controlled experiment

 

эксперимент
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EN

experiment
A test under controlled conditions that is made to demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy of something previously untried. (Source: MGH)
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Тематики

• охрана окружающей среды

EN

• experiment

DE

• Experiment

FR

• expérience scientifique

1 rehearsal (Teatro).

ensayo general dress rehearsal

2 test (prueba).

le salió al primer ensayo he got it at the first attempt

3 essay (literature).

4 try.

5 attempt, trial, try, assay.

6 testing, experiment, experimentation.

7 dry run.

1^st person singular (yo) present indicative of spanish verb: ensayar.

* * *

► nombre masculino

1 TEATRO rehearsal

2 MÚSICA practice

3 (prueba) test, experiment, trial, attempt

4 (literario etc) essay

5 (rugby) try

\

a modo de ensayo as an experiment

ensayo general dress rehearsal

* * *

1) essay

2) rehearsal

3) test

4) trial

* * *

1) (=prueba) test, trial; (=experimento) experiment; (=intento) attempt

2) [de metal] assay

3) (Literat, Escol etc) essay

4) (Mús, Teat) rehearsal

5) (Rugby) try

* * *

1)

a) (Espec) rehearsal

b) ( prueba) trial, test; ( intento) attempt

c) ( de metales) assay

- ensayo general

2) (Lit) essay

3) ( en rugby) try

* * *

1)

a) (Espec) rehearsal

b) ( prueba) trial, test; ( intento) attempt

c) ( de metales) assay

- ensayo general

2) (Lit) essay

3) ( en rugby) try

* * *

ensayo¹

¹ = assaying, essay, student paper.

Nota: Tema asignado al alumno por el profesor sobre el cual tendrá que presentar un trabajo escrito.

ensayo²

² = rehearsal, pre-enactment, modelling exercise, run-through.

ensayo³

³ = try.

Nota: Usado generalmente en rugby.

* * *

1 ( Espec) rehearsal

2 (prueba) trial, test; (intento) attempt

se pondrá en ensayo it will be put on trial o tried out o tested

aprendizaje por ensayo y error learning by trial and error

3 (de metales) assay

clinical trial

(de una obra teatral, de un sistema) dress rehearsal; (de un concierto) final rehearsal

B ( Lit) essay

C (en rugby) try

* * *

1ª persona singular (yo) presente indicativo

3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) pretérito indicativo

a) ‹obra/baile› to rehearse

b) ‹ método› to test, try out

a) (Espec) rehearsal;

◊ ensayo general ( de obra teatral) dress rehearsal;

b) ( prueba) trial, test;

* * *

ensayo nm

1. [en teatro, música, danza] rehearsal;

hoy tenemos ensayo we've got a rehearsal today;

hacer un ensayo (de algo) to rehearse (sth)

2. [prueba] test;

el nuevo prototipo será sometido a ensayo the new prototype will undergo testing;

le salió al primer ensayo he got it at the first attempt;

hacer un ensayo de algo to test sth

3. [escrito] essay;

el ensayo [género literario] the essay

4. [en rugby] try

5. [de metales preciosos] assay

* * *

1 test

2 TEA rehearsal

3 escrito essay

* * *

ensayo nm

1) : essay

2) : trial, test

3) : rehearsal

4) : assay (of metals)

* * *

ensayo n

1. (teatro) rehearsal

2. (música) practice

3. (prueba) test

4. (obra literaria) essay

1 to beat.

queremos superar los resultados del año pasado we want to improve on o beat last year's results

me superó por dos décimas de segundo she beat me by two tenths of a second

superar algo/a alguien en algo to beat something/somebody for something

nos superan en número they outnumber us

me supera en altura/inteligencia he's taller/cleverer than me

2 to overtake, to pass.

3 to overcome.

superar un examen to get through an exam

tener algo superado to have got over something

Ellos superan la adversidad They overcome adversity.

