Internet English, Electronic Literacy, and the EIL Reading Course

English is undergoing changes due to the fact that it is increasingly being written and read via electronic media. This article explores surface-level changes taking place in English found on the Worldwide Web, as well as developments occurring at deeper levels of organization. The relatively unregulated nature of the Web has democratized electronic publishing and led to less typographical standardization, yet some important trends appear to be emerging. Meanwhile, the widespread practice of juxtaposing text with images and other visual elements on the Web suggests that we need to revise traditional notions of literacy by including a greater emphasis on non-textual features. Techniques for teachers to address these changes in all English reading courses, not only ones held in computer classrooms, are proposed

A study of the effects of digital interactivity on L2 vocabulary acquisition

After presenting an overview of problems involved in the shifting usage of the popular term interactive, this paper reports results from an experiment designed to investigate whether or not digitizing second language vocabulary leaning exercises leads to improvements in acquisition. Specifically, the study looked at whether the type of interactivity inherent in digital exercises created with Hot Potatoes software yielded better results than similar exercises provided in print format. Results indicate that the digital exercises did not facilitate greater acquisition than their print-based counterparts. Possible implications of this finding, as well as a discussion of some of the intriguing issues that emerged from the study, are offered

SimCADO - an instrument data simulator package for MICADO at the E-ELT

MICADO will be the first-light wide-field imager for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and will provide difiraction limited imaging (7mas at 1.2mm) over a ~53 arcsecond field of view. In order to support various consortium activities we have developed a first version of SimCADO: an instrument simulator for MICADO. SimCADO uses the results of the detailed simulation efforts conducted for each of the separate consortium-internal work packages in order to generate a model of the optical path from source to detector readout. SimCADO is thus a tool to provide scientific context to both the science and instrument development teams who are ultimately responsible for the final design and future capabilities of the MICADO instrument. Here we present an overview of the inner workings of SimCADO and outline our plan for its further development.Comment: to appear in Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, eds. Evans C., Simard L., Takami H., Proc. SPIE vol. 9908 id 73; 201

Lymph node macrophages restrict murine cytomegalovirus dissemination

Cytomegaloviruses (CMVs) establish chronic infections that spread from a primary entry site to secondary vascular sites, such as the spleen, and then to tertiary shedding sites, such as the salivary glands. Human CMV (HCMV) is difficult to analyze, because its spread precedes clinical presentation. Murine CMV (MCMV) offers a tractable model. It is hypothesized to spread from peripheral sites via vascular endothelial cells and associated monocytes. However, viral luciferase imaging showed footpad-inoculated MCMV first reaching the popliteal lymph nodes (PLN). PLN colonization was rapid and further spread was slow, implying that LN infection can be a significant bottleneck. Most acutely infected PLN cells were CD169(+) subcapsular sinus macrophages (SSM). Replication-deficient MCMV also reached them, indicating direct infection. Many SSM expressed viral reporter genes, but few expressed lytic genes. SSM expressed CD11c, and MCMV with a cre-sensitive fluorochrome switch showed switched infected cells in PLN of CD11c-cre mice but yielded little switched virus. SSM depletion with liposomal clodronate or via a CD169-diphtheria toxin receptor transgene shifted infection to ER-TR7(+) stromal cells, increased virus production, and accelerated its spread to the spleen. Therefore, MCMV disseminated via LN, and SSM slowed this spread by shielding permissive fibroblasts and poorly supporting viral lytic replication