Semantic and prosodic effects of Dutch linking elements

The studies presented here investigate the contribution of linking -en- and rhythm to a compound’s conceptual plurality. Participants were asked to estimate the conceptual plurality of the modifier constituents of Dutch compounds. In the first study, pseudo-compounds (compounds composed of pseudo-words, burb+en+tijpis) and novel compounds (novel combinations of existing nouns, aap+en+leraar, ‘monkey teacher’) with linking -en- were investigated. In study two, we examined written existing compounds that occur with and without -en- (bloem+bak or bloem+en+bak, ‘flower box’) and present a stress clash or not at the constituent boundaries. Finally, study three investigated the same question as study two for spoken existing compounds. The results reveal that existing compounds written or spoken with linking -en- are considered to bear more plural meaning than the ones without linking element. Furthermore, an effect of rhythm on plurality was observed in pseudo-compounds and in spoken existing compounds. When these compounds contain linking -en- to prevent a stress clash, they are considered to bear less plural meaning than those with linking -en- in a neutral context. These studies demonstrate that rhythm can affect the interpretation of linking elements. The fact that we only find a rhythmic effect in pseudo-compounds and spoken existing compounds but not in written existing compounds is explained in terms of processing.     

On the way from morphology to phonology: German linking elements and the role of the phonological word

German linking elements are sometimes classified as inflectional affixes, sometimes as derivational affixes, and in any case as morphological units with at least seven realisations (e.g. -s-, -es-, -(e)n-, -e-). This article seeks to show that linking elements are hybrid elements situated between morphology and phonology. On the one hand, they have a clear morphological status since they occur only within compounds (and before a very small set of suffixes) and support the listener in decoding them. On the other hand, they also have to be analysed on the phonological level, as will be shown in this article. Thus, they are marginal morphological units on the pathway to phonology (including prosodics). Although some alloforms can sometimes be considered former inflectional endings and in some cases even continue to demonstrate some inflectional behaviour (such as relatedness to gender and inflection class), they are on their way to becoming markers of ill-formed phonological words. In fact, linking elements, above all the linking -s-, which is extremely productive, help the listener decode compounds containing a bad phonological word as their first constituent, such as Geburt+s+tag ‘birthday’ or Religion+s+unterricht ‘religious education’. By marking the end of a first constituent that differs from an unmarked monopedal phonological word, the linking element aids the listener in correctly decoding and analysing the compound. German compounds are known for their length and complexity, both of which have increased over time—along with the occurrence of linking elements, especially -s-. Thus, a profound instance of language change can be observed in contemporary German, one indicating its typological shift from syllable language to word language.     

Preference for linking element -en- in Dutch noun-noun compounds: native speakers and second language learners of Dutch

In Dutch, variation occurs in the formation of noun-noun compound words. Some compounds always add the linking element -en- between the two nouns; some compounds never use such a linking element; and still others allow both options. The element -en- is homophonous with the regular plural ending in Dutch, and we therefore investigated if plural semantics creates a preference for the linking element -en- in novel Dutch noun-noun compounds. We also investigated if the preference for linking -en- is influenced by just meaning (i.e., a semantic plural), form (i.e., a formal plural), or perhaps both. The influence of native language on preferences for Dutch compounds was also investigated. In study 1, we tested native speakers of Dutch; in study 2, Frisian-Dutch bilinguals; and, in study 3, speakers of German with Dutch as a second language. Plurality played a role in the preferences for Dutch compound formation in all tested groups. For native speakers of Dutch, Frisian, and German, moreover, the preference for a linking element in novel Dutch compounds was influenced by both the semantic plural and the formal plural. However, these effects were smaller for the native speakers of German. These findings confirm the findings of earlier studies (e.g. Schreuder et al. in Language and Cognitive Processes 13(5):551–573, 1998) showing linking -en- to carry an intrinsic plural meaning. Kiparsky’s level-ordering hypothesis (Linguistics in the morning calm, pp. 3–91, 1982) and Pinker’s words-and-rules theory (Words and rules: the ingredients of language, 1999) are re-considered in light of the present findings.     

