This special issue is dedicated to the syntax-prosody interface in non-canonical questions and originated in the international workshop Non-Canonical Questions at the Syntax-Prosody Interface, organised at the Université Paris Cité and held online in November 2020. Recent research has demonstrated that the phonology-syntax relation cannot solely account for prosodic structure, prosody being closely intertwined with discourse organisation, information structure and focus structure (Gussenhoven 1983, Féry 2001). Questions are a case in point, as they crucially call on the addressee before a proposition may be added to the common ground.

In this article, we re-examine Pascal's Mugging, and argue that it is a deeper problem than the St. Petersburg paradox. We offer a way out that is consistent with classical decision theory. Specifically, we propose a “many muggers” response analogous to the “many gods” objection to Pascal's Wager. When a very tiny probability of a great reward becomes a salient outcome of a choice, such as in the offer of the mugger, it can be discounted on the condition that there are many other symmetric, non-salient rewards that one may receive if one chooses otherwise.

We performed a single-centre, retrospective study to assess physiologic changes of infants in the cardiac ICU while being held by their parent. Continuous data streaming of vital signs were collected for infants included in the study from January 2021 to March 2022. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected from the electronic medical record. The physiologic streaming data were analysed using mixed-effects models to account for repeated measures and quantify the effect of parental holding. Comparison analysis was also performed controlling for intubation, pre-operative versus post-operative status, and whether the holding was skin-to-skin or not. Ninety-five patients with complete physiologic data were included in the study. There were no immediate adverse events associated with holding. Heart rate decreased during the response time compared to its baseline value (p = 0.01), and this decrease was more pronounced for the non-intubated and pre-operative patients. The near-infrared spectroscopy-based venous saturation increased overall (p = 0.02) in patients while being held. We conclude that parental holding of infants in the cardiac ICU can be safely accomplished, and the haemodynamic and oximetric profile during the holding is favourable compared to the infants’ baseline prior to holding.

We establish higher moment formulae for Siegel transforms on the space of affine unimodular lattices as well as on certain congruence quotients of $\mathrm {SL}_d({\mathbb {R}})$. As applications, we prove functional central limit theorems for lattice point counting for affine and congruence lattices using the method of moments.

A recent paper by Häffner et al. (2023, Political Analysis 31, 481–499) introduces an interpretable deep learning approach for domain-specific dictionary creation, where it is claimed that the dictionary-based approach outperforms finetuned language models in predictive accuracy while retaining interpretability. We show that the dictionary-based approach’s reported superiority over large language models, BERT specifically, is due to the fact that most of the parameters in the language models are excluded from finetuning. In this letter, we first discuss the architecture of BERT models, then explain the limitations of finetuning only the top classification layer, and lastly we report results where finetuned language models outperform the newly proposed dictionary-based approach by 27% in terms of $R^2$ and 46% in terms of mean squared error once we allow these parameters to learn during finetuning. Researchers interested in large language models, text classification, and text regression should find our results useful. Our code and data are publicly available.

Lower limb exoskeletons (LLEs) have demonstrated their potential in delivering quantified repetitive gait training for individuals afflicted with gait impairments. A critical concern in robotic gait training pertains to fostering active patient engagement, and a viable solution entails harnessing the patient’s intrinsic effort to govern the control of LLEs. To address these challenges, this study presents an innovative online gait learning approach with an appropriate control strategy for rehabilitation exoskeletons based on dynamic movement primitives (DMP) and an Assist-As-Needed (AAN) control strategy, denoted as DMP-AAN. Specifically tailored for post-stroke patients, this approach aims to acquire the gait trajectory from the unaffected leg and subsequently generate the reference gait trajectory for the affected leg, leveraging the acquired model and the patient’s personal exertion. Compared to conventional AAN methodologies, the proposed DMP-AAN approach exhibits adaptability to diverse scenarios encompassing varying gait patterns. Experimental validation has been performed using the lower limb rehabilitation exoskeleton HemiGo. The findings highlight the ability to generate suitable control efforts for LLEs with reduced human-robot interactive force, thereby enabling highly patient-controlled gait training sessions to be achieved.

