Relevance

Topic detection with large and noisy data collections such as social media must address both scalability and accuracy challenges. KeyGraph is an efficient method that improves on current solutions by considering keyword cooccurrence. We show that KeyGraph has similar accuracy when compared to state-of-the-art approaches on small, well-annotated collections, and it can successfully filter irrelevant documents and identify events in large and noisy social media collections. An extensive evaluation using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk demonstrated the increased accuracy and high precision of KeyGraph, as well as superior runtime performance compared to other solutions.

Recommender Systems have emerged to guide users in the task of efficiently browsing/exploring a large product space, helping users to quickly identify interesting products. However, suggestions generated with traditional Recommender Systems usually do not produce diverse results, though it has been argued that diversity is a desirable feature. The study of diversity aware Recommender Systems has become an important research challenge in recent years, drawing inspiration from diversification solutions for Information Retrieval. However, we argue it is not enough to adapt Information Retrieval techniques towards Recommender Systems, as they do not place the necessary importance to factors such as serendipity, novelty and discovery which are imperative to Recommender Systems. In this report, we propose a diversification technique for Recommender Systems that generates a diversified list of results which not only balances the trade-off between quality (in terms of accuracy) and diversit...

2.1. Enterprise projects GERAM [7] proposes a three-axis reference framework, summarized in Fig. 1, which is interpreted here as follows. This framework formalizes the aspects that actors need to take into account when they manage such projects according to the objectives of the project. This is done by means of:

This paper proposes and evaluates the use of linguistic information in the pre-processing phase of text classification. We present several experiments evaluating the selection of terms based on different measures and linguistic knowledge. To build the classifier we used Support Vector Machines (SVM), which are known to produce good results on text classification tasks. Our proposals were applied to two different datasets written in the Portuguese language: articles from a Brazilian newspaper (Folha de So Paulo) and juridical documents from the Portuguese Attorney General's Office. The results show the relevance of part-of-speech information for the pre-processing phase of text classification allowing for a strong reduction of the number of features needed in the text classification.

Aim: This paper profiles a study that explored nursing students' information and communication technology competence and confidence. It presents selected findings that focus on students' attitudes towards information and communication technology as an educational methodology and their perceptions of its relevance to clinical practice. Background: Information and communication technology is integral to contemporary nursing practice. Development of these skills is important to ensure that graduates are 'work ready' and adequately prepared to practice in increasingly technological healthcare environments. Methods: This was a mixed methods study. Students (n = 971) from three Australian universities were surveyed using an instrument designed specifically for the study, and 24 students participated in focus groups. Findings: The focus group data revealed that a number of students were resistant to the use of information and communication technology as an educational methodology and lacked the requisite skills and confidence to engage successfully with this educational approach. Survey results indicated that 26 per cent of students were unsure about the relevance of information and communication technology to clinical practice and only 50 per cent felt 'very confident' using a computer. Conclusion: While the importance of information and communication technology to student's learning and to their preparedness for practice has been established, it is evident that students' motivation is influenced by their level of confidence and competence, and their understanding of the relevance of information and communication technology to their future careers.

Aim: This paper profiles a study that explored nursing students' information and communication technology competence and confidence. It presents selected findings that focus on students' attitudes towards information and communication technology as an educational methodology and their perceptions of its relevance to clinical practice. Background: Information and communication technology is integral to contemporary nursing practice. Development of these skills is important to ensure that graduates are 'work ready' and adequately prepared to practice in increasingly technological healthcare environments. Methods: This was a mixed methods study. Students (n = 971) from three Australian universities were surveyed using an instrument designed specifically for the study, and 24 students participated in focus groups. Findings: The focus group data revealed that a number of students were resistant to the use of information and communication technology as an educational methodology and lacked the requisite skills and confidence to engage successfully with this educational approach. Survey results indicated that 26 per cent of students were unsure about the relevance of information and communication technology to clinical practice and only 50 per cent felt 'very confident' using a computer. Conclusion: While the importance of information and communication technology to student's learning and to their preparedness for practice has been established, it is evident that students' motivation is influenced by their level of confidence and competence, and their understanding of the relevance of information and communication technology to their future careers.

