Language teacher agency, emotion labor and emotional rewards in tertiary-level English language programs

Research on language teacher agency and language teacher emotions has demonstrated that both are central components of teacher identity and practice. However, few researchers have explored the co-constitutive effects of agency and emotion for language teachers or the role of emotion labor in producing emotional rewards. This article addresses these underexplored components of language teaching through reporting on the findings of a qualitative study with language teachers in tertiary settings in the U.K. and the U.S. The study drew on language teachers' questionnaire (n = 30) and semi-structured interview (n = 25) responses in identifying the most common emotions experienced by these teachers and how their relationships with students engendered emotion labor as well as emotional rewards. We consider these aspects of teacher experience in terms of discourses of teaching-as-caring and Foucault’s (1983) concept of ethical self-formation

Visions of Collaboration: The GirlPower Photovoice Project

In this manuscript we explore the use of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) to build campus-community collaborations. While these collaborations may result in mutual benefit, the process may easily be derailed as a result of complications. We examine the strengths and weaknesses of the collaboration that produced the GirlPower Photovoice Project, a project that engaged middle school girls in an exploration of the factors that both improve and impede the health of their communities. Consistent with the Photovoice method, participants used photography to document their realities and then explored the resulting images in a group setting. We share the lessons learned from this collaboration from the perspective of both the academic and the community partners. In their own voices, both partners explore those factors that made the collaboration a success and those that hindered it. These include ensuring adequate time for relationship and trust development between the partners, advocating for a more fluid and organic process from the university institutional review board, and ensuring buy-in from all community agency staff—not just the executive director. In the end, we distill suggestions for others who wish to undertake a similarly risky yet significantly rewarding and important endeavor

The Relationship between Curriculum-based Measures in Oral Reading Fluency and High-Stakes Tests for Seventh Grade Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between oral reading fluency and performance on a statewide reading achievement test for middle grades students. Participants in this study were 75 seventh-grade students. One month before the students were administered the state test, each student read three probes from their current basal reader to determine an oral reading fluency rate. The Ohio Grade 7 Reading Test scores were correlated with oral reading fluency rates to determine the extent of the relationship between the results. Results support the use of oral reading fluency assessment as a valid tool for identifying students at risk of not passing the statewide reading achievement test

Visible light-induced destabilization of endocytosed liposomes

AbstractThe potential biomedical utility of the photoinduced destabilization of liposomes depends in part on the use of green to near infrared light with its inherent therapeutic advantages. The polymerization of bilayers can be sensitized to green light by associating selected amphiphilic cyanine dyes, i.e. the cationic 1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanine (DiI), or the corresponding anionic disulfonated DiI (DiI-DS), with the lipid bilayer. The DiI sensitization of the polymerization of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine/1,2-bis[10-(2′,4′-hexadienoyloxy)-decanoyl]-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine liposomes caused liposome destabilization with release of encapsulated aqueous markers. In separate experiments, similar photosensitive liposomes were endocytosed by cultured HeLa cells. Exposure of the cells and liposomes to 550 nm light caused a net movement of the liposome-encapsulated 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid (HPTS) from low pH compartment(s) to higher pH compartment(s). This suggests that photolysis of DiI-labelled liposomes results in delivery of the contents of the endocytosed liposomes to the cytoplasm. The release of HPTS into the cytoplasm appears to require the photoactivated fusion of the labelled liposomes with the endosomal membrane. These studies aid in the design of visible light sensitive liposomes for the delivery of liposome-encapsulated reagents to the cytoplasm

Genome-Wide Association Study and Subsequent Exclusion of ATCAY as a Candidate Gene Involved in Equine Neuroaxonal Dystrophy Using Two Animal Models.

Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy/equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (eNAD/EDM) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder of unknown etiology. Clinical signs of neurological deficits develop within the first year of life in vitamin E (vitE) deficient horses. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was carried out using 670,000 SNP markers in 27 case and 42 control Quarter Horses. Two markers, encompassing a 2.5 Mb region on ECA7, were associated with the phenotype (p = 2.05 × 10-7 and 4.72 × 10-6). Within this region, caytaxin (ATCAY) was identified as a candidate gene due to its known role in Cayman Ataxia and ataxic/dystonic phenotypes in mouse models. Whole-genome sequence data in four eNAD/EDM and five unaffected horses identified 199 associated variants within the ECA7 region. MassARRAY® genotyping was performed on these variants within the GWAS population. The three variants within ATCAY were not concordant with the disease phenotype. No difference in expression or alternative splicing was identified using qRT-PCR in brainstem across the ATCAY transcript. Atcayji-hes mice were then used to conduct functional analysis in a second animal model. Histologic lesions were not identified in the central nervous system of Atcayji-hes mice. Additionally, supplementation of homozygous Atcayji-hes mice with 600 IU/day of dl-α-tocopheryl acetate (vitE) during gestation, lactation, and adulthood did not improve the phenotype. ATCAY has therefore been excluded as a candidate gene for eNAD/EDM

Who Will They Turn to? The Perspectives of Middle School Girls Regarding Trustworthy Traits in Adults

