A CASE STUDY OF NON-NATIVE ENGLISH-SPEAKING INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

The social identity construction of international students studying in the United States is important to the field of second language learning and the study of identity. A Social Identity and Communities of Practice (CoP) framework were used to understand how participation in a CoP informed the identity of non-native speaking university international students studying in the U.S. The focus of this study was to investigate how participation in a CoP informed the identity of non-native speaking international university students studying in the U.S. I proposed that these frameworks provided a foundation for understanding how participation in a CoP for non-native English-speaking university students informed their international student identity. Furthermore, this study showed how participation in a CoP contributed to the participants’ sense of belonging. Data collected for this study included audio recordings of the group and individual interviews, notes from the observation of the CoP, audio recordings of the CoP observations, and notes of researcher’s thoughts. Several major themes emerged including: Identity, Language, and Aspects of Communities of Practice. These themes described why this group of students decided to belong to this particular CoP, their motivation for attending and participating in this CoP, and their experiences in the CoP. Results of this study addressed that participating in a CoP helped participants inform their international student identity and a sense of belonging

Transport Proteins Regulate the Flux of Metabolites and Cofactors Across the Membrane of Plant Peroxisomes

In land plants, peroxisomes play key roles in various metabolic pathways, including the most prominent examples, that is lipid mobilization and photorespiration. Given the large number of substrates that are exchanged across the peroxisomal membrane, a wide spectrum of metabolite and cofactor transporters is required and needs to be efficiently coordinated. These peroxisomal transport proteins are a prerequisite for metabolic reactions inside plant peroxisomes. The entire peroxisomal “permeome” is closely linked to the adaption of photosynthetic organisms during land plant evolution to fulfill and optimize their new metabolic demands in cells, tissues, and organs. This review assesses for the first time the distribution of these peroxisomal transporters within the algal and plant species underlining their evolutionary relevance. Despite the importance of peroxisomal transporters, the majority of these proteins, however, are still unknown at the molecular level in plants as well as in other eukaryotic organisms. Four transport proteins have been recently identified and functionally characterized in Arabidopsis so far: one transporter for the import of fatty acids and three carrier proteins for the uptake of the cofactors ATP and NAD into plant peroxisomes. The transport of the three substrates across the peroxisomal membrane is essential for the degradation of fatty acids and fatty acids-related compounds via β-oxidation. This metabolic pathway plays multiple functions for growth and development in plants that have been crucial in land plant evolution. In this review, we describe the current state of their physiological roles in Arabidopsis and discuss novel features in their putative transport mechanisms

Las adivinanzas como estrategias para potenciar la comprensión lectora en estudiantes de primer año básico

Tesis (Profesor de Educación Física, Licenciado en Educación)En esta investigación se busca dilucidar los efectos que tienen las adivinanzas en la comprensión lectora de los alumnos, específicamente en la comprensión inferencial. Existen estrategias y habilidades para mejorar la comprensión lectora, abarcando distintos modelos, taxonomías y estrategias didácticas que giran en torno a formar hábiles lectores. Por esta razón, nos centraremos en el nivel de comprensión inferencial, usando las adivinanzas como impulsor de la comprensión lectora. Las adivinanzas, en este caso, serán estrategias didácticas para la mejora de la comprensión de un texto. Se pretendió verificar que el uso de adivinanzas es una estrategia efectiva para la comprensión lectora a nivel inferencial, ya que estas contienen significados ocultos y los alumnos pueden acceder a sus conocimientos previos y realizar así una comprensión profunda del texto. Para comprobar si el uso de las adivinanzas es efectivo se realizaron dos pruebas. La primera correspondió a una prueba diagnóstica que busca conocer el nivel de comprensión inferencial que poseen los estudiantes, para luego aplicar las adivinanzas como estrategias y luego aplicar una post prueba para comprobar si las adivinanzas tienen un efecto positivo en el entrenamiento de la comprensión inferencial

Shone-Anomalie: Fallbericht und Hintergrund

Zusammenfassung: Die Shone-Anomalie wurde 1963 erstmals beschrieben und stellt eine seltene kongenitale kardiovaskuläre Missbildung mit verschiedenen linkskardialen stenotischen Läsionen dar. Die klassische Form besteht aus einem fibrösen supravalvulären Mitralring, einer fallschirmartigen Deformation der Mitralklappe mit nur einem Papillarmuskel ("parachute mitral valve"), einer subvalvulären Aortenstenose und einer Aortenisthmusstenose. Es gibt nur vereinzelte perioperative Fallberichte von erwachsenen Patienten mit dieser kardiovaskulären Missbildung. Allerdings können Patienten mit einer undiagnostizierten, inkompletten Form der Shone-Anomalie auch im Erwachsenenalter für nichtherzchirurgische Operationen vorgesehen sein. In dem vorliegenden Fallbericht wird das anästhesiologische Management einer Patientin, die für eine abdominale Hysterektomie vorgesehen war und an einer bisher nichtdiagnostizierten Shone-Anomalie litt, beschriebe