L'ingénierie système traite de systèmes artificiels conçus par les êtres humains. Ces systèmes sont des combinaisons d'éléments visant un ou plusieurs buts définis. Un système sociotechnique comprend une partie technique, relevant de l'ingénierie système, et une partie humaine et organisationnelle relevant des sciences humaines et sociales. Enfin, la résilience concerne la capacité d'un système sociotechnique à s'ajuster face à des événements perturbateurs, à s'y adapter et à apprendre les règles d'adaptation adéquates, quand les perturbations sont en dehors du périmètre spécifié des mécanismes d'adaptation du système. Après avoir caractérisé la résilience (caractéristiques de la résilience, migrations et mécanismes de compensation…), l'article met en évidence sa pertinence dans le domaine des systèmes sociotechniques. Ensuite, la résilience des systèmes sociotechniques est articulée à l'ingénierie système afin de faire évoluer les processus d'ingénierie système, les modèles d'ingénierie, les architectures du système à élaborer et des systèmes contributeurs. Enfin, l'article souligne le fait que l'ingénierie système est nécessaire et doit être complétée de bonnes pratiques de management qui contribuent à la résilience des systèmes sociotechniques.

Relevance and irrelevance, it is argued, is constitutive to our access to “information objects” on three interconnected levels: (1) access to the information object itself, (2) the information gained from it, (3) the use of that information. Relevance selectively shapes our experience and action, but the “irrelevance” of what is left out is not simply the opposite or absence of relevance. The complex relation between relevance and irrelevance expresses itself in different shades of knowledge and ignorance, and in a fuzzy border between information we do not want to access and information we cannot access. This implies both chances and risks for communication as a process of producing and exchanging information objects. In a second step, previous research on relevance and irrelevance is sketched with respect to different traditions and approaches: (1) Alfred Schutz and Aron Gurwitsch; (2) Paul Grice, Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson; (3) library and information science; (4) signs and language; and (5) epistemology and logic. Finally, the role of the word “relevance”, which is not found in all languages, is briefly considered after distinguishing the explicit reflection of relevance from the constitutive role of relevance, which often remains implicit.

This study examined the effects of right brain-damage (RBD) on oral discourse production using a multi-layered discourse processing model. Narrative and procedural discourse samples from participants with RBD and no brain damage were analysed in terms of seven broad areas corresponding to the processing levels of the model. Participants also completed attention, cognitive, general communication and RBD assessments. Despite their normal performance on all assessments (except those on attention), the participants with RBD demonstrated statistically significant differences in syntactic complexity, clarity disruptors and dysfluencies, as well as in discourse grammar and clausal structure in the narratives and in cohesion in the procedures. A model-based theoretical explanation accounting for the deficits noted in participants with RBD, together with clinical guidelines, is provided.

Theories in Communication are widely discussed in the research arena; how Media exposure influence on audiences’ behavior and perception about TV program, movie, talk show or any reported news story. More importantly, theories are used in internet, social media, new media and mobile news consumptions. Past research studies revealed that there are numbers of theories has been used in reach studies related to mass media and online media but mostly, “Limited and selective effect theory” and “Uses and Gratification theory” have much relevance to exposure of and consumption of Space Journalism, Time Journalism, and Online Journalism. It has been concluded on the basis of reviewed studies on uses and gratification theory and limited and selective effect theory. Thus, media theories have significant effect on cognitive, social, political and entertainment behaviors.

L’approche réflexive de l’étude des jeux de rôle en ligne massivement multi-joueurs demande au chercheur d’adopter un regard critique, non seulement sur le parcours qui l’a amené à entreprendre ses recherches, mais aussi sur l’approche qu’il a de son objet d’étude. La question de la pratique est centrale car elle articule les problèmes de manque de légitimité institutionnelle avec ceux liés à l’engagement envers son terrain et les autres joueurs. À la fois chercheur et joueur, il lui faut distinguer les horizons de pertinence dans deux systèmes de référence dont les finalités ne sont pas les mêmes, le jeu et la recherche. Le chercheur s’engage alors sur plusieurs niveaux, chacun nécessitant de dégager des perspectives et des enjeux propres.

