Figurative comparisons and eponims in functional diagnostics

Brighter than Gold: Figurative Language in User Generated Comparisons

Comparisons are common linguistic devices used to indicate the likeness of two things. Often, this likeness is not meant in the literal sense—for example, “I slept like a log” does not imply that logs actually sleep. In this paper we propose a computational study of figurative comparisons, or similes. Our starting point is a new large dataset of comparisons extracted from product reviews and an...

Functional diagnostics in mitochondrial diseases.

Mitochondrial diseases (MD) with respiratory chain defects are caused by genetic mutations that determine an impairment of the electron transport chain functioning. Diagnosis often requires a complex approach with measurements of serum lactate, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), muscle histology and ultrastructure, enzymology, genetic analysis, and exercise testing. The ubiquitous distribut...

The effect of repeated presentation and aptness of figurative comparisons on preference for metaphor forms

Introduction Figurative comparisons consisting of two nouns (a target and a base) can be expressed in two grammatical forms, i.e., in simile form (X is like Y), or in metaphor form (X is Y). Recently, many studies have shown that there are substantial differences between metaphors and similes. In particular, much evidence has been found for people’s grammatical preference for figurative compari...

Functional diagnostics: redefining disease.

Figurative Tours and Braids

We start with a rectangular grid of points, and we connect pairs of points to form either a tour (a Hamiltonian cycle) or a braid (a collection of disjoint paths that start in the top row and end on the bottom). In each case, our goal is to design a graph that will closely resemble a grayscale target image when viewed from a distance. From up close, the graph will look like an abstract pattern....