A qualitative inquiry into the dilemmas and challenges perceived by teachers in ESP instruction

In this article, the author explores six teachers’ experiences of ESP instruction in order to better understand the nature of the professional knowledge needed to make use of conflict and to manage a particular teaching dilemma. The approach adopted for this study is interpretative, using the case study method. Six participating teachers were interviewed over a three month period at four universities in Taiwan. The frameworks of socio-cultural theory and grounded theory guided the data analysis. The author's intention is to show that such an inquiry can reveal ways in which those teachers’ stories are telling cases that may enable others to respond and make meaning of their own experiences. Unraveling what constitutes professional knowledge in the practice of teaching is messy work, but the author hopes that when seen through the lens of six teachers’ balancing act of managing dilemmas, blending practice and theory, improvising, and reflecting on these processes, some clarity will be revealed.

Transnational production of Taiwanese integrated circuit industry in China

The trajectory of the Taiwanese economy over past decades has reflected transitions in global geo-economy towards a vertical specialisation of global trade, knowledge-based competition, variation of industrialisation in the Third World, regional trisection of the world economy, etc. Its industry, making remarkable progress based on a long-term national assistance, is involved in the outward direct investment whereby overseas production is arranged. Such strategic actions of industrial capital slice through national boundaries and, meanwhile, incorporate state-business relationships on a broader scale at a national level. The thesis seeks to portray the transnationalisation of the Taiwanese IC sector through its specific organisational processes and spatial dynamics with an aim to understanding the way that indigenous firms are associated with the home state and the convergence of IC production systems on subnational, transnational and global scales. This work finds that the outward expansion of the IC industrial capital reflects a spatial trend converging on China, the Yangtze River Delta in particular, owing to a reshuffle of the global electronic production chain. However, flow of capital and material along the chain across the Taiwan Strait move along a circuitous route. It also finds that a persistent inter-state feud accounts for the domestic debates over the westward investment of the IC capital. There is tension between the neo-liberalist logic of business practices and national intervention in a guided capitalist stance. It underlines the conflicts of imperative territoriality. On the one hand, the firms recognise the necessity of stretching industrial territories to the Mainland in consideration of sectoral competitiveness. On the other hand, what the state is concerned with lies not only in the impacts of industrial de-territorialisation upon domestic industries but also in the result of over-dependence upon China that would incorporate national economy into economic territories of the Great China Circle

Functional role of NF-IL6β and its sumoylation and acetylation modifications in promoter activation of cyclooxygenase 2 gene

NF-IL6β regulates gene expression and plays function roles in many tissues. The EGF-regulated cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2) expression is mediated through p38(MAPK) signaling pathway and positively correlates with NF-IL6β expression in A431 cells. NF-IL6β coordinated with c-Jun on cox-2 transcriptional activation by reporter and small interfering RNA assays. NF-IL6β could directly bind to CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) and cyclic AMP-response element (CRE) sites of the cox-2 promoter by in vitro-DNA binding assay. The C/EBP site was important for basal and, to a lesser extent, for EGF-regulated cox-2 transcription, while the CRE site was a more specific response to EGF inducibility of cox-2 gene. SUMO1 expression attenuated EGF- and NF-IL6β-induced cox-2 promoter activities. NF-IL6β was found to be sumoylated by in vivo- and in vitro-sumoylation assays, and the SUMO1-NF-IL6β (suNF-IL6β) lost its ability to interact with p300 in in vitro-binding assay. NF-IL6β was also acetylated by p300, and acetylation of NF-IL6β enhanced the cox-2 promoter activity stimulated by NF-IL6β itself. In vivo-DNA binding assay demonstrated that EGF stimulated the recruitment of p300 and NF-IL6β to the cox-2 promoter, yet promoted the dissociation of SUMO1-modificated proteins from the promoter. These results indicated that NF-IL6β plays a pivotal role in the regulation of basal and EGF-induced cox-2 transcription

Joint determination of lease period and preventive maintenance policy for leased equipment with residual value

a b s t r a c t This paper investigates the influence of the length of the lease period on the maintenance policy for leased equipment with residual value. The length of the lease period increases, however, the lessor's income increases, and the maintenance cost of the equipment rises as well. Therefore, the lease payment and maintenance service of the equipment are crucial items in the lease contract for the lessor's profit. If the equipment breaks down within the lease period, minimal repairs will be performed on the equipment and the lessor may incur a penalty cost if the repair time exceeds a pre-specified tolerable time. The imperfect preventive maintenance (PM) actions are carried out when the age of the equipment reaches a controlled-limit during the lease period. Under this maintenance scheme, the mathematical model of profit is constructed and then the optimal maintenance policy and the length of the lease period are obtained such that the expected total profit is maximized. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effects of the optimal length of the lease period and the maintenance policy for profit model

The distribution of different classes of nuclear localization signals (NLSs) in diverse organisms and the utilization of the minor NLS-binding site in plant nuclear import factor importin-α

The specific recognition between the import receptor importin-α and the nuclear localization signals (NLSs) is crucial to ensure the selective transport of cargoes into the nucleus. NLSs contain one or two clusters of positively-charged amino-acids, which usually bind to the major (monopartite NLSs) or both minor and major NLS-binding sites (bipartite NLSs). In our recent study, we determined the structure of importin-α1a from rice (Oryza sativa), and made two observations that suggest an increased utilization of the minor NLS-binding site in this protein. First, unlike the mammalian protein, both the major and minor NLS-binding sites are auto-inhibited in the unliganded rice protein. Second, we showed that NLSs of the 'plant-specific' class preferentially bind to the minor NLS-binding site of rice importin-α. Here, we show that a distinct group of 'minor site-specific' NLSs also bind to the minor site of the rice protein. We further show a greater enrichment of proteins containing these plant-specific' and 'minor site-specific' NLSs in the rice proteome. However, the analysis of the distribution of different classes of NLSs in diverse eukaryotes shows that in all organisms, the minor site-specific NLSs are much less prevalent than the classical monopartite and bipartite NLSs

