No quick fix : The effects of awareness-raising and machine translation on error recognition and written accuracy for Japanese EFL learners

The role of the mother tongue in the production of a second language has longbeen established. In particular, raising awareness of the similarities and differencesbetween L1 and L2 has been given increasing credence as a means ofimproving grammatical accuracy. In this study of Japanese university EFLlearners , an experimental group was sequentially exposed to a crosslinguisticintervention and compared with a control group to determinewhether the combined use of (1) an awareness-raising checklist (that emphasized grammatical differences between Japanese and English) and (2) machinetranslation (aimed to facilitate the accuracy of written output) wouldhelp them to report the recognition of errors in a reading task and reduce thenumber of errors produced in a writing task. The study also investigated participantorientations towards the intervention itself. The results indicated that,for the most part, the control and experimental groups did not display any significantdifferences in terms of performance in both recognition and production,although some positive attitudes were observed towards the intervention.Various implications, as well as considerations for future research avenues, are explored

Desire and Self-Construction in Tibullus' Elegies Book 1: Reading Tibullus with Lacan

In this dissertation, I propose that a Lacanian psychoanalytic approach to the speaking subject of the lover-poet in Tibullus’ Elegies can deepen our understanding of Tibullus’ poetry, particularly with respect to his fantasy of the countryside and his relationships with Delia and Marathus. I suggest that Lacanian psychoanalytic theory provides us with a framework through which we can articulate the complex and multi-layered process of self-reflection and self-construction in Tibullus’ Elegies Book 1. In chapter 1, I look closely at the lover-poet’s country fantasy in poems 1.1, 1.10, and 2.1. In his fantasy of rustic happiness, we see the lover-poet’s longing for a sense of wholeness and sufficiency, which he repeatedly describes as “having enough.” Yet in each iteration of his dream, Amor disrupts the lover-poet’s ideal, bringing with it the threat of dissatisfaction, excess, and even violence. I propose that the theory of Amor which we find in the lover-poet’s country fantasy invites a Lacanian interpretation of Tibullus’ poems.Chapter 2 suggests that the structure of desire in the lover-poet’s country fantasy parallels the structure of desire in his relationship with Delia. The lover-poet’s relationship with Delia thus fits into a broader investigation of the desiring subject in Elegies Book 1. Lacan’s concept of objet a provides a way to account for the ambiguity of what the lover-poet really wants in both of these fantasies and why he never seems to be able to attain it.Chapter 3 expands my exploration of the lover-poet’s relationship with Delia to include his representation of Delia herself. First, I explain the sense of absence and uncertainty that surrounds the lover-poet’s representation of Delia’s desire in poem 1.2, putting forth Lacan’s account of Woman’s desire as a way to interpret these ambiguities. Second, I show how Lacan’s framework provides a way to understand the lover-poet’s excessive idealization of Delia in poem 1.3 as a series of fantasies around objet a.In chapter 4, I shift my focus to the lover-poet’s self-portrayal in his relationship with Delia. The Tibullan lover-poet casts himself in a series of enigmatic positions, such as the ianitor (1.1) and the poor attendant (1.5), where he is trapped by restrictions which simultaneously enable and prevent his access to the object of his desire. The lover-poet only ever envisions having a sense of fulfillment from his relationship to Delia when he imagines himself dying or already dead. I suggest that the lover-poet’s self-positioning in each of these scenes reflects the plight of the subject in Lacanian theory.Finally, in chapter 5, I consider the lover-poet’s representation of his relationship with the boy, Marathus, in poem 1.8. The lover-poet’s representation of the boy first as a puella-figure and then as an amator reveals the crisis of categories that emerges when he tries to articulate the boy’s place in his poetic world. I offer Lacan’s concept of Imaginary object relations to explain why the lover-poet represents Marathus in such a paradoxical manner and why he reacts as he does to his encounter with the boy in poem 1.8.To conclude the dissertation, I present some ways that reading Tibullus’ Elegies Book 1 through a Lacanian lens enriches our understanding of Tibullus’ poetry and its relationship to the work of the other elegists

In-the-moment video feedback for online counselling students' role play assessment: A research note

Although the importance of feedback has been highlighted in education, innovative practices to improve the quality of feedback remain to be reported. Moreover, traditional text-based feedback often misses the emotional tone of feedback, therefore is susceptive of misunderstanding. This is a cause for concern in many online programmes, in particular counselling as this discipline focuses on communication. Accordingly, the present research note reports our on-going study appraising the first-hand experience of online counselling students who have received our in-the-moment video feedback for their role play video assessment. Inductive thematic analysis was used on semi-structured interviews. Two themes were identified: ‘High feedback satisfaction’ and ‘Safer communication’. Findings will help educators and online education institutions to create innovative ways of providing helpful feedback to students

