HYBRID DISCOURSE AND THE EMERGENCE OF CONTEXT IN BBC’S QUESTION TIME

This paper explores how hybrid discourse, instantiated in talk and interaction, can be shaped not only by a situational context (TV panel show) and cultural context (TV’s increasing democratisation of laity), but also by human volition in pursuit of recognizable and allowable goals. It does this by examining the emergence of context in light of a non-mainstream hybrid and refl exive activity. Specifically, it examines a non-normative interview format that has arisen in contemporary broadcasting through the analysis of three transcribed segments which were taken from two key episodes of the BBC’s fl agship political program: Question Time. Using a range of analytical concepts from symbolic interactionism, pragmatics, and conversational analysis, such as frames and footings, activity types, discourse types, and turn-taking, the analysis shows how institutional (political) and non-institutional (normative) practices can come together in the pursuit of individual goals and contemporary media’s goal for increasingly partisan journalism and confrontainment. Overall, the paper highlights the importance of a multidimensional approach to context, whereby meaning both emerges from and is constitutive of the forms and functions of an activity’s discourse, whilst further highlighting the role of hybridity in contemporary discourse

High Energy Battery Team Capstone Project Report

James Madison University’s High Energy Battery Team was commissioned in Fall 2011 to conceptualize, design, prototype, test, and construct a high voltage, high amperage battery pack capable of powering an all-electric motorcycle at a speed of 70 miles per hour for a minimum of 150 miles. Key design goals were to minimize volume and weight and to maximize power output, reliability, and serviceability. This project report details the Team’s work to develop a battery “sub-pack” using 18650-type lithium ion cells which could be used (in a full-size battery pack) to power a future version of the motorcycle. The ultimate project goal is to supply an all-electric commuter motorcycle to a new market segment, reducing dependency on fossil fuels and eliminating vehicle emissions

Questioning the Sustainability of English-Medium Instruction Policy in Science Classrooms: Teachers’ and Students’ Experiences at a Hong Kong Secondary School

Teaching science through English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is a growing phenomenon around the world. In Hong Kong, this was realised on a large scale in 2010, with the implementation of a “fine-tuning” compulsory language policy. This allowed Chinese-medium schools to adopt EMI fully. Yet, despite such rapid and widespread adoption, an adequate understanding of key stakeholders’ experiences in relation to their perceptions of what constitutes effective EMI science education remains scarce. Thus, we question the sustainability of EMI programs that are driven by top-down policy. In this case study, we explore the perspectives and experiences of six EMI science teachers and thirteen of their students as their secondary school transitions from partial to full EMI. From in-depth interviews (complemented by classroom observations), findings reveal that the transition to full EMI has presented challenges that appear to hinder students’ development of scientific knowledge and the language of science in English. This directly counters the primary goal of the fine-tuning policy. Nevertheless, findings also illuminate a number of coping strategies teachers and students use to deal with their changing curricula. Overall, we offer insights into this under-researched context of transitioning EMI programs and provide recommendations for future research and practice

Modelling choice in digital writing: functional revisions and 'texture'

In this thesis, the digital writing practices of two 2nd year undergraduates are examined in terms of the functions and structures of their revision activity. Using systemic functional linguistics as an underlying framework, the project takes a first step toward to a dynamic description of written text in functional terms. To date, research into dynamic descriptions of language (i.e. the logogenesis, or unfolding of meaning in a text) has been almost entirely based upon data related to the spoken mode. Furthermore, research into revision activity has tended to ignore the functionality or meaning inherent in such revisions. The existing research has, instead, primarily focused on cognitive processes (for e.g., pause times) or which language structures, such as parts of speech, are more frequently involved in revisions that others. Ultimately, this thesis works toward providing a dynamic description of the language functions and revisions involved in revision activity in two student writers. To do this, it makes use of software called keystroke logging to record how two writers compose four academic essays on their computers. Such technology allows us to model the unfolding of a written text in much the same way as a tape recording allows researchers to model the unfolding of a speech. By examining how these writers revise text in light of academic expectations (a 'valued' configuration of field, tenor, and mode register variables present in language choices) and digital mediation (computer afforded composing practices), the thesis shows how certain language functions and structures may play a key role when it comes to shaping an academic essay. In this light, this thesis takes a first step to providing a dynamic description of what is usually analysed solely in synoptic terms, by showing how we can analyse written text as process (an evolving entity) rather than just a product (a static entity). Because of this, a new model of analysis – a combination of keystroke data and functional systemics – is proposed, which can provide an additional perspective to the already existing methods of examining writer behaviour by looking at meaning making practices in revision activity

