others. The consequences are not only relevant for translators and seminar participants. This confusion of terms may create misunderstandings with legal, diplomatic and operational consequences. A number of terms, used because of their meaning in English are ''false friends'' in other languages, i.e., they are used because they sound close, but their meaning may be different. The nuances may be about the fact that they cover a narrower, broader, or slightly different concept in another national or professional language. The emblematic example is the English word control, written the same way in many languages but with different connotations. Other examples include terms which have a precise legal definition for some communities whereas other stakeholder see it as generic terms (e.g., technology, transit); terms that are not explicit but have different implicit contents related to the context like outreach or declaration; terms which are distinct in one language but translated into one word in others like specially and especially designed; terms which cover different realities for different work communities like counter-proliferation, analysis; terms which are widely used and hardly defined anywhere like dual-use; or terms which refer to a specific legal or moral reference framework which is not always explicated like illegal, legitimate. This paper will explore issues related to some of these terms used in Western languages, and argue the necessity to take into account these sometimes subtle language differences, realizing the difficulties they may create for practitioners of non-proliferation. Improvements might include revising official reference documents

Diversity, variation and fairness: Equivalence in national level language assessments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Albert Weideman

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The post-1994 South African constitution proudly affirms the language diversity of the country, as do subsequent laws, while ministerial policies, both at further and higher education level, similarly promote the use of all 11 official languages in education. However, such recognition of diversity presents several challenges to accommodate potential variation. In language education at secondary school, which is nationally assessed, the variety being promoted immediately raises issues of fairness and equivalence. The final high-stakes examination of learners’ ability in home language at the exit level of their pre-tertiary education is currently contentious in South Africa. It is known, for example, that in certain indigenous languages, the exit level assessments barely discriminate among learners with different abilities, while in other languages they do. For that reason, the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education, Umalusi, has commissioned several reports to attempt to understand the nature of the problem. This article will deal with a discussion of a fourth attempt by Umalusi to solve the problem. That attempt, undertaken by a consortium of four universities, has already delivered six interim reports to this statutory body, and the article will consider some of their content and methodology. In their reconceptualisation of the problem, the applied linguists involved first sought to identify the theoretical roots of the current curriculum in order to articulate more sharply the construct being assessed. That provides the basis for a theoretical justification of the several solutions being proposed, as well as for the preliminary designs of modifications to current, and the introduction of new assessments. The impact of equivalence of measurement as a design requirement will be specifically discussed, with reference to the empirical analyses of results of a number of pilots of equivalent tests in different languages.

State aid in the EU law and national law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Divljak Drago

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Due to emphasized negative implications, state aid in contemporary law is more and more the subject of legal rules of supra-national and international law, and consequently it is more and more frequently the subject of national laws. The systems of state aid are based on the principle of general non-allowedness of state aid, which is relativised with wide exceptions and the form of allowed and conditionally allowed forms of state aid. In the EU law, a complex and differentiated system of legal regime on state aid is created aimed at preventing the Member States to protect or promote their companies at the expense or harm of competition within the EU. Compared to the regulations that refer to subsidies and that are created at the international level, within the WTO, these regulations are much more detailed and they cover a wide spectrum of different forms of state aid. National laws are accepting the EU concept as a novelty, which is valid in particular for countries in the process of the EU integrations. This has been done in our law as well by enacting of the Law on state aid control. This Law regulates general conditions for granting, granting control, and utilization of state assistance, with the essential objective to establish and provide for competitive market conditions and introduction of order in the field that has not been regulated previously. At the same time, this means a successful fulfillment of the obligations related to pre-accession harmonization of this field, which is a necessary pre-condition for accession of our country into this group of countries since the EU standards and requirements have been fully observed with the above-mentioned Law.

Law no. 111/1996 on the safe deployment of nuclear activities - A law central to the Romanian nuclear law system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiripus, Vlad-Ionut

2004-01-01

Law no. 111/1996 on the safe deployment of nuclear activities was published in its original form in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part no. 267 of 29th October 1996. The complexity of this law prevents from performing a comprehensive analysis of the legal provisions thereof for which reason the author shall review only those aspects he consider to be relevant to the issues dealt with by this law. Furthermore, as the author intends his undertaking to be a comparative analysis of Law no. 111/1996 in its successive stages - from its issue till the present - he uses mostly the present tense even though the law has been amended and in some respects the changes are quite significant. The presentation contains the following three sections: 1. Passing of Law no. 111/1996 on the safe deployment of nuclear activities - a turning point in the development of the Romanian nuclear law; 2. The successive modifications of Law no. 111/1996 on safe deployment of nuclear activities; 3. Law no. 193/2003 for the modification and completion of Law no. 111/1996 on the safe deployment of nuclear activities - a key moment in the modernization of Romanian nuclear law and harmonization with the relevant international requirement. In conclusion, the issue of Law no. 111/1996 on safe deployment of nuclear activities represents a turning point in the development of Romanian nuclear law. From this moment on one may regard it as a modern area of the Romanian law, European in spirit. The pre-existent legal framework - namely the Law no. 61/1974 on the deployment of activities in the Romanian nuclear field - was no longer up to the existing standards and its replacement by a new, modern law, fully harmonized with the European and NATO accession requirements was a must. Such a new, European law was to fully guarantee the safe deployment of nuclear activities for exclusively peaceful purposes, so that the requirements regarding the nuclear safety, protection of professionally exposed personnel

Exploring the learnability and usability of a near field communication-based application for semantic enrichment in children with language disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Lorusso, Maria Luisa; Biffi, Emilia; Molteni, Massimo; Reni, Gianluigi

2018-01-01

Recently, a few software applications (apps) have been developed to enhance vocabulary and conceptual networks to address the needs of children with language impairments (LI), but there is no evidence about their impact and their usability in therapy contexts. Here, we try to fill this gap presenting a system aimed at improving the semantic competence and the structural knowledge of children with LI. The goal of the study is to evaluate learnability, usability, user satisfaction and quality of the interaction between the system and the children. The system consists of a tablet, hosting an app with educational and training purposes, equipped with a Near Field Communication (NFC) reader, used to interact with the user by means of objects. Fourteen preschool children with LI played with the device during one 45-minute speech therapy session. Reactions and feedbacks were recorded and rated. The system proved to be easy to understand and learn, as well as engaging and rewarding. The success of the device probably rests on the integration of smart technology and real, tangible objects. The device can be seen as a valuable aid to support and enhance communication abilities in children with LI as well as typically developing individuals.

The Linguistic Interpretation for Language Union – Language Family

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E.A. Balalykina

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The paper is dedicated to the problem of determination of the essence of language union and language family in modern linguistics, which is considered important, because these terms are often used as absolute synonyms. The research is relevant due to the need to distinguish the features of languages that are inherited during their functioning within either language union or language family when these languages are compared. The research has been carried out in order to present the historical background of the problem and to justify the need for differentiation of language facts that allow relating languages to particular language union or language family. In order to fulfill the goal of this work, descriptive, comparative, and historical methods have been used. A range of examples has been provided to prove that some languages, mainly Slavonic and Baltic languages, form a language family rather than a language union, because a whole number of features in their systems are the heritage of their common Indo-European past. Firstly, it is necessary to take into account changes having either common or different nature in the system of particular languages; secondly, one must have a precise idea of what features in the phonetic and morphological systems of compared languages allow to relate them to language union or language family; thirdly, it must be determined whether the changes in compared languages are regular or of any other type. On the basis of the obtained results, the following conclusions have been drawn: language union and language family are two different types of relations between modern languages; they allow identifying both degree of similarity of these languages and causes of differences between them. It is most important that one should distinguish and describe the specific features of two basic groups of languages forming language family or language union. The results obtained during the analysis are very important for linguistics

THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF LAW - WILL THE ROMANIAN DOCTRINE FINALLY CATCH UP WITH IT?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MONICA-FLORENTINA POPA

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Although a well-established presence on the international legal scene, the economic analysis of law is still an unfamiliar concept to most Romanian scholars. While worldwide, prestigious universities offer special courses on this topic and an impressive body of legal studies continues to add up, only scant traces of this important legal school can be detected in some recent Romanian doctoral thesis and papers. This article explores the main concepts of the economic analysis of law, the recent spin-offs of this theory, especially in the area of comparative law, as well as some of the critiques addressed in the legal doctrine, concerning the consequences on law of overemphasizing “efficiency” to the expense of less quantifiable, moral and social considerations. Some explanations on why the Romanian doctrine is lagging behind with respect to the economic analysis of law will also be attempted, together with a tentative answer to whether this major legal theory will ever make an impact on local doctrinal developments in the near future.

Scaling laws for fractional Brownian motion with power-law clock

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Malley, Daniel; Cushman, John H; Johnson, Graham

2011-01-01

We study the mean first passage time (MFPT) for fractional Brownian motion (fBm) in a finite interval with absorbing boundaries at each end. Analytical arguments are used to suggest a simple scaling law for the MFPT and numerical experiments are performed to verify its accuracy. The same approach is used to derive a scaling law for fBm with a power-law clock (fBm-plc). The MFPT scaling laws are employed to develop scaling laws for the finite-size Lyapunov exponent (FSLE) of fBm and fBm-plc. We apply these results to diffusion of a large polymer in a region with absorbing boundaries. (letter)

Brain metabolite levels and language abilities in preschool children.

Science.gov (United States)

Lebel, Catherine; MacMaster, Frank P; Dewey, Deborah

2016-10-01

Language acquisition occurs rapidly during early childhood and lays the foundation for future reading success. However, little is known about the brain-language relationships in young children. The goal of this study was to investigate relationships between brain metabolites and prereading language abilities in healthy preschool-aged children. Participants were 67 healthy children aged 3.0-5.4 years scanned on a 3T GE MR750w MRI scanner using short echo proton spectroscopy with a voxel placed in the anterior cingulate gyrus ( n  = 56) and/or near the left angular gyrus ( n  = 45). Children completed the NEPSY-II Phonological Processing and Speeded Naming subtests at the same time as their MRI scan. We calculated glutamate, glutamine, creatine/phosphocreatine, choline, inositol, and NAA concentrations, and correlated these with language skills. In the anterior cingulate, Phonological Processing Scaled Scores were significantly correlated with glutamate, creatine, and inositol concentrations. In the left angular gyrus, Speeded Naming Combined Scaled Scores showed trend correlations with choline and glutamine concentrations. For the first time, we demonstrate relationships between brain metabolites and prereading language abilities in young children. Our results show relationships between language and inositol and glutamate that may reflect glial differences underlying language function, and a relationship of language with creatine. The trend between Speeded Naming and choline is consistent with previous research in older children and adults; however, larger sample sizes are needed to confirm whether this relationship is indeed significant in young children. These findings help understand the brain basis of language, and may ultimately lead to earlier and more effective interventions for reading disabilities.

