bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Coherence in EFL Student‐Written Texts: Two Perspectives
Authors: Shakir Abdullah 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTWhat EFL school teachers view as most harmful to coherence in their student‐written texts is an area which has received very little attention from EFL researchers in the Arab world. This article aims to explore this area and to identify the aspects of focus of a group of EFL teachers in Jordan in evaluating a student‐written text for coherence.Two EFL texts of general expository nature, drawn from a corpus of 45 texts written by first‐year students in the English Department at Yarmouk University, were given to twenty‐four EFL secondary school teachers. The teachers were asked to evaluate each text for coherence (on a scale of 1–25), and to record on a separate sheet the weaknesses which, in their view, impeded coherence in each text. The teachers' comments were then collected, categorized, and analyzed.At a later stage, the two texts were analyzed for coherence and cohesion by the researcher. The analysis was based on the most recent developments in text linguistics. The rationale for the analysis was to investigate what rendered each text coherent or incoherent, and to find out to what extent the features the analysis revealed were taken into account by the teachers when they evaluated the texts.The analysis of the teachers' comments showed that the majority of the comments were concerned with weaknesses related to sentence structure, although, as the analysis of the texts showed, such weaknesses were not the major factors behind breakdown of coherence in the two texts. The analysis revealed that the texts suffered, in addition to poor grammar, three major flaws:1. aurality of the mode of presentation;2. inability to stay with initial ideas and general statements, and lack of depth and substantiation;3. deviation from the intended rhetorical function of the writing task.The article concludes with a section on the implications drawn from the findings of the study and provides some suggestions regarding the teaching of writing at text level in an EFL context.
Questions of Regionalism in Native Speaker OPI Performance: The French‐Canadian Experience
Authors: Marisi Paulette (Moeller) 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACT  The Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) has been submitted to external scrutiny and has been accepted by many foreign language educators as an accurate method of assessing speaking competence of foreign language learners. Recognizing, however, that every test has its limitations, and that the nature of all good systems of evaluation is to evolve in order to meet growing needs, an OPI is herein examined in the context of evaluating native speakers. A 1991 workshop in Quebec City and a 1989 Canadian Study on French regional speech provide the framework for an honest discussion of sociolinguistic competence and the suitability of the OPI for testing native speakers. An invitation for further dialogue on this issue follows a list of recommendations that: a) ACTFL should further define the role of the sociolinguistic element of accuracy; b) ACTFL testers should be sensitive to the issue of regional variants when testing native speakers in order to distinguish a “pattern of errors” from bona fide regionalism; c) Canadian testers should beware of the danger of overlooking errors of high frequency usage that appear acceptable by virtue of their common occurrence; and d) ACTFL needs to reexamine the notion that all compensation ceases at the superior level.Finally the author suggests that Canadian French is to European French as American English is to British English, and hence should be accepted in a North American context, as a bona fide variant of the language.
Middle School Philosophy and Second Language Acquisition Theory: Working Together for Enhanced Proficiency
Authors: Verkler Karen Wolz 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACT  Many Florida middle schools offer to eighth graders a year‐long Spanish I course identical to that at the high school level. Foreign language educators have frequently questioned whether middle school Spanish I students, whose school setting differs greatly from that of the high school, achieve language proficiency equivalent to that of high school Spanish I students. This study was conducted to determine the effects of school affiliation on the level of language competency attained by Spanish I students. Competency in all four language skills–listening comprehension, writing, reading comprehension, and oral production–was measured by a Spanish I Exam. Differences between the two groups in attitude toward foreign language learning were also examined.The subjects in this study were 107 middle school eighth graders and 57 high school ninth graders enrolled in Spanish I classes in four Florida school districts. The Spanish I Exam was administered as a pretest at the beginning of the 1992–93 school year and as a posttest at the end of the school year. A Foreign Language Attitude Questionnaire was also given at the end of the school year. The teachers were instructed to conduct their classes as usual for the duration of the school year. Data on socioeconomic status (SES) and GPA, variables that might influence performance on the posttest and attitude questionnaire, were also collected.To examine the effects of school affiliation, Spanish I Exam pretest score, SES, and GPA on each of the four language skills and on attitude toward the foreign language learning experience, multiple linear regression analyses were performed. The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between school affiliation and each of the posttest components. Middle school language achievement exceeded that of the high school in all four language skills. In addition, middle school attitude toward the foreign language learning experience was significantly more favorable than that of the high school. Pretest score and GPA, but not SES, were significantly related to language achievement and attitude.
Foreign Language Anxiety and Language Performance: A Study of Learner Anxiety in Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced‐Level College Students of Japanese
Authors: Saito Yoshiko , Samimy Keiko K. 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACT  Japanese language study among American university students has dramatically increased since 1986. However, despite initial enthusiasm, high attrition rates have been reported. One reason often cited for this attrition is the perceived degree of difficulty of the Japanese language because of its “truly foreign” nature (Jorden and Walton 1987), which can be initially anxiety‐provoking for students whose first language is English.In the present study, the role of language learner anxiety, among other affective variables of students studying Japanese, is examined in relation to students' language performance at three different instructional levels.The results of the study indicate that with these students of Japanese the predictive variable of their performance was different from the beginning level to the intermediate‐ and the advanced‐level students. For beginning students, the Year in College was identified as the best predicting factor, while Language Class Anxiety was the best predictor for both intermediate‐and advanced‐level students.The results of the present study corroborate earlier anxiety studies in the commonly taught languages: in the finding that foreign language anxiety can have a negative impact on Japanese learners' performance. The present study, however, reveals that the influence of foreign language anxiety becomes more important as Japanese learners' instructional levels increase. It is clear that in order to reduce the debilitating effect of language class anxiety, teachers of Japanese need to become aware of these differences in terms of the learners' affective states and respond to them accordingly.
Practical Whole Language Strategies for Secondary and University‐Level FL Students
Authors: Adair‐Hauck Bonnie 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACT  This article illustrates strategies for the practical application of a whole language approach in the second/foreign language classroom. The author has interviewed and observed both L1 and L2 teachers using a whole language approach to language learning. From these observations and interviews, as well as from a review of the current literature, the article discusses some basic tenets of a whole language approach, which immerses learners in meaningful, literature‐based activities.The article also provides practical whole language activities appropriate for secondary or university level students. And finally, the article reports on the results of a questionnaire in which high school foreign language learners shared their reactions to whole language teaching strategies.
ALPHA CLUSTERS IN MEDIUM LIGHT NUCLEI: RECENT RESULTS AND OPEN QUESTIONS
Authors: NORRBY MARKUS , BRENNER MÅRTEN , LÖNNROTH TOM , KÄLLMAN KJELL-MIKAEL 
Published: January 2009

