Active learning techniques to teach Spanish vocabulary

The journal article, Pictures, John Travolta moves, and Sign Language: Active Learning Techniques to Teach Spanish Vocabulary, discusses the experiences 8th grade Spanish students had while using three instructional practices for learning vocabulary. Active learning strategies are a popular method for educators, especially those at the middle level. Educators can get their students active in learning by doing many different things. Pictures, silly signs, and sign language were used to engage my students in learning fourteen Spanish vocabulary words. Three groups of Spanish exploratory classes were the subjects in this study. Each of the three groups received instruction using one of the three methods (pictures, silly signs, or sign language). The results of the three methods were compared to determine if one was more successful than another. After using one of .the active learning techniques, each group was assessed through a post-test, and an attitude survey was administered. Although no significant difference among the student groups was noted in test scores, the attitudes of the students did vary among the groups

Sensate Vision: From Maximum Visibility to Haptic Erotics

For years, moving-image pornography has been shaped by a desire for “maximum visibility,” according to film scholar Linda Williams (1999), informing pornography’s formulaic and repetitive graphic depiction of the mechanics of the sexual act, as well as its intense scrutiny of the female body, and its different generic tropes, the most important one being the so-called “money shot,” consisting of the external male ejaculation. However, in the course of the last two decades, a corpus of feminist, lesbian, and queer pornography has appeared, which not only expresses a particular interest in bringing to screen female sexual pleasure, but also problematizes pornography’s obsession with maximum visibility, instead seeking to convey the tactile and visceral “feel” of the sexual encounter. By taking up Laura Marks’s concept of “haptic visuality” as a particular feminist strategy, this article takes into account two examples of alternative pornography, namely Touch (2013) and One Night Stand (2006), in order to describe the ways in which these films not only appropriate the carnal appeal of pornography, but also reconfigure it, experimenting with different ways of visualizing female sexuality, and opening up not only what pornography might look like, but also what it might do

Can carbon fiber composites have a lower environmental impact than fiberglass?

Carbon fiber composites are increasingly used to decrease fuel consumption in the use phase of vehicles. However, due to the energy intensive production, the reduced fuel consumption may not lead to life cycle environmental savings as much as for other lightweighting materials, for example fiberglass. This study uses life cycle assessment methodology to assess how different future development routes including using bio-based raw materials, microwave technology, and recycling of composites with the recovery of fibers influence the envi- ronmental impact of both carbon fiber composites and fiberglass in vehicles. Results show that combining different development routes could lead to carbon fiber composites with a lower environmental impact than fiberglass composites in the future and that recycling of composites with recovery of fibers is the route that alone shows the greatest potential

Results of 2018–2019 assessment of Thuja occidentalis populations at the Fox River Fen

▷Collected seed from mature individuals of Thuja occidentalis at Trout Park and Chicago Junior School, as well as 3 control sites for comparison ▷Measured seed set, seed weight, and seed morphology to determine site variability ▷Conducted germination trials in growth chambers under incremental salt concentrations to determine the effect of salt on seed germination ▷Conducted periodic soil samples over the span of 1 year to assess salt levels at Trout Park and Chicago Junior School ▷Found differences between Trout Park and Chicago Junior School for reproductive metrics and soil salt levels, but not for germinationIllinois State Toll Highway Authorityunpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

Determinants of Salary Dispersion among Political Science Faculty: The Differential Effects of Where You Work (Institutional Characteristics) and What You Do (Negotiate and Publish)

We evaluate hypotheses about human capital and structural theory-based predictors of variation in academic salaries. We use standard statistical models to explore differences in salary among full-time political science faculty, while also utilizing selection models to control for factors that place individuals on different trajectories stemming from their graduate school experience. We report on several findings, one of which is the positive effect on salary associated with graduation from a highly ranked PhD program; a second being the negative effect on salary of a high undergraduate teaching load. Other findings are that negotiation positively affects salary for men, but not for women, and that journal publications increase salaries amongst women, but not men. At the associate professor level, we find a significant gender gap in salary, even with controls for human capital, structural factors, and productivity. We also find a significant effect of race on the salaries of male faculty

Researching Sex and the Cinema in the #MeToo Age

This introduction to the Film Studies special issue on Sex and the Cinema considers the special place of sex as an object of inquiry in !lm studies. Providing an overview of three major topic approaches and methodologies – (1) representation, spectatorship and identity politics; (2) the increasing scrutiny of pornography; and (3) new cinema history/media industries studies – this piece argues that the parameters of and changes to the research of sex, broadly de!ned, in !lm studies re"ect the development of the !eld and discipline since the 1970s, including the increased focus on putatively ‘low’ cultural forms, on areas of !lm culture beyond representation and on methods beyond textual/formal analysis

