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When expressing comparisons of magnitude, Pitjantjatjara, a language indigenous to the land now known as Australia, employs contextually driven comparators (e.g., Anyupa is tall. Uma is short) rather than a dedicated morphological or syntactic comparative construction (e.g., Anyupa is taller than Uma). Pitjantjatjara also has a small number of lexicalized numerals, employing 'one', 'two', 'three', then 'many'. It is hypothesized that having dedicated comparatives in language and elaborated number systems aid comparisons of magnitudes. Fluent Pitjantjatjara-English bilinguals participated in tasks assessing their accuracy and reaction times when comparing two types of magnitude: numerosity (quantities of dots), and extent (line lengths). They repeated the comparisons in both languages on different days, allowing for the effect of language being spoken on responses to be assessed. No differences were found for numerosity; however, participants were less accurate when making comparisons of extent using Pitjantjatjara. Accuracy when using Pitjantjatjara decreased as the magnitude of the comparison increased and as differences between the comparators decreased. This result suggests a potential influence of linguistic comparison strategy on comparison behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soil nematode communities in typical tundra soils of southern Chukotka have been analyzed. Five types of shrub and grass-shrub biotopes on Cryosols, Fluvisols, Histosols, Gleysols, and Cambisols were examined. The animals were extracted from the soil by the Baermann technique with subsequent determination of taxonomic diversity, total and relative abundance, and trophic groups. The highest number (7044 individuals/100 g of soil) and biomass (12.15 mg) of nematodes were found in the Histosol, and the minimum one (1000 individuals/100 g of soil; 1.96 mg) of nematodes in the Cryosol. Bacterivorous nematodes dominated in all soil types. The maximum percentage of bacterivorous nematodes (94%) were found in the Cambisol. The percentages of fungivorous nematodes in the studied soils ranged from 1 to 42%. Predatory and omnivorous nematodes were present in all soils except for the litter of the Cambisol. Their percentage ranged from 2 to 32%. Phytonematodes were few, their highest number was found in the Gleysol (18%). The nematode fauna of the soils under analysis differed significantly. The greatest diversity of nematodes was found in the peat horizon of the Fluvisol, and the smallest diversity of nematodes was recorded in the litter of the Cambisol. The values of Sigma Maturity Index ranged between 2 and 3. The Enrichment Index had low and moderate (1.40–41.02) values, and the Structure Index had high values (59.51–84.07). The Eudorylaimus and Plectus genera were eudominants in all soil types. The soil food webs formed in the biocenoses under consideration can be characterized as stable and structured except for the alder biocenosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017 a seemingly small change in Pakistan's questionnaire for the upcoming national census sparked vociferous debates about religious identity and the politics of recognition. The questionnaire added "Scheduled Caste" as a separate religion, whereas previously it had appeared as a Hindu subcategory. Some saw this bureaucratic shift as a cynical attempt to further diminish Pakistan's precarious Hindu minority, reopening old wounds about religious nationalism. Anti‐caste progressives, however, saw an opportunity to imagine alternative political horizons for minority citizenship. How do untimely state projects render new political aspirations legible? As shown through ethnographic attention to rumors, enumerative practices, and census campaigns, the tools of bureaucratic documentation can reactivate unsettled histories, helping people imagine new possibilities from the state's margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into the syntactic parsing abilities of children and infants exposed to Catalan as their first language. Focusing first on ages 3 to 6, we conducted two sentence-picture matching tasks. In experiment 1, 3 to 4-year-old children failed in identifying singular third-person subjects within null-subject sentences, although they performed above chance in all other scenarios, including plural third-person subjects and sentences with overt full DP subjects. This is reminiscent of the results of Pérez-Leroux for Spanish. In experiment 2, with the same design but involving numeral distractors, children's performance was above chance level across all conditions from age 3 to 4. Then, in experiment 3, we moved to a younger age range with the help of eye-tracking techniques. The findings revealed that infants at 22 months had the ability to parse subject–verb agreement in sentences with third-person null subjects, and at 19 months there was evidence of parsing for third-person plural null subjects. These findings are inconsistent with the perception of children grappling with syntactic agreement computation. We argue that instances of underperformance in subject–verb agreement parsing identified in the literature often stem from task-related and pragmatic issues rather than core syntactic delay. If so, the putative asymmetry between early production of verbal inflection and late comprehension disappears; rather, the results suggest early establishment of matching operations and mastery of language-specific agreement properties before production starts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The processes of reforming the education system in the USSR in the second half of the 1950s – early 1960s had a certain impact on the system of secondary specialized education, including in the Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR. This, in turn, affected the dynamics of saturation of the national economy with mid-level personnel. The aim of the study is to examine the dynamics of the number of specialists with secondary vocational education and their proportion among all workers and employees within the specified territory in the context of the ongoing education reform and in the subsequent years. Materials and Methods. The basis of the research presented in the article was statistical data that made it possible to trace the dynamics of changes in the number of mid-level specialists and their share in the national economy of the Finno-Ugric Republics of the RSFSR in the mid-1950s – mid-1970s. The research is based on comparative historical and systematic approaches, using the method of statistical information analysis. Results and Discussion. The conducted study of the dynamics of changes in the number and proportion of middle-level specialists with secondary specialized education in the national economy of the five Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR revealed a positive trend that persisted throughout the studied period. The overall growth in the number of middle-level specialists was recorded at more than 4 times. The proportion of this group in the total number of workers and employees increased by more than 6%. Available statistical data showed the highest growth both in terms of number and proportion of these specialists in the early years of the education reform in the country, when there was a maximum influx of graduates who had completed their education before the reform. From 1960 to 1965, the dynamics of these indicators significantly slowed down, indicating the impact of negative factors from the ongoing reform. In the post-reform period, there was an observed acceleration in the growth rate of both the number and proportion of middle-level specialists. Conclusion. The results obtained from this study can be used both as a basis for examining issues related to state policy on staffing the national economy with professional personnel during the specified period and for researching the history of the system of secondary specialized education in general. The general patterns identified in the study regarding changes in the number of mid-level staff employed in the national economy of the five Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR from 1955 to 1975, as well as the noted peculiarities of this process in individual republics against the backdrop of educational reforms in the country and the post-reform years, allow for further analysis of similar processes in other regions of the country.