Five celestine crystals were sampled from the (palaeo)surface intervening between the late Miocene to Pleistocene basaltic sequences of the Jabal Eghei (Nuqay) volcanic province in southern Libya and then characterised by applying a combination of the SEM–WDS, ICP/OES, PXRD and IR methods. Colour variations and related minerogenetic frameworks were also investigated. Three samples have greenish-blue-to-blue colour (480.4–482.5 nm), whereas the other two samples have blue–green colour (cyan; 489.1–494.1 nm). The colour purity ranges from 1.36–7.16. Their composition is similar, end-member celestine, in which only 1.6–4.1 at.% of Sr2+ content was substituted by Pb2+ (0.7–0.9 at.%), Ba2+ (0.5–0.7 at.%) and Ca2+ (0.2–0.8 at.%). Three samples contained vacancies, from 1.0 to 1.9 at.%. The content of other chemical elements is minor. The resulting unit-cell parameters have the ranges: a0 = 8.3578(9)–8.3705(6) Å; b0 = 5.3510(5)–5.3568(4) Å; c0 = 6.8683(7)–6.8767(2) Å and V0 = 307.17(5)–308.34(4) Å3. The PXRD and IR results are mainly in accordance with the SEM–WDS results, with a high level of correlation. However, a few discrepancies were found, producing several possible interpretations, the primary cause being a slight unit-cell axial anisotropy i.e. thermal expansion. As a consequence these results yield a new geothermometric tool that is based on the unit-cell axial anisotropy. The celestines investigated were formed during a Miocene intraplate volcanism with basaltic magmas, and associated brines lifted by the structural conduits (normal faults crosscutting the Sirt basin). The Sr-bearing fluids then poured into and over the faulted and fractured lagoon-type gypsum, anhydrite Eocene sediments. The celestine mineralisation formed within a ~368–430 K (~95–157°C) temperature range. The celestine formed at slightly elevated temperature and pressure conditions, close to the shallow subsurface environment (over 250 bars).

This study aimed to evaluate the early introduction of ultra-processed foods (UPF) and identify its association with overweight and anaemia in Brazilian children living in a situation of social vulnerability. A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in a Brazilian capital. Children aged 12-59 months were included. The presence of overweight and anaemia was evaluated, as well as the introduction of twelve different UPF in children’s first year of life. Association analysis was performed using Poisson regression, with robust estimates of variances. A total of 561 children were studied; 85·5 % had consumed at least one UPF evaluated in the first year of life; 19·1 % were overweight and 52·0 % were anaemic. Adjusted multivariate analyses identified that the early introduction of soft drinks (Prevalence Ratio (PR) = 1·18, 95 % CI (1·02, 1·38)), packaged snacks (PR = 1·17, 95 % CI (1·05, 1·30)) and powdered soft drinks (PR = 1·36, 95 % CI (1·16, 1·60)) increased the likelihood of children being overweight, and the early introduction of chocolate drink (PR = 1·25, 95 % CI (1·02, 1·53)) increased the likelihood of them being anaemic, when comparing children who consumed these UPF before reaching 1 year of age with those who consumed these foods at 12 months of age or older. From the results found, one can see the existing relationship between the early introduction of UPF with overweight and anaemia, being necessary to intensify public health policies to combat malnutrition, focusing on the promotion of proper and healthy eating, especially during the phase of food introduction, focusing on the population living in socially vulnerable situations.

Although Naimark dilation theorem was originally stated in 1940, it still finds many important applications in various areas. The objective of this paper is to introduce a method for explicitly constructing the vectors of complementary frames in the Naimark dilation theorem, specifically in cases where the initial Parseval frame contains a Riesz basis as a subset. These findings serve as a foundation for the construction of dual frames.

We determine almost sure limits of rescaled intrinsic volumes of the construction steps of fractal percolation in ${\mathbb R}^d$ for any dimension $d\geq 1$. We observe a factorization of these limit variables which allows one, in particular, to determine their expectations and covariance structure. We also show the convergence of the rescaled expectations and variances of the intrinsic volumes of the construction steps to the expectations and variances of the limit variables, and we give rates for this convergence in some cases. These results significantly extend our previous work, which addressed only limits of expectations of intrinsic volumes.

The present study uses self-paced reading as a measure of online processing and an acceptability judgement task as a measure of offline explicit linguistic knowledge, to understand L2 learners’ comprehension processes and their awareness of subtle differences between the modal auxiliaries may and can. Participants were two groups of university students: 42 native speakers of English and 41 native speakers of Croatian majoring in L2 English. The study is part of a larger project that has provided empirical evidence of the two modals, may and can, being mutually exclusive when denoting ability (can) and epistemic possibility (may) but equally acceptable in pragmatic choices expressing permission. The present results revealed that L1 and L2 speakers rated the acceptability of sentences in offline tasks similarly; however, L2 learners showed no sensitivity to verb–context mismatches in epistemic modality while demonstrating sensitivity when processing modals expressing ability. Implications for L2 acquisition of modals and future research are discussed.

In the article, we will explore the impact of platform labour on urban spaces and the new frontiers of unionism by leveraging a ground analysis and theoretical elaborations from the PLUS project. PLUS was designed to analyse the impact of four platforms (Uber, Airbnb, Helpling, and Deliveroo) in seven European cities (Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Lisbon, Paris, London, and Tallinn). In doing so, PLUS supported its sociological investigations with theoretical and historical elaborations concerning the operation of contemporary platforms and the characteristics of the new form of unionism. We will present some results from PLUS, with a focus on the Bologna case, where platform workers express their dissatisfaction with their organizations, attempting to relate their strategies to certain structural aspects of business territorialization within urban spaces. We will draw upon the well-known distinction proposed by Albert Hirschman between exit, voice, and loyalty and adapt it to frame the various strategies that platform workers may adopt.