The paper examines the relationship between and the relevance of second language acquisition (SLA) and language testing (LT). Based on three dimensions of potential contributions of LT to SLA [(1) de®ning the construct of language ability; (2) applying LT ®ndings to test SLA hypotheses; and (3) providing SLA researchers with quality criteria for tests and tasks] and three dimensions of potential contribution of SLA to LT [(1) identifying language components for elicitation and criteria assessment; (2) proposing tasks for assessing language; and (3) informing language testers about dierences and accommodating these dierences], this paper examines the interfaces of the two ®elds based on articles published in recent issues of the journals``Language Testing'' and``Studies in Second Language Acquisition''. The relevance of LT to SLA is examined based on written interviews with leading scholars in SLA who were asked about the relevance of LT to their work. The results indicate very limited interfaces between the two ®elds as well as limited relevance of LT to SLA. The conclusions and implications discuss to the potential need of LT to broaden its focus and scope by addressing broader views of language learning and language processing such as: viewing language in its complexities and dynamics; involving the learners and test takers; marketing better LT theories to those out of the ®eld; expanding the context beyond psychometrics; expanding the types of instruments used beyond tests; addressing educational issues; and working towards relevance. #

This paper aims to contribute to the burgeoning area of investigation into cinematic discourse with special attention devoted to the discrepancies in the comprehension process which is consequent upon the level of perception of humorous intention by different TV recipients. To accomplish the ultimate objective, the division of television discourse into the two communicative layers, viz. characters’ and recipients’, is taken as a starting point. More specifically, the meaning gleaned by the viewers is based on verbal and visual communication established between fictional characters. It is argued that three types of recipients, namely a regular viewer, metarecipient and fanrecipient, may construct different interpretations, with the regular recipient sometimes being oblivious to humorous intention. The study is pivoted on the claim that the production crew devises dialogues and monologues in such
a way to enable the audience find funniness.

Consumer psychology faces serious issues of internal and external relevance. Most of these issues originate in seven fundamental problems with the way consumer psychologists plan and conduct their research-problems that could be called "the seven sins of consumer psychology." These seven "sins" are (1) a narrow conception of the scope of consumer behavior research; (2) adoption of a narrow set of theoretical lenses; (3) adherence to a narrow epistemology of consumer research; (4) an almost exclusive emphasis on psychological processes as opposed to psychological content; (5) a strong tendency to overgeneralize from finite empirical results, both as authors and as reviewers; (6) a predisposition to design studies based on methodological convenience rather than on substantive considerations; and (7) a pervasive confusion between "theories of studies" and studies of theories. Addressing these problems ("atoning for these sins") would greatly enhance the relevance of the field. However, this may require a substantial rebalancing of the field's incentives to reward actual research impact rather than sheer number of publications in major journals.

The professional literature in mathematics education is replete with calls to use tasks that are 'authentic', 'relevant' and related to 'real life' and the 'real world'. Such activities are frequently advocated for their potential to motivate and engage students, but evidence of their ability to do so is rarely presented. This paper examines evidence in relation to the effectiveness of context problems in achieving their intended purposes and thereby contributing to enhanced student participation, engagement and achievement in mathematics education. It is argued that context problems are not a panacea and that categorising problems as contextualised or de-contextualised is less helpful than the consideration of more salient aspects of tasks that impact on their effectiveness. Such aspects also relate to the purposes for and affordances and limitations of particular tasks in relation to the purposes they are intended to serve, along with attention to the contexts in which students learn mathematics. Examples of theoretical and empirical programs built on these considerations are reviewed in terms of their potential to enhance participation, engagement and achievement in school mathematics.

The present paper draws upon Sperber and Wilson's ([1986] 1995) Relevance Theory to undertake a pragmatic analysis of situation comedy (sitcom) discourse. More specifi cally, special attention is paid to the cognitive interpretative paths the viewer needs to take in order to fi nd a dialogue or monologue humorous. The analysis is premised upon the participation framework, which accounts for the bi-partite division of communication in fi ctional discourse: the character's (fi ctional) layer and the recipient's layer, the latter being in the centre of attention.