In the Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant said that cognition (objective perception) is acquired in the unity of sensibility (the receptivity of the mind to receive empirical representations of things, which yields intuitions) and the understanding (in which concepts – general representations of things – arise), and is mediated by the imagination. Here, it is shown that numbers, either pure or denominate, are cognized in the synthesis of intuition and mathematical concept, and that the phenomenal world of the cognizer is shaped accordingly. Any number can be related to any other number through a general mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer for the purpose. The judgment of the cognizer is manifest in the specifics of the mathematical relationship established between the two numbers in cognition. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical constant then in the (consistent) phenomenal world it will always have been of the value found in cognition, which explains why the universe seems to be fine-tuned for life. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical variable, then the number will be subject to change in accordance with physical laws. Symmetry is a recurrent feature of the phenomenology. A mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer may also relate, one to one, the numerical values of quantities in one set with the numerical values of quantities of different dimensionality in another set, which suggests that physical laws are human inventions and that causality is a pure concept of the understanding.

This research examines the production of subject-verb agreement inflection in person, number, and gender in Urban Jordanian Arabic-speaking individuals with Down syndrome (DS). Third person singular masculine, third person singular feminine, and third person plural suffixes (3MS/3FS/3P) were investigated to achieve this objective. The research involved 60 participants, 30 males and 30 females, enrolled in Nazik Al Hariri Welfare Center for Special Education in Amman. The participants were divided into three groups by age, kindergarten 2 (7.1 to 12.5), school-age (13.10 to 17.6), and vocational training (18.3 to 27.3). Data were collected via a picture-naming task. The results showed that verb agreement constitutes a severe problem in individuals with DS. All three age groups showed some degree of language decline. The 3MS form was the most used and the most accurate form by the three DS groups (48.5%), followed by the 3FS (35.3%) and the 3P (22.8%). A significant finding of this study is that the acquisition of agreement for person, number, and gender by the DS groups is associated with inconsistency and atypical asynchrony. In addition, the results show that age significantly affects the DS groups' production of subject-verb agreement. Thus, the study recommends early intervention for the verb system and subject-verb agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the results of our study on the seasonal dynamics and altitudinal distribution of Vespidae in forest ecosystems of central European Russia. To conduct this study, we utilized beer traps. Our findings include the recording of 32 species from 4 families of Hymenoptera. The most numerous family was Vespidae. The dominant species from this order were Vespula vulgaris, Vespa crabro, Dolichovespula media, and Vespula germanica. The occurrence of these species was quite high, including species from the Crabronidae, Chrysididae, and Pompilidae families. These species are known to frequently visit flowers of various plants and feed on nectar and pollen. In five different biotopes, the highest number of Vespidae was found in oak forests, while the lowest number was observed in pine forests. Vespula vulgaris was the dominant species in birch and oak forests, while Vespa crabro was more prevalent in pine and linden forests. The seasonal dynamics of the number showed a large peak in early July, likely due to a significant increase in air temperature during the day and night. This peak may have been caused by a large number of new-generation workers leaving the nests at this time. Additionally, the number of Vespidae in traps located in the undergrowth was slightly higher than those in traps in the canopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents computational methods for separating oncogenic mutations from neutral mutations of the p53 protein using mathematical processing of the following calculated values for each sample: W d , T Δ S , Δ H , lg [ K d ] , machine learning methods were used to determine the main physical quantities for predicting experimental values [Urea]50%, Kd, Δ Δ G , which determine the stability of mutant monomers of the p53 protein in various denatured alcohol concentrations and when bound to the p53-Bcl-Xl biocomplex, as well as RNA expression; machine learning methods are presented to determine key calculated quantities and dependencies, which will thus help predict experimental results. The description of the software package that implements the presented algorithm is given on the website https://binomlabs.com/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant said that cognition (objective perception) is acquired in the unity of sensibility (the receptivity of the mind to receive empirical representations of things, which yields intuitions) and the understanding (in which concepts - general representations of things - arise) and is mediated by the imagination. Here, it is shown that numbers, either pure or denominate, are cognized in the synthesis of intuition and mathematical concept, and that the phenomenal world of the cognizer is shaped accordingly. Any number can be related to any other number through a general mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer for the purpose. The judgment of the cognizer is manifest in the specifics of the mathematical relationship established between the two numbers in cognition. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical constant, then in the (consistent) phenomenal world it will always have been of the value found in cognition, which explains why the universe seems to be fine-tuned for life. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical variable, then the number will be subject to change in accordance with physical laws. Symmetry is a recurrent feature of the phenomenology. A mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer may also relate, one to one, the numerical values of quantities in one set with the numerical values of quantities of different dimensionality in another set, which suggests that physical laws are human inventions and that causality is a pure concept of the understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed and trained a prototype AI-based object-recognition app, blockplay.ai, to recognise Cuisenaire rods placed on a tabletop, and speak the rods' lengths. We challenged 6-year-olds in a primary school in England to play a 'game': can you make the app say the two times table? Drawing methodologically on theories of embodiment, we analyse two videoclips, each of a child interacting with rods, the app and the task set by the researchers, as a dynamic, complex child-rods-app-task body-artefact system. Theoretically we draw on Davydovian concepts of learning as a concrete-to-abstract-to-new-concrete cycle, using abstract artefacts such as mathematical language to coordinate new perceptually-guided actions on concrete objects. In one videoclip the child's pattern of actions are consistent with a change, within a few minutes, from perceiving and acting on rods as counters, to perceiving and acting on rods as lengths; in the other videoclip, this does not happen. We analyse the changes in patterns of interactions as shifts to new stable attractors in a dynamic child-rods-app-task body-artefact system, driven by tensions generated by unexpected concrete-to-abstract relationships. We end by looking forward to the range of possible uses of object-recognition technology in the learning of mathematics, for example, provoking algebraic awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the principle of informativity, more useful information is more likely to be coded than less useful information. This principle underlies Greenberg’s Universals 37 and 45, which state that a larger number of (sex-based) gender contrasts are on average found in singular than in non-singular forms. As an increase in group size lowers the probability of same sex groups, gender-specific personal pronouns are less useful in the non-singular than in the singular. Curiously enough, the principle of informativity also makes the opposite prediction: in the first person, non-singular forms are predicted to show a gender contrast more frequently than singular forms do. Moreover, exclusive forms are predicted to develop gender distinctions more often than inclusive forms. In this paper, these predictions are put to a typological test. A total of 51 languages from 17 different families and 24 different genera has been found in which the first person singular personal pronoun is gender-neutral while one or more of its non-singular counterparts inflect for gender. It is argued that Universals 37 and 45, as well as their counterclaim, are empirically adequate. This apparent paradox dissolves in a three-way interaction of gender, number and person in pronominal paradigms. In keeping with the principle of informativity, there is a bias in favour of gender marking in the third person singular but also a bias in favour of gender marking in the first person non-singular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Often illustrated with the examples of melody, Bergson's key concept of durée is best known for its qualitative, heterogeneous, and thus immeasurable multiplicity. However, the examples he gives in Time and Free Will-such as "the regular oscillations of a pendulum" or "the successive strokes of a distant bell"--suggest rather periodic phenomena that would require another perspective in terms of rhythm. When we "get into a rhythm," we perceive a numerical quality without counting. Rhythm makes glimpse "Otherwise than Measuring". Focusing on the "rhythmic organization of the whole" within duration could reveal the secret of Bergson's enigmatic phrase: "this heterogeneity contains number only potentially." This paper reexamines the theoretical scope of rhythmeasure in two ways. First, it shows how this image médiatrice we forged is going to be renewed by recent studies emphasizing duration-number (Miravete) or multi-time scale theory (Hirai). Second, it explores the ethico-political implications of rhythmeasure. Bergson, in his last book Two Sources of Morality and Religion, multiplies images of "a justice (...) which no longer evokes ideas of relativity and proportion, but, on the contrary, of the incommensurable and the absolute". The very ambiguity of démesuré revitalizes the famous opposition of "the closed/the open". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals make faster left responses to small/er numbers and faster right responses to large/r numbers than vice versa. This "spatial–numerical association of response codes" (SNARC) effect represents evidence for an overlap between the cognitive representations of number and space. Theories of the SNARC effect differ in whether they predict bidirectional S-R associations between number and space or not. We investigated the reciprocity of S-R priming effects between number and location in three experiments with vocal responses. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants completed a number–location task, with digits as stimuli and location words as responses, and a location–number task, with physical locations as stimuli and number words as responses. In addition, we varied the S-R mapping in each task. Results revealed a strong SNARC effect in the number–location task, but no reciprocal SNARC effect in the location–number task. In Experiment 3, we replaced physical location stimuli with location words and digit stimuli with number words. Results revealed a regular and a reciprocal SNARC effect of similar size. Reciprocal SNARC effects thus seem to emerge with verbal location stimuli and vocal responses, but not with physical location stimuli and vocal responses. The S-R associations underlying the SNARC effect with vocal responses thus appear bidirectional and symmetrical for some combinations of stimulus and response sets, but not for others. This has implications for theoretical accounts of the SNARC effect which need to explain how stimulus mode affects the emergence of reciprocal but not regular SNARC effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speakers have been shown to find sentences with erroneous agreement acceptable under certain conditions. This so-called agreement attraction effect has also been found in genitive-possessive structures such as "the teacher's brother" in Turkish [Lago et al. (2019). Straight from the horsefs mouth: Agreement attraction effects with Turkish possessors. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 9(3), 398–426. ], which is in contrast to its absence in similar constructions in English [Nicol et al. (2016). Minimal interference from possessor phrases in the production of subject-verb agreement. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 548. ]. It has been hypothesised that this discrepancy is a result of the association between genitive case marking and being a controller in Turkish. We test an alternative explanation according to which Lago et al.'s findings are due to a potential confound in their experiment, as the morphology on all agreement controllers were locally ambiguous between possessive and accusative case. The results of our speeded acceptability judgment experiment suggest that the presence of case syncretism does not affect agreement attraction contrary to previous findings in the literature. Abbreviations: ACC, accusative; DAT, dative; GEN, genitive; NMLZ, nominaliser; PASS , passive; PL, plural; POSS, possessive; PST, past; SG, singular; WHEN, when. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do customers convert values to a familiar currency (rescaling hypothesis) or do they learn item‐price pairs (relearning hypothesis) when they estimate the prices of consumer goods and services in a currency they are unfamiliar with? We addressed this question by replicating the study conducted in Portugal and Austria in 2001 and 2002, around the time when these countries switched to the euro (Marques & Dehaene, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2004, 10, 148–155). The study was made in Croatia where university students (N = 181) were asked to estimate the typical price of a set of 60 items from November 2022 to June 2023, around the time at which changeover to the euro took place. The results support the rescaling hypothesis by showing concurrent improvements in the precision of price estimates for frequently and rarely bought items. The reliance on rescaling is probably caused by a high inflation that accompanied a changeover to the euro in Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Productive engagement in fractional reasoning is essential for abstracting fundamental algebraic concepts vital to college and career success. Yet, data suggest students with learning disabilities (LDs), in particular, display pervasive shortfalls in learning and mastering fraction content. We argue that shortfalls in understanding are in fact issues of access in terms of opportunities that students have to productively engage with learning objects (i.e., tasks) that meaningfully bring forward and promote students' fractions understanding. In this study, we define engagement as a state and take up a single case study methodology to illustrate behavioral, affective, and cognitive engagement of Bob, a student with a LD, as he works with a series of fraction tasks designed to support his engagement. Results reveal patterns of productive engagement as regards this student's fractional reasoning as they relate to the tasks he was given over time. Contributions of this work include insights into Bob's engagement within tasks and provide considerations for teaching practice seeking to promote productive engagement by design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When expressing comparisons of magnitude, Pitjantjatjara, a language indigenous to the land now known as Australia, employs contextually driven comparators (e.g., Anyupa is tall. Uma is short) rather than a dedicated morphological or syntactic comparative construction (e.g., Anyupa is taller than Uma). Pitjantjatjara also has a small number of lexicalized numerals, employing ‘one’, ‘two’, ‘three’, then ‘many’. It is hypothesized that having dedicated comparatives in language and elaborated number systems aid comparisons of magnitudes. Fluent Pitjantjatjara-English bilinguals participated in tasks assessing their accuracy and reaction times when comparing two types of magnitude: numerosity (quantities of dots), and extent (line lengths). They repeated the comparisons in both languages on different days, allowing for the effect of language being spoken on responses to be assessed. No differences were found for numerosity; however, participants were less accurate when making comparisons of extent using Pitjantjatjara. Accuracy when using Pitjantjatjara decreased as the magnitude of the comparison increased and as differences between the comparators decreased. This result suggests a potential influence of linguistic comparison strategy on comparison behavior.

Abstract In New Western Iranian languages, plurality is an obligatory category, and it is marked both morphologically and syntactically; however, Bâdrudi, as a central Iranian language, has a special status among Iranian languages. Insofar as the plural number is not an obligatory category and only appears alongside the plural suffix and verb agreement, this language uses other ways to mark plurality. This article examines some features of plurality in the Bâdrudi. Findings indicate that in Bâdrudi, the plurality is marked by the suffix -u, but mostly noun plurality is marked syntactically by verb agreement and pronominal agreement. The reduplication of noun stem is another way to mark plurality in animate nouns. In all the ways through which the plural number of nouns is marked, the verb agreement is always obligatory. This is but the use of the plural suffix, pronominal agreement, and reduplication are optional. There are also cases where the noun is not plurally marked in any way. This means that the distinction of number is not an obligatory category in Bâdrudi. Keywords: number, plurality, noun, Bâdrudi, Iranian languages Introduction Number is one of the most common features of nouns in world’s languages. For example, English makes a semantic and a formal distinction between, for instance, dog and dogs, or child and children. In English, the number feature can also be realized on verbs and pronouns through agreement with a subject, as in: ‘these children were playing together’. In this example, the verb and the demonstrative pronoun are plural and indicate the number of children. This is by no means to state that they point to the number of ‘playing’ events. While Number is an obligatory category in English, there are many other languages in which the use of the plural marker is called upon only when it is important to mark number. Unlike English, and similar languages in which the majority of nouns, from the personal pronouns and nouns denoting persons to those inanimate objects and abstract entities, can mark number, there are many languages that restrict the number opposition to fewer situations, namely those which are high in animacy. In terms of the number values, most number systems have only the two singular and plural polarities. But there are other degrees of numerosity that occur in different languages. The most frequent form of such number system is duality, which designates only two instances of one thing. Another one is the trial system which refers to three distinct real-world entities. Finally, ‘paucal’ stands for a small number of distinct real-world entities. Given the different ways that the number is expressed, some languages have special ‘number words’ which are employed merely for the purpose of indicating number. This includes morphological expression of number which manifests widely in terms of affixes. Stems can show changes from minor stress alternations to major restructuring to show number. The way in which number is marked syntactically is through agreement. Agreement is often in addition to other morphological means of marking plurality. Demonstratives and verbs are relatively frequent agreement targets, showing agreement in number either uniquely or combined with other categories, notably gender. Reduplication is a frequent and iconic way of indicating plurality. This may involve the whole stem, more frequently, or part of the stem; the relevant part may appear at beginning, or end of the noun. Materials and Methods This article examines some features of plurality in the Bâdrudi language, a central Iranian language spoken in central Iran. Part of the data used in this article are taken from Bâdrudi and Arismani corpuses, archived at ‘Corpus of Iranian Languages’. It is to note that another part of the data is collected by the author from the Fami village, where a variety of Badrudi is spoken. The data are transcribed based on the APA phonetic transcription and glossed in a semi-Persian way of glossing. Through this approach, the meanings are in Persian but the grammatical features are shown in English. Discussion of results and Conclusion The analyses suggest that Bâdrudi