When language of instruction and language of application differ: Cognitive costs of bilingual mathematics learning

Bilingual education programs implicitly assume that the acquired knowledge is represented in a language-independent way. This assumption, however, stands in strong contrast to research findings showing that information may be represented in a way closely tied to the specific language of instruction and learning. The present study aims to examine whether and to which extent cognitive costs appear during arithmetic learning when language of instruction and language of retrieving differ. Thirty-nine high school students participating in a bilingual education program underwent a four-day training on multiplication and subtraction problems in one language (German or French), followed by a test session in which they had to solve trained as well as untrained problems in both languages. We found that cognitive costs related to language switching appeared for both arithmetic operations. Implications of our findings are discussed with respect to bilingual education as well as to cognitive mechanisms underlying different arithmetic operations.

Conditioned Medium of Demineralized Freeze-Dried Bone Activates Gene Expression in Periodontal Fibroblasts in Vitro.

BACKGROUND: Demineralized bone matrix (DBM) is used for the treatment of osseous defects. Conditioned medium from native bone chips can activate transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling in mesenchymal cells. The aim of the study was to determine whether processing of native bone into DBM affects the activity of the conditioned medium. METHODS: Porcine cortical bone blocks were subjected to defatting, different concentrations of hydrochloric acid and various temperatures. DBM was lyophilized, ground, and placed into culture medium. Human gingiva and periodontal fibroblasts were exposed to the respective conditioned medium (DBCM). Changes in the expression of TGF-β target genes were determined. RESULTS: DBCM altered the expression of TGF-β target genes, e.g., adrenomedullin, pentraxin 3, KN Motif And Ankyrin Repeat Domains 4, interleukin 11, NADPH oxidase 4, and BTB (POZ) Domain Containing 11, by at least five-fold. The response was observed in fibroblasts from both sources. Defatting lowered the activity of DBCM. The TGF-β receptor type I kinase inhibitor SB431542, but not the inhibitor of bone morphogenetic protein receptor dorsomorphin, blocked the effects of DBCM on gene expression. Moreover, conditioned medium obtained from commercial human DBM modulated the expression of TGF-β target genes. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the conditioned medium from demineralized bone matrix can activate TGF-β signaling in oral fibroblasts. KEYWORDS: TGF-beta superfamily proteins; bone; bone substitutes; bone transplantation; conditioned media; freeze drying

Tattoo: a multifaceted medium of communication

This article suggests the systems theoretical distinction of form/medium as a useful tool for distinguishing social phenomena that might look as if they stem from the same process. This is shown to be the case for the tattoo and tattooing. The tattoo is conceived as a medium of communication through which different forms of communication emerge. Tattooing is one of these forms of communication that shapes the medium in a particular way. The current article sheds a special light on its intricate, communicational constellation, for which the concept of parallax is suggested. Law, medicine and cosmetics as other forms of communication use the medium of tattoo in their own way as well. The form/medium distinction allows us to grasp these different forms of communication, while it shows that they share the tattoo as medium. The article’s ultimate goal is to illustrate that the tattoo figures as a multifaceted medium of communication.

“Facebook Style”: The use of non-standard features in virtual speech conditioned by the medium Facebook

Facebook is a medium of social interaction producing its own style. I study how users from Malaga create this style through phonic features of the local variety and how they reflect on the use of these features. I then analyse the use of non-standard features by users from Malaga and compare them to an oral corpus. Results demonstrate that social factors work differently in real and virtual speech. Facebook communication is seen as a style serving to create social meaning and to express linguistic identity.

Facebook style: The use of non-standard features in virtual speech conditioned by the medium Facebook

Over the last few years Facebook has become a widespread and continuously expanding medium of communication. Being a new medium of social interaction, Facebook produces its own communication style. My focus of analysis is how Facebook users from the city of Malaga create this style by means of phonic features typical of the Andalusian variety and how the users reflect on the use of these phonic features. This project is based on a theoretical framework which combines variationist sociolinguistics with CMC to study the emergence of a style peculiar of the online social networks. In a corpus of Facebook users from three zones of Malaga, I have analysed the use of non-standard phonic features and then compared them with the same features in a reference corpus collected on three beaches of Malaga. From this comparison it can be deduced that the analysed social and linguistic factors work differently in real and virtual speech. Due to these different uses we can consider the peculiar electronic communication of Facebook as a style constrained by the electronic medium. It is a style which serves the users to create social meaning and to express their linguistic identities.