Volume Reabsorption, Transepithelial Potential Differences, and Ionic Permeability Properties in Mammalian Superficial Proximal Straight Tubules

This paper describes experiments designed to evaluate Na⁺ and Cl^- transport in isolated proximal straight tubules from rabbit kidneys. When the perfusing solution was Krebs-Ringer buffer with 25 mM HCO₃^- (KRB) and the bath contained KRB plus 6% albumin, net volume reabsorption (J_v, nl min^-1 mm^-1 was -0.46 ± 0.03 (SEM); V_e, the spontaneous transepithelial potential difference, was -1.13 ± 0.05 mV, lumen negative. Both J_v, and V_e, were reduced to zero at 21°C or with 10^-4 M ouabain, but J_v, was not HCO₃^- dependent. Net Na⁺ reabsorption, measured as the difference between ²²Na⁺ fluxes, lumen to bath and bath to lumen, accounted quantitatively for volume reabsorption, assuming the latter to be an isotonic process, and was in agreement with the difference between lumen to bath ²²Na⁺ fluxes during volume reabsorption and at zero volume flow. The observed flux ratio for Na⁺ was 1.46, and that predicted for a passive process was 0.99; thus, Na⁺ reabsorption was rationalized in terms of an active transport process. The Cl^- concentration of tubular fluid rose from 113.6 to 132.3 mM during volume reabsorption. Since V_e, rose to +0.82 mV when tubules were perfused with 138.6 mM Cl^- solutions, V_e may become positive when tubular fluid Cl^- concentrations rise during volume reabsorption. The permeability coefficients P_Na and P_Cl computed from tracer fluxes were, respectively, 0.23 x 10^-4 and 0.73 x 10^-4 cm s^-1. A P_Na/P_Cl ratio of 0.3 described NaCl dilution potentials at zero volume flow. The magnitudes of the potentials were the same for a given NaCl gradient in either direction and P_Na/P_Cl was constant in the range 32–139 mM NaCl. We infer that the route of passive ion permeation was through symmetrical extracellular interfaces, presumably tight junctions, characterized by neutral polar sites in which electroneutrality is maintained by mobile counterions.     

Aspect and modality in the interpretation of deverbal -<Emphasis Type="Italic">er</Emphasis> nominals in English

This article presents a corpus study of over 16,000 tokens of -er nominalizations on 62 verbal bases that were extracted from the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus. We show that an individual -er nominal can often be given a range of modal and aspectual readings and that a number of factors influence the availability of different readings for -er nominals, including verb type, syntactic context (verb tenses, adverbs), and encyclopedic information. On the basis of these data, we argue, contra Cohen (2016), that the core meaning of the affix -er (as in writer, printer, etc.) cannot be that of a dynamic modal. We show that neither Cohen’s (2016) analysis nor syntactic analyses such as that of Alexiadou and Schäfer (2010) can account for the range of readings we find. We conclude by sketching one possible analysis in terms of the Lexical Semantic Framework of Lieber (2004, 2016) that postulates underspecified lexical representations of the -er nominals and resolution of underspecification in context.     

Growth, gas exchange, and water-use efficiency response of two young apple cultivars to drought stress in two scion-one rootstock grafting system

The combination of two scion-one rootstock was used for two apple cultivars, ‘Pink Lady’ and ‘Qinguan’, budded on the same, one-year-old Malus hupehensis (Pamp.) Rehd. to reduce the impact of root and pot size and in order to understand the growth, water-use efficiency (WUE), and chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics. The two-scion grafted trees were planted in plastic pots under two water regimes, i.e. 70% field capacity (FC) and 55% FC. Results indicated that different scions were affected differently by drought stress. ‘Pink Lady’ had higher net photosynthetic rate (P _N), stomatal conductance (g _s), and transpiration rate (E) compared with ‘Qinguan’ under both water treatments. However, ‘Qinguan’ had lower minimal fluorescence (F₀), higher maximum fluorescence (F_m), and higher maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (F_v/F_m) than ‘Pink Lady’ at 55% FC. Moreover, ‘Qinguan’ had larger shoot dry mass (ShDM) and higher intrinsic WUE_I than ‘Pink Lady’ under both water status. Gas-exchange and growth parameters, except for P _N and scion diameter, were significantly affected by the cultivar and water treatment. At 70% FC, ShDM was significantly correlated with WUE_I. Moreover, WUE_I was negatively linearly correlated with g _s at either 70 or 55% FC. These results might indicate that ‘Pink Lady’ was more sensitive to drought than ‘Qinguan’. ‘Qinguan’ apple was able to improve WUE more than ‘Pink Lady’ under both well-watered and drought conditions. The growth parameters and photosynthetic capacity of two different scions showed that the combination of double scion-one rootstock might eliminate the influences of the rootstock and pot size.     

