Lexical Approach: Revisiting English Language teaching by Putting Theories into Practice

We could not talk about vocabulary teaching nowadays without mentioning Michael Lewis (1993), whose controversial, thought-provoking ideas have been shaking the ELT world since the publication of his book “The Lexical Approach”. The lexical approach is a method of teaching foreign languages . The basic concept on which this approach rests is the idea that an important part of learning a language consists of being able to understand and produce lexical phrases as chunks. Students are thought to be able to perceive patterns of language (grammar) as well as have meaningful set uses of words at their disposal when they are taught in this way. The most important highlight is the importance of vocabulary as being basic to communication. Lewis himself insists that his lexical approach is not simply a shift of emphasis from grammar to vocabulary teaching. The Chunks that he refers include collocations, fixed and semi-fixed expressions and idioms, which according to him, occupy a crucial role in facilitating language production and act as the key to fluency. The principles of the Lexical Approach have been around since Michael Lewis published 'The Lexical Approach' 20 years ago. It seems, however, that many teachers and researchers do not have a clear idea of what the Lexical Approach actually looks like in practice. In creating the pedagogical materials for Français interactif, the developers decided to move away from the traditional grammatical syllabus and adopt features of the Lexical Approach instead

Fermentation Of Multigrain Dough – An Approach To Reduce Glycemic Index For Healthy Bread

The use of sourdough as the starter culture for bread making is one of the oldest processes in food fermentation and is very much prevalent in being used for the manufacture of various multigrain breads. The fermentation process of breads from mixed flours is one way, reported to reduce the glycemic index as compared to white bread. In this paper, we have discussed the use of (autochthonous) native culture vs pure culture use, in fermentation to prepare a starter culture sourdough by propagative fermentation. Since such a dough is incorporated in the sourdough bread making process (1:3), by the initial process of intermittent back-slopping (at intervals of 3.5 and 7 days) to propagate sourdough with a starter culture, as a part of the process, we observed the reduction in glycaemic index of the sourdough itself to as low as GI=40, at 3rd day of fermentation when the pure consortium and at 5th day of fermentation GI=43, when the native consortium was used. The sourdough process is thus an essential tool, aimed to make healthy breads, as it is incorporated as an ingredient in the process, to make sourdough bread

Influence of hot water treatment on nutritional quality attributes of cold stored apple (Malus × domestica)

The present study was carried out at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi during 2021–2023 to study the effect of postharvest hot water treatment (HWT) on the nutritional quality attributes of apple [Malus × domestica Borkh.] cv. Royal Delicious. Apple fruits were exposed to hot water at 48, 50, 52 and 54°C for 2, 3, 4 and 5 min. Following the treatment, the fruits were cold stored (2±1°C, 90–95% relative humidity) for 90 days and evaluated for quality changes at every 15 days interval. Our results revealed that HWT of apple fruits at 48°C and 50°C were best for optimum retention of nutritional quality of apple fruits. Exposure of fruits to HWT at 48°C/5 min and 50°C/2 min resulted in least (0.73%, 0.75%) loss of ascorbic acid and anthocyanin content (0.10%, 0.21%), respectively as compared to other temperature-time combinations. At the end of a three month storage period, under control treatment, fruits exhibited 9.56% reduction of antioxidant (AOX) activity in comparison to 0.17–2.21% reduction in HWT apples. The maximum loss in quality attributes was noticed at highest temperature-time exposure (54°C/5 min). Thus, it was observed that the right combination of temperature and time for HWT is crucial to maintain fruit quality attributes without compromising nutritional value

Phenolic and antioxidant capacity retention of potato peel waste as a function of cultivar, pretreatment and drying procedure

Drying procedures employed for potato peels (both raw and boiled) may adversely affect the useful bioactivecomponents present in them. This study envisaged the identification of a feasible drying procedure for handlingbulk potato peel waste for maximising the retention of phytochemicals in the peel powder. The total phenols (TP), flavonoids (TF) and antioxidant capacity (TAC) were assessed in peels of three commercial and one newly developed anthocyanin rich Indian potato cultivars in response to boiling pretreatment and varying drying procedures. Microwave drying (600W) was best in terms of drying rate for both raw and boiled peels. It yielded the greatest amount of TP and TF in the dried raw peel, irrespective of cultivar. Dried raw peels of an thocyanin rich Kufri Neelkanth cultivar exhibited maximum TAC. Retention of TF, metal scavenging activity and reducing power followed almost a similar pattern as TP irrespective of cultivar, pretreatment and drying procedure. Our study shows that potato peel from Kufri Neelkanth (raw) and Kufri Frysona (both raw and boiled) are best source of phenolics and flavonoids and can serve as a suitable matrix for extraction of bioactive compounds which holds promise for use in the food industry

Potential of X-ray imaging to detect citrus granulation in different cultivars with progress in harvesting time

263-268Granulation, a physiological disorder of citrus is manifested by shriveled juice sacs and internal dryness. Extractable juice in granulated tissue is drastically reduced as a consequence of gelatinization and secondary epidermis formation. Since, the defect cannot be detected externally it leads to consumer dissatisfaction and poor returns to farmers. Processing industry also faces huge economic loss due to reduction in the juice recovery from granulated fruit. In this context, here, we studied the possibility of developing an image processing algorithm through MATLAB software to detect granulation with advancement of maturity via X-ray micrographs. Fruit of eight citrus cultivars comprising of granulation susceptible and tolerant varieties harvested at four different intervals were exposed to X-rays. Voltage of 46 kV and current of 6.5 mA given to fruit for an exposure time of 320 mAs gave the best X-ray image contrasts. The developed algorithm could effectively distinguish the healthy and granulated fruit with an accuracy of 90% as validated by subsequent destructive analysis when estimated for four different harvesting dates. The imaging technique can be employed by the processors to determine the severity of granulation and to sort out fruit online which will help in saving economic losses