New exposure system to evaluate the toxicity of (scooter) exhaust emissions in lung cells in vitro

A constantly growing number of scooters produce an increasing amount of potentially harmful emissions. Due to their engine technology, two-stroke scooters emit huge amounts of adverse substances, which can induce adverse pulmonary and cardiovascular health effects. The aim of this study was to develop a system to expose a characterized triple cell coculture model of the human epithelial airway barrier, to freshly produced and characterized total scooter exhaust emissions. In exposure chambers, cell cultures were exposed for 1 and 2 h to 1:100 diluted exhaust emissions and in the reference chamber to filtered ambient air, both controlled at 5% CO(2), 85% relative humidity, and 37 degrees C. The postexposure time was 0-24 h. Cytotoxicity, used to validate the exposure system, was significantly increased in exposed cell cultures after 8 h postexposure time. (Pro-) inflammatory chemo- and cytokine concentrations in the medium of exposed cells were significantly higher at the 12 h postexposure time point. It was shown that the described exposure system (with 2 h exposure duration, 8 and 24 h postexposure time, dilution of 1:100, flow of 2 L/min as optimal exposure conditions) can be used to evaluate the toxic potential of total exhaust emissions.

Modulation of bcl-xL in tumor cells regulates angiogenesis through CXCL8 expression

In this paper, we investigated whether bcl-xL can be involved in the modulation of the angiogenic phenotype of human tumor cells. Using the ADF human glioblastoma and the M14 melanoma lines, and their derivative bcl-xL-overexpressing clones, we showed that the conditioned medium of bcl-xL transfectants increased in vitro endothelial cell functions, such as proliferation and morphogenesis, and in vivo vessel formation in Matrigel plugs, compared with the conditioned medium of control cells. Moreover, the overexpression of bcl-xL induced an increased expression of the proangiogenic interleukin-8 (CXCL8), both at the protein and mRNA levels, and an enhanced CXCL8 promoter activity. The role of CXCL8 on bcl-xL-induced angiogenesis was validated using CXCL8-neutralizing antibodies, whereas down-regulation of bcl-xL through antisense oligonucleotide or RNA interference strategies confirmed the involvement of bcl-xL on CXCL8 expression. Transient overexpression of bcl-xL led to extend this observation to other tumor cell lines with different origin, such as colon and prostate carcinoma. In conclusion, our results showed that CXCL8 modulation by bcl-xL regulates tumor angiogenesis, and they point to elucidate an additional function of bcl-xL protein.

Short-term effects of hygiene education for preschool (kindergarten) children: a clinical study

AIM: To evaluate the outcomes of short (15 minutes) oral hygiene vs. hand hygiene education for preschool children 4 weeks after these interventions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-one preschool children (age range 4-6 years) attending four kindergarten classes participated in a 15-minute health education programme on the importance of body cleanliness for general health. In addition, specific instructions on oral hygiene were provided for two randomly selected classes (30 children), while the remaining two classes (31 children) were given instruction of hand and nail cleaning. The oral hygiene status was assessed usingthe plaque control record (PCR). The cleanliness of the hands and fingernails was determined using a hand hygiene index (HHI) and a nail hygiene index (NHI). All three parameters were assessed before the intervention as well as 4 weeks thereafter. RESULTS: Four weeks after education, the PCR had improved for all children from 79.95% to 72.35% (p < 0.001). The NHI had improved from 74.91% to 61.71% (p < 0.001). In addition, the mean PCR of the children given oral hygiene instruction decreased from 83.67% to 72.40%, while the mean PCR of the children given hand and nail cleaning instruction decreased from 76.23% to 72.29% (interaction effect 'time x type of instruction': p = 0.044). Girls' PCR improved significantly more than boys' PCR (Girls, 80.98 vs. 69.71; boys, 78.33 vs. 75.31; p = 0.021). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study show that even a short, school-based educational intervention at an early age may affect children's oral health promotion significantly. Teachers should, therefore, be encouraged to educate children from an early age about oral hygiene promotion.