Phosphorylation at Ser473 regulates heterochromatin protein 1 binding and corepressor function of TIF1beta/KAP1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>As an epigenetic regulator, the transcriptional intermediary factor 1β (TIF1β)/KAP1/TRIM28) has been linked to gene expression and chromatin remodeling at specific loci by association with members of the heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) family and various other chromatin factors. The interaction between TIF1β and HP1 is crucial for heterochromatin formation and maintenance. The HP1-box, PXVXL, of TIF1β is responsible for its interaction with HP1. However, the underlying mechanism of how the interaction is regulated remains poorly understood.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This work demonstrates that TIF1β is phosphorylated on Ser473, the alteration of which is dynamically associated with cell cycle progression and functionally linked to transcriptional regulation. Phosphorylation of TIF1β/Ser473 coincides with the induction of cell cycle gene <it>cyclin A2 </it>at the S-phase. Interestingly, chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated that the promoter of <it>cyclin A2 </it>gene is occupied by TIF1β and that such occupancy is inversely correlated with Ser473 phosphorylation. Additionally, when HP1β was co-expressed with TIF1β/S473A, but not TIF1β/S473E, the colocalization of TIF1β/S473A and HP1β to the promoters of <it>Cdc2 </it>and <it>Cdc25A </it>was enhanced. Non-phosphorylated TIF1β/Ser473 allowed greater TIF1β association with the regulatory regions and the consequent repression of these genes. Consistent with possible inhibition of TIF1β's corepressor function, the phosphorylation of the Ser473 residue, which is located near the HP1-interacting PXVXL motif, compromised the formation of TIF1β-HP1 complex. Finally, we found that the phosphorylation of TIF1β/Ser473 is mediated by the PKCδ pathway and is closely linked to cell proliferation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The modulation of HP1β-TIF1β interaction through the phosphorylation/de-phosphorylation of TIF1β/Ser473 may constitute a molecular switch that regulates the expression of particular genes. Higher levels of phosphorylated TIF1β/Ser473 may be associated with the expression of key regulatory genes for cell cycle progression and the proliferation of cells.</p

Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the ovary with torsion

AbstractPeripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (pPNETs) of the ovary are rare monophasic teratomas, and fewer than 100 cases have been reported in the literature. pPNETs mainly involve young women during their reproductive age, therefore, accurate diagnosis followed by multimodal treatment should be taken into consideration for fertility preservation. We report a patient with stage IA pPNET of the ovary presenting with acute abdominal pain secondary to torsion that was successfully managed by fertility-sparing surgery and six courses of combination chemotherapy with vincristine, Adriamycin, and cyclophosphamide. She has had a disease-free survival of >3 years. This brief review demonstrates the clinical course of pPNET and summarizes the literature to show that clinical stage at the time of diagnosis is the most important prognostic factor and that the vast majority of recurrences are observed within 10 years

Insula Volume and Salience Network Are Associated with Memory Decline in Parkinson Disease: Complementary Analyses of Voxel-Based Morphometry versus Volume of Interest

Objective. We investigated structural brain change in subjects with a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson disease with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) and examined its relationship with memory impairment. Methods. Twenty-three PD-MCI patients were enrolled and underwent cognitive evaluation and 3-dimensional T1-weighted imaging. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to assess brain-behavior correlations and examine the relationship between insula and memory score. VOI methods replicated results obtained from VBM. Results. VBM uncovered the notion that memory scores were positively correlated with the gray matter (GM) density in the insular cortex and a significant positive correlation between overall cognitive performance and concentration of GM within the lateral temporal cortex. In VOI analyses, our results suggested a positive correlation between the insula and composite free-recall verbal memory (ρ=0.617, P=0.003) and the delayed free-recall verbal memory subdomain (ρ=0.725, P<0.001). Furthermore, we found a positive correlation between the insula and caudate (σ=0.570, P=0.006) and putamen volume (σ=0.683, P<0.001). Conclusions. In patients with PD-MCI, atrophic changes in the insula may be related to memory deficits, and the brain-behavior correlation may be associated with atrophic change in the striatum within the salience network

Structural basis of thiol-based regulation of formaldehyde detoxification in H. influenzae by a MerR regulator with no sensor region

Pathogenic bacteria such as Haemophilus influenzae, a major cause of lower respiratory tract diseases, must cope with a range of electrophiles generated in the host or by endogenous metabolism. Formaldehyde is one such compound that can irreversibly damage proteins and DNA through alkylation and cross-linking and interfere with redox homeostasis. Its detoxification operates under the control of HiNmlR, a protein from the MerR family that lacks a specific sensor region and does not bind metal ions. We demonstrate that HiNmlR is a thiol-dependent transcription factor that modulates H. influenzae response to formaldehyde, with two cysteine residues (Cys54 and Cys71) identified to be important for its response against a formaldehyde challenge. We obtained crystal structures of HiNmlR in both the DNA-free and two DNA-bound forms, which suggest that HiNmlR enhances target gene transcription by twisting of operator DNA sequences in a two-gene operon containing overlapping promoters. Our work provides the first structural insights into the mechanism of action of MerR regulators that lack sensor regions