Minoritetsspråklige barn og unges grammatiske utvikling

Det vekker bekymring at en gruppe minoritetselever ikke har samme læringsutbytte og leseferdighet som norsk enspråklige elever (bla PISA 2007, PIRLS 2003). Selv om mange av elevene har gode kognitive og språklige ressurser, kan svake norskspråklig ferdigheter ved skolestart føre til mangelfull faglig utvikling. Som en konsekvens av svakt læringsutbytte gis tilbud om spesialundervisning, i stedet for bedre tilpasset opplæring gjennom tilbud som tospråklig fagopplæring eller norsk som andrespråk. Dette fører til en overrepresentasjon av minoritetselever i spesialundervisning (bl.a.Baca & Cervantes 2003, Fredrickson & Cline 2002)

Utvikling av ordforståelse for ulike kategorier ord hos flerspråklige elever på morsmål og norsk

Artikkelen vil kort diskutere innholdet i begrepet akademisk språk og presentere resultater fra et delprosjekt under strategiplanen ââ¬ÂLikeverdig utdanning i praksisââ¬Â (Kunnskapsdepartementet 2007, Monsrud m.fl. 2009, 2010, 2011). Som en del av dette prosjektet ble 979 elever mellom 6 og 12 år med flerspråklig bakgrunn testet både på norsk og på morsmål med oversatte versjoner av vokabulartesten BPVS II (Dunn et al. 1997). Basert på en kategorisering av oppgavene i denne testen, vil vi sammenlikne elevenes resultater på norsk og morsmål når det gjelder forståelse av ulike kategorier ord. Resultatene viser at både lånord med latinsk opphav og norske ord som ikke inngår i vanlig norsk dagligtale er vanskelige å forstå for flerspråklige elever. Når de samme ordene presenteres på morsmål oppnår elevene i alle alderskategorier bedre resultater. Dette kan være en effekt av at elevene generelt har bedre kompetanse på morsmål, men også ordenes oppbygging og særlig hvorvidt ordene på morsmål framstår som mer deskriptive ser ut til å ha betydning

Pharmacodynamic mechanisms behind a refractory state in inflammatory bowel disease

Background and aims - Biological therapy for inflammatory bowel disease is efficient in many cases but not all. The underlying molecular mechanisms behind non-response to biological therapy in inflammatory bowel disease are poorly described. Therefore, we aimed to characterize the mucosal cytokine transcript profile in non-immunogenic, non-responder patients with adequate trough level. Material and methods - Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) (n = 21) and Crohn’s disease (CD) (n = 12) with non-response to biological therapy (anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) or vedolizumab) were included. Reference groups were A: untreated patients with UC or CD at debut of disease who had severe 1-year outcome, B: patients with UC or CD treated to endoscopic remission with biological agents, and C: healthy normal controls. Mucosal transcripts of TNF, interleukin (IL)17 and IL23 were measured by reverse transcription real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results Of the non-responders, 2 out of 12 CD and 1 out of 21 UC patients needed surgery during follow-up. Of the remaining non-responding patients, 8 out of 10 CD and 12 out of 20 UC patients switched biologic treatment. The remaining 2 CD and 8 UC patients continued treatment with the same biological agent with the addition of steroids, immunomodulators (AZA/MTX) and /or local steroids/5ASA. Twelve (8 UC/4 CD) out of 20 IBD patients were still non-responders after changing biological therapy to either anti-TNF (2), vedolizumab (9) or ustekinumab (1). The transcripts of IL17, IL23 and TNF were significantly upregulated in the non-response group compared to normal controls and patients in remission. In UC, 24% of the non-responders had normal mucosal TNF transcript indicating a non-TNF mediated inflammation. No obvious differences in gene expression were observed between primary and secondary non-responders, nor between anti-TNF and vedolizumab non-responders. Conclusions - Mucosal transcripts of IL17 and IL23 are highly associated with non-response to biological therapy, whereas some UC patients may also have a non-TNF mediated inflammatory pathway

Automatic Coarse Graining of Polymers

Several recently proposed semi--automatic and fully--automatic coarse--graining schemes for polymer simulations are discussed. All these techniques derive effective potentials for multi--atom units or super--atoms from atomistic simulations. These include techniques relying on single chain simulations in vacuum and self--consistent optimizations from the melt like the simplex method and the inverted Boltzmann method. The focus is on matching the polymer structure on different scales. Several ways to obtain a time-scale for dynamic mapping are discussed additionally. Finally, similarities to other simulation areas where automatic optimization are applied as well are pointed out.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Early twentieth-century Vogue, George Wolfe Plank and the "Freaks of Mayfair"

