1,497 research outputs found
Language motivation in a reconfigured Europe: access, identity, autonomy
In this paper, I propose that we need to develop an appropriate set of conceptual tools for examining motivational issues pertaining to linguistic diversity, mobility and social integration in a rapidly changing and expanding Europe. I begin by drawing on research that has begun to reframe the concept of integrative motivation in the context of theories of self and identity. Expanding the notion of identity, I discuss the contribution of the Council of Europe's European Language Portfolio in promoting a view of motivation as the development of a plurilingual European identity and the enabling of access and mobility across a multilingual Europe. Next, I critically examine the assumption that the individual pursuit of a plurilingual identity is unproblematic, by highlighting the social context in which motivation and identity are constructed and embedded. To illuminate the role of this social context, I explore three inter-related theoretical frameworks: poststructuralist perspectives on language motivation as 'investment'; sociocultural theory; and theories of autonomy in language education. I conclude with the key message that, as with autonomy, language motivation today has an inescapably political dimension of which we need to take greater account in our research and pedagogical practice
The Noxa/Mcl-1 Axis Regulates Susceptibility to Apoptosis under Glucose Limitation in Dividing T Cells
SummaryThroughout lymphocyte development, cellular persistence and expansion are tightly regulated by survival and apoptosis. Within the Bcl-2 family, distinct apoptogenic BH3-only members like Bid, Bim, and Puma appear to function in specific cell death pathways. We found that naive human T cells after mitogenic activation, apart from expected protective Bcl-2 members, also rapidly upregulate the BH3-only protein Noxa in a p53-independent fashion. The specific role of Noxa became apparent during glucose limitation and involves interaction with the labile Bcl-2 homolog Mcl-1. Knockdown of Noxa or Mcl-1 results in protection or susceptibility, respectively, to apoptosis induced by glucose deprivation. Declining Mcl-1 levels and apoptosis induction are inversely correlated to Noxa levels and prevented by readdition of glucose. We propose that the Noxa/Mcl-1 axis is an apoptosis rheostat in dividing cells, in a selective pathway that functions to restrain lymphocyte expansion and can be triggered by glucose deprivation
The FIR-absorption of short period quantum wires and the transition from one to two dimensions
We investigate the FIR-absorption of short period parallel quantum wires in a
perpendicular quantizing magnetic field. The external time-dependent electric
field is linearly polarized along the wire modulation. The mutual Coulomb
interaction of the electrons is treated self-consistently in the ground state
and in the absorption calculation within the Hartree approximation. We consider
the effects of a metal gate grating coupler, with the same or with a different
period as the wire modulation, on the absorption. The evolution of the
magnetoplasmon in the nonlocal region where it is split into several Bernstein
modes is discussed in the transition from: narrow to broad wires, and isolated
to overlapping wires. We show that in the case of narrow and not strongly
modulated wires the absorption can be directly correlated with the underlying
electronic bandstructure.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, Revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Universal Equilibrium Currents in the Quantum Hall Fluid
The equilibrium current distribution in a quantum Hall fluid that is
subjected to a slowly varying confining potential is shown to generally consist
of strips or channels of current, which alternate in direction, and which have
universal integrated strengths. A measurement of these currents would yield
direct independent measurements of the proper quasiparticle and quasihole
energies in the fractional quantum Hall states.Comment: 4 pages, Revte
- …