Teaching ESP is a real challenge to the English teachers. Not only should they have a very good command of English, but also have some knowledge on the topics they are introducing to their students as part of their reading, listening, grammar, speaking and writing activities. As English is taught in a wide variety of circumstances throughout the world, it is not possible to have a reading text with readings suitable for all ESP learners in all branches of study. ESP teachers are expected to provide students with appropriate reading materials. Selecting reading materials for the ESP class is a challenge for them as it involves a lot of preparation and study, a lot of searching and thinking, as well as student's involvement in the material selection process. This paper introduces ways of selecting reading materials for ESP students following the task based approach. It addresses issues regarding the criteria of selection of reading passages focusing on the purpose of reading (which is closely related to skimming, scanning, intensive and extensive reading), the level of comprehension and difficulty of the passages selected for reading for the target group, their length, content, relevance and authenticity. Involving the students through analyzing their needs and deciding together with them about the topics they want to read, as well as consulting the professors of engineering courses are two key actions undertaken in this process. Taking into account all these will undoubtedly lead the teachers to developing a good reading course for their students and raising the interest of the latter in attending the English classes. At the same time this reading course will provide the university students with professional vocabulary and new authentic information relevant to their further studies and future profession. The paper suggests some possible lines of approach based on our experience of teaching reading to the students of engineering branches and on surveys with students of architecture in the Polytechnic University of Tirana about their experiences, interests, needs and expectations from English language classes at university.

This article presents a socio-cognitive perspective in relation to information science (IS) and information retrieval (IR). The differences between traditional cognitive views and the socio-cognitive or domain-analytic view are outlined. It is claimed that, given elementary skills in computer-based retrieval, people are basically interacting with representations of subject literatures in IR. The kind of knowledge needed to interact with representations of subject literatures is discussed. It is shown how different approaches or "paradigms" in the represented literature imply different information needs and relevance criteria (which users typically cannot express very well, which is why IS cannot primarily rely on user studies). These principles are exemplified by comparing behaviorism, cognitivism, psychoanalysis, and neuroscience as approaches in psychology. The relevance criteria implicit in each position are outlined, and empirical data are provided to prove the theoretical claims. It is further shown that the most general level of relevance criteria is implied by epistemological theories. The article concludes that the fundamental problems of IS and IR are based in epistemology, which therefore becomes the most important allied field for IS.

using a near-statistical dependency approach Using a near-statistical DepenDency approach in testing non-native speakers' ability to recover english conversational implicatUres by hussain al sharoufi and munir mahmood this study describes an attempt to test non-native speakers' ability to recover english conversational implicatures. it also emphasizes the importance of pragmatic awareness to non-native speakers of english. in addition, the paper tries to answer two main questions: is using a near-statistical dependency approach in testing the recovering of implicatures a valid tool? are strategies of attaining relevance in arabic similar to those used in english? our answer to the first question is an affirmative yes while the answer to the second question is no. it seems that respondents who answered questions that are based on a particular cultural background fail to recover implicatures in the utter ances that require a different cultural knowledge. this obviously means that the native logic they applied did not help them to recover proper implicatures. it also shows beyond doubt that teaching non-native students hidden pragmatic strategies can definitely help them in applying the right logic in recovering appro priate implicatures.

The increasing involvement of government in enticing higher education out of its ivory tower is indisputably part of a global trend. According to the 1997 White Paper on Higher Education (DoE, 1997), higher education is expected to increase its responsiveness to societal interests and needs. It must therefore be restructured to meet the needs of an increasingly technologically oriented economy, and its institutions must deliver the requisite research, the highly trained people and the knowledge to equip a developing society to address national needs and participate in a rapidly changing and competitive global context.
The need for globally equivalent skills raises the debate about curriculum relevance. Productivity and competitiveness depend on the ability to produce highly skilled and adaptive knowledge workers who can manage and manipulate knowledge and information and adjust to volatile and unpredictable global markets. Such knowledge workers need to have well-developed problem-solving skills and be able to
continually adjust their repertoire of knowledge and skills to changing environments. In such a context, it is frequently argued that the role of higher education shifts from an induction into the specialised knowledge of specific disciplines to the development of broad, generic and transferable skills. In essence, higher education institutions
worldwide are being called upon to become more responsive to the needs of the knowledge economy. As South Africa attempts to meet pressing national needs in a global context, curriculum responsiveness has become central to policy, and the higher education
system is grappling with this as it rethinks the curriculum. While efforts to restructure curricula show evidence of institutions attempting to become responsive, the outcomes are sometimes incompatible may respond to immediate market needs, they may not produce the ‘self-programmable labour’ that is required for the new
knowledge economy. This raises the question of how higher education curricula should respond to the new knowledge economy and how curriculum responsiveness should be conceptualised. This paper explores the various dimensions of curriculum responsiveness and analyses strategies for addressing several of the opportunities, challenges and tensions involved.

