El español fue la principal lengua de los sefardíes que durante cinco siglos residieron dentro de las fronteras actuales de los países de los Balcanes, Turquía, Israel y Egipto. Este volumen trata la variación del judeo-español en este ámbito geográfico. ¿Qué rasgos lingüísticos identifican a un hablante de judeoespañol de Estambul, de Salónica, de Plovdiv, de Pristina, de Sarajevo o de Jerusalén? ¿En qué se diferencia la lengua empleada por hablantes que pertenecen a las capas sociales altas del resto? ¿Cómo varían los registros lingüísticos manejados en un texto periodístico, uno exegético o una carta personal? ¿Qué influencia ejercen la tradición, las transformaciones sociales o el devenir histórico en los cambios lingüísticos y cómo se entrelazan estos cambios entre sí? El resultado de los procesos de coineización, evolución lingüística interna, contacto de lenguas, etc., dan al estudio una marcada orientación histórica. La obra se completa con 93 mapas lingüísticos que representan el núcleo del análisis sincrónico. En ellos se presenta la variación geográfica de los hechos lingüísticos analizados en su estadio entre los años 1850 y 1940, según se deduce del análisis realizado sobre decenas de entrevistas y más de un centenar de textos que abarcan los géneros literarios más dispares.
Objectives: This article examines the "geography" of reported cases of child maltreatment in Israel by determining its frequency and rates according to nationality, area of residence, and size and type of locality. Method: The study collected data at the local level in Israel based on reports to social services of cases of child maltreatment during 2000; locality is the unit of analysis. Results: The rate of reported cases of child maltreatment was 17.8 per 1,000 children in Israel in 2000. The rates varied, however, among different localities. They were lower in Arab localities (9 per 1,000 children) than in the Jewish ones (20 per 1,000), higher in large cities and other socioeconomic affluent localities (19 per 1,000), and varied according to the geographic area. Conclusions: This study demonstrates considerable variation in rates of reported cases of child maltreatment by locality and by population makeup. Thus, to fulfill the Israeli legislation of mandatory reporting of any reasonable suspicion of child maltreatment, the state should better develop policies and services that encourage reporting of child maltreatment among the Arab and ultraorthodox populations and in smaller or socioeconomic disadvantaged localities. Furthermore, the social services must build a bridge to the minority populations in Israel, developing their trust in these services and increasing their propensity to use them.
High-resolution genetic maps are required for mapping complex traits and for the study of recombination. We report the highest density genetic map yet created for any organism, except humans. Using more than 10,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms evenly spaced across the mouse genome, we have constructed genetic maps for both outbred and inbred mice, and separately for males and females. Recombination rates are highly correlated in outbred and inbred mice, but show relatively low correlation between males and females. Differences between male and female recombination maps and the sequence features associated with recombination are strikingly similar to those observed in humans. Genetic maps are available from http://gscan.well.ox.ac.uk/#genetic_map and as supporting information to this publication.
One hundred years after the birth of our Master and fourteen years after his sudden death, in the peak of his research activity, the scholarly world of linguistics is, both essentially and technically, very different from, and probably less attractive than the one he knew and worked in. Still, not one of the peculiarities of modern scholarship was unheralded or indeed unknown when he was still alive. We, his disciples, frequently wonder, sadly, as to what would his reaction and opinion have been: very probably dry and sarcastic, delivered with a quizzical smile, but never egocentric er self-involving. We would dearly like to have his comments on many new grammatically baffling loci in Coptic, Egyptian, Amharic, Neo-Aramaic — he would have commented on those with relish, a trenchant lucidity and, again, a wonderful humility in face of language and the text: “trust the text, not your own ideas and bias” was ever his guiding principle. This, the absence of overweening confidence in his ability of fathom the deeps of linguistic systems: Polotsky was a scholar of great humility in the presence of linguistic intricacy.
Bracts are nonfloral showy structures associated with inflorescences. They are generally hypothesized to enhance plant reproductive success by attracting pollinating insects. We investigated whether flag-like bracts at the top of inflorescences reliably signal of floral food reward for pollinators in Salvia viridis L. Field and greenhouse data indicate incomplete synchrony between the development of flowers and bracts. Various measures of bract size, however, positively correlate with the number of open flowers on the inflorescence, and with their nectar rewards. Experimental removal of bracts from inflorescences significantly reduced honeybee visitation in the field. We compared these findings with field data on Lavandula stoechas L., another labiate species with flag-like displays. The number of open flowers in L. stoechas cannot be reliably predicted from the presence or size of the bracts. Bract clipping does not significantly reduce honeybee visits in this species. We conjecture that bees learn to orient to those bracts that reliably signal food rewards, and disregard bracts if they provide unreliable signals. Asynchronous development of bracts and floral rewards can reduce the reliability of the signals, and may explain the rarity of flag-like displays in pollination systems. We discuss additional selective forces that may favor bract displays.
This study revisits a classic yet still intriguing question regarding information technology (IT): what difference does IT “really” make, in terms of people’s thinking? In order to explore this question, the effects of IT in authentic research settings were studied through retrospective interviews with 24 academic researchers. Analysis of the researchers’ descriptions of their learning and thinking processes shows that the effects of IT on higher order thinking strategies can be classified, following Perkins [Perkins, D. N. (1985). The fingertip effect: How information processing technology changes thinking. Educational Researcher, 14(7), 11–17], into first order effects and second order effects. First order effects of IT amplify or improve existing thinking strategies, without changing their nature, while second order effects of IT cause significant changes in the researchers’ thinking strategies. The results demonstrate that both types of effects take place in authentic research settings, often existing side by side. This article explores several examples of the ways in which IT affects higher order thinking strategies (such as forming research questions, constructing models and evaluating information), examines the types of effects created by IT, the conditions required for these effects to take place, and the role of distributed cognition.
An empirical investigation of the ways listeners associate changes in musical parameters with physical space and bodily motion is presented. Results shows that most musical parameters significantly affect several dimensions of motion imagery, wherein musical abatements are strongly associated with spatial descents, while musical intensifications are generally associated with increasing speed rather than ascent.
