Developing a Student-Centered Curriculum for High Intermediate and Advanced Writing Community College ESL Students to Promote Their Discovery of Campus Resources

Non-native speaker students in California community colleges face several challenges beyond the linguistic objectives they must achieve in their ESL courses. Many students come to the classroom with previous experiences of discrimination within the educational system. This is especially true of undocumented students. Income level is also often an obstacle to gaining access to an education, as is the previous educational experiences students have had in their own countries. While overcoming language barriers should be one of the main goal of ESL classes, attitudes toward non-native speakers can affect students’ learning because of perceived limitations in communication outside of the classroom. Schools that are underfunded and teachers who are sometimes unaware of these challenges their students face sometimes fall short in making campus resources accessible to students. This project aims to inform community college instructors of alternatives for content-specific topics for high intermediate and advanced ESL writers. It will provide a framework for creating a curriculum that combines student services, such as counseling, tutoring, financial aid, and clubs, as a content objective with writing and grammar objectives from a typical California community college. The main objective of this project is to provide community college ESL writing teachers with options for lesson plans that are student-centered and promote the inclusion and involvement of ESL students in the community college setting and advance their cultural capital by learning about the systems and resources of their educational environment

Valorization of agroindustrial waste

The main objective of this work is the valorization of residues from agro-industry giving them an added value. The valorization was performed by using a "green" and sustainable solvent - supercritical fluid, in this case carbon dioxide. Two residues and one biomass were used to produce two different final products, thereby emphasizing the versatility of the waste recovery - spent coffee grounds and microalgae Chlorella protothecoides to produce biodiesel, and tomato pomace to extract carotenoids. In the first part of this work it was demonstrated the possibility to obtain a conversion of coffee spent grounds oil into biodiesel, through an enzymatic transesterification reaction, of 98.01% with the following operating conditions: molar ratio oil:methanol 1:24, residence time 0.8 min, pressure 25 MPa, temperature 313,15K. In this first phase, it was also used the microalgae Chlorella protothecoides, a biomass, to produce biodiesel and favorable results were obtained with this green process compared with a traditional process - basic catalysis / acid. In the second part of this work, by an extraction with supercritical CO2 it was obtained 3.38% oil from tomato pomace under the following conditions: pressure 35.1 MPa, temperature 313,15K. It was found that this oil contains various carotenoids: β-carotene, lutein and lycopene. The latter is present in larger amount

Outcomes of patients with stage IB1 and IB2 Cervical Cancer who have had Wertheim's Hysterectomies with or without adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy as primary treatment at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital

A research report submitted to the University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Medicine 2016.Background Cervical cancer is the 3rd most common female malignancy worldwide. It is classified and managed according to stage as defined by the FIGO Committee on Gynaecology Oncology classification of 2009. Stage specific treatment is tailored according to prognosis and risk of recurrence as determined by tumour type, tumour size, tumour grade, lymph node metastases, lymphovascular space involvement (LVSI), parametrial spread and presence of any other metastatic deposits at presentation. This study only concentrated on patients who presented with Stage IB1 and 1B2 tumours managed by Class III / Meig’s Radical / Wertheim’s hysterectomy and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy. Aims Primary Outcome 1. Assess disease free interval and overall survival 2 years post-operatively. Secondary Outcomes 1. Assess adequacy of patient selection 2. Assess risk factors for recurrence 3. Compare recurrence risk of HIV positive patients versus HIV negative patients. 4. Determine surgical and post-surgical complication rate. Materials and Methods This was a retrospective institutional cohort study conducted at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. All patients with Stage IB1 or IB2 cervical cancer treated with Wertheim hysterectomies between 2002 and 2012 were included. Surgical records, histology records, further postoperative management records and gynaecological outpatient follow up records were used to collect data for the patients. Histological findings post-operatively determined further management. Surgical margins had to be 10mm clear of tumour with no positive lymph nodes otherwise external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy or chemo-radiotherapy were recommended in addition to primary surgical management. Results Of the 72 patients initially identified, 69 patients were suitable for study inclusion. The mean age of the study population was 45 years. Study population racial distribution: 68.12% were Black, 26.09% were White, 2.9% were Coloured and 2.9% were Indian. Average parity and gravidity of patients alive at the end of the study was 2.86 and 3.56; while average parity and gravidity of patients deceased at the end of the study was 2.5 and 2.8 respectively. Study population ECOG status: 16% were ECOG 0, 83% were ECOG 1 and 1% were ECOG 2. Overall survival at the end of the study was 86% and patients were disease free postoperatively for an average of 5 years. Thirty three percent of the patients were disease free for more than 5 years. Preoperative clinical staging and postoperative histological staging correlated only in 61% of cases. Correct management by Wertheim’s hysterectomy was rendered to 75% of patients whereas the remainder were incorrectly managed and should have had either a simple hysterectomy with no pelvic lymphadenectomy or radiotherapy only as primary therapy. More advanced stages, tumours ≥ 4cm, adenomatous cell type, > 5mm depth of invasion, >7mm lateral spread, higher number of nodes positive for metastatic disease, surgical margins 10mm, positive lympohovascular space, parametrial and pouch of Douglas (POD) involvement were factors that had a poorer prognosis with regards overall survival, disease-free interval or both. Poorly differentiated tumours were more likely to recur but did not have a poorer prognosis compared with regards to overall survival or disease free interval at 2 or more years compared to well and moderately differentiated tumours. Mortality of HIV reactive patients was 16.7% compared to 12.5% for HIV non-reactive patients. This difference was not statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. HIV status also did not increase risk of recurrence. Lower CD4 counts were shown to have a lower disease-free period and overall survival. Intra-operative surgical complication rate was 6%. Immediate post-operative complication rate was 16%. Of the patients who required DXT or DXT and chemotherapy 33% had side-effects or complications from adjuvant therapy. Patients treated with DXT and chemotherapy had had more side-effects than those treated with DXT only. Conclusion The mean age of the study population was 45 years. This was lower compared to other larger studies possibly due to younger presentation related to HIV disease. HIV positive patients with lower CD4 counts were shown to have poorer prognosis with regards to survival. HIV status was not shown to be a risk factor for recurrence. The overall survival and disease-free period at 5 years was similar to that of other international studies. Only two thirds of the patients were adequately selected for surgery according to the institution’s criteria for a Wertheim’s hysterectomy and therefore it may be necessary to reconsider the pre-operative assessment of these patients. More advanced stages, tumours ≥ 4cm, adenomatous cell type, poor differentiation, > 5mm depth of invasion, >7mm lateral spread, higher number of nodes positive for metastatic disease, surgical margins ≤ 10mm, positive lympohovascular space, parametrial and pouch of Douglas involvement were factors that had a poorer prognosis with regards to recurrence, overall survival and disease-free interval. However, the rates of recurrence were not statistically significant at a 95% confidence level.LG201

A bronquiolite pelo virus sincicial respiratório e o chiado recorrente: qual a relação?

