Is Anyone Listening? – Experiences of Junior-Level English Language Learners in Southwestern Ontario

With an increasing number of English Language Learners (ELLs) entering the Ontario school system, the Ontario Ministry of Education has responded through the development of multiple documents containing policies and procedures to accommodate these students. However, research relating to the perspectives of the elementary ELLs who are receiving these accommodations has been sparse. This qualitative-based transcendental phenomenological research study sheds light on the perspectives of nine junior-level (Grades 4-6) ELLs enrolled in both a mainstream classroom and an English as an Additional Language (EAL) program for at least one year at three respective public schools. With having captured the essence of learning EAL in Southwestern Ontario first hand, this research both informs and assists educators in understanding how academic and psychosocial experiences of ELLs could be contributing factors in the delay of academic proficiency in core subject areas and/or in acquiring the requisite level of English language competency

Stage III Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Population-Based Patterns of Treatment in British Columbia, Canada

Introduction:Management of Stage III non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) involves surgery, radiotherapy (RT), chemotherapy, and best supportive care. The aims were to describe the patterns of treatment in a population-based cohort of patients, and compare utilization of RT and chemotherapy to model estimates of need.Methods:Patients diagnosed with Stage III NSCLC between January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2007, were identified from the British Columbia Cancer Agency database. Patients who had prior or concomitant malignancy were excluded. Patient demographics, tumor characteristics, and initial treatment were extracted. Survival data were derived from the British Columbia Vital Statistics Death Listings.Results:2365 patients with Stage III NSCLC were referred, of which 212 patients were excluded, leaving 2153 patients in the study population. Median age was 69 years. Disease stage was IIIA in 49% and IIIB in 51%. Histologies were squamous-cell carcinoma (31%), adenocarcinoma (27%), NSCLC not otherwise specified (31%), and other pathology (11%). Initial treatment included surgery in 12%, RT in 78%, and chemotherapy in 31%. Predicted RT utilization was 77% to 87% and chemotherapy 78%. From 2000 to 2007, curative-intent treatment increased from 21% to 35%, chemoradiotherapy from 8% to 18.6%, and concurrent chemoradiotherapy from 5.1% to 17.6%. Median survival was 30 months for patients who had curative surgery, 21 months for curative RT, 8 months for palliative treatment, and 5 months for best supportive care (p < 0.001).Conclusion:RT utilization was similar to that predicted by models whereas chemotherapy utilization was less. During the study period, the proportion of patients receiving curative chemoradiotherapy doubled and of those receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy trebled

From 'scientific revolution' to 'unscientific revolution': an analysis of approaches to the history of generative linguistics

This paper is devoted to the challenge that generative linguistics poses for linguistic historiography. As a first step, it presents a systematic overview of 19 approaches to the history of generative linguistics. Second, it analyzes the approaches overviewed by asking and answering the following questions: (a) To what extent and how are the views at issue biased? (b) What central topics do the approaches discuss, how successfully do they tackle them, and how do the various standpoints converge and diverge? (c) How do the approaches relate to general trends in the philosophy and history of science? The concluding step summarizes our findings with respect to Chomsky’s impact on linguistic historiography

Nonlinear Tides in Close Binary Systems

We study the excitation and damping of tides in close binary systems, accounting for the leading order nonlinear corrections to linear tidal theory. These nonlinear corrections include two distinct effects: three-mode nonlinear interactions and nonlinear excitation of modes by the time-varying gravitational potential of the companion. This paper presents the formalism for studying nonlinear tides and studies the nonlinear stability of the linear tidal flow. Although the formalism is applicable to binaries containing stars, planets, or compact objects, we focus on solar type stars with stellar or planetary companions. Our primary results include: (1) The linear tidal solution often used in studies of binary evolution is unstable over much of the parameter space in which it is employed. More specifically, resonantly excited gravity waves are unstable to parametric resonance for companion masses M' > 10-100 M_Earth at orbital periods P = 1-10 days. The nearly static equilibrium tide is, however, parametrically stable except for solar binaries with P < 2-5 days. (2) For companion masses larger than a few Jupiter masses, the dynamical tide causes waves to grow so rapidly that they must be treated as traveling waves rather than standing waves. (3) We find a novel form of parametric instability in which a single parent wave excites a very large number of daughter waves (N = 10^3[P / 10 days]) and drives them as a single coherent unit with growth rates that are ~N times faster than the standard three wave parametric instability. (4) Independent of the parametric instability, tides excite a wide range of stellar p-modes and g-modes by nonlinear inhomogeneous forcing; this coupling appears particularly efficient at draining energy out of the dynamical tide and may be more important than either wave breaking or parametric resonance at determining the nonlinear dissipation of the dynamical tide.Comment: 40 pages, 16 figures. Matches version published in ApJ; conclusions unchanged; some restructuring of sections; sect. 5 now provides simple physical estimates of the nonlinear growth rates that agree well with the detailed calculations given in the appendice

Brief Report: A Phase II Study of Sunitinib in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. The NCIC Clinical Trials Group

IntroductionMalignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive malignancy that most often presents at an advanced, incurable stage. After the failure of standard first-line cisplatin/antifolate chemotherapy, there is no accepted treatment. The vascular endothelial growth factor pathway may be a relevant therapeutic target in MPM.MethodsThis open-labeled phase II trial evaluated single-agent sunitinib, an inhibitor of multiple receptor tyrosine kinases including the vascular endothelial growth factor receptors, given at 50 mg daily orally for 4 weeks followed by a 2-week rest, in patients with advanced MPM. Two cohorts were studied: cohort 1, in which patients had previously received cisplatin-based chemotherapy, and cohort 2, consisting of previously untreated patients. A two-stage design was used for both cohorts; the primary outcome was objective response rate as determined by the RECIST criteria modified for MPM. Secondary outcomes included rates and duration of disease control, progression-free survival and overall survival, and safety and tolerability.ResultsA total of 35 eligible patients were enrolled (17 to cohort 1 and 18 to cohort 2). Neither cohort met the criteria for continuing to the second stage of accrual; only one objective response, confirmed by independent review, was observed in a previously untreated patient. Median progression-free and overall survivals were 2.8 and 8.3 months in cohort 1, and 2.7 and 6.7 months in cohort 2, respectively. Observed toxicity was within that expected for sunitinib.ConclusionsSunitinib, similar to other angiogenesis inhibitors, has limited activity in MPM. Future trials of angiogenesis inhibitors given as single agents in unselected patients with MPM are not warranted

Tidal asteroseismology: Kepler's KOI-54

We develop a general framework for interpreting and analyzing high-precision lightcurves from eccentric stellar binaries. Although our methods are general, we focus on the recently discovered Kepler system KOI-54, a face-on binary of two A stars with $e=0.83$ and an orbital period of 42 days. KOI-54 exhibits strong ellipsoidal variability during its periastron passage; its lightcurve also contains ~20 pulsations at perfect harmonics of the orbital frequency, and another ~10 nonharmonic pulsations. Analysis of such data is a new form of asteroseismology in which oscillation amplitudes and phases rather than frequencies contain information that can be mined to constrain stellar properties. We qualitatively explain the physics of mode excitation and the range of harmonics expected to be observed. To quantitatively model observed pulsation spectra, we develop and apply a linear, tidally forced, nonadiabatic stellar oscillation formalism including the Coriolis force. We produce temporal power spectra for KOI-54 that are semi-quantitatively consistent with the observations. Both stars in the KOI-54 system are expected to be rotating pseudosynchronously, with resonant nonaxisymmetric modes providing a key contribution to the total torque; such resonances provide a possible explanation for the two largest-amplitude harmonic pulsations observed in KOI-54, although we find quantitative problems with this interpretation. We show in detail that the nonharmonic pulsations observed in KOI-54 can be produced by nonlinear three-mode coupling. The methods developed in this paper can be generalized in the future to determine the best-fit stellar parameters given pulsation data. We also derive an analytic model of KOI-54's ellipsoidal variability, including both tidal distortion and stellar irradiation, which can be used to model other similar systems.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures. Accepted to MNRA

First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data

Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto- noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of 11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal. Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried out so far

Correlations of EGFR mutations and increases in EGFR and HER2 copy number to gefitinib response in a retrospective analysis of lung cancer patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gefitinib, a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (<it>EGFR</it>), has shown limited efficacy in the treatment of lung cancer. Recognized clinical predictors of response to this drug, specifically female, non-smoker, Asian descent, and adenocarcinoma, together suggest a genetic basis for drug response. Recent studies have addressed the relationship between response and either sequence mutations or increased copy number of specific receptor tyrosine kinases. We set out to examine the relationship between response and the molecular status of two such kinases, <it>EGFR </it>and <it>HER2</it>, in 39 patients treated with gefitinib at the BC Cancer Agency.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Archival patient material was reviewed by a pathologist and malignant cells were selectively isolated by laser microdissection or manual recovery of cells from microscope slides. Genomic DNA was extracted from 37 such patient samples and exons 18–24, coding for the tyrosine kinase domain of <it>EGFR</it>, were amplified by PCR and sequenced. <it>EGFR </it>and <it>HER2 </it>copy number status were also assessed using FISH in 26 samples. Correlations between molecular features and drug response were assessed using the two-sided Fisher's exact test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mutations previously correlated with response were detected in five tumours, four with exon 19 deletions and one with an exon 21 missense L858R point mutation. Increased gene copy number was observed in thirteen tumours, seven with <it>EGFR </it>amplification, three with <it>HER2 </it>amplification, and three with amplification of both genes. In our study cohort, a correlation was not observed between response and <it>EGFR </it>mutations (exon 19 deletion p = 0.0889, we observed a single exon 21 mutation in a non-responder) or increases in <it>EGFR </it>or <it>HER2 </it>copy number (p = 0.552 and 0.437, respectively).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Neither mutation of <it>EGFR </it>nor increased copy number of <it>EGFR </it>or <it>HER2 </it>was diagnostic of response to gefitinib in this cohort. However, validation of these features in a larger sample set is appropriate. Identification of additional predictive biomarkers beyond <it>EGFR </it>status may be necessary to accurately predict treatment outcome.</p