Tax Law System

Science.gov (United States)

Tsindeliani, Imeda A.

2016-01-01

The article deals with consideration of the actual theoretic problems of the subject and system of tax law in Russia. The theoretical approaches to determination of the nature of separate institutes of tax law are represented. The existence of pandect system intax law building as financial law sub-branch of Russia is substantiated. The goal of the…

A model of language inflection graphs

Science.gov (United States)

Fukś, Henryk; Farzad, Babak; Cao, Yi

2014-01-01

Inflection graphs are highly complex networks representing relationships between inflectional forms of words in human languages. For so-called synthetic languages, such as Latin or Polish, they have particularly interesting structure due to the abundance of inflectional forms. We construct the simplest form of inflection graphs, namely a bipartite graph in which one group of vertices corresponds to dictionary headwords and the other group to inflected forms encountered in a given text. We, then, study projection of this graph on the set of headwords. The projection decomposes into a large number of connected components, to be called word groups. Distribution of sizes of word group exhibits some remarkable properties, resembling cluster distribution in a lattice percolation near the critical point. We propose a simple model which produces graphs of this type, reproducing the desired component distribution and other topological features.

Language Acquisition and Language Revitalization

Science.gov (United States)

O'Grady, William; Hattori, Ryoko

2016-01-01

Intergenerational transmission, the ultimate goal of language revitalization efforts, can only be achieved by (re)establishing the conditions under which an imperiled language can be acquired by the community's children. This paper presents a tutorial survey of several key points relating to language acquisition and maintenance in children,…

Nuclear law and law of the sea - a synthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Courteix, S.

1976-01-01

The general idea behind the work of the Paris Colloqium on Nuclear Law and Law of the Sea was that of an agreement and sometimes opposition between two specificities, that of the law of the maritime and, in particular, ocean environment, and that of the law of nuclear techniques. These relationships were studied notably in the perspective of the problems of transport of nuclear materials and their liability insurance, as well as from the viewpoint of the operation of nuclear powered ships. Another problem studied in this context is that of radioactive marine pollution. (N.E.A.) [fr

THE MID-INFRARED EXTINCTION LAW IN THE OPHIUCHUS, PERSEUS, AND SERPENS MOLECULAR CLOUDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chapman, Nicholas L.; Mundy, Lee G.; Lai, Shih-Ping; Evans, Neal J. II

2009-01-01

We compute the mid-IR extinction law from 3.6 to 24 μm in three molecular clouds-Ophiuchus, Perseus, and Serpens-by combining data from the 'Cores to Disks' Spitzer Legacy Science program with deep JHK s imaging. Using a new technique, we are able to calculate the line-of-sight (LOS) extinction law toward each background star in our fields. With these LOS measurements, we create, for the first time, maps of the χ 2 deviation of the data from two extinction law models. Because our χ 2 maps have the same spatial resolution as our extinction maps, we can directly observe the changing extinction law as a function of the total column density. In the Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) bands, 3.6-8 μm, we see evidence for grain growth. Below A K s = 0.5, our extinction law is well fitted by the Weingartner and Draine R V = 3.1 diffuse interstellar-medium dust model. As the extinction increases, our law gradually flattens, and for A K s ≥1, the data are more consistent with the Weingartner and Draine R V = 5.5 model that uses larger maximum dust grain sizes. At 24 μm, our extinction law is 2-4 times higher than the values predicted by theoretical dust models, but is more consistent with the observational results of Flaherty et al. Finally, from our χ 2 maps we identify a region in Perseus where the IRAC extinction law is anomalously high considering its column density. A steeper near-IR extinction law than the one we have assumed may partially explain the IRAC extinction law in this region.

Safety and risk, a comparison on an international scale with regard to society, law and economy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Compes, P.C.

1987-01-01

More than 130 experts of different nations and different fields of science met to discuss the following subjects: Traffic and transport, labour and employment, products and commodities, energy and environment (safety concepts for fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants, international harmonisation of nuclear technical standards, harmonisation of environmental law in a European context). All contributions are presented in their original language, with abstracts in German, English, and French. (HP) [de

Language Alternation and Language Norm in Vocational Content and Language Integrated Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Kontio, Janne; Sylvén, Liss Kerstin

2015-01-01

The present article deals with language choice as communicative strategies in the language learning environment of an English-medium content and language integrated learning (CLIL) workshop at an auto mechanics class in a Swedish upper secondary school. The article presents the organisation and functions of language alternations (LAs) which are…

Using features of a Creole language to reconstruct population history and cultural evolution: tracing the English origins of Sranan.

Science.gov (United States)

Sherriah, André C; Devonish, Hubert; Thomas, Ewart A C; Creanza, Nicole

2018-04-05

Creole languages are formed in conditions where speakers from distinct languages are brought together without a shared first language, typically under the domination of speakers from one of the languages and particularly in the context of the transatlantic slave trade and European colonialism. One such Creole in Suriname, Sranan, developed around the mid-seventeenth century, primarily out of contact between varieties of English from England, spoken by the dominant group, and multiple West African languages. The vast majority of the basic words in Sranan come from the language of the dominant group, English. Here, we compare linguistic features of modern-day Sranan with those of English as spoken in 313 localities across England. By way of testing proposed hypotheses for the origin of English words in Sranan, we find that 80% of the studied features of Sranan can be explained by similarity to regional dialect features at two distinct input locations within England, a cluster of locations near the port of Bristol and another cluster near Essex in eastern England. Our new hypothesis is supported by the geographical distribution of specific regional dialect features, such as post-vocalic rhoticity and word-initial 'h', and by phylogenetic analysis of these features, which shows evidence favouring input from at least two English dialects in the formation of Sranan. In addition to explicating the dialect features most prominent in the linguistic evolution of Sranan, our historical analyses also provide supporting evidence for two distinct hypotheses about the likely geographical origins of the English speakers whose language was an input to Sranan. The emergence as a likely input to Sranan of the speech forms of a cluster near Bristol is consistent with historical records, indicating that most of the indentured servants going to the Americas between 1654 and 1666 were from Bristol and nearby counties, and that of the cluster near Essex is consistent with documents

Foreign Language Teachers' Language Proficiency and Their Language Teaching Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Heather; Conway, Clare; Roskvist, Annelies; Harvey, Sharon

2013-01-01

Teachers' subject knowledge is recognized as an essential component of effective teaching. In the foreign language context, teachers' subject knowledge includes language proficiency. In New Zealand high schools, foreign languages (e.g. Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish) have recently been offered to learners earlier in their schooling,…

Religious law versus secular law
The example of the get refusal in Dutch, English and Israeli law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthijs de Blois

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The tension between religious law and secular law in modern democracies is illustrated in this article by a discussion of the different approaches to the get (a bill of divorce refusal (based on Jewish law under Dutch, English and Israeli law. These legal orders share many characteristics, but also display important differences as to the role of religion and religious law in the public realm. The Dutch system is the most secular of the three; it does not recognize a role for religious law within the secular system as such. The English legislation provides for means that to a certain extent facilitate the effectuation of a religious divorce. In Israel, finally, the law of marriage and divorce is as such governed by the religious law of the parties concerned; for the majority of the population that is Jewish law. An evaluation of the different approaches in the framework of human rights law reveals the complexities of the collision of the underlying values in terms of equality, religious freedom and minority rights, also having regard to the diversity of opinions within religious communities.

Cochlear implants and spoken language processing abilities: Review and assessment of the literature

OpenAIRE

Peterson, Nathaniel R.; Pisoni, David B.; Miyamoto, Richard T.

2010-01-01

Cochlear implants (CIs) process sounds electronically and then transmit electric stimulation to the cochlea of individuals with sensorineural deafness, restoring some sensation of auditory perception. Many congenitally deaf CI recipients achieve a high degree of accuracy in speech perception and develop near-normal language skills. Post-lingually deafened implant recipients often regain the ability to understand and use spoken language with or without the aid of visual input (i.e. lip reading...

DEMONIC programming: a computational language for single-particle equilibrium thermodynamics, and its formal semantics.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samson Abramsky

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Maxwell's Demon, 'a being whose faculties are so sharpened that he can follow every molecule in its course', has been the centre of much debate about its abilities to violate the second law of thermodynamics. Landauer's hypothesis, that the Demon must erase its memory and incur a thermodynamic cost, has become the standard response to Maxwell's dilemma, and its implications for the thermodynamics of computation reach into many areas of quantum and classical computing. It remains, however, still a hypothesis. Debate has often centred around simple toy models of a single particle in a box. Despite their simplicity, the ability of these systems to accurately represent thermodynamics (specifically to satisfy the second law and whether or not they display Landauer Erasure, has been a matter of ongoing argument. The recent Norton-Ladyman controversy is one such example. In this paper we introduce a programming language to describe these simple thermodynamic processes, and give a formal operational semantics and program logic as a basis for formal reasoning about thermodynamic systems. We formalise the basic single-particle operations as statements in the language, and then show that the second law must be satisfied by any composition of these basic operations. This is done by finding a computational invariant of the system. We show, furthermore, that this invariant requires an erasure cost to exist within the system, equal to kTln2 for a bit of information: Landauer Erasure becomes a theorem of the formal system. The Norton-Ladyman controversy can therefore be resolved in a rigorous fashion, and moreover the formalism we introduce gives a set of reasoning tools for further analysis of Landauer erasure, which are provably consistent with the second law of thermodynamics.