The presence of alpha cluster structures in light nuclei is well established. This paper concentrates on the medium light nuclei between 16 O and 44 Ti . Especially the nucleus 32 S has been examined in detail and new data is presented. The elastic scattering data of alpha particles on 28 Si forming 32 S shows a peculiar disappearance of cross section at 31 MeV excitation energy and above. Also, the energy versus J(J + 1) plot shows at least one clear rotational-like band of alpha cluster states, with the main energy levels split into many narrow and closely lying levels with the same spin. Furthermore, few experiments have been carried out investigating the alpha cluster structure of non-nα nuclei, especially on the proton rich side of stability. The evidence at hand indicates that adding neutrons retains some alpha cluster structures and in some cases might even enhance them, but adding protons seems to destroy the structures.
Analysis and design of a hardware/software trusted platform module for embedded systems
Authors: Aaraj Najwa , Raghunathan Anand , Jha Niraj K. 
Published: January 2009

Trusted platforms have been proposed as a promising approach to enhance the security of general-purpose computing systems. However, for many resource-constrained embedded systems, the size and cost overheads of a separate Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip are not acceptable. One alternative is to use a software-based TPM, which implements TPM functions using software that executes in a protected execution domain on the embedded processor itself. However, since many embedded systems have limited processing capabilities and are battery-powered, it is also important to ensure that the computational and energy requirements for SW-TPMs are acceptable.
In this article, we perform an evaluation of the energy and execution time overheads for a SW-TPM implementation on a handheld appliance (Sharp Zaurus PDA). We characterize the execution time and energy required by each TPM command through actual measurements on the target platform. We observe that for most commands, overheads are primarily due to the use of 2,048-bit RSA operations that are performed within the SW-TPM. In order to alleviate SW-TPM overheads, we evaluate the use of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) as a replacement for the RSA algorithm specified in the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) standards. In addition, we also evaluate the overheads of using the SW-TPM in the context of various end applications, including trusted boot of the Linux operating system (OS), a secure VoIP client, and a secure Web browser. Furthermore, we analyze the computational workload involved in running SW-TPM commands using ECC. We then present a suite of hardware and software enhancements to accelerate these commands—generic custom instructions and exploitation of parallel processing capabilities in multiprocessor systems-on-chip (SoCs). We report results of evaluating the proposed architectures on a commercial embedded processor (Xtensa from Tensilica). Through uniprocessor and multiprocessor optimizations, we could achieve speed-ups of up to 5.71X for individual TPM commands.
Effects of Safety Behaviour On the Maintenance of Anxiety and Negative Belief Social Anxiety Disorder
Authors: Okajima Isa , Kanai Yoshihiro , Chen Junwen , Sakano Yuji 
Published: January 2009