uses three methods to mark plurality: 1. Morphological Marking: In this marking system, the plural number is indicated by adding the plural suffix ‘–u’ to the noun stem, which is not obligatory and can be used along with the syntactic ways of verb agreement and pronominal agreement. Verb agreement: Through such a strategy, the plurality is shown by the agreement between the plural noun and the verb. In this connection, the noun can also have a plural suffix: jen-u vo mir-u ru kade de âx-en “Men and women are sitting at home”. Verb agreement marks the noun that is a subject or an agent: sang baalaa cinu de darkat-en “The stones fell from the wall”. But in the sentences with ergative structure, it marks a noun that serves as an object: ču-šun ataš xossen “They burned the wood”. Pronominal agreement: In this way, the plural number is marked on the demonstrative pronouns and comes in a noun phrase. In this case, the verb of the sentence is also used in plural form: nome izom bâ tabar amariy-en “these woods are broken by an ax”. reduplicating: This involves the use of material from the noun stem and suffixing it at the end of the noun, like dot ‘girl’ > dotmot ‘girls’ in nin dotmot čerâ namden? “Why did not these girls come?” It can be said that in Bâdrudi while the use of morphological suffix is not obligatory to indicate the plurality of noun, the use of pronominal agreement is also not obligatory as long as there is a verb agreement. On the other hand, in all the examined examples, the use of verb agreement is an obligatory way of marking plurality. The results show that in Bâdrudi, the verb agreement is a necessary and imperative way of marking the plurality of nouns. It is interesting to note that other markers are compulsory to be used. There are also cases where the plurality is not marked in any way. Considering that the verb agreement generally marks subject or agent, a noun serving as an indirect object, is not marked by any of the morphological or syntactical ways. In general, it can be said that although Bâdrudi marks plurality morphologically and syntactically, plurality is not an obligatory category in Bâdrudi, and there are still degrees of splitness in marking the plurality.

Many studies have shown that the brain can process subliminal numerals, i.e., participants can categorize a subliminal number into two categories: greater than 5 or less than 5. In the context of many studies on the unconscious integration of multiple subliminal stimuli, the issue of whether multiple subliminal numbers can be integrated is contentious. The same-different task is regarded as a perfect tool to explore unconscious integration. In the two experiments reported, we used a same-different task in which a pair of masked prime numbers was followed by a pair of target numbers, and participants were asked to decide whether the two target numbers were on the same (both smaller or larger than 5) or different sides (one smaller, the other larger than 5) of 5 in magnitude. The results indicated that the prime numbers could be categorized unconsciously, which was reflected by the category priming effect, and that the unconscious category relationship of the two prime numbers could affect the judgment on the category relationship of the two target numbers, as reflected by the response priming effect. The duration of the prime-to-target interstimulus interval (ISI) was also manipulated, showing a positive compatibility effect (PCE) of category priming and a negative compatibility effect (NCE) of response priming no matter whether the ISI was short (50 ms) or long (150 ms). The NCE, which occurred when the prime-to-target ISI was relatively short in this study, contradicted the conventional view but was consistent with previous results of unconscious integration based on an attention modulation mechanism. Importantly, this study provided evidence for the still-under-debate issue of numerical information integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grammaticalization has long been understood as a process that takes place gradually, but within it, discrete and abrupt changes take place. This tension has been reconciled by claiming that the semblance of a gradual process is given by different parts of a construction undergoing changes at different points in time. Focusing on synchronic microvariation as gradience, this article discusses cases of clitic loss in four Romance varieties (Brazilian Portuguese, Raeto-Romance, some northeastern Italo-Romance varieties, and French), and identifies common patterns in the cells of the paradigms that are most vulnerable to the process of loss. Relating the grammatical and semantic properties of these cells to established typological hierarchies, the paper explores how general cognitive principles can account for the key properties of gradualness and gradience and, ultimately, language change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where does arithmetic come from, and why are addition and multiplication its fundamental operations? Although we know that arithmetic is true, no explanation that meets standards of scientific rigor is available from philosophy, mathematical logic, or the cognitive sciences. We propose a new approach based on the assumption that arithmetic has a biological origin: Many examples of adaptive behavior such as spatial navigation suggest that organisms can perform arithmetic-like operations on represented magnitudes. If so, these operations—nonsymbolic precursors of addition and multiplication—might be optimal due to evolution and thus identifiable according to an appropriate criterion. We frame this as a metamathematical question, and using an order-theoretic criterion, prove that four qualitative conditions—monotonicity, convexity, continuity, and isomorphism—are sufficient to identify addition and multiplication over the real numbers uniquely from the uncountably infinite class of possible operations. Our results show that numbers and algebraic structure emerge from purely qualitative conditions, and as a construction of arithmetic, provide a rigorous explanation for why addition and multiplication are its fundamental operations. We argue that these conditions are preverbal psychological intuitions or principles of perceptual organization that are biologically based and shape how humans and nonhumans alike perceive the world. This is a Kantian view and suggests that arithmetic need not be regarded as an immutable truth of the universe but rather as a natural consequence of our perception. Algebraic structure may be inherent in the representations of the world formed by our perceptual system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human languages vary in terms of which meanings they lexicalize, but this variation is constrained. It has been argued that languages are under two competing pressures: the pressure to be simple (e.g., to have a small lexicon) and to allow for informative (i.e., precise) communication, and that which meanings get lexicalized may be explained by languages finding a good way to trade off between these two pressures. However, in certain semantic domains, languages can reach very high levels of informativeness even if they lexicalize very few meanings in that domain. This is due to