A methodology for determining the evolution law of gob permeability and its distributions in longwall coal mines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Cun; Tu, Shihao; Zhang, Lei; Bai, Qingsheng; Yuan, Yong; Wang, Fangtian

2016-01-01

In order to understand the permeability evolution law of the gob by mining disturbances and obtain the permeability distribution of the fully compacted gob, comprehensive methods including theoretical analyses of monitoring data and numerical simulation are used to determine the permeability of gobs in the mining process. Based on current research, three zones of the vertical stress and permeability in the gob are introduced in this article, which are the caving rock mass accumulation zone, the gradually compacted zone and the fully compacted zone. A simple algorithm is written by using FISH language to be imported into the reservoir model. FISH language is an internal programming language in FLAC3D. It is possible to calculate the permeability at each zone with this algorithm in the mining process. Besides, we analyze the gas flow rates from seven gob gas ventholes (GGV) located on a longwall face operated in a mine of a Huainan coalfield in Huainan City, China. Combined with Darcy’s law, a calculation model of permeability around GGV in the gob is proposed. Using this model, the evolution law of permeability in the gob is deduced; the phases of permeability evolution are the decline stage and the stable stage. The result of the vertical stress monitoring data and good fitting effect of the permeability to the experimental data show that the permeability decline caused by the compaction of the gob is the principal reason for the decline stage. The stable stage indicates that the gob has been fully compacted, and the average period of full gob compaction is 47.75 d. The permeability in the middle of the compacted gob is much smaller than the permeability on the edge of the gob which presents an O shape trend. Besides, the little difference among the results of the numerical simulation, the permeability calculation model and other commonly used calculation models validate the correctness of the permeability calculation model and numerical simulation results

Large Magellanic Cloud Near-infrared Synoptic Survey. V. Period–Luminosity Relations of Miras

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan, Wenlong; Macri, Lucas M.; He, Shiyuan; Huang, Jianhua Z.; Kanbur, Shashi M.; Ngeow, Chow-Choong

2017-01-01

We study the near-infrared properties of 690 Mira candidates in the central region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, based on time-series observations at JHK s . We use densely sampled I -band observations from the OGLE project to generate template light curves in the near-infrared and derive robust mean magnitudes at those wavelengths. We obtain near-infrared Period–Luminosity relations for oxygen-rich Miras with a scatter as low as 0.12 mag at K s . We study the Period–Luminosity–Color relations and the color excesses of carbon-rich Miras, which show evidence for a substantially different reddening law.

Law Enforcement Locations

Data.gov (United States)

Kansas Data Access and Support Center — Law Enforcement Locations in Kansas Any location where sworn officers of a law enforcement agency are regularly based or stationed. Law enforcement agencies "are...

A Law of Physics in the Classroom: The Case of Ohm's Law

Science.gov (United States)

Kipnis, Nahum

2009-01-01

Difficulties in learning Ohm's Law suggest a need to refocus it from the law for a part of the circuit to the law for the whole circuit. Such a revision may improve understanding of Ohm's Law and its practical applications. This suggestion comes from an analysis of the history of the law's discovery and its teaching. The historical materials this…

Language impairments in youths with traumatic brain injury: implications for participation in criminal proceedings.

Science.gov (United States)

Wszalek, Joseph A; Turkstra, Lyn S

2015-01-01

As many as 30% of incarcerated juveniles have a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Moderate or severe TBI is associated with a high risk of impairment in language comprehension and expression, which may have profound effects on juveniles' ability to understand and express themselves in criminal proceedings. In this article, we review common language impairments in youths with TBI and discuss potential effects of these impairments on 3 stages of US criminal proceedings: (1) initial encounter with law enforcement; (2) interrogation and Miranda rights; and (3) competence to undergo trial proceedings. We then describe language assessment tools and procedures that may be helpful in legal contexts. Our aim was to inform clinicians and legal staff working with juvenile defendants with TBI, with the long-term goal of developing empirically based guidelines to ensure that juvenile defendants with TBI can fully and effectively participate in criminal proceedings.

Triblex thematic analysis of the case law of the ILO Administrative Tribunal

CERN Document Server

International Labour Organization. Geneva

Triblex is a thematic database on the case law of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization, which hears complaints from serving and former officials of the ILO, or of one of the thirty-odd international organizations that recognise its jurisdiction, about breach of the terms of their appointment or staff rules or regulations. Relevant passages of the Tribunal's reasoning can be located in the Triblex database in various ways, mainly using terms (descriptors) from the Triblex Thesaurus. The database is in English and French and can be searched in either language. It is intended for litigants, counsel, staff representatives, personnel managers and anyone with an interest in the law of the international civil service. Triblex est une base de données thématique sur la jurisprudence du Tribunal administratif de l'Organisation internationale du Travail. La saisine du Tribunal est ouverte aux fonctionnaires ou anciens fonctionnaires du Bureau international du ou des normes statutaires o...

Language learning interventions | Kilfoil | Journal for Language ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The results for that intervention show that the hypothesis was correct and students need more time and structure if they are to improve their language competence sufficiently. Keywords: language learning interventions, English for specific purposes, language competence, fossilization. Journal for Language Teaching Vol.

How language production shapes language form and comprehension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryellen C MacDonald

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Language production processes can provide insight into how language comprehension works and language typology—why languages tend to have certain characteristics more often than others. Drawing on work in memory retrieval, motor planning, and serial order in action planning, the Production-Distribution-Comprehension (PDC account links work in the fields of language production, typology, and comprehension: 1 faced with substantial computational burdens of planning and producing utterances, language producers implicitly follow three biases in utterance planning that promote word order choices that reduce these burdens, thereby improving production fluency. 2 These choices, repeated over many utterances and individuals, shape the distributions of utterance forms in language. The claim that language form stems in large degree from producers’ attempts to mitigate utterance planning difficulty is contrasted with alternative accounts in which form is driven by language use more broadly, language acquisition processes, or producers’ attempts to create language forms that are easily understood by comprehenders. 3 Language perceivers implicitly learn the statistical regularities in their linguistic input, and they use this prior experience to guide comprehension of subsequent language. In particular, they learn to predict the sequential structure of linguistic signals, based on the statistics of previously-encountered input. Thus key aspects of comprehension behavior are tied to lexico-syntactic statistics in the language, which in turn derive from utterance planning biases promoting production of comparatively easy utterance forms over more difficult ones. This approach contrasts with classic theories in which comprehension behaviors are attributed to innate design features of the language comprehension system and associated working memory. The PDC instead links basic features of comprehension to a different source: production processes that shape

Double Taxation Agreements: Between EU Law and Public International Law

OpenAIRE

Hofmann, Herwig

2011-01-01

After the first drafts of the Treaty of Lisbon were available outside of the small circle of cogniscenti, specialists of the various policies tried to establish whether the new Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) contained anything relevant for their specific areas of law. People interested in tax law and those interested in the relation between EU law and public international law quickly established that one familiar yet not always well u...

Serving English as a Second Language Communities: A Literary Review and an In-Service Plan To Assist Administrators.

Science.gov (United States)

Westendorf, David; Karr-Kidwell, PJ

This paper presents a literature review and describes an inservice plan for aspiring and current elementary administrators in schools serving English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) communities. The literature review examines habits and guidelines for effective leaders to use in educational settings, discusses laws regarding bilingual/ESL education,…

Imperial College near infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging analysis framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Orihuela-Espina, Felipe; Leff, Daniel R; James, David R C; Darzi, Ara W; Yang, Guang-Zhong

2018-01-01

This paper describes the Imperial College near infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging analysis (ICNNA) software tool for functional near infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging data. ICNNA is a MATLAB-based object-oriented framework encompassing an application programming interface and a graphical user interface. ICNNA incorporates reconstruction based on the modified Beer-Lambert law and basic processing and data validation capabilities. Emphasis is placed on the full experiment rather than individual neuroimages as the central element of analysis. The software offers three types of analyses including classical statistical methods based on comparison of changes in relative concentrations of hemoglobin between the task and baseline periods, graph theory-based metrics of connectivity and, distinctively, an analysis approach based on manifold embedding. This paper presents the different capabilities of ICNNA in its current version.

What Challenges and Benefits Can Non-Formal Law and Language Integrated Learning Bring to University Students?

Science.gov (United States)

Atabekova, Atabekova; Gorbatenko, Rimma; Belousov, Aleksandr; Grebnev, Ruslan; Sheremetieva, Olga

2016-01-01

The paper explores the ways in which non-formal content and language integrated learning within university studies can affect students' academic progress. The research has included theoretical and empirical studies. The article focuses on the observation of students' learning process, draws attention to challenges and benefits students experienced…

Threshold law for electron impact ionization in the model of Temkin and Poet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Macek, J.H.

1996-01-01

The angle-Sturmian theory is used to derive the threshold law for ionization of atomic hydrogen by electron impact in the model of Temkin and Poet. In this model, the exact electron-electron interaction is replaced by its monopole term. As for Wannier's theory with the real interaction, ionization occurs only for electrons that start out nearly equidistant from the proton. Because there is a high propensity for one electron to be captured into a bound state, ionization is strongly suppressed, giving rise to a threshold law of the form σ ∝ exp[-aE -1/6 + bE 1/6 ], where a and b are constants. The exponential law appears to be the quantal counterpart of the classical offset of the ionization threshold. Relative energy distribution are computed and found to favor configurations with unequal energy sharing

International health law : an emerging field of public international law

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Toebes, Brigit

This article discusses the nature and scope of international health law as an emerging field of public international law. It is argued that the protection of health reflects a pressing social need that should now be spoken of in the vocabulary of international law. Furthermore, there is an urgent

Demonstrating the Gas Laws.

Science.gov (United States)

Holko, David A.

1982-01-01

Presents a complete computer program demonstrating the relationship between volume/pressure for Boyle's Law, volume/temperature for Charles' Law, and volume/moles of gas for Avagadro's Law. The programing reinforces students' application of gas laws and equates a simulated moving piston to theoretical values derived using the ideal gas law.…

Parallel Evolution of Genes and Languages in the Caucasus Region

Science.gov (United States)

Balanovsky, Oleg; Dibirova, Khadizhat; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg; Frolova, Svetlana; Pocheshkhova, Elvira; Haber, Marc; Platt, Daniel; Schurr, Theodore; Haak, Wolfgang; Kuznetsova, Marina; Radzhabov, Magomed; Balaganskaya, Olga; Romanov, Alexey; Zakharova, Tatiana; Soria Hernanz, David F.; Zalloua, Pierre; Koshel, Sergey; Ruhlen, Merritt; Renfrew, Colin; Wells, R. Spencer; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Balanovska, Elena

2012-01-01

We analyzed 40 SNP and 19 STR Y-chromosomal markers in a large sample of 1,525 indigenous individuals from 14 populations in the Caucasus and 254 additional individuals representing potential source populations. We also employed a lexicostatistical approach to reconstruct the history of the languages of the North Caucasian family spoken by the Caucasus populations. We found a different major haplogroup to be prevalent in each of four sets of populations that occupy distinct geographic regions and belong to different linguistic branches. The haplogroup frequencies correlated with geography and, even more strongly, with language. Within haplogroups, a number of haplotype clusters were shown to be specific to individual populations and languages. The data suggested a direct origin of Caucasus male lineages from the Near East, followed by high levels of isolation, differentiation and genetic drift in situ. Comparison of genetic and linguistic reconstructions covering the last few millennia showed striking correspondences between the topology and dates of the respective gene and language trees, and with documented historical events. Overall, in the Caucasus region, unmatched levels of gene-language co-evolution occurred within geographically isolated populations, probably due to its mountainous terrain. PMID:21571925

Experimental observation of parametric effects near period doubling in a loss-modulated CO2 laser

OpenAIRE

Chizhevsky, V. N.