Reprocessing and recycling of thermoset polymers based on bond exchange reaction

Recently, it has been reported that by properly catalytic controlled bond exchange reactions, thermoset polymers could be welded by simple heating. During the operation, polymer topology could be rearranged in complying the external deformation and release the internal stress, but the network integrity is maintained and the average functionality of polymer chains is unchanged. This novel technology also enables us to reprocess and recycle the thermoset polymers. In this study, we experimentally demonstrated that after being milled into pulverous state in microsize, the thermoset epoxy polymer with exchangeable bond could be welded and assembled again into integrity with regained mechanical properties comparable to a fresh bulk polymer. The detailed operation procedure, as well as the influence of pressure and heating time on the stretch ability of the recycled polymer sample, is demonstrated. Such an in-depth reprocessing routine could be repeated for multiple times in manufacturing complex objects and welding separated bulk polymers. Considering the efficient and robust welding effect among polymer particles, as well as the maintained merits of thermoset polymer as stress-bearing materials during the operation, this new strategy is more suitable to repair polymer structures in service and recycle the thermoset waste in most engineering applications

Correlates of dermis thickness in mouse models with a range of obesity, insulin resistance and diabetic states

Diabetic complications of the skin regarding skin structure have been well documented and researched, notably in relation to wound healing. Recently it has also been discovered that dermis thickness may also be reduced in type 2 diabetic patients. Peripheral damage in diabetes has been attributed to inflammation, as well as hyperglycaemia resulting from insulin resistance. However, this has not been investigated specifically in relation to dermis thickness. This study used mouse models with a range of obesity, insulin resistance and diabetic states to investigate the extent of reduction in dermis thickness that results from these conditions and to elucidate the correlation of dermis thickness with both biomarkers of insulin resistance and whole-body and local proinflammatory cytokine levels, which can both directly damage tissues and be the causative factor of the insulin resistance. The results suggest that the reduced dermis thickness observed in type 2 diabetes is likely a result of hyperglycaemia resulting from insulin resistance rather than the increased proinflammatory milieu resulting from insulin resistance and obesity

Thermoset Shape‐Memory Polyurethane with Intrinsic Plasticity Enabled by Transcarbamoylation

Thermoset polymers are known for their superior thermomechanical properties, but the chemical crosslinking typically leads to intractability. This is reflected in the great differences between thermoset and thermoplastic shape‐memory polymers; the former exhibit a robust shape memory but are not capable of redefining the permanent shape. Contrary to current knowledge, we reveal here that a classical thermoset shape‐memory polyurethane is readily capable of permanent reshaping (plasticity) after a topological network rearrangement that is induced by transcarbamoylation. By employing the Jianzhi technique (also known as kirigami), unexpected shape‐shifting versatility was observed for this otherwise classical material. As the essential carbamate moiety in polyurethanes is one of the most common polymer building units, we anticipate that our finding will have significant benefits beyond shape shifting.Thermoset polymers are known for their superior thermomechanical properties, but the chemical crosslinking typically leads to intractability. However, a classical thermoset shape‐memory polyurethane was now shown to be readily capable of permanent reshaping (plasticity) after a topological network rearrangement that is induced by transcarbamoylation.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137615/1/anie201602847.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137615/2/anie201602847-sup-0001-misc_information.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137615/3/anie201602847_am.pd

Biomarker Driven Antifungal Stewardship (BioDriveAFS) in acute leukaemia—a multi-centre randomised controlled trial to assess clinical and cost effectiveness: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Acute leukaemias (AL) are life-threatening blood cancers that can be potentially cured with treatment involving myelosuppressive, multiagent, intensive chemotherapy (IC). However, such treatment is associated with a risk of serious infection, in particular invasive fungal infection (IFI) associated with prolonged neutropenia. Current practice guidelines recommend primary antifungal (AF) prophylaxis to be administered to high-risk patients to reduce IFI incidence. AFs are also used empirically to manage prolonged neutropenic fever. Current strategies lead to substantial overuse of AFs. Galactomannan (GM) and β-D-glucan (BG) biomarkers are also used to diagnose IFI. Combining both biomarkers may enhance the predictability of IFI compared to administering each test alone. Currently, no large-scale randomised controlled trial (RCT) has directly compared a biomarker-based diagnostic screening strategy without AF prophylaxis to AF prophylaxis (without systematic biomarker testing). METHODS: BioDriveAFS is a multicentre, parallel, two-arm RCT of 404 participants from UK NHS Haematology departments. Participants will be allocated on a 1:1 basis to receive either a biomarker-based antifungal stewardship (AFS) strategy, or a prophylactic AF strategy, which includes existing standard of care (SoC). The co-primary outcomes will be AF exposure in the 12-month post randomisation and the patient-reported EQ-5D-5L measured at 12-month post randomisation. Secondary outcomes will include total AF exposure, probable/proven IFI, survival (all-cause mortality and IFI mortality), IFI treatment outcome, AF-associated adverse effects/events/complications, resource use, episodes of neutropenic fever requiring hospital admission or outpatient management, AF resistance in fungi (non-invasive and invasive) and a Desirability of Outcome Ranking. The trial will have an internal pilot phase during the first 9 months. A mixed methods process evaluation will be integrated in parallel to the internal pilot phase and full trial, aiming to robustly assess how the intervention is delivered. Cost-effectiveness analysis will also be performed. DISCUSSION: The BioDriveAFS trial aims to further the knowledge of strategies that will safely optimise AF use through comparison of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a biomarker-led diagnostic strategy versus prophylactic AF to prevent and manage IFI within acute leukaemia. The evidence generated from the study will help inform global clinical practice and approaches within antifungal stewardship. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN11633399. Registered 24/06/2022