4 to surpass, to exceed, to best, to excel.

María supera a sus colegas Mary surpasses her colleagues.

5 to outdo, to win over.

* * *

► verbo transitivo

1 (exceder) to surpass, exceed, excel

2 (obstáculo etc) to overcome, surmount

► verbo pronominal superarse

1 (sobrepasarse) to excel oneself

2 (mejorarse) to improve oneself, better oneself

* * *

1) to surpass

2) overcome

* * *

1. VT

1) (=aventajar) [+ contrincante, adversario] to overcome; [+ límite] to go beyond; [+ récord, marca] to break

2) (=pasar con éxito) [+ dificultad] to overcome; [+ enfermedad, crisis] to get over

3) [+ etapa] to get past

4) [+ prueba, examen] to pass

superarse

* * *

verbo transitivo

1)

a) (ser superior a, mayor que) to exceed, go beyond

b) ( mejorar) < marca> to beat

2)

a) (vencer, sobreponerse a) <timidez/dificultad/etapa> to overcome; < trauma> to get over

b) (frml) <examen/prueba> to pass

superarse v pron to better oneself

* * *

= beat, circumvent, go beyond, outperform [out-perform], outweigh, overcome, overtake, score over, outgrow, surpass, survive, go far beyond, extend + far beyond, top, outbalance, outrank, weather, get through, one-up, outwit, outdo, outsmart, ride out, exceed, outfox, go + past, outrun [out-run], best, trump, move on from, go + one better.

Ex. It would certainly beat the usual file clerk.

Ex. Plainly, the familiarization stage is circumvented in a computer-based indexing system with machine-assigned terms.

Ex. Maybe the answer is some kind of localized Ceefax or Oracle information service that could be obtained free through one's television set but went beyond the mainly trivia that these services currently provide.

Ex. Numerous experiment have tried to determine if free-text searching outperform searching with the aid of a controlled index language.

Ex. It may be decided that the practical impediments to the distribution and assignment of such numbers outweigh their potential usefulness.

Ex. Analytical cataloguing seeks to overcome physical packaging.

Ex. Why have card-based systems been overtaken by computer databases?.

Ex. A Permuterm index scores over a Double-KWIC index in that it avoids repetitive printing of one title.

Ex. We outgrow the school, we cannot outgrow the library.

Ex. The advantages of the system far surpass any disadvantages.

Ex. The chairwoman of the board had decided that as part of the screening process those who had successfully survived the initial winnowing should furnish the board with tangible evidence of how they might perform on a specific assignment.

Ex. These changes in the physical form of the catalog have implications which go far beyond changes in form or even in improvements in speed and convenience to the catalog user.

Ex. We have seen that the relationships of the Publications Office with the institutions and other bodies of the European Communities may in theory, but do not yet in practice extend far beyond those with the six managing institutions.

Ex. As public library circ declines, spending continues to top inflation.

Ex. The large profits to be made in this field will outbalance the problems that may lie ahead.

Ex. One node in the star graphic completely outranks the others, while the other six themselves are interchangeable.

Ex. The small publishers seem to be weathering the industry changes, and have expectations of growth.

Ex. I think that the so-called average person often exhibits a great deal of heroism in getting through an ordinary day.

Ex. This remake of William Castle's action adventure adds a genuinely supernatural plot to the old story of the duplicitous wife scheming to kill her husband but being one-upped by his even more ingenious counterplots.

Ex. Two dangerous trysts are spied upon by a third and hostile party, whose presence is detected by the lovers who act in consort to outwit him.

Ex. This novel is narrated by William, an underachiever who is constantly outdone by his charming and lovable identical twin brother.

Ex. Smart and speedy start-ups blindside mature companies with their inventiveness then grow up into mature companies and are outsmarted in their turn.

Ex. Without any significant restructuring, the LIS programme in Iran will provide little in the way of riding out the rapid transition that the field is currently experiencing.

