Alternative Venues: An EFL Writing Center Outside the University

Recent years have seen an increasing presence of writing centers in diverse English as a Foreign Language (EFL) settings, particularly in East Asia and in Europe (Bräuer; Chang). These new centers face familiar issues such as a lack of resources, the need to adapt pedagogy to the local context (Reichelt et. al.; Broekhoff), and ideological resistance to the idea of peer learning (Turner) or even providing support for writing at all (Bräuer). In some cases, these difficulties may force potential writing centers to seek a platform entirely outside of the university, bringing both challenges and new possibilities as the center adapts to a community setting and clientele (Rousculp). This article describes the founding of a writing center in Niš, Serbia, in an alternative venue - an American Embassy-funded resource center. This institution has offered significant advantages, including a central location and strong preexisting member base, but it has also shifted the writing center’s focus away from university students towards the diverse writing needs of the broader community. This article discusses how these factors have affected the writing center’s mission, the tutors’ training and experiences, and the development of local pedagogy and concludes with suggestions for other writing center administrators on working in such alternative spaces.University Writing Cente

Pre-Processing and Post-Processing in Group-Cluster Mergers

Galaxies in clusters are more likely to be of early type and to have lower star formation rates than galaxies in the field. Recent observations and simulations suggest that cluster galaxies may be `pre-processed' by group or filament environments and that galaxies that fall into a cluster as part of a larger group can stay coherent within the cluster for up to one orbital period (`post-processing'). We investigate these ideas by means of a cosmological $N$-body simulation and idealized $N$-body plus hydrodynamics simulations of a group-cluster merger. We find that group environments can contribute significantly to galaxy pre-processing by means of enhanced galaxy-galaxy merger rates, removal of galaxies' hot halo gas by ram pressure stripping, and tidal truncation of their galaxies. Tidal distortion of the group during infall does not contribute to pre-processing. Post-processing is also shown to be effective: galaxy-galaxy collisions are enhanced during a group's pericentric passage within a cluster, the merger shock enhances the ram pressure on group and cluster galaxies, and an increase in local density during the merger leads to greater galactic tidal truncation.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 25 pages, 21 figure

What are the Enduring Effects of Fertilizer Subsidy Programs on Recipient Farm Households? Evidence from Malawi

Replaced with revised version of paper 08/23/11.fertilizer subsidies, Malawi, Sub-Saharan Africa, endogeneity, panel data, International Development, Political Economy, C23, C26, Q12, Q13, Q18,

What are the Dynamic Effects of Fertilizer Subsidies on Household Well‐being? Evidence from Malawi

This study uses household level panel data from Malawi to measure the contemporaneous and dynamic impacts of fertilizer subsidies on different indicators of household well‐being. Well‐being is measured in this paper using indicators contained in available survey data, such as area cultivated, maize production, asset wealth, respondent‐stated adequacy of food consumption and respondent-stated life satisfaction. The study uses fixed effects and instrumental variable methods to control for endogeneity caused by the non‐random distribution of targeted fertilizer subsidies. Results indicate that the quantity of subsidized fertilizer acquired by a household has a positive contemporaneous effect on area planted, area planted to maize and maize production at the household level. The subsidy also has a significant dynamic effect on the quantity of maize that households produce. Subsidized fertilizer has no significant contemporaneous or dynamic effect on household asset accumulation. Receiving more subsidized fertilizer does not make households feel that their food consumption has been adequate over the past year, but receiving more subsidized fertilizer makes household heads say that they are more satisfied with their lives. Subsidized fertilizer appears to be going to people with more land. In addition, people in villages where members of parliament reside also receive greater quantities of subsidized fertilizer. These findings raise questions about how subsidy recipients are targeted. Improving targeting could increase the positive impacts of fertilizer subsidies on household well‐being.Food Security and Poverty,