Development of Polyimine-Based Dynamic Covalent Network: From Malleable Polymers to High-Performance Composites

Since the advent of synthetic polymers over a century ago, polymer science and technology development has transformed and enhanced our way of life from clothing to food storage to electronics and automobiles. To suit different applications, two broad categories of synthetic polymers have been developed: linear polymers, or thermoplastics, which can be melted, or solubilized, and reprocessed into a new shape or form; and network polymers, or thermosets, which are usually unable to be melted or reshaped once cured. The irreversible and permanent nature of thermosets was initially desirable for enabling high strength and long service lifetimes, but also makes thermosets inherently unrecyclable. Recently, dynamic covalent chemistry has been employed to form malleable thermosets, a new class of network polymers which can be reprocessed, and recycled like thermoplastics. The focus of this dissertation is the development of robust, catalyst-free malleable thermosets using exchangeable imine (a.k.a. Schiff-base) chemical links, and exploration of their great potential in fabricating high-performance composite materials. Our work in this field began with a collaborative effort to explore the recyclability of catalyst-containing epoxy-acid networks, which were one of the first malleable thermoset materials identified. Our work with epoxies resulted in the discovery of a linear relationship between the glass transition temperature of a material, and the temperature at which the material becomes malleable due to bond exchange reactions. Next we turned our attention to development of malleable thermosets using dynamic imine chemistry. Polyimine networks were developed which exhibit excellent mechanical strength and malleability under mild conditions without an added catalyst. The polymers were found to be completely hydrolytically stable, yet water could be used to catalyze the bond exchange reactions, leading to room temperature malleability. Further development led to both hydrophilic and hydrophobic network polyimines that exhibit a broad range of mechanical properties from elastomers with room temperature malleability, to semi-crystalline polymers with high tensile strength and thermal stability. We found that the reversibility of imine-linked malleable thermosets could enable uniquely efficient recycling processes. This method was used to develop carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRC’s) in which the fiber and resin materials could be recovered and recycled in their original form. These thermoset composites are also moldable, weld-able and repairable due to crosslink exchange of the polymer binder. In another application, powders of such imine-linked malleable thermosets were combined with ion-conductive sulfide powders to form electrolyte membranes for solid-state lithium ion batteries exhibiting record-setting stability for FeS2 solid state batteries, and a four-fold improvement in energy density over previously-reported solid state rechargeable lithium ion batteries. This work has brought to light a method for fabricating environmentally stable, yet highly functional Schiff-base thermosets, which have the potential to enable a large number of transformative applications particularly regarding composite materials

THE NET GENERATION IN JAPAN: A SURVEY OF INTERNET BEHAVIOURS OF STUDENTS AGED 13-21

Evidence from research into the “net generation” has shown it is not certain that there is a homogenous group of young people whose abilities to use technology are different from any other age group. With tools like blogs and online research becoming more popular in educational contexts research needs to provide a picture of what kinds of abilities and preferences students have so that appropriate teaching can be provided. This study examines the Japanese context in three areas: 1) Technology ownership, frequency of use, and perceptions of ability; 2) Frequency and type of use of the Internet; 3) Use and perceptions of institution Websites. Students at two universities and one middle and high school (193 male, 197 female, ages 13 to 21) responded and the analysis seems to confirm other studies’ results. They tend to own a lot of Internet-connected technology, especially mobile devices, are familiar with and frequently use the Internet, and perceive themselves competent to do so. However, their use is mostly for entertainment and not for learning or content creation. In conclusion, young people do not seem to be especially proficient at using technology for learning and may need technical or pedagogical support for sophisticated online educational tasks such as research or blogging