Ex. In the same way, files of item record cards can be difficult to manage if the file size exceeds, say, 2000 cards.

Ex. It also led to a continuing guerilla war between the authorities and caricaturists who sought to evade, outfox, or entirely defy them.

Ex. Unfortunately, its conclusions are completely pedestrian, rarely going past the fact that there were old people in England in the late Middle Ages.

Ex. But he was wiry and wily, too, and he could often out-run, track, back-track, double-back, and finally dodge unseen in the subway.

Ex. Back in 2001, the tossed salad they prepared fed some 5,000, which then bested the record held by a community in Utah in the United States.

Ex. If prejudice is allowed to trump the rights that all citizens should enjoy, then everyone's freedoms are ultimately endangered.

Ex. He is moving on from the past and looking forward to a tremendous future helping to educate parents from his personal experiences.

Ex. I think Murray will go one better than Wimbledon, but will lose to Federer again in the final.

----

* ayudar a superar = get + Nombre + through.

* capaz de adaptarse y superar adversidades = resilient.

* con el propósito de superarse uno mismo = self-improvement-oriented.

* nada supera a = nothing beats....

* no superar la prueba de = not stand the test of.

* ser difícil de superar = take + some beating.

* sin ser superado = unsurpassed.

* superar Algo = put + Nombre + behind.

* superar barreras = hurdle + barriers.

* superar el intento = resist + effort.

* superar el miedo = overcome + Posesivo + fear, conquer + fear.

* superar el nerviosismo = overcome + nervousness.

* superar el problema de credibilidad = overcome + credibility gap.

* superar en número = outnumber.

* superar la barrera del tiempo = cross + time barriers.

* superar la etapa de = move on from.

* superar las expectativas = exceed + expectations.

* superarse a sí mismo = pull + Reflexivo + up(wards) by + Posesivo + (own) bootstraps.

* superarse a Uno Mismo = make + the best of + Reflexivo.

* superarse para hacer frente a Algo = rise to + meet.

* superar una barrera = conquer + barrier.

* superar una crisis = ford + crisis, survive + crisis.

* superar una deficiencia = overcome + weakness.

* superar una dificultad = overcome + difficulty, get over + difficulty.

* superar una limitación = overcome + limitation, tackle + limitation.

* superar un análisis minucioso = stand up to + scrutiny, stand up to + examination.

* superar una situación difícil = weather + the bumpy ride, weather + the storm.

* superar un examen = pass + examination, pass + an exam.

* superar un obstáculo = overcome + obstacle, jump over + hurdle, overcome + barrier, conquer + barrier.

* superar un peligro = overcome + danger.

* superar un problema = surmount + problem, conquer + problem, get over + problem.

* verse superado sólo por = be second only to.

* * *

verbo transitivo

1)

a) (ser superior a, mayor que) to exceed, go beyond

b) ( mejorar) < marca> to beat

2)

a) (vencer, sobreponerse a) <timidez/dificultad/etapa> to overcome; < trauma> to get over

b) (frml) <examen/prueba> to pass

superarse v pron to better oneself

* * *

* * *

superar [A1 ]

1 (ser superior a, mayor que) to exceed, go beyond

un éxito que supera todas las expectativas a success which goes beyond o exceeds o surpasses all expectations

la realidad supera a la ficción fact o truth is stranger than fiction

el horror de estas escenas supera todo lo imaginable the horror of these scenes goes beyond anything one could imagine

nadie lo supera en experiencia ni habilidad nobody can surpass him in experience or skill, nobody can surpass his experience or skill

nos superan en número they outnumber us

supera en estatura a su hermano mayor he's taller than his elder brother

supera en tres puntos la cifra de ayer it is three points higher than yesterday's figure, it surpasses yesterday's figure by three points

