461 research outputs found

    'Do you speak global?' An enquiry into the theories of English as an international language

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    This paper addresses methodological issues that emerge in the study of English as an international language, and argues for a more in-depth analysis of the specific socio-economic factors at stake in the process of what is often simplistically regarded as linguistic globalization. It is argued that, amongst attitudes towards the spread of English, it is important to avoid the bias of addressing its consequences morally. Indeed, the last decades have witnessed fierce debates over the legitimacy of a cult…postprin

    Linguistic identity: the language-culture interaction in multilingual institutions

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    Open URL of LAUD 2012 - http://www.uni-landau.de/anglistik/LAUD12/participants.htmCultural and linguistic relativism are primarily grounded on the postulate that linguistic structures impact the way individuals perceive and think about the world. Culture (a group-specific world-view) is transmitted and reproduced through communication, i.e. through language. As a logical consequence, a language is the privileged medium of a culture. This is commonly visible in the nation-states where a territory belonging to …postprin

    Isolation and characterisation of microsatellite loci for two species of Spinturnicid wing mites (Spinturnix myoti and Spinturnix bechsteini)

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    To investigate the potential for host-parasite coadaptation between bats and their wing mites, we developed microsatellite loci for two species of Spinturnix mites. For Spinturnix myoti, parasite of Myotis myotis, we were able to develop nine polymorphic loci and screened them in 100 mites from five bat colonies. For S. bechsteini, parasite of M. bechsteinii, we developed five polymorphic loci, which were also screened in 100 mites from five bat colonies. In both species, all markers were highly polymorphic (22-46 and 6-23 alleles per locus respectively). The majority of markers for both species exhibited departure from Hardy-Weinberg proportions (8 of 9 and 3 of 5, respectively). One marker pair in S. myoti showed evidence for linkage disequilibrium. As the observed departures from Hardy-Weinberg proportions are most likely a consequence of the biology of the mites, the described microsatellite loci should be useful in studying population genetics and host-parasite dynamics of Spinturnix myoti and Spinturnix bechsteini in relation to their bat hosts

    The full set of cnc_n-invariant factorized SS-matrices

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    We use the method of the tensor product graph to construct rational (Yangian invariant) solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation in fundamental representations of cnc_n and thence the full set of cnc_n-invariant factorized SS-matrices. Brief comments are made on their bootstrap structure and on Belavin's scalar Yangian conserved charges.Comment: 10p

    The effect of host social system on parasite population genetic structure: comparative population genetics of two ectoparasitic mites and their bat hosts.

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    BACKGROUND: The population genetic structure of a parasite, and consequently its ability to adapt to a given host, is strongly linked to its own life history as well as the life history of its host. While the effects of parasite life history on their population genetic structure have received some attention, the effect of host social system has remained largely unstudied. In this study, we investigated the population genetic structure of two closely related parasitic mite species (Spinturnix myoti and Spinturnix bechsteini) with very similar life histories. Their respective hosts, the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) and the Bechstein's bat (Myotis bechsteinii) have social systems that differ in several substantial features, such as group size, mating system and dispersal patterns. RESULTS: We found that the two mite species have strongly differing population genetic structures. In S. myoti we found high levels of genetic diversity and very little pairwise differentiation, whereas in S. bechsteini we observed much less diversity, strongly differentiated populations and strong temporal turnover. These differences are likely to be the result of the differences in genetic drift and dispersal opportunities afforded to the two parasites by the different social systems of their hosts. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that host social system can strongly influence parasite population structure. As a result, the evolutionary potential of these two parasites with very similar life histories also differs, thereby affecting the risk and evolutionary pressure exerted by each parasite on its host

    Renormalization group trajectories from resonance factorized S-matrices

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    We propose and investigate a large class of models possessing resonance factorized S-matrices. The associated Casimir energy describes a rich pattern of renormalization group trajectories related to flows in the coset models based on the simply laced Lie Algebras. From a simplest resonance S-matrix, satisfying the ``ϕ3\phi^3-property'', we predict new flows in non-unitary minimal models.Comment: (7 pages) (no figures included

    Latrocimicinae completes the phylogeny of Cimicidae: meeting old morphologic data rather than modern host phylogeny.

