Gene therapy has emerged from the idea of inserting a wild‐type copy of a gene in order to restore the proper expression and function of a damaged gene. Initial efforts have focused on finding the proper vector and delivery method to introduce a corrected gene to the affected tissue or cell type. Even though these first attempts are clearly promising, seveal problems remain unsolved. A major problem is the influence of chromatin structure on transgene expression. To overcome chromatin‐dependent repressive transgenic (...) states, researchers have begun to use chromatin regulatory elements to drive transgene expression. Insulators or chromatin boundaries are able to protect a transgene against chromatin position effects at their genomic integration sites, and they are able to maintain transgene expression for long periods of time. Therefore, these elements may be very useful tools in gene therapy applications for ensuring high‐level and stable expression of transgenes. BioEssays 26:796–807, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

We present a comprehensive empirical evaluation of the ACT‐R–based model of sentence processing developed by Lewis and Vasishth (2005) (LV05). The predictions of the model are compared with the results of a recent meta‐analysis of published reading studies on retrieval interference in reflexive‐/reciprocal‐antecedent and subject–verb dependencies (Jäger, Engelmann, & Vasishth, 2017). The comparison shows that the model has only partial success in explaining the data; and we propose that its prediction space is restricted by oversimplifying assumptions. We then implement a (...) revised model that takes into account differences between individual experimental designs in terms of the prominence of the target and the distractor in memory‐ and context‐dependent cue‐feature associations. The predictions of the original and the revised model are quantitatively compared with the results of the meta‐analysis. Our simulations show that, compared to the original LV05 model, the revised model accounts for the data better. The results suggest that effects of prominence and variable cue‐feature associations need to be considered in the interpretation of existing empirical results and in the design and planning of future experiments. With regard to retrieval interference in sentence processing and to the broader field of psycholinguistic studies, we conclude that well‐specified models in tandem with high‐powered experiments are needed in order to uncover the underlying cognitive processes. (shrink)

We explore the interaction between oculomotor control and language comprehension on the sentence level using two well-tested computational accounts of parsing difficulty. Previous work (Boston, Hale, Vasishth, & Kliegl, 2011) has shown that surprisal (Hale, 2001; Levy, 2008) and cue-based memory retrieval (Lewis & Vasishth, 2005) are significant and complementary predictors of reading time in an eyetracking corpus. It remains an open question how the sentence processor interacts with oculomotor control. Using a simple linking hypothesis proposed in Reichle, Warren, and (...) McConnell (2009), we integrated both measures with the eye movement model EMMA (Salvucci, 2001) inside the cognitive architecture ACT-R (Anderson et al., 2004). We built a reading model that could initiate short “Time Out regressions” (Mitchell, Shen, Green, & Hodgson, 2008) that compensate for slow postlexical processing. This simple interaction enabled the model to predict the re-reading of words based on parsing difficulty. The model was evaluated in different configurations on the prediction of frequency effects on the Potsdam Sentence Corpus. The extension of EMMA with postlexical processing improved its predictions and reproduced re-reading rates and durations with a reasonable fit to the data. This demonstration, based on simple and independently motivated assumptions, serves as a foundational step toward a precise investigation of the interaction between high-level language processing and eye movement control. (shrink)

It is being increasingly recognized that the Saussurean dictum of “the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign” is in conflict with the pervasiveness of the phenomenon commonly known as “sound symbolism”. After first presenting a historical overview of the debate, however, we conclude that both positions have been exaggerated, and that an adequate explanation of sound symbolism is still lacking. How can there, for example, be (perceived) similarity between expressionsand contents across different sensory modalities? We offer an answer, based on the (...) Peircian notion of iconic ground, and G. Sonesson’s distinction betweenprimary and secondary iconicity. Furthermore, we describe an experimental study, in a paradigm first pioneered by W. Kohler, and recently popularized by V.Ramachandran, in which we varied vowels and consonants in fictive word-forms, and conclude that both types of sounds play a role in perceiving an iconic ground between the word-forms and visual figures. The combination of historical conceptual analysis, semiotic explication and psychological experimentationpresented in this article is characteristic of the emerging paradigm of cognitive semiotics. (shrink)

