**5. Conclusions**

In conclusion, the challenge brought about by the current energy crisis, ongoing geopolitical conflict, climate change, environmental impact, and limited natural resources solicits the production of new technological solutions and new and innovative tools compared to traditional ones. The twin transition (in ecological and digital sectors) goes parallel. It should be seen as a big challenge, i.e., as a considerable effort to tackle and solve a problem with a high societal impact, to assess the risks involved, to explore the different possibilities and technological options presented, and to try to make rapid progress towards the triple aim of energy security, decarbonization, and energy efficiency [203]. It is no longer possible to separate digital trends from sustainability ones. It is time to rethink the concept of sustainability and update it in light of the development of digitalization and the potential of this phenomenon. Digitalization is becoming essential to business [182]. Furthermore, there is no doubt that solving such a major challenge requires a joint effort, first by scientists, researchers, politicians, officials, and journalists, of an extensive public-private partnership, at the EU and national level and the general public's consensus [203].

Equally, greater personal responsibility is needed by citizens, businesses, and institutions to minimize and mitigate the negative effects of digital innovation on social relations, the size and quality of employment, and the environment, thus ensuring that it becomes the driving force of sustainable development.

Finally, a double effort by public institutions (universities and governments) is required: firstly, to deploy communication infrastructure, improve regulatory frameworks and enhance access to the Internet and digital services, some additional efforts are still necessary from all countries [204]; secondly, education and training systems must be better equipped to deliver digital skills and transversal skills, which are necessary for people to benefit from digital transformation and adapt to changing circumstances throughout their life [205, 206]. Only by taking all these factors into account, by equating risks and opportunities, the twin transition will be pursued efficiently. With these factors into account, by equating risks and opportunities, the twin transition will be pursued efficiently.

All this transition process must be taken leveraging the multi-dimension of the local drivers and the hindering factors. In that sense, efficiency, automation of processes, and better linkage between distant areas will quickly pull the transition process of territories. However, the presence of an elderly population, a low digitally *Digital Innovation and Sustainable Development: Two Sides of the Same Coin DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112294*

skilled workforce, and the huge cost of technologies lead to a digital pitchy development, where inner and isolated areas are the most disadvantaged. That is why institutions at different levels must plan and apply the digitalization process in line with the territory's profiles and guarantee continuous support to the less experienced and endowed, reaching multi-scaled governance [207].


**7. Conclusion**

Bilateral abductor palsy in neonates, although the second most common cause for stridor in paediatric population, is still a rare and clinically challenging entity. It can be a presentation of various pathologies, both genetic and non-genetic. Investigations should be guided by the mode of presentation and the possible aetiological factors, however, MRI brain should be done in all cases to rule out anomalies such as Arnold-Chiari malformation. Watchful waiting is always a standard approach until the child is 2 years old in idiopathic cases as significant number of cases tend to improve by 1–2 years.

*Bilateral Abductor Palsy in Neonates DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88155*


**10. Vitamin C as a powerful modulator of TET2 activity**

Decreased TET expression and loss of 5hmC have been observed in a wide variety of solid tumors, as well as in many hematological malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemias, myelodysplastic syndromes, and clonal hematopoiesis [114].

Recent experimental studies suggest that pharmacological dose of Vitamin C may represent a potentially important strategy in leukemia therapy through a stimulatory effect on TET2 activation and restoration in leukemic cells. Vitamin C is a co-factor of TET2 enzyme and is capable of interacting with the catalytic domain of TET2, enhancing the enzymatic oxidation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) [115]. This epigenetic modulation elicited by Vitamin C is able to improve the generation of pluripotent stem cells [116] and to induce a blastocyst-like state in mouse embryonic stem cells [117].

Two recent studies explored the possible epigenetic effects of Vitamin C on leukemia models, mediated by activation and restoration of TET2 activity in leukemic cells. In the first one, authors used a murine model of IDH1-dependent acute myeloid leukemia [118], and 2-phosphate l-ascorbic acid (Asc 2-P). Asc 2-P, unlike native Vitamin C, remains oxidatively stable under standard cell culture conditions [119], and possesses the same modulatory effects of Vitamin C, but, unlike Vitamin C, it does not induce cytotoxic effects of through stimulation of H2 O2 production. Asc 2-P added to the cells in culture is stable and releases Vitamin C by plasma membrane alkaline phosphatase hydrolysis [120]. Therefore, Asc 2-P allows a better characterization of the epigenetic activity of Vitamin C, without the "disturbing" H2 O2 -mediated cytotoxic effects of the native molecule. Asc 2-P treatment of the IDH1 AML-mutant mice induced an increase of 5hmC levels, a reduction of leukemic proliferation and an increase in expression of genes involved in leukocyte differentiation [118]. The stimulatory effect of Vitamin C on myeloid differentiation is mediated though the restoration of a normal expression and function of transcription factors, such as PU.1 and RUNX1, required for normal myeloid differentiation.