1996-01-01

A number of parametric effects, such as suppression of period doubling, shift of the bifurcation point, scaling law relating the shift and the perturbation amplitude, influence of the detuning on the suppression, reaching of the maximum gain between the original and shifted bifurcation points, and scaling law for idler power are experimentally observed near period doubling bifurcation in a loss-driven CO2 laser that is subjected to periodic loss perturbations at a frequency that is close to a...

Tilsynsdiamanten i spændingsfeltet mellem soft law og hard law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Niels Skovmand

2013-01-01

Artiklen behandler de retskildemæssige spørgsmål, som Tilsynsdiamanten udstedt af Finanstilsynet giver anledning til. Dette sker på baggrund af forskellige teorier omkring soft law og hard law.......Artiklen behandler de retskildemæssige spørgsmål, som Tilsynsdiamanten udstedt af Finanstilsynet giver anledning til. Dette sker på baggrund af forskellige teorier omkring soft law og hard law....

A Diagnosis of English Language Teaching in Public Elementary Schools in Pasto, Colombia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesús Alirio Bastidas

2011-12-01

Full Text Available English teaching in Colombian primary schools became a requirement because of the promulgation of the Law of Education in 1994. Taking into account that this decision produced some difficulties in the schools, a study was conducted to diagnose the state of English language teaching in primary schools in Pasto, Colombia. Data were gathered through classroom observation, a questionnaire, and interviews. The results showed that teachers are not well versed either in methodology or in the command of the English language; there was no English syllabus; didactic materials were nonexistent; and the children’s lack of motivation was the most critical problem. Teachers, institutions and the government have to take into account these findings in order to improve English learning in primary schools.

Who Studies Which Language and Why? : A Cross-Language Survey of First-Year College-Level Language Learners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathryn M. Howard

2009-08-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on surveys of first-year language learners studying 19 different languages at two large East Coast Universities. The survey included questions about why students decided to study these languages, including career plans, study abroad, interest in liter-ature and culture, desire to communicate with speakers of the lan-guage, desire to speak with family members, building on previous language skills, and love of languages in general. Results were broken down by language and by language types, such as whether the lan-guages were commonly taught in the United States, how the lan-guages are politicized in the current historical context, and how the languages intersect with historical and geographic trends in immigra-tion and immigration policy. This article examines in particular the presence of heritage language learners in these language classrooms, the varying reasons that students choose to study these languages, and students’ prior attainment and exposure to the language. The pa-per discusses the political, historical, and social contexts of language study in the United States and the associated implications for effec-tive language recruitment and effective language program design.

Language Learning Strategies in Second & Foreign Language Acquisition

OpenAIRE

TAKEUCHI, Osamu

1991-01-01

This article is an attempt to the work on language learning strategies(LLS) in second & foreign language acquisiton (SFLA) research, and to give suggestions for future language learning strategies research. In the first section, I will discuss briefly the background of language learning strategies reserch, and in the ensuing sections, I will review articles on: (i) the identification & classification of language learning strategies; (ii) the variables affecting the use of language learning st...

Interplay of Language Policy, Ethnic Identity and National Identity in Five Different Linguistic Settings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehdi Gran Hemat

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This study, as a concise and critical literature review, examines related studies that investigated the interplay of the three constructs: ethnic identity, national identity and language policy. To do this, five related research articles were located and their similarities and differences in terms of their findings and methodologies were compared and contrasted. The literature review reveals that the researchers have utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods to obtain data. The findings show that ethnic identity is the contextualization of history, beliefs, customs, spiritual values, etc. of a speech community which practice their culture and values via the medium of language. National identity which emerges in time can be defined as an embodiment of the all common cultural values and social practices of different ethnic groups inside the borders of any country, and this is also manifested through a common language used as the formal and official language of their country. However, identity is a notion that remains rather illusive in its operationalization. Finally, language policy may be representative of a body of law, regulation and authoritative linguistic planned programs which are imposed on societies by governments. Language policies as nation building activities can improve the sense of nationality and reduce ethnic discords, and in the event may also suppress the maintenance or development of ethnic identity.

Law before Gratian: Law in Western Europe c. 500-1100

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This volume, the third in the series, contains the proceedings of the conference 'Law before Gratian' and covers a wide range of topics from individual and local studies to broader reflections on the status and function of law in medieval European societies before the scholastic legal 'revolution......' of the later twelfth century. Seeking to broaden our view of what constituted law in this period, the articles examine these earlier developments in their own right and provide new insights into the variety and complexity of early and high medieval approaches to law and jurisprudence. Contributors...

Global observation of Omori-law decay in the rate of triggered earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Parsons, T.

2001-12-01

Triggered earthquakes can be large, damaging, and lethal as evidenced by the 1999 shocks in Turkey and the 2001 events in El Salvador. In this study, earthquakes with M greater than 7.0 from the Harvard CMT catalog are modeled as dislocations to calculate shear stress changes on subsequent earthquake rupture planes near enough to be affected. About 61% of earthquakes that occurred near the main shocks are associated with calculated shear stress increases, while ~39% are associated with shear stress decreases. If earthquakes associated with calculated shear stress increases are interpreted as triggered, then such events make up at least 8% of the CMT catalog. Globally, triggered earthquakes obey an Omori-law rate decay that lasts between ~7-11 years after the main shock. Earthquakes associated with calculated shear stress increases occur at higher rates than background up to 240 km away from the main-shock centroid. Earthquakes triggered by smaller quakes (foreshocks) also obey Omori's law, which is one of the few time-predictable patterns evident in the global occurrence of earthquakes. These observations indicate that earthquake probability calculations which include interactions from previous shocks should incorporate a transient Omori-law decay with time. In addition, a very simple model using the observed global rate change with time and spatial distribution of triggered earthquakes can be applied to immediately assess the likelihood of triggered earthquakes following large events, and can be in place until more sophisticated analyses are conducted.

La Base Del Derecho Alimentario Europeo: Una Reflexión Crítica Sobre El Concepto De Alimento No Seguro (The Foundation of European Food Law: A Critical Reflection on the Concept of Unsafe Food)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meulen, van der B.M.J.

2014-01-01

This paper is a Spanish language continuation of: B.M.J. van der Meulen, The Core of Food Law, European Food and Feed Law Review 3/2012, pp. 117-125. It has been made at the request of AIBADA, Asociación Iberoamericana para el Derecho Alimentario. The most fundamental notion underlying twelve years

Pollution law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Triffterer, O.

1980-01-01

In the draft proposed by the legal advisory board the law for the controlling of environmental criminality was promulgated on 28th March 1980. The present commentary therefore - as seen from the results - corresponds in essential to the original assessment of the governmental draft. However, an introduction into the problems of environmental law precedes this commentary for the better unterstanding of all those not acquainted with pollution law and the whole legal matter. (orig./HP) [de

THE LAW ON EDUCATION OF 2012 AND DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LAW IN RUSSIA

OpenAIRE

KOZYRIN A.N.; TROSHKINA TATYANA

2017-01-01

In September 2013 Russia enacted a new law on education which introduced significant changes into the system of sources for Russian educational law. This article analyses the provisions of the education law that pertain to sources of educational law in the Russian Federation, the relationship between different levels of normative and legal regulation, including: international, national (federal laws and by-laws, legal regulation of relations in education at the regional and municipal levels i...

NEOWISE OBSERVATIONS OF NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mainzer, A.; Bauer, J.; Masiero, J.; Eisenhardt, P. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Grav, T.; Mo, W. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (United States); McMillan, R. S. [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1629 East University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85721-0092 (United States); Cutri, R. M. [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Walker, R. [Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy, Monterey, CA (United States); Wright, E. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, P.O. Box 91547, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 (United States); Tholen, D. J.; Jedicke, R.; Denneau, L. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI (United States); Spahr, T. [Minor Planet Center, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); DeBaun, E. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth University, Hanover, NH 03755 (United States); Elsbury, D. [University of California Santa Barbara, Broida Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93103 (United States); Gautier, T. [Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Gomillion, S. [Department of Engineering Physics, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 600 S. Clyde Morris Boulevard, Daytona Beach, FL 32114 (United States); Hand, E. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO 64110 (United States); Watkins, J., E-mail: amainzer@jpl.nasa.gov [Department of Earth and Space Sciences, UCLA, 595 Charles Young Drive East, Box 951567, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); and others

2011-12-20

With the NEOWISE portion of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) project, we have carried out a highly uniform survey of the near-Earth object (NEO) population at thermal infrared wavelengths ranging from 3 to 22 {mu}m, allowing us to refine estimates of their numbers, sizes, and albedos. The NEOWISE survey detected NEOs the same way whether they were previously known or not, subject to the availability of ground-based follow-up observations, resulting in the discovery of more than 130 new NEOs. The survey's uniform sensitivity, observing cadence, and image quality have permitted extrapolation of the 428 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) detected by NEOWISE during the fully cryogenic portion of the WISE mission to the larger population. We find that there are 981 {+-} 19 NEAs larger than 1 km and 20,500 {+-} 3000 NEAs larger than 100 m. We show that the Spaceguard goal of detecting 90% of all 1 km NEAs has been met, and that the cumulative size distribution is best represented by a broken power law with a slope of 1.32 {+-} 0.14 below 1.5 km. This power-law slope produces {approx}13, 200 {+-} 1900 NEAs with D > 140 m. Although previous studies predict another break in the cumulative size distribution below D {approx} 50-100 m, resulting in an increase in the number of NEOs in this size range and smaller, we did not detect enough objects to comment on this increase. The overall number for the NEA population between 100 and 1000 m is lower than previous estimates. The numbers of near-Earth comets and potentially hazardous NEOs will be the subject of future work.