Background: Safety behaviour plays an important role in the maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD). SAD patients engage in various safety behaviours in social situations in order to decrease the risk of negative evaluations from others. Aims: The present study examined the effect of safety behaviour on the maintenance of anxiety and negative belief in SAD by using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Methods: Participants were a healthy group (442) and a SAD group (46) who met the SAD criteria for DSM-IV and who had high scores of SAD symptoms. In the assumed maintenance model, independence variables were safety and avoidance behaviour and dependence variables were anxiety and negative belief. Results: This result showed that the SAD group significantly has more high scores than the healthy group in all scales of anxiety, negative belief and avoidance behaviour, expect for safety behaviour. The result of the multiple-group procedure indicated that safety behaviour contributes more strongly to anxiety and negative belief in the SAD group than in the healthy group. Conclusions: It is speculated that the SAD group have a stronger link between safety behaviour and negative belief than the healthy group, whereas frequency of the use of safety behaviour is equivalent between two groups. These results support the findings of previous studies.
FORCA, a promoter element that responds to crosstalk between defense and light signaling
Authors: Evrard Alexandre , Ndatimana Theogene , Eulgem Thomas 
Published: January 2009

Abstract

Background
Recognition of pathogenic microorganisms triggers in plants comprehensive transcriptional reprogramming. In order to identify transcriptome-level control elements required for plant immune responses we are examining several sets of genes found by microarray experiments to be co-activated in Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) seedlings infected with the oomycete Hyaloperonospora parasitica. Promoter motifs conserved in clusters of co-expressed genes may be involved in mediating coordinated gene activity patterns. Although numerous studies identified such conserved promoter motifs in co-expressed gene sets, reports confirming their function as regulatory elements are rare.

Results

FORC
A is a hexameric promoter motif that is conserved in clusters of Arabidopsis genes co-expressed in response to fungal or oomycete pathogens as well as defined light treatments. FORC
A is generally more frequently present in Arabidopsis promoter regions than statistically expected. It constitutively interacts in a DNA-sequence specific manner with nuclear Arabidopsis proteins. These interactions are suppressed by defense-related stimuli and enhanced by prolonged exposure to constant light. Furthermore FORC
A mediates constitutive reporter gene expression in transiently transformed Nicotiana benthamiana leaves as well as in stably transformed Arabidopsis plants. Its responsiveness to defense-stimuli is modulated by the duration of light exposure. In plants grown under normal light conditions or constant darkness defense-related stimuli result in suppression of FORC
A-mediated reporter gene expression, while in plants grown under constant light exposure, defense-induction results in enhanced FORC
A-mediated expression. In addition, we found plants subjected to constant light exposure to exhibit reduced susceptibility to virulent H. parasitica.

Conclusion
We propose that FORC
A is a regulatory cis-element that is present in a wide variety of Arabidopsis promoters. It integrates light- and defense-related signals and participates in adjusting the transcriptome to changes in environmental conditions.
Novel expression hosts for complex secondary metabolite megasynthetases: Production of myxochromide in the thermopilic isolate Corallococcus macrosporus GT-2
Authors: Perlova Olena , Gerth Klaus , Kuhlmann Silvia , Zhang Youming , Müller Rolf 
Published: January 2009

Abstract
Although many secondary metabolites with diverse biological activities have been isolated from myxobacteria, most strains of these biotechnologically important gliding prokaryotes remain difficult to handle genetically. In this study we describe the new fast growing myxobacterial thermophilic isolate GT-2 as a heterologous host for the expression of natural product biosynthetic pathways isolated from other myxobacteria. According to the results of sequence analysis of the 16S rDNA, this moderately thermophilic isolate is closely related to Corallococcus macrosporus and was therefore named C. macrosporus GT-2. Fast growth of moderately thermophilic strains results in shorter fermentation and generation times, aspects which are of significant interest for molecular biological work as well as production of secondary metabolites. Development of a genetic manipulation system allowed the introduction of the complete myxochromide biosynthetic gene cluster, located on a transposable fragment, into the chromosome of GT-2. Genetic engineering of the biosynthetic gene cluster by promoter exchange leads to much higher production of myxochromides in the heterologous host C. macrosporus GT-2 in comparison to the original producer Stigmatella aurantiaca and to the previously described heterologous host Pseudomonas putida (600 mg/L versus 8 mg/L and 40 mg/L, respectively).
Identification and bioinformatic characterization of a multidrug resistance associated protein (ABCC) gene in Plasmodium berghei
Authors: González-Pons María , Szeto Ada C , González-Méndez Ricardo , Serrano Adelfa E 
Published: January 2009