Obviously, the relevance of SMEs in the economy cannot be overemphasized and this has necessitated policy reforms and responses in many countries. This paper employed descriptive approach to assess the relevance of SMEs in state and national economies in Nigeria. The objective was to determine the extent of relevance of the SME sector in the economy of Nigeria. Some benchmarking assessment revealed that the SME sector in Nigeria has not been very relevant in the areas of enterprise creation, employment, contribution to GDP and export earnings as well as global competitiveness. The paper therefore concluded that more needs to be done by the government, the SMEs and other stakeholders to enhance relevance of the sector in the Nigerian economy. consequently, it was recommended, amongst others, that the government should formulate and implement policies that foster industry cluster strategy, stimulate local demand for products of the SMEs by making it mandatory for the appliances and equipment needs of its institutions and agencies be 80% of products of SMEs in Nigeria amongst others.

The purpose of this article is to map and review the governance of public investment projects in Ethiopia and to identify the most important front-end challenges of public investment projects in the country. The research focuses on the front-end governance of major construction projects. The findings of the research indicate that the top-down project approach, lack of mandatory control gateways at the front-end project preparation and decision-making stages, and weak links between project stakeholders affected the effectiveness of the project governance system. In additon to this, the most important factors that could affect the relevance and sustainability of public investment projects are identified.

Introduction The purpose of this book is to provide a theoretical and practical foundation for mastering some specific analytical skills relating to the construction and criticism of arguments about disputed questions of fact. It is not a book about the law of evidence, but a central theme has been that the principles of proof and the law of evidence are intimately related. Like Wigmore, we believe that understanding the principles of proof is a valuable, perhaps a necessary, foundation both for understanding the rules and learning how to use them in practice. At several points this interdependence has been made explicit. Chapters 1 and 2 illustrate the extent to which the two subjects share the same basic concepts: for example, relevance, materiality, weight/probative force, admissibility, inference, credibility, corroboration, prejudicial effect, and so on. In Chapter 3, we saw how nearly all secondary writers on evidence, including all the leading treatise writers, have worked within a framework of shared assumptions, which we called “The Rationalist Tradition.” Those assumptions are common to the principles of proof and the basic principles of the law of evidence in common law countries. We also saw how relevance and weight are governed by “logic and general experience” rather than formal rules and that relevance is the main test of admissibility of evidence. As questions of admissibility are increasingly determined by exercise of judicial discretion and application of balancing tests in the circumstances of a particular case (for example the weighing of prejudicial effect against probative value), so too the logic of proof and the practical operation of rulings on admissibility have increasingly converged.

This review article explores the Higher Vocational education Reform: Matching Skills to Markets in China, and to propose plausibly and concrete steps policymakers and educational leaders can take to address those challenges to ensure the TVET system in preparing human capital, which is necessary for the construction of a knowledge economy as well as tackle poverty and unemployment. The study utilized a desk review research approach targeted review of literature from a variety of references such as studies, research journals, online newspapers, books, articles, and electronic databases, such as ERIC, ProQuest etc. were reviewed, summarized and documented. The study revealed that following the former leader Deng Xiaoping inspiration said, "Education should be oriented towards modernization, the world and the future" and the booming industry and growing factory system puts great pressure on the vocational education system in China to produce high skillful workers, the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) frequently a wide range of reforms have been introduced and implemented a radical expansion of higher vocational education [HVE] from 1980 in response to the substantial increase in the demand for high-skill labour. Despite these positive indications, still, there is a shortage of highly skilled talents and skills mismatch in China due to the imperfection of curriculum, shortage of qualified teachers, weak monitoring & evaluation, and poor connections with industry. As a result of this, many college graduates are having trouble finding jobs; the increase in college graduates has outpaced the growth in jobs requiring college degrees. A failure to link the skills taught in TVET to those required in the labour market has long-term implications, not only for learners' transitions but also for the country's economic competitiveness and many employers report difficulties in finding suitably skilled workers. Therefore, these issues highlight that the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) should consider implementing in response to the challenges identified in this paper.