NEOWISE OBSERVATIONS OF NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mainzer, A.; Bauer, J.; Masiero, J.; Eisenhardt, P.; Grav, T.; Mo, W.; McMillan, R. S.; Cutri, R. M.; Walker, R.; Wright, E.; Tholen, D. J.; Jedicke, R.; Denneau, L.; Spahr, T.; DeBaun, E.; Elsbury, D.; Gautier, T.; Gomillion, S.; Hand, E.; Watkins, J.

2011-01-01

With the NEOWISE portion of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) project, we have carried out a highly uniform survey of the near-Earth object (NEO) population at thermal infrared wavelengths ranging from 3 to 22 μm, allowing us to refine estimates of their numbers, sizes, and albedos. The NEOWISE survey detected NEOs the same way whether they were previously known or not, subject to the availability of ground-based follow-up observations, resulting in the discovery of more than 130 new NEOs. The survey's uniform sensitivity, observing cadence, and image quality have permitted extrapolation of the 428 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) detected by NEOWISE during the fully cryogenic portion of the WISE mission to the larger population. We find that there are 981 ± 19 NEAs larger than 1 km and 20,500 ± 3000 NEAs larger than 100 m. We show that the Spaceguard goal of detecting 90% of all 1 km NEAs has been met, and that the cumulative size distribution is best represented by a broken power law with a slope of 1.32 ± 0.14 below 1.5 km. This power-law slope produces ∼13, 200 ± 1900 NEAs with D > 140 m. Although previous studies predict another break in the cumulative size distribution below D ∼ 50-100 m, resulting in an increase in the number of NEOs in this size range and smaller, we did not detect enough objects to comment on this increase. The overall number for the NEA population between 100 and 1000 m is lower than previous estimates. The numbers of near-Earth comets and potentially hazardous NEOs will be the subject of future work.

Logarithmic scaling in the near-dissipation range of turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sreenivasan, K.R.; Bershadskii, A.

2006-12-01

A logarithmic scaling for structure functions, in the form S p ∼ [ln(r/η)] ζp , where η is the Kolmogorov dissipation scale and ζ p are the scaling exponents, is suggested for the statistical description of the near-dissipation range for which classical power-law scaling does not apply. From experimental data at moderate Reynolds numbers, it is shown that the logarithmic scaling, deduced from general considerations for the near-dissipation range, covers almost the entire range of scales (about two decades) of structure functions, for both velocity and passive scalar fields. This new scaling requires two empirical constants, just as the classical scaling does, and can be considered the basis for extended self-similarity. (author)

What sign language creation teaches us about language.

Science.gov (United States)

Brentari, Diane; Coppola, Marie

2013-03-01

How do languages emerge? What are the necessary ingredients and circumstances that permit new languages to form? Various researchers within the disciplines of primatology, anthropology, psychology, and linguistics have offered different answers to this question depending on their perspective. Language acquisition, language evolution, primate communication, and the study of spoken varieties of pidgin and creoles address these issues, but in this article we describe a relatively new and important area that contributes to our understanding of language creation and emergence. Three types of communication systems that use the hands and body to communicate will be the focus of this article: gesture, homesign systems, and sign languages. The focus of this article is to explain why mapping the path from gesture to homesign to sign language has become an important research topic for understanding language emergence, not only for the field of sign languages, but also for language in general. WIREs Cogn Sci 2013, 4:201-211. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1212 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of France’s Indoor Smoke-Free Law 1 Year and 5 Years after Implementation: Findings from the ITC France Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Fong, Geoffrey T.; Craig, Lorraine V.; Guignard, Romain; Nagelhout, Gera E.; Tait, Megan K.; Driezen, Pete; Kennedy, Ryan David; Boudreau, Christian; Wilquin, Jean-Louis; Deutsch, Antoine; Beck, François

2013-01-01

France implemented a comprehensive smoke-free law in two phases: Phase 1 (February 2007) banned smoking in workplaces, shopping centres, airports, train stations, hospitals, and schools; Phase 2 (January 2008) banned smoking in hospitality venues (bars, restaurants, hotels, casinos, nightclubs). This paper evaluates France’s smoke-free law based on the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project in France (the ITC France Project), which conducted a cohort survey of approximately 1,500 smokers and 500 non-smokers before the implementation of the laws (Wave 1) and two waves after the implementation (Waves 2 and 3). Results show that the smoke-free law led to a very significant and near-total elimination of observed smoking in key venues such as bars (from 94–97% to 4%) and restaurants (from 60–71% to 2–3%) at Wave 2, which was sustained four years later (6–8% in bars; 1–2% in restaurants). The reduction in self-reported smoking by smoking respondents was nearly identical to the effects shown in observed smoking. Observed smoking in workplaces declined significantly after the law (from 41–48% to 18–20%), which continued to decline at Wave 3 (to 14–15%). Support for the smoke-free laws increased significantly after their implementation and continued to increase at Wave 3 (plaws, smoking in the home did not increase after the law was implemented and prevalence of smoke-free homes among smokers increased from 23.2% before the law to 37.2% 5 years after the law. PMID:23805265

The criminal law responsibility of officials under environmental criminal law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winkelbauer, W.

1986-01-01

The legal application of environmental criminal law has attributed to office-bearers of the environmental administration a determining function in the field of criminal protection of legal objects. Criminal law shall prevent the misuse of official authority. In this connection law has to observe the limits of admissible procedure of the administration. (CW) [de

Unjust enrichment in business law

OpenAIRE

Vydrová, Zuzana

2016-01-01

This thesis analyses the concept of unjust enrichment under the business law. First of all the thesis explains the term of business law. Business law is a complex of legal rules concerning the contractual relationships between entrepreneurs arising from their business activities. Business law is a comprehensive field of law which extends into many other fields of law, both private and public law. Equally the regulation of unjust enrichment within the business law expands into many other laws ...

Overcoming the hard law/soft law dichotomy in times of (financial crises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rolf H. Weber

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Traditional legal doctrine calls for hard law to regulate markets. Nevertheless, in financial markets, soft law has a long tradition, not at least due to the lack of multilateral agreements in this field. On the one hand, the recent financial crisis has shown that soft law does not suffice to avoid detrimental developments; on the other hand, a straight call for hard law would not be able to manage the recognized regulatory weaknesses. Therefore, emphasis should be put on the possibilities of combining hard law and soft law; specific areas allowing realizing such kind of “combination” are organizational issues, transparency requirements, and dispute settlement mechanisms.

Legal regime of human activities in outer space law

Science.gov (United States)

Golda, Carlo

1994-01-01

Current developments in space activities increasingly involve the presence of humans on board spacecraft and, in the near future, on the Moon, on Mars, on board Space Stations, etc. With respect to these challenges, the political and legal issues connected to the status of astronauts are largely unclear and require a new doctrinal attention. In the same way, many legal and political questions remain open in the structure of future space crews: the need for international standards in the definition and training of astronauts, etc.; but, first of all, an international uniform legal definition of astronauts. Moreover, the legal structure for human life and operations in outer space can be a new and relevant paradigm for the definition of similar rules in all the situations and environments in which humans are involved in extreme frontiers. The present article starts from an overview on the existing legal and political definitions of 'astronauts', moving to the search of a more useful definition. This is followed by an analysis of the concrete problems created by human space activities, and the legal and political responses to them (the need for a code of conduct; the structure of the crew and the existing rules in the US and ex-USSR; the new legal theories on the argument; the definition and structure of a code of conduct; the next legal problems in fields such as privacy law, communications law, business law, criminal law, etc.).

Kinematic feedback control laws for generating natural arm movements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Donghyun; Jang, Cheongjae; Park, Frank C

2014-01-01

We propose a stochastic optimal feedback control law for generating natural robot arm motions. Our approach, inspired by the minimum variance principle of Harris and Wolpert (1998 Nature 394 780–4) and the optimal feedback control principles put forth by Todorov and Jordan (2002 Nature Neurosci. 5 1226–35) for explaining human movements, differs in two crucial respects: (i) the endpoint variance is minimized in joint space rather than Cartesian hand space, and (ii) we ignore the dynamics and instead consider only the second-order differential kinematics. The feedback control law generating the motions can be straightforwardly obtained by backward integration of a set of ordinary differential equations; these equations are obtained exactly, without any linear–quadratic approximations. The only parameters to be determined a priori are the variance scale factors, and for both the two-DOF planar arm and the seven-DOF spatial arm, a table of values is constructed based on the given initial and final arm configurations; these values are determined via an optimal fitting procedure, and consistent with existing findings about neuromuscular motor noise levels of human arm muscles. Experiments conducted with a two-link planar arm and a seven-DOF spatial arm verify that the trajectories generated by our feedback control law closely resemble human arm motions, in the sense of producing nearly straight-line hand trajectories, having bell-shaped velocity profiles, and satisfying Fitts Law. (paper)

The law applicable to environmental damage in European private international law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Đundić Petar

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The paper contains an analysis of choice of law rules in the field of non-contractual liability for damage caused to environment in national legislations of European countries as well as in Private International Law of the European Union. Before the adoption of Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (Rome II, special choice of law rules for environmental torts existed in a small number of European national legal orders. This is the fact that gives the rule contained in Article 7 of the Rome II Regulation a particular importance. From the Serbian Private International Law perspective, the significance of that provision is highlighted by the fact that the working draft of the new Serbian Private International Law Act has strictly followed the choice of law rule envisaged by the European legislator for environmental damage. For that reason, a significant part of the paper is dedicated to analysis of said rule, to its interpretation and potential problems which its application could create.

UNCLOS and International Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martinez Romera, Beatriz; Coelho, Nelson F.

2018-01-01

, treaty law is only one of many sources of the law that governs international relations, the others being customary international law and principles of law. The main conclusion of this chapter is that states may have to wake up to the limitations of the UNCLOS and that this will require understanding...... the relative role of this treaty among other sources of international law....