Various follow-up studies of children hospitalized with bronchiolitis caused by respiratory syncytial virus have demonstrated that a significant proportion of infants (50%) have recurrent wheezing during childhood. Nevertheless, the relationship between these two entities, if any, has not been established. In order to explain this observation, several hypotheses have been proposed. The first suggests that some children could have an individual predisposition to bronchiolitis caused by respiratory syncytial virus and recurrent wheezing. The virus could be a marker of this condition, and the individual predisposition could in turn be related to an individual hypersensitivity to common allergens (atopy), airway hyperreactivity, or to some disorder related to pulmonary anatomy or physiology that was present before the acute episode of bronchiolitis. Another hypothesis proposes that respiratory syncytial virus could be directly responsible for recurrent wheezing. During an episode of bronchiolitis, the damage in the airway mucosa caused by the vital inflammatory response to infection contributes to sensitivity to other allergens or exposes irritant receptors, resulting in recurrent wheezing. For this review, we analyzed the studies that discuss these hypotheses with the purpose of clarifying the mechanisms for the important issue of recurrent wheezing in childhood.Os diversos estudos de seguimento de crianças hospitalizadas por bronquiolite pelo virus sincicial respiratório demonstram, em média, 50% de chance de evoluir com novos episódios de chiado no peito. Apesar desta constatação, não foi estabelecida a relação entre a bronquiolite pelo virus sincicial respiratório e a recorrência dos episódios de chiado. A primeira hipótese é de que o indivíduo poderia ter uma predisposição para a repetição do quadro de chiado e também para a própria bronquiolite como manifestação da infecção pelo virus sincicial respiratório. O vírus seria um marcador desta condição. Esta predisposição pode estar relacionada a uma hipersensibilidade a alérgenos comuns (atopia), hiper-reatividade a estímulos não específicos ou alguma alteração pulmonar anátomo-fisiológica presentes antes da bronquiolite. Outra hipótese é a de que o virus sincicial respiratório é o responsável por esta evolução. Durante um episódio de bronquiolite, a lesão da mucosa respiratória decorrente do intenso processo inflamatório, principalmente nos quadros mais graves, facilitaria a sensibilização para outros alérgenos ou provocaria uma exposição de receptores para irritantes, resultando nos quadros de chiado recorrentes. Nesta revisão, os autores analisam as pesquisas que sustentam essas hipóteses com o objetivo de sistematizar o conhecimento sobre este assunto e apresentá-lo de forma organizada, como uma contribuição à compreensão da recorrência dos episódios de chiado

Enabling factors for the competitiveness of the Portuguese automotive industry

The Portuguese automotive industry is a relevant activity sector for the Portuguese society and economy, both in job creation and value-added generation, contributing to the country’s economic development. The automotive is a high challenge industry, with intense competition, a high number of brands, increased number of models and vehicles, tighter regulatory requirements (e.g., emissions), and the need to manage global supplier networks. To succeed in such a highly complex and interconnected industry requires firms to be globally competitive since most of the production of this industry is destined for the rest of the world through export. This research aims to investigate the factors that contribute to value creation and competitiveness of the Portuguese automotive industry. Following the literature review of competitive advantage theories, quantitative research was done through an online questionnaire with Portuguese auto industry firms, to validate the proposed research hypotheses. The statistical analysis of the results, based on the application of descriptive statistics methodologies, principal components analysis, and correlation analysis, allowed to conclude that in this industry sector, the adoption of a strategy of differentiation/focalization and the external context influence value creation. However, it was not possible to conclude if the specific characteristics of the organization influences, or not, the creation of value. From the theoretical point of view, the conclusions demonstrate the relevance of the adoption of a strategy of differentiation and focalization and the external context for the competitiveness of these firms, supporting the assumptions of Porter’s Industry Based Theory and Generic strategies. From the practical point of view, the results highlight the importance of monitoring the external context and investing in research and development, brand image and market expertise, with the aim of enhancing the value creation and competitiveness of the components, tools, and services providers firms of the Portuguese automotive sector.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Women cotton farmers: Their perceptions and experiences with transgenic varieties: A case study for Colombia

This paper explores gender differences in cotton cultivation and looks into the perceptions and experiences of women and men with transgenic varieties. With few exceptions, researchers in the area of impact evaluation of crop biotechnology have only marginally included gender considerations in their work. This exploratory pilot study was developed in order to incorporate gender into our quantitative evaluation work. This study used a participatory and descriptive approach that allowed us to listen to women and men farmers' perceptions and insights. The project was conducted in the main cotton-producing regions of Colombia where a handful of transgenic varieties have been in the market for the past six years.crop biotechnology, Genetically modified crops, Genetic engineering, Cotton, Gender,

Using educational issues workshops as a pedagogical strategy to explore the argumentative competence in the EFL classroom

1 recurso en línea (79 páginas) : ilustraciones color, tablas, figuras.One of the objectives of this project is to comprehend how pre-service teachers’ development takes place. Thus, this small-scale project attempts to explore the argumentative skills used by future teachers. In this way, we can provide some ideas about how specific competences take place in the Foreign Languages program at the UPTC.Bibliografía y webgrafía: páginas 63-69.PregradoLicenciado en Lenguas Extranjera