37 research outputs found
Mapping Student and Lecturer Perspectives: Use of L1 in a CLIL-oriented context
No full textThe aim of this paper is to describe action research conducted with lecturers who teach non-language subjects through English and their respective students at San Jorge University (USJ). The lecturers attended an introductory to teach through English following the CLIL approach (Content and Language Integrated Learning¿CLIL). To further adapt this course to the lectures` needs and resolve issues related to the use of the students` mother tongue (L1), the author surveyed the opinions of both the lecturers` and their respective students on in regards to using Spanish in the CLIL classroom, especially when new terms are presented. The answers were compiled into themes that show both groups` overall agreement to the conditioned importance of L1. The themes were: 1) reasons for using Spanish; 2) pros of using English only; 3) the use of L1 as an indicator of competence in the target foreign language (L2); 4) what students value in CLIL teaching practices. The outcomes bring into focus what students prefer and value with regards to using L1 and L2 in the CLIL classroom.Nashaat-Sobhy, N. (2017). Mapping Student and Lecturer Perspectives: Use of L1 in a CLIL-oriented context. En Buenas Prácticas de Innovación Docente en el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior V. Ediciones Universidad San Jorge. 195-212. https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/203739S19521
Effect of nanobubbles on flotation of El-Maghara coal
No full textTo extensively explore the advantage of using nanobubbles in the El-Maghara coal flotation process, the effect of nanobubbles on both column and mechanical flotation was investigated under different operating parameters such as diesel oil collector dosage, MIBC frother concentration, superficial feed velocity, superficial air velocity, and superficial wash water velocity in column flotation; besides the slurry flow rate through nanobubbles generator into a 25-liter mechanical flotation cell. The representative coal flotation feed acquired from the El-Maghara deposit located in Sinai, Egypt with chemical characterization using proximate analysis containing 25.27% mineral matter forming ash during coal combustion and with particle size distribution measurement using laser particle size analyzer is 57 µm d90. Also, the flotation kinetic experiments were done to show the influence of nanobubbles on the flotation time required to obtain high-quality coal products with high combustible recovery. Nanobubbles enhanced the flotation performance and kinetics by up to 24% combustible recovery based on the operation parameters reducing flotation time from 4 to 2.25 min for 80% combustible recovery
Book Review: Álvarez-Gil, Francisco J. (2022). Stance devices in tourism related research articles: A corpus-based study. Peter Lang
No full textAfter a brief introduction of ‘stance’ as a term and its potential importance in the field of tourism, the review highlights some of the main aspects of ‘Stance devices in tourism related research articles’, a recent publication authored by Francisco Álvarez-Gil. The motivation for this publication is briefly explained, followed by a brief summary of the main content and a summary of each chapter. The limitations mentioned by the author are briefly noted with an additional point about how the book could serve the language-teaching community if taken up by language teachers of English for tourism and business studies.1881863nan-ESCI9,9ERIH PLU
Plant strengtheners enhance parasitoid attraction to herbivore‐damaged cotton via qualitative and quantitative changes in induced volatiles
No full textThis is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Sobhy, I. S., Erb, M., & Turlings, T. C. J. (2015). Plant strengtheners enhance parasitoid attraction to herbivore‐damaged cotton via qualitative and quantitative changes in induced volatiles. Pest Management Science, 71(5), 686-693], which has been published in final form at [https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.3821]. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.BACKGROUND: Herbivore-damaged plants release a blend of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that differs from undamaged plants. These induced changes are known to attract the natural enemies of the herbivores and therefore are expected to be important determinants of the effectiveness of biological control in agriculture. One way of boosting this phenomenon is the application of plant strengtheners, which has been shown to enhance parasitoid attraction in maize. It is unclear whether this is also the case for other important crops.
RESULTS: The plant strengtheners BTH [benzo (1,2,3) thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester] and laminarin were applied to cotton plants, and the effects on volatile releases and the attraction of three hymenopteran parasitoids, Cotesia marginiventris, Campoletis sonorensis and Microplitis rufiventris, were studied. After treated and untreated plants were induced by real or simulated caterpillar feeding, it was found that BTH treatment increased the attraction of the parasitoids, whereas laminarin had no significant effect. BTH treatment selectively increased the release of two homoterpenes and reduced the emission of indole, the latter of which had been shown to interfere with parasitoid attraction in earlier studies. Canonical variate analyses of the data show that the parasitoid responses were dependent on the quality rather than the quantity of volatile emission in this tritrophic interaction.