Almost three decades have elapsed since the publication of Dan Sperber and Deirdre seminal and most influential book Relevance. Communication and Cognition, and exactly two since the publication of its second edition . In them, the authors presented and revised a series of claims and principles about human verbal communication and the foundational postulates of what is now known as 'relevance theory'. Over all these years, their two books and numerous subsequent publications have given rise to a strand of research in pragmatics with a psychological basis and cognitive orientation. Often alluded to as 'relevance-theoretic pragmatics', this strand seeks to unravel how the mind processes utterances -and, more widely, discourse-the contribution of diverse linguistic elements (e.g., discourse markers, particles, adverbials, intonation, etc.) to comprehension, why the mind arrives at a particular interpretation and the effects that may follow from understanding utterances in one way or another.

Translation has recently been analysed in the terms of modern cognitivepragmatic theory (relevance theory) as an interlingual interpretive use of language (Gutt 1991(Gutt /2000. But Gutt's account primarily addresses the principles and processes of text or written translation, where the displacement in time and place between the original communicator, the translator and her readers requires the translator to reconstruct the original informative intention, project the original and target addressees' cognitive environment, and craft a stimulus according to the degree of interpretive resemblance sought. By contrast, oral translation, in particular simultaneous interpreting (SI), is performed in live situations in which the interpreter shares most of the manifest cognitive environment with the participants and is thus better able to project and control the contexts in which her addressees will process her utterances. Since the condition of simultaneity severely constrains the simultaneous interpreter's choice of stimulus, she relies heavily on this access to immediate context and her audience's inferential abilities. Text translators need time to project context and choose their stimuli, while in SI, access to live contexts compensates for temporal constraints. The paper concludes with a discussion on prospects for exploring patterns and possible biases in interlingual text and oral communication on this basis. 1 translator since 1979, he has also trained interpreters in Europe and the Far East and served briefly as a member of the AIIC (International Association of Conference Interpreters) training committee. He holds a PhD in applied linguistics and MAs in translation, interpretation and Chinese studies, and is the author of a book-length cognitive-pragmatic analysis of SI and journal articles on cognitive aspects of interpreting.

In this article, I explore the main theoretical issues facing researchers in conversational humor today. In particular, I address (1) the structure of humorous discourse; (2) the forms of conversational humor: jokes, anecdotes, wordplay, irony; (3) the interpersonal functions of conversational humor: aggression versus rapport; (4) single-stage versus multi-stage processing of humor; and (5) the description of timing in word play and narrative jokes.

Information retrieval systems centrally build upon the concept of relevance in order to rank documents in response to a user's query. Assessing relevance is a non-trivial operation that can be influenced by a multitude of factors that go beyond mere topical overlap with the query. This thesis argues that relevance depends on personal (Chapter 2) and situational (Chapter 3) context. In many use cases, there is no single interpretation of the concept that would optimally satisfy all users in all possible situations.

We postulate that relevance should be explicitly modelled as a composite notion comprised of individual relevance dimensions. To this end, we show how automatic inference schemes based on document content and user activity can be used in order to estimate such constituents of relevance (Chapter 4). Alternatively, we can employ human expertise, harnessed, for example, via commercial crowdsourcing or serious games to judge the degree to which a document satisfies a given set of relevance dimensions (Chapter 5).

Finally, we need a model that allows us to estimate the joint distribution of relevance across all previously obtained dimensions. In this thesis, we propose using copulas, a model family originating from the field of quantitative finances that decouples observations and dependency structure and which can account for complex non-linear dependencies among relevance dimensions (Chapter 6).

This paper advances an approach to relevance grounded on patterns of material inference called argumentation schemes, which can account for the reconstruction and the evaluation of relevance relations. In order to account for relevance in different types of dialogical contexts, pursuing also non-cognitive goals, and measuring the scalar strength of relevance, communicative acts are conceived as dialogue moves, whose coherence with the previous ones or the context is represented as the conclusion of steps of material inferences. Such inferences are described using argumentation schemes and are evaluated by considering (1) their defeasibility, and (2) the acceptability of the implicit premises on which they are based. The assessment of both the relevance of an utterance and the strength thereof depends on the evaluation of three interrelated factors: (1) number of inferential steps required; (2) the types of argumentation schemes involved; and (3) the implicit premises required.