A second study provided clear evidence that in various leukemia models, Vitamin C treatment induces the restoration of TET2 function, blocking aberrant self-renewal and leukemia progression. Treatment with Vitamin C, mimics TET2 restoration, driving DNA hypomethylation and, by enhancing 5hmC formation, suppresses leukemic colony formation and leukemic progression of primary human leukemia patient-derived xenografts (PDXs). Interestingly, TET2-mediated DNA oxidation induced by Vitamin C-treated leukemic cells, greatly enhances their sensitivity to PARP inhibition and could provide a safe and effective combination strategy to target TET-deficient leukemic cells. These observations suggest that future clinical trials could incorporate high-dose Vitamin C as an adjuvant to standard chemotherapy/demethylating therapy, particularly in TET2-deficient neoplasms [121].


**Acknowledgements**

We thank crew members, researchers and many other persons for the collection of genetic samples from minke whales from different sources, which made possible the studies reviewed in this chapter. We also thank Greg Donovan, former Head of Science of the International Whaling Commission, for useful comments and suggestions that improved substantially the previous version of this chapter. Our appreciation to Jorge Acevedo and Lucas Milmann for their assistance in figure drawing.

*Phylogeny and Population Genetic Structure of Minke Whales Worldwide: A Review of Recent… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102675*


**3.1 Hepatic cytochromes P450 involved in drug metabolism**

The cytochromes P450 are terminal oxidase that comes under the superfamily of hemoproteins. This super family P450 has around 154 genes that can be seen in case of 23 eukaryotes in both plants and animal along with 6 prokaryotes. Among all the isoform of CYPP450, CYP1, CYP2 and CYP3 are known to play important roles in majority of drug metabolism. P450 are responsible for catalyzing some of the reactions such as hydroxylation, dealkylation, and oxygenation. These cytochromes also have ability to catalyze reductive reactions where the metabolite produced from the reaction leads to inactivation of P450 [16].

Most xenobiotics are eliminated from body after undergoing chemical modification. The process of chemical modification of drug can be referred as biotransformation. In the process of biotransformation, lipophilic drugs are rendered more hydrophilic so that they can be excreted easily. Biotransformation occurs through two phases namely: Phase I and Phase II. Phase I reaction is also termed as functionalization reaction whereas Phase II reaction is called as conjugation reaction. In phase I reactions, the parent compounds undergoes oxidative processes to form more polar metabolites. In some case more reactive metabolites are also produced. The Phase I reactions are broadly of three types namely oxidation, reduction and hydrolysis. In phase II reactions, the parent compound or its Phase I metabolites are conjugated with endogenous substances like sulfate, glutathione or glucuronic acids to from a more water soluble and less toxic product that easily excrete out from the body.

Examples of Phase II reactions are

Metabolism of diverse ranges of xenobiotic are carried out by enzymes such as cytochrome (CYP) and flavin monooxygenases. CYP are found in liver predominantly and are also found in organs like gastrointestinal tract (GIT), lungs and placenta. 16 gene families and 29 sub families of CYP are found in human beings. Among these families, family 1, 2 and 3 are mostly responsible for biotransformation of xenobiotic. Most abundant CYP found in liver of adult humans is CYP3A4. CYP450 are also known to express more than 2000 mutation and ultimately shows polymorphisms. Some of the CYP also shows single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). Some important polymorphism are seen in 1A2, 2C9, 2C19 and 2D6. The

#### *Hepatocytes and Their Role in Metabolism DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99083*

genetic variation seen in the polymorphs are Mendelian inherited and are responsible for the catalytic variation they show in towards xenobiotic. Due to polymorphism, pharmacokinetic as well pharmacodynamics activities of drugs may show variations. When variability is seen in plasma concentration of drugs, it may lead to either toxicity due to exaggerated plasma concentration or suboptimal actions may be seen when plasma concentration is not achieved. If a new drug is metabolized by polymorphic enzyme then it can be considered as a drawback for the new drug because of the variation that can be shown to by the polymorphic enzyme [17, 18].


*2.2. Methods*

2.2.1. Preparation of Test Specimens

The test specimens consisted of a base plate, adhesive and a metal target of a circular shape with a bonding area of 2500 mm2 for the tensile tests and a metal strip of 100 × 25 mm with a bonding area of 625 mm2 for the shear tests. The base plate consisted of a layer that corresponded to the actual composition used in facades with contact insulation. The soft and easily deformable thermal insulator was replaced by a solid cement-bonded particleboard for laboratory purposes. The intention was to measure only the deformation of the tested adhesive without the undesired influence of any deformation of the thermal insulation. It was assumed that the adhesive would be torn off either in the plaster or in the screed. The cement-bonded particleboards were cut into 100 × 100 mm squares from a production size of 3350 × 1250 mm, and then cement screed with a thickness of 3 mm was applied to them in two layers. A fibreglass fabric was fitted between the first and second layers of the cement screed. After the screed had cured the surface was coated with a primer, and a final 1.5 mm thick layer of acrylic plaster, was applied. The composition of the test specimen for the tensile test is shown in Figure 1, and in Figure 2 the test specimen for the shear test can be seen. Close attention was paid to the production of the bonded joint, where a constant adhesive thickness of 3 mm had to be maintained. Inaccuracies of this basic parameter would adversely affect the measurement results [11].

**Figure 1.** Test specimen for tensile test.

**Figure 2.** Test specimen for shear test.

### 2.2.2. Adhesion Tests

The tests were carried out on a LaborTech E.2 measuring device fitted with L06 vice jaws under normal laboratory conditions. The adhesion tests included both tensile and shear stresses. The basis of both the chosen test methods was the recording of the force course required to tear the adhered metal component of the substrate as a function of the elongation of the adhesive under testing. The loading was carried out at a rate of 5 mm per minute until failure, defined by a drop in force to 5% of the maximum achieved force for the tensile test and 30% for the shear test. The most important values for the evaluation were the maximum achieved force *F* (in N) and the corresponding elongation Δ*l* (in mm). The tensile test was based on the procedure defined by the Czech technical standard CSN ˇ 732,577 [12]. The principle of the test was to measure the force required to break away from the adhering body by tension applied perpendicular to the substrate. The tensile strength *σadh* (in MPa) was subsequently calculated according to the following relation:

$$
\sigma\_{\text{all}} = \frac{F}{A} = \frac{F}{2500} \tag{1}
$$

The shear test was based on the procedure defined by the European technical standard EN 1465 [13]. The principle of the test was to measure the tensile force acting parallel to the surface of the bonded joint. The shear adhesion (in MPa) was calculated according to the formula:

$$
\pi = \frac{F}{A} = \frac{F}{625} \tag{2}
$$

The elongation (in %) was subsequently calculated from the increment of the length Δ*l* (in mm) to the original length *l* (in mm):

$$
\varepsilon = \frac{\Delta l}{l} \ast 100 \tag{3}
$$

#### **3. Results**

The results were used to generate a number of charts showing the dependence of the elongation Δ*l* on the applied force *F*. An example of a chart for the tensile test is shown in Figure 3, and an example of a chart for the shear test is in Figure 4.

**Figure 3.** Example of tensile test results for measuring adhesive deformation on aluminium targets.

**Figure 4.** Example of shear test results for measuring adhesive deformation on galvanised strips.

The data from the deformation diagrams were tabulated in a clear way, with the decisive point for the evaluation being the maximum tensile or shear force and the corresponding elongation. Based on this data, the tensile adhesion *σadh* was calculated according to Formula (1), the shear adhesion τ was calculated according to Formula (2) and the elongation ε for both tensile and shear adhesion was calculated according to Formula (3). Statistical evaluation was performed for all the calculated parameters in the form of calculating the standard deviation sx and the coefficient of variation vx. The tensile test results can be seen in Table 1, and the shear test results are presented in Table 2.

**Table 1.** Results of tensile adhesion *σadh* (in MPa) and elongation ε (in %), standard deviation sx (in MPa for σadh, in % for ε) and coefficient of variation vx (in %) 1 for aluminium alloy (Al), galvanised steel (FeZn) and copper alloy (Cu) targets compared to results of adhesive alone (AD) on aluminium targets.

1 The average values are a sum of six measurements conducted for each tested combination.

A comparison of the adhesion and elongation in both tests can be seen in Figure 5. Possible types of destruction are shown in Figure 6. The most common type of destruction in the adhesion tests was the tearing of the metal target or strip, including the adhesive from the plaster surface. The second most common type of destruction was the tearing of the plaster, including the covering layer of the screed to the layer of the reinforcing fibreglass fabric. The least common destruction type presented only in copper strips in the shear test was the peeling of the adhesive from the copper material.

**Table 2.** Results of shear adhesion τ (in MPa) and elongation ε (in %), standard deviation sx (in MPa for τ, in % for ε) and coefficient of variation vx (in %) 1 for aluminium alloy (Al), galvanised steel (FeZn) and copper alloy (Cu) targets compared with the results of adhesive alone (AD) on aluminium strips.

1 The average values are a sum of six measurements conducted for each tested combination.

**Figure 5.** Comparison of test results: (**a**) *σadh* (in MPa) for tensile test (blue) and τ (in MPa) for shear test (orange); (**b**) ε (in %) for tensile test (blue) and shear test (orange).

**Figure 6.** Possible types of destruction: (**a**) tearing of the metal strip including the adhesive from the plaster surface; (**b**) tearing of the plaster including the covering layer of the screed from the layer of reinforcing fibreglass fabric; (**c**) peeling off the adhesive from the copper strip.


**Rice Crop Monitoring with Unmanned Helicopter Remote Sensing Images**

Kishore C. Swain1 and Qamar Uz Zaman2

*1Department of Agricultural Engineering, Triguna Sen School of Technology, Assam University, 2Engineering Department, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Nova Scotia, 1India 2Canada*


**2. Conclusion and recommendations**

There's a dualistic problem facing the world today, particularly, humankind. That is economic emancipation, growth and development and the degradation of the environment which is happening at a very high rate. This affects our forests which serve as a support system for human life. The forests support human life by providing oxygen, the abiotic and biotic life which is mostly dominated by trees as well as the control or management of the regional climatic conditions (temperatures). Forests play a huge role in producing goods that are essential for developing economies across the world. This is done through the provision of wood which is used to produce furniture and paper, fuel supplies, and supplies resources used in the production of pharmaceutical products. It also serves as a tourist attraction site and works a great deal in employment creation. Hence, the applicability of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in forest management is crucial. This chapter, therefore, aimed at evaluating the implications of CA in forest management and forestry. CA practiced in forestry promises reduced costs of production, improved livelihoods and poverty alleviation (**Table 1** and **Figure 2**). Therefore, it is concluded that CA is very important in forest management because it delivers the objectives of sustainable development. That is economic growth, social care and environmental protection. Therefore, it is recommended that CA be promoted by policy, and implementation of such policies be monitored. Though the applicability of CA in forestry depends on the specifications of each and every region, however, the society of farmers is encouraged to employ all the applicable principles of CA in their agroforest practices to ensure they benefit from this promising technology in the agricultural sector.

## **Acknowledgements**

The authors would like to acknowledge the University of Mpumalanga for funding them in the publication of this book chapter.


Introductory Chapter: Carbon Capture

*Syed Abdul Rehman Khan and Zhang Yu*

## **1. Introduction**

Environmental degradation is not a new problem for this world, while the intensity of the problem is increasing due to non-seriousness and lack of an appropriate plan to protect the natural resources and nourish the earth's sustainability [1, 2]. There are some questions, which need to be answered before making any plan for environmental sustainability. First of all, whether are we serious about protecting the natural resources of the world? Second, can we compromise on economic growth for the sake of environmental sustainability? After answering these two questions, governmental bodies can develop a master plan to address environmental issues effectively.

### **2. Are we serious?**

There is no doubt that the industrial revolution is a prominent cause of global warming and climate change. However, in reality, the problem is older than the industrial revolution. Besides, the industrial revolution only increased the speed of environmental degradation.

Environmental problems cannot be solved overnight. It will take time to restore and nourish environmental beauty through creating awareness in public, which will create indirect pressure on firms to produce eco-friendly products for the sake of their consumers' demand [3–5]. There are many other pro-environmental policies, which can help to improve environmental sustainability. The critical factor, which plays a vital role, is governmental bodies' willingness and seriousness to address the problem.

### **3. Can we compromise?**

The consumption of fossil fuel and energy is not only fueling economic growth but also environmental problems. This is a primary cause why the environmental policies failed in the execution phase, and governmental bodies are unable to enforce it. According to Munir et al. [6], Economic growth and environmental sustainability have an inverse relationship. They also highlighted that economic growth is heavily based on the cost of environmental sustainability in developing nations. Wang and Zhu [7] argue that developed countries shifted their low-tech and laborintensive manufacturing in developing nations, which is also a significant cause of social and environmental problems. Several researchers highlighted that China is a world-factory and fulfilling the demand of the European and Western world,

while China's social and environmental performance is the worst in the world [8, 9]. Similarly, India and other developing countries are blindly following China to improve their economic performance without catering to social and environmental issues facing the Chinese people and government [3, 6, 10, 11].


**7.1 Route 1: southeast Asia to Africa**

One of the most important routes, if not the most important for the spread of CQ-resistant parasite strains is the Southeast Asia to Africa route (**Figure 1a**). The CVIET (mutations in *pfcrt* from codons 72 to 76) lineage are responsible for the spread of CQ-resistance along this route. In the late 1950s, *P. falciparum* resistance to chloroquine was first identified in the Thai-Cambodian border. The spread of CQ-resistant parasites from Southeast Asia to Africa is considered to originate from the Thai-Cambodia border. The CQ-resistant parasites spread to Thailand in 1959 [68], and in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Cambodia in 1962 [68]. By the mid-1970s, CQresistance had been recorded in all Southeast Asia [68]. The SVMNT haplotype, which is mostly confined to the Pacific and South America has been reported in India and Laos [69, 70]. The CVIDT haplotype has also been reported [70, 71]. It remains a mystery whether these minor haplotypes found in Southeast Asia are due to new indigenous mutations or from other areas [68].

The first CQ-resistance was seen in Kenya in 1978 [68]. In the early 1980s, the CQ-resistance parasites spread to Comoro Island [68], Madagascar [68], Uganda [72], Zambia, and Malawi [68]. By the mid-1980s, CQ-resistant parasites had spread to Angola, Namibia [68]; and the western part of Africa, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Senegal, and Gambia [68]. The CVIET haplotype accounts for most of the CQ resistance in Africa [73]. The SVMNT haplotype has also been reported in Tanzania (in 19% of the field isolates) [74], whiles the SVIET haplotype is mostly confined to West Papua has been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo [75]. It remains unknown whether these haplotypes migrated from non-African regions or evolved indigenously [76].


*2.1. Emergence*

As languages emerge, structure emerges (Kocab and Senghas 2021). Given the time depth of spoken languages, it is notoriously difficult to make claims about the emergence of structure at their early stages, but various types of experimental data have been taken to provide evidence, e.g., iterated learning experiments involving non-linguistic structures (Kirby et al. 2008) and gestural descriptions produced by hearing non-signers (Goldin-Meadow 2014; Meir et al. 2017; Motamedi et al. 2019). The sign languages which are still in use are assumed to be much younger, with the oldest ones being approximately 250– 300 years old (McBurney 2012). This time depth is reminiscent of some creole languages, with which sign languages have been argued to share certain (socio)linguistic properties (see Adone 2012 for an overview). Still, with respect to availability of data, the situation for sign languages is not much different from spoken languages. As sign languages do not have a written form, the oldest informative documents available date back only 100 years (Supalla 2001) and extensive corpus data are much more recent.

While the opportunities to study the emergence of new sign languages remain few and far between (cf. Meir et al. 2010; de Vos and Nyst 2018), linguists have been able to study this phenomenon by comparing sign language use by older and younger signers in a handful of cases. For example, they were able to capture, among other things, the emergence of word order and spatial grammar (for Nicaraguan Sign Language, see Kegl et al. 1999; Senghas and Coppola 2001; for Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language, see Sandler et al. 2005; Meir and Sandler 2020), the gradual development of phonology (Sandler et al. 2011), and the use of reference tracking devices (Stamp and Sandler 2021). While it is impossible to present a comprehensive overview within the context of this paper, it is important to note that these studies have shown mixed results across grammatical domains and across language communities. For example, while Dachkovsky et al. (2018) report a reduction in the simultaneous use of manual and non-manual markers in personal life stories in Israeli Sign Language, Stamp and Sandler (2021) report an increase in simultaneity in the use of referential shift devices. Moreover, while Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language did not develop spatial verb morphology over the course of three generations, Israeli Sign Language—about the same age as ABSL—did develop spatial verbal morphology in the same three-generation time period (Padden et al. 2010). In Nicaraguan Sign Language, spatial morphology emerged even more rapidly (Senghas 2005). All in all, these comparisons suggest that who learns the sign language and how signers interact may well lead to very different patterns of grammaticalization. In order to arrive at a unified understanding of the earliest stages of language formation, we therefore require more intergenerational analyses focused on particular grammatical domains.

As for negation—the focus of the present chapter—we are not aware of any other work on emerging sign languages, perhaps with the exception of a case study reported by Franklin et al. (2011). Franklin and colleagues report that David, the American homesigner whose productions they analyzed, systematically employed non-manual and/or manual markers of negation, namely a side-to-side-headshake and a 'flip' gesture, the former being the most frequent marker (84% of the negative sentences). Furthermore, they observed that 79% of the headshakes appeared sentence-initially. The authors conclude "that side-to-side headshakes crystallize early as the expression of logical (i.e., sentential) negation in David's

homesign system, and that the form for this meaning has a fixed position at the beginning of the sentence" (Franklin et al. 2011, p. 404).

#### *2.2. Grammaticalization: A Special Case of Language Change in Sign Languages*

Sign languages, just like spoken languages, are subject to synchronic and diachronic variation. As for the former type of variation, it has been demonstrated that sociolinguistic variables like region, age, gender, ethnicity, and family background (deaf relatives) may be responsible for variation at all levels of linguistic structure (see Lucas et al. 2001; Schembri and Johnston 2012; Bayley et al. 2015 for overviews). As for the latter type of variation, it can be due to language-external and language-internal factors. In the following, we will only be concerned with age-related variation and its relation to language change, focusing, for the most part, on the role of language-internal factors, because variation across generations allows us to investigate the unfolding process of grammaticalization.1 That is to say, by comparing signers from different age groups, we are able to see how learning biases may shape language structure from one generation to the next.

Age-related changes have already been reported for American Sign Language (ASL) by Frishberg (1975), who documents systematic changes in the place of articulation and handshape of signs (Frishberg 1975; for BSL, see Woll 1987). While these changes were not explicitly linked to sociolinguistic factors, but were taken to be triggered by ease of production and/or perception, Schembri et al. (2009) demonstrate that phonological variation, with respect to place of articulation in Australian Sign Language (Auslan), is driven by age; lowering (of a particular class) of signs occurs as a result of age, among other (socio)linguistic factors, such that younger signers drive the change towards lowered locations. As with the other sociolinguistic factors, reports on (morpho)syntactic variation related to age are scarce in the literature.