CONCLUSION: Overall, these results strengthen the emerging paradigm that induction of plant defences with chemical elicitors such as BTH could provide a sustainable and environmentally friendly strategy for biological control of pests by enhancing the attractiveness of cultivated plants to natural enemies of insect herbivores.UnfundedAAM supplied by author and uploaded to ChesterRep 07/11/202
Evaluation of Wet Mapping Functions Used in Modeling Tropospheric Propagation Delay Effect on GPS Measurements
No full textBackground:The author compares several methods to map the a priori wet tropospheric delay of GNSS signals in Egypt from the zenith direction to lower elevations.Methods and Materials:The author compared the following mapping techniques against ray-traced delays computed for radiosonde profiles under the assumption of spherical symmetry: Saastamoinen, Hopfield, Black, Chao, Ifadis, Herring, Niell, Moffett, Black and Eisner and UNBabc mapping functions. Radiosonde data were computed from radiosonde stations at the Egyptian stations; in the south of Egypt, near the Mediterranean Sea, and near the Red Sea over a period of 5 years (2000-2005), most of the stations launched radiosonde twice daily, every day of the year. Moreover, data is received from the Egyptian Meteorology Authority.Results and Conclusion:The results indicate that currently, the saastamoinen mapping function should be used for all geodetic applications in Egypt, and if necessary, the Chao and Moffett mapping functions can serve as an acceptable replacement without introducing a significant bias into the station position.</jats:sec
Book Review: Álvarez-Gil, Francisco J. (2022). Stance devices in tourism related research articles: A corpus-based study. Peter Lang
No full textAfter a brief introduction of ‘stance’ as a term and its potential importance in the field of tourism, the review highlights some of the main aspects of ‘Stance devices in tourism related research articles’, a recent publication authored by Francisco Álvarez-Gil. The motivation for this publication is briefly explained, followed by a brief summary of the main content and a summary of each chapter. The limitations mentioned by the author are briefly noted with an additional point about how the book could serve the language-teaching community if taken up by language teachers of English for tourism and business studies.After a brief introduction of ‘stance’ as a term and its potential importance in the field of tourism, the review highlights some of the main aspects of ‘Stance devices in tourism related research articles’, a recent publication authored by Francisco Álvarez-Gil. The motivation for this publication is briefly explained, followed by a brief summary of the main content and a summary of each chapter. The limitations mentioned by the author are briefly noted with an additional point about how the book could serve the language-teaching community if taken up by language teachers of English for tourism and business studies
© Hindawi Publishing Corp. ON THE L2w-BOUNDEDNESS OF SOLUTIONS FOR PRODUCTS OF QUASI-INTEGRO DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
No full textGiven a general quasidifferential expressions τ1,τ2,...,τn each of order n with complex coefficients and their formal adjoints are τ+1,τ 2,...,τ n on [0,b), respec-tively, we show under suitable conditions on the function F that all solutions of the product of the quasi-integrodifferential equation [ ∏n j=1τj]y =wF(t,y, ∫ t 0 g(t,s, y,y′,...,y(n2−1)(s))ds) on [0,b), 0<b ≤∞; t,s≥0, are bounded and L2w-bounded on [0,b). These results are extensions of those by the author (1994), Wong (1975)
Ethylene functions as a suppressor of volatile production in rice
No full textThis is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in [Journal of Experimental Botany] following peer review. The version of record [Mujiono, K., Tohi, T., Sobhy, I. S., Hojo, Y., Ho, N. T., Shinya, T., & Galis, I. (2020). Ethylene functions as a suppressor of volatile production in rice. Journal of Experimental Botany, 71(20), 6491-6511] is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/71/20/6491/5874908 [https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa341]We examined the role of ethylene in the production of rice (Oryza sativa) volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which act as indirect defense signals against herbivores in tritrophic interactions. Rice plants were exposed to exogenous ethylene (1 ppm) after simulated herbivory, which consisted of mechanical wounding supplemented with oral secretions (WOS) from the generalist herbivore larva Mythimna loreyi. Ethylene treatment highly suppressed VOCs in WOS-treated rice leaves, which was further corroborated by the reduced transcript levels of major VOC biosynthesis genes in ethylene-treated rice. In contrast, the accumulation of jasmonates (JA), known to control VOCs in higher plants, and transcript levels of primary JA response genes, including OsMYC2, were not largely affected by ethylene application. At the functional level, flooding is known to promote internode elongation in young rice via ethylene signaling. Consistent with the negative role of ethylene on VOC genes, the accumulation of VOCs in water-submerged rice leaves was suppressed. Furthermore, in mature rice plants, which naturally produce less volatiles, VOCs could be rescued by the application of the ethylene perception inhibitor 1-methylcyclopropene. Our data suggest that ethylene acts as an endogenous suppressor of VOCs in rice plants during development and under stress.We thank Atsushi Miyake (Okayama University) for help with development of GC-MS methods used for volatile measurements; Dr Hideyuki Matsuura (Hokkaido University) for providing deuterated jasmonate standards for LC-MS/MS; Dr Yasutaka Kubo (Okayama University) for providing 1-MCP; and Dr David Wari for checking the manuscript. This work was supported by Ohara Foundation and JSPS KAKENHI Grants (No. 24570026 and 16K08143 to IG, No. 18K05558 to TS). TT was supported by Pacific Leaders’ Educational Assistance for Development of State (Pacific-LEADS) from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency); ISS by the JSPS postdoctoral fellowship P13379; and KM by IsDB 4 in 1 Project by Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education, Republic of Indonesia