2 (mejorar) to beat

logró superar su propio récord he managed to beat his own record

ese método está totalmente superado that method has been completely superseded

1 (vencer, sobreponerse a) ‹timidez/dificultad/etapa› to overcome

trata de superar estas diferencias try to overcome o get over these differences

no ha logrado superar el trauma que le supuso el accidente he has not got(ten) over the trauma of the accident

ya hemos superado la etapa más difícil we've already got(ten) through o over the most difficult stage

hace tres meses que rompimos pero ya lo tengo superado we split up three months ago but I've got(ten) over it o I'm over it now

2 ( frml); ‹examen/prueba› to pass

to better oneself

* * *

a) ( ser superior a) to exceed;

◊ superó todas las expectativas she exceeded all expectations;

b) ( mejorar) ‹ marca› to beat

a) (vencer, sobreponerse a) ‹timidez/dificultad/etapa› to overcome;

b) (frml) ‹examen/prueba› to pass

* * *

♦ vt

1. [aventajar] to beat;

superar algo/a alguien en algo to beat sth/sb for sth;

nos superan en número they outnumber us;

me supera en altura/inteligencia he's taller/cleverer than me

2. [sobrepasar] [récord] to break;

queremos superar los resultados del año pasado we want to improve on o beat last year's results;

me superó por dos décimas de segundo she beat me by two tenths of a second

3. [adelantar] to overtake, to pass;

superó a su rival en la recta final she overtook her rival on the home straight

4. [época, técnica]

5. [complejo, crisis, enfermedad] to overcome, to get over;

no ha superado la pérdida de su mujer he has not overcome the loss of his wife;

tener algo superado to have got over sth

6. [examen, prueba] to pass

♦ See also the pronominal verb superarse

* * *

v/t persona beat; límite go beyond, exceed; obstáculo overcome, surmount

* * *

superar vt

1) : to surpass, to exceed

2) : to overcome, to surmount

♦ See also the reflexive verb superarse

* * *

superar vb

1. (vencer problema, etc) to overcome [pt. overcame; pp. overcome]

2. (pasar) to pass

3. (ser mejor) to be better / to surpass

4. (ser más) to be more / to be over

SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy, Weapons and armour

[br]

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Fermi was one of the most versatile of twentieth-century physicists, one of the few to excel in both theory and experiment. His greatest theoretical achievements lay in the field of statistics and his theory of beta decay. His statistics, parallel to but independent of Dirac, were the key to the modern theory of metals and the statistical modds of the atomic nucleus. On the experimental side, his most notable discoveries were artificial radioactivity produced by neutron bombardment and the realization of a controlled nuclear chain reaction, in the world's first nuclear reactor.

Fermi received a conventional education with a chemical bias, but reached proficiency in mathematics and physics largely through his own reading. He studied at Pisa University, where he taught himself modern physics and then travelled to extend his knowledge, spending time with Max Born at Göttingen. On his return to Italy, he secured posts in Florence and, in 1927, in Rome, where he obtained the first Italian Chair in Theoretical Physics, a subject in which Italy had so far lagged behind. He helped to bring about a rebirth of physics in Italy and devoted himself to the application of statistics to his model of the atom. For this work, Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938, but in December of that year, finding the Fascist regime uncongenial, he transferred to the USA and Columbia University. The news that nuclear fission had been achieved broke shortly before the Second World War erupted and it stimulated Fermi to consider this a way of generating secondary nuclear emission and the initiation of chain reactions. His experiments in this direction led first to the discovery of slow neutrons.

Fermi's work assumed a more practical aspect when he was invited to join the Manhattan Project for the construction of the first atomic bomb. His small-scale work at Columbia became large-scale at Chicago University. This culminated on 2 December 1942 when the first controlled nuclear reaction took place at Stagg Field, Chicago, an historic event indeed. Later, Fermi spent most of the period from September 1944 to early 1945 at Los Alamos, New Mexico, taking part in the preparations for the first test explosion of the atomic bomb on 16 July 1945. President Truman invited Fermi to serve on his Committee to advise him on the use of the bomb. Then Chicago University established an Institute for Nuclear Studies and offered Fermi a professorship, which he took up early in 1946, spending the rest of his relatively short life there.

