High school EFL students’ beliefs about oral corrective feedback: The role of gender, motivation and extraversion

This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design to examine the beliefs of Vietnamese EFL students concerning oral corrective feedback (CF) and the role of some individual differences in these beliefs. The data consisted of questionnaires completed by 250 Vietnamese high school students and follow-up interviews with 15 of them. Exploratory factor analysis revealed six latent factors underlying students’ beliefs about CF, namely, (1) output-prompting CF and eliciting recasts, (2) desire for CF, (3) non-verbal cues, (4) important errors, (5) input-providing CF, and (6) less important errors. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis of the interviews showed that students were positive about CF. They liked both input-providing CF and output-prompting CF for all error types. Metalinguistic feedback was the most strongly preferred, while clarification request was the least preferred. Further statistical analyses revealed some interesting relationships between students’ beliefs about CF and their gender, English learning motivation, and self-rated introversion/extraversion. Females were more positive about CF than males, and extraverted females were more positive about input-providing CF than introverted females. Also, students learning English for exams were more positive about CF than those learning English for communication. Pedagogical implications for effective feedback provision in EFL contexts are discussed

Large magnetoresistance using hybrid spin filter devices

A magnetic "spin filter" tunnel barrier, sandwiched between a non-magnetic metal and a magnetic metal, is used to create a new magnetoresistive tunnel device, somewhat analogous to an optical polarizer-analyzer configuration. The resistance of these trilayer structures depends on the relative magnetization orientation of the spin filter and the ferromagnetic electrode. The spin filtering in this configuration yields a previously unobserved magnetoresistance effect, exceeding 100%.Comment: 3.5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Appl. Phys. Let

Characterization of a Partial cDNA for Lysyl Hydroxylase from Human Skin Fibroblasts; Lysyl Hydroxylase mRNAs Are Regulated Differently by Minoxidil Derivatives and Hydralazine

Lysyl hydroxylase (LH) is an essential enzyme in collagen biosynthesis that catalyzes the formation of hydroxylysine required for intermolecular crosslinking of collagen. We have isolated a partial (2.2-kb) cDNA for LH from human skin fibroblasts using PCR. DNA sequencing revealed 72% homology of the human coding sequence with the chick LH sequence at the nucleotide level and 76% homology predicted at the amino acid level. The LH cDNA hybridized strongly with two mRNA species of 2.4 and 3.4kb on Northern blots of normal fibroblast RNA. Administration of minoxidil decreased both mRNA species without affecting levels of the mRNAs for the β subunit of prolyl 4-hydroxylase (PH) or α1(I) collagen. Two derivatives of minoxidil (3' hydroxyminoxidil and 4' hydroxyminoxidil) produced similar decreases in LH mRNAs. In contrast hydralazine increased the mRNAs for LH in parallel with its previously reported effect on the mRNA for the β subunit of PH. This effect is accompanied by virtual elimination of the α1(I) collagen mRNAs. These results on the action of minoxidil and hydralazine at the pretranslational level correlate well with their previously reported effect on enzyme activity and collagen biosynthesis and indicate that changes in steady-state mRNA levels can account directly for changes at the protein level. Moreover, the unique action of minoxidil in specifically decreasing LH mRNAs contrasts with the less specific stimulatory effects of hydralazine and suggests that these pharmaceuticals arc regulating expression of LH at a pretranslational level by different mechanisms

Rodrigues Formula for the Nonsymmetric Multivariable Hermite Polynomial

Applying a method developed by Takamura and Takano for the nonsymmetric Jack polynomial, we present the Rodrigues formula for the nonsymmetric multivariable Hermite polynomial.Comment: 5 pages, LaTe

Low dietary intakes of essential nutrients during pregnancy in Vietnam

Inadequate intake of nutrients during pregnancy has been associated with poor pregnancy and infant outcomes; however, evidence remains limited in low-resource settings in Asia. This paper assessed food, macronutrient, and micronutrient intakes among 1944 Vietnamese pregnant women. Dietary information was collected via an interviewer-administered food frequency questionnaire, and nutrient intakes were estimated using the Vietnamese food composition tables. The levels of nutrient intakes were evaluated against the Vietnamese recommended nutrient intakes (RNI) for pregnancy. The diet profiles were reported as means and percentages. The average daily food intakes across socio-demographic factors were compared using ANOVA, with adjustment for multiple comparisons by the Tukey–Kramer test. Rice, fruits, and vegetables were the main food sources consumed. The mean energy intake was 2004 kcal/day with 15.9%, 31.8%, and 52.2% of energy deriving from proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, respectively. Just over half of the women did not meet the RNI for total energy intake. The intakes of essential micronutrients including folate, calcium, iron, and zinc were below the RNI, and almost all pregnant women failed to meet the recommendations for these micronutrients. The associations of maternal age, education, and pre-pregnancy body mass index with nutrient intakes varied across the nutrient subgroups. Targeted programs are needed to improve nutrient intakes in Vietnamese pregnant women

Solar System Escape Trajectories Using Solar Sails

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76979/1/AIAA-2354-496.pd

Non-rigid registration of liver ct images for ct-guided ablation of liver tumors

CT-guided percutaneous ablation for liver cancer treatment is a relevant technique for patients not eligible for surgery and with tumors that are inconspicuous on US imaging. The lack of real-time imaging and the use of a limited amount of CT contrast agent make targeting the tumor with the needle challenging. In this study, we evaluate a registration framework that allows the integration of diagnostic pre-operative contrast enhanced CT images and intra-operative non-contrast enhanced CT images to improve image guidance in the intervention. The liver and tumor are segmented in the pre-operative contrast enhanced CT images. Next, the contrast enhanced image is registered to the intra-operative CT images in a two-stage approach. First, the contrast-enhanced diagnostic image is non-rigidly registered to a non-contrast enhanced image that is conventionally acquired at the start of the intervention. In case the initial registration is not sufficiently accurate, a refinement step is applied using non-rigid registration method with a local rigidity term. In the second stage, the intra-operative CT-images that are used to check the needle position, which often consist of only a few slices, are registered rigidly to the intra-operative image that was acquired at the start of the intervention. Subsequently, the diagnostic image is registered to the current intra-operative image, using both transformations, this allows the visualization of the tumor region extracted from pre-operative data in the intra-operative CT images containing needle. The method is evaluated on imaging data of 19 patients at the Erasmus MC. Quantitative evaluation is performed using the Dice metric, mean surface distance of the liver border and corresponding landmarks in the diagnostic and the intra-operative images. The registration of the diagnostic CT image to the initial intra-operative CT image did not require a refinement step in 13 cases. For those cases, the resulting registration had a Dice coefficient for the livers of 91.4%, a mean surface distance of 4.4 mm and a mean distance between corresponding landmarks of 4.7 mm. For the three cases with a refinement step, the registration result significantly improved (p<0.05) compared to the result of the initial non rigid registration method (DICE of 90.3% vs 71.3% and mean surface distance of 5.1 mm vs 11.3 mm and mean distanc