This article introduces the concept of relevance as viewed and applied in the context of IR evaluation, by presenting an overview of the multidimensional and dynamic nature of the concept. The literature on relevance reveals how the relevance concept, especially in regard to the multidimensionality of relevance, is many faceted, and does not just refer to the various relevance criteria users may apply in the process of judging relevance of retrieved information objects. From our point of view, the multidimensionality of relevance explains why some will argue that no consensus has been reached on the relevance concept. Thus, the objective of this article is to present an overview of the many different views and ways by which the concept of relevance is used—leading to a consistent and compatible understanding of the concept. In addition, special attention is paid to the type of situational relevance. Many researchers perceive situational relevance as the most realistic type of user relevance, and therefore situational relevance is discussed with reference to its potential dynamic nature, and as a requirement for interactive information retrieval (IIR) evaluation.

Humour has constantly intrigued scholars and has been extensively analysed from disciplines as varied as anthropology, sociology, psychology, neuroscience or linguistics. Within this, it has received due attention from discourse and conversational analysts, semanticists, semioticians or pragmatists, for example. Researchers have looked into its manifold manifestations and a wide array of its fascinating, but often complex characteristics. Several models and theories have been proposed to account for this ever-present and ubiquitous phenomenon -suffice to mention the Semantic Script Theory of Humor or the General Theory of Verbal Humor (Attardo and Raskin 1991), to name but two. Obviously, the post-Gricean, cognitive pragmatic framework of relevance theory Wilson 1986, 1995) could not be alien to the interest aroused by humour, so relevance theorists soon incorporated it into their research agendas. On the basis of this ground-breaking and revealing theory put forward thirty years ago by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson, there have been many illuminating attempts to unravel how jokes, punning, monologues, ironies or sitcoms, among other types of humorous texts, work and achieve their effects (number of studies has not been accompanied so far by a unified, all-encompassing analysis of humour through the lens of relevance-theoretic pragmatics.

Over almost thirty years, relevance theorists have sought to answer many intriguing questions regarding human ostensive communication and have analysed an incredibly overwhelming number of linguistic and communicative phenomena with the psychologically-based apparatus of the framework put forward by Sperber and Wilson (1986, 1995). As a result, they have offered new insights into pragmatic properties of utterances, how the mind processes them and how humans understand them. The works gathered in this book attest to the impetus of research in this cognitive branch of pragmatics and the vigour wherewith researchers have sought to better explain communication and, more specifically, how specific elements of linguistic systems and types of utterances and their characteristics are exploited by the pragmatic module so as to arrive at the speaker's informative intention. Some of these works, in addition, show how relevance theory can be combined with or applied to other linguistic disciplines in order to look for more complete and encompassing answers to diverse problems. As mentioned in the introductory chapter, applications of relevance theory include those to fields such as translation, stylistics and literary communication, pragmatic development and first or second language acquisition, or media communication, to name but a few. In his recent manual on relevance theory, Clark (2013) also reviews developments in areas like pragmatics and the mind, modularity and mental architecture, mind-reading, metarepresentation and theory of mind, phatic communication or politeness, although these do not obviously exhaust the potentialities of the theory. The fields to which some of the works in this book apply relevance theory comprise morphology, syntax, linguistic description, translation, argumentation, pragmatic development and second language acquisition. However, in spite of the vast and impressive amount of research done thus far, there still lies

Strategy is about making winning choices and sustainably implementing them with both efficiency and effectiveness in the long run. Some research findings suggest that this might be successfully achieved by people having a situational awareness as clear as possible. Hopefully, numerous analysis tools are available in the marketplace which can allow such achievement. Strategists generally recommend to combine some of them in order to deepen insight into a given organization and its environment. This paper firstly investigates benefits and limitations of one of the most used methods in most business sectors and activities, the so-called SWOT analysis, whose acronym SWOT stands in one hand for two internal factors, strengths and weaknesses, and on the hand for two external factors,  opportunities and threats. Researchers have abundantly commented the outcomes of this framework proposing either to complete it with other techniques or simply scratching it due to its limitations. This paper secondly develops a case study with reference to a local company, Chanas Insurance plc, currently battling to reverse the course of its declining activities.

ABSTRACT Metaphorical meaning can be analyzed as triggered by an apparent communicative breach, an incongruity that leads to a default of the presumptive interpretation of a vehicle. This breach can be solved through contextual renegotiations of meaning guided by the communicative intention, or rather the presumed purpose of the metaphorical utterance. This paper addresses the problem of analyzing the complex process of reasoning underlying the reconstruction of metaphorical meaning. This process will be described as a type of abductive argument, aimed at explaining how the vehicle can best contribute to the purpose of the utterance. This type of reasoning involves the analysis of the possible predicates that can be and usually are attributed to the vehicle, and the selection of the one (or ones) that can support the implicit conclusion constituting the communicative goal of the metaphorical utterance. Metaphorical meaning, in this perspective, becomes the outcome of a complex process of meaning reconstruction aimed at providing the best explanation of the function of the vehicle within a discourse move.

