Using TV News to Integrate the Four Skills: A Guide for EFL Teachers

These materials were developed to help guide an EFL teacher’s approach to incorporating TV news stories in an intermediate or advanced level course. An introduction and rationale are presented, the role of the instructor is explored and teaching suggestions are offered. An extensive checklist of four skill core activities and a demonstration on incorporating them into a lesson plan are also integrated into these materials

Combating the sophomore slump through peer-mentoring among African American students at predominantly white institutions.

There is a plethora of research regarding the first year undergraduate student experience; however, 2nd year students are facing adversity and consequently high rates of attrition. This phenomenon is known as the sophomore slump. There is limited research of how the sophomore slump impacts African Americans and research supports involvement, particularly as a peer mentor, increases student persistence beyond the 2nd year. This study uses Tinto\u27s theory of student departure and Collin\u27s theory of other-mothering to explore how the academic and social skills of CONECT peer mentors contribute to their experiences as peer mentors and their overall persistence

The changing nature of employment : how self-employed professionals manage their lives, learning and knowledge

This research has investigated how one particular group of knowledge workers, self-employed human resource professionals, are managing their lives, learning and knowledge. Its contextual background is the changing nature of work and employment in late 20th century Britain, informed by the 'informational technological paradigm' (Castells, 1996), and the changing landscape of careers. Although there is other empirical work that has investigated the lives of individuals pursuing nontraditional career models (e.g. 'portfolio career', or 'lifestyle career'), this research is different. First, it is based on a broader view of a career, where the term career is seen as applying to all lifeareas, not just an individual's working life. Second, it has adopted a different methodological approach, applying the Life History Methodology. The research sample included twenty-six participants, seventeen male and nine female, identified through non-probability sampling. By taking a broader perspective of the term career the research has illuminated how the decisions that these individuals make about their work career is balanced with the needs and demands from other life-areas e.g. family and learning, together with the availability of key resources. The findings include: a description of the structural changes that occur in these individuals' lives; the benefits, threats, opportunities and paradoxes associated with the self-employed lifestyle, and the strategies adopted for managing their learning and knowledge. Whilst formal learning was found to have an important place in these individuals' lives, at strategic points, much of their learning falls into six informal learning categories. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications and opportunities for policy making. These fall into two main areas. First, the insights into the different ways that individuals construct work-life balance could help organisations rethink policies aimed at addressing the phenomenon of work-life balance. Second, the insights into the tensions that these professionals experience with their learning could help inform the provision of learning resources aimed at 'Self-employed professionals

Manipulation by Merging and Annexation in Weighted Voting Games

The problem of manipulation in voting is fundamental and has received attention in recent research in game theory. In this paper, we consider two cases of manipulation in weighted voting games done by merging of coalitions into single players and by annexation of a part or all of the voting weights of another player viewed from two perspectives: of the effect of swings of players and of the role of the Banzhaf power index. We prove two theorems for manipulation by merging and annexation, and show several attractive properties in these two processes. ACM Computing Classification System (1998): J.4, I.2.1

Internet Service Providers (ISP) Markets of Australia and New Zealand

This paper compares the Australian and New Zealand Internet market. It draws heavily on Enright (2000) which reports the short history of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in New Zealand since the inception of the Internet in 1994. It also provides a review of the prices and market shares and strategic motivations for entry to this market. The Internet phenomenon is worldwide. Thus although the New Zealand market has experienced rapid price declines and growing market penetration its performance in delivering benefits to consumers should be judged relative to that of ISP markets elsewhere. International comparisons are fraught with difficulties that make for very cautious interpretation of cross-country price studies. Nevertheless some consideration of the Australian ISP market does help place the New Zealand market in perspective. The purpose of this paper is to build on the evidence of Enright op cit and place it in a wider context by comparing the Australian and New Zealand ISP markets in 1999. The comparison suggests that Internet service provision in New Zealand was cheaper in 1999 than in Australia and that penetration and usage in New Zealand was at least that of Australia

A Hedonic Analysis of the Impact of Marine Aquaculture on Coastal Housing Prices in Maine

Converting coastal waters to farmed production of seafood may generate conflicts with other resource users. This study explores the impact of marine aquaculture development on coastal homeowners. Using single-family home sales from 2012–2014 and spatial data on coastal aquaculture activity, we employ hedonics to assess the impacts of mariculture development in three study areas of Maine, USA. Our results suggest modest impacts on residential property values with significant spatial variation across study areas. This spatial variation represents a challenge for managers and highlights the potential benefits from coordinating the development of aquaculture to balance resource users\u27 objectives with industry growth

Inhibition of the MEK1/ERK pathway reduces arachidonic acid release independently of cPLA(2) phosphorylation and translocation

BACKGROUND: The 85-kDa cytosolic phospholipase A(2) (cPLA(2)) mediates arachidonic acid (AA) release in MDCK cells. Although calcium and mitogen-activated protein kinases regulate cPLA(2), the correlation of cPLA(2) translocation and phosphorylation with MAPK activation and AA release is unclear. RESULTS: MEK1 inhibition by U0126 inhibited AA release in response to ATP and ionomycin. This directly correlated with inhibition of ERK activation but not with phosphorylation of cPLA(2) on Ser(505), which was only partially inhibited by ERK inhibition. Inhibition of AA release by U0126 was still observed when stoichiometric phosphorylation of cPLA(2) on Ser(505) was maintained by activating p38 with anisomycin. Translocation kinetics of wild-type cPLA(2) and cPLA(2) containing S505A or S727A mutations to Golgi were similar in response to ATP and ionomycin and were not affected by U0126. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the ability of cPLA(2) to hydrolyze membrane phospholipid is reduced by inhibition of the MEK1/ERK pathway and that the reduction in activity is independent of cPLA(2) phosphorylation and translocation to membrane. The results also demonstrate that cPLA(2) mutated at the phosphorylation sites Ser(505) and Ser(727) translocated with similar kinetic as wild-type cPLA(2)

Effect of Blueberries on Lipid Parameters of Ovariectomized Rats

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in the nation with an associated annual health care cost of approximately 448 billion. In women, risk for CVD drastically increases when they reach menopause, partly due to elevation of cholesterol. With the side effects associated with hormone replacement therapy and other prescription medications, dietary modifications play an important role in reducing cholesterol and other CVD risk factors in postmenopausal women. This study examines the effects of blueberry (BB) on modulating lipid profile in ovariectomized (Ovx) rats. Blueberry is a rich source of phenolic compounds and has a high antioxidant capacity. Sixty-two five-month old female Sprague-Dawley rats were either sham-operated (Sham) or Ovx and randomly assigned to one of five treatment groups (n=12-13/group), Sham +control, Ovx +control, Ovx+ 2.5% BB, Ovx +5.0% BB, or Ovx +7.5%BB. After 90 days of treatment, rats were necropsied and tissue samples were collected. Total cholesterol increased due to Ovx but none of the doses of BB were able to prevent the Ovx- induced rise in serum total cholesterol. Triglycerides and liver cholesterol were not altered by Ovx or dietary treatment. The results of this study indicate that the hypercholesterolemic effects of ovariectomy are not prevented by BB.Department of Nutritional Science