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   1) The Book of Nature Is Written in the Language of Mathematics

   Philosophy is written in that great book, the universe, which is always open, right before our eyes. But one cannot understand this book without first learning to understand the language and to know the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and the characters are triangles, circles, and other figures. Without these, one cannot understand a single word of it, and just wanders in a dark labyrinth. (Galileo, 1990, p. 232)

   2) Arranging Speech so as to Reply Appropriately

   It never happens that it [a nonhuman animal] arranges its speech in various ways in order to reply appropriately to everything that may be said in its presence, as even the lowest type of man can do. (Descartes, 1970a, p. 116)

   3) No Other Animal Has the Language Capacity of the Human

   It is a very remarkable fact that there are none so depraved and stupid, without even excepting idiots, that they cannot arrange different words together, forming of them a statement by which they make known their thoughts; while, on the other hand, there is no other animal, however perfect and fortunately circumstanced it may be, which can do the same. (Descartes, 1967, p. 116)

   4) Human Beings Do Not Live Only in the World of Objects

   Human beings do not live in the object world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the "real world" is to a large extent unconsciously built on the language habits of the group.... We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation. (Sapir, 1921, p. 75)

   5) Language Powerfully Conditions All Our Thinking

   It powerfully conditions all our thinking about social problems and processes.... No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same worlds with different labels attached. (Sapir, 1985, p. 162)

   6) A List of Language Games

   [A list of language games, not meant to be exhaustive:]

   Giving orders, and obeying them- Describing the appearance of an object, or giving its measurements- Constructing an object from a description (a drawing)Reporting an eventSpeculating about an eventForming and testing a hypothesisPresenting the results of an experiment in tables and diagramsMaking up a story; and reading itPlay actingSinging catchesGuessing riddlesMaking a joke; and telling it

   Solving a problem in practical arithmeticTranslating from one language into another

   LANGUAGE Asking, thanking, cursing, greeting, and praying-. (Wittgenstein, 1953, Pt. I, No. 23, pp. 11 e-12 e)

   7) Language Constrains Certain Modes of Interpretation

   We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages.... The world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds-and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds.... No individual is free to describe nature with absolute impartiality but is constrained to certain modes of interpretation even while he thinks himself most free. (Whorf, 1956, pp. 153, 213-214)

   8) We Dissect Nature in Accordance with Our Native Languages

   We dissect nature along the lines laid down by our native languages.

   The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds-and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds.... We are thus introduced to a new principle of relativity, which holds that all observers are not led by the same physical evidence to the same picture of the universe, unless their linguistic backgrounds are similar or can in some way be calibrated. (Whorf, 1956, pp. 213-214)

   9) The Forms of a Person's Thoughts Are Controlled by Unperceived Patterns of His Own Language

   The forms of a person's thoughts are controlled by inexorable laws of pattern of which he is unconscious. These patterns are the unperceived intricate systematizations of his own language-shown readily enough by a candid comparison and contrast with other languages, especially those of a different linguistic family. (Whorf, 1956, p. 252)

    10) The Analysis of Certain Types of Utterances

   It has come to be commonly held that many utterances which look like statements are either not intended at all, or only intended in part, to record or impart straightforward information about the facts.... Many traditional philosophical perplexities have arisen through a mistake-the mistake of taking as straightforward statements of fact utterances which are either (in interesting non-grammatical ways) nonsensical or else intended as something quite different. (Austin, 1962, pp. 2-3)