Early adolescence is a time marked by upheaval and change. Youth are navigating increased social pressures from constant connection with peers. Youth have access to 24 hours of social connection via technology, but they increasingly report feelings of isolation, anxiety, and depression (Keles et al., 2020). They are also entering a world with increased political division, climate disasters, and decreases in public safety from events like mass shootings (Coronese et al., 2019; Follman et al., 2022). As youth navigate these new challenges, adults are seeking ways to understand better how to build meaningful connections with youth that may help mitigate the negative impacts of environmental and social stress. The potential for positive effects from adult/youth relationships is high, and even more important for girls, with research suggesting them to be at even higher levels of risk (Stallard et al., 2013). This paper explores adolescent girls\u27 perspectives regarding who they identify as trustworthy adults and what traits make that person trustworthy. This exploration can build a foundation for fostering healthy relationships between both groups

Relationality in language teacher emotion regulation: Regulating emotions through, with and for others

Although previous research has shown that teaching is replete with emotion (Zembylas, 2004) and that emotion regulation should be viewed as a key teacher competence (Brackett, Palomera, Mojsa-Kaja, Reyes, & Salovey, 2010; Gkonou & Mercer, 2017), there is still much that we do not know about how such regulation is performed in teachers’ day-to-day teaching practice. In this article, we explore the nature of emotion regulation among 50 language teachers working in four national settings, namely the US, the UK, Norway and Germany. In-depth, individual semi-structured interviews with the participating teachers, which were coded and analysed thematically, revealed the following three key themes: a) emotion regulation has strong potential to mediate stronger connections with students; b) emotion regulation is a highly collaborative and relational process as it often takes place together with others or through the help of others; and c) emotion regulation is not only performed together with others but also for others. We discuss these findings in light of recent calls to attend to collaborative processes in language education which have strong potential to lead to healthy and adaptive interpersonal relationships (Gkonou, 2022; Mercer, 2016)

Applying Control Abstraction to the Design of Human–Agent Teams

Levels of Automation (LOA) provide a method for describing authority granted to automated system elements to make individual decisions. However, these levels are technology-centric and provide little insight into overall system operation. The current research discusses an alternate classification scheme, referred to as the Level of Human Control Abstraction (LHCA). LHCA is an operator-centric framework that classifies a system’s state based on the required operator inputs. The framework consists of five levels, each requiring less granularity of human control: Direct, Augmented, Parametric, Goal-Oriented, and Mission-Capable. An analysis was conducted of several existing systems. This analysis illustrates the presence of each of these levels of control, and many existing systems support system states which facilitate multiple LHCAs. It is suggested that as the granularity of human control is reduced, the level of required human attention and required cognitive resources decreases. Thus, it is suggested that designing systems that permit the user to select among LHCAs during system control may facilitate human-machine teaming and improve the flexibility of the system

Depression in Husbands of Breast Cancer Patients: Relationships to Coping and Social Support

PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to examine depression in husbands of women with breast cancer, as depression is typically as high in husbands as in patients, and impacts functioning in both. METHODS: We compared husbands of patients to husbands of women without chronic illness on depressive symptoms with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, social support with the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, and coping with the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Using the stress and coping model, we examined whether coping mediated social support and depression differently by group, as has been found in the literature. RESULTS: Husbands of patients reported higher scores on the measure of depression and lower use of problem-focused coping, while groups reported equivalent social support. Escape-avoidance coping emerged as a full mediator between social support and depression in husbands of patients, but only a partial mediator in comparison husbands. Accepting responsibility coping partially mediated social support and depression in both groups. Low social support appears particularly detrimental in husbands of patients as it is associated with ineffective coping and depression. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that among husbands of patients, social support relates to depression only through its relationship with coping, indicating healthcare providers should direct attention and intervention to the coping strategies employed by husbands with low social support

Combined positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for imaging of orbital tumours and tumours extending into the orbit

Objective To assess clinical and radiological performance of combined positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in patients with secondary and primary intraorbital tumours. Methods 14 adults with secondary and 1 child with primary orbital masses underwent combined whole-body PET/CT. Radiopharmaceutical tracers applied were (18F)-fluorodeoxyglucose, (18F)-fluoroethylcholine (FEC) and (68Ga)-DOTATATE. Histopathology and/or all conventional radiographic work-up and clinical course served as standard of reference. Descriptive statistics and Fisher's exact test were used for analysis. Results PET/CT detected all orbital masses. All 15 patients had malignant disease. Local osseous infiltration was correctly identified in 11 patients. Lymph node metastases were present in two of eight patients (25%) with haematogenous orbital metastases and in five of six patients (83%) with infiltrative carcinoma (p=0.05). Further distant metastases were present in all eight patients suffering from orbital metastases, but only one patient with infiltrative carcinoma (17%) presented with disseminated disease (p=0.003). In one metastasis, PET/CT excluded vital orbital tumour tissue after radiation therapy. Local recurrence was detected in another patient suffering from prostate cancer. Conclusion PET/CT is a sensitive tool for the detection and localisation of orbital masses, enabling assessment of both morphology and cell metabolism. Detailed imaging of the head and neck region with a small field-of-view should be performed when suspecting lymphatic metastases. As metastatic disease to the orbit is associated with advanced disease, focus should be laid on whole-body imaging for staging of these patients. Different radiopharmaceutical tracers can be applied to distinguish the origin of orbital metastases