Nutrient enrichment induces dormancy and decreases diversity of active bacteria in salt marsh sediments

© The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Nature Communications 7 (2016): 12881, doi:10.1038/ncomms12881.Microorganisms control key biogeochemical pathways, thus changes in microbial diversity, community structure and activity can affect ecosystem response to environmental drivers. Understanding factors that control the proportion of active microbes in the environment and how they vary when perturbed is critical to anticipating ecosystem response to global change. Increasing supplies of anthropogenic nitrogen to ecosystems globally makes it imperative that we understand how nutrient supply alters active microbial communities. Here we show that nitrogen additions to salt marshes cause a shift in the active microbial community despite no change in the total community. The active community shift causes the proportion of dormant microbial taxa to double, from 45 to 90%, and induces diversity loss in the active portion of the community. Our results suggest that perturbations to salt marshes can drastically alter active microbial communities, however these communities may remain resilient by protecting total diversity through increased dormancy

Communication: In search of four-atom chiral metal clusters

A combined study utilizing anion photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory was conducted to search for four-atom, chiral, metal, and mostly metal clusters. The clusters considered were AuCoMnBi−/0, AlAuMnO−/0, AgMnOAl−/0, and AuAlPtAg−/0, where the superscripts, −/0, refer to anionic and neutral cluster species, respectively. Based on the agreement of experimentally and theoretically determined values of both electron affinities and vertical detachment energies, the calculated cluster geometries were validated and examined for chirality. Among both anionic and neutral clusters, five structures were identified as beingchiral

Elevated GM3 plasma concentration in idiopathic Parkinson’s disease: A lipidomic analysis

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease whose pathological hallmark is the accumulation of intracellular α-synuclein aggregates in Lewy bodies. Lipid metabolism dysregulation may play a significant role in PD pathogenesis; however, large plasma lipidomic studies in PD are lacking. In the current study, we analyzed the lipidomic profile of plasma obtained from 150 idiopathic PD patients and 100 controls, taken from the ‘Spot’ study at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Our mass spectrometry based analytical panel consisted of 520 lipid species from 39 lipid subclasses including all major classes of glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, glycerolipids and sterols. Each lipid species was analyzed using a logistic regression model. The plasma concentrations of two lipid subclasses, triglycerides and monosialodihexosylganglioside (GM3), were different between PD and control participants. GM3 ganglioside concentration had the most significant difference between PD and controls (1.531±0.037 pmol/μl versus 1.337±0.040 pmol/μl respectively; p-value = 5.96E-04; q-value = 0.048; when normalized to total lipid: p-value = 2.890E-05; q-value = 2.933E-03). Next, we used a collection of 20 GM3 and glucosylceramide (GlcCer) species concentrations normalized to total lipid to perform a ROC curve analysis, and found that these lipids compare favorably with biomarkers reported in previous studies (AUC = 0.742 for males, AUC = 0.644 for females). Our results suggest that higher plasma GM3 levels are associated with PD. GM3 lies in the same glycosphingolipid metabolic pathway as GlcCer, a substrate of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase, which has been associated with PD. These findings are consistent with previous reports implicating lower glucocerebrosidase activity with PD risk

Concert recording 2014-03-06

[Track 01]. Canzon septimi toni no. 2 / Giovanni Gabrieli -- [Track 02]. Consort for ten winds. Jeux ; [Track 03]. Aubade ; [Track 04]. Sautereau / Robert Spittal -- [Track 05]. Serenade in D minor. Moderato ; [Track 06]. Andante con moto ; [Track 07]. Finale. Allegro molto / Antonin Dvorak