Vogue was one of the most influential fashion magazines of the twentieth century. In the 1920s its British edition, launched in 1916, became a focus for various forms of queer visual and cultural expression. The origins of the related ‘amusing style’, which delighted in camp display, can be traced to the romantic and artistic collaboration between the American artist George Wolfe Plank and the British writer E. F. Benson during World War One. The illustrations that Plank produced for Benson’s book of satirical sketches of life in London’s high society, The Freaks of Mayfair (1916), shed light on the camp images that Plank designed for the covers of both the American and British editions of the magazine. Therefore, Plank can be understood to have played a key role in the development of queer visual culture during the early twentieth century

Modeling the Subsurface Structure of Sunspots

While sunspots are easily observed at the solar surface, determining their subsurface structure is not trivial. There are two main hypotheses for the subsurface structure of sunspots: the monolithic model and the cluster model. Local helioseismology is the only means by which we can investigate subphotospheric structure. However, as current linear inversion techniques do not yet allow helioseismology to probe the internal structure with sufficient confidence to distinguish between the monolith and cluster models, the development of physically realistic sunspot models are a priority for helioseismologists. This is because they are not only important indicators of the variety of physical effects that may influence helioseismic inferences in active regions, but they also enable detailed assessments of the validity of helioseismic interpretations through numerical forward modeling. In this paper, we provide a critical review of the existing sunspot models and an overview of numerical methods employed to model wave propagation through model sunspots. We then carry out an helioseismic analysis of the sunspot in Active Region 9787 and address the serious inconsistencies uncovered by \citeauthor{gizonetal2009}~(\citeyear{gizonetal2009,gizonetal2009a}). We find that this sunspot is most probably associated with a shallow, positive wave-speed perturbation (unlike the traditional two-layer model) and that travel-time measurements are consistent with a horizontal outflow in the surrounding moat.Comment: 73 pages, 19 figures, accepted by Solar Physic

A study of velocity fields in the transition region of Epsilon Eri (K2 V)

Analyses of the widths and shifts of optically thin emission lines in the ultraviolet spectrum of the active dwarf Epsilon Eri (K2 V) are presented. The spectra were obtained using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. The line widths are used to find the non-thermal energy density and its variation with temperature from the chromosphere to the upper transition region. The energy fluxes that could be carried by Alfven and acoustic waves are investigated, to test their possible roles in coronal heating. Acoustic waves do not appear to be a viable means of coronal heating. There is, in principle, ample flux in Alfven waves, but detailed calculations of wave propagation are required before definite conclusions can be drawn about their viability. The high sensitivity and spectral resolution of the above instruments have allowed two-component Gaussian fits to be made to the profiles of the stronger transition region lines. The broad and narrow components which result share some similarities with those observed in the Sun, but in Epsilon Eri the broad component is redshifted relative to the narrow component and contributes more to the total line flux. The possible origins of the two components and the energy fluxes implied are discussed. On balance our results support the conclusion of Wood, Linsky & Ayres, that the narrow component is related to Alfven waves reaching to the corona, but the origin of the broad component is not clear.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication by MNRA

An improved open-channel structure of MscL determined from FRET confocal microscopy and simulation

Mechanosensitive channels act as molecular transducers of mechanical force exerted on the membrane of living cells by opening in response to membrane bilayer deformations occurring in physiological processes such as touch, hearing, blood pressure regulation, and osmoregulation. Here, we determine the likely structure of the open state of the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance using a combination of patch clamp, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectroscopy, data from previous electron paramagnetic resonance experiments, and molecular and Brownian dynamics simulations. We show that structural rearrangements of the protein can be measured in similar conditions as patch clamp recordings while controlling the state of the pore in its natural lipid environment by modifying the lateral pressure distribution via the lipid bilayer. Transition to the open state is less dramatic than previously proposed, while the N terminus remains anchored at the surface of the membrane where it can either guide the tilt of or directly translate membrane tension to the conformation of the pore-lining helix. Combining FRET data obtained in physiological conditions with simulations is likely to be of great value for studying conformational changes in a range of multimeric membrane proteins