English cum, a borrowed coordinator turned complex-compound marker

This article takes issue with the traditional view of English compounds such as governess-cum-piano-teacher, according to which the medial morpheme -cum- is insignificant. The study is first centered on the appearance of the linking element in the English language. New insight into its distribution and function is then provided by scrutinizing a list of 259 compounds extracted from a present-day newspaper corpus. It is found that -cum- appears exclusively in non-institutionalized coordinate nominal and adjectival compounds and that it plays a distinctive role which sets -cum- compounds apart from asyndetic compounds: the linking element is predominantly used in complex compounds to simultaneously mark the internal boundary (boundaries) within the construction and the coordinate relation that holds between the compounding elements. The discussion finally focuses on the status of -cum-, which appears to be a hybrid syntactic-morphological unit of present-day English.     

Characterization of HMW-GSs and their gene inaction in tetraploid wheat

In this study, we report the expression of HMW-GSs in 87 accessions of tetraploid wheat, the characterization of three inactive and one active HMW glutenin genes, and the functional verification of HMW-GSs by promoter–GUS expression. SDS-PAGE profiles revealed that tetraploid wheat has many different combinations of HMW-GSs and the number of subunits varies from 1 to 4. HMW glutenin genes at the Glu-A1x, Glu-A1y and Glu-B1y loci exhibited different frequencies of inaction while the Glu-B1x allele was expressed in all 87 accessions. Gene cloning showed that only 1Bx (Tdu-e) could express a full-length protein and its deduced protein sequence has the typical primary structure but with fewer cysteine residues. The expression of the other three HMW glutenin genes has been disrupted by stop codons in their repetitive domains. Besides short indels or mutations of one or more bases, an 85-bp deletion and a 185-bp insertion were found in the promoter regions of 1Ay (Tdu-s) and 1Bx (Tdu-e). The transient expression of promoter–GUS constructs indicated that the 1Ay promoter can drive expression of the GUS gene. We conclude that defects (stop codons or the insertion of large transposon-like elements) in the coding regions may be the most probable cause for the inaction of the HMW glutenin genes.     

The plural interpretability of German linking elements

In this paper, we take a closer theoretical and empirical look at the linking elements in German N1+N2 compounds which are identical to the plural marker of N1 (such as -er with umlaut, as in Häus-er-meer ‘sea of houses’). Various perspectives on the actual extent of plural interpretability of these pluralic linking elements are expressed in the literature. We aim to clarify this question by empirically examining to what extent there may be a relationship between plural form and meaning which informs in which sorts of compounds pluralic linking elements appear. Specifically, we investigate whether pluralic linking elements occur especially frequently in compounds where a plural meaning of the first constituent is induced either externally (through plural inflection of the entire compound) or internally (through a relation between the constituents such that N2 forces N1 to be conceptually plural, as in the example above). The results of a corpus study using the DECOW16A corpus and a split-100 experiment show that in the internal but not external plural meaning conditions, a pluralic linking element is preferred over a non-pluralic one, though there is considerable inter-speaker variability, and limitations imposed by other constraints on linking element distribution also play a role. However, we show the overall tendency that German language users do use pluralic linking elements as cues to the plural interpretation of N1+N2 compounds. Our interpretation does not reference a specific morphological framework. Instead, we view our data as strengthening the general approach of probabilistic morphology.     

The role of compensatory neutral mutations in molecular evolution

A pair of mutations at different loci (or sites) which are singly deleterious but restore normal fitness in combination may be called compensatory neutral mutations. Population dynamics concerning evolutionary substitutions of such mutants was developed by making use of the diffusion equation method. Based on this theory and, also, by the help of Monte Carlo simulation experiments, a remarkable phenomenon was disclosed that the double mutants can easily become fixed in the population by random drift under continued mutation pressure if the loci arc tightly linked, even when the single mutants are definitely deleterious. More specifically, I consider two loci with allelesA andA’ in the first locus, and allelesB andB’in the second locus, and assign relative fitnesses 1, 1-s’, 1-s’ and 1 respectively to the four gene combinationsAB, A’B, AB’ andA’B’, wheres’ is the selection coefficient against the single mutants (s’ > 0). Letv be the mutation rate per locus per generation and assume that mutation occurs irreversibly fromA toA’ at the first locus, and fromB toB’ at the second locus, whereA andB are wild type genes, andA’ andB’ are their mutant alleles. In a diploid population of effective size N _e (or a haploid population of 2N _e breeding individuals), it was shown that the average time (T) until joint fixation of the double mutant (A’B’) starting from the state in which the population consists exclusively of the wild type genes (AB) is not excessively long even for large 4N _e s’ values. In fact, assuming2N _e v = 1 we have -T = 54Ne for 4Nes’ = 400, and -T = 128Ne for 4N _e s’ = 1000. These values are not unrealistically long as compared with -T~ 5N _e obtained for 4N _e s’ = 0. The approximate analytical treatment has also been extended to estimate the effect of low rate crossing over in retarding fixation. The bearing of these findings on molecular evolution is discussed with special reference to coupled substitutions at interacting amino acid (or nucleotide) sites within a folded protein (orrna) molecule. It is concluded that compensatory neutral mutants may play an important role in molecular evolution.     