Functional connectivity of the hippocampus and its subfields in resting-state networks

First published: 30 March 2021Many neuroimaging studies have shown that the hippocampus participates in a resting-state network called the default mode network. However, how the hippocampus connects to the default mode network, whether the hippocampus connects to other resting-state networks and how the different hippocampal subfields take part in resting-state networks remains poorly understood. Here, we examined these issues using the high spatial-resolution 7T resting-state fMRI dataset from the Human Connectome Project. We used data-driven techniques that relied on spatially-restricted Independent Component Analysis, Dual Regression and linear mixed-effect group-analyses based on participant-specific brain morphology. The results revealed two main activity hotspots inside the hippocampus. The first hotspot was located in an anterior location and was correlated with the somatomotor network. This network was subserved by co-activity in the CA1, CA3, CA4 and Dentate Gyrus fields. In addition, there was an activity hotspot that extended from middle to posterior locations along the hippocampal long-axis and correlated with the default mode network. This network reflected activity in the Subiculum, CA4 and Dentate Gyrus fields. These results show how different sections of the hippocampus participate in two known resting-state networks and how these two resting-state networks depend on different configurations of hippocampal subfield co-activity.Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Grant/Award Number: PSI2017-84933- P, PSI2017-91955- EXP and TEC2016-80063- C3- 2- R; NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, Grant/Award Number: 1U54MH091657; McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience; European Social Fund (ESF

Environmental assessment of a biorefinery concept for production of bulk and fine chemicals

Moving from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy requires the development of new technologies and process concepts for the production of bio-based energy, chemicals and materials. Biorefinery concepts can be designed by integrating such technologies in order to provide environmentally and economically attractive alternatives to produce bulk and fine chemicals. This paper presents life cycle and techno-economic assessments of a novel biorefinery concept, in its early stages of development, for the combined production of adipic acid from forest residues and of lutein from micro-algae. Adipic acid is a bulk chemical with a yearly production of approximately 2.3 million tonnes, and is primarily used for the production of nylon-6,6. Conventional adipic acid production from fossil resources causes significant emissions of N2O due to the use of nitric acid as an oxidizing agent. This conventional production can thus lead to a significant climate impact if these emissions are not sufficiently mitigated. Lutein is a high added-value chemical used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, and is conventionally produced from marigold flowers. The biorefinery concept in this work consists of the pretreatment of forest residues, the separation of lignin (which is an important by-product), and the hydrolysis and fermentation of the pretreated forest residues to adipic acid which is then separated and purified. Water, nutrients and CO2 flows from the adipic acid production can be connected to the algae production. The lutein is extracted from the micro-algae using methanol. Anaerobic digestion is used in this concept to produce biogas (another important by-product) from waste streams. The biorefinery concept thus comprises technologies that are at different technology readiness levels (TRLs), from as low as a TRL of 2 for the fermentation process, to a TRL of 9 for the anaerobic digestion process.Twelve design variants of the biorefinery concept were modelled and simulated based on experimental and literature data. These variants aimed at narrowing down uncertainties about, for instance, the performance of the fermentation process. The data and information resulting from the simulations of the design variants were used 1) to compile the life cycle inventories for the LCA of each of these variants, and to do the subsequent life cycle impact assessment, and 2) to determine the capital and operating costs in order to calculate the economic feasibility of the biorefinery design variants. The assessment of all variants provides a range for the environmental and economic performance of the biorefinery concept based on design choices and process conditions. Furthermore, scenarios for future energy systems were considered in order to assess the influence of the background system on the performance of the biorefinery concept.The results show that there is a large variation in the performance among the different design variants, where some designs can significantly improve the prospects for the bio-based adipic acid production. However, the results are strongly dependent on the foreground and background energy systems. The results provide valuable insights to industry and policy decision makers in order to guarantee an environmentally benign and economically feasible production of bulk and fine chemicals in a biorefinery

A rapid assessment of re-opening nightlife whilst containing COVID-19 and preventing violence

At a time of national and international emergency, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has resulted in closures and restrictions on nightlife environments around the world including Wales. After months of control measures, many countries are now in the process of re-opening their nightlife economies. As these restrictions are gradually lifted, we face the challenge of how to safely re-open the night-time economy (NTE) whilst minimising risks of COVID-19 transmission, protecting night-time industries and ensuring the ‘new normal’ of nightlife does not exacerbate other public health problems, particularly violence