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    The family Cimicidae includes obligate hematophagous ectoparasites (bed bugs and their relatives) with high veterinary/medical importance. The evolutionary relationships of Cimicidae and their hosts have recently been reported in a phylogenetic context, but in the relevant study, one of the six subfamilies, the bat-specific Latrocimicinae, was not represented. In this study the only known species of Latrocimicinae, i.e., Latrocimex spectans, was analyzed with molecular and phylogenetic methods based on four (two nuclear and two mitochondrial) genetic markers. The completed subfamily-level phylogeny of Cimicidae showed that Latrocimicinae is most closely related to Haematosiphoninae (ectoparasites of birds and humans), with which it shares systematically important morphologic characters, but not hosts. Moreover, in the phylogenetic analyses, cimicid bugs that are known to infest phylogenetically distant bat hosts clustered together (e.g., Leptocimex and Stricticimex within Cacodminae), while cimicid subfamilies (Latrocimicinae, Primicimicinae) that are known to infest bat hosts from closely related superfamilies clustered distantly. In conclusion, adding Latrocimicinae significantly contributed to the resolution of the phylogeny of Cimicidae. The close phylogenetic relationship between Latrocimicinae and Haematosiphoninae is consistent with long-known morphologic data. At the same time, phylogenetic relationships of genera within subfamilies are inconsistent with the phylogeny of relevant hosts

    Micro-Sigmoids as Progenitors of Coronal Jets - Is Eruptive Activity Self-Similarly Multi-Scaled?

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    Observations from the X-ray telescope (XRT) on Hinode are used to study the nature of X-ray bright points, sources of coronal jets. Several jet events in the coronal holes are found to erupt from small-scale, S-shaped bright regions. This finding suggests that coronal micro-sigmoids may well be progenitors of coronal jets. Moreover, the presence of these structures may explain numerous observed characteristics of jets such as helical structures, apparent transverse motions, and shapes. In analogy to large-scale sigmoids giving rise to coronal mass ejections (CMEs), a promising future task would perhaps be to investigate whether solar eruptive activity, from coronal jets to CMEs, is self-similar in terms of properties and instability mechanisms.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

    Solar Flare Impulsive Phase Observations from SDO and Other Observatories

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    With the start of normal operations of the Solar Dynamics Observatory in May 2010, the Extreme ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) have been returning the most accurate solar XUV and EUV measurements every 10 and 12 seconds, respectively, at almost 100% duty cycle. The focus of the presentation will be the solar flare impulsive phase observations provided by EVE and AIA and what these observations can tell us about the evolution of the initial phase of solar flares. Also emphasized throughout is how simultaneous observations with other instruments, such as RHESSI, SOHO-CDS, and HINODE-EIS, will help provide a more complete characterization of the solar flares and the evolution and energetics during the impulsive phase. These co-temporal observations from the other solar instruments can provide information such as extending the high temperature range spectra and images beyond that provided by the EUV and XUV wavelengths, provide electron density input into the lower atmosphere at the footpoints, and provide plasma flows of chromospheric evaporation, among other characteristics

    Low-Temperature Expansions and Correlation Functions of the Z_3-Chiral Potts Model

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    Using perturbative methods we derive new results for the spectrum and correlation functions of the general Z_3-chiral Potts quantum chain in the massive low-temperature phase. Explicit calculations of the ground state energy and the first excitations in the zero momentum sector give excellent approximations and confirm the general statement that the spectrum in the low-temperature phase of general Z_n-spin quantum chains is identical to one in the high-temperature phase where the role of charge and boundary conditions are interchanged. Using a perturbative expansion of the ground state for the Z_3 model we are able to gain some insight in correlation functions. We argue that they might be oscillating and give estimates for the oscillation length as well as the correlation length.Comment: 17 pages (Plain TeX), BONN-HE-93-1
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