北京松山自然保护区森林群落物种多样性及其神经网络预测

物种多样性是群落结构和功能复杂性的一种度量,物种多样性的空间分布格局受许多环境因子的影响.运用多样性指数,多层感知器网络,分析了松山保护区森林群落物种多样性与群落类型、结构和生境之间的关系.结果表明:(1)大果榆+山杨混交林、油松+青杨混交林物种丰富度、多样性和均匀度均较高,而大果榆林、华北落叶松林的各项指数值均较低.Patrick指数和Shannon-Weiner指数在森林群落中均表现为草本层＞灌木层＞乔木层;Pielou指数在榆林中表现为草本层＞乔木层＞灌木层,而在其他森林群落中表现为灌木层＞草本层＞乔木层.(2)功能层物种多样性在海拔梯度上的变化趋势不同,在乔木层,丰富度、多样性和均匀度随海拔的升高逐渐降低;在灌木层,丰富度、多样性和均匀度均呈比较明显的单峰曲线变化趋势;在草本层,丰富度和多样性随海拔的升高都呈下降趋势,而在草本层,均匀度变化不大.(3)用多层感知器网络预测功能层多样性效果很好,结果发现坡向对乔木层和灌木层物种多样性的影响最大,而海拔高度对草本层物种多样性的影响最大.     

Electrogenic proton ejection coupled to electron transport through the energy-conserving site 2 and K+/H+ exchange in yeast mitochondria

The proton ejection coupled to electron flow from succinate and/or endogenous substrate(s) to cytochrome c using the impermeable electron acceptor ferricyanide is studied in tightly coupled mitochondria isolated from two strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. (1) The observed H⁺ ejection/2e^? ratio approaches an average value of 3 when K⁺ (in the presence of valinomycin) is used as charge-compensating cation. (2) In the presence of the proton-conducting agent carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, an H⁺ ejection/2e^? ratio of 2 is observed. (3) The low stoichiometry of 3H⁺ ejected (instead of 4) per 2e^? and the high rate of H⁺ back-decay (0.1615 $\text{ln}\text{δ-}\text{(}\text{ngatom}\text{)}\text{H}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{s}$ and a half-time of 4.6 s for 10 mg protein) into the mitochondrial matrix are related to the presence of an electroneutral K⁺/H⁺ antiporter which is demonstrated by passive swelling experiments in isotonic potassium acetate medium.     

Synthesis and biological study of 3-(phenylsulfonyl)thieno[2,3-e][1,2,3]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines as potent and selective serotonin 5-HT6 receptor antagonists

A number of 3-(phenylsulfonyl)thieno[2,3-e][1,2,3]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines were prepared and their 5-HT₆ receptor binding affinity and ability to inhibit the functional cellular responses to serotonin were evaluated. 3-[(3-Chlorophenyl)sulfonyl]-N-(tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl)thieno[2,3-e][1,2,3]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-5-amine 2{5,26} appeared to be the most active in a functional assay (IC₅₀ = 29.0 nM) and 3-(phenylsulfonyl)-N-(2-thienylmethyl) thieno[2,3-e][1,2,3]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-5-amine 2{1,28} demonstrated the greatest affinity in a 5-HT₆ receptor radioligand binding assay (K_i = 1.7 nM). A screening of 5-HT_2A and 5-HT_2B receptor affinity revealed that 3-(phenylsulfonyl)thieno[2,3-e][1,2,3]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines are highly selective 5-HT₆ receptor ligands.     

From possessive suffix to affective demonstrative suffix in Hungarian: a grammaticalization analysis