AbstractBackgroundThe ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily is one of the largest evolutionarily conserved families of proteins. ABC proteins play key roles in cellular detoxification of endobiotics and xenobiotics. Overexpression of certain ABC proteins, among them the multidrug resistance associated protein (MRP), contributes to drug resistance in organisms ranging from human neoplastic cells to parasitic protozoa. In the present study, thePlasmodium berghei mrpgene (pbmrp) was partially characterized and the predicted protein was classified using bioinformatics in order to explore its putative involvement in drug resistance.MethodsThepbmrpgene from theP. bergheidrug sensitive, N clone, was sequenced using a PCR strategy. Classification and domain organization of pbMRP were determined with bioinformatics. ThePlasmodium spp.MRPs were aligned and analysed to study their conserved motifs and organization. Gene copy number and organization were determined via Southern blot analysis in both N clone and the chloroquine selected line, RC. Chromosomal Southern blots and RNase protection assays were employed to determine the chromosomal location and expression levels ofpbmrpin blood stages.ResultsThepbmrpgene is a single copy, intronless gene with a predicted open reading frame spanning 5820 nucleotides. Bioinformatic analyses show that this protein has distinctive features characteristic of the ABCC sub-family. Multiple sequence alignments reveal a high degree of conservation in the nucleotide binding and transmembrane domains within the MRPs from thePlasmodium spp.analysed. Expression ofpbmrpwas detected in asexual blood stages. Gene organization, copy number and mRNA expression was similar in both lines studied. A chromosomal translocation was observed in the chloroquine selected RC line, from chromosome 13/14 to chromosome 8, when compared to the drug sensitive N clone.ConclusionIn this study, thepbmrpgene was sequenced and classified as a member of the ABCC sub-family. Multiple sequence alignments reveal that this gene is homologous to thePlasmodium y. yoeliiandPlasmodium knowlesi mrp, and thePlasmodium vivaxandPlasmodium falciparum mrp2genes. There were no differences in gene organization, copy number, or mRNA expression between N clone and the RC line, but a chromosomal translocation ofpbmrpfrom chromosome 13/14 to chromosome 8 was detected in RC.
Heterotopic pregnancy following ovulation induction by Clomiphene and a healthy live birth: a case report
Authors: Honarbakhsh Abbas , Khoori Elham , Mousavi Simin 
Published: January 2009

AbstractIntroductionA heterotopic pregnancy is defined as the presence of a combined intrauterine and ectopic pregnancy. Its estimated incidence is accepted as between 1/7000 and 1/30,000 pregnancies. It is also reported to be as high as 1% after the use of assisted reproductive technology, but Clomiphene Citrate which increases the rate of twinning, could be associated with a heterotopic pregnancy rate of 1/900, which is much less than using assisted reproductive technology. Heterotopic pregnancies are diagnostic and therapeutic challenges for obstetricians. If they continue without diagnosis, a life-threatening situation may occur even when surgical intervention with laparotomy is performed.Case presentationWe present the case of a 22-year-old Iranian woman who developed a simultaneous extra -and intrauterine pregnancy after the induction of ovulation with Clomiphene. In this case, there was a delay in the detection of the ectopic pregnancy component resulting in an emergency laparotomy being performed. Fortunately after the laparotomy, the intrauterine pregnancy was not affected and it progressed satisfactorily until 37 weeks. A healthy male baby was delivered by caesarean section.ConclusionThis case suggests that a heterotopic pregnancy must always be considered in patients presenting with pelvic pain even in a confirmed intrauterine pregnancy, particularly after the induction of ovulation by Clomiphene Citrate or assisted reproductive technology. Every clinician treating women of reproductive age should keep this diagnosis in mind. It also demonstrates that early diagnosis is essential in order to salvage the intrauterine pregnancy and avoid maternal morbidity and mortality.
Synthetic control of a fitness tradeoff in yeast nitrogen metabolism
Authors: Bayer Travis S , Hoff Kevin G , Beisel Chase L , Lee Jack J , Smolke Christina D 
Published: January 2009

Abstract

Background
Microbial communities are involved in many processes relevant to industrial and medical biotechnology, such as the formation of biofilms, lignocellulosic degradation, and hydrogen production. The manipulation of synthetic and natural microbial communities and their underlying ecological parameters, such as fitness, evolvability, and variation, is an increasingly important area of research for synthetic biology.

Results
Here, we explored how synthetic control of an endogenous circuit can be used to regulate a tradeoff between fitness in resource abundant and resource limited environments in a population of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We found that noise in the expression of a key enzyme in ammonia assimilation, Gdh1p, mediated a tradeoff between growth in low nitrogen environments and stress resistance in high ammonia environments. We implemented synthetic control of an endogenous Gdh1p regulatory network to construct an engineered strain in which the fitness of the population was tunable in response to an exogenously-added small molecule across a range of ammonia environments.

Conclusion
The ability to tune fitness and biological tradeoffs will be important components of future efforts to engineer microbial communities.