Weaving webs of connection: Empathy, perspective taking, and students’ motivation

L2 motivation is a relational phenomenon, shaped by teacher responsiveness (Lamb, 2017; Ushioda, 2009). Little, however, is known about the practices in which responsiveness is manifested. Drawing on research from the culturally responsive teaching paradigm (Petrone, 2013), and highlighting the role of empathy and perspective taking (Warren, 2018), the aim of this ethnographic case study of two lessons with a focus on poetry is to develop a relational understanding of the evolution of motivation. Analyses reveal how perspective taking has instructional and interactional dimensions, and how connections between lesson content and funds of knowledge with origins in students’ interactions with popular culture bring additional layers of meaning to learning. It is suggested that while connections that arise through perspective taking practices shape students’ in-the-moment motivational responses, they also accumulate in ways that lead to enduring motivational dispositions

‘Nasal flossing’: a case report of nasopharyngeal stenosis due to severe erosive lichen planus and a novel therapeutic intervention

Introduction: We describe a case of severe erosive oral lichen planus that led to nasopharyngeal stenosis. This is a rare clinical presentation that was ultimately, successfully treated by surgery combined with post-operative ‘nasal flossing’: a novel therapeutic intervention. Presentation of case: A 76-year-old male suffering from a rare case of severe oral lichen planus that was resistant to conservative measures is described. Initial surgery was complicated by recurrence of nasopharyngeal stenosis. Definitive surgery required revision of nasopharyngeal stenosis release combined with a course of post- operative ‘nasal flossing’. The technique for ‘nasal flossing’ is described and demonstrated in photographs. The patient remained asymptomatic at 3 years using this combined approach, with restoration of olfaction, taste perception and voice quality, significantly enhancing quality of life. Discussion: Erosive oral lichen planus is a rare but important presentation in oral medicine. We found ‘nasal flossing’ to be a successful treatment to maintain nasopharyngeal patency following surgical repair of this uncommon condition. We are not aware that this combined approach has previously been described in the published literature. Conclusions: Severe erosive oral lichen planus can lead to nasopharyngeal stenosis. Nasopharyngeal stenosis in these patients may be refractive to conventional surgical approaches. ‘Nasal flossing’ is demonstrated to be both practical and acceptable as a surgical adjunct in these difficult to treat cases of recurrent nasopharyngeal stenosis. This report has relevance for all those practicing oral and maxillofacial surgery, ear nose and throat surgery and oral medicine

Characterisation of a pucBA deletion mutant from Rhodopseudomonas palustris lacking all but the pucBAd genes

Rhodopseudomonas palustris is a species of purple photosynthetic bacteria that has a multigene family of puc genes that encode the alpha and beta apoproteins, which form the LH2 complexes. A genetic dissection strategy has been adopted in order to try and understand which spectroscopic form of LH2 these different genes produce. This paper presents a characterisation of one of the deletion mutants generated in this program, the pucBAd only mutant. This mutant produces an unusual spectroscopic form of LH2 that only has a single large NIR absorption band at 800 nm. Spectroscopic and pigment analyses on this complex suggest that it has basically a similar overall structure as that of the wild-type HL LH2 complex. The mutant has the unique phenotype where the mutant LH2 complex is only produced when cells are grown at LL. At HL the mutant only produces the LH1-RC core complex

A novel non-contact method for monitoring the Acoustic Emission from mixed EHL contacts

Lubricated non-conformal contacts, such as between gear teeth, operate with high levels of mixed lubrication, where the amount of direct asperity contact depends on operating parameters which influence the film thickness. Understanding of the levels of surface interaction is key to optimising component life, and there is considerable interest in sensitive monitoring methods such as Acoustic Emission (AE). Researchers have shown that AE can detect subtle changes in lubrication conditions, using sensors mounted directly on the rotating gears. However, the use of such sensors is complex and unsuitable for implementation in real gearboxes. The alternative, of using sensors placed on housings, is hampered by signal attenuation and noise. This paper presents a novel, non-contact stationary sensor, coupled by an oil film to the rotating gear, which is shown to be capable of detecting important changes in lubrication conditions with significantly higher consistency and precision than housing-mounted sensors, whilst avoiding the complexities of gear-mounted sensors

Understanding micropitting in gears

Micropitting is a serious form of erosive wear, which can occur on the teeth of transmission gears. It is associated with roughness effects and surface fatigue and has become a particular problem in the speed-increasing gearboxes of wind turbines. This paper reviews the contributions which the authors have made towards an understanding of the basic mechanism of micropitting in gears based on analysis of the contact mechanics and elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) of gear tooth surfaces under realistic operating conditions. Results are presented which demonstrate the crucial influence of EHL film thickness in relation to roughness (the ‘Λ ratio’) on predicted contact and near-surface fatigue. The important effect of plastic deformation, which takes place during the initial stage of running-in of gears, has also been investigated, and it has been shown that significant residual effects occur, which can contribute to the early formation of surface-initiated cracks

A novel method for automatic detection of incipient micropitting in ground surfaces

Micropitting is a surface fatigue phenomenon, on the scale of the surface roughness, which can be a significant problem in heavily loaded mixed lubrication contacts in power transmission gearing. Modern surface profilometry equipment allows detailed areal measurements of micropitted surfaces to be obtained. However, the processing of these surfaces to determine the extent of micropitting is difficult and often involves manual or semi-manual evaluation. This paper presents a new algorithm to allow the automated detection of micropits in areal surface measurements of ground surfaces, and its effectiveness is demonstrated by examination of measurements taken from a test where the early stages of micropitting developed. Comparison with previous methods for evaluating the amount of micropitting based on linear surface profiles clearly illustrates the truly three-dimensional nature of incipient micropitting