The non-possessive uses of possessive morphology in Uralic languages have been a topic of intense debate (Fraurud 2001; Nikolaeva 2003; Gerland 2014; Janda 2015; É. Kiss and Tánczos to appear). In this paper, I focus on a special use of the poss.3sg suffix in Hungarian constructions such as a hülyéje (the stupid-poss.3sg): lit. ‘its stupid’, meaning ‘that total idiot’. My main claim is that this suffix is an affective demonstrative suffix (Lakoff 1974; Liberman 2008; Potts and Schwarz 2010), and that it has developed as a result of grammaticalization from a full-fledged possessive construction of the form a világ hülyéje (the world stupid-poss.3sg): lit. ‘the world’s stupid’, meaning: ‘the biggest idiot in the world’. I will show that this gradual process can be reconstructed fairly accurately using historical and contemporary corpora. I also claim that this grammaticalization pathway is very natural as it is based on a set-element relationship which is often expressed by possessive constructions cross-linguistically. I also identify two parameters which facilitate this grammaticalization process: the availability of (silent) pro possessors and the lack of gender agreement on the possessive suffix. Since Uralic languages in general have these parameters, I will argue that this grammaticalization pathway should at least be considered as one of the possible sources of the demonstrative (and definiteness marking) uses of poss.3sg suffixes in Uralic languages. Finally, my results are also an important contribution to the debate on whether demonstratives can be derived from other functional elements through grammaticalization (Plank 1979; Traugott 1982; Himmelmann 1997).     

Relationships between blood groups,isozymes and halothane reaction in pigs from a selection experiment1

German Landrace pigs (n= 1500) were halothane-tested and blood samples were taken for the determination of A-O and H blood types as well as for the determination of PHI and 6-PGD isozymes. The pigs originated from two generations (7th and 8th) of a selection experiment ‘selection for activity of NADPH-generating enzymes in backfat of pigs’. The selection lines are E^-, E⁺ (selection for low and high enzyme activity), U^- (selection for low ultrasonic backfat thickness) and K (control). Preliminary results show an average proportion of halothane-susceptible animals of 49 %. The frequencies of halothane-positive pigs amount to 60 %, 46 %, 70 % and 30 % in lines E^-, E⁺, U- and K, respectively. The investigation shows a non-random combination of the marker genes caused by linkage disequilibrium, especially in line E^-. Recombination frequencies between the loci vary from 0 % to 18 %.     

Alkaloids of Uncaria attenuata,U. orientalis and U. Canescens

3-Iso-19-epi-ajmalicine, epiallo-corynantheine and dihydrocorynantheine pseudoindoxyl, not previously known as natural products, have been isolated from samples of U. attenuata. Akuammigine, dihydrocorynantheine, hirsutine, hirsuteine, mitraphylline, speciophylline, uncarines A and B, isorhynchophylline rhynchophylline, isocorynoxeine, corynoxeine, corynoxine B, rotundifoline, speciofoline, two yohimbine isomers, a yohimbine oxindole and an unidentified indole alkaloid (M⁺, m/e 347) have been obtained from samples of the same species. 3-Iso-ajmalicine, harmane, isopteropodine, pteropodine, uncarine F, speciophylline, isomitraphylline, mitraphylline and N-oxides of these six oxindole alkaloids have been isolated from samples of U. orientalis. Several samples of U. canescens have yielded harmane while one sample contained the four pteropodine isomers. The variation in the alkaloid content of these three species is discussed.     

pH effects on light dependence of the stoichiometry of proton influx and efflux to electron transport in spinach chloroplasts

Initial and steady state rates of proton transport at low light intensity have been measured and compared with steady state rates of electron transport in the pH range of 6.0–7.6 in envelope-free spinach chloroplasts. At pH 6–7, the H⁺/e^- values computed using the initial rate of proton transport varied with light intensity, from a value of 2 at low light to almost 5 at high light. In contrast, the H⁺/e^- values computed using the steady state rate of proton transport did not show a dependence on light intensity, having a constant value of 1.7±0.2. Likewise, at pH 7.6, the H⁺/e^- ratio, computed using either the initial or steady state rates of proton transport did not vary with light intensity but was constant at H⁺/e^-=1.7±0.1. Analysis of the light dependence of electron and proton transport allowed determination of (a) the quantam requirements of transport, (b) the rates of transport at light saturation, and (c) H⁺/e^- ratios for initial and steady state proton transport. Extrapolating the initial proton transport to zero light, we found that both H⁺/photon and H⁺/e^- values were not strongly dependent on pH, approaching a near constant value of 2.0. Using the initial rate of proton transport extrapolated to saturating light intensity we found the H⁺/e^- ratio to be strongly pH-dependent. We suggest that internal pH controls electron transport at high light intensities. The true stoichiometry is reflected only in measurements taken at low light using the initial proton transport data. Our findings and interpretation reconcile some conflicting data in the literature regarding the pH-dependence of the H⁺/e^- ratio and support the concept that internal pH controls noncyclic electron transport.Abbreviations Bicine N, N-bis [2-hydroxyethyl] glycine - HEPES N-2-hydroxy-ethylpiperazine-N-2-ethansulfonic acid - MES 2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid