7,001 research outputs found
Alternative Venues: An EFL Writing Center Outside the University
Recent years have seen an increasing presence of writing centers in diverse English as a Foreign Language (EFL) settings, particularly in East Asia and in Europe (Bräuer; Chang). These new centers face familiar issues such as a lack of resources, the need to adapt pedagogy to the local context (Reichelt et. al.; Broekhoff), and ideological resistance to the idea of peer learning (Turner) or even providing support for writing at all (Bräuer). In some cases, these difficulties may force potential writing centers to seek a platform entirely outside of the university, bringing both challenges and new possibilities as the center adapts to a community setting and clientele (Rousculp). This article describes the founding of a writing center in Niš, Serbia, in an alternative venue - an American Embassy-funded resource center. This institution has offered significant advantages, including a central location and strong preexisting member base, but it has also shifted the writing center’s focus away from university students towards the diverse writing needs of the broader community. This article discusses how these factors have affected the writing center’s mission, the tutors’ training and experiences, and the development of local pedagogy and concludes with suggestions for other writing center administrators on working in such alternative spaces.University Writing Cente
Glassy behavior of molecular crystals: A comparison between results from MD-simulation and mode coupling theory
We have investigated the glassy behavior of a molecular crystal built up with
chloroadamantane molecules. For a simple model of this molecule and a rigid fcc
lattice a MD simulation was performed from which we obtained the dynamical
orientational correlators and the ``self''
correlators , with ,
. Our investigations are for the diagonal correlators
. Since the lattice constant decreases with decreasing
temperature which leads to an increase of the steric hindrance of the
molecules, we find a strong slowing down of the relaxation. It has a high
sensitivity on , . For most , there is a two-step
relaxation process, but practically not for , ,
and . Our results are consistent with the -relaxation
scaling laws predicted by mode coupling theory from which we deduce the glass
transition temperature . From a first principle solution
of the mode coupling equations we find . Furthermore mode
coupling theory reproduces the absence of a two-step relaxation process for
, , and , but underestimates the critical
nonergodicity parameters by about 50 per cent for all other . It is
suggested that this underestimation originates from the anisotropic crystal
field which is not accounted for by mode coupling theory. Our results also
imply that phonons have no essential influence on the long time relaxation
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