1,721,428 research outputs found
Beyond monolithic English: Pop culture materials informing Global English Language Teaching
No full textThe Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT) paradigm has recently
emerged as a comprehensive approach that aims to bring together innova tive pedagogical proposals. This paper argues that pop culture materials
such as telecinematic representations can purposefully be integrated into
innovative GELT-oriented classroom practices. The use of this material can
assist teachers in the double task of (i) raising the learners’ critical aware ness of sociolinguistic variation and problematizing the stereotypical image
of monolithic English; (ii) shifting the focus of the ELT classroom from pre scriptive grammar and standard English towards fostering the learners’
receptive and communicative skills. This is a conceptual paper that gives
several broad suggestions as to how to adopt pop culture materials into
innovative GELT-oriented classroom practice and mentions a select few
examples of said telecinematic representations
The Antimicrobial Effects of Saudi Sumra Honey against Drug Resistant Pathogens: Phytochemical Analysis, Antibiofilm, Anti-Quorum Sensing, and Antioxidant Activities
No full textHoney exhibited potential antimicrobial activity against multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria that continues to be a serious health problem. We reported the in-vitro activity of Saudi Sumra honey against clinical pathogenic bacteria and fungi, antibiofilm, anti-quorum-sensing (QS) and antioxidant activities in relation to its phytochemical composition assessed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Broth dilution method and scavenging activities against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and β-carotene bleaching assays were performed. The GC-MS analysis of Sumra honey showed that 2,4-dihydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furan-3-one 1-methylcyclopropanemethanol were the major identified phytoconstituents. Sumra honey showed a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) to clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at 300 mg/mL, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (250 mg/mL), Escherichia coli (350 mg/mL) and Acinetobacter baumannii (250 mg/mL); clinical fungal isolates—Candida auris (600 mg/mL) and Cryptococcus neoformans (>1000 mg/mL); wild type fungal isolates—Candida krusei (>1000 mg/mL) and Candida albicans (700 mg/mL). In addition, Sumra honey demonstrated promising inhibition targeting biofilm formation by 59% for Bacillus subtilis, 48% for S. aureus, 38% for E. coli, and 33.63% for P. aeruginosa. The violacein production in Chromobacterium violaceum was reduced to 68%, whereas pyocyanin production in P. aeruginosa was reduced to 54.86% at ½ MIC. Furthermore, Sumra honey exhibited strong antioxidant activities (DPPH − IC50 = 7.7 mg/mL; ABTS − IC50 = 5.4 mg/mL; β-carotene − IC50 = >20 mg/mL). Overall, obtained data highlighted the promising potential therapeutic use of Sumra honey treating infections caused by MDR bacteria and fungi. Moreover, Sumra honey can be a good candidate as an inhibitor agent for bacterial cellular communication in strains of P. aeruginosa and C. violaceum
An Initial Evaluation of Al Sumra Waste Stabilisation Ponds (Jordan)
No full textThe initial operating experiences of Al Sumra waste stabilisation ponds are described, including recommendations for enhancing the existing operation. The system treats a total of 57 000 cubic metres per day and the effluent is used for irrigation. The average performance with respect to BOD removal and BOD loading is given together with data on coliform die-off. A limited amount of data regarding the removal of intestinal helminthic eggs is also included.</jats:p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Alkalinity of cement mortar containing different types of supplementary cementitious materials under accelerated curing conditions / Sumra Yousuf
No full textCement-based materials (CBMs) such as paste, mortar and concrete are the most dominant construction materials of structures. They are highly alkaline, with a pH in the range of 12.0 to 13.5, due to Ca(OH)2 contents (portlandite). The strength-gaining rate and hardening process of CBMs under normal curing conditions are slow. Therefore, accelerated curing methods are applied for gaining high early-age strength, especially in prefabrication industry. The CBMs subjected to an initial high curing temperature undergo accelerated hydration resulting in non-uniform scattering of hydration products. It creates a high porosity and reduction in compressive strength at later ages, called the phenomenon of crossover effect (COE). On the other hand, there is this belief that using supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in CBMs reduces Ca(OH)2 contents in the process of formation of secondary gel, resulting reduction of pH value. As the pH value and COE affecting both mechanical and durability properties of CBMs, therefore, the pH and COE of pure and blended CBMs under different curing conditions and for short and long terms should be studied. The main objective of this research is to study the short and long-term pH values of cement mortar incorporating various types of SCMs in low and high volumes under normal and accelerated curing methods. For monitoring the COE phenomenon, the compressive strength of mortar samples was measured in short and long terms. For measuring the pH value, the inner portion of samples was taken and grinded using grinding machine. The prepared powder was mixed with water in dilution ratio of 1:2 to make the solution and then the pH readings were taken by digital pH meter. The thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) test was used to determine Ca(OH)2 contents for the mortars. In addition, measurements were conducted for the specimens after exposure to high temperatures of 200, 400, 600 and 800 ℃. The results showed that COE was observed in OPC control and blended cement mortars incorporating FA, GGBFS, ground and treated palm oil fuel ash (G-POFA and T-POFA)) from 56-150 days. However, it was less than 10% for all types of these mortars. The pH of blended cement mortars was less than the control OPC mortar at the same age and curing conditions. A decreasing trend was found for the pH of almost all the cement mortars with curing age up to 150 days. It was observed that different curing conditions has no significant effect on the pH of cement mortars at the same curing age. Results confirmed that the pH of CBMs does not remain constant with ageing. There was a decreasing trend in pH and Ca(OH)2 contents by increasing replacement volumes of SCMs with OPC in the blended cement mortars. In addition, from the TGA test result, it was confirmed that the pH of CBMs is not only dependent on the Ca(OH)2 content and other factors must be investigated
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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