The French nuclear law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Hiroshi

2013-01-01

The nuclear law had been out of the environmental law. The act on the transparency and the security of the nuclear matter was enacted in 2006 and set in the code of the environment in 2012. It means that the nuclear law is part of the environmental law and that it is advanced. I will report the French nuclear law. (author)

Language Contact.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelde, Peter Hans

1995-01-01

Examines the phenomenon of language contact and recent trends in linguistic contact research, which focuses on language use, language users, and language spheres. Also discusses the role of linguistic and cultural conflicts in language contact situations. (13 references) (MDM)

VALIDATION OF THE DERIVED LAW NORM IN THE EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alina Leția

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Throughout realizing the study we analyzed the validity of the European law norm resulting from the derived sources of law with obligatory force (regulations, decisions and directives in connection with the European law norm, the national law norm and the general principles of law considering the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice and the supremacy of the European Union law also over national constitutions. Thus the European Union represents a new law order, having as subjects not only states member, but also the nationals of these states, who benefit of rights that can be appealed before national courts against public organisms or other private persons and obligations. Therefore, the European Court of Justice has successively imposed the direct applicability of community norms, continuing with the priority of these norms so that in the end the principle of the supremacy of the European law has been adopted. The European norm has to be respected and interpreted in a uniform manner in all states member, considering the fact that the supremacy of the European law over the national law is seen as a sine qua non of the integration, but also a fundamental principle of the Union. National courts guarantee the supremacy of the European norm and its unitary application – aspects analyzed in this study- through the procedure of preliminary decisions.

MINORITY LANGUAGES IN ESTONIAN SEGREGATIVE LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elvira Küün

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The goal of this project in Estonia was to determine what languages are spoken by students from the 2nd to the 5th year of basic school at their homes in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. At the same time, this problem was also studied in other segregated regions of Estonia: Kohtla-Järve and Maardu. According to the database of the population census from the year 2000 (Estonian Statistics Executive Office's census 2000, there are representatives of 142 ethnic groups living in Estonia, speaking a total of 109 native languages. At the same time, the database doesn’t state which languages are spoken at homes. The material presented in this article belongs to the research topic “Home Language of Basic School Students in Tallinn” from years 2007–2008, specifically financed and ordered by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (grant No. ETF 7065 in the framework of an international study called “Multilingual Project”. It was determined what language is dominating in everyday use, what are the factors for choosing the language for communication, what are the preferred languages and language skills. This study reflects the actual trends of the language situation in these cities.

A right to health care? Participatory politics, progressive policy, and the price of loose language.

Science.gov (United States)

Reidy, David A

2016-08-01

This article begins by clarifying and noting various limitations on the universal reach of the human right to health care under positive international law. It then argues that irrespective of the human right to health care established by positive international law, any system of positive international law capable of generating legal duties with prima facie moral force necessarily presupposes a universal moral human right to health care. But the language used in contemporary human rights documents or human rights advocacy is not a good guide to the content of this rather more modest universal moral human right to health care. The conclusion reached is that when addressing issues of justice as they inevitably arise with respect to health policy and health care, both within and between states, there is typically little to gain and much to risk by framing deliberation in terms of the human right to health care.

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Brain Imaging Investigation of Phonological Awareness and Passage Comprehension Abilities in Adult Recipients of Cochlear Implants

Science.gov (United States)

Bisconti, Silvia; Shulkin, Masha; Hu, Xiaosu; Basura, Gregory J.; Kileny, Paul R.; Kovelman, Ioulia

2016-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine how the brains of individuals with cochlear implants (CIs) respond to spoken language tasks that underlie successful language acquisition and processing. Method: During functional near-infrared spectroscopy imaging, CI recipients with hearing impairment (n = 10, mean age: 52.7 ± 17.3 years) and…

Ohm's Law, Kirchoff's Law and the Drunkard's Walk

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 2; Issue 11. Ohm's Law, Kirchoff's Law and the Drunkard's Walk Related Electrical Networks. Rahul Roy. General Article Volume 2 Issue 11 November 1997 pp 36-47. Fulltext. Click here to view fulltext PDF. Permanent link:

Language and Language Policy in Singapore.

Science.gov (United States)

Baxter, William H., III

1985-01-01

Singapore's language policy must balance the wishes of the various ethnic groups, the political situation in the regions, and the needs of economic development. Malay, Mandarin Chinese, English, and Tamil are all recognized as official languages. Malay has special symbolic status as the national language. (RM)

Transnational Constitutional Law

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zumbansen, P (Peer); K.I. Bhatt (Kinnari)

2018-01-01

textabstractThis chapter provides an overview of the emerging field of transnational constitutional law (TCL). Whilst questions of constitutional law are typically discussed in the context of a specific domestic legal setting, a salient strategy of TCL is to understand constitutional law and its

LAW DEMOCRACY & DEVELOPMENT

African Journals Online (AJOL)

HP27975994114

is still on the increase.8 It is forecast that the world will face a 40 per cent .... the legal context entails.27 Renowned property law scholars, like Underkuffler, argue ..... operation of law.53 The classic examples of Roman law res publicae were ...

A new paradigm for individual subject language mapping: Movie-watching fMRI

Science.gov (United States)

Tie, Yanmei; Rigolo, Laura; Ovalioglu, Aysegul Ozdemir; Olubiyi, Olutayo; Doolin, Kelly L.; Mukundan, Srinivasan; Golby, Alexandra J.

2015-01-01

Background Functional MRI (fMRI) based on language tasks has been used in pre-surgical language mapping in patients with lesions in or near putative language areas. However, if the patients have difficulty performing the tasks due to neurological deficits, it leads to unreliable or non-interpretable results. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of using a movie-watching fMRI for language mapping. Methods A 7-min movie clip with contrasting speech and non-speech segments was shown to 22 right-handed healthy subjects. Based on all subjects' language functional regions-of-interest, six language response areas were defined, within which a language response model (LRM) was derived by extracting the main temporal activation profile. Using a leave-one-out procedure, individuals' language areas were identified as the areas that expressed highly correlated temporal responses with the LRM derived from an independent group of subjects. Results Compared with an antonym generation task-based fMRI, the movie-watching fMRI generated language maps with more localized activations in the left frontal language area, larger activations in the left temporoparietal language area, and significant activations in their right-hemisphere homologues. Results of two brain tumor patients' movie-watching fMRI using the LRM derived from the healthy subjects indicated its ability to map putative language areas; while their task-based fMRI maps were less robust and noisier. Conclusions These results suggest that it is feasible to use this novel “task-free” paradigm as a complementary tool for fMRI language mapping when patients cannot perform the tasks. Its deployment in more neurosurgical patients and validation against gold-standard techniques need further investigation. PMID:25962953

THE INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGE USE AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDE ON THE MAINTENANCE OF COMMUNITY LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY MIGRANT STUDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leni Amalia Suek

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The maintenance of community languages of migrant students is heavily determined by language use and language attitudes. The superiority of a dominant language over a community language contributes to attitudes of migrant students toward their native languages. When they perceive their native languages as unimportant language, they will reduce the frequency of using that language even though at home domain. Solutions provided for a problem of maintaining community languages should be related to language use and attitudes of community languages, which are developed mostly in two important domains, school and family. Hence, the valorization of community language should be promoted not only in family but also school domains. Several programs such as community language school and community language program can be used for migrant students to practice and use their native languages. Since educational resources such as class session, teachers and government support are limited; family plays significant roles to stimulate positive attitudes toward community language and also to develop the use of native languages.

A Python Geospatial Language Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Fillmore, D.; Pletzer, A.; Galloy, M.

2012-12-01

The volume and scope of geospatial data archives, such as collections of satellite remote sensing or climate model products, has been rapidly increasing and will continue to do so in the near future. The recently launched (October 2011) Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite (NPP) for instance, is the first of a new generation of Earth observation platforms that will monitor the atmosphere, oceans, and ecosystems, and its suite of instruments will generate several terabytes each day in the form of multi-spectral images and derived datasets. Full exploitation of such data for scientific analysis and decision support applications has become a major computational challenge. Geophysical data exploration and knowledge discovery could benefit, in particular, from intelligent mechanisms for extracting and manipulating subsets of data relevant to the problem of interest. Potential developments include enhanced support for natural language queries and directives to geospatial datasets. The translation of natural language (that is, human spoken or written phrases) into complex but unambiguous objects and actions can be based on a context, or knowledge domain, that represents the underlying geospatial concepts. This poster describes a prototype Python module that maps English phrases onto basic geospatial objects and operations. This module, along with the associated computational geometry methods, enables the resolution of natural language directives that include geographic regions of arbitrary shape and complexity.

A Computational Unification of Scientific Law:. Spelling out a Universal Semantics for Physical Reality

Science.gov (United States)

Marcer, Peter J.; Rowlands, Peter

2013-09-01

The principal criteria Cn (n = 1 to 23) and grammatical production rules are set out of a universal computational rewrite language spelling out a semantic description of an emergent, self-organizing architecture for the cosmos. These language productions already predicate: (1) Einstein's conservation law of energy, momentum and mass and, subsequently, (2) with respect to gauge invariant relativistic space time (both Lorentz special & Einstein general); (3) Standard Model elementary particle physics; (4) the periodic table of the elements & chemical valence; and (5) the molecular biological basis of the DNA / RNA genetic code; so enabling the Cybernetic Machine specialist Groups Mission Statement premise;** (6) that natural semantic language thinking at the higher level of the self-organized emergent chemical molecular complexity of the human brain (only surpassed by that of the cosmos itself!) would be realized (7) by this same universal semantic language via (8) an architecture of a conscious human brain/mind and self which, it predicates consists of its neural / glia and microtubule substrates respectively, so as to endow it with; (9) the intelligent semantic capability to be able to specify, symbolize, spell out and understand the cosmos that conceived it; and (10) provide a quantum physical explanation of consciousness and of how (11) the dichotomy between first person subjectivity and third person objectivity or `hard problem' is resolved.

Large Magellanic Cloud Near-infrared Synoptic Survey. V. Period–Luminosity Relations of Miras

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yuan, Wenlong; Macri, Lucas M. [George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States); He, Shiyuan; Huang, Jianhua Z. [Department of Statistics, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States); Kanbur, Shashi M. [Department of Physics, The State University of New York at Oswego, Oswego, NY 13126 (United States); Ngeow, Chow-Choong, E-mail: lmacri@tamu.edu [Graduate Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Jhongli 32001, Taiwan (China)

2017-10-01

We study the near-infrared properties of 690 Mira candidates in the central region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, based on time-series observations at JHK{sub s}. We use densely sampled I -band observations from the OGLE project to generate template light curves in the near-infrared and derive robust mean magnitudes at those wavelengths. We obtain near-infrared Period–Luminosity relations for oxygen-rich Miras with a scatter as low as 0.12 mag at K{sub s}. We study the Period–Luminosity–Color relations and the color excesses of carbon-rich Miras, which show evidence for a substantially different reddening law.

The sources of the specificity of nuclear law and environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rainaud, J.M.; Cristini, R.