The effect of copper on the mRNA expression profile of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes in cultured rat H4-II-E cells
No full textCopper (Cu2+) is an essential element that plays important roles in physiological functions of the body. However, high Cu2+ levels can have toxic implications. This study aims to investigate the constitutive response to Cu2+ exposure of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes in cultured rat liver (H4-II-E) cell lines. Rat cells were exposed to copper sulfate (0-500 mu M) for 24 h. The effects of Cu2+ on the messenger RNA (mRNA) expressions of phase I and II enzymes and regulatory elements were examined using real-time PCR. Metallothionein mRNA expression was induced in a dose-dependent manner after treatment with Cu2+. mRNA expressions of phase I enzymes such as cytochrome P450 1A1 and 1A2 (CYP1A1 and CYP1A2) were slightly induced after exposure to low concentrations of Cu2+; however, CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 mRNA expressions were significantly downregulated at higher Cu2+ concentrations. These effects corresponded with expression of aryl hydrocarbon receptor mRNA. The mRNA expressions of phase II enzymes were reduced upon exposure to Cu2+. In conclusion, phase I and II enzyme expressions were significantly modulated upon Cu2+ exposure. These results indicated that Cu2+ exposure had toxicological implications for cultured H4-II-E cells
Assessment of retinal microvascular changes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus using optical coherence tomography angiography
No full textAbstract Background It is evident that the physiopathological pathways of ocular and renal microvascular tissues in patients with systemic lupus are similar. Previously, this was confirmed by employing traditional fundus examination, optical coherence tomography, and high-resolution color electroretinography. Recent years have seen the development of Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) as a non-intrusive procedure that can be employed to image the microvasculature of the retina and choroid. Objective The aim of this study is to assess the correlation between renal functional and histologic features with the retinal microvasculature alterations in systemic lupus patients through OCTA analysis. Patients and methods This case-control study enrolled thirty-six eyes from 18 lupus nephritis (LN) patients, thirty-six eyes from 18 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, and thirty eyes from 15 healthy controls. An ophthalmological evaluation, including history, examination, and investigations, was conducted using OCTA for all participants. Prior to ocular examination and investigation, all SLE patients underwent a rheumatological evaluation, encompassing disease-related clinical and laboratory assessments. Specimen retrieval and renal biopsy examinations were also performed, categorizing them into lupus and lupus nephritis patients. Results Regarding central foveal thickness (CFT) and parafoveal thickness (PFT), there were no significant differences compared to healthy subjects. A comparison of the foveal avascular zone area (FAZ-A) among the three groups revealed a significant increase in both patient groups compared to healthy controls. Whole superficial capillary plexus (SCP) vascular density (VD) in the parafoveal and foveal regions showed a significant reduction in both SLE patient groups compared to healthy controls (HC). Specifically, SCP values were 42.65 ± 2.23% in the SLE with nephritis group, 44.88 ± 2.09% in the SLE without nephritis group, and 49.10 ± 3.12% in the healthy control group. SCP parafoveal VD values were 40.77 ± 3.27% in SLE with nephritis, 47.19 ± 2.63% in SLE without nephritis, and 50.98 ± 4.80% in healthy controls. SCP foveal VD was 18.96 ± 3.43% in SLE with nephritis, 21.61 ± 4.00% in SLE without nephritis, and 24.16 ± 2.69% in healthy controls. The whole deep capillary plexus (DCP), parafoveal, and foveal VD were significantly reduced in the SLE with nephritis group but showed only marginal differences in the SLE without nephritis group compared to healthy controls, as DCP values were 48.04 ± 3.93% in SLE with nephritis, 53.63 ± 2.19% in SLE without nephritis, and 54.88 ± 3.57% in healthy controls. DCP parafoveal VD was 54.56 ± 2.37% in SLE with nephritis, 56.93 ± 1.90% in SLE without nephritis, and 57.39 ± 5.99% in healthy controls. DCP foveal VD was 34.42 ± 3.12% in SLE with nephritis, 41.96 ± 3.19% in SLE without nephritis, and 42.55 ± 7.74% in healthy controls. Conclusion OCT angiography has a considerable role in the detection of the early changes of the retinal vascular plexus in patients with SLE, especially those with lupus nephritis, even before the development of retinopathy
