Teachers' Perspectives on Second Language Task Difficulty: Insights From Think-Alouds and Eye Tracking

The majority of empirical studies that have so far investigated task features in order to inform task grading and sequencing decisions have been grounded in hypothesis-testing research. Few studies have attempted to adopt a bottom-up approach in order to explore what task factors might contribute to task difficulty. The aim of this study was to help fill this gap by eliciting teachers’ perspectives on sources of task difficulty. We asked 16 English as a second language (ESL) teachers to judge the linguistic ability required to carry out four pedagogic tasks and consider how they would manipulate the tasks to suit the abilities of learners at lower and higher proficiency. While contemplating the tasks, the teachers thought aloud, and we also tracked their eye movements. The majority of teachers’ think-aloud comments revealed that they were primarily concerned with linguistic factors when assessing task difficulty. Conceptual demands were most frequently proposed as a way to increase task difficulty, whereas both linguistic and conceptual factors were suggested by teachers when considering modifications to decrease task difficulty. The eye-movement data, overall, were aligned with the teachers’ think-aloud comments. These findings are discussed with respect to existing task taxonomies and future research directions

Effect of Lethally Damaged Tumour Cells upon the Growth of Admixed Viable Cells in Diffusion Chambers

IT has been shown that the proliferation of a small viable tumour graft is stimulated by the presence of irreversibly X-ray damaged tumour cells (Revesz, 1958) or viable but genetically incompatible cells (Klein and Klein, 1956). Histological examination (Ringertz, Klein and Revesz, 1959) showed an enhanced granulation tissue formation in and around the implant. The intensity of this reaction was parallel to the stimulating effect of X-ray damaged, genetically incompatible, and heat-killed cells, respectively. This would indicate that the stimulating function may depend on the formation of a proper tumour bed. In addition, a direct " feeder " effect (Puck, Marcus and Cieciura, 1956) may also play a certain role sinice heavily irradiated cells were stimulatory even in the case of freely suspended ascites tumour cells (Revesz, 1955; Scott, 1957; Mazurek and Duplan, 1959). The diffusion chamber technique of Algire, Weaver and Prehn (1954) permits the isolation of the graft from direct contact with host cells. Filter membraines with adequately small pores permit the diffusion of soluble materials but preven

Heat waves in Hungarian plant production

A momentous inference of heat waves is the economic effect. The main demage after the human problems will caused by theeseextreme events in agriculture. For example a long hot peiod without any percipitation can exterminate not only the annual yield, but also itcan demage or in extreme situation it can destroy the whole orchard. Especially endangered most of the fruits, because an extreme summerwith high temperature which usually goes hand in hand with an arid period can modify growth of the plant. Our investigations show thataccording to the most widely accepted climate change scenarios heat waves are expected to be essentially longer and hotter than in the past.It might happen that events we now define as heat waves last through entire summer. Although it will not be general, the length and intensityof present heat waves could also multiply. Based on data provided by some global circulation models, we might be face an event that exceedsthe hottest heat waves of the 20th century by as much as 12 °C. This study also offers a survey of the methodology of heat wave definition.Besides traditional calculations, we present two unconventional methods by introducing minimum and maximum temperature heat waves.Weshow in what points this approach is different from those usually adopted and what extra information it may offer.As an extension of the usualstudies, with considering the length of events, we analyse the development of two variants – temperature and duration – and, as a result,classify the extreme heat events according to both length and intensity

Heat waves in Hungarian plant production

A momentous inference of heat waves is the economic effect. The main demage after the human problems will caused by theese extreme events in agriculture. For example a long hot peiod without any percipitation can exterminate not only the annual yield, but also it can demage or in extreme situation it can destroy the whole orchard. Especially endangered most of the fruits, because an extreme summer with high temperature which usually goes hand in hand with an arid period can modify growth of the plant. Our investigations show that according to the most widely accepted climate change scenarios heat waves are expected to be essentially longer and hotter than in the past. It might happen that events we now define as heat waves last through entire summer. Although it will not be general, the length and intensity of present heat waves could also multiply. Based on data provided by some global circulation models, we might be face an event that exceeds the hottest heat waves of the 20th century by as much as 12 °C. This study also offers a survey of the methodology of heat wave definition. Besides traditional calculations, we present two unconventional methods by introducing minimum and maximum temperature heat waves. We show in what points this approach is different from those usually adopted and what extra information it may offer.As an extension of the usual studies, with considering the length of events, we analyse the development of two variants – temperature and duration – and, as a result, classify the extreme heat events according to both length and intensity

Anxiety and depression mediate the association between chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and fatigue:Results from the population-based PROFILES registry

Objective Chemotherapy‐induced sensory peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is common among colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors. The aim of this study was to examine whether CIPN is associated with both psychological distress (ie, anxiety and depression) and fatigue and whether the relationship between CIPN and fatigue can (partly) be explained by psychological distress. Methods All CRC survivors diagnosed between 2000 and 2009 as registered by the population‐based Netherlands Cancer Registry (Eindhoven region) were eligible for participation. Chemotherapy‐treated survivors completed questions on CIPN (EORTC QLQ‐CIPN20), psychological distress (HADS), and fatigue (FAS) on average 5.6 years after diagnosis. Simple and multiple mediation analyses were performed to examine anxiety and depression as possible mediators in the association between CIPN and fatigue. Results Survivors with high (ie, upper 30% of scores) CIPN (n = 172) reported more anxiety and depressive symptoms and more fatigue compared with those with low CIPN (n = 299). Furthermore, among survivors with high CIPN, those who were anxious, depressed, or both reported more fatigue compared with those without psychological distress. These differences were clinically relevant. Finally, mediation analyses showed that while CIPN was directly associated with fatigue, the relationship between CIPN and fatigue was also significantly mediated by both anxiety and depression. Conclusions CRC survivors with high CIPN report more fatigue, especially those who are also anxious and/or depressed. More research is needed on the direction of the relationship between CIPN, psychological distress, and fatigue. For now, the treatment of fatigue should also focus on addressing psychological distress, as treating fatigue alone might not be sufficient

Some results and problems for anisotropic random walks on the plane

This is an expository paper on the asymptotic results concerning path behaviour of the anisotropic random walk on the two-dimensional square lattice Z^2. In recent years Mikl\'os and the authors of the present paper investigated the properties of this random walk concerning strong approximations, local times and range. We give a survey of these results together with some further problems.Comment: 20 page