Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do

This paper reviews a selection of research from the field of foreign and second language teaching into what is referred to here as teacher cognition – what teachers think, know, and believe and the relationships of these mental constructs to what teachers do in the language teaching classroom. Within a framework suggested by more general mainstream educational research on teacher cognition, language teacher cognition is here discussed with reference to three main themes: (1) cognition and prior language learning experience, (2) cognition and teacher education, and (3) cognition and classroom practice. In addition, the findings of studies into two specific curricular areas in language teaching which have been examined by teacher cognition – grammar teaching and literacy – are discussed. This review indicates that, while the study of teacher cognition has established itself on the research agenda in the field of language teaching and provided valuable insight into the mental lives of language teachers, a clear sense of unity is lacking in the work and there are several major issues in language teaching which have yet to be explored from the perspective of teacher cognition

Applied group theory applications in the engineering (physical, chemical, and medical), biological, social, and behavioral sciences and in the fine arts

A generalized applied group theory is developed, and it is shown that phenomena from a number of diverse disciplines may be included under the umbrella of a single theoretical formulation based upon the concept of a group consistent with the usual definition of this term

Effects of Dietary Crude Protein and Fiber on the Digestibility of Diets for the Young Weaned Pig

Three experiments were conducted using a total of 30 young weaned pigs, surgically fitted with simple T-cannula at the terminal ileum, to evaluate the effects of dietary crude protein (CP) and fiber on the ileal and fecal digestibilities of various dietary fractions. Pigs (avg wt, 7.9 kg) were rotated through a series of diets in crossover designs. Experiment 1 addressed the effect of 12.2, 17.2 and 20.8% dietary CP on ileal and fecal digestibilities of dietary dry matter (DM), nitrogen, amino acids, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber, crude fiber, cellulose, hemicellulose lignin and ash. With increasing dietary CP ileal and fecal DM digestibility decreased (P\u3c.03) while nitrogen, amino acid, NDF, acid detergent fiber, crude fiber, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and ileat ash digestibilities all improved (P\u3c.05). There appeared to be a plateau at 17.2% cp where depression in DM digestibilities and improvements in nitrogen and amino acid digestibilities were no longer significant (P\u3c.05). In experiment 2 the effects of dietary fiber on the digestibility of various dietary fractions was studied. Dietary NDF concentrations were 20.5, 24.5 and 30.5%. Crude protein was held constant at 20.8%. Increased dietary NDF depressed (P\u3c.05) DM digestibility and ileal amino acid measures but did not affect (P\u3e.05) nitrogen, NDF, hemicellulose and ash digestibilities. Acid detergent fiber, cellulose and lignin digestibilities improved (P\u3c.04) due to increasing dietary NDF. In experiment 3, a factorial arrangement of 2 CP (18.6 and 24.4%) and 2 NDF (10.8 and 23.2%) concentrations were studied. Increasing dietary NDF had a negative effect (P\u3c.05) on all dietary component digestibilities measured except lignin. Dietary NDF depressed (P\u3c.05) amino acid digestibilities over the entire digestive tract but depressed only histidine, lysine, glycine and serine when measured at the ileum. Crude protein improved (P\u3c.05) ileal and fecal nitrogen digestibility with little affect on amino acid digestibilities. Fecal digestibilities of all dietary fractions measured improved with time. Results suggest the young weaned pig is able to make limited use of fibrous diets without greatly affecting other dietary component digestibilities. Also, it may be possible to lower CP content below recommended CP concentrations without adversely affecting digestibilities. Increasing fecal digestibility coefficients over time brings to question the time period (age) at which it becomes important to use cannulated pigs for apparent digestibility measures

Use of Posidonia oceanica as a bioindicator of ecological status for Maltese coastal waters

Data on Posidonia oceanica attributes from Maltese Coastal waters are available from a number of research studies and environmental monitoring programmes. As part of Malta’s obligations for implement- ing the European Union’s Water Framework Directive, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority participated in an intercalibration exercise, involving Mediterranean countries that are also EU member states, aimed at ensuring comparability of different methods for the classification of coastal waters using P. oceanica as bioindicator. Data on P. oceanica attributes (shoot area, shoot biomass and shoot density), collected during the period 1999 to 2004 from 19 sites in Malta and Gozo, were analysed using Analysis of Variance and Principal Component Analysis to identify differences in values of seagrass attributes between the different sites surveyed. The output from the statistical analyses was used to derive values of the Eco- logical Quality Ratio (EQR) for the five status classes (high, good, moderate, poor or bad). Of the 19 sites considered, 2 sites were classified as having ‘high’ status, 14 sites had ‘good’ status, 2 sites had ‘moder- ate’ status, and 1 site had ‘poor’ status. None of the sites were classified as having ‘bad’ status; however, this was attributed to the lack of P. oceanica data from localities that represented highly degraded coastal areas. The results obtained are discussed in the light of knowledge of the environmental characteristics of the sites surveyed, and recommendations for development of a national method for assessing and classifying the ecological status Maltese coastal water, based on a larger data set and inclusion of additional seagrass descriptors, are proposed.peer-reviewe