Functionalization of ash gourd: Infusion of citrus peel polyphenols through vacuum impregnation

Citrus peels have high flavonoids known for potent pharmaceutical and food applications. The present study explores the infusion of citrus peel polyphenols (CPP) into ash gourd (Benincasa hispida) through vacuum impregnation (VI). The intent was to functionalize ash gourd for diversifying its food use. Vacuum infused ash gourd (VIAG) cubes were evaluated for physicochemical parameters, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant activity (AOX), and sensory quality. The VI process was optimized through Box-Behnken Design (BBD) of response surface methodology (RSM), considering blanching time, vacuum pressure and vacuum time as independent variables, and TPC, TFC and AOX as dependent variables. At optimized conditions of blanching pre-treatment (2.21 min), vacuum pressure (432.31 mbar) and time (28.18 min), there was ∼300% increase in TPC and AOX. Peleg model validated the mass transfer kinetics for TPC. Sensory evaluation through descriptive analysis revealed no perceived bitterness in VIAG. Overall, it seems that VI is a promising tool for functionalization of ash gourd with bioactives

Circulating Tumor DNA in Stage III Colorectal Cancer, beyond Minimal Residual Disease Detection, toward Assessment of Adjuvant Therapy Efficacy and Clinical Behavior of Recurrences

PURPOSE: Sensitive methods for risk stratification, monitoring therapeutic efficacy, and early relapse detection may have a major impact on treatment decisions and patient management for stage III colorectal cancer patients. Beyond assessing the predictive power of postoperative ctDNA detection, we explored the added benefits of serial analysis: assessing adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) efficacy, early relapse detection, and ctDNA growth rates. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We recruited 168 patients with stage III colorectal cancer treated with curative intent at Danish and Spanish hospitals between 2014 and 2019. To quantify ctDNA in plasma samples (n = 1,204), 16 patient-specific somatic single-nucleotide variants were profiled using multiplex-PCR, next-generation sequencing. RESULTS: Detection of ctDNA was a strong recurrence predictor postoperatively [HR = 7.0; 95% confidence interval (CI), 3.7–13.5; P < 0.001] and directly after ACT (HR = 50.76; 95% CI, 15.4–167; P < 0.001). The recurrence rate of postoperative ctDNA-positive patients treated with ACT was 80% (16/20). Only patients who cleared ctDNA permanently during ACT did not relapse. Serial ctDNA assessment after the end of treatment was similarly predictive of recurrence (HR = 50.80; 95% CI, 14.9–172; P < 0.001), and revealed two distinct rates of exponential ctDNA growth, slow (25% ctDNA-increase/month) and fast (143% ctDNA-increase/month; P < 0.001). The ctDNA growth rate was prognostic of survival (HR = 2.7; 95% CI, 1.1–6.7; P = 0.039). Serial ctDNA analysis every 3 months detected recurrence with a median lead-time of 9.8 months compared with standard-of-care computed tomography. CONCLUSIONS: Serial postoperative ctDNA analysis has a strong prognostic value and enables tumor growth rate assessment. The novel combination of ctDNA detection and growth rate assessment provides unique opportunities for guiding decision-making. See related commentary by Morris and George, p. 43

High resolution mapping of QTLs for fruit color and firmness in Amrapali/Sensation mango hybrids

IntroductionMango (Mangifera indica L.), acclaimed as the ‘king of fruits’ in the tropical world, has historical, religious, and economic values. It is grown commercially in more than 100 countries, and fresh mango world trade accounts for ~3,200 million US dollars for the year 2020. Mango is widely cultivated in sub-tropical and tropical regions of the world, with India, China, and Thailand being the top three producers. Mango fruit is adored for its taste, color, flavor, and aroma. Fruit color and firmness are important fruit quality traits for consumer acceptance, but their genetics is poorly understood.MethodsFor mapping of fruit color and firmness, mango varieties Amrapali and Sensation, having contrasting fruit quality traits, were crossed for the development of a mapping population. Ninety-two bi-parental progenies obtained from this cross were used for the construction of a high-density linkage map and identification of QTLs. Genotyping was carried out using an 80K SNP chip array.Results and discussionInitially, we constructed two high-density linkage maps based on the segregation of female and male parents. A female map with 3,213 SNPs and male map with 1,781 SNPs were distributed on 20 linkages groups covering map lengths of 2,844.39 and 2,684.22cM, respectively. Finally, the integrated map was constructed comprised of 4,361 SNP markers distributed on 20 linkage groups, which consisted of the chromosome haploid number in Mangifera indica (n =20). The integrated genetic map covered the entire genome of Mangifera indica cv. Dashehari, with a total genetic distance of 2,982.75 cM and an average distance between markers of 0.68 cM. The length of LGs varied from 85.78 to 218.28 cM, with a mean size of 149.14 cM. Phenotyping for fruit color and firmness traits was done for two consecutive seasons. We identified important consistent QTLs for 12 out of 20 traits, with integrated genetic linkages having significant LOD scores in at least one season. Important consistent QTLs for fruit peel color are located at Chr 3 and 18, and firmness on Chr 11 and 20. The QTLs mapped in this study would be useful in the marker-assisted breeding of mango for improved efficiency

Implementation of a practical coherent UWB PPM transceiver

Bibliography: p. 152-16