Developing theme and rheme in expository writing: A case study

Teaching writing to non-native speakers of English demands much more than appropriate sentence construction and grammar. Writing at the tertiary level involves thinking in the English way. The aim of this paper is to examine and identify the weaknesses of theme and rheme in the clause as message following the tradition of Hallidayan linguistics. The research has identified the non-existence of theme, disguised theme and the lack of bond between the theme and rheme in a longitudinal case study. This action research proposes strategies in overcoming such weaknesses in language and thought. Among the strategies are the basic matching activity, the examination and analyses of academic texts and teaching the learner to monitor the theme and rheme from sentence to sentence and more importantly to focus on the theme. The results can be seen after six months when the learner is able to express himself/herself cohesively and meaningfully in discourse

Rate 3/4 coded 16-QAM for uplink applications

First phase development of an advanced modulation technology which synergistically combines coding and modulation to achieve 2 bits per second per Hertz bandwidth efficiency in satellite demodulators is nearing completion. A proof-of-concept model is being developed to demonstrate technology feasibility, establish practical bandwidth efficiency limitations, and provide a data base for the design and development of engineering model satellite demodulators. The basic considerations leading to the choice of 4 x 4 quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) and its associated coding format are discussed, along with the basic implementation of the carrier and clock recovery, automatic gain control, and decoding process. Preliminary performance results are presented. Spectra for the modulated signal shows the effects of the square root Nyquist filters in the modulation. Bit error rate (BER) results for the encoder/decoder subsystem show near ideal results, although power consumption is high and baseband BER performance of the Nyquist filter set is poor. Recommendations regarding the present system to improve BER performance and acquisition speed are given

An Unusual Cause of Abdominal Ascites.

Abdominal ascites is most commonly caused by portal hypertension from liver cirrhosis. When present, portal hypertension is associated with an elevated serum-ascites albumin gradient (SAAG) ≥1.1 g/dL. In contrast, a SAAG < 1.1 g/dL suggests malignancy, tuberculosis, pancreatitis, or nephrotic syndrome. Here, we present a case of low SAAG ascites caused by epithelioid peritoneal mesothelioma in a woman with no known liver disease. The diagnosis proved elusive until diagnostic laparoscopy with biopsy was performed