    11) The Dictionary of a Language Is a System of Concepts

   In general, one might define a complex of semantic components connected by logical constants as a concept. The dictionary of a language is then a system of concepts in which a phonological form and certain syntactic and morphological characteristics are assigned to each concept. This system of concepts is structured by several types of relations. It is supplemented, furthermore, by redundancy or implicational rules..., representing general properties of the whole system of concepts.... At least a relevant part of these general rules is not bound to particular languages, but represents presumably universal structures of natural languages. They are not learned, but are rather a part of the human ability to acquire an arbitrary natural language. (Bierwisch, 1970, pp. 171-172)

    12) Talk about the Evolution of the Language Capacity is Beside the Point

   In studying the evolution of mind, we cannot guess to what extent there are physically possible alternatives to, say, transformational generative grammar, for an organism meeting certain other physical conditions characteristic of humans. Conceivably, there are none-or very few-in which case talk about evolution of the language capacity is beside the point. (Chomsky, 1972, p. 98)

    13) The Development of Language

   [It is] truth value rather than syntactic well-formedness that chiefly governs explicit verbal reinforcement by parents-which renders mildly paradoxical the fact that the usual product of such a training schedule is an adult whose speech is highly grammatical but not notably truthful. (R. O. Brown, 1973, p. 330)

    14) Sentential and Conceptual Levels in Language

   he conceptual base is responsible for formally representing the concepts underlying an utterance.... A given word in a language may or may not have one or more concepts underlying it.... On the sentential level, the utterances of a given language are encoded within a syntactic structure of that language. The basic construction of the sentential level is the sentence.

   The next highest level... is the conceptual level. We call the basic construction of this level the conceptualization. A conceptualization consists of concepts and certain relations among those concepts. We can consider that both levels exist at the same point in time and that for any unit on one level, some corresponding realizate exists on the other level. This realizate may be null or extremely complex.... Conceptualizations may relate to other conceptualizations by nesting or other specified relationships. (Schank, 1973, pp. 191-192)

    15) Linguistic Realities Have Not Yet Been Captured by Theoretical Models

   The mathematics of multi-dimensional interactive spaces and lattices, the projection of "computer behavior" on to possible models of cerebral functions, the theoretical and mechanical investigation of artificial intelligence, are producing a stream of sophisticated, often suggestive ideas.

   But it is, I believe, fair to say that nothing put forward until now in either theoretic design or mechanical mimicry comes even remotely in reach of the most rudimentary linguistic realities. (Steiner, 1975, p. 284)

    16) The Final Steps to Human Language

   The step from the simple tool to the master tool, a tool to make tools (what we would now call a machine tool), seems to me indeed to parallel the final step to human language, which I call reconstitution. It expresses in a practical and social context the same understanding of hierarchy, and shows the same analysis by function as a basis for synthesis. (Bronowski, 1977, pp. 127-128)

    17) The Inadequacy of Formal Linguistic Models for Ordinary Language Usage

    t is the language donn eґ in which we conduct our lives.... We have no other. And the danger is that formal linguistic models, in their loosely argued analogy with the axiomatic structure of the mathematical sciences, may block perception.... It is quite conceivable that, in language, continuous induction from simple, elemental units to more complex, realistic forms is not justified. The extent and formal "undecidability" of context-and every linguistic particle above the level of the phoneme is context-bound-may make it impossible, except in the most abstract, meta-linguistic sense, to pass from "pro-verbs," "kernals," or "deep deep structures" to actual speech. (Steiner, 1975, pp. 111-113)

    18) When a Language Is an Abstract Machine

   A higher-level formal language is an abstract machine. (Weizenbaum, 1976, p. 113)