Human subjective response to steering wheel vibration caused by diesel engine idle

This study investigated the human subjective response to steering wheel vibration of the type caused by a four-cylinder diesel engine idle in passenger cars. Vibrotactile perception was assessed using sinusoidal amplitude-modulated vibratory stimuli of constant energy level (r.m.s. acceleration, 0.41 m/s(2)) having a carrier frequency of 26 Hz (i.e. engine firing frequency) and modulation frequency of 6.5 Hz (half-order engine harmonic). Evaluations of seven levels of modulation depth parameter m (0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0) were performed in order to define the growth function of human perceived disturbance as a function of amplitude modulation depth. Two semantic descriptors were used (unpleasantness and roughness) and two test methods (the Thurstone paired-comparison method and the Borg CR-10 direct evaluation scale) for a total of four tests. Each test was performed using an independent group of 25 individuals. The results suggest that there is a critical value of modulation depth m = 0.2 below which human subjects do not perceive differences in amplitude modulation and above which the stimulus-response relationship increases monotonically with a power function. The Stevens power exponents suggest that the perceived unpleasantness is non-linearly dependent on modulation depth m with an exponent greater than 1 and that the perceived roughness is dependent with an exponent close to unity

PCN46 EPOIETIN ALPHA TREATMENT FOR CANCER PATIENTS WITH CHEMOTHERAPY INDUCED ANAEMIA–A COSTEFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS FOR SWEDEN

Saturday, 5th June 1920

Clinical Evaluation of Denture Retention by Multi-suction Cup and Denture Adhesive

AIM: The aim of the study was to compare the retention of two modalities: Multi-suction cup denture, and denture adhesive and to evaluate the change of retention by different time intervals. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twelve completely edentulous patients were selected. The patients received two dentures: One conventional denture, and the other with multi-suction cups. The retention was measured by a universal testing machine at insertion, 15 min, 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, and 4 h. All values were recorded in Newtons. Statistical analysis was carried out using two-way analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey’s test. RESULTS: Retention was higher in denture adhesive than multi-suction cup, and the change of retention was not statistically significant by time. CONCLUSION: Denture adhesive showed better retention clinically and simplified laboratory procedures than multi-suction denture

Protein structure validation and refinement using amide proton chemical shifts derived from quantum mechanics

We present the ProCS method for the rapid and accurate prediction of protein backbone amide proton chemical shifts - sensitive probes of the geometry of key hydrogen bonds that determine protein structure. ProCS is parameterized against quantum mechanical (QM) calculations and reproduces high level QM results obtained for a small protein with an RMSD of 0.25 ppm (r = 0.94). ProCS is interfaced with the PHAISTOS protein simulation program and is used to infer statistical protein ensembles that reflect experimentally measured amide proton chemical shift values. Such chemical shift-based structural refinements, starting from high-resolution X-ray structures of Protein G, ubiquitin, and SMN Tudor Domain, result in average chemical shifts, hydrogen bond geometries, and trans-hydrogen bond (h3JNC') spin-spin coupling constants that are in excellent agreement with experiment. We show that the structural sensitivity of the QM-based amide proton chemical shift predictions is needed to refine protein structures to this agreement. The ProCS method thus offers a powerful new tool for refining the structures of hydrogen bonding networks to high accuracy with many potential applications such as protein flexibility in ligand binding.Comment: PLOS ONE accepted, Nov 201

The influence of emotional reaction on help seeking by victims of school bullying

Research has started to focus on how victims of school bullying cope, but there is still very little understanding if why pupils cope in one way and not another. This paper aimed to examine the effects of gender, school-stage, frequency of victimization and different emotions (anger, vengeance, self-pity, indifference, and helplessness) upon the choice of social support that children report using. Questionnaires were completed by 6282 Maltese schoolchildren aged between 9 and 14 years old. Analyses revealed that specific patterns of emotion and victimization predict whether pupils report using certain sources of social support. Results are discussed in relation to their relevance for possible intervention, future research needs and implications for the theoretical framework used