Finally, an important language-internal process leading to changes in the lexicon is grammaticalization, whereby lexical elements take on a grammatical function. It has been shown that grammaticalization works pretty much the same way in sign languages as it does in spoken languages. For instance, in both modalities, auxiliaries (e.g., future tense markers) commonly develop from verbs and complementizers from nouns (Pfau and Steinbach 2011). Yet, there is also an interesting modality-specific side to grammaticalization, as in sign languages, manual and non-manual gestures may grammaticalize, such as pointing gestures (see Coppola and Senghas 2010 for Nicaraguan Sign Language; de Vos 2015 for Kata Kolok; Dachkovsky 2020 for Israeli Sign Language), the 'palm up' gesture (which belongs to the same gesture family as the before-mentioned 'flip' gesture; cf. Cooperrider et al. 2018; Mesh and Hou 2018), and headshakes (cf. Pfau 2015). In a sense, grammaticalization of a gesture displays properties of language-external and language-internal change. In a first step, the gesture enters the language system, and this, of course, involves contact with the community in which the gesture is used. Subsequently, the gesture may take on further, increasingly grammatical functions, as has been argued, for instance, for pointing (Pfau 2011; Kwok et al. 2020) and 'palm up' (van Loon et al. 2014)—and this is fully in line with traditional conceptions of grammaticalization for spoken languages. This modality-specific potential to grammaticalize gestures will turn out to be relevant in the context of our study.

#### **3. Negation: A Typological Overview**

Our study is concerned exclusively with the encoding of standard negation. Standard negation describes the most basic strategy to convert a sentence (S1) into a semantically opposite sentence (S2) so that S1 is true whenever S2 is false and vice versa, or, put differently, the most neutral strategy for changing the polarity of a sentence from affirmative to negative. Standard negation is by definition sentential (e.g., English *He is not happy*). Consequently, constituent negation (e.g., by means of affixation: *He is unhappy*) and other specialized forms of negation, such as negative adverbials (*He is never happy*), neg-words (*Nobody is happy*), negative existentials (*There is no happiness*), and negative imperatives (*Don't be happy!*) go beyond the scope of the present study. Deviating from some of the

definitions offered in the literature (e.g., Miestamo 2005; Dahl 2011), but in line with the procedure applied by Oomen and Pfau (2017) in their study on standard negation in Sign Language of The Netherlands (NGT), we will include in our data set sentences with (apparent) nominal and adjectival predicates, for the simple reason that determining word class is notoriously difficult in Kata Kolok (Schwager and Zeshan 2008).

Some variation in the theoretical approach notwithstanding, classifications of negation are often based on the nature of the basic clause negator (Payne 1985; Dahl 2011)—and this is the strategy we adopt in the next subsection on spoken languages. We then turn to sign languages and show how sign language negation has been classified, and how this compares to spoken languages.

#### *3.1. Spoken Languages*

Typological studies on a large number of typologically diverse spoken languages have revealed that by far the most common strategies for expressing negation are negative particles and negative affixes (Dahl 2011, 1979; Payne 1985; Dryer 2005; Miestamo 2005).2 The use of a negative particle, i.e., an uninflected and free-standing (in this case, pre-verbal) morpheme, is illustrated in the Indonesian example in (1), while example (2) shows that Turkish employs a morphological strategy, viz. the negative suffix *-mV*, which attaches to the verbal root and is subject to vowel harmony.

Beyond these two very common options, we wish to introduce two further strategies, as they will become relevant in our discussion of sign language negation in the next subsection. First, some languages require the combination of two (or more) elements for the expression of standard negation; this is commonly referred to as split negation or Negative Concord. French is probably the most famous example, but in (3), we provide an example from Cuiba, a Guahiban language of Venezuela. In this language, a pre-verbal particle combines with a verbal suffix, thus, in a sense, combining the Indonesian and the Turkish strategy.

[Cuiba; Mosonyi et al. 2000, in Miestamo (2005, p. 156)]

Second, in a few tone languages, the morphological change that realizes negation may be suprasegmental in nature. In Mbembe, a Niger-Congo language from Nigeria, for instance, it is only the tone change (from high to low) on the tense prefix that signals negation, as is shown in (4).

 [Mbembe; Dahl (2011, p. 17)]

#### *3.2. Sign Languages*

For sign languages, too, efforts have been made to classify their negation systems. However, the most common typological classification is different from that suggested for spoken languages in that it focuses on the use and combination of manual and non-manual negative markers.

All sign languages studied to date employ manual negative signs and specific nonmanual markers—mostly a headshake3—for the expression of standard negation. The way in which these two types of markers combine, however, may differ from one sign language to the next. Consider the two examples in (5) from Catalan Sign Language (LSC) and Italian Sign Language (LIS), respectively.4 At first sight, the two negated clauses look very similar: both sign languages have SOV order, and the negative particle (NOT/NON) follows the verb. In fact, even the form of the negative particle is similar: a handshape with extended index finger (fingertip pointing upward) performing a repeated side-to-side movement in front of the signer's body. Additionally, in both examples, a headshake (hs) accompanies the manual negator. However, in LSC, the headshake is not confined to co-occurring with the negative particle; it may optionally spread onto the verb or the verb phrase, as indicated by the broken line in (5a). In contrast, in LIS, the headshake cannot spread beyond the negative particle.

