No Habla Espanol: Are Monolingual Teachers Getting the Support They Need?

For this Capstone Project, the researchers investigated how monolingual teachers view the support and resources they received to teach English Language Learners (ELL) and what they thought could be done to improve their teaching effectiveness. An evidence-based argument is offered that monolingual teachers were not being provided with effective support and resources. More specifically, three themes emerged from an analysis of the data obtained from interviews of monolingual teachers and administrators. Based on the emergent themes, an action was undertaken to help monolingual teachers better address the needs of ELLs. This is an important issue for monolingual teachers because the research provided options that the district could implement in order to increase their ability to successfully work with ELLs

When fishing is no longer viable: environmental change, unfair market relations, and livelihood in a small fishing community in the philippines

"The population of a small island in the middle of Danajon Bank in the Philippines, one of the six double barrier coral reefs in the world, is reliant almost solely on the resources of the sea for their livelihood. From the twenty families who originally settled in the island during World War II, the population has now soared to more than 300 families. The dramatic increase in the population is due to the migration of fishers to the island because of compressor fishing, a dangerous and unsustainable fishing practice introduced in the 1980s that ushered in a period of affluence in the island. In recent years, however, the affluence has given way to prolonged periods of suffering. Dwindling catch due to overexploitation of resources, increasing price of basic commodities, and unfair market relations in which the fishers’ catch are bought at very low prices have made hunger and indebtedness a common experience. This is compounded in recent months by changes in the environment such as winds that have become stronger, stay longer, and become more frequent, and sea waters that rise more often than before. Life has become very difficult for the fishers and they are left with very little viable options for their livelihood, forcing them to confront their attitude that there is no other livelihood aside from compressing fishing. Many have decided to migrate and work in other parts of the country as helpers or construction workers and, in recent months, many more are planning to leave despite the high financial costs of doing so and the uncertainty that awaits them. These are some of the key findings of an ethnographic study conducted over a period of 2 and ½ months of fieldwork. The study was able to document the complex and dynamic relationships of environmental change, unsustainable fishing practice, and unfair market relations, and how these impel population movement in the context of a small fishing community that is highly vulnerable to changes in the environment and the operation of the market. In the case of these fishers, migration could be seen as a desperate survival strategy of a people who have very little real options." (authors abstract

A potato large-insert library for isolation of candidate loci for late blight resistance and studies on their genome organization