The Spanish variety of Malaga: From real to mental to virtual speech

Internet has affected our lives and society in manifold ways, and partly, in fundamental ways. Therefore, it is no surprise that one of the affected areas is language and communication itself. Over the last few years, online social networks have become a widespread and continuously expanding medium of communication. Being a new medium of social interaction, online social networks produce their own communication style, which in many cases differs considerably from real speech and is also perceived differently. The focus of analysis of my PhD thesis is how social network users from the city of Malaga create this virtual style by means of phonic features typical of the Andalusian variety of Spanish and how the users’ language attitude has an influence on the use of these phonic features. The data collection was fourfold: 1) a main corpus was compiled from 240 informants’ utterances on Facebook and Tuenti; 2) a corpus constituted of broad transcriptions of recordings with 120 people from Malaga served as a comparison; 3) a survey in which 240 participants rated the use of said phonetic variants on the following axes: “good–bad”, “correct–incorrect” and “beautiful–ugly” was carried out; 4) a survey with 240 participants who estimated with which frequency the analysed features are used in Malaga was conducted. For the analysis, which is quantitative and qualitative, ten variables were chosen. Results show that the studied variants are employed differently in virtual and real speech depending on how people perceive these variants. In addition, the use of the features is constrained by social factors. In general, people from Malaga have a more positive attitude towards non-­‐standard features if they are used in virtual speech than in real speech. Thus, virtual communication is seen as a style serving to create social meaning and to express linguistic identity. These stylistic practices reflect an amalgam of social presuppositions about usage conventions and individual strategies for handling a new medium. In sum, the virtual style is an initiative deliberately taken by the users, to create their, real and virtual, identities, and to define their language attitudes towards the features of their variety of speech.

Projecting a relevant "next": Instruction sequences in driving lessons

Car interaction and the organisation of multi-activity in cars have become a fertile topic of research within CA and EM (Laurier 2005, Haddington & Keisanen 2009). While previous research has focused exclusively on everyday car rides, in this paper we will analyse a specific kind of car interaction, namely driving lessons. In addition to"driving" and"talking", as the two main parallel activities in everyday car rides (Mondada in press), in driving lessons a central activity is"instructing", that we understand to be a collaborative accomplishment (Sanchez Svensson et al. 2009). Drawing on a corpus of 7 video-recorded driving lessons, we will analyse the sequential organisation of"instruction sequences", i.e. of those actions that are initiated by the driving instructor with a turn projecting the next relevant action to be executed by the learner. Learners carry out next actions in two different ways: a) as"single" actions (e.g. using the indicator); b) as a complex series of overlapping or parallel actions. We will show that"single" actions occur as responses to instructions concerning the learner's command of the car, while complex actions occur when the instructors formulate direction indications. The aims of our analyses are twofold. Firstly, we will analyse how instruction sequences are fitted to the emerging contingencies of the car ride (movement in space, changing environment): we will show that a) the turn format of the instruction initiation displays the degree of"urgency" of the requested action; b) learners have the possibility to start the relevant"next" before the instruction initiation comes to completion. Secondly, we will focus on those"seconds" that the driving instructor treats as problematic by initiating a repair sequence (e.g. an improper use of the indicator). Our research contributes to the discussion about the multimodal resources that participants can employ to fulfil a projected action. In addition, it offers insights in a hitherto scarcely investigated topic, namely the organisation of instructions and the ecology of apprenticeship. References HADDINGTON, P. & KEISANEN, T. (2009) Location, mobility and the body as resources in selecting a route. Journal of Pragmatics 41 (10), 1938-1961. LAURIER, Eric (2005): Searching for a parking space. Intellectica 41-42/2-3: 101-116. MONDADA, Lorenza (in press). Talking and driving: multi-activity in the car. Semiotica. SANCHEZ SVENSSON, M. et al. (2009) "Embedding instruction in practice: contingency and collaboration during surgical training", Sociology of Health & Illness, 31/6: 889-906.

Selective uptake, distribution, and redistribution of Cd-109, Co-57, Zn-65, Ni-63, and Cs-134 via xylem and phloem in the heavy metal hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L

The focus of this article was to explore the translocation of Cd-109, Co-57, Zn-65, Ni-63, and Cs-134 via xylem and phloem in the newly found hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L. Two experiments with the uptake via the roots and transport of Cd-109, Co-57, and Zn-65 labeled by roots, and the redistribution of Cd-109, Zn-65, Co-57, Ni-63, and Cs-134 using flap label in S. nigrum in a hydroponic culture with a standard nutrient solution were conducted. The results showed that Cd-109 added for 24 h to the nutrient medium of young plants was rapidly taken up, transferred to the shoot, and accumulated in the cotyledons and the oldest leaves but was not efficiently redistributed within the shoot afterward leading to a rather low content in the fruits. In contrast, Co-57 was more slowly taken up and released to the shoot, but afterward, this element was redistributed from older leaves to younger leaves and maturing fruits. Zn-65 was rapidly taken up and transferred to the shoot (mainly to the youngest leaves and not to the cotyledons). Afterward, this radionuclide was redistributed within the shoot to the youngest organs and finally accumulated in the maturing fruits. After flap labeling, all five heavy metals tested (Cd-109, Co-57, Zn-65, Ni-63, Cs-134) were exported from the labeled leaf and redistributed within the plant. The accumulation in the fruits was most pronounced for Ni-63 and Zn-65, while a relatively high percentage of Co-57 was finally found in the roots. Cs-134 was roughly in the middle of them. The transport of Cd-109 differed from that previously reported for wheat or lupin and might be important for the potential of S. nigrum to hyperaccumulate cadmium.

