Emergentism and musicology: an alternative perspective to the understanding of dissonance.

In this paper we develop an approach to musicology within the discussion of emergentism. First of all, we claim that some theories of musicology could be insufficient in describing and explaining musical phenomena when emergent properties are not taken into account. Actually, musicology usually considers just syntactical elements, structures and processes and puts only a little emphasis, if any, over perceptual aspects of human hearing. On the other hand, recent research efforts are currently being directed towards an understanding of the emergent properties of auditory perception, especially in fields such as cognitive science. Such research leads to other views concerning old issues in musicology and could create a fruitful approach, filling the gap between musicology and auditory perception

THE EXPECTATIONS OF ENGLISH AS FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN SLA THEORIES COURSES

This study investigated the expectations of English as foreign language students in second language acquisition (SLA) theories courses. Foreign language learners expected that all second language acquisition courses would assist them in their foreign language learning or acquisition process. This research attempts to reveal the application of these SLA theories in real-life situations when learning and acquiring English as a foreign language. This qualitative and quantitative study included 40 participants studying Languages and translation at the University of Tabuk in Saudi Arabia. This study used Brown’s (2000) framework and principles of language learning. The researcher used three research instruments; questionnaires, an observation checklist, and a semi-structured interview. The findings of the study showed that Many learners were interested and concerned with the relevance of the SLA theories course to their foreign language learning process within the classroom setting and in real-life situations (natural and unnatural settings). In addition, they expected these theories to be supportive and helpful in assisting them to learn the English language as a foreign or second language, which is almost not possible in reality and is not merely practical but rather theoretical. The study recommends that educationists and decision-makers be concerned with developing and designing materials relevant to the application of SLA theories in teaching and learning English as a foreign language.  Article visualizations

Effects of Carboxylated Nanodiamonds on Macrophages During and After Differentiation

Nanodiamonds (ND) are a carbon-based nanomaterial that are increasingly being proposed for developing novel imaging techniques, as carriers of biomolecules and therapeutic drugs, as coatings for implants, and for other biomedical applications. The exceptional chemical, mechanical, and optical properties of ND make this material suitable in a wide range of fields. The application of ND in the biomedical field is attractive but requires more in-depth investigation into the safety of ND and its interactions with different cells and systems. The effects of ND on the immune system are not fully understood or investigated and there are several controverting reports regarding ND biocompatibility. Macrophages are found in almost all tissues of the body and are key players in the vertebrate immune system, maintaining homeostasis and initiating immune response to a wide range of pathogens and foreign or host mediators. I hypothesized that ND can affect macrophages and interfere with their functions, and aimed to study interactions of ND with these cells to better understand the potential impact of ND on the immune system. My studies included monitoring both cultured and bone-marrow-derived macrophages in vitro after different exposure conditions and assessment of their effects on cellular processes using molecular laboratory techniques. Results showed that these particles do not significantly increase cell death or changes in cell morphology. These macrophages internalized ND via phagocytic and clathrin-dependent endocytosis in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The internalized ND localized to the cytoplasm without eliciting an inflammatory response in macrophages. Investigations on the macrophage functions showed that treatment of macrophages with ND did not affect their ability to respond to lipopolysaccharides. On the other hand, their endocytic activity was reduced significantly, irrespective of ND dose. Exposure of bone marrow cells to ND early during their differentiation did not affect their morphology or reduce the percent of cells expressing macrophage surface markers. Nonetheless, ND exposure reduced the number of surface markers expressed on each cell. My findings suggest that ND are not cytotoxic to macrophages at the tested concentrations, but they can interfere with macrophage functions and differentiation. Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms by which ND suppress macrophages endocytic activity and expression of surface markers and the downstream impact of these suppressed immune functions. In addition, the effects of ND on other cells’ immune functions and expression of other immune mediators yet to be studied before concluding the immunotoxicity or compatibility of ND

Elevation-Distributed Multistage Reverse Osmosis Desalination with Seawater Pumped Storage

A seawater reverse osmosis (RO) plant layout based on multistage RO with stages located at different elevations above sea level is described. The plant uses the weight of a seawater column from pumped storage as head pressure for RO (gravity-driven multistage RO) or to supplement high-pressure pumps used in RO (gravity-assisted multistage RO). The use of gravitational force reduces the specific energy for RO compared to using high-pressure pumps. By locating the RO stages at different elevations based on demand sites, the total specific energy consumption for RO and permeate transport to different elevations above sea level is reduced from that for locating the RO process entirely at sea level followed by lifting the desalinated water. A final RO stage at sea level uses seawater pressurized by energy recovery from the residual energy of the brine generated from the preceding RO stage. Examples of the plant layout that do not include pump inefficiency and head losses in pipes are described for South Sinai, Egypt, which is a mountainous region that suffers from water scarcity. A gravity-driven multistage RO with a storage tank at 660 m above sea level is considered. For five RO stages located 316–57 m above sea level with 10% recovery at each stage, the specific energy is ~ 32% lower than that for a plant located at sea level operating at the minimum specific energy followed by lifting the same quantity of desalinated water to the elevations of the distributed RO stages. For two stages located at 222 and 57 m above sea level with 30 and 20% recovery, respectively, the reduction in specific energy is ~ 27%. For gravity-assisted five-stage RO with the first stage at 260 m above sea level, while the last stage is at sea level with 10% recovery at each stage the reduction in specific energy is ~ 32%. The proposed RO plant layouts can be adapted to other regions with comparable topography

What Educators Need to Do with Biased Children’s Books on Religion, Gender and Race

Children’s books from around the world have often provided a more favorable description of the groups holding power than those that are marginalized. Fortunately, today’s children’s books are much improved than those published in previous years and portray minority groups better than ever before. However, some recently published children’s literature can be stereotypical. This article explores the way biased children’s books published in selected regions from around the world describe groups holding less power in society. To illustrate how offensive these resources can be, examples of children’s books from Nazi Germany are discussed first

The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Nexus between Green HR Practices and Sustainable HR Management: Evidence from Health-Care Sectors of Pakistan

The global evolvement of green human resource management practices within organizations has significantly influenced the retention of personnel and sustainable growth of the firms. It is very imperative to examine the strengthening relationship between green human resource management (GHRM) and sustainable human resource management (SHRM) practices. Hence, the purpose of this study is to bridge the knowledge gap to examine the moderating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the GHRM and the SHRM practices link. The study collected a total of 300 respondents engaged in the human resource management practices of health care units in Punjab using random stratified sampling data. The data was analyzed using the PLS-SEM approach along with the descriptive statistics of the variables. The existing research studies have already provided the mediating effects of many other variables on the GHRM and sustainable HRM practices in the healthcare industry of Pakistan