1,389 research outputs found
Wait-Learning: Leveraging Wait Time for Second Language Education
Competing priorities in daily life make it difficult for those with a casual interest in learning to set aside time for regular practice. In this paper, we explore wait-learning: leveraging brief moments of waiting during a person's existing conversations for second language vocabulary practice, even if the conversation happens in the native language. We present an augmented version of instant messaging, WaitChatter, that supports the notion of wait-learning by displaying contextually relevant foreign language vocabulary and micro-quizzes just-in-time while the user awaits a response from her conversant. Through a two week field study of WaitChatter with 20 people, we found that users were able to learn 57 new words on average during casual instant messaging. Furthermore, we found that users were most receptive to learning opportunities immediately after sending a chat message, and that this timing may be critical given user tendency to multi-task during waiting periods.Quanta Computer (Firm)Lincoln Laborator
A SWEET solution to rice blight
Bacterial blight is an important disease of rice that is particularly destructive in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, exacerbated by the heavy rains of the monsoon seasons. Estimated crop loss due to bacterial blight may be as high as 75%, with millions of hectares of rice affected annually. In this issue, an international team of researchers describes the use of CRISPR editing to generate rice plants that are broadly resistant to the main pathogen that causes rice blight, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo)1. To enhance the durability and
management of resistance, the team has also developed a kit to trace the disease, and its virulence and resistance alleles2
Analysis, characterization, and effects of heavy metal chealating agents in water
Students supported: 5 Student Assistants"The term 'chelating agents' refers to chemical ligands which bind to an element with more than one site. It is a ubiquitous term, since there are multitudes of compounds which fulfill the requirements for being called chelating agents. Their origin is both synthetic and natural, and the manner and fashion in which they bind is quite varied. Many of the vitamins and hormones essential to life are chelating agents. Chlorophyll, which is required for photosynthesis, consists of a porphyrin ring structure bound to magnesium. Hemoglobin binds iron in a similar pattern, and vitamin B-12 utilizes cobalt in the same fashion. In addition to these, there are quite a number of similar compounds in both plants and animals. Most metals transport and usage inside living things involve a chelation process. In natural water systems, the presence of chelating agents can have significant impact on the transport and toxicity of metals."--IntroductionProject # B-095-MO Agreement # 14-31-0001-409
A catalogue of galaxies behind the southern Milky Way. - II. The Crux and Great Attractor regions (l = 289deg - 338deg)
In this second paper of the catalogue series of galaxies behind the southern
Milky Way, we report on the deep optical galaxy search in the Crux region
(289deg <= l <= 318deg and -10deg <= b <= 10deg) and the Great Attractor region
(316deg <= l <= 338deg and -10deg <= b <= 10deg). The galaxy catalogues are
presented, a brief description of the galaxy search given, as well as a
discussion on the distribution and characteristics of the uncovered galaxies. A
total of 8182 galaxies with major diameters D >= 0.2 arcmin were identified in
this ~850 square degree area: 3759 galaxies in the Crux region and 4423
galaxies in the Great Attractor region. Of the 8182 galaxies, 229 (2.8%) were
catalogued before in the optical (3 in radio) and 251 galaxies have a reliable
(159), or likely (92) cross-identification in the IRAS Point Source Catalogue
(3.1%). A number of prominent overdensities and filaments of galaxies are
identified. They are not correlated with the Galactic foreground extinction and
hence indicative of extragalactic large-scale structures. Redshifts obtained at
the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) for 518 of the newly
catalogued galaxies in the Crux and Great Attractor regions (Fairall et al.
1998; Woudt et al. 1999) confirm distinct voids and clusters in the area here
surveyed. With this optical galaxy search, we have reduced the width of the
optical `Zone of Avoidance' for galaxies with extinction-corrected diameters
larger than 1.3 arcmin from extinction levels A_B >= 1.0 mag to A_B >= 3.0 mag:
the remaining optical Zone of Avoidance is now limited by |b| <= 3deg (see Fig.
16).Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Tables will
shortly be available in electronic version at the CDS. Full resolution
(colour) copies of Figures 1, 2, 3 and 16 are available at
http://mensa.ast.uct.ac.za/~pwoud
Quality Assessment and Data Analysis for microRNA Expression Arrays
MicroRNAs are small (âŒ22 nt) RNAs that regulate gene expression and play important roles in both normal and disease physiology. The use of microarrays for global characterization of microRNA expression is becoming increasingly popular and has the potential to be a widely used and valuable research tool. However, microarray profiling of microRNA expression raises a number of data analytic challenges that must be addressed in order to obtain reliable results. We introduce here a universal reference microRNA reagent set as well as a series of nonhuman spiked-in synthetic microRNA controls, and demonstrate their use for quality control and between-array normalization of microRNA expression data. We also introduce diagnostic plots designed to assess and compare various normalization methods. We anticipate that the reagents and analytic approach presented here will be useful for improving the reliability of microRNA microarray experiments
Is there an app for that? A case study of the potentials and limitations of the participatory turn and networked publics for classical music audience engagement
The participatory turn, fuelled by discourses and rhetoric regarding social media, and in the
aftermath of the dot.com crash of the early 2000s, enrols to some extent an idea of being
able to deploy networks to achieve institutional aims. The arts and cultural sector in the UK,
in the face of funding cuts, has been keen to engage with such ideas in order to demonstrate
value for money; by improving the efficiency of their operations, improving their respective
audience experience and ultimately increasing audience size and engagement. Drawing on a
case study compiled via a collaborative research project with a UK-based symphony
orchestra (UKSO) we interrogate the potentials of social media engagement for audience
development work through participatory media and networked publics. We argue that the
literature related to mobile phones and applications (âappsâ) has focused primarily on
marketing for engagement where institutional contexts are concerned. In contrast, our
analysis elucidates the broader potentials and limitations of social-media-enabled apps for
audience development and engagement beyond a marketing paradigm. In the case of UKSO,
it appears that the technologically deterministic discourses often associated with institutional
enrolment of participatory media and networked publics may not necessarily apply due to
classical music culture. More generally, this work raises the contradictory nature of
networked publics and argues for increased critical engagement with the concept
Mobile Augmented Reality and Language-Related Episodes
Applications of locative media (e.g., placeâbased mobile augmented reality [AR]) are used in various educational content areas and have been shown to provide learners with valuable opportunities for investigationâbased learning, locationâsituated social and collaborative interaction, and embodied experience of place (Squire, 2009; Thorne & Hellermann, 2017; Zheng et al., 2018). Mobile locative media applicationsâ value for language learning, however, remains underinvestigated. To address this lacuna, this study employed the widely used construct of languageârelated episodes (LREs; Swain & Lapkin, 1998) as a unit of analysis to investigate language learning through participation in a mobile AR game. Analysis of videorecorded interactions of four mixedâproficiency groups of game players (two English language learners [ELLs] and one expert speaker of English [ESE] per group) indicates that LREs in this environment were focused on lexical items relevant to the AR tasks and physical locations. Informed by sociocultural theory and conversation analysis, the microgenesis of learnersâ understanding and subsequent use of certain lexical items are indicated in the findings. This understanding of new lexical items was frequently facilitated by ESEsâ assistance and the surrounding physical environment. A strong goal orientation by both ESEs and ELLs was visible, providing implications for taskâbased language teaching approaches
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