1983-01-01

This paper analyses the sources of the specificity of nuclear law and its relationship with environmental law as well as with ordinary law. The characteristics of nuclear law are summarized thus: recent discovery of the atom's uses and mandatory protection against its effects; internationalization of its use, leading to a limitation of national authorities competence. Several international treaties are cited (Antarctic Treaty, NPT, London Dumping Convention etc.) showing the link between radiation protection and the environment. (NEA) [fr

"You Know Spanish, Right?": Language for Specific Purposes and the Challenge of Teaching Content Areas and Lexical Domain

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Douglas A.; Polchow, Shannon M.

2015-01-01

In a typically monolingual state, those students who do possess a second language are poised to better integrate themselves into the international business community, yet, possessing (for example) a Spanish degree does not indicate proficiency. Unless students have been exposed to a variety of subjects relating to law, health care, business, and…

The Incorporation of Public International Law into Municipal Law and Regional Law against the Background of the Dichotomy between Monism and Dualism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerrit Ferreira

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Monism and dualism represent two different approaches towards the relationship between public international law and municipal law. While the former views public international law and municipal law as a single legal system, the latter regards these two areas of law as separate and distinct legal systems that exist alongside each other. However, not all legal systems are clearly either monist or dualist. The dichotomy between monism and dualism no longer only concerns the relationship between public international law and municipal law, but also increasingly affects the relationship between public international law and regional law. This contribution discusses the application of the monist and dualist approaches by the South African Constitutional Court in the Glenister case and the European Court of Justice in the Kadi and Hungary cases in order to illustrate the practical application of the dichotomy between monism and dualism in a municipal system and on a regional level.

View points on a not well known law, the nuclear law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arbousset, Herve; Lahorgue, Marie-Beatrice; Rambour, Muriel; Schellenberger, Thomas

2018-01-01

While indicating the relevant French decrees and laws which have been building up what can be called the nuclear law, this article first proposes a discussed overview of the evolution of this law between a decree published in 1963 and the law on energy transition, while noticing what went in the USA in this respect. Based on the example of the project of geological storage of nuclear wastes, the authors outline that this nuclear law is evolving out of standards as it is evolves in order to fit with the project, and not the other way. Therefore democratic anchoring is rather fragile. The author outlines the influence of new threats related to terrorism and their influence on the nuclear law. They also comment the issue of compensation for victims of French nuclear tests in Algeria and in French Polynesia, and notice that hope has been followed by disillusion and questions

The effects of multisensory structured language instruction on native language and foreign language aptitude skills of at-risk high school foreign language learners.

Science.gov (United States)

Sparks, R; Ganschow, L; Pohlman, J; Skinner, S; Artzer, M

1992-12-01

Research findings suggest that most students who have foreign language learning problems have language-based difficulties and, in particular, phonological processing problems. Authors of the present study examined pre- and posttest scores on native language and foreign language aptitude tests of three groups of at-risk high school students enrolled in special, self-contained sections of first-year Spanish. Two groups were instructed using a multisensory structured language (MSL) approach. One of the groups was taught in both English and Spanish (MSL/ES), the other only in Spanish (MSL/S). The third group (NO-MSL) was instructed using more traditional second language teaching methodologies. Significant gains were made by the MSL-ES group on measures of native language phonology, vocabulary, and verbal memory and on a test of foreign language aptitude; the MSL/S group made significant gains on the test of foreign language aptitude. No significant gains on the native language or foreign language aptitude measures were made by the NO-MSL group. Implications for foreign language classroom instruction of at-risk students are discussed.

Laws on Robots, Laws by Robots, Laws in Robots : Regulating Robot Behaviour by Design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leenes, R.E.; Lucivero, F.

2015-01-01

Speculation about robot morality is almost as old as the concept of a robot itself. Asimov’s three laws of robotics provide an early and well-discussed example of moral rules robots should observe. Despite the widespread influence of the three laws of robotics and their role in shaping visions of

Outlines of environmental Law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salzwedel, J.

1982-01-01

In this omnibus, ten members of the working group for environmental law attempt to present the respective fields of environmental law in a consistent context, and to show the autonomy of each subject-matter as well as their interdependence and interrelationships. In the long run, the complexity of basic facts of natural science, technology and that of practical execution will require subject-specific penetration and application. Relationships between systems have to be realized to an increasing extent. Structures of law and administration have to be harmonized, and statements on the environmental impact of projects have to be made possible on the whole. Fundamental issues of environmental law are dealt with in the chapters entitled 'Concept and levels of applications of environmental law' and 'Environmental law in general'. The international, supranational and constitutional conditions given in advance of any environmental legislation increasingly gaining in importance are presented in the chapter on 'International environmental law', 'Basics of European Law' and on 'Constitutional Fundamentals'. The necessity of interdisciplinary cooperation becomes evident in those contributions concerning individual fields of environmental law. (orig./HSCH) [de

Bilinguals' Existing Languages Benefit Vocabulary Learning in a Third Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

2017-03-01

Learning a new language involves substantial vocabulary acquisition. Learners can accelerate this process by relying on words with native-language overlap, such as cognates. For bilingual third language learners, it is necessary to determine how their two existing languages interact during novel language learning. A scaffolding account predicts transfer from either language for individual words, whereas an accumulation account predicts cumulative transfer from both languages. To compare these accounts, twenty English-German bilingual adults were taught an artificial language containing 48 novel written words that varied orthogonally in English and German wordlikeness (neighborhood size and orthotactic probability). Wordlikeness in each language improved word production accuracy, and similarity to one language provided the same benefit as dual-language overlap. In addition, participants' memory for novel words was affected by the statistical distributions of letters in the novel language. Results indicate that bilinguals utilize both languages during third language acquisition, supporting a scaffolding learning model.

Discussion: Imagining the Languaged Worker's Language

Science.gov (United States)

Urciuoli, Bonnie

2016-01-01

What people perceive as "a language"--a named entity--is abstracted from practices and notions about those practices. People take for granted that language is somehow a "thing," an objectively distinct and bounded entity. How languages come to be thus imagined indexes the conditions under which they are imagined. The articles…

European tax law

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Terra, B.J.M.; Wattel, P.J.

2008-01-01

This book is intended as a reference book for tax law and EC law pratitioners, tax administrators, academics, the judiciary and tax or Community law policy makers. For students, an abridged student edition textbook is available. The book offers a systematic survey of the tax implications of the EC

Pseudo-reorganization of language cortical function at fMR imaging: a consequence of tumor-induced neurovascular uncoupling.

Science.gov (United States)

Ulmer, John L; Krouwer, Hendrikus G; Mueller, Wade M; Ugurel, M Sahin; Kocak, Mehmet; Mark, Leighton P

2003-02-01

A left-handed patient with a grade II left frontal lobe astrocytoma had spontaneous seizures causing speech arrest and uncontrolled right upper extremity movements. Word-generation functional MR (fMR) imaging showed activity nearly exclusively in the right inferior frontal gyrus. The clinical history of the speech arrest and the intraoperative mapping proved left-hemisphere language dominance. Tumor involvement of the left inferior frontal gyrus caused uncoupling of the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) and neuronal response, leading to the erroneous fMR imaging appearance of right-hemisphere language dominance. Discrepancies between BOLD and intraoperative mapping in areas near lesions illustrate the complementary nature of these techniques.

Physicians Use of Inclusive Sexual Orientation Language During Teenage Annual Visits.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Stewart C; Fortenberry, J Dennis; Pollak, Kathryn I; Bravender, Terrill; Østbye, Truls; Shields, Cleveland G

2014-12-01

Physicians are encouraged to use inclusive language regarding sexuality in order to help all adolescent patients feel accepted. Non-inclusive language by physicians may influence relationships with adolescent patients, especially those with still-developing sexual identities. The aim of this study was to identify patterns of physicians' use of inclusive and non-inclusive language when discussing sexuality. A total of 393 conversations between 393 adolescents and 49 physicians from 11 clinics located throughout the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, area were audio recorded. Conversations were coded for the use of inclusive talk (language use that avoids the use of specific gender, sex, or sexual orientation language), direct non-inclusive talk (language use that assumes the teenager is heterosexual or exclusively engages in heterosexual sexual activity), and indirect non-inclusive talk (language use that frames talk heterosexually but does not pre-identify the adolescent as heterosexual). Nearly two-thirds (63%, 245) of the visits contained some sexuality talk. Inclusive talk rarely occurred (3.3%) while non-inclusive language was predominant (48.1% direct and 48.6% indirect). There were no significant differences in language use by gender, age, adolescent race, or visit length. These non-significant findings suggest that all adolescents regardless of race, gender, or age are receiving non-inclusive sexuality talk from their providers. Physicians are missing opportunities to create safe environments for teenagers to discuss sexuality. The examples of inclusive talk from this study may provide potentially useful ways to teach providers how to begin sexuality discussions, focusing on sexual attraction or asking about friends' sexual behavior, and maintain these discussions.

EU international family law: Legal basis, sources, case law of ECJ

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bordaš Bernadet

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper offers analysis of two issues. The first is the overview of the legal basis of international family law and it's sources under the Treaty of Lisbon on the Functioning of the European Union, and the second the case law of the European Court of Justice. Since 1999, when the Treaty of Amsterdam came into force, four regulations were adopted in matters of international family law as secondary sources of EU law, and three of them came into force. National courts of Member Sates are bound to apply directly three regulations, but so far only the interpretation of Brussels II bis Regulation has reached the European Court of Justice. Some of the judgments of the Court could be of interest for Serbian private international law. The reason is in the fact that the Court gave rulings on issues and concepts which are not defined in Serbian law, so they could influence the development and definitions of the those in the course of drawing up the new Act of Private International Law in Serbia. The paper reviews the Sundelind Lopez, the Hadady, the Case A. and the Mercredi judgments.

Catastrophic Failure and Critical Scaling Laws of Fiber Bundle Material

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shengwang Hao

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a spring-fiber bundle model used to describe the failure process induced by energy release in heterogeneous materials. The conditions that induce catastrophic failure are determined by geometric conditions and energy equilibrium. It is revealed that the relative rates of deformation of, and damage to the fiber bundle with respect to the boundary controlling displacement ε0 exhibit universal power law behavior near the catastrophic point, with a critical exponent of −1/2. The proportion of the rate of response with respect to acceleration exhibits a linear relationship with increasing displacement in the vicinity of the catastrophic point. This allows for the prediction of catastrophic failure immediately prior to failure by extrapolating the trajectory of this relationship as it asymptotes to zero. Monte Carlo simulations are completed and these two critical scaling laws are confirmed.