Summary QTL mapping of quantitative resistance to P. infestans has been pursued in potato and several loci contributing to the resistance have been identified (Leonards-Schippers et al. 1994; Meyer et al. 1998; Ewing et al. 2000; Sandbrink et al. 2000 and Naess et al. 2000). Ghislain et al. (2001) detected two major QTL effects on linkage groups VIII and XII using a hybrid cross between S. phureja x dihaploid S. tuberosum. The strong QTL effect on linkage group XII was localized in a region where no major gene or QTL for P. infestans has been reported. So far, none of the QTLs for P. infestans resistance has been cloned and the genes behind the QTLs are still unknown. Map based cloning has proved to be a promising approach for cloning genes and QTLs. This approach requires DNA markers tightly linked to the trait in combination with large insert libraries. In this study, a large insert library was constructed from one of the resistant hybrids of the population analysed by Ghislain et al. (2001). The inserts have been cloned into the binary vector pCLD04541. The clones can be used for plant transformation via A. tumefaciens. The library contains approximately 50 000 clones with an average insert size of 80 kb. The coverage of the library has been calculated to be 3-4 times the haploid potato genome. The construction of a large insert library with this genetic material will facilitate the cloning and dissection of the genes underlying the QTL once a more precise map of the region is available. The library was used to clone members of three defense related gene families: PAL(Phenylalanine-Ammonia-Lyase), PR-5 (acidic and basic osmotin) and PPO(Polyphenol oxidase). 29, 7 and 10 BAC clones containing PAL, PR-5 and PPO genes, respectively were identified. The PR-5 BAC clones were further characterized. 6 BACs containing osmotin-like sequences were grouped in two small contigs: Contig A (100kb) and Contig B (120kb). DNA markers derived from the contigs identified two genetic loci on linkage groups VIII (Contig A) and XI (Contig B). Southern gel blot analysis of genomic and BAC DNA showed that potato has at least 5 copies of osmotin genes. Most of the osmotin genes are clustered on linkage group VIII in less than 90 kb whereas only one gene is present on linkage group XI. Interestingly, Trognitz et al. (2001) using the population of Ghislain et al. (2001) reported correlation between a QTL effect derived from S. tuberosum and an osmotin RFLP marker on linkage group VIII. On the other hand, one BAC with sequence similarity to acidic PR-5 showed that acidic members of PR-5 in potato are clustered on linkage group XII, where at least 3 copies are present in less than 35 kb. S. phureja and S. tuberosum are highly homozygous at these loci which made it difficult to develop specific markers. However, two CAPS markers were derived and mapped in the maternal line S. phureja, revealing that the position of the genes do not overlap with the QTL effect. Fragments of the PR-5 BACs inserts were subcloned into pBluescript. Sequence analysis of the subclones identified 6 osmotin-like genes and 4 acidic PR-5 genes, including a copy with a truncated sequence at the N-terminus. One of the acidic PR-5 genes had 100% identity to the partial sequence of potato Protein C (Pierpoint et al. 1990). All the PR-5 ORF did not contain introns and all except the one from linkage group XI had the 16 cysteine residues highly conserved in the PR-5 family. PCR and Southern gel blot analysis demonstrated that PR-5 genes are present in all members of the Solanaceae family tested. A phylogenetic analysis of PR-5 sequences of Solanaceae from the Genebank and the genes described in this study clustered the sequences in three main branches of acidic, neutral and basic genes

A Politics and Ethics of Viewing Photographs of Duterte’s “Drug War”: Towards Reconceptualizing the Political Community

This paper proposes a framework for a politics and ethics of viewing photographs of atrocities and suffering through an analysis of photographs of Rodrigo Duterte’s “drug war” in the Philippines and responses to these images. It situates these politics and ethics of viewing in a context of violent othering and Ariella Azoulay’s conceptualization of “regime-made disaster.” This framework is grounded on fellow-feeling and imagined identification as well as on the relationality, powers of mourning, and ethical responsibility that Judith Butler asserts and is operationalized through the “civil contract of photography” called forth by Azoulay. Following Azoulay and Butler, this paper directs these politics and ethics of viewing photographs towards reimagining citizenship and reconceptualizing the political community

Determinants of corruption. An analysis based on international transparency index

Treball Final de Grau en Economia. Codi: EC1049. Curs acadèmic: 2019-2020Corruption studies have become more important in recent years. This paper aims to present a literature review on the subject, which shows a table with a summary of studies conducted by other authors and then a description of the determinants to be considered in this studies, it also takes into account that the probability of being exposed slows down the expansion of corruption. It is considered econometric specifications using panel data from 26 European Union countries between 2005 and 2015, to see what determinants can be used when designing strategies. . The determinants of corruption are going to be analyzed from the point of view of several economic models and historical factors. The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of the different determinants of corruption and to make a comparison between regions where the studied factors have registered different values. To do so, we have based our research on different indexes, for example the IPC (index of perception of corruption), comparing the European Union with other regions of the world. The model is estimated using instrumental variables techniques; comparing variables the inequality and openness of the regions with the level of corruption

Carbohydrate Composition and Structure Changes as Phloem Sap is Converted to Nectar in Borago officinalis L. and Select Brassica spp. L.