Una característica de los argumentos suposicionales es que presentan como razón para aceptar su conclusión, no solo aserciones o enunciados, sino argumentos. Para dar cuenta de los argumentos suposicionales diversos autores (Freeman, Fisher, Hitchcock) proponen extender el concepto de premisa, de manera que se aplique no solo a enunciados sino también a argumentos. En este artículo se exploran algunas de las consecuencias de esa propuesta para la teoría de los argumentos.

U Un ni iv ve er rs si it ty y o of f P Pr re et to or ri ia a e et td d, , A Ad de eo og gu un n A A O O ( (2 20 00 06 6) ) x U Un ni iv ve er rs si it ty y o of f P Pr re et to or ri ia a e et td d, , A Ad de eo og gu un n A A O O ( (2 20 00 06 6) ) xi in Nigeria 3-126 CHAPTER FOUR: AFRO-ISLAMIC MUSIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA 4.1 Islamic music education in Nigeria 4.1.1 Islam and Islamic music education U Un ni iv ve er rs si it ty y o of f P Pr re et to or ri ia a e et td d, , A Ad de eo og gu un n A A O O ( (2 20 00 06 6) ) U Un ni iv ve er rs si it ty y o of f P Pr re et to or ri ia a e et td d, , A Ad de eo og gu un n A A O O ( (2 20 00 06 6) ) xiii 5.3.1.1 Missionary activities, Christianity and music education 5-48 5.3.1.2 The church's policy of denationalization 5-52 5.3.1.3The church's naturalization/Euro-Christianization and 'anti-African music' policies 5-53 5.3.2 Phase II: (1882-1925) 5-54 5.3.2.1 Lagos elite's policy of using music as symbols of status and culture 5-58 5.3.2.2 The emergence of the African church and the policy of cultural nationalism 5-62 5.3.2.3 The Aladura movement's policy of Africanizing the church music 5-65 5.3.2.4 Colonialists' policies of westernization, industrialization and urbanization and music education 5-67 5.3.2.5 Nigerian popular music and musicians' Africanization of Western music and westernization of African music 5-75 5.3.2.6 The commercialization of African music 5-78 5.3.3 Phase III: 1925 -1959 5-80 5.3.3.1 The emergence of second cultural nationalism in Nigeria 5-84 5.3.3.2 Festivals of the arts and the policy of musical exhibitionism 5-87 5.3.3.3 The beginning of higher education in Nigeria (1930 -1959) 5-89 5.3.3.4 The clamor for liberalization higher music education in Nigeria 5-92 5.3.3.5 Racialization of modern music education U Un ni iv ve er rs si it ty y o of f P Pr re et to or ri ia a e et td d, , A Ad de eo og gu un n A A O O ( (2 20 00 06 6) ) xiv in Nigeria 5-96 5.3.3.6 The scholarly study of African music in Nigeria during the colonial era 5-97 CHAPTER SIX: POSTCOLONIAL MUSIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA 6.0.1 Music education on post-independent era 6-1 6.0.2 Education and social change in

The paramount objective of the present work is to analyse selected types of jokes in the light of Relevance Theory. The point of departure for the empirical investigation is Yus’ (2008) taxonomy of canned jokes. The work is divided into three main parts. The first two chapters constitute the theoretical introduction to the analysis undertaken in Chapter 3.
Chapter 1 sets out to present the theoretical assumptions of Relevance Theory (RT), originated and developed by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson (1986 [1995]) in their book entitled Relevance: Communication and Cognition and a wealth of articles. The theory of relevance assumes that human cognition and communication are geared towards the maximization of relevance. Chapter 2 characterises two accounts grounded in RT, which have been offered by Francisco Yus (2003, 2008, 2010) and Maria Jodłowiec (1991ab, 2008). Chapter 3 centres on the practical applicability of Yus’ (2008) categorisation of jokes into my data culled from collections of jokes and Internet sources.