“Facebook Style”: The Use of Emoticons and Graphic Signs by Users in the Cape Flats

Over the last few years Facebook has become a widespread and continuously expanding medium of communication in Africa and worldwide. Being a new medium of social interaction, Facebook produces its own communication style. It is a style conditioned by the medium and the community of users. My focus of analysis is how Facebook users from the city of Cape Town create this style by means of emoticons and other graphic signs in order to reflect the reality of living in Cape Town’s underprivileged areas. This study is based on a theoretical framework which combines sociolinguistics with Computer-Mediated-Communication to study the emergence of a style peculiar of the online social networks. In a corpus of Coloured Facebook users from the Cape Flats, I have analysed the emergence of emoticons and other graphic signs related to Capetonian gang culture and then tracked the spread of these features to the extensive use by users not related to gangs. It can be deduced that in this process the analysed features amplify their meaning and are employed in a much broader context as their original use. Due to the development and spread of these features we can consider the peculiar electronic communication of Facebook as a style constrained by the electronic medium and its users. It is a style which serves the users to create social meaning and to express their linguistic identities.

An Undisclosed Story of Roses: Church, State and Nation in Contemporary Georgia

I will attempt to problematize the typologies of nationalism when applied to the Georgian context, particularly in relationship to nationalism of President Mikheil Saakashvili. I will argue that the state-driven nationalism of post-Rose Revolution government was a hybrid form of ethno-cultural and civic which had elements of ethnic particularism towards the Orthodox Church. By reflecting on the growing assistance of Western institutions to Georgia, I will problematize the extent to which the rise of American and European involvement in the region reinforced the perceptions of the “self” and the “other” among the religious elites since the Rose Revolution. By presenting field research data (interviews) gathered in 23 eparchies and perishes with religious clerics in 7 regions of Georgia, I will argue that religious nationalism in Georgia strengthened not in response to but as an outcome of President Saakashvili’s policies towards the church, and partially as a reaction to the growing dissatisfaction with Western institutions working in Georgia and Western governments’ response to the Russo-Georgian War of 2008. By reflecting on empirical material, the paper attempts to problematize an understanding of religious nationalism as a social movement, an instance of cultural autonomy and a source of identity (Friedland 2001). In response, I suggest viewing religious nationalism in post-communist Georgia as medium of material and political interests

Printed Narrative: The Festival Books for Archduke Ernest of Austria from Brussels and Antwerp 1594

Workshop „The Narrative in Eastern and Western Art“, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto, 2-5 December 2013 Abstract by Ivo Raband, University of Berne Printed Narrative: The Festival Books for Ernest of Austria from Brussels and Antwerp 1594 During the early modern period the medium of the festival book became increasingly more important as an object of ‘political narration’ throughout Europe. Focusing on Netherlandish examples from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, my talk will focus on the festival books printed for the Joyous Entries of Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595). Ernest was appointed Governor General of the Netherlands by King Philipp II in 1593, being the first Habsburg Prince to reside in Brussels since 30 years. In Brussels and Antwerp, the Archduke was greeted with the traditional Blijde Imkomst, Joyous Entry, which dates back to the fourteenth century and was a necessity to actually become the sovereign of Brabant and Antwerp and to uphold the privileges of the cities. Decorated with ephemeral triumphal arches, stages, and tableaux vivants, both cities welcomed Ernest and, at the same time, demonstrated their civic self-assurance and negotiated their statuses. In honor of these events of civic power, the city magistrates commissioned festival books. These books combine a Latin text with a description of the events and the ephemeral structures, including circa 30 engravings and etchings. Being the only visual manifestation of the Joyous Entries, the books became important representational objects. The prints featured in festival books will be my point of departure for discussing the importance of narrative political prints and the concept of the early modern festival book as a ‘political object’. By comparing the prints from Ernest’s entries with others from the period between 1549 and 1635, I will show how the prints became as important as the event itself. Thus, I want to pose the question of whether it would have been possible to substitute a printed version of the event for the actual ceremony.