$$\begin{array}{llll} \text{(5)} & \text{a.} & \text{SANTI} & \overset{-}{\text{MEAT}} & \overset{-}{\text{EAT}} & \text{NAD}^{-} \\ & & \text{\text{(Santi doesn't eat meat.'}} & & \text{I} \\ & & \text{\text{(S::})} & & \text{\text{(I:SC; Quer (2012, p. 318))}} \\ \text{b.} & \text{PAOLO} & \text{CONTRAAT} & \text{SIGN} & \text{NON} \\ & & \text{\text{Palo doidn't sign the contract.'} & & \text{[LIS; Gead (2005, p. 221)]} \\ & & & \text{The  $\alpha$ -manifolds of a cross-linear and a common state that in ICG, the bandwidth is less than } \end{array}$$

The possibility of spreading already suggests that in LSC, the headshake is less tightly associated with the manual negator than in LIS. That this is indeed the case is further evidenced by the observation that using the manual particle is optional in LSC, that is, sentences are commonly negated by a headshake only in this language. In this case, the headshake minimally accompanies the verb, but it may optionally spread onto the object (6a). As opposed to LSC, headshake-only negation is impossible in LIS, irrespective of the scope of the headshake, as indicated by the brackets in (6b).

Despite syntactic commonalities, LSC and LIS thus belong to different typological groups: LSC is a so-called non-manual dominant sign language, while LIS is a manual dominant sign language (Zeshan 2004, 2006). In the former type, the use of a manual negative sign is optional, and the headshake is capable of spreading. In contrast, in the latter type, the use of a manual negator is obligatory, and the headshake is (generally) confined to accompanying the manual negator. Beyond this broad distinction, it is worth noting that within-group variation with respect to certain grammatical characteristics is also attested, for instance, when it comes to the availability of Negative Concord involving two manual negative signs (van Boven et al. Forthcoming). Additionally, research has claimed that within the group of non-manual dominant sign languages, there are differences in spreading options for the headshake (see Pfau and Quer 2002 for a comparison of LSC, ASL, and German Sign Language, three non-manual dominant sign languages; also see our discussion in Section 7). If confirmed by the analysis of naturalistic corpus data, these combinatorial restrictions would strongly suggest that the headshake is not just a co-speech gesture (cf. Kendon 2002), but rather a grammatical marker, the use of which is languagespecific and tightly linked to the syntactic structure of the respective sign language. In

other words, and as already alluded to above, the non-manual gesture has grammaticalized (van Loon et al. 2014; Pfau 2015).

Some recent studies, however, suggest that not all sign languages fit neatly into this two-way classification, that is, the classification may be too simplistic. First of all, it has been argued that in Russian Sign Language, a manual dominant sign language, the headshake is capable of spreading, thus presenting us with a hybrid system (Rudnev and Kuznetsova 2021). Secondly, Kuder (2020) observes for Polish Sign Language that headshake-only negation is attested, but that the headshake almost never spreads beyond a single sign. Finally, a corpus-based study on Auslan (Johnston 2018) suggests that this sign language employs a headshake in negative contexts, but that the headshake is not (yet) grammaticalized. In particular, (i) a headshake is only observed in half of the negative clauses extracted from the corpus; (ii) the headshake hardly ever negates a clause by itself; and (iii) the position and spreading behavior of headshakes, when present, do not appear to be linguistically constrained in this sign language. Johnston (2018) further draws attention to non-manuals surfacing in negative contexts in addition to or instead of headshaking (nodding and negative facial expressions, incl. mouth gestures) and points out the impact these may have on the interpretation of headshaking and other non-manuals as formal markers of negation.

With this in mind, we return to the typological classification of negation in spoken languages (i.e., use of negative particles vs. negative affixes). Pfau (2015) and Oomen and Pfau (2017) argue that the spoken language classification can be applied to at least some sign languages. As for prototypical manual dominant sign languages, they suggest that these sign languages employ a negative particle that is lexically specified for a headshake, that is, the headshake is part of the lexical entry of the manual negator. In contrast, in nonmanual dominant sign languages, the negative particle and the headshake are independent negative elements, which implies that these sign languages involve split negation, whereby the manual negator is optional. Pfau and Oomen further argue, adopting a proposal made in Pfau (2008), that the headshake is a suprasegmental affix that attaches to the verb, comparable to tonal affixes in spoken languages. Given this line of reasoning, negation in LSC (and, for instance, German Sign Language) combines characteristics of Cuiba and Mbembe: just as in Cuiba (3), split negation involves a free particle and a verbal affix; just as in Mbembe (4b), the verbal affix is suprasegmental in nature (and just as in, e.g., Colloquial French, one of the two elements is optional).

#### **4. Kata Kolok**

#### *4.1. Community Characteristics*

Kata Kolok (KK) is a sign language isolate that emerged in a rural Balinese village community (Marsaja 2008; de Vos 2012; Lutzenberger, forthcoming). It thus belongs to the group of so-called rural (or village/shared) sign languages (Nyst 2012; Zeshan and de Vos 2012). Rural signing varieties represent a special sociolinguistic case, as they emerge rapidly in mostly isolated, rural enclaves, often as a result of an exceptionally high incidence of hereditary deafness. Sign languages arising in such contexts are relatively young. As for Kata Kolok, genetic and genealogical evidence indicates the first instance of a deaf cohort approximately six generations ago, and Kata Kolok has been used and acquired by deaf children ever since (Winata et al. 1995; Friedman et al. 1995). Moreover, Kata Kolok, just like other rural sign languages, represents a communicative tool that is shared by the deaf and a large proportion of the hearing community members. Deafness is not stigmatized, and the community has adapted culturally and linguistically to deafness in various ways (Marsaja 2008). Kata Kolok thus serves as means of communication in social, political, and religious contexts. Deaf children receive language input in Kata Kolok from birth, and Kata Kolok has been used at a local primary school as a medium of instruction since 2007 (Marsaja 2008; de Vos 2012).

There is a growing body of research investigating the diversity, as well as the similarities, among rural signing varieties, comparing them with sign languages used in urban

settings (de Vos and Pfau 2015; Meir and Sandler 2020). Until recently, Kata Kolok has developed under virtually no influence from any other sign languages. Yet, nowadays, deaf youngsters may pursue further education in other parts of Bali where Indonesian signing varieties are used, and contact with and influence from other sign languages will thus likely increase (Moriarty 2020; Lutzenberger, forthcoming).

## *4.2. Typological Sketch*

According to Marsaja (2008), the basic word order in Kata Kolok is SVO; yet de Vos (2012) shows that Kata Kolok signers do not primarily rely on word order to mark argument structure, as subject and object are frequently omitted in spontaneous interaction. de Vos (2012) has studied the use of space in Kata Kolok, and reports that the use of an enlarged signing space and an absolute frame of reference are common. Another typologically unusual pattern is the absence of mouthings, i.e., silent articulations of spoken words accompanying signs (Marsaja 2008; de Vos 2012).

#### *4.3. Previous Work on Negation in Kata Kolok*

Compared to other signed languages, the range of manual signs considered to be negative in Kata Kolok is rather small. Marsaja (2008) discusses the basic clause negator NEG (glossed as SING in his study) and the negative completive marker NOT.YET (which he glosses as KONDEN), and Perniss and Zeshan (2008) add the sign FINISH, which expresses a negative existential meaning and can be used interchangeably with NEG in most contexts of negative existence and possession. These negative signs occur predominantly in postpredicative or clause-final position, with the exception of NOT.YET, which occurs clauseinitially (Marsaja 2008; de Vos 2012). Since the focus of the present study is on standard negation, we will concentrate on the basic clause negator NEG, which is articulated with a 5-handshape performing a side-to-side handwave (Figure 1).

**Figure 1.** Basic manual clause negator in Kata Kolok including a negative facial expression with furrowed brows and pulled-down corners of the mouth, as described by Marsaja (2008). Adapted with permission from de Vos (2012); copyright 2012 Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.

Marsaja (2008, p. 194) claims that NEG is mandatory in all negative utterances, and provides one example involving doubling of NEG within a clause (but does not further discuss this phenomenon). He further suggests that the use of a headshake is optional in standard negation. In those instances in which a headshake does occur, "it is generally small and quick; it never exceeds the scope of SING's manual component, and never extends to previous or subsequent signs in a sentence" (Marsaja 2008, p. 197). As all sign languages described to date make use of both kinds of markers, this pattern would be typologically highly marked (Zeshan 2006, 2004). In the present study, we add to the picture another non-manual marker—a protruded tongue—addressing also its potential role as a negative existential marker in Section 6.2.2.

#### *4.4. Focus of the Present Study*

The current study offers a revised and more thorough account of negation in Kata Kolok. Using naturalistic corpus data, we address the following questions: (i) Is NEG indeed the main negator in Kata Kolok, while the headshake plays a minor role? (ii) What is the role of non-manual markers in Kata Kolok negation? (iii) Is there evidence for language change in the expression of standard negation across generations of Kata Kolok signers? Based on examples previously elicited by Marsaja (2008), we expect to find few instances where NEG co-occurs with a negative headshake. Based on observations from fieldwork and corpus data, however, there is reason to expect that NEG frequently co-occurs with (a) non-manual element(s), specifically a headshake and/or tongue protrusion, and that negation is occasionally expressed without the use of the manual negator. We hypothesize that non-manual negators may still be grammaticalizing within the three generations of Kata Kolok signers studied in this paper. For this reason, we opted for an intergenerational sample of naturalistic corpus data for the current study of standard negation in Kata Kolok.


**Author details**

Bhaswar Ghosh† and Soham Choudhuri\*† Center for Computational Natural Sciences and Bioinformatics, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India

\*Address all correspondence to<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
† These authors contributed equally.

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Drug Design for Malaria with Artificial Intelligence (AI) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98695*