productive morphosyntax and compositional semantics, which may allow for construction of meanings which are not lexicalized. Consider the semantic domain of natural numbers: many languages lexicalize few natural number meanings as monomorphemic expressions, but can precisely convey very many natural number meanings using morphosyntactically complex numerals. In such semantic domains, lexicon size is not in direct competition with informativeness. What explains which meanings are lexicalized in such semantic domains? We will propose that in such cases, languages need to solve a different kind of trade‐off problem: the trade‐off between the pressure to lexicalize as few meanings as possible (i.e, to minimize lexicon size) and the pressure to produce as morphosyntactically simple utterances as possible (i.e, to minimize average morphosyntactic complexity of utterances). To support this claim, we will present a case study of 128 natural languages' numeral systems, and show computationally that they achieve a near‐optimal trade‐off between lexicon size and average morphosyntactic complexity of numerals. This study in conjunction with previous work on communicative efficiency suggests that languages' lexicons are shaped by a trade‐off between not two but three pressures: be simple, be informative, and minimize average morphosyntactic complexity of utterances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In New Western Iranian languages, plurality is an obligatory category, and it is marked both morphologically and syntactically; however, Bâdrudi, as a central Iranian language, has a special status among Iranian languages. Insofar as the plural number is not an obligatory category and only appears alongside the plural suffix and verb agreement, this language uses other ways to mark plurality. This article examines some features of plurality in the Bâdrudi. Findings indicate that in Bâdrudi, the plurality is marked by the suffix -u, but mostly noun plurality is marked syntactically by verb agreement and pronominal agreement. The reduplication of noun stem is another way to mark plurality in animate nouns. In all the ways through which the plural number of nouns is marked, the verb agreement is always obligatory. This is but the use of the plural suffix, pronominal agreement, and reduplication are optional. There are also cases where the noun is not plurally marked in any way. This means that the distinction of number is not an obligatory category in Bâdrudi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates number in the nominal domain with a particular focus on Korean. English is well-known to show singular-plural number contrast unlike Korean that shows number neutral-plural contrast. Recent studies, however, have suggested that Korean has singular-plural number contrast in a certain context, namely definite context. This paper proposes that in Korean singular and plural nominals in definite contexts do not have the same structures as indefinite contexts. In a definite context, a plural nominal has a full DP structure with NumP similar to a singular nominal. In an indefinite context, on the other hand, a plural nominal has a modifying plural unlike a singular nominal with a bare nP. The proposed structures form a basis for the semantic account, i.e., the syntactic-complexity-based competition for number in Katzir (2007) adopted for Western Armenian. Assuming this syntax-based semantic account for Korean, it is shown that the different number contrasts in the two different contexts are natural consequences of the singular-plural competition. The proposed syntactic and semantic accounts for Korean suggest that a language like Korean may have two two-way number contrasts, not one two-way contrast (e.g., as in English) suggested in previous literature. This paper shows that the two two-way number contrasts are not a cross-linguistically rare phenomenon as originally suggested in the literature but possible in various languages such as Blackfoot (Algonquian), Western Armenian, and Mandarin, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2023, 16 species were recorded on the territory of the Basitchay Reserve in winter, while 21 species in summer. 93.6% of the Reserve's territory is occupied by forest-shrub and meadow habitats. This also created conditions for abundance of dendrophilous and seed and chick-eating species on the territory. The dominant species of the ornithocomplex are birds belonging to the order of sparrows. The non-registration of the Falcons, Storks and Herons, inhabiting on the territory of the Reserve, as well as their nesting sites, is connected with the mass cutting down of tall sycamore trees during the occupation. As a result, these birds were deprived of breeding conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcoding is the process of translating between spoken and written numbers, and it is correlated with other mathematical skills. In the present study, we investigated the link between French number writing of 49 students in the third grade (aged 7–9 years) and their language skills. Transcoding in French is of particular interest because the spoken number language system does not completely correspond to that of the written digits (e.g., quatre-vingt-dix [four-twenty-ten] and 90). We hypothesised that the complex linguistic structure of spoken numbers in French would be challenging for students who are learning to transcode. First and second French-language learners' accuracy and errors were recorded during a writing task of 3- to 7-digit numbers. Children also completed linguistic tests (e.g., receptive vocabulary, receptive syntax). Results showed that first- and second-language learners did not differ in their transcoding accuracy. Number size, decade complexity of stimulus number words in French (i.e., numbers containing a complex decade, operationalized as a number between soixante-dix, 70, and quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, 99), and receptive vocabulary predicted children's French transcoding skills. Students were more likely to produce errors (e.g., 68 or 6018 for 78) when they transcoded complex decade numbers compared with simple decade numbers. When an error was made on the complex decade portion of a number, it was likely a lexical error. In conclusion, third graders, both first- and second-language learners, found complex decade numbers challenging and their performance was related to their general vocabulary skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amount of information that can be concurrently maintained in the focus of attention is strongly restricted (Broadbent, 1958). The goal of this study was to test whether this restriction was functionally significant for language comprehension. We examined the time course dynamics of processing determiner-head agreement in English demonstrative phrases. We found evidence that agreement processing was slowed when determiner and head were no longer adjacent, but separated by modifiers. We argue that some information is shunted nearly immediately from the focus of attention, necessitating its later retrieval. Plural, the marked feature value for number, exhibits better preservation in the focus of attention, however, than the unmarked value, singular.