Nectar is a carbohydrate-rich solution produced by nectary organs as a reward to pollinators and animal mutualists. Nectar production involves the upload of carbohydrate (i.e., sucrose) from the phloem sap, intracellular (symplastic) and/or intercellular (apoplastic) transport of carbohydrates into the nectary, and secretion of carbohydrates to the nectary exterior as nectar. To investigate carbohydrate composition and structure changes during nectar production, the carbohydrate composition of phloem sap, nectary fluid, and nectar of Borago officinalis L. and two Brassica spp. L. (Brassica napus L. var. AC Excel, B. napus L. transgenic var. AV 225 R. R., and B. rapa L. var. AC Parkland) were determined employing high performance anion exchange-pulsed amperometric detection (HPAE-PAD) and capillary gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (CGC-FID) chromatographic methods. To elucidate the mechanism(s) of carbohydrate transformation during nectar production, substrate hydrolysis experiments were conducted on both nectaries and nectar, and nectary proteomics analysis was also employed. Carbohydrate composition results showed that: a) sucrose (S; >95% w:v) was present in the phloem sap of both genera; b) fructose (F; >50%), glucose (G; ~45%), and non-sucrose oligosaccharides were present in the nectary fluids of B. officinalis and Brassica spp., indicating that sucrose hydrolysis and carbohydrate synthesis occurred; c) F, G, S, and non-sucrose oligosaccharides were detected in the nectars of both genera with significant concentration differences; d) B. officinalis nectar was sucrose-dominant (S; 61%), whereas Brassica spp. nectars were hexose-dominant (average, F + G; 99%) indicating that sucrose was resynthesized in B. officinalis; and e) common non-sucrose oligosaccharides were detected in B. officinalis and Brassica spp. nectars and unique non-sucrose oligosaccharides were detected in both genera. The observed hydrolysis of sucrose and the synthesis of non-sucrose oligosaccharides in the nectaries and nectars of B. officinalis and Brassica spp. can be explained by the presence of carbohydrases (α-glucosidase, β-fructosidase β-glucosidase) and synthases (sucrose synthase, sucrose phosphate synthase) as confirmed by select substrate and proteomics experiments. The significant difference in the sucrose concentration of the floral nectar of B. officinalis is attributed to sucrose phosphate synthase activity in B. officinalis when compared to Brassica spp., and by the type of carbohydrate transport pathway (symplast vs apoplast) followed

Geminivirus Rep Protein Interferes with the Plant DNA Methylation Machinery and Suppresses Transcriptional Gene Silencing

Viruses are masters at circumventing host defenses and manipulating the cellular environment for their own benefit. The replication of the largest known family of single-stranded DNA viruses, Geminiviridae, is impaired by DNA methylation but the fact that plants might use methylation as a defense against geminiviruses and the impact that viral genome methylation may have during the infection, remain controversial. We have found that geminiviruses reduce the expression of the plant maintenance DNA methyltransferases, MET1 and CMT3, in both, locally and systemically infected tissues. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the virus-mediated repression of these two maintenance DNA methyltransferases is widely spread among different geminivirus species and we have identified Rep as the geminiviral protein responsible for the repression of MET1 and CMT3. The presence of Rep, suppresses transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) of an Arabidopsis transgene and of host loci whose expression is strongly controlled by MET1. Bisulfite sequencing analyses showed that the expression of Rep caused a substantial reduction in the levels of DNA methylation at certain loci at CG sites. The biological relevance of these findings and the role of Rep as a TGS suppressor will be discussed.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Students, United, will Never be Defeated: How to Promote Interaction and Group-work in the EFL Classroom through a TBLT Approach

Problemas relativos al trabajo individual, la dependencia excesiva en métodos de enseñanza tradicionales, el uso continuo del libro de texto, la escasez de materiales auténticos y temas actualizados, y la ausencia de patrones de interacción se han convertido en el motor para la creación y el desarrollo de esta disertación. Para encontrar una solución a tales problemas, este trabajo propone una unidad didáctica con el objetivo de potenciar la interacción del alumnado y el trabajo en grupo en el aula de inglés. Esta propuesta didáctica se ajusta al Currículo LOMCE Aragonés, incluyendo las principales competencias clave y los principales objetivos y contenidos que pretenden ser abordados, teniendo en cuenta la atención a la diferenciación y la diversidad y haciendo referencia a principios metodológicos y al uso de las TIC. Además, esta unidad didáctica sigue rigurosamente un enfoque comunicativo, siendo el aprendizaje basado en tareas la base de las diferentes sesiones que han sido diseñadas. <br /