Effect of drug law enforcement on drug market violence: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Werb, Dan; Rowell, Greg; Guyatt, Gordon; Kerr, Thomas; Montaner, Julio; Wood, Evan

2011-03-01

Violence is amongst the primary concerns of communities around the world and research has demonstrated links between violence and the illicit drug trade, particularly in urban settings. Given the growing emphasis on evidence-based policy-making, and the ongoing severe drug market violence in Mexico and other settings, we conducted a systematic review to examine the impacts of drug law enforcement on drug market violence. We conducted a systematic review using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Specifically, we undertook a search of English language electronic databases (Academic Search Complete, PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, Social Service Abstracts, PAIS International and Lexis-Nexis), the Internet (Google, Google Scholar), and article reference lists, from database inception to January 24, 2011. Overall, 15 studies were identified that evaluated the impact of drug law enforcement on drug market violence, including 11 (73%) longitudinal analyses using linear regression, 2 (13%) mathematical drug market models, and 2 (13%) qualitative studies. Fourteen (93%) studies reported an adverse impact of drug law enforcement on levels of violence. Ten of the 11 (91%) studies employing longitudinal qualitative analyses found a significant association between drug law enforcement and drug market violence. Our findings suggest that increasing drug law enforcement is unlikely to reduce drug market violence. Instead, the existing evidence base suggests that gun violence and high homicide rates may be an inevitable consequence of drug prohibition and that disrupting drug markets can paradoxically increase violence. In this context, and since drug prohibition has not meaningfully reduced drug supply, alternative regulatory models will be required if drug supply and drug market violence are to be meaningfully reduced. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language Revitalization and Language Pedagogy: New Teaching and Learning Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Hinton, Leanne

2011-01-01

Language learning and teaching of endangered languages have many features and needs that are quite different from the teaching of world languages. Groups whose languages are endangered try to turn language loss around; many new language teaching and learning strategies are emerging, to suit the special needs and goals of language revitalization.…

Sound to language: different cortical processing for first and second languages in elementary school children as revealed by a large-scale study using fNIRS.

Science.gov (United States)

Sugiura, Lisa; Ojima, Shiro; Matsuba-Kurita, Hiroko; Dan, Ippeita; Tsuzuki, Daisuke; Katura, Takusige; Hagiwara, Hiroko

2011-10-01

A large-scale study of 484 elementary school children (6-10 years) performing word repetition tasks in their native language (L1-Japanese) and a second language (L2-English) was conducted using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Three factors presumably associated with cortical activation, language (L1/L2), word frequency (high/low), and hemisphere (left/right), were investigated. L1 words elicited significantly greater brain activation than L2 words, regardless of semantic knowledge, particularly in the superior/middle temporal and inferior parietal regions (angular/supramarginal gyri). The greater L1-elicited activation in these regions suggests that they are phonological loci, reflecting processes tuned to the phonology of the native language, while phonologically unfamiliar L2 words were processed like nonword auditory stimuli. The activation was bilateral in the auditory and superior/middle temporal regions. Hemispheric asymmetry was observed in the inferior frontal region (right dominant), and in the inferior parietal region with interactions: low-frequency words elicited more right-hemispheric activation (particularly in the supramarginal gyrus), while high-frequency words elicited more left-hemispheric activation (particularly in the angular gyrus). The present results reveal the strong involvement of a bilateral language network in children's brains depending more on right-hemispheric processing while acquiring unfamiliar/low-frequency words. A right-to-left shift in laterality should occur in the inferior parietal region, as lexical knowledge increases irrespective of language.

The international law commission and international environmental law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramcharan, B.G.

1975-01-01

If the oceans are destroyed through pollution there will be nothing left to manage. Protection against pollution is thus a fundamental aspect of ocean management. What legal principles are available for the protection of the oceans. This paper brings together the relevant practice of the foremost international body responsible for the codification and development of international law: the International Law Commission. It describes the work of the Commission concerning: 1) pollution of the high seas; 2) pollution of international watercourses; and 3) international responsibility for environmental hazards. It concludes by expressing the hope that the Commission will further study, codify and develop international environmental law

Law before Gratian

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This volume, the third in the series, contains the proceedings of the conference 'Law before Gratian' and covers a wide range of topics from individual and local studies to broader reflections on the status and function of law in medieval European societies before the scholastic legal 'revolution......' of the later twelfth century. Seeking to broaden our view of what constituted law in this period, the articles examine these earlier developments in their own right and provide new insights into the variety and complexity of early and high medieval approaches to law and jurisprudence. Contributors...

Constitutive law for the densification of fused silica with applications in polishing and microgrinding

Science.gov (United States)

Lambropoulos, John C.; Fang, Tong; Xu, Su; Gracewski, Sheryl M.

1995-09-01

We discuss a constitutive model describing the permanent densification of fused silica under large applied pressures and shear stresses. The constitutive law is assumed to be rate- independent, and uses a yield function coupling hydrostatic pressure and shear stress, a flow rule describing the evolution of permanent strains after initial densification, and a hardening rule describing the dependence of the incremental densification on the levels of applied stresses. The constitutive law accounts for multiaxial states of stress, since during polishing and grinding operations complex stress states occur in a thin surface layer due to the action of abrasive particles. Due to frictional and other abrasive forces, large shear stresses are present near the surface during manufacturing. We apply the constitutive law in estimating the extent of the densified layer during the mechanical interaction of an abrasive grain and a flat surface.

Advanced applications of natural language processing for performing information extraction

CERN Document Server

Rodrigues, Mário

2015-01-01

This book explains how can be created information extraction (IE) applications that are able to tap the vast amount of relevant information available in natural language sources: Internet pages, official documents such as laws and regulations, books and newspapers, and social web. Readers are introduced to the problem of IE and its current challenges and limitations, supported with examples. The book discusses the need to fill the gap between documents, data, and people, and provides a broad overview of the technology supporting IE. The authors present a generic architecture for developing systems that are able to learn how to extract relevant information from natural language documents, and illustrate how to implement working systems using state-of-the-art and freely available software tools. The book also discusses concrete applications illustrating IE uses.   ·         Provides an overview of state-of-the-art technology in information extraction (IE), discussing achievements and limitations for t...

Zipf's law, power laws and maximum entropy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Visser, Matt

2013-01-01

Zipf's law, and power laws in general, have attracted and continue to attract considerable attention in a wide variety of disciplines—from astronomy to demographics to software structure to economics to linguistics to zoology, and even warfare. A recent model of random group formation (RGF) attempts a general explanation of such phenomena based on Jaynes' notion of maximum entropy applied to a particular choice of cost function. In the present paper I argue that the specific cost function used in the RGF model is in fact unnecessarily complicated, and that power laws can be obtained in a much simpler way by applying maximum entropy ideas directly to the Shannon entropy subject only to a single constraint: that the average of the logarithm of the observable quantity is specified. (paper)

Divorce by consent in Roman law and contemporary law

OpenAIRE

Ignjatović Marija; Kitanović Tanja

2013-01-01

The subject matter of this paper is divorce by mutual consent in Roman law and contemporary law. In the first part of this article, the authors analyzes the key tenets of consensual divorce in Roman law, with specific reference to the impact of Christian religious teaching on the concepts of marriage and divorce as well as on the Roman rulers' constitutions, which marked the beginning of the process of restricting the right to divorce. In the central part of the paper, the authors examines th...

Property law in Jersey

OpenAIRE

MacLeod, Rebecca Frances

2012-01-01

Jersey law, and within it Jersey property law, has received little academic attention. This thesis seeks to examine, and provide a systematic account of, the Jersey law of property. Specific aspects of substantive law are explored. From these, general observations about the nature and structure of property law are made. Unsurprisingly, given the small size of the island, Jersey has a relatively limited amount of indigenous legal material to offer, much of it in French. Inevitab...

The near-symmetry of proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonjack-Shterengartz, Maayan; Avnir, David

2015-04-01

The majority of protein oligomers form clusters which are nearly symmetric. Understanding of that imperfection, its origins, and perhaps also its advantages requires the conversion of the currently used vague qualitative descriptive language of the near-symmetry into an accurate quantitative measure that will allow to answer questions such as: "What is the degree of symmetry deviation of the protein?," "how do these deviations compare within a family of proteins?," and so on. We developed quantitative methods to answer this type of questions, which are capable of analyzing the whole protein, its backbone or selected portions of it, down to comparison of symmetry-related specific amino-acids, and which are capable of visualizing the various levels of symmetry deviations in the form of symmetry maps. We have applied these methods on an extensive list of homomers and heteromers and found that apparently all proteins never reach perfect symmetry. Strikingly, even homomeric protein clusters are never ideally symmetric. We also found that the main burden of symmetry distortion is on the amino-acids near the symmetry axis; that it is mainly the more hydrophilic amino-acids that take place in symmetry-distortive interactions; and more. The remarkable ability of heteromers to preserve near-symmetry, despite the different sequences, was also shown and analyzed. The comprehensive literature on the suggested advantages symmetric oligomerizations raises a yet-unsolved key question: If symmetry is so advantageous, why do proteins stop shy of perfect symmetry? Some tentative answers to be tested in further studies are suggested in a concluding outlook. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Fundamental Concept of Crime in International Criminal Law: A Comparative Law Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marchuk, Iryna

This book examines the rapid development of the fundamental concept of a crime in international criminal law from a comparative law perspective in light of the catalyzing impact of the criminal law theory developed in major world legal systems on the crystallization of the substantive part...... of international criminal law. This study offers a critical overview of international and domestic jurisprudence in regards to the construal of the concept of a crime (actus reus, mens rea, defences, modes of liability) and exposes roots of confusion in international criminal law through a comprehensive...... comparative analysis of substantive criminal laws in selected legal jurisdictions....

The Language Growth of Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Rojas, Raul; Iglesias, Aquiles

2013-01-01

Although the research literature regarding language growth trajectories is burgeoning, the shape and direction of English Language Learners' (ELLs) language growth trajectories are largely not known. This study used growth curve modeling to determine the shape of ELLs' language growth trajectories across 12,248 oral narrative language samples…

Operational Law Handbook,2007

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2007-01-01

...), human rights, rules of engagement, emergency essential civilians supporting military operations, contingency contractor personnel, foreign and deployment, criminal law, environmental law, fiscal law...

The Metapedagogic Function of Language: Language for Language Teaching (Cases from the Nepalese Context)

Science.gov (United States)

Poudel, Kamal Kumar