University of Rennes

About: University of Rennes is a education organization based out in Rennes, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 18404 authors who have published 40374 publications receiving 995327 citations.

Campbell's monkeys use affixation to alter call meaning.

Abstract: Human language has evolved on a biological substrate with phylogenetic roots deep in the primate lineage. Here, we describe a functional analogy to a common morphological process in human speech, affixation, in the alarm calls of free-ranging adult Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli campbelli). We found that male alarm calls are composed of an acoustically variable stem, which can be followed by an acoustically invariable suffix. Using long-term observations and predator simulation experiments, we show that suffixation in this species functions to broaden the calls' meaning by transforming a highly specific eagle alarm to a general arboreal disturbance call or by transforming a highly specific leopard alarm call to a general alert call. We concluded that, when referring to specific external events, non-human primates can generate meaningful acoustic variation during call production that is functionally equivalent to suffixation in human language.

A Converse Comparison Theorem for BSDEs and Related Properties of g-Expectation

Abstract: In [1], Z. Chen proved that, if for each terminal condition $\xi$, the solution of the BSDE associated to the standard parameter $(\xi, g_1)$ is equal at time $t=0$ to the solution of the BSDE associated to $(\xi, g_2)$ then we must have $g_1\equiv g_2$. This result yields a natural question: what happens in the case of an inequality in place of an equality? In this paper, we try to investigate this question and we prove some properties of ``$g$-expectation'', notion introduced by S. Peng in [8].