Web Service for Creation of Informative Web Pages about Events

Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá analýzou technologií webových aplikací, dostupných vývojových prostředí, aplikačních rámců a v neposlední řadě také návrhem a vývojem webové služby. Tato služba svým uživatelům poskytuje možnost vytvořit informační webové stránky k pořádaným událostem soukromého charakteru. Služba je implementována v jazyce JavaScript. Na serverové straně je použit aplikační rámec Express, běhové prostředí Node.js a databáze MongoDB. Klientská část služby je implementována za použití aplikačního rámce React. This bachelor's thesis deals with analyzing technologies of web applications, available development environments, frameworks and last but not least also with designing and developing a web service. Such service provides creation of informational web pages about upcoming private events. The service is implemented in JavaScript. Express framework running in Node.js environment is used on the server-side. MongoDB is used as a database. Client-side is implemented with use of React framework.

Universal Blog Manager

Sdílení názorů a pocitů na Internetu (blogování) se s přibývajícimi lety stává stále populárnější. Vývojáři aplikací na tento trend reagovali a vytvořili mnoho desktopových aplikací ulehčujících publikovaní obsahu. Ale téměř žadná z dostupných aplikací nedokáže uživateli spřístupnit celý potenciál blogovací platformy. Rozhodli jsme se proto zaplnit tuto medzeru tím, že navrhneme desktopovou aplikaci rozšiřitelnou pomocí zásuvných modulů, která by byla schopna spřistupnit jakýkoliv blog a využít celý jeho potenciál, zatímco by zůstala intuitivní a jednoduchá na použití. Dokončením našeho záměru jsme vytvořili aplikaci dostatečně mocnou pro experty, ale stále dostatečně jednoduchou i pro běžného uživatele. Tato aplikace účinně zaplňuje mezeru vytvořenou aplikacemi, které se víc zaměřují na publikovaní obsahu.Sharing opinions and feeling on the Internet (blogging) is becoming increasingly popular with passing years. Application developers reacted to this trend and created many desktop applications making publishing simple. But almost none of these applications bring the whole power of the blogging engine to the user. We decided to fill this gap by designing a plugin-extensible desktop application capable of accessing any blog and harnessing all its potential, while still remaining simple and intuitive. By completing our intent, we created an application powerful enough for an exert user, yet simple enough for an average blogger. This application effectively fills the gap left open by more publishing-focused blogging tools.Department of Distributed and Dependable SystemsKatedra distribuovaných a spolehlivých systémůFaculty of Mathematics and PhysicsMatematicko-fyzikální fakult

Spoiling under the influence : the narcotics trade as a serious threat to Myanmar's nationwide ceasefire process?

This thesis deals with the role of opium as a conflict resource in the Myanmar civil war. It poses the question whether some actors have developed an interest in deliberately prolonging the conflict because they perceive war as more profitable than peace. The topic has been chosen because there is little to be found in the literature which influence opium has had on the longevity and intensity of the conflicts in Myanmar. The thesis therefore aims to shed light on some of the actors and structures which are connected to the narcotics trade and investigates whether some actors sabotage or have incentives to sabotage the Nationwide Ceasefire Process (NCA) that is still ongoing. The thesis uses the concept of spoilers in peace processes to analyze the conflict. The method is framed by using theories on the role of natural resources on civil wars and on shadow and war economies and black markets. The thesis also makes references to peace and conflict research concepts such as structural violence. The data used comes from five expert interviews, reports by for example the UNODC and the Transnational Institute (TNI), academic literature and news resources. The study found that currently nobody engaged in the narcotics trade has an interest ins sabotaging the NCA for several reasons, one is that a potential ceasefire is unlikely to affect the opium business at all. On the contrary, many former insurgent groups' drug trade activities have started to thrive since they agreed to a ceasefire with the government. This means that a ceasefire, understood as a form of negative peace in this thesis, is perceived more profitable than continued warfare. The NCA might be still threatened by actors because of other reasons, especially political ones. Spoilers might still emerge in the future. The study results point towards other areas, especially the conflict potential of other natural resources such as gemstones and timber as well as to the political reasons for spoiling