Influence of Biographical Factors on Individual Success in Second Language Acquisition

This paper is concerned with the question whether or not biographical factors such as sex, age, contact with the target language, stays in a target-language-speaking environment or native speaker teachers actually have a measurable influence on individual success in second language acquisition (SLA). These factors are often assumed to have an influence, and serve as a basis for many prejudices against L2 speakers that are held by potential employers but also by the public. One example for these prejudices would be the assumption that an individual who has stayed in a target-language-speaking environment for a few months, will be fully proficient or "perfect" in the target language. Based on this assumption, we can observe a rising popularity of foreign-exchange programs in high school and university and a positive discrimination of applicants who claim such a stay in their CV by employers. Within this work, we have tested most of these "common-sense" assumption in a study, using English as an L2 as an example

Influence of Biographical Factors on Individual Success in Second Language Acquisition

This paper is concerned with the question whether or not biographical factors such as sex, age, contact with the target language, stays in a target-language-speaking environment or native speaker teachers actually have a measurable influence on individual success in second language acquisition (SLA). These factors are often assumed to have an influence, and serve as a basis for many prejudices against L2 speakers that are held by potential employers but also by the public. One example for these prejudices would be the assumption that an individual who has stayed in a target-language-speaking environment for a few months, will be fully proficient or "perfect" in the target language. Based on this assumption, we can observe a rising popularity of foreign-exchange programs in high school and university and a positive discrimination of applicants who claim such a stay in their CV by employers. Within this work, we have tested most of these "common-sense" assumption in a study, using English as an L2 as an example

Normal Mouse Intestinal Epithelial Cells as a Model for the in vitro Invasion of Trichinella spiralis Infective Larvae

It has been known for many years that Trichinella spiralis initiates infection by penetrating the columnar epithelium of the small intestine; however, the mechanisms used by the parasite in the establishment of its intramulticellular niche in the intestine are unknown. Although the previous observations indicated that invasion also occurs in vitro when the infective larvae are inoculated onto cultures of intestinal epithelial cells (e.g., human colonic carcinoma cell line Caco-2, HCT-8), a normal readily manipulated in vitro model has not been established because of difficulties in the culture of primary intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). In this study, we described a normal intestinal epithelial model in which T. spiralis infective larvae were shown to invade the monolayers of normal mouse IECs in vitro. The IECs derived from intestinal crypts of fetal mouse small intestine had the ability to proliferate continuously and express specific cytokeratins as well as intestinal functional cell markers. Furthermore, they were susceptible to invasion by T. spiralis. When inoculated onto the IEC monolayer, infective larvae penetrated cells and migrated through them, leaving trails of damaged cells heavily loaded with T. spiralis larval excretory-secretory (ES) antigens which were recognized by rabbit immune sera on immunofluorescence test. The normal intestinal epithelial model of invasion mimicking the natural environment in vivo will help us to further investigate the process as well as the mechanisms by which T. spiralis establishes its intestinal niche

Comparison of the level of coordination abilities of football players of age U9 FC Viktoria Plzen and Slavia Prague

Bakalářská práce poukazuje na problematiku v oblasti koordinačních schopností a rozdílů v kvalitě hráčů fotbalových přípravek. Cílem práce je srovnání dvou ligových mužstev v kategorii U9 z hlediska koordinačních schopností a posoudit, zda se vlivem zařazování koordinačních cvičení a her do tréninku zlepšily. Jde o mužstva FC Viktoria Plzeň a SK Slavia Praha, která budou testována ve čtyřech stejných testech s tím, že mezi úvodním a závěrečným testováním proběhnou tři měsíce tréninků zaměřených na rozvoj koordinačních schopností.ObhájenoBachelor thesis highlights the problem of coordination abilities and differences in the quality of players of football players od age U9. The aim of the study is to compare two league teams at U9 category in terms of coordination abilities and assess whether the influence of marshaling coordination exercises and games to improve training. It is the team FC Viktoria Plzen and SK Slavia Praha, which will be tested in four same tests that between the initial and final testing will take place three months of training designed to develop coordination skills

Transgenic mice containing intestinal fatty acid-binding protein-human growth hormone fusion genes exhibit correct regional and cell-specific expression of the reporter gene in their small intestine.

The rat intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP) gene exhibits cell-specific as well as regional differences in its expression within the continuously regenerating small intestinal epithelium. To investigate the underlying mechanisms, we linked portions of its 5' nontranscribed domain to the human growth hormone (hGH) gene and analyzed expression of the hGH reporter in transgenic mice by RNA blot, solution hybridization, and immunocytochemical techniques. Sequences located within 277 nucleotides of the start site of I-FABP transcription are sufficient to limit hGH expression to the intestine. Although the absolute levels of hGH mRNA in the duodenum and proximal jejunum of these transgenic mice were similar to those of I-FABP mRNA, steady-state hGH mRNA concentrations were approximately 100 times lower in their distal small intestine. Addition of nucleotides -278 to -1178 of the I-FABP gene "restored" hGH mRNA concentrations in the distal jejunum and ileum to levels comparable to murine I-FABP mRNA. Serum hGH levels were 1000 times lower in the "short promoter" transgenic mice compared to animals with the "long promoter" transgene, indicating that efficient distal small intestinal hGH expression is required to produce elevated hGH concentrations in serum. The distribution of hGH in villus-associated enterocytes and goblet cells and its lack of expression in the crypts of Lieberkuhn mimicked that of the endogenous I-FABP gene product in all transgenic pedigrees. However, bands of hGH-negative cells extending from the base to the tips of villi were frequently observed in mice that were heterozygous for the short promoter transgene. This mosaic staining was not observed for I-FABP. These data suggest that (i) different cis-acting sequences may be required for complete expression of proximal-distal I-FABP gradients than for recapitulation of its normal crypt-villus tip distribution; (ii) differences may exist in the export pathways of secreted proteins within enterocytes located in various regions of the small intestine; and (iii) there may be subtle genetic differences among various crypt stem cells that can be detected in vivo by observing mosaic patterns of transgene expression along the villus epithelium