Earlier studies have shown that conceptually supportive context is an important factor in the comprehension of
metaphors (Inhoff, Lima, & Carroll, 1984; Ortony, Schallert, Reynolds, & Antos, 1978). However, little empirical evidence has been found so far regarding
contextual effects on metonymy processing (Lowder & Gordon, 2013). Implementing an
eye-tracking experiment with Chinese materials, this present paper investigated whether and how preceding contextual information
affects the processing of metonymy. The results show that for unfamiliar metonymies, it takes readers longer time to interpret
unfamiliar metonymies than to literally interpret them given a shorter context. However, the processing disparity between
metonymic comprehension and literal comprehension disappears when longer supportive information is available in the preceding
context. These results are analogous to those found for metaphors and familiar metonymies, supporting the parallel model of
language processing. In addition, our results suggest that the presence of supportive preceding context facilitates the processing
of unfamiliar metonymies more than it does to the literal controls.
When predicting dam-break floods and the associated risk zones for the flood risk management of dams, the breach size must be determined by considering the complex structure of the dam body under the effects of different loads. To predict the breach size quantitatively, this article proposes the concept of an element group, comprising a group of elements through the dam body. The dam-body safety status is simulated by using the three-dimensional (3D) finite element model ANSYS and is quantified by the element reliability index β for various loads such as hydraulic and earthquake loads. A new structural reliability method for calculating the breach size was developed to quantitatively predict the failure likelihood of a dam. This new method is more intuitive and reasonable than the point safety factor k. It allows for a more accurate and quantitative prediction of the breach size of new or existing dams. An existing Roller Compacted Concrete arch dam was taken as an example to demonstrate the applicability of the new method.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.