    19) Metaphor and Metonymy Underpin the Formation of Linguistic Signs

   Jakobson sees metaphor and metonymy as the characteristic modes of binarily opposed polarities which between them underpin the two-fold process of selection and combination by which linguistic signs are formed.... Thus messages are constructed, as Saussure said, by a combination of a "horizontal" movement, which combines words together, and a "vertical" movement, which selects the particular words from the available inventory or "inner storehouse" of the language. The combinative (or syntagmatic) process manifests itself in contiguity (one word being placed next to another) and its mode is metonymic. The selective (or associative) process manifests itself in similarity (one word or concept being "like" another) and its mode is metaphoric. The "opposition" of metaphor and metonymy therefore may be said to represent in effect the essence of the total opposition between the synchronic mode of language (its immediate, coexistent, "vertical" relationships) and its diachronic mode (its sequential, successive, lineal progressive relationships). (Hawkes, 1977, pp. 77-78)

    20) Language and the Analysis of Nature

   It is striking that the layered structure that man has given to language constantly reappears in his analyses of nature. (Bronowski, 1977, p. 121)

    21) Correspondence Rules for Mapping Old Theory into Subsets of New Theory

   First, [an ideal intertheoretic reduction] provides us with a set of rules"correspondence rules" or "bridge laws," as the standard vernacular has it-which effect a mapping of the terms of the old theory (T o) onto a subset of the expressions of the new or reducing theory (T n). These rules guide the application of those selected expressions of T n in the following way: we are free to make singular applications of their correspondencerule doppelgangers in T o....

   Second, and equally important, a successful reduction ideally has the outcome that, under the term mapping effected by the correspondence rules, the central principles of T o (those of semantic and systematic importance) are mapped onto general sentences of T n that are theorems of Tn. (P. Churchland, 1979, p. 81)

    22) The Inclusion of Non- linguistic Factors in a Theory of Grammar

   If non-linguistic factors must be included in grammar: beliefs, attitudes, etc. [this would] amount to a rejection of the initial idealization of language as an object of study. A priori such a move cannot be ruled out, but it must be empirically motivated. If it proves to be correct, I would conclude that language is a chaos that is not worth studying.... Note that the question is not whether beliefs or attitudes, and so on, play a role in linguistic behavior and linguistic judgments... [but rather] whether distinct cognitive structures can be identified, which interact in the real use of language and linguistic judgments, the grammatical system being one of these. (Chomsky, 1979, pp. 140, 152-153)

    23) Language Is Inevitably Influenced by Specific Contexts of Human Interaction

   Language cannot be studied in isolation from the investigation of "rationality." It cannot afford to neglect our everyday assumptions concerning the total behavior of a reasonable person.... An integrational linguistics must recognize that human beings inhabit a communicational space which is not neatly compartmentalized into language and nonlanguage.... It renounces in advance the possibility of setting up systems of forms and meanings which will "account for" a central core of linguistic behavior irrespective of the situation and communicational purposes involved. (Harris, 1981, p. 165)

    24) The Genetic Blueprints of Language

   By innate [linguistic knowledge], Chomsky simply means "genetically programmed." He does not literally think that children are born with language in their heads ready to be spoken. He merely claims that a "blueprint is there, which is brought into use when the child reaches a certain point in her general development. With the help of this blueprint, she analyzes the language she hears around her more readily than she would if she were totally unprepared for the strange gabbling sounds which emerge from human mouths. (Aitchison, 1987, p. 31)

    25) Languages Are Machines

   Looking at ourselves from the computer viewpoint, we cannot avoid seeing that natural language is our most important "programming language." This means that a vast portion of our knowledge and activity is, for us, best communicated and understood in our natural language.... One could say that natural language was our first great original artifact and, since, as we increasingly realize, languages are machines, so natural language, with our brains to run it, was our primal invention of the universal computer. One could say this except for the sneaking suspicion that language isn't something we invented but something we became, not something we constructed but something in which we created, and recreated, ourselves. (Leiber, 1991, p. 8)

