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The EU Framework 7 project SPIDIA was the occasion for development of NMR approaches to evaluate the impact of different pre-analytical treatments on the quality of biological samples dedicated to metabolomics. Systematic simulation of different pre-analytical procedures was performed on urine and blood serum and plasma. Here we review the key aspects of these studies that have led to the development of CEN technical specifications, to be translated into ISO/IS in the course of the EU Horizon 2020 project SPIDIA4P. Inspired by the SPIDIA results, follow-up research was performed, extending the analysis to different sample types and to the different effects of long-term storage. The latter activity was in conjunction with the local European da Vinci Biobank. These results (which partially contributed to the ANNEX of CEN/TS 16945"MOLECULAR IN VITRO DIAGNOSTIC EXAMINATIONS -SPECIFICATIONS FOR PRE-EXAMINATION PROCESSES FOR METABOLOMICS IN URINE, VENOUS BLOOD SERUM AND PLASMA") are presented in detail.

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Based on authentic homileic conversations between Brazilians and Germans in which critical incidents occur, I will set out the complexity of factors interplaying in the course of multi-personal interaction. The chosen situations are taken from a videotaped session of a two-hour discussion between four Brazilian and four German students at the University of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. After the video shoot, retrospective interviews were held with each participant in order to comprehend his/her extra-communicative, (self-)reflexive standpoint with respect to their actions. The following analysis brought out a subtle interplay between verbal, nonverbal, and paraverbal contextualization cues in (im)politeness strategies and forms of rapport management, as well as metacommunicative strategies for the management of the gaps between one's "own" and "other culture" experience. It will be shown that the immediate context, as well as the participants' theories on communication and the other culture, have to be considered to understand that so-called "misunderstandings" may in fact often be ascribed to (un)intended face-threatening acts aiming at questioning or negotiating cultural values.

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With the publishing of Metaphors we live by in 1980, Lakoff & Johnson introduce the Cognitive Metaphor Theory, which rules out the traditional view of metaphor as restricted to its exclusively linguistic use, perceived as an unusual and isolated figure of rhetoric discourse. In contrast, metaphor now is seen as an expression of deeper conceptual structures underlying cognitive capacities in general which help us construct our reality and world view. However, conceptions emphasizing these prescriptive and exploring functions of metaphor already can be found in an explicit way in the metaphorology of Hans Blumenberg as well as in the theory about image fields formulated by the linguist Harald Weinrich. The article deals with the question to what extend these two conceptions already anticipate the Cognitive Metaphor Theory. KeywordsCognitive Metaphor Theory; Metaphorology; Image field giving/ receiving.

Das Phänomen Liebe nicht - wie im Alltagsgebrauch - als substantielle Entität, sondern als kommunikativ erzeugte Lebenswirklichkeit zu begteifen, ist Ziel der Untersuchung gewesen. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine vergleichende Fallstudie zum Liebeskonzept brasilianischer und deutscher Studenten durchgeführt. Theoretische Grundlage der Untersuchung bildete ein im weitesten Sinne konstruktivistisches Verständnis von Kommunikation als wirklichkeitserzeugendem Verhaltensbereich. In einer theoretischen Einführung wurde der Wirklichkeitsbereich Liebe unter Einbeziehung des jeweiligen historisch-kulturellen Hintergrundes fokussiert. Die methodische Vorgehensweise bei der Durchführung der Studie war schließlich überwiegend qualitativ angelegt, um das für den Einzelnen tatsächlich relevante Begriffsinventar ermitteln zu können. In der Auswertung sind dann die Unterschiede im Hinblick auf die Internalisierung eines Liebesideals, die Strukturen der Beziehungswirklichkeit, ihre sprachliche Handhabung, die Verhaltenskoordination, die Funktion von Beziehungen sowie die Folgen für die Kommunikationspraxis herausgestellt worden. Es zeigte sich, dass Liebesbeziehungen unter deutschen Studenten stark vom romantischen Liebesideal geprägt sind, unter brasilianischen Studenten dagegen am ehesten dem passionierten Liebesiedel entsprechen.

Desde o surgimento da Teoria Conceptual da Metáfora, há mais de trinta anos, houve uma série de autores que apontaram a falta de contextualização historiográfica, uma vez que a maioria das hipóteses sobre a metáfora conceptual e até boa parte dos exemplos já são antecipadas desde o século dezessete em reflexões filosóficas, antropológicas, psicológicas e linguísticas. O presente trabalho pretende apresentar dois pensadores dos séculos dezoito e dezenove, a saber, o filósofo Johann Heinrich Lambert (1965) e o linguista Philipp Wegener (1991), que não apenas já desenvolvem uma teoria cognitiva da metáfora cotidiana, como também já conseguem integrar aspectos pragmáticos, que atualmente são redescobertos como fatores descuidados pela primeira geração da Linguística Cognitiva. Sendo assim, as duas concepções podem lançar uma ponte a discussões atuais, uma vez que ambas conseguem apontar caminhos para superar tanto o abismo entre o sujeito solipsista e a sociedade, como a dicotomia entre universalismo e relatividade cultural. Os dois autores entendem a metáfora como fenômeno cognitivo e, ao mesmo tempo, intersubjetivo, por ser negociado entre os participantes em situações comunicativas concretas.