語用論(Pragmatics)を考える

The complete title of this book runs ‘Analyzing Linguistic Data: A Practical Introduction to Statistics using R’ and as such it very well reflects the purpose and spirit of the book. The author guides the reader in about 350 pages from descriptive and basic statistical methods over classification and clustering to (generalised) linear and mixed models. Each of the methods is introduced in the context of concrete linguistic problems and demonstrated on exciting datasets from current research in the language sciences. In line with its practical orientation, the book focuses primarily on using the methods and interpreting the results. This implies that the mathematical treatment of the techniques is held at a minimum if not absent from the book. In return, the reader is provided with very detailed explanations on how to conduct the analyses using R [1]. The first chapter sets the tone being a 20-page introduction to R. For this and all subsequent chapters, the R code is intertwined with the chapter text and the datasets and functions used are conveniently packaged in the languageR package that is available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). With this approach, the author has done an excellent job in enabling researchers and students alike to reproduce the analyses and learn by doing. Another quality as a textbook is the fact that every chapter ends with Workbook sections where the user is invited to exercise his or her analysis skills on supplemental datasets. Full solutions including code, results and comments are given in Appendix A (30 pages). Instructors are therefore very well served by this text, although they might want to balance the book with some more mathematical treatment depending on the target audience. After the introductory chapter on R, the book opens on graphical data exploration. Chapter 3 treats probability distributions and common sampling distributions. Under basic statistical methods (Chapter 4), distribution tests and tests on means and variances are covered. Chapter 5 deals with clustering and classification. Strangely enough, the clustering section has material on PCA, factor analysis, correspondence analysis and includes only one subsection on clustering, devoted notably to hierarchical partitioning methods. The classification part deals with decision trees, discriminant analysis and support vector machines. The regression chapter (Chapter 6) treats linear models, generalised linear models, piecewise linear models and a substantial section on models for lexical richness. The final chapter on mixed models is particularly interesting as it is one of the few text book accounts that introduce the reader to using the (innovative) lme4 package of Douglas Bates which implements linear mixed-effects models. Moreover, the case studies included in this

Analyzing linguistic data: a practical introduction to statistics using R

MES (multi-energy systems): An overview of concepts and evaluation models

The recent development of efficient thermal prime movers for distributed generation is changing the focus of the production of electricity from large centralized power plants to local generation units scattered over the territory. The scientific community is addressing the analysis and planning of distributed energy resources with widespread approaches, taking into account technical, environmental, economic and social issues. The coupling of cogeneration systems to absorption/electric chillers or heat pumps, as well as the interactions with renewable sources, allow for setting up multi-generation systems for combined local production of different energy vectors such as electricity, heat (at different enthalpy levels), cooling power, hydrogen, various chemical substances, and so forth. Adoption of composite multi-generation systems may lead to significant benefits in terms of higher energy efficiency, reduced CO2 emissions, and enhanced economy. In this light, a key direction for improving the characteristics of the local energy production concerns the integration of the concepts of distributed energy resources and combined production of different energy vectors into a comprehensive distributed multi-generation (DMG) framework that entails various approaches to energy planning currently available in the literature. This paper outlines the main aspects of the DMG framework, illustrating its characteristics and summarizing the relevant DMG structures. The presentation is backed by an extended review of the most recent journal publications and reports.

Distributed multi-generation: A comprehensive view

Corrosion is a ubiquitous and costly problem for a variety of industries. Understanding and reducing the cost of corrosion remain primary interests for corrosion professionals and relevant asset owners. The present study summarises the findings that arose from the landmark “Study of Corrosion Status and Control Strategies in China”, a key consulting project of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2015, which sought to determine the national cost of corrosion and costs associated with representative industries in China. The study estimated that the cost of corrosion in China was approximately 2127.8 billion RMB (~ 310 billion USD), representing about 3.34% of the gross domestic product. The transportation and electronics industries were the two that generated the highest costs among all those surveyed. Based on the survey results, corrosion is a major and significant issue, with several key general strategies to reduce the cost of corrosion also outlined. It is estimated that the effects of corrosion in China cost approximately $310 billion USD in 2014. Corrosion is a costly issue, justifying substantial expenditure into techniques to protect and mitigate susceptible metals from its effects, and research investment. China has seen rapid growth in its economy in recent times, driven in part by investment in industry. In order to understand the monetary impact of corrosion in China, The Chinese Academy of Engineering instigated a nationwide study led by the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. It estimates that approximately $310 billion USD was lost to the consequences of corrosion and money spent addressing it in 2014, accounting for 3.34% of GDP. Transportation and electronics industries generated the highest costs. Several recommendations are made, including the need for a government-coordinated national strategy.

The cost of corrosion in China

Investment criteria for the selection of cogeneration plants¿a state of the art review

http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/150088/1/657557.pdf

Identification of sigma and chi phases in duplex stainless steels

This paper gives an account of the differences between polar and alternative questions, as well as an account of the division of labor between compositional semantics and pragmatics in interpreting these types of questions. Alternative questions involve a strong exhaustivity presupposition for the mentioned alternatives. We derive this compositionally from the meaning of the final falling tone and its interaction with the pragmatics of questioning in discourse. Alternative questions are exhaustive in two ways: they exhaust the space of epistemic possibilities, as well as the space of discourse possibilities (the Question Under Discussion). In contrast, we propose that polar questions are the opposite: they present just one alternative that is necessarily non-exhaustive. The account explains a range of response patterns to alternative and polar questions, as well as differences and similarities between the two types of questions.

Responding to alternative and polar questions

The study concerns bridge collapses focusing on metal structures It is based on literature and news research, due to the lack of extensive compendiums of this unpleasing but important topic At first, a short overview of the occidental history of metal bridges is given presenting the historic context for the described incidents It is followed by a classification of the most common causes of bridge failure, which include structural and design deficiencies, corrosion, construction and supervision mistakes, accidental overload and impact, scour, lack of maintenance or inspection, and force majeure Some significant historic examples are described Changes and investigations initiated by the described cases are also mentioned The work concludes that without the disaster that represents each bridge collapse, we would have neither the structural behavior knowledge nor the relatively high safety of today

María Victoria Biezma

Papers

Investment criteria for the selection of cogeneration plants¿a state of the art review

Identification of sigma and chi phases in duplex stainless steels

Responding to alternative and polar questions

Collapse of Steel Bridges

The role of hydrogen in microbiologically influenced corrosion and stress corrosion cracking