- запрещённый наркотик

SUBJECT AREA: Electricity, Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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Davidson, son of an Aberdeen merchant, attended Marischal College, Aberdeen, between 1819 and 1822: his studies included mathematics, mechanics and chemistry. He subsequently joined his father's grocery business, which from time to time received enquiries for yeast: to meet these, Davidson began to manufacture yeast for sale and from that start built up a successful chemical manufacturing business with the emphasis on yeast and dyes. About 1837 he started to experiment first with electric batteries and then with motors. He invented a form of electromagnetic engine in which soft iron bars arranged on the periphery of a wooden cylinder, parallel to its axis, around which the cylinder could rotate, were attracted by fixed electromagnets. These were energized in turn by current controlled by a simple commutaring device. Electric current was produced by his batteries. His activities were brought to the attention of Michael Faraday and to the scientific world in general by a letter from Professor Forbes of King's College, Aberdeen. Davidson declined to patent his inventions, believing that all should be able freely to draw advantage from them, and in order to afford an opportunity for all interested parties to inspect them an exhibition was held at 36 Union Street, Aberdeen, in October 1840 to demonstrate his "apparatus actuated by electro-magnetic power". It included: a model locomotive carriage, large enough to carry two people, that ran on a railway; a turning lathe with tools for visitors to use; and a small printing machine. In the spring of 1842 he put on a similar exhibition in Edinburgh, this time including a sawmill. Davidson sought support from railway companies for further experiments and the construction of an electromagnetic locomotive; the Edinburgh exhibition successfully attracted the attention of the proprietors of the Edinburgh 585\& Glasgow Railway (E \& GR), whose line had been opened in February 1842. Davidson built a full-size locomotive incorporating his principle, apparently at the expense of the railway company. The locomotive weighed 7 tons: each of its two axles carried a cylinder upon which were fastened three iron bars, and four electromagnets were arranged in pairs on each side of the cylinders. The motors he used were reluctance motors, the power source being zinc-iron batteries. It was named Galvani and was demonstrated on the E \& GR that autumn, when it achieved a speed of 4 mph (6.4 km/h) while hauling a load of 6 tons over a distance of 1 1/2 miles (2.4 km); it was the first electric locomotive. Nevertheless, further support from the railway company was not forthcoming, although to some railway workers the locomotive seems to have appeared promising enough: they destroyed it in Luddite reaction. Davidson staged a further exhibition in London in 1843 without result and then, the cost of battery chemicals being high, ceased further experiments of this type. He survived long enough to see the electric railway become truly practicable in the 1880s.

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PJGR / GW

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Electricity, Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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Graduating from the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, in 1878, Sprague served at sea and with various shore establishments. In 1883 he resigned from the Navy and obtained employment with the Edison Company; but being convinced that the use of electricity for motive power was as important as that for illumination, in 1884 he founded the Sprague Electric Railway and Motor Company. Sprague began to develop reliable and efficient motors in large sizes, marketing 15 hp (11 kW) examples by 1885. He devised the method of collecting current by using a wooden, spring-loaded rod to press a roller against the underside of an overhead wire. The installation by Sprague in 1888 of a street tramway on a large scale in Richmond, Virginia, was to become the prototype of the universally adopted trolley system with overhead conductor and the beginning of commercial electric traction. Following the success of the Richmond tramway the company equipped sixty-seven other railways before its merger with Edison General Electric in 1890. The Sprague traction motor supported on the axle of electric streetcars and flexibly mounted to the bogie set a pattern that was widely adopted for many years.

Encouraged by successful experiments with multiple-sheave electric elevators, the Sprague Elevator Company was formed and installed the first set of high-speed passenger cars in 1893–4. These effectively displaced hydraulic elevators in larger buildings. From experience with control systems for these, he developed his system of multiple-unit control for electric trains, which other engineers had considered impracticable. In Sprague's system, a master controller situated in the driver's cab operated electrically at a distance the contactors and reversers which controlled the motors distributed down the train. After years of experiment, Sprague's multiple-unit control was put into use for the first time in 1898 by the Chicago South Side Elevated Railway: within fifteen years multiple-unit operation was used worldwide.

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GW / PJGR