Within the broader horizon of asking about the relevance of the Reformation, or more particularly, Martin Luther’s thought, this paper first draws on the old debate whether there can be a Christian conception of tragic guilt by reconstructing an argument Giorgio Agamben develops against von Fritz’s denial of this possibility. The paper shows that Agamben makes a similar move as Protestantism by claiming that natura, which is always already spoiled by hamartia, is objective, naturaliter not personaliter. But in doing so, (...) he does not draw the proper consequences. He tries to re-inscribe this realization into a post-Thomist anthropology, thus not drawing the most radical conclusions necessary from the objectification of hamartia as natura, namely that natura is always already lacking and is itself in a sense an object as lack. This paper shows how this consequences is, on the contrary, developed in Martin Luther’s notion that the “whole of nature” is corrupted and in the ensuing totus-homo principle. To draw the delineation of the production of this lack, it is useful to draw on the notion of kerygma and its usage in both tragedy and the Pauline New Testament. With it, one can think of a repetition of the constitution of the subject through a “message” or “kerygma” that is heteronomous. What is left in and through this repetition can be viewed as “nothingness”, as is shown in the example of Martin Luther’s translation of the humilitas of Mary as “nothingness”. This product of kerygma is at the same time potentially the cause for another type of subjectivity, a comic subjectivity, yet one which carries the heritage of its tragic constitution with it. As a methodological consequence, this paper suggests that it is not possible to develop proper notions of the subject within contemporary debates without repeating or representing the event of the site of this potentially comic subjectivity within the early thought of Martin Luther. (shrink)

This article argues that libation, often associated with the ancestors, artefacts, images and pre-Christian religious devotions, constitutes sources for articulating authentic African cultural history of Obang community in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. It highlights that among traditional memory carriers, the ritual of libation remains trust worthy and pervasive, even among communities challenged by globalisation and colonising effects of Christianity. The article demonstrates the immense potentials of libation as an epitome and stabiliser of cultural memory, and a maxim in cultural (...) resilience in contemporary Africa. Thus, the article calls for revisiting this ancient ritual to expose its potentials as a veritable memory repertoire in cultural-historical studies, especially at a time when social change and modernism continue to challenge the memories of traditional societies. (shrink)

This study is an inductive approach to investigating and acquiring knowledge of nature in African culture. It begins, without any assumption of foreknowledge, but without any overindulgence, with a brief exposition of the meaning of induction. It analyses, defuses and rejects the attempted arguments made recently by some scholars that induction is not a part of the African reasoning faculty, that it is western exclusive and that most traditional beliefs are irrational, superstitious and non-inferential. It continues with a brief analysis (...) of the African engagement with inductive reasoning, and thereafter, connects induction and the natural environment by concretely analysing some ways the African understands and acquires knowledge of the natural environment through inductive reasoning particularly in traditional African society. It made a demonstrative inquiry into these ways with medicine, agriculture, science, technology, time, and season, among others, and how such thought patterns and the resultant knowledge informs the African beliefs and practices. The study concurrently argues that the African inductive understanding of nature is a demonstration of the inductive creativity, skill and competence of traditional African people. It concludes by arguing that if it is established that the traditional Africans acquire knowledge of nature inductively and shows how this knowledge is acquired, it would concurrently have been established that Africans are capable of inductive logic, whose components includes inferences and rationality. The study adopts the conceptual and critical methods of philosophical analyses. (shrink)

Immortality.--Religion.--The new ideal.--The priest of the ideal.--The form of the new ideal.--The religious conservatism of women.--Our consolations.--Spinoza.--The founder of Christianity.--The anniversary discourse. Appendix: The evolution of Hebrew religion.--Reformed Judaism, I, II, III.

Incompatability in marriage.- The spirital attitude towards old age.- Woman's spiritual influence in marriage.- The revolt against conventional morality.- The ethical attitude towards enemies.- The strain between the older generation and the younger.- The ethical attitude towards the departed.

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