Whether estimating the size of a crowd or rating a restaurant on a five-star scale, humans frequently navigate between subjective sensory experiences and shared formal systems. Here we ask how people manage this in the case of estimating number. We present participants with arrays of dots and ask them to report how many dots there are. Our results produce two novel findings. First, people's estimates are best fit by a bilinear function in log space, rather than the traditional power law described in previous literature. Second, we find that people's estimates do not have a stable coefficient of variation at higher magnitudes, and that the likely cause of this is a "drift" in people's estimate calibration over many trials which has not previously been identified. Building on these results, we present a model of the mapping function from subjective numerosity to symbolic number that relies primarily on a constrained set of previous estimates and familiar numerosities, rather than the robust internal scale used in existing models. Our model is able to generate an accurate mapping with limited data and reproduce notable aspects of estimation seen in our experimental results. This suggests that human number estimation, and perhaps other domains in which we must navigate between subjective representations and formal systems, is governed by a relatively simple decision process that primarily seeks to maintain consistency with previous estimates. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

As a result of the research, 109 individuals of two amphibian species: the common frog (Rana temporaria) and the common toad (Bufo bufo) were selected. These two species are the most numerous among other species of amphibians within the studied territory, therefore, they can be considered typical species in the anthropogenically transformed habitats of the Ukrainian Roztochchia. During the analysis of the collected material, Ivlev’s selectivity index was used to determine the selective attitude of the studied amphibian species to the number of consumed objects. Comparing data obtained from Barber’s traps and material extracted from the stomachs of amphibians, it was concluded that depending on the habitat type, both the common frog (Rana temporaria) and the common toad (Bufo bufo) show a certain feeding selectivity. The common toad consumes mostly the representatives of Annelida (15%), Arachnida (15%) and Coleoptera (18%), what makes up 48% of all consumed objects in total. The common frog, under the conditions of anthropogenically transformed environment, prefers Mollusca (15%), Myriapoda (20%) and Hemiptera (20%) mostly, what is 55% in total. In half of the stomachs we examined for, both amphibian species, plant residues were found, specifically parts of leaves and branches. Additionally, in individuals of the Bufo bufo species, stones were discovered in the stomach. Most likely, these items ended up there accidentally during the capture of primary food objects. Species of tailless amphibians are highly vulnerable to the negative impact of various anthropogenic factors. Deforestation, water bodies drainage, and global or local environmental pollution can significantly affect diverse ecosystems. This, in turn, may lead to the disappearance of segments of the dietary spectrum for amphibians. Monitoring the trophic interactions of this animal class is crucial, given the importance of amphibians as vital links in food chains. This factor underscores the need for periodic trophic monitoring, as amphibians play a pivotal role in sustaining ecological balance within their vulnerable populations.

Intermedial The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of Ukrainian and Chinese phraseological units with the numerical component hundred as a component of the concept “all”. A holistic and exhaustive linguoculturological study of the concept “all”on the basis of phraseological units of the Chinese and Ukrainian languages has not been carried out, that determines the relevance of the article. The purpose of the article is to clarify and detail some aspects of the language representation of the concept “all” on the material of two languages. The paper describes the role of numbers in traditional Chinese culture; certain structural and cultural features of phraseological units in the Chinese language are determined; identified, classified, analyzed and compared phraseological units with the component “hundred” in the Ukrainian and Chinese languages. The results of the study provide grounds for clarifying the content of the concept “all”. The numerative hundred is a productive component of Chinese phraseological units, in which it can be a temporal indicator, the embodiment of the idea of diversity. Structural features of Chinese phraseological units: PU with different semantics and connotative colouring have the same negative structure; within one unit, the numeratives 1–100 are contrasted, the numeral hundred is doubled, the numeratives hundred and thousand are used. The equivalents of Ukrainian phraseological units with the numerical component one hundred were found in Chinese. In Ukrainian and Chinese cultures some emotional and evaluative components are similar: negative (submission, sadness, indifference to life), positive (invincibility, value of a specialist). In Chinese most phraseological units with a numerical component hundred are used to characterize a certain state of a person, particular phenomena. The study of phraseological units in Ukrainian and Chinese will deepen the content of the concept “all” in the language picture of the world. The research results can be used in the process of compiling phraseological Ukrainian-Chinese dictionaries and in the practice of studying both languages.

The relationship between Person and Number features is often addressed in both theoretical and experimental studies. It is noteworthy that the discussion on how these features are processed has evolved over time towards how Person and Number features are structured in constructions with different persons (first person, second person, third person). While some studies state that Person and Number features can only be tested with third-person sentences (Manchini et al., 2011; Mancini et al., 2014), other studies state that these features can be tested with all person pronouns except R-expressions (regular noun phrases) (Ackema & Neeleman, 2019). In the literature, it is noteworthy that the relationship between the processing of Person and Number features has been tested with first- and second-person pronouns and R-expressions, but there is no study testing the issue with third-person pronouns. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a difference in the processing of Person and Number features in sentences with third-person pronouns in Turkish using Event-related Brain Potentials (ERPs). In this study, three conditions, namely Grammatical, Person Mismatch and Number Mismatch, were presented visually in words to 33 participants. In the study, a widespread N400 component was observed in both the processing of the Person feature and the processing of the Number feature. It was found that there was no difference between the two features in the corresponding time window. However, in the next time window, a late N400 component was observed in the processing of the Number feature, while a positivity (P600) was observed in the processing of the Person feature. In this time window, there is a difference in the processing of the Person and Number features. In conclusion, this study found that there is a difference in the processing of the Person and Number features in sentences with third-person pronouns in Turkish. It is suggested that the P600 finding in the processing of the Person feature reflects the difficulty in processing this feature. It is suggested that the late N400 finding in the processing of the Number feature may be due to the load it imposes on the processing process due to the fact that the morphological appearance of the Number feature in verb conjugation is parallel to nominal pluralisation, and the greater demand on working memory as the resolution of the Number mismatch involves more alternatives than the Person mismatch.

The rapid advancement of technology has revolutionized educational methodologies, particularly in early childhood education. This study focuses on the development of interactive learning media for kindergarten students, aimed at facilitating the understanding of letters and numbers. Employing the ADDIE model, this developmental research was conducted at Cahaya Wonoasri Kindergarten, Madiun. Data collection involved observation, interviews, and questionnaires, targeting content validity, learning design, and media efficacy. The study culminated in the creation of an Android-based application, designed to be engaging for young learners. The application's effectiveness was validated through expert assessments and individual trials, demonstrating its potential in improving letter and number recognition among kindergarten students. The content, learning design, and media experts rated the application as 'good' to 'very good' in their respective areas of expertise. The findings suggest that the developed educational tool is not only viable but also beneficial in enhancing the learning experience for kindergarten children. The application's engaging design and interactive content align with modern teaching methodologies, potentially setting a new standard in early childhood education technology. This study highlights the significance of integrating technology in early education, especially in the digital era. The success of the developed Android-based application suggests a promising future for digital learning tools in kindergarten, potentially revolutionizing the way young children are introduced to fundamental concepts like letters and numbers.

The article examines demographic processes in Dagestan during one of the dramatic periods in the history of the country. On the basis of the All-Union Population censuses of 1937, 1939, and special literature, the number, sex and age composition, ethnic structure, and demography of the family are characterized. Of particular relevance is the study of the demographic development of such a peculiar region as Dagestan, with its motley ethnic picture. The conclusion is formulated that during the studied period there were fundamental changes in the demographic composition of Dagestanis: natural growth and mechanical growth, the ratio of urban and rural population.

Investigation of a decrease in the viability of microorganism cells in the soil samples, stored for a long time in an air-dry state, has both theoretical and practical significance since in agrochemistry and the soil science it is a custom to store the soil samples for many years and decades, taking it as an axiom that the properties of these samples remain unchanged. To find out what are the patterns of survival of microorganisms of various ecological-trophic, functional and systematic groups, their viability was studied in samples of gray forest soil, stored for 32 months in an air-dry state. It has been shown that the number of microorganisms of most groups decreases by 42-94 times, the number of polysaccharides-synthesizing microorganisms decreases maximumby 3,993-18,210 times, depending on the agricultural practices, used in a stationary experiment. the number of spores and cysts decreases. The microorganisms which have the least decrease in the number of colony-forming units of micromycetes and Azotobacter as groups that have forms of surviving unfavourable conditions during storage are spores and cysts. In addition, the physiological and biochemical activity of micromycetes decreases significantly, compared to their activity in the original (initial) fresh soil. During storage the number and share in the total number of melanin-synthesizing micromycetes sharply decreases from 65.8-94.6% to 2.48-5.17%. When storing soil in an air-dry state, the rate of decline in the number of microorganisms depends on the functional affiliation of the group and on agrotechnical techniques that were previously used in the stationary experiments: liming, application of mineral fertilizers, ploughing in the by-products of the predecessor crop in the crop rotation, and the biomass of the sideral crop. The organic matter, ploughed into the soil, promotes the survival of ammonifiers, mineral nitrogen immobilizers, Azotobacter and polysaccharide-synthesizing microorganisms. Ploughing in of crop by-products reduce the number and proportion of melanin-synthesizing micromycetes. Verification of the obtained data, using long-term stored soil samples, is not permissible since microbiological processes occur in the soil during which the soil microbiota consumes the macro- and microelements, present in it, organic and organomineral complexes, including humus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to highlight the importance of spatial cognition in Bergson's Données immédiates by engaging with Robert Watt's reconstruction of Bergson's argument that every idea of number involves the idea of space. We focus on the second stage of Watt's reconstruction, where Bergson argues that only space can provide the distinction required for our counting of otherwise identical items. Watt bases his reconstruction on a premise regarding the possibility that identical objects, in the absence of spatial distinction, might remain identical across different "temporal locations". Our paper raises the prospect that Bergson is committed to a stronger thesis, namely one implying that identical objects would necessarily remain indistinguishable without the intervention of space. The paper thus concludes